Light and Dark Themed Character for PFS

[BeeMakesTea]

I recently was gifted a Merfolk boon for PFS! EEEEE! I want to theme the character around light and darkness (how water affects light is one of the things I find cool about the ocean). I want it to be a caster for sure, but otherwise I'm not sure how I want to go about it.

An initial idea would be some kind of shadow caster, but from what I've read about them, they feel very feast or famine in addition to practically mandating Wayang shadow stuff and non-PFS material.

Thoughts?

[Azothath]

well... merfolk abil[0,+2,+2,0,0,0], Spd 5ft, Swim 50ft, amphibious.
You will need an advanced horse war-trained at $326 with gear. A spherical aquarium tank is a practical option.
Is that the only race on the boon?

[Melkiador]

Eclipsed spell comes to mind.

Quote:

Eclipsed Spell (Metamagic)

Source Blood of Shadows pg. 25
You alter how your spells affect illumination.

Benefit: Only spells that create areas of light or darkness can be eclipsed spells. If the eclipsed spell creates an area that shines like a torch or raises the light level by one step, you can choose to have the spell lower the illumination level in the affected area by one step, functioning like darkness. If the eclipsed spell creates an area that shines like daylight or raises the light level by two steps, you can choose to have the spell lower the illumination level in the affected area by two steps and create an area of magical darkness, functioning like deeper darkness.

If the eclipsed spell lowers the illumination level in the affected area by one step, you can choose to have the spell cause the affected area to glow with normal light, functioning like light. If the eclipsed spell lowers the illumination level in the affected area by two steps, you can choose to have the spell cause the affected area to shed bright light, functioning like daylight.

An eclipsed spell does not use up a higher-level spell slot than the spell’s actual level.

A heavens mystery oracle may work well with this.

[Azothath]

...
Magic can cover your hindrances. While the race background is singing, that relies on Cha and Perform skill ranks. You also need to avoid combat due to your 5ft land speed.

My first suggestion is multiclassed wizard (of course). Look at one level of Cleric Varisian Pilgrim for a deity with good domains and weapon(like bow). Then go Wizard-diviner with SplFcs(Evokation) the rest of the way. Wizard (shadowcaster), Bard, Bard-Dirge, or Kineticist are other main class options. Traits will be Magical Knack and a metamagic cost lowering trait or a +1 Fort trait. I've listed some builds in the Advice forum.

mydriatic spontaneity:K4 is going to be a key spell. See dust of twilight, glitterdust.

In Org Play you can play a Pregen in place of your PC. That might be for the best until 2nd level and your PC starts with 1650gp or so...

[Azothath]

Expeditious Retreat, Alter Self, Fins to Feet, Wall of Brine, will be very helpful.

Shadow casters have several feats; Spell Focus Evoc, Ill, tenebrous, umbral, shadow grasp. Then the illusion versions of spells like 'shadow evocation' etc. It is a serious investment of feats with a late game payoff...

[Azothath]

(To Clarify the above "shadowcaster") I ran Fuinë Curuvar, a wayang pseudo-shadowcaster (as above) just using the Wizard school specialist Diviner which is better than than the Shadowcaster archetype. I also had a Faerie Dragon Familiar from a certain unnamed scenario. I'd use makeup and prestidigitation to keep his color in theme (shadow dragon... oooohh! Of course a simple Perception/Know Arcana picked up the ruse in the style of reskinning). The familiar had a cloak, spell pages, aegis, and a few wands, one was a wand of enervation! It was flavorful but lacked a bit of power from my usual build style. I played wayangs as somewhat non-violent illusionists using trickery and misdirection rather than the bigger race's tendency to kill everyone that opposed them. I would comment about how violent the party was and called some very martial groups "murder hoboes" (as they were!).

I'm of the opinion that Cleric-Varisian Pilgrim adds Party support (cleric spell list and an at range Domain buff) to a wizard along with a better weapon. That's very handy. You need Magical Knack on the Cleric to get the duration up to CL3.

[BeeMakesTea]

I don't have it near me right now, but I think there was an aquatic elf option and a gillman option. I have to use boons in tandem with it for gillman and merfolk though, I only have the other boons to achieve the merfolk effect though. Other options might be easier to get that salty ocean flavor, but it just sounds fun and cool to do it this way :) or at least try to make it work really hard!

Good point, "starting" at level 2 is going to be a good move. Level 1 is bad enough as it is lol

Eclipsed spell is very thematic! Sort of like a dual slot light and shadow spell. Heaven's oracle suits the theme well. Ignoring the enchantment boost from the Secret Magic racial trait, I could get the Strong Tail trait instead to have a mighty 15ft of movement instead!

Shadowcaster does seem weak, it feels like it shores up the backup effect of Shadow spells, when really you just want targets to fail the initial save and be done with it. A familiar is always flavorful too...
____

If I'm leaning illusion with a charisma boosting race, what's looking strong? Illusions allow a lot of flavor flexibility and can be effective, fun, etc. Shadow magic is possible too with illusion!

[Azothath]

Azothath wrote:

well... merfolk abil[0,+2,+2,0,0,+2], Spd 5ft, Swim 50ft, amphibious.

You will need an advanced horse war-trained at $326 with gear. A spherical aquarium tank is a practical option.
...

20 pt ability score arrays;

(Cha) abil[10,16,12,14,10,18] or [10,12,12,13,10,20].
(Int) abil[10,14,12,18,10,13] or [10,14,10,18,12,13].