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Now that Pathbuilder has Howl of the Wild support, I can now offer everyone Mother's potential build path.
Checking my work with Pathbuilder, I also determined that Mother did not meet the prerequisites for the Extraordinary Scout feat. It has been replaced with Ancestral Paragon (Fascinated by Society), further emphasizing Mother's fascination with knowledge (much of which is obtained through her web of spiderling spies).
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Hazel, Witch Hazel Curandero (Female personality leaf leshy curandero witch 7) [Pathbuilder Array]
“Need a remedy for your maladies? Hazel’s here to heal, heart and hand.”
Hazel started out as just a witch hazel shrub in the magical Verduran Forest. Elara, a kind and wise witch, saw something special in Hazel and brought her to life as a leshy to help with her healing work and to pass on her knowledge. Hazel learned quickly, becoming a trusted companion. When Elara passed away, Hazel was heartbroken but determined to carry on her mentor’s legacy, feeling Elara’s spirit guiding her. On her journey, Hazel met Hamamelis, a wood wisp elemental who became her familiar, taking the form of a fox made of twigs and sticks. Together, they roamed the forest and beyond, offering healing and protection. Hazel is driven by her promise to Elara, aiming to protect the innocent, heal the wounded, and uncover the world’s mysteries, always honoring her mentor with every step.
Tactics: Keep your allies alive by healing them and removing unwanted status conditions. Between familiar of restored spirit, life boost, protection, and sheltering wings, you should be able to keep your allies in the fight for a long time. Any round you don't use life boost or another hex, you can cast an offensive spell or use stoke the heart to boost an ally's damage. If you're not likely to make any direct attacks in the near future, consider using sanctuary to stymy any enemies who might consider you an easy target. You have numerous one action abilities, so mix and match your rounds in order to keep the enemy guessing. Be sure to remind your companions to track your buffs and take advantage of your vital beacon. Be liberal with sharing your potions.
Interesting. Where does Hamamelis' Undying ability come from?
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Interesting. Where does Hamamelis' Undying ability come from?
It comes from being a witch's familiar. It's listed in the Familiar class ability of the witch. [Source]
Ah. Missed that. Thanks.
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Puddlejumper, croak minstrel (Male awakened giant frog monk 9) - Pathbuilder Array
“How about I croak out a lovely tune for the occasion?”
In the heart of the Echo Wood, deep within the River Kingdoms, there was a small, unassuming pond. Among the many frogs that called this pond home, one stood out—a fierce, man-sized amphibian who would later come to call himself Puddlejumper. Unlike his fellow frogs, Puddlejumper was large enough that he could defend his pond from the many monstrous spiders that plagued the wood.
One fateful day, a druid named Elowen visited Echo Wood to research the ancient Azlanti ruins scattered throughout the area. Beset by monstrous spiders, she was quickly overwhelmed and forced to flee, eventually finding her way to Puddlejumper's pond. Thoroughly annoyed at the noisy intrusion into his otherwise peaceful sanctuary, the frog leaped from the far side of the pond to interpose himself between the spiders and their prey. After quickly devouring one spider, the others fled. In gratitude for saving her, Elowen decided to perform a ritual to awaken the latent intellect and consciousness within the extraordinary creature.
With chants and the delicate use of primal magic, Elowen awakened Puddlejumper to sentience. In an instant, his mind expanded, and he gained self-awareness, speech, and an understanding of the world around him. Grateful and fascinated by his new existence, Puddlejumper thanked Elowen and spent no small amount of time with her, learning about the ways of nature and the balance of life. As she continued her research into the local ruins, Puddlejumper served as her protector, quickly realizing that his powerful legs and nimble form lent themselves well to martial arts. With Elowen's guidance, he began to train, incorporating his natural leaping ability into his techniques. He discovered that his legs could deliver devastating kicks and his long tongue could thrash foes from a distance, catching enemies off guard and pulling them into vulnerable positions.
When Elowen finished learning all that she could from the ruins, she moved on, insisting that Puddlejumper find his own path in life. They parted ways, and Puddlejumper left the pond in the care of his children, embarking on a journey to discover himself. It wasn't long before his path took a darker turn when he encountered a cult dedicated to Gogunta, the demon lord of amphibians and boggards. The cultists tried to capture him, seeing him as a sign from their dark patron. Puddlejumper managed to escape, but the encounter left him deeply troubled. In his dreams, Gogunta herself appeared, not as a tyrant but as a nurturing figure who promised to protect and empower him. Puddlejumper, though not evil, felt a strange kinship with the demon lord. He began to worship her, finding in her a guide who understood the amphibian struggle for survival and strength. He saw in Gogunta a deity who embraced the chaos of nature, something that resonated deeply with his awakened spirit.
Puddlejumper's fame grew as he began to take on more significant challenges. He joined an adventuring party, using his unique abilities to aid them in their quests. His companions, at first skeptical, quickly learned to value his agility and unorthodox combat style. His ability to leap great distances allowed him to traverse terrain that others could not, making him an invaluable scout and warrior. His tongue, capable of striking with the precision and force of a whip, became a trademark move that left enemies bewildered and defeated.
Through his adventures, Puddlejumper became a symbol of the unexpected—a giant frog with the heart of a lion, a martial artist whose every move was unique poetry in motion. He taught others that strength and wisdom could be found in the most unlikely places, and that even the most unusual beings could have a great impact on the world.
Tactics: More on that here.
Use Take Flight and Strong of Wing to simulate great leaps, allowing you to easily bypass obstacles and get to hard to reach places. Don't worry about falling after, as you're immune to falling damage on account of your "Flying Animal" heritage. Use Levered Swing and your gliding gi to expand your range through the air (with a generous GM, you can use your sticky tongue on a flat surface rather than a bar). Most of your abilities force you to end your movement on the ground, but with a little GM cooperation, you can use your gliding gi to arrest your fall and quickly change positions on the battlefield.
For example, you could use Levered Swing to get as much as 15 feet altitude, then Take Flight for another 15 feet (flying up is difficult terrain), then glide laterally up to 150 feet.
The rest of your abilities are either pretty standard fair for a monk, or intended to emulate the abilities of a giant frog.
Ki strike let's you deal spike damage when used with Flurry of Blows, either to quickly wipe out a weak enemy or to progress a more powerful foe on their way to the River of Souls. Quick Climb and Steady Balance let you adhere to surfaces much like a frog. Slippery Prey can get you out of a bind (even though most frogs aren't actually all that slippery). Sea Legs and Underwater Marauder allow you to fight more effectively in aquatic environments. Breath Control and Sea Legs together allow you to stay underwater for more than 16 hours at a time.
Phlipit Contestant Dedication gives you a tongue lash attack with reach. Flurry of Maneuvers allows you to Strike and then Grapple with your tongue lash.
Snap Falling Fruit is not as powerful as Deflect Arrows, but it is more versatile. Not only will it allow you to protect others in addition to yourself, it can deflect unusually massive ranged projectiles (such as boulders or ballista bolts). Be mindful of your battlefield positioning if you're intending to cover your allies.
