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Been wanting to make a spooky character for a while, but I'm coming up dry on ideas that aren't heavy on the squick factor.
Anyone got any ideas for characters with a more PG-13 level of spook that don't lean too hard on making people feel super uncomfortable?
I play in PFS, so I don't want to bring a character around that will make others feel horrified and not want to play with me...but I want something leaning more towards the dark and spooky end of the acceptable spectrum that has a nice spooky feel to it.
Being that I play PFS, that means PFS legal options only (no evil characters, Paizo on materials, etc)
Also looking for good spooky magic items, preferably ones that are useful without being insanely expensive...Things like the Grim Lantern caught my eye. Open to other suggestions.
I made a character a while back that was an illusionist, who themed all of their illusions to be spooky...but there is so much table variation with the effectiveness of illusion magic that I ended up basically retiring the character before it really got anywhere.
So...anyone got any good spooktastic ideas they would care to share?
Thanks
Hellcat stealth or similar hide in plain sight effects could be used for a character who's always appearing unexpectedly. Or a cipher investigator similarly. Maybe a ninja.
Witches are... witches. All the Halloween stereotypes you want.
A psychodermist occultist is probably festooned with bits of dead enemies.
Cabalist vigilantes are made for looking dark and spooky and splashing blood everywhere.
Anything involving Zon-Kuthon is spooky, though possibly also squicky.
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Sneaky spooky is an idea. I've got more experience with rogue-like characters than probably everything else combined, so I know how to build and play those really well...on the other hand, I've played a million sneaky characters, so I'll probably go a different direction to change things up.
Witch almost feels like cheating, lol. They are also pretty heavily represented in the local meta, so I think I'll pass on that option, for now at least...something to maybe circle back to if nothing else sparks my interest.
The psychodermist is interesting, but maybe a little too far on the squick end of the spectrum. Harvesting body parts is pretty R-rated. I am aiming more for Tim Burton than Wes Craven.
Cabalist is interesting, I'll have to do some reading on secret organizations on Golarian...see if any of them have a feel that interests me.
I think I am going to steer clear of the evil deity worship, most of them I think go to far into the squick end really quickly...gods of death, pain, disease, etc. don't really seem like the type that team players would be involved with.
The character idea doesn't necessarily need to be tied to a class/mechanic that screams spooky. My original idea of the illusionist was a straight forward illusion caster, I just themed all the illusions as things like ghosts, warped landscapes, etc, had the character look very pale, etc.
Of course, if I can find a good class/archetype/mechanic/item/etc. that screams spooky without being squicky, and is also a viable option...that would be a double bonus :)
Some things I am looking into right now are the Void element for Kineticists, and the Gloomblade Fighter archetype. Controlling shadowy energies is kinda spooky, without any real 'OMG, what is wrong with you?!' factor, heh.
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oh boy...
halfling (with the 'jinx' & Creepy Doll' alt abilities) witch Ashiftah archtype (at least 2 levels for ghostwalk)
using evil eye hex with the 'Malicious Eye' and maybe 'Sluggish Jinx' feats (also look up other jinx feats that you might want)
and high intimidate and stealth. (creepy doll help with both)
start in plain sight as a doll he drops down evil eyes+jinx and disappear and move. only to appear again and use different evil eye.make sure to only move while invisible or hidden so they only see him appearing and disappearing but never moving.
creepy doll-like blinking hexing evil thingy...what's not to love?
"Did you come to play with me?..."
bonus points if you can get a friend to play a medium sized character (or bigger) who carry you around introducing you as his 'doll'.
'Gram! you doll is giving me that weird look again. put it away its Creepy!" (and then the doll started stalking him...)
speaking of, i really love this arcthpe it has so many options..and attitude.
i played once an exile Ashiftah witch with the 'Ancestors' patron who regularly showed his fore-fathers what he thought of their eldritch gift -by using it's 3rd level ability along an arcane mark spell for wiping his A$@
(where else can you get a class ability that give a never ending supply of T.paper?)
Consider a spiritualist with a phantom with the fear emotional focus. That kind of phantom seeks to 'bestow their terror on others' and has abilities and an appearance to match.
What's weirdly scary and not actually squicky? How about a clown? A clown who appears out of nowhere (besides being stealthy, you can outright do that with a phantom) then reaches out to slap an enemy to activate their horrifying strike ability could be pretty spooky. The spiritualist spell list has spells like stricken heart or chill touch to keep up an undead-like look on yourself too.
Cleric or oracle taking the Experimental Spellcaster feat to get targeted undeath as a 2nd level spell known, then stock up on an army of skeletal chickens or similar.
Have your day job involve selling boneless chicken meat.
