How to make a grim-reaper-esque PC...


Advice


I just had this weird idea: how could I make a PC that was like the grim reaper.

I'm not really looking for any class in particular, I just want a scythe weilding, undead making, people slaughtering, black cloaked character. He isn't even for a campaign, I just want to see what can be done.

So, how would you make the grim reaper?

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Cleric or Uragothorica or whatever her name is...evil goddess, favored weapon scythe, likes undead.
Easiest way...


Reaper's first Kickstarter featured this miniature. Your request just reminds me that I also want to build it -- Dotting this thread for interest.


Fake Healer wrote:

Cleric or Uragothorica or whatever her name is...evil goddess, favored weapon scythe, likes undead.

Easiest way...

Would a grim reaper worship a deity? I'm not sure if that fits the flavor? What do people think about that?


They said a PC like the Grim Reaper.

Definitely a cleric/wizrd is the easiest way for the raise dead/necromancy part.

Cleric gains you the martial weapon proficiency required.

Sorcerer with the Undead Bloodline, or the alternate Sanguine bloodline for a more "vampire" feel.

Though... now I'm gonna look into more options.

The Exchange

So you don't want a grim Reaper-like PC, you want the grim reaper himself?
Yeah, that would be either a Devil or a Demi-god. There is no race, class, levels. He would be a Bestiary creature.


Fake Healer wrote:

Cleric or Uragothorica or whatever her name is...evil goddess, favored weapon scythe, likes undead.

Easiest way...

Did nearly that exact thing, ended up abandoning him for another character and he became the campaign villain, lol.

My character was a cleric without a church- he was the sole servant of a "dead" god on the plane. Your grim reaper could serve Charon, Horseman of Death or somesuch, acting as his mortal avatar on the plane.

Cleric will work for a caster, but antipaladin may be better melee-centric. What level of armor are you thinking? I had a dream about the reaper in skull-motif fullplate... or are you thinking traditional?


Fake Healer wrote:

So you don't want a grim Reaper-like PC, you want the grim reaper himself?

Yeah, that would be either a Devil or a Demi-god. There is no race, class, levels. He would be a Bestiary creature.

I'm respectfully asking that you don't overreact to me asking a question.


Don't like Cleric? An Oracle of Bones or maybe Juju could work.


Baron Ulfhamr wrote:
Fake Healer wrote:

Cleric or Uragothorica or whatever her name is...evil goddess, favored weapon scythe, likes undead.

Easiest way...

Did nearly that exact thing, ended up abandoning him for another character and he became the campaign villain, lol.

My character was a cleric without a church- he was the sole servant of a "dead" god on the plane. Your grim reaper could serve Charon, Horseman of Death or somesuch, acting as his mortal avatar on the plane.

Cleric will work for a caster, but antipaladin may be better melee-centric. What level of armor are you thinking? I had a dream about the reaper in skull-motif fullplate... or are you thinking traditional?

I was thinking more traditional and therefore was imagining DEX based... Until I realized scythe was martial, not simple. I'd still prefer traditional.

As for the deity, yeah, I'd prefer worshiping and ideal rather than a deity.

Lastly, I'm looking for caster>melee, but I would prefer them close.


Anti-Paladin/Shadow Dancer

Vital Strike with a Scythe.


Well, one of my PCs is playing an amazing 13th level Anti-Paladin that wields a Void Scythe. He ALWAYS seams to roll a 20 when needed lol.

Anyway, he worships Bhaal and is attempting to aid the Bhaalspawn of his choice into ascension to be his new deity.

I house ruled the anti-pally to be lawful evil, (because evil religions need order too!!!).


Azelyan wrote:

Anti-Paladin/Shadow Dancer

Vital Strike with a Scythe.

Why would I use vital strike?


The Artaxerxes wrote:
Azelyan wrote:

Anti-Paladin/Shadow Dancer

Vital Strike with a Scythe.

Why would I use vital strike?

why wouldn't you??? I think one BIG swing that KILLS it's target is cooler looking than many little chops that slowly hack them apart. It is a scythe, not a dagger! :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I think a key would definitely be Craft Magic Arms and Armor to make a Vorpal Scythe.

Silver Crusade

White Necromancer/Paladin


If ONLY the blade-bound magus could have a two-handed black blade... had a similar idea, lol


He'd need Skill Focus (Chess), come to think of it.


Is 3pp allowed?


I second Oracle of Bones. Change Armor of Bones to Reaper's Robe.

Alternatively, for whirling scythe of death, go with Monk of the Empty Hand. Flurry, 'free' enchantment, and a weapon that can deal your unarmed strike damage? Yes please!


Cheapy wrote:
He'd need Skill Focus (Chess), come to think of it.

nah, he's since let that skill atrophy since he started throttling people who challenge him to chess matches.