All in all he makes for a pretty basic melee combatant with a plethora of unique mobility options.
Outside of combat, he uses Performance and Virtuosic Performer to either Earn Income or to attract mates.
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^By a remarkable coincidence, several weeks ago I stumbled upon the perfect theme song for Puddlejumper once he manages to acquire some awakened friends.
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Bram Backhorn, loyal squire (Male stalker minotaur servant bard 8) - Pathbuilder Array
“By my hammer and my shield, you shall not harm my lord!”
In the bustling city of Vigil, young Bram Backhorn, a gentle minotaur of impressive stature and strength, was bound by the chains of indentured servitude. Born in the rough-and-tumble alleys of the Varisian coast, Bram's life was one of toil and sweat. Indentured at a tender age, he was taken in by Lord Aldric Vonderen of Lastwall, a knight of considerable renown and a nobleman with a keen eye for potential.
Initially, Bram's days were spent in the forge, the clang of hammer on anvil ringing in his ears as he worked tirelessly as a blacksmith making armor and weapons for his master’s fellow knights. His muscular frame and natural endurance made him an invaluable asset, and under the stern yet fair tutelage of the castle's master smith, he quickly mastered the art of metalwork. His creations—blades, armor, and tools—became well-regarded throughout Lastwall for their quality and durability.
Despite his demanding duties, Bram also served as Lord Aldric's squire. He learned the ways of the knight: how to care for armor and weapons, the basics of combat, and the tenets of chivalry and honor. Bram's loyalty and dedication to his lord were unwavering, and though he harbored dreams of freedom, he remained committed to his duties.
One fateful evening, as Bram toiled in the stables, the faint strains of a melody drifted through the air. Curious, he followed the sound to a secluded garden where the castle's musicians gathered. There, under the soft glow of moonlight, Bram's voice joined the chorus, his deep, resonant tones harmonizing beautifully with the instruments. Unbeknownst to him, Lady Elara, Lord Aldric's wife, had been listening from the shadows. Enchanted by the minotaur's unexpected talent, she insisted that he perform at the upcoming banquet.
At first, Bram was reluctant. Singing had always been a private solace for him, a way to escape the hardships of his life. But Lady Elara's encouragement and Lord Aldric's command left him little choice. On the night of the banquet, Bram stood before the gathered nobles, his heart pounding in his chest. As he began to sing, his powerful voice filled the hall, captivating all who listened.
The performance was a resounding success. Bram's talent was undeniable, and his lord and lady saw an opportunity to elevate their estate's prestige. He was granted more opportunities to sing, both within the castle and in the grand halls of Lastwall. As his confidence grew, so did his love for singing. Bram's voice became his new weapon, his songs telling tales of valor, love, and sorrow that touched the hearts of many.
However, Bram's rise was not without its challenges. Some nobles viewed him with disdain, unable to reconcile the image of a minotaur with that of a refined artist, frequently calling him names such as “Backward Bram” or “the Bellowing Cow.” Despite this, Bram's dedication to his craft and humility won him many allies. His performances began to bridge gaps between different social strata, bringing together people from all walks of life.
Amidst his duties and burgeoning fame, Bram found himself drawn to Lady Elara, who had first discovered his talent. From a respectful distance, he admired her grace and kindness, seeing her as his muse. Her encouragement and gentle presence inspired many of his songs, though he kept his feelings hidden, content to express his admiration through his music. This unspoken love fueled his performances, adding depth and emotion that resonated with his audiences. This is why Bram will never forgive or forget her loss when Vigil fell at the hands of the Whispering Tyrant while he and his master were abroad.
Beyond his musical talents, Bram also proved to be a formidable protector of his lord. Taking up a great shield, an imposing piece of armor he had crafted himself, Bram stood as a bulwark before Lord Aldric in several battles and skirmishes against Whispering Tyrant forces. His massive frame and unwavering resolve made him an indomitable force on the battlefield. Whether fending off marauding undead or standing firm against drunken rival knights, Bram's great shield was both a literal and symbolic barrier between his lord and harm. His heroic acts of defense, often performed while singing battle hymns to bolster the morale of his allies, showcased his dedication and strength.
In time, recognizing Bram's yearning for freedom and the immense contribution he had made, Lord Aldric granted him his emancipation. Bram chose to stay with and continue protecting Lord Aldric an his loyal servant and squire, if only for the sake of good folk everywhere and for the memory of his Lady lost. Seeing that the Knights of Lastwall needed support more than ever, he continues to forge weapons and armor for the cause while embracing his newfound role as an adventuring bard. Though not yet a famous hero, Bram's story continues to spread quietly, a testament to the power of talent and the strength of the spirit. From the forges of servitude to the stages of nobility, he is living proof that even the most unlikely of heroes can shine brightly in the tapestry of Golarion.
Tactics: Though perfectly capable of fighting well with his hammer and bow, Bram is primarily designed to fill a support role within the party, using his spells and abilities to protect allies and mitigate negative conditions.
With cleanse affliction, clear mind, soothe, and sound body as signature spells (and likely sure footing will be made a signature spell later on as well), no negative condition or status effect should plague you or your allies for very long.
Furthermore, your fortress shield, dancing shield spell, and fortissimo composition spell, allows you to grant allies up to a +6 bonus to AC several times a day. If you're willing to carry two Medium fortress shields, or buy another Large one later, you can potentially protect two allies in similar fashion.
Though the fortress shield slows you down a great deal, the range of dancing shield, your compositions, your cantrips, and the reach of your long hammer and bow ensures that this isn't usually much of an issue. The speed boost from playing your war drums also helps a little bit. Once dancing shield is cast, you needn't worry about the shield's speed penalty for a while anyways.
Invisibility is a good spell for making better use of Alarming Disappearance, escaping, when you want to avoid the worst of combat while still supporting your allies (sanctuary is good for this too), or for concealing a charge under your protection from being easily targeted.
Most of your skill feats are situationally useful and primarily support your out of combat role as a squire or blacksmith.
If you prefer to go on the offense, a harmonized rallying anthem followed by a lingering composition courageous anthem goes a long ways towards giving you and your allies the numbers necessary to win the day. Needle darts also gives you a passable at will magic attack option as well. Sure strike from your low level spell slots and from your drums of warcoda, when used with debuffs like command and fear, better helps you to keep up with your more martial minded allies.
Inspiration: Brienne of Tarth (Game of Thrones), Chewbacca (Star Wars), Kip (The Lies of Locke Lamora), Sir Lancelot (Arthurian Legend), Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter), Podrick Payne (Game of Thrones), Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings), the Tauren (World of Warcraft)
Another very interesting character. :-)
Indentured servitude is, technically at least, not slavery. So I wonder -- how was it that Bram became indentured? What were the terms of his indenture (a contract which generally has a time limit)?