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The creepy doll halfling idea has me intrigued, I'll have to play around with that a bit and see what kind of fun shenanigans I can get up to with it.
I had almost forgotten about the spiritualist, definitely some possibilities there.
Sadly the entire words of power section from Ultimate Magic is not PFS legal, so Experimental Spellcaster is out.
Thanks for the ideas everyone, keep them coming. I do love some spookytastic character ideas :)
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I was looking over the Ashiftah archetype too, and unfortunately that is not PFS legal. But what a great archetype! move action at-will vanish is great. Imagine making an arcane trickster like that; cast a spell, vanish, 5ft step. Rinse and repeat.
You can't get much more spoopy than inviting everyone to join in a seance every session. Mediums can definitely be role-played as pretty creepy.
Mesmerists can do it well too, but depending on how you do it you could come off as more of a "that guy has been staring at you across the bar for the last hour" type creepy and not the "ooh weird occult things" creepy.
Psychics (the class) can take the Abomination discipline and cast spells in "dark half" mode, and you can roleplay that as having a creepy physical manifestation when you do so.
Actually, all of the psychic casters (except mesmerists, sadly) can learn Grave Words as a 0-level knack. After each combat just cast that and have all the dead bodies you just slaughtered start babbling.
Occasionally they say something useful!
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Just noticed...the Ashiftah is not legal in PFS, so that shuts down some of the fun options involving that...the creepy doll-like halfling still kind of interests me...though it may be a bit too close to that new Child's Play reboot.
I was also reminded of the Vigilante Talent: Twisting Fear, which lets you do non-lethal damage to anything you impose shaken, frightened, or panicked on, based on the reduced hidden strike damage...I could see a character jumping out with Dazzling Display and scaring a whole room full of people into unconsciousness.
I agree with Scott above; creepy and horrific can be very subjective. I've been trying to think of suggestions but nothing really specific comes to mind as most of the horror things I think of involve some pretty graphic things.
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I'm trying to stay away from anything heavy on the gore or grotesque side of scary...bloody body parts, slimy tentacles, straight up evil, etc.
Not wanting something so toned down that it only has a vague semblance of spook like The Count from Sesame Street either.
Tim Burton movies came to mind as a nice middle ground...dark and spooky, but kid friendly. Something with a thin veneer of horror, that won't send people running from a table I play at (or get me asked to leave), but still has a nice spooky flavor to it.
That's a good medium ground. Burton's movies didn't occur to me!
The Addams Family, yes. The Munsters, no.
Maybe throw in some old Twilight Zone episodes or even some of the stuff from the Goosebumps series of children's books.
I made a Spiritualist based on Gryla from chilling adventures of Sabrina
Using a happiness dirty trick focused Phantom to represent her lads, with laughing auras, constantly tripping people up and such.
Ghost Rider Cavalier maybe? You have some fear abilities, ride a ghost horse, but it ends at spooky. Many alchemist archetypes can be slightly higher on the creepy scale, preservationist seems like a good balance. Tiny preserved creatures in bottles isn't too bad, is it? Twinned summoner could be played from a creepy twin angle I suppose.
My daughter's PFS bones oracle definitely fits the spooky but funny mold.
After seeing a former regular in our area annoy everyone with his creepy AF bones oracle (who probably should have been slammed with the alignment violation hammer every other session, TBH), she decided to create one who actually plays well with others. She roleplays him as gleefully obsessed with studying undead, but also as a devout (if somewhat confused) Pharasman. So he's learned how to summon up a skeleton or zombie buddy once a day (who he gives amusingly mundane names, like Dave, and Dave II), mostly to give other people a flanking buddy. And he can control undead, but IIRC, so far he's only used that power to kill necromancers with their own minions. (That'll teach those Zyphus cultists to try stealing from his goddess!)
When her oracle got access to an intelligent sword, she wanted the item even though her character is lousy at melee combat. So he bought the sword as soon as he could afford it, spent a feat to be proficient with it, and changed alignment from N to NG to avoid taking a negative level while using it. So in my mind at least, Gamin the Misforged is now playing Jiminy Cricket to her (very slightly reformed) Pinocchio.
When I acquired a Harrow deck a couple months ago, I asked her to be my guinea pig for my first reading with it. She decided to have her oracle ask if Pharasma approved of him. The funny thing is, the reading was quite emphatically affirmative on that point! (She drew the Unicorn during the Choosing, and it came up as a true match in the reading.)
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Thanks for all the ideas everyone, I'm temporarily moving this to the back burner for a couple days. I've been asked to join a Rise of the Runelords home game, so I'm working on a different build for that game for a day or so...then it is back to the spooky character :)
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Shadow Caller. Your summons are basically animated shadows (the darkness kind of shadows, not the undead kind of shadow, though for inexplicable reasons you can summon those too), so with a little creative interpretation they can end up looking something like this or this. Though they can be less horrific if you want something more subtly spooky.