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Cheapy wrote:
He'd need Skill Focus (Chess), come to think of it.

It'll serve him well until two guys from San Dimas challenge him to Battleship, Clue, or Twister.


Mikaze wrote:
Cheapy wrote:
He'd need Skill Focus (Chess), come to think of it.
It'll serve him well until two guys from San Dimas challenge him to Battleship, Clue, or Twister.

EXCELLENT *wailing electric guitar riff*

Grand Lodge

I thought about this as well, mainly just a theory build for s#&+s and giggles but i built a evil anti-pali/ cavalier who rode a shadow steed with a vorpal scythe. I kinda balanced str and dex. Had my mount take the bodyguard feat that way any attack that would have landed on me he took and with cavalier you can negate any attack on your mount with a ride check. Doesn't seem practical to play starting at level on and building up but theory built is a major badass.


Tiefling Blackblooded Oracle of bones. Get a Conductive scythe so you can deliver the deaths touch ability through your weapon. you can enhance this a little more with bleeding wounds (I know that small of a bleed is not great but it fits the flavor very well.).

Tiefling isn't a must but I do feel it has a few things that make it fit the flavor. Darkvision (seems like a must have to me (and through Fiend Sightx2 can be made into see in darkness. Though feat heavy.) and opens up moonlight stalker feat line which I personally feel is great (cloak of lesser displacement makes it always on.)

Though the big problem is you will need to spend a feat to use a scythe.

-Edit- Ignore the darkvision thing. Black blooded gets it already. Making Tiefling less attractive.


Nah, go anti-paladin and focus on the Scythe. Then, once you hit 9th, fulfill the requirements to take the Graveknight template.


Honestly, there are so many different ways to do this, it will just be your preference.

Have you ever watched Soul Eater? Maka could be a Sohei Monk flurrying with the scythe. Could also possibly work for Bleach Soul Reapers with katanas.

An Knight of the Sepulcher Antipaladin would also make a good unholy of death.

Cleric of Charon. Undead Lord would be thematic, but not really a great archetype.

A Hexcrafter Magus, Blade Bound if willing to use a sickle or just house rule a sythe for the black blade. Add Necromacy spells with Greater Spell access, or otherwise.

Blackblooded Oracle of Bones or Juju.

Ninja could fit the mysterious, sudden striking aspect.

Undead (or Sanguine) bloodline Sorcerer. Maybe Crossblooded with Shadow or Daemon.

Gravewalker Witch of Death.

Shadowcaster (or Cruormancer if dhampir) Necromancer Wizard. Thassalonian Specialist could also work.

For Prestige Classes, Shadow Dancer would work well with the Monk or Ninja, and wouldn't be too bad for the Antipaladin. Could combine with Assassin.

Agent of the Grave could be added to Cleric, Oracle, Sorcerer, Witch, or Wizard.

Souleater for a follower of Charon.

Leadership feat to get a Nightmare mount. Lich (for spell casters) or Graveknight (for more martial characters) templates would be good.

Many options could fit, depending on exactly what you want.


The Death Mage is how I would do it. Its pretty much designed to do exactly that. Necromancy focused, can be undead focused, proficient with a scythe, and the flavor of the pale road is really fitting for such a character.


Start with a:

Skeleton. Or Obitu from Alluria Publishing.

Add: Whatever class you like.

Give him:

a tattered cloak and a garden scythe.

Then: Practice grin.

And: Swing.

Repeat ad infinitum.

Done.


Wizard who focuses on Hold Person and its associated effects. Use a Scythe. Coup de Grace at will. and be true Neutral. You are death. You dont care why they die they just need to at that time. no real nead to focus on necromancy although it fits pretty well.

Sczarni

@The Artaxerxes
Grim Reaper -> Inquisitor with a scythe. Bane property of theirs enables them to slash any target down.


Inquisitor might be better.


How I did it :

1 : Cleric of a god with a Scythe as their favored weapon.
2 : Flowing or Maneuver Master Monk
3 : Flowing or Manuever Master Monk (Crusader Flurry)
4 : Minhir Savant Druid (at will detect fey, undead, incorporeal, etc)
5+: Take 1 level of Cleric for every 3 levels of Monk

Trip like a fiend, AoO on stand up. You'll find you can more easily trip than hit AC with this build, but the prone penalties on them after the trip when they stand up is awesome.

This also works well with some teamwork feats, specifically the ones that let you take an AoO when someone provokes from an adjacent team mate.

If you and your bud both get this, and fight side by side, you get your AoO when they stand up, your buddy then get's one because they provoked one from you. Then they get their AoO that the person provkes standing up, and you get one because they provoked one from your bud. That's 2x the AoO. Obviously you want combat reflexes with this type of build. And a high dex.


In any event, check out this class :)


There's also the reaper race. They're psychopomp planetouched, so they usually wouldn't go around slaughtering and creating undead, but sometimes psychotic reapers will do that.