Not familiar with the Lies of Locke Lamora. Is this a novel? If so, I should probably read it. :-)
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Great character, though the "loyal slave" part honestly gives me the ick.
And yes I am aware he may not technically have been a slave.
Another very interesting character. :-)
Thanks!
...I wonder -- how was it that Bram became indentured? What were the terms of his indenture (a contract which generally has a time limit)?
I have not put too much thought into the nature of the indenturement and left it deliberately vague so that people can more easily make it their own.
For me personally, I like to think that it happened while he was still very young, and that it was perpetrated rather unjustly by an unnamed third party.
Not familiar with the Lies of Locke Lamora. Is this a novel? If so, I should probably read it. :-)
I must confess I'm not the least bit familiar with it either. I included it solely because a friend of mine said the character reminded them of it.
Great character, though the "loyal slave" part honestly gives me the ick. And yes I am aware he may not technically have been a slave.
I suppose that makes sense. One of the inspiring characters was Ulysses from the show Outlander. He too loved his mistress, continuing to serve her as a loyal butler long after he and others considered him free.
(I forgot to include him among the list above before the post edit limitation timed out.)
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The following Remastered characters have been updated to account for changes brought about by the release of Player Core 2:
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Enjoy! Please let me know if I overlooked anything.
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Small Part (Male unbreakable goblin mechanic inventor 8)
“Goblin junk is the best junk! Just wait and see!”
Spart (short for “Small Part”) is a goblin mechanic working with the Pathfinder Society to maintain some of their more unusual vehicles and apparatuses. Having collected numerous pieces of junk and scrap over the years, he recently built himself a suit of power armor out of the detritus. He lovingly calls his creation Largal (short for “Large Mechanical”). In recent months, he has used his invention to take on a more proactive role in the field alongside his fellow Pathfinders.
A refugee of the Goblinblood wars, Spart fled north to Nirmathas to avoid that conflict. In 4719 AR, after the region was overrun by undead, he was again forced to flee his home, ultimately migrating south to Absalom. There, he was taken in and put to work by the Pathfinder Society, ostensibly to “raid” other “tribes” of their dangerous artifacts to build up and guard the “hoard” of his newest tribe: the Vigilant Seal.
Pathbuilder Breakdown and Possible Progression
Tactics: If possible, lure your enemies into a hidden explosive mine as battle begins. Then activate your Overdrive and move to the enemy, or to defend your allies. If possible, let the enemy come to you to maximize your action economy. When fighting single powerful enemies, use your reach and combat maneuvers to slow them down (your including Kneecap and Tamper feats); make it costly for them to move up to you while you and your allies. If they have damage resistance, use Megaton Strike to punch through it. Take advantage of enemy energy weaknesses by feeding your alchemical bombs into your weapon siphon.
If you find yourself needing to get past an obstacle or or needing to close quickly, use your blast boots or Explosive Leap in conjunction...
Oh my goodness I love the idea behind Small Part. Is the model depicted an actual miniature? If so, where did you get it from?
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Oh my goodness I love the idea behind Small Part. Is the model depicted an actual miniature? If so, where did you get it from?
Yes it is! I ordered it from Etsy, and a talented friend of mine painted it up for me. Took the photos myself. I don't normally use miniatures for portraits, but I haven't found anything better for Spart yet. I may have to find someone to commission a fantasy art drawing of the miniature itself at this rate. :P
Did you happen to catch Spart's theme song?
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Roshgog, the Ash Bringer (Male badlands orc hired killer sorcerer 12) - Pathbuilder Array
“Where my fire burns, shadows flee, and foes fall.”
In the heart of the unforgiving badlands of the Hold of Belkzen, where the sun scorched the earth and the nights brought bone-chilling winds, an orc child named Roshgog was born. His lineage was steeped in ancient traditions, and from a young age, he was destined to follow in his ancestors’ footsteps as a shaman.
Roshgog’s early years were spent under the tutelage of the tribe’s shaman, learning the ways of the spirits and the natural world. His days were filled with rituals, chants, and the gathering of rare herbs. However, unlike his peers, Roshgog harbored a burning ambition that set him apart. He felt a deep connection to the element of fire, a trait that intrigued and worried his mentor.
One fateful day, while performing a fire ritual, Roshgog’s latent power surged forth, engulfing the ceremonial fire in a blaze of unprecedented intensity. The shaman, recognizing the touch of the elemental bloodline, declared Roshgog a chosen one of Ymeri, the elemental lord of fire. This revelation marked the beginning of his transformation from a humble apprentice to a wielder of destructive magic.
Roshgog’s training intensified after the shaman’s revelation. He mastered the primal spells of fire, wielding them with precision and ferocity. The badlands became his proving ground, a harsh and unforgiving teacher. He learned to control the fire within his blood, shaping it into power unparalleled within his hold.
Despite his growing prowess, life in the badlands was fraught with peril. Rival tribes, monstrous beasts, and the ever-present threat of starvation tested his limits. It was during these trials that Roshgog learned the art of survival, understanding that strength and cunning were paramount.
The turning point came when a group of marauding undead attacked his village. Roshgog, still young but filled with fiery determination, unleashed his full power. The ensuing battle was brutal, but Roshgog’s mastery of fire magic turned the tide. The undead hoard was reduced to smoldering ashes, and Roshgog’s legend began to spread.
With his village safe but his thirst for greater challenges unquenched, Roshgog ultimately left the badlands. He traveled to the bustling cities of the Inner Sea, where his unique talents as a fire sorcerer and his combat skills as a hired killer came to be in high demand. He found work as a killer for hire and began sharpening his abilities in stealth, intimidation, and coercion.
Roshgog’s reputation grew as he completed mission after mission with ruthless efficiency. His ability to manipulate fire made him a formidable opponent. The whispers of his deeds reached the ears of nobles, merchants, and criminals alike, each eager to employ his services.
Despite his chosen profession, Roshgog adhered to a personal code. He chose his contracts carefully, avoiding senseless slaughter and focusing on targets that posed genuine threats or challenges. This code earned him a measure of respect even among his adversaries.
By the age of twenty-four, Roshgog had become a well-known figure in the underworld and beyond. His exploits took him across Golarion, from the bustling streets of Absalom to the frozen wastes of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. His affiliation with Ymeri deepened, and he often found himself drawn to missions involving elemental conflicts.
Roshgog’s encounters were as varied as they were dangerous. He battled demons in the Worldwound, faced off against rival spellcasters in Nex and Geb, and even undertook a perilous journey to the Mwangi Expanse to uncover ancient artifacts. Each mission honed his skills and expanded his understanding of the primal forces he wielded.
His travels also brought him into contact with diverse allies and foes. He formed tenuous alliances with adventurers and mercenaries, often joining forces for mutually beneficial objectives. These alliances were always temporary, for Roshgog preferred the solitude and independence of a lone hunter.