Goes well with a dapper suited aesthetic.
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After looking over the Investigator, I wasn't really wowed...however, it did get me curious about maybe just going with an Alchemist...they are fairly classically spooky on their own...very Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Mad Scientist levels of spooky.
Thinking of going down the Grenadier/Mad Bomber road and taking several of the mutation oriented discoveries along the way mostly for spook factor.
Mad Scientist who accidentally keeps mutating himself more and more every time he tries to cure his original mutation. Uses disguise to try to conceal his deformities (baggy clothes, wide brimmed hat, etc). Hideous, but has a heart of gold. Worshiper of Shelyn, obsessed with trying to 'cure' himself and become beautiful.
Class: Alchemist (Grenadier) 12
Race: Half-Orc
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Faction: Dark Archive
Str: 10
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 20 (18+2 racial)
Wis: 10
Cha: 7
Alternate Racial Traits: Bestial, Dusksight
Traits: Firebug, Clever Wordplay (disguise)
Favored Class Bonus: +1/2 to bomb damage every level
Stat bumps at 4, 8, and 12 all to Int.
1. Feat: Point-blank Shot
2. Discovery: Tumor Familiar
3. Feat: Precise Shot
4. Discovery: Tentacle
5. Feat: Extra Discovery: Frost Bombs
6. Discovery: Wings
7. Feat: Extra Discovery: Preserve Organs 25%
8. Discovery: Fast Bombs
9. Feat: Rapid Shot
10. Discovery: Mummification
11. Feat: Extra Discovery: Preserve Organs 50%
12. Discovery: Preserve Organs 75%
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Mad Scientist who accidentally keeps mutating himself more and more every time he tries to cure his original mutation.
...and I think I just found the missing piece that I needed to make an alchemist NPC I'm working on for my home game gel properly! :)
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Tim, Glad I was able to lend you some inspiration :)
Scott, My build isn't exactly optimal, several of the discoveries and feats could certainly be re-purposed to be more combat oriented, but for PFS play I should be more than satisfactory in combat, and with 9+ skill points per level + a sage archetype tumor familar, I will be an amazing skill monkey out of combat.
If anyone has any suggestions for thematically appropriate mundane or magic items to put onto this guy, I am looking for suggestions beyond the typical big 6.
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I’d suggest a single level in Master Chymist PrC to round it out around level 8 or 9. First off you get two more uses of mutagen per day, but more importantly you literally gain another personality when you mutate, just like mr Hyde.
Explosive missile isn’t really necessary unless you plan on only throwing one bomb per round, but you’re clearly not just planning that as you pick up fast bombs.
I’d retrain frost bombs into force bombs when you can, at level 8. Not having to deal with incorporeal creatures or energy resistance is fantastic.
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Gingerbread witch. Turn people into gingerbread and eat them.
Also you get a sweet (I'm hilarious) construct familiar that comes with a bunch of immunities cause, well, it's a construct. At higher levels you can summon shadow monsters made of cake. At even higher levels, you can UNHINGE YOUR JAW AND SWALLOW THINGS WHOLE.
Gingerbread witch is the best.
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I was told you couldn't have an Archetype for a Tumor Familiar. I thought it was a rule that they made personally for me, since I wanted a Protector Tumor Familiar that would let me enjoy Shield Other offset by the Familiar's Fast Healing.Tim, Glad I was able to lend you some inspiration :)
Scott, My build isn't exactly optimal, several of the discoveries and feats could certainly be re-purposed to be more combat oriented, but for PFS play I should be more than satisfactory in combat, and with 9+ skill points per level + a sage archetype tumor familar, I will be an amazing skill monkey out of combat.
If anyone has any suggestions for thematically appropriate mundane or magic items to put onto this guy, I am looking for suggestions beyond the typical big 6.
You can have archetypes for your tumor familiar but Ultimate Wilderness explicitly calls out Protector as not a valid choice for tumor familiars.
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You can have archetypes for your tumor familiar but Ultimate Wilderness explicitly calls out Protector as not a valid choice for tumor familiars.
Yep, too many people had discovered the absolutely broken tumor protector bug, so they hit it with a big fat nerf bat. Sage on the other hand, is still perfectly legal. I use one on my kineticist via Elemental Whispers to bolster the ridiculously low skill points of the Kineticist class. On an Int focused Alchemist, the extra couple knowledge skills is great, and thematically it really works for this character. Growing a sentient tumor filled with ancient knowledge, that only he can hear...definitely ups the spook factor a notch :)