IllusionNull's page

You guys are fantastic! I didn't expect so many good responses in just one day. = )

Go dwarven inquistor (spellbreaker) of Torag and choose the protection domain

This could actually be pretty fun. We have a paladin of Torag in our group = )

Lore warden fighter might serve you well here

I strongly considered this when I started looking around. However, I felt like I more or less had some feats (like disruptive), brew potions, and gear enchants to help. While very possible (and kinda fun to be so 'mundane'), it really felt like I was signing up for the hardest way to do everything with little pay off. Potions seem like they've almost been forgotten and left behind in favor of class (su/sp) abilities and spells/scrolls that accomplish the same thing for a fraction of the cost.

Which is a real bummer, because it'd be fun to play an ordinary guy who has to use everything at their disposal to succeed. But I guess it's reality that they'd get their butts handed to them by more versatile classes. Note: I haven't played with potions too much, so I'm going off what I'm reading in the book..and I could be WAY OFF in their usefulness.

Inquisitor. Alchemist. Investigator. Stygian Slayer

Several of you mentioned other archetypes and/or multiclasses. I'll take a look more closely at them and just try my hand at creating a couple of ideas to play test. I knew that I wasn't going to get everything I wanted in a character, but there were some good ideas that get me most what I'm looking for!

Magical Items

I'm still trying to dig around for items, potions, materials, etc that give me an advantage over magic users. Examples include using the dreamstone or noqual material for weapons or armor, wondrous items like 'mantel of spell resistance' (though that's expensive!), etc.

Paulicus's comments about silence made me realize I'm going to probably have to find abilities, feats, items that target the requirements of spell casting (hand gestures, concentration, speech, etc.).

Premise (TL;DR)
I'm looking to create a mage hunter that relies on mundane means or magical artifacts such as potions, oils, traps, wondrous items, etc. I'm envisioning something like a Witcher (NSFW - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-l29HlKkXU) that hunts wizards instead of monsters. With that, I have two questions:

• How would you go about building a Witcher (see details section below) in Pathfinder?
  
• What mundane items can be used to hunt (track, disable, trap, suppress, etc.) magic users?
  

Gaming Context

• Playing Rise of the Runelords with a party of 4 players (not a lot of room to not really carry your weight with so few players)
  
• Our characters are level 8 and my character bit the dust **hard**
  
• I tend to enjoy characters with non-combat options more than an optimized wrecking ball. However, I also don't enjoy being utterly useless in combat either. So, I enjoy a balanced character.
  

Witcher
The Witcher is a concept from books written by Andrzej Sapkowski and the computer games (http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/Witcher). The general concept is that they're taken as children, trained to fight, and submitted to a mutation process to give them strength, speed, etc. Their purpose in life is basically to hunt monsters for pay and they do so with the following arsenal:

• Swordsmanship. They are master swordsmen. "Silver for monsters..Steel for men" and all that.
  
• Alchemy. Decoctions. Potions. Alchemic Bombs. Oils. Oh, my! They brew concoctions to fortify themselves (see in the dark, healing, resistance, etc.) or coat their weapons in the appropriate oil to be more effective against their enemeies
• Signs. They have limited use of magic through 5 signs that amount to flame, wave of force, trap (slowing zone?), mental confusion/control, armor
  

I always thought a good witcher should study their prey and go into the fight prepared.

I fully expect that a pathfinder character can't do all of the above. I would prefer a focus on swords & alchemy. This video shows one off pretty well (mostly swords, some potions, and a touch of magic):

Warning: Not Safe For Work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-l29HlKkXU

My Initial Thoughts

Classes
For the core witcher concept, the following classes seem to make the most sense for a witcher who hunts magic users:

Ranger: Good skills, melee, potions through brew potions, favored enemy bonus, tends towards mundane

Alchemist: I've read that this class was inspired by The Witcher and it's certainly visible through potions, mutagens, etc. However, they seem like they get their job done through bombs more than picking up a sword.

Inquisitor: Good skills, melee, magic, literally build to track and hunt things, weapon enchants, etc, potions through brew potions, tends towards more magical

Fighter: Mundane as you can get, but seem like they'd be too narrow on skills, non-combat roleplay, etc.

Hunting Magic Casters
Honeslty, I have no clue with this. As far as I can tell, the best ways are to fight magic with magic, choke them, or kill them before they can utter a word.

There are materials, artifacts, potions, etc. that disrupt magical being and spells, provide protection to the user against magic, etc. Is there anything like this in Pathfinder?!

Thank you in advance for any help = )

his stat block says it's a longsword.

Do you mind linking me to his stat block? Thanks for the answer though - it's a really unique and cool looking longsword!

What kind of sword is Seltyiel wielding in all the artwork? Is that a longsword, scimitar, something else?