As Roshgog continued his journey, he contemplated his future. The path of a hired killer was fraught with danger, but it also offered endless opportunities for growth and discovery. His ultimate goal remained elusive, a burning question that drove him forward: how far could his mastery of fire magic take him?
In the heart of the badlands, under the watchful gaze of Ymeri, Roshgog had begun his journey. Now, as a powerful fire sorcerer and a renowned killer for hire, he stood on the precipice of even greater challenges. The world of Golarion was vast, and Roshgog was determined to leave his mark, one blazing inferno at a time.
Tactics: Roshgog is all about preparing the battlefield and using fire in versatile ways while stacking on the damage as much as possible.
Though his spell selection is almost exclusively offensive fire spells, it is important to note that (1) they cover a great variety of effects such as buffs, debuffs, lines, bursts, cones, mobility options, persistent damage, sustained abilities, summons, transformation abilities, walls, etc. Chain lightning gives him a powerful non-fire option in his top slot (and still allows him to thematically "burn" his enemies), toxic cloud (likely appearing in the form of toxic smoke) allows him to deal poison damage as well. Finally, to round out his non-fire attacks, he can also deal both vitality and void damage with his oracle cantrips.
But obviously, fire is where his real strengths lay. Though all of his fire spells are formidable in their own way, breathe fire, elemental toss, and fireball are going to be your bread and butter spells for damage.
Things to note:
- Sorceress Potency adds as much as +6 damage to your damaging spell slot spells.
- Your fire element blood magic, Elemental Fury, adds as much as +6 more damage to your focus spells and gifted spells (primarily breathe fire, elemental toss, and fireball)
- In return for a few hit points of damage, you can add a second blood magic effect via Blood Sovereignty.
- Your diabolic blood magic effect, Tongue of Flame, adds as much as +6 MORE damage to the above three spells.
- If you're surrounded by enemies, you can get EVEN MORE damage in by substituting Explosion of Power for one of the other blood magic effects (up to 6d6 more fire damage)!
So let's say you start your turn surrounded by enemies after having prepped your chosen battleground with a safeguarded flammable fumes spell. You cast a safeguarded 6th-rank fireball over everybody, opting to use Explosion of Power along with one of your other blood magic effects (it doesn't much matter which one).
The spells deal 2d6+5 poison (when they enter the invisible fumes and 2d6 more each round they remain in the fumes), 10d6 fire damage when the fumes are detonated by fire, 12d6+12 fire damage from your fireball, 6d6 fire damage from Explosion of Power, and an additional 12 fire damage from Foretell Harm at the start of their next turn.
Altogether, that's as much as 30d6+30 damage before the target(s) get to act again, averaging to 135 damage before saves and other mitigating factors are taken into account.
If you don't have any enemies adjacent to you, you can still hit them from the safety of "way the heck over there" while gaining as much as +30 damage over other spellcasters through your blood magic. Sure you take a little damage from your curse's persistent fire damage and from Blood Sovereignty, but that's why you have heal.
Even if you are not using a focus spell or gifted spell, you can still gain sorceress potency and Foretell Harm bonuses to damage, setting you apart from every non-sorcerer blaster from the start. For example, enemies and allies are spread out, and you can't use fireball without hurting more allies than enemies. Chain lightning remains solid with 8d12+18 (avg 70) damage against all targets.
Now imagine what happens if you used two 6th-rank one action blazing bolts and an elemental toss with all that stacking damage all in one round! (blazing bolts 12d6+12 + elemental toss 9d8+6d6+24, or 139.5 average damage) And that's not even accounting for a properly prepared battlefield (such as flammable fumes) or active defenses (such as fire shield) that could further hurt your foes when they attempt to retaliate against you!
Be mindful of the limitations of your various abilities (like the fact that your blood magic damage bonuses only apply to a single target in an area) and learn when and where to use them effectively and there isn't much that will be able to stand up to you for very long before falling away to ash.
Inspiration: Artemis Entreri (The Legend of Drizzt series), Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Kamikaze orc torch bearer (Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers") and pretty much every other badass orc ever, Kael'thas Sunstrider (Warcraft series), Lina Inverse (Slayers), Pyro (X-Men), Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist), Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
You can't use Safeguard Spell with Flammable Fumes since it's a 3 action spell. You'd need to be level 20 and get Spellshape Mastery.
You can't use Safeguard Spell with Flammable Fumes since it's a 3 action spell. You'd need to be level 20 and get Spellshape Mastery.
It would take more than one round, but I'm not seeing anything in the text for the feat, for the spell, or for the spellshape trait that would prevent it. You would simply use Safeguard Spell as your last action in round 1, then immediately follow up with the three-action spell in round 2. You would have to be careful not to take any "start of your turn" free actions in between though.
Even if that combo doesn't work out, it doesn't do much to stop the blaster build from working as intended. Just don't be in the area when the bomb drops in that case. :P
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It's been clarified by Logan quite a long time ago that any "your next" or "your last" actions do not carry over between turns.
It's been clarified by Logan quite a long time ago that any "your next" or "your last" actions do not carry over between turns.
Which matters not at all if it's not presented anywhere in any of the books, online rules (AoN), or official FAQ/errata.
Cite me one of those sources.
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I'm not going over that again. If you opt to ignore a FAQ video with the lead designer and base your tactics on it, be my guest. The videos are specifically meant to clear up stuff that's supposedly already clear in the rules so they won't show up in an errata.
But even in this best-case interpretation of the rules, it seems basically impossible to pull off your combo in actual play.
I'm not aware of any official FAQ "videos." Where are those at?
Or is it some off-hand comment buried in a social media algorithm somewhere?
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If those are official to you or not is something you have to decide for yourself. I just want to stress again that these videos
1. explicitely answer frequent questions from the community which paizo does not intend to include in any errata.
2. are not something Mark and Logan answered on a whim. The questions were presented to paizo well beforehand and the whole design team discussed the answers before they were given.
If those are official to you or not is something you have to decide for yourself. I just want to stress again that these videos
1. explicitely answer frequent questions from the community which paizo does not intend to include in any errata.
2. are not something Mark and Logan answered on a whim. The questions were presented to paizo well beforehand and the whole design team discussed the answers before they were given.
Even so, semi-official clarifications for PF2e may not apply to PF2eR with its various rules changes.
Up to the GMs to decide upon for themselves I guess. I don't really want to derail this thread any further over it.
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Argo Eight-Eyes, the Ash Flower (male frilled lizardfolk prisoner monk 9) has been updated to Player Core 2 standards.
[Pathbuilder Progression]
What's more, many of his feats and items have been swapped out in order to remove a great deal of redundancy. He is now FAR more versatile in the things he can do.
Raised and trained in Arena from hatching, Argo Eight-Eyes (aka the Ash Flower) is the scaled horror of Aethyl's coliseum. As ferocious as an owlbear, as swift as a cockatrice, and as cunning as a leprechaun, you'd be a fool to miss the Ash Flower in action! Don't miss his next big event, taking place this Starday in Myscurial on Widowmaker Isle. One silver token or equivalent trade gets you entertainment for the entire day! Watch as the Ash Flower outmaneuvers and picks off an entire pirate-hunter crew in a massive mock naval battle over Sweet Tooth Lake! See him fend off the kraken from ship's bow to crow's nest! Stare in awe as he mesmerizes you with his enchanting serpentine dance with death!
