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As the title says, I am looking to build a character for Pathfinder Society inspired by Celes of Final Fantasy VI fame.
I've seen a number of Final Fantasy conversion threads, and the class that often comes back for her is magus. I'm not beholden to the idea if you think another class suits her better given all the recent releases in the game.
Anyway, if I did go magus, I wasn't sure if STR or DEX better fit her thematically. She starts out with pretty balanced stats, but I have forgotten how her progression looks.
I viewing her character art, she is often depicted with a curved sword, so scimitar would work OK in my mind. (Besides being a nearly optimal weapon for the magus with its wide crit range).
Dervish Dance would make the Dex build really come off, but it's also considered cheesy by many people. Another consideration is that I currently do not own UM or the ISWG.
Current books include: CRB, APG, UC, Unchained, Advanced Class Origins and Animal Archive.
If there's a similar-working thing within there (work towards Eldritch Knight?) then I might like to try that too.
Thanks in advance!
There's no perfect emulation available for the Rune Knight job from Final Fantasy, which is what Celes' ability set most closely resembles. I would agree that the Magus is a relatively good emulation for an offensive interpretation of the character, but I would say that Cleric, Oracle and Inquisitor are all valid choices, as well, and they're available in books you already have. All 3 will provide both natural magic progression and combat competence. If you had APG, I would recommend Shaman and Warpriest, as well. Even Bard can handle some aspects of the character.
What capabilities do you want to focus on? That can help narrow down what we look at.
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Your thread is relevant to my interests! Brainstorming FF6 characters in PFS is something I spend too much time on.
I'd say magus is best, with a focus on dispelling and cold spells (the ones she learns naturally). There's an arcana to dispel things you hit, and dispel magic is on your class list. There's also the Spellsink armor from Dirty Tactics Toolbox that works for it. Bard wouldn't be a terrible idea either, as she's a general and inspired her troops...in theory.
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My closest recommendation would be Unlettered Arcanist (Witch spell list for Cures and antidotes and stuff) + Blade Adept Arcanist into Eldritch Knight with the Counterspell exploit, and the exploit to make your CL count toward your Black Blade to represent her countermagic powers with the Rune Blade.
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The skald spell warrior is pretty close, except for the singing. Although, there was that opera...
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I appreciate the input so far! I guess my main goal would be to build a "melee with spells" kind of character. There's plenty of that in Pathfinder, of course - but I don't get quite the vibe I'm hoping for from cleric or inquisitor. Celes didn't necessarily appear to be a divine-powered character, as her abilities were derived through Magitek.
I'm not very savvy on Oracles, so I'd be interested in being "led by the nose" there.
I haven't played FF VI in quite awhile, so it's been good just to have a refresher on just what Celes did in the game.
Interesting idea; my immediate gut reaction is a Battle Host Occultist, actually.
I appreciate the input so far! I guess my main goal would be to build a "melee with spells" kind of character. There's plenty of that in Pathfinder, of course - but I don't get quite the vibe I'm hoping for from cleric or inquisitor. Celes didn't necessarily appear to be a divine-powered character, as her abilities were derived through Magitek.
I'm not very savvy on Oracles, so I'd be interested in being "led by the nose" there.
I haven't played FF VI in quite awhile, so it's been good just to have a refresher on just what Celes did in the game.
Her main aspects were:
1. Automatic (automagic?) spell learning for Ice, Cure, and a couple others.2. Runic, which absorbed the next spell with a target.
3. Decent with weapons/armor.
In general, the Rune Knight job focused on antimagic defensive fighting with a small amount of magic to go along with it. Compare this to the Magic Knight (sometimes also called Spell Sword or Mystic Knight, IIRC) that imbued their weapon with spells, the Paladin that was a defensive warrior healer, and the Dark Knight, which did emo self-harming darkness attacks. These 4 jobs were hybrid warrior/casters that focused on the warrior part more than the caster part. As I co-authored a game system based on the E-games, I've got a fair amount of background on this stuff, though it's been a while and we were hybridizing several E-games at once into a single tabletop system, so some design space decisions may not reflect the full canon.
What differentiates Celes from the normal job is that FF VI allowed for characters to learn magic outside of their job. Thus, I'm not really comfortable putting her in the 4-level caster category. My suggestions of Cleric, Oracle, and Inquisitor were around that defensive aspect while still retaining reasonable combat potential. Truthfully, any FF-based character with magic is likely best shown by a spontaneous caster as that's more reflective of the spellcasting of the games, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule. While a Magus would be a good reflection overall, it tends to be a more offensive caster - one I would associate more with the Magic Knight job than the Rune Knight job - so translating mechanics can vary some things here. Also, I was doing what I could to keep within your existing book ownership.
If I were to build a mechanical translation of Celes, I think I would end up going with a Battle Oracle, going heavy armor ASAP via Skill at Arms (remember that Celes was one of relatively few characters who could wear the heavier armor options), and going with defensive options for spells. I would trend towards a physical-heavy stat selection - 16 12 14 10 10 13 before racials, perhaps? - and wade into melee. Eventually, you can work your way up to Spell Resistance and similar defensive options, which mimic the defensive options of the Rune Knight well.
The most difficult translation piece for the Oracle is needing to select a curse. My recommendation would be Legalistic, despite being from a source you don't own (Blood of Fiends). It doesn't dramatically alter what we know about Celes and it allows you to get better at fulfilling promises, which seems appropriate to her.
While you won't have easy access to ice-themed spells, you'll have a strong defensive warrior with some magic to back it up, along with the ability to utilize Dispel Magic as a Runic-like counterspell.
This is definitely an interesting conversation to watch. So many different ways to create one of my favorite characters.
I believe I might have to create a Rune Knight Tradition in my setting using Spheres of Power.
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Chelish Diva bard.
She sings in the opera, wears heavy armor (seriously she can wear almost anything Cyan can), uses a shield, is a party leader (in the world of ruin) and charismatic.
I would also specialize in counterspelling with dispel magic to emulate runic.
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Chelish Diva bard.
She sings in the opera, wears heavy armor (seriously she can wear almost anything Cyan can), uses a shield, is a party leader (in the world of ruin) and charismatic.
I would also specialize in counterspelling with dispel magic to emulate runic.
I highly approve of this idea as well! I have to admit, Chelish Diva came to mind for me too, but only because I've played alongside one.
I'd have to read up on the occultist options. A quick read of the class descriptions on the PRD made it sound like a cool archetype with loads of flavor.
I haven't dealt with dispelling much. A quick read of dispel magic makes it sound like it's simply a matter of rolling a d20 plus your caster level. What ways are there of raising your effective caster level for these types of spells?
Monster Summoner's Handbook has Dispel Focus and Greater Dispel Focus, worth +2 each. You can also pick up Varisian Tattoo: Abjuration (ISWG) and Spell Specialization: Dispel Magic (UM) for +1 and +2, respectively. You can use Cold Iron worth 1gp as an additional material component to increase your caster level for dispel. If you're feeling really spendy, there's also the orange prism ioun stone (CRB, I think) for an extra +1 caster level.