Fiend Keeper Character concepts

[Natan Linggod 327]

I really like the Fiend Keeper archtype for Mediums.

I know technically it's meant only for grippli but I found it fit some character(& NPC) concepts that I've been playing around with for a while, trying to find ways to build them.

So I thought I'd share 'em and see what other people have come up with!

Feel free to share yours! And use mine in your game if you like!

1: The Fallen Knight.
This is an npc concept I had waaaaay back in AD&D times. The story behind it was a paladin battled a legendary evil dragon and in a last desperate move used a [magical mcguffin] to obliterate the dragon and himself. Some magical weirdness happened and instead the dragons spirit is bound to the paladin. The sheer evilness of the dragon prevents the paladin from drawing on holy might any more and instead he has learned to use the power of the monster within him to fight the good fight.
*In the original version he gained his special abilities from a magic item set spontaneously created from the dragons remains.*

2: The Bad Deal.
This concept was based on a series of short stories I read ages ago. Can't remember the name of the series though. In it a warrior makes a deal with a 'goddess' (who seems to be equal parts snake, cat and seductive psycho) wherein he houses her within him and 'feeds' her other spirits in return for her granting him power. He once allowed her too much control and wiped out his own village so now he rarely draws on her power, though she tempts him constantly.

3: The Guardian of Shushu.
Based on Percedal from Wakfu. This is basically the same idea as the 'standard' Fiend Keeper except the evil spirit is kept in a bonded weapon. Only the character can access the spirits powers but he must be wielding the weapon to do so.

4: Future Not Self.
This was inspired by Young Loki/Old Loki comics run. The characters future self is immensely powerful but fantastically evil. Something happens in the future to prompt the Evilself to go back in time and possess his younger self. Things don't go exactly to plan and the young self retains control. And he never quite knows if he's playing into his future selfs plans or not.

5: Sins of the Soul.
This one is a multiclass with 1 or 2 levels of rogue to start with. The char is/was an explorer/archaeologist/nosey parker who gets cursed while poking around some Thassilonian ruins. Each spirit is actually an alternate version of his own soul embodying a sin. Only 6 of the 7 Sins seem to have manifested. So now he's constantly searching for a way to un curse himself while worrying about whether the 7th sin is biding its time to take control.

So, what cool concepts have you come up with?

[Linea Lirondottir]

Murashi (Surname that fits in with the local grippli tribe) is a second-generation halfling fiend keeper (though seventh generation overall for this fiend, a daemon of significant power and ambition). The tribe is largely grippli and halflings, and they have found some impressive synergies with each other.

Worships Shelyn (focusing primarily on art and platonic love of all sorts); her focus is one of the reasons she was selected from the pool of volunteers to bind the fiend as those aspects directly oppose a great deal of the daemonic mindset. Generally draws from the spirit's power with the guardian aspect.

Able combatant, though she refuses to kill without a very good reason against that particular person and works with a team that works likewise.

Composes positive songs designed to best utilize grippli and halfling singers and happily sings them, too, to help keep morale up and for the sheer joy of it.

[Natan Linggod 327]

I hope one of her songs is "Rainbow Connection"

[Fourshadow]

Much of what is in this wonderful Player Companion Blood of the Beast book is while most of the archetypes are inspired/originate from these races they are NOT exclusive to them. It says so in the book.
If you want to make one, do it!

[Daedalus the Dungeon Builder]

Another possible build is possible with only the slightest tweak to the fluff:

6: The Ring-Bearer
Chosen to destroy an ancient artifact of unimaginable evil, the Ring-Bearer has been sent on a quest to destroy this object. While it's a powerful artifact, its powers are hidden and easily corrupt, meaning the Ring-Bearer must be incredibly cautions about drawing on its abilities, lest it overpower and consume him, but must use them if he is to succeed in destroying it.

Yes, this is 100% a LotR ripoff, but how many ways could you really mimic the incredible power of the One Ring, yet keep most of its abilities locked away and mostly inaccessible? No magic item would do- how about a class?

[Fromper]

I'm currently making my own grippli fiend keeper for PFS. In PFS, the archetype really is only for gripplis, so no choice there. I like the race, but I don't know how effective he'll be in combat, and I haven't come up with a good story and personality for him yet.

Mechanically, I'll mostly stick to the champion spirit, going high dex, with Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting, and Piranha Strike as his first 3 feats. He'll stick to the racial rapier proficiency from the princely alternate racial trait at low levels, so he can channel a weaker spirit and spirit surge twice per day for free. Once he hits level 5 and gets Piranha Strike, he'll switch to kukris, which requires the full champion spirit, which he'd want to start using at level 6, anyway.

So he'll just do a ton of attacks for relatively low damage, and I'm a little worried about DR shutting him down. I'm hoping carrying kukris in ever possible material, along with scrolls of Magic Weapon and Bless Weapon, and a good UMD score, should get me past almost any DR. But some fights at higher levels may be tough for him.

Personality wise, I was thinking he would probably have to be a good, reliable person to be chosen by the tribe for the fiend keeper job. But why leave the tribe to go explore the world as a Pathfinder? I already talked about this in another thread, and we bounced around some ideas. I just haven't pinned anything down for sure yet. I might play this guy for the first time this weekend, so he may get fleshed out some on the fly when I do.

[Linea Lirondottir]

Don't forget that a +3 enhancement bonus gets past cold iron and silver DR, +4 gets past adamantine, and +5 against alignment-based DRs.

There's also a feat that allows you to add up the damage from all of your attacks before applying DR. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/clustered-shots-combat It's only for ranged attacks, though.

Maybe consider the vital strike feats? Also, you're getting the agile weapon property or one of the feats that gives dex-to-damage, right?

If you have a group you'll be working with frequently there are some teamwork feats that are worth considering taking, too.

[Fromper]

I'll be doing melee, so Clustered Shots won't help. And it's pretty easy to get weapons made of silver, cold iron, and adamantine. It's things that need the special material combined with magical and/or good that's the bigger issue.

I figure if I can get an adamantine weapon, that won't need other properties, since that's rarely combined in DR. So if I can get +1 silver and +1 cold iron weapons, and carry scrolls of Bless Weapon with a high UMD, I can probably be ok.

The biggest issue will be things with DR/-, where nothing overcomes the DR. I did the math, and I should be doing 1d3+11 by level 8 with spirit bonus, sceance bonus, and Piranha Strike, and my weapons will have an 18-20 crit range. If I can upgrade to keen, that should help. And that's before the extra bonuses from my fiend giving me power, or casting Bull's Strength for 2 more damage on strength, so two rounds of buffing at that level gets it up to 1d3+15, which should just barely get past the worst DR you can see at that level.

Worst case scenario, I'm still casting Haste on the rest of the party and giving them all +2 damage all day with my shared sceance bonus. Plus Ear Piercing Scream as a known spell will get past DR. Mediums really don't get a great offensive spell list, but it's enough to give me something to do in a bad situation.

So this won't the most powerful PC in a fight, but I'll never be completely useless. Actually, my bigger worry is that I need way too many high price items to make the character work. Between needing good armor on the front line, two magic weapons, Circlet of Persuasion for the charisma check when I get power from my fiend, dex belt, cha headband, runestones of power, etc, this guy will need more stuff than most PCs.

For now, I'm more worried about working out the personality and back story details. I love the concept, and that's why I want to play a fiend keeper, despite knowing it's not a very powerful build.