Argo Eight-Eyes specializes in kiting opponents and debuffing them with Intimidation. He is also quite skilled at both stealth and escape-craft, often jumping to or from high areas or squeezing through narrow passages to escape pursuers who would return him to the arena. What's more, even when unarmed, his formidable teeth, claws, and tail provide him with a variety of deadly physical damage types and weapon traits with which to rely on during battle.
Fighting multiple enemies? Sweep with tail attacks.Making multiple focused attacks against a single foe? Use dragon tail's backswing.
Looking to break the will of your enemy? Use Threatening Approach or Dragon Roar.
Need to make a quick escape? Hop down the rabbit hole, or use your smoke
stickball andemerald grasshoppera potion of leaping to leap away unseen!Many and more of these options can be combined to make for extremely interesting encounters.
For example, he can use Threatening Approach to stride 40 feet, demoralize a foe for frightened 2 (fleeing on a critical), then use flurry of blows to strike twice with dragon tail's for 4d10+12 damage.
If surrounded by a group of enemies, he can unleash a Dragon Roar, demoralizing (and possibly send running) multiple enemies, make two Dragon tail Strikes with Flurry of Blows
(taking advantage of his tail's Sweep trait), then Stride through the gap left by whoever died or fled.If in a fight of attrition, spit a puff of poison in your enemies' faces before pummeling them!
Need to play defensively? Get someplace high and snipe enemies while hanging from your tail!
Pulling a snatch and grab? Now your tongue and your tail function quite nearly like extra limbs!
Targets of both Dragon Roar and Demoralize/Threatening Approach become immune for 1 minute, but since they are considered different abilities, you can use both against the same target inside of 1 minute if necessary.
He also happens to have strong resistance against mental attacks,
can make all skill checks untrained (with +9 or higher modifiers), can quickly squeeze through any space that can fit his head, and can totally ignore falls of less than 50 feet.Argo's not the friendliest lizard slithering around the block, but he does protect orphans, so there's something to be said for that. :P
Will your adventuring party be the lucky one to spirit him away from Widowmaker Isle and onto grand adventure? Whether serving as your character attempting to escape the island, as an NPC helping the party to free slaves, or as an enemy target to be captured and returned to his rightful masters, Argo can make for a great character encounter for everyone!
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Auja Rose, The Cursed Bride (female wintertouched Erutaki human emissary oracle 10) [Pathbuilder Progression]
"It's rude to gawk at a lady in such a manner."
Princess Rose was as beautiful and exotic a bride as ever could be murdered during her wedding. Returned to life with a heavy curse and strange powers over life and death, she now travels the edges of the world in search of a means of ridding herself of the affliction and returning to her normal life.
Auja's pre-remaster incarnation was an undead bloodline sorcerer. This new, updated version of the character now utilizes the Remastered oracle class from Player Core 2. The new oracle seems to be a much better fit both thematically and mechanically than the previous class. (I have too many sorcerers and not enough oracles in the Emporium anyways.) On top of being a better fit, this change grants her more skills; better AC, saves, and hit points; and a wide variety of interesting new options that simply aren't available for sorcerers. If you wish to stick with a Remaster sorcerer version of the character, you will likely do a little bit more damage and healing, but your defenses will be worse, making you into something of a glass cannon character with less diversity of options.
Tactics: Use your various spells and life draining powers to continually gain and replace your temporary hit points. Between this renewable hit point buffer, keeping your distance with your Reach Spell feat, and your myriad healing abilities, you and your allies should be able to win most battles through attrition alone.
Against tough enemies, consider opening up with enervation to apply persistent damage before going nova with several of your 1-action abilities, such as Quickened enervation or vampiric feast, harm, soul siphon, and your free action Foretell Harm. If possible debuff with the Demoralize action or the fear spell and similar abilities first to maximize your chances of landing your punches.
Your biggest weakness is the fact that most of your powers rely either on vitality damage or void damage; when facing constructs or other creatures immune to your primary attack spells, consider supporting your allies with healing or buffing, fear and command, or simply throwing your frozen lava of Pale Mountain beads at the problem.
3rd rank fear and 5th rank command allow you to manipulate gangs of enemies at once, giving you a measure of crowd control on top of your area effects.
Ghostly tragedy, talking corpse, and peaceful rest offer you some thematic non-combat options that will likely be useful for solving mysteries. With the latter two spells, you can even continue to question people LONG after their time on Golarion has expired. Similarly, your greater masquerade scarf, raiment armor, and high Deception and Diplomacy skills should allow you to infiltrate restricted areas and better get answers that you might seeking.
In addition to the numerous methods you can mitigate damage for you and your allies, your staff of healing also grants you some level of condition removal.
Whether scratching for food amongst the rocks of the wild, beguiling the nobles at the capital, fighting powerful dragons or hoards of undead, or bringing your friends back from the brink, you should have some manner of contributing to your party no matter where you find yourself.
Inspiration: Emily (Corpse Bride), La Llorona (Mexican Folklore), Lady Stoneheart (A Song of Ice and Fire), Sally (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Senua (Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice), The Bride of Frankenstein (Frankenstein, 1935)
Author's Note: There is some ambiguity and debate about how many spells should be in the new oracle class' repertoire due to conflicting rules text within Player Core 2. Until such a time as the developers can clarify the matter, I am operating under the assumption that--like most other spontaneous casters--oracles start out with one spell known in their repertoire for each spell slot they gain. If your GM doesn't think they should have 4 spells per rank, but rather only 3, I recommend removing the following spells: ghostly tragedy, healing well, mimic undead, protection, and thoughtful gift.
Enjoy!
What and where is the conflicting text in PC2? I looked, but didn't find it.
Herolab enforces three spells per rank. <shrug>
What and where is the conflicting text in PC2? I looked, but didn't find it.
Herolab enforces three spells per rank. <shrug>
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Can't wait to see what you do with the new Tian Xia Character book- I've been playing with a 50 something year old bearded, grouchy male fighter / starlit sentinel who got saddled with powers took up adventuring, and a toy poppet Aloof Firmament Magus / Spirit Warrior (with a kaiju defense oath, of course), but they're just in my head now.
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Hazel, Witch Hazel Curandero (Female personality leaf leshy curandero witch 7) [Pathbuilder Array]
“Need a remedy for your maladies? Hazel’s here to heal, heart and hand.”