Might as well mention Dread Necromancer (from 3.5 Heroes of Horror) and Death Master (from 3.5 Dragon Magazine Compendium)


Sorry, I've been busy, so I haven't been able to find time for the forums.

No 3pp unfortunately. A lot of it is cool, but it just isn't allowed.

I actually really like the inquisitor idea. I might go on that. What domains/inquisitions would be best/thematic?

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

The Blight Druid? You get a cool miasma (which could be interpreted as an aura of "death") and you can take the Darkness, Death or Destruction Domain or take a "Pale Horse" Animal Companion and get some mounted combat feats - take a couple levels of fighter with boon companion.


Amenhotep wrote:
The Blight Druid? You get a cool miasma (which could be interpreted as an aura of "death") and you can take the Darkness, Death or Destruction Domain or take a "Pale Horse" Animal Companion and get some mounted combat feats - take a couple levels of fighter with boon companion.

Of all the classes to fit this, Druid was my last guess, but this is a really cool idea. I'm going to look at that archetype. I thought it trades out getting an animal companion.


Yeah, a Blight Druid with the Shade of the Uskwood.

No AC, but you can get a familiar or expanded domain options.

You could always dip Cavalier 1 for a "Pale Horse" if you wanted (or 4 levels and a feat and it would be a full character level animal companion, too).


Shades of the Uskwood?

Grand Lodge

I don't think I've seen it mentioned, so I'm going to say barbarian. His rage power No Escape is very fitting, since it denies any withdraw action. With fast movement and possibly beast totem he is a dark cloaked figure gliding across the battlefield decimating opponents. Superstition makes him very resistant to spells as well, and with spell sunder it will seem like nothing can stop him. Spirit totem is slightly more flavorful, but mechanically a bit weaker. This is also going to be one of the physically bulkiest of suggestions, able to take a lot of pain and shrug it off. This one is all about no escape and inevitable death. And a crit from a raging barbarian's keen scythe is pretty much certain death.


Kiinyan wrote:
I don't think I've seen it mentioned, so I'm going to say barbarian. His rage power No Escape is very fitting, since it denies any withdraw action. With fast movement and possibly beast totem he is a dark cloaked figure gliding across the battlefield decimating opponents. Superstition makes him very resistant to spells as well, and with spell sunder it will seem like nothing can stop him. Spirit totem is slightly more flavorful, but mechanically a bit weaker. This is also going to be one of the physically bulkiest of suggestions, able to take a lot of pain and shrug it off. This one is all about no escape and inevitable death. And a crit from a raging barbarian's keen scythe is pretty much certain death.

I like it, but it does not have enough spell casting to really fit the theme. In my mind, a grim reaper like character is more than a character in a cloak dealing absurd amounts of damage with a sythe.


Shade of the Uskwood


Tels wrote:
Nah, go anti-paladin and focus on the Scythe. Then, once you hit 9th, fulfill the requirements to take the Graveknight template.

goodness golly gosh. i know what my necromancer's aiming towards now (undead mastery + animate dead buckets would be some tasty stuff)!


AndIMustMask wrote:
Tels wrote:
Nah, go anti-paladin and focus on the Scythe. Then, once you hit 9th, fulfill the requirements to take the Graveknight template.
goodness golly gosh. i know what my necromancer's aiming towards now (undead mastery + animate dead buckets would be some tasty stuff)!

The template is awesome. You get a skeletal phantom horse you can summon once per hour, an energy based blast attack, the ability to control undead, every weapon you wield deals additional energy damage, and if you go with the default energy type (fire) you are immune to cold, electricity and fire. On top of that, you have spell resistance, and are unlikely to be identified as a graveknight.

Also, bonus, no where does it say you actually have to ear your armor. You can treat it just like a lich's phylactery, leaving it somewhere safe. However, unlike the phylactery* it's not easy to destroy; the armor is mentioned having to be utterly ruined, such as disintegrated, taken to the positive energy plane, or thrown into the heart of a volcano.

Lich's Phylactery wrote:
The most common form of phylactery is a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed. The box is Tiny and has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40.

You can just sunder a phylactery, while you have to utterly destroy a graveknight's armor.


While it might depart from the pure undead theme a little a dark tapestry oracle would get the bad ass looking cloak and some other nice "dark" flavor along with a way to beef your stats a bit. You would have to pick up the scythe prof from somewhere else. It would be nice if you could get blood money on the spell list to cast your animate for free; a ring of spell knowledge may be able to be UMDed to trick the arcane req, but I am not entirely sure it works like that.

Lately I have become partial to the PP minis.

one option

http://privateerpress.com/files/products/73028_Shepherd_WEB.jpg

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / How to make a grim-reaper-esque PC... All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.