Hazel started out as just a witch hazel shrub in the magical Verduran Forest. Elara, a kind and wise witch, saw something special in Hazel and brought her to life as a leshy to help with her healing work and to pass on her knowledge. Hazel learned quickly, becoming a trusted companion. When Elara passed away, Hazel was heartbroken but determined to carry on her mentor’s legacy, feeling Elara’s spirit guiding her. On her journey, Hazel met Hamamelis, a wood wisp elemental who became her familiar, taking the form of a fox made of twigs and sticks. Together, they roamed the forest and beyond, offering healing and protection. Hazel is driven by her promise to Elara, aiming to protect the innocent, heal the wounded, and uncover the world’s mysteries, always honoring her mentor with every step.
Tactics: Keep your allies alive by healing them and removing unwanted status conditions. Between familiar of restored spirit, life boost, protection, and sheltering wings, you should be able to keep your allies in the fight for a long time. Any round you don't use life boost or another hex, you can cast an offensive spell or use stoke the heart to boost an ally's damage. If you're not likely to make any direct attacks in the near future, consider using sanctuary to stymy any enemies who might consider you an easy target. You have numerous one action abilities, so mix and match your rounds in order to keep the enemy guessing. Be sure to remind your companions to track your buffs and take advantage of your vital beacon. Be liberal with sharing your potions.
Thanks, I always follow your writings, I think I'll take a look/steal this idea, but. for level 2.
Re: spells known. I don't see anything that says "when an oracle has n spell slots, it gets n known spells for free". You start with 2 in each rank when you first get that rank (which gives you 3 slots) and after that you gain a spell in that rank when you gain a slot in that rank. So the number of spells known always trails the number of slots by one (not counting any "bonus" spells you might get). That's RAW. If it's not RAI, then Paizo needs to publish a change.
Oracles get Revelation Spells, Sorcerers get Bloodline Spells. Both are Focus Spells, they don't use spell slots, so they're irrelevant to this discussion.
You can still Learn a Spell to add it to your repertoire outside of the level advancement stuff with the caveat that you can't actually add it until you "gain a level and learn new spells" or retrain during downtime. From the Oracle class description (similar text in each other spontaneous caster description): "As you gain new spells in your repertoire, you might want to replace some of the spells you previously learned. Each time you gain a level and learn new spells, you can swap out one of your old spells for a different spell of the same rank. This spell can be a cantrip. You can also swap out spells by retraining during downtime (Player Core 440)." Whether the quoted text means you can do this swapping without doing the Learn a Spell thing is unclear.
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Milerna Nanneel, Mercenary Chef of the High Seas (female skilled human chef fighter 10) [Pathbuilder Progression]
“Get the frake out of me kitchen ye chowder-headed Jack nasty-face, lest me cleaver find the meat oh yer limp-noodled wrist!”
Born in the notorious city of Port Peril, Milerna Nanneel learned from an early age that nothing in life was handed to you, and nothing came easy. Orphaned by a tragic shipwreck that claimed her parents when she was just a child, she found herself fending for survival among the rough streets and docks of Port Peril. At the tender age of twelve, she was press-ganged onto a pirate ship, her small hands deemed perfect for crawling into tight spaces and carrying out the menial tasks no one else wanted to do.
Life aboard a pirate vessel was far from kind, but it toughened her up in ways no land-bound upbringing ever could. As a cabin girl, she learned quickly that only the strong-willed survived, and even quicker that only the strongest fought back. The endless jeers and taunts from the crew ignited a fire in Milerna, turning her into a fierce combatant with a cleaver just as sharp as her tongue. She had little love for authority after seeing officers treat their crews like expendable tools, and this rebellious streak deepened over time.
It wasn’t long before Milerna found her place in the ship’s galley. The gruff ship’s cook took her under his wing, teaching her not only how to feed a ship full of ravenous pirates with minimal supplies but also how to wield kitchen tools as weapons when necessary. Over the years, Milerna moved from lowly cabin girl to ship’s cook on her own, earning a reputation not just for the meals she prepared, but for the merciless way she defended her kitchen. More than one sailor found themselves nursing wounds after trying to snatch a bit of food off her counters.
Three ships later, Milerna had carved out a name for herself as the Mercenary Chef, a title earned by both her cooking prowess and her ability to fight alongside her crew when needed. Despite her foul mouth and aggressive attitude, Milerna carried a deep-seated love for food, drink, and good stories, taking after her chosen deity, Cayden Cailean. She relished in the freedom of the seas and celebrated the wild, unpredictable nature of life with a hearty laugh and a tankard of ale in hand.
While she holds a hearty disdain for ship’s officers and authority figures, her tough exterior hides a softer side, one that secretly longs for companionship and admiration from those who have the wit and style to match her own. Milerna might verbally eviscerate any sailor who crosses her, but those brave enough to face her fire often find themselves surprised by the woman beneath the sharp words and threatening cleaver.
Now, a wandering mercenary, she sails from ship to ship, taking jobs as both a chef and hired muscle, always looking for the next adventure and the next meal. Whether it’s fighting off sea monsters or cooking a feast for a victorious crew, Milerna’s life is a mix of fierce battles and fine cuisine, where survival and pleasure go hand in hand. And through it all, she remains fiercely loyal to her kitchen, her crew, and the values of freedom she holds dear.
Tactics: Start each fight with Combat Assessment to sus out the enemy. If the enemy doesn't look to be too tough, stand your ground and maximize your damage output by following up with Exacting Strike and Certain Strike. If it looks like it's going to be a rough go, consider kiting with your shortbow or playing the defensive game with your shield and sword (or frying pan). If you know what trouble lies ahead, prepare appropriate dishes for yourself and your party to benefit from a variety of buffs.
Inspiration: Anne Bonny (Black Sails), Bonny Read (Fate/Grand Order), Captain Amelia (Treasure Planet), Captain Haddock (Tintin), Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean series), Grace O'Malley (Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag), Redhead Pirate (Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Ride), Rosey Cusswell (Skull and Shackles #1: Raiders of the Fever Sea)
Author's Note: Milerna previously possessed the Weapon Improvisor archetype. As that did little to make her terribly interesting, was mechanically subpar compared to other options, and the Treasure Vault's release of the frying pan as an actual non-improvised weapon prevented her from using her improvised weapon feats with her frying pan, I've decided to take her in a different direction. The new Wandering Chef archetype from the recently released Tian Xia Character Guide goes a long way towards giving her several versatile options and making her far more interesting both conceptually and mechanically I feel. I hope you enjoy the result.
Also, I recognize that Warding Punch isn't appropriate for a Remastered game, but I'm including it anyways for completeness' sake. Maybe your GM will allow the bonus to apply against magical spells in general, or perhaps limit them to spells from various magical traditions?
Bonus Content:
Milerna Nanneel’s sharp tongue and colorful vocabulary would likely be filled with insults and exclamations that reflect her pirate background, tough upbringing, and fiery personality. Here are some of her exclamations and insults you might use in your games:
Exclamations
“By Cayden’s frothy mug, ye’ll regret that!” – A reference to her deity, Cayden Cailean, tying her faith to her fiery threats.
“Great gods above, what’re ye tryin’ to burn me bloody galley down?” – For when someone makes a cooking blunder.
“Frake me blind, what in the bilge-soaked hells d’ye think yer doin’?” – A typical pirate exclamation of disbelief or frustration.
“Swab the deck with yer face, why don’t ya!” – A frustrated yell at someone clumsy or making a mess.
“I’ll serve yer hide as stew if ye cross me one more time!” – A threat mixed with her role as a cook.
“Cayden’s cask, don’t test me temper, ye salt-crusted slop-head!” – A general, multi-purpose exclamation when she’s annoyed.
“Billions of blue blistering barnacles and ten thousand thundering typhoons!” – A general exclamation born of frustration.
Insults
“Ye scurvy-riddled, barnacle-brained bilge rat!” – A classic pirate insult, perfect for describing a fool or someone who crossed her.
“Limp-noodled scullion, ye couldn’t boil water without drownin’ yerself!” – An insult for someone with no culinary skills.
“Ye slack-jawed landlubber! I’ve seen deckhands with more brains in a dead fish!” – Aimed at someone inexperienced or incompetent.
“Get outta me galley, ye stale biscuit o’ a man, ‘fore I make ye wish yer mama threw ye overboard!” – A personalized insult for someone testing her patience.
“Look at ye, like a crab fresh outta the pot, all red-faced and useless!” – A teasing, mocking insult.
“If ye had a lick o’ sense, ye’d have tossed yerself in the drink ‘fore crossin’ me!” – A threat meant to remind someone how bad their decisions are.
“Ye salty dog, yer mouth’s runnin’ faster than yer brain ever could!” – A remark for someone who talks too much or is overly boastful.
“I’ve seen seaweed with more backbone than ye!” – A jab at someone she perceives as cowardly or weak.
“Blast it, ye fish-brained simpleton! Can’t tell a knife from a spoon, can ye?” – For kitchen incompetence.
“Ye addled sea slug, I’ll turn yer skull into a soup pot!” – A particularly vicious threat from the kitchen.
Colorful Threats
“Touch me stew again, an’ I’ll carve ye like last night’s roast!” – A dire warning to anyone messing with her cooking.
“Cross me, an’ ye’ll find yerself in the soup – literally!” – A gruesome reminder of her cleaver-wielding skills.
“Another word from yer gob, an’ I’ll use yer head as a serving dish!” – An exaggerated threat highlighting her kitchen expertise.
“Keep yappin’, an’ I’ll make ye me next catch o’ the day!” – A threat fit for any pirate chef.
These exclamations and insults reflect Milerna’s tough, no-nonsense attitude, her pirate life, and her fierce protection of her kitchen and crew. They also emphasize her wit and quick temper, often using food-related imagery to tie in with her role as a chef.
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Boxxo, Animate Vending Machine (male personality born of item yaoguai cook alchemist 11) [Pathbuilder Progression]
“I look forward to serving you again!”
In his past life, Boxxo was a humble young man simply making his way in the bustling city when a terrible accident caused him to fall to his death and be crushed by a vending machine.
Yet, death was not the end for young Boxxo. Through divine intervention, a twist of cosmic fate, or perhaps a cruel jest by a mischievous deity, his soul found an unexpected new vessel: an enchanted vending machine crafted by a wizard experimenting with constructs.
Tactics: First and foremost, you are a nearly immobile vending machine; you aren't fast of foot, but you're pretty tough and can dispense a limitless supply of aid items to your allies, or even pelt enemies with a wide variety of attack items, such as specialized bombs.
Thanks to unlimited Quick Alchemy and Alchemical Expertise, you can continuously create and use three alchemical consumables every ten minutes provided they have a duration of 10 minutes or longer. As such, you should start every combat with your choice of active effects already in place. I recommend at least having a juggernaut mutagen (for defensive actions), a quicksilver mutagen (for ranged offensive actions), a bestial mutagen (for close-range offensive actions), or a pallesthetic mutagen (for scouting actions). Non-mutagen buffing elixirs and debuffing poisons can help round off your pre-battle kit.
For longer lasting effects, such as darkvision from the darkvision elixir, you may want to rely on your Advanced Alchemy instead, since your Quick Alchemy limits you to ten minute effects.
If you need a boost to speed, items like the quicksilver mutagen (or if you are already under the effects of a mutagen, a cheetah's elixir) can allow you to better get where you need to go (removing your "armor" and drinking a drakeheart mutagen also works well). To quickly get a better vantage point or to make a quick escape, releasing a bottled roc or eating a delve scale can give you (and one other person) 90 feet of flight, or a 15 foot burrow speed, respectively.
Ghost ampoules and sargassum phials make great two-action debuffers in combat (three-actions if you need to create them first). Using a ghost ampoule to make a whole group of baddies frightened 2 or 3 before following up with a potent inhaled poison or deadly bomb is not a bad way to start things off.
Hitting tough foes with big persistent damage effects early on can make fights go much quicker, especially if you pile on multiple different persistent damage effects.
Though versatile vials are effectively unlimited outside of combat, whilst in combat they can disappear all too quickly, especially if you start three short from the "vial-cycling" mentioned above, or are using abilities like Combine Elixir, so be sure to choose carefully! You may want to have some extra bombs or other offensive items ready to go from Advanced Alchemy or with mundane purchases/crafting.
When performing emergency healing in combat, Combine Elixirs with moderate elixirs of life will allow you to heal 10d6+24 hp (avg 59), which isn't too far behind a max level heal spell.
Outside of combat, I recommend using your healing field vials (free healing up to half hit points) alongside soothing tonic for fast healing for the rest of it. This means you can heal to half total hit points at a rate of 40d6 hp (avg 140) per minute (for free!) then add another 50 from fast healing on top of that for every minute to get the party back up to full in time for the next encounter.
Should the party have need of non-alchemical items for your party (such as a change of clothing, for example), Prescient Planner and Prescient Consumable should have your back.
There are numerous even more specialized alchemical items out there for various corner-case situations, but alas, I have not the time to discuss every single one. I recommend reading up on some of Boxxo's other alchemical recipes in the Archives of Nethys, or checking out an alchemy guide from Guide to the Guides.
Inspiration: Boxxo (Reborn as a Vending Machine I Now Wander the Dungeon)
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LOL. Just realized that last post should have said "NEW CHARACTER!" not "REMASTER UPDATE!"
That's what I get for making copypasta. :P
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Aya Kaze, the Color of the Wind (female sylph elf entertainer kineticist 12) [Pathbuilder Progression]
“The deadliest blade is the one you never see.”
When Lord Shosuro Aritaka of Jinin’s Shogunate selected me for the cultural exchange program, I understood my role—learn, absorb, and return home with knowledge that could strengthen our ties with Hwanggot. Lord Aritaka had a reputation for subtlety, for moving pieces on the board without ever letting them see his hand. He told me that Hwanggot’s traditions were worth understanding, that Jinin’s future would be shaped not just by steel and treaties, but by the quiet currents of diplomacy.
But he also hinted at something more.
I was not a diplomat, nor an official emissary, and certainly not a spy. At least, not in name. My purpose was simple: to be present. To observe. To let the winds of fate guide me to knowledge that Jinin might one day need.
And so, I went.
But from the moment I set foot in Hwanggot, I knew I would never be the same.
Everything here flowed like poetry—the calligraphy, the cadence of speech, the way silk billowed in the wind. And then, there was buchaechum.
The first time I saw the fan dance performed, I forgot to breathe. The dancers moved like the wind itself, their every motion a whisper of something ancient and powerful. The flick of a fan became the crash of waves. A slow turn became petals caught in an unseen current. They told stories with nothing but the illusion of movement and color, and in that moment, I knew: I would not just study this dance. I would become it.
I trained tirelessly for many decades, learning from Hwanggot’s finest dancers, refining my art until my performances were not just admired but revered. They called me a jiggong, a master who wove magic into movement, whose dance blurred the line between performance and reality. I became a spectacle, a foreigner who had embraced their traditions so completely that I was no longer just an outsider—I was something else entirely.
And that made me dangerous.
Hwanggot’s nobility adored me, invited me into their halls, whispered secrets in my presence as if I were nothing more than a fleeting breeze. They thought me harmless, a beautiful distraction, a curiosity to meant to entertain. But a dancer watches. A dancer listens. And I learned that in the right hands, distraction is the deadliest weapon of all.
The night of the banquet, I was meant to perform for the royal court—a display of unity, of art transcending borders. Instead, it became a battlefield.
I had already heard the whispers. A conspiracy, an assassination, a blade waiting in the dark for a member of the royal family. I could have done nothing. I could have watched it unfold, taken my bow, and left Hwanggot to its fate. Or I could have warned the court in advance and averted disaster entirely.
But I didn’t.
I took the stage, my fans unfurling like wings. The music began, and I let the rhythm carry me, let the world fall away until there was only the dance. My every motion held meaning. A flourish of my fan sent a whisper of wind through the hall, extinguishing torches near the assassins’ mark, cloaking them in sudden darkness even as I delivered a magically enhanced whispered warning of danger. A turn of my wrist sent another gust along the wooden floorboards, making them creak and groan beneath unseen feet. A noble and his guards stiffened at the sound, eyes flicking toward the shadows at a critical moment.
Then, the attack came.
A crossbow bolt flew toward the dais. I struck before thought, my fan snapping open in an arc of motion—redirecting the bolt mid-air, sending it shattering against a marble column. A dagger flashed, but a sudden gust sent it spinning from its wielder’s grasp. The assassins faltered, thrown off balance by an unseen force, and in that moment of hesitation, the guards took them.
By the time the chaos settled, the royal family was safe. Save for the would-be target, no one suspected the foreign dancer on stage had been anything more than a performer lost in her art. And that was exactly how I wanted it. By taking action only in the moments immediately preceding the attack, I have forever secured the trust of the Hwanggot royal family. The possibilities are endless!
Even now, I walk the line between two worlds. Jinin is my homeland, but Hwanggot is where I became myself. The wind calls me to wander the world farther still, yet duty tethers me in place.
I have never spoken of these feelings to Lord Aritaka. But I have no doubt he already knows.
I am a dancer, a shadow, a whisper in the air. To most, I am nothing more than a fleeting vision, a woman whose elegance is admired but never truly understood.
But the wind is not aimless. It shapes mountains. It carves valleys. And it carries secrets to those who know how to listen.
For even the softest breeze can shape the world.
- Excerpt from the memoir, Whispers Before the Storm by Aya Kaze.
Tactics: Aya Kaze possesses many abilities that key off of her Performance skill and that allow her to misdirect, mislead, distract, and delay her foes quite effectively so that she--and her allies--may better serve the Shogunate as assassins, spies, or saboteurs. Ideally, she works best in a party built for cloak and dagger shenanigans, such as one with bards, rogues, and similar classes but she should perform nicely in most other groups as well.
While in combat, you should probably keep your distance most of the time, relying on the long range of Aerial Boomerang or Weapon Infusion in conjunction with your high speed to wear down your enemies. You roll Performance for all your Initiative checks thanks to Solo Dancer, which also makes enemies acting after you off-guard for the first round of combat. Don't let that advantage go to waste unless the circumstances of the situation dictate other priorities. If you become a target for reprisal, so much the better for your allies! Let them return fire ineffectively or chase after you fruitlessly, allowing your allies to take advantage of their inattentiveness.
Should the enemy have strong ranged attacks, move to cover, Take Cover if already near cover, or--if out in the open--rely on your bracers of missile deflection or Sweeping Fan Block reactions. Note that you need to be wielding two fans to use Sweeping Fan Block, and that you cannot activate new impulses while both hands are so occupied. Use your retrieval belt and retrieval prism to draw out your fans as free actions (or better yet, have your fan of falling words already in hand for a boost in movement speed with Pushing Wind and to your Performance Initiative rolls). If you expect to use an impulse on your next turn, drop your mundane fan at the start of next turn as a free action. You can always draw out another one at the end of your turn, if needed (preferably as a free action with your belt or prism). Between the +2 circumstance bonus to AC against many ranged attacks from your reactions (or from cover), and the -1 penalty to enemy ranged attack rolls from your Air Shroud means that most ranged attacks are going to have a difficult time landing against you (and possibly against any nearby allies as well). If you lack cover, consider casting mirage with your fan of falling words to make some. (Note that this illusion can also make for a good distraction, deterrent, or escape route as well!) Or use your cloud pouch to drop a cloud of concealment around yourself. Unlike your enemies, you can see through the concealment thanks to Cloud Gazer. (Take care not to hinder your allies with those clouds and illusions though!)
Should you ever find yourself in melee and in need of moving ten feet, don't Stride. Instead, feint with Fan Dancer Dedication. That will allow you to reposition as well as catch the enemy off-guard for a follow up attack (and you can still move even if you fail the check). If your follow-up attack is a two action impulse, you can even disengage and gain some distance with your Impulse Junction. Thanks to Pushing Wind (10 foot aura) and your Gate Aura Junction (20 foot aura) making air and land difficult terrain, enemies are likely to have a difficult time closing the distance again, even if they can fly quickly like you. Even better, nonflying allies are not affected by your Gate Aura and only enemies are impacted negatively by your Pushing Wind aura.
If you're ever cornered, Tumble Through with a Performance check via your Twirl Through feat to escape. Alternatively, drop a cloud to break your enemies' line of sight or slip away with a good ol' Deception check to Create a Diversion in conjunction with Fleeing Diversion to Hide or Sneak. If you have a rogue companion or a higher priority charge under your care that might need to escape in your stead, then consider using Create a Diversion in conjunction with Distracting Performance. It not only allows someone else to benefit from your your check (such as to Hide or Sneak away), it also allows you to roll Performance for the check instead of Deception.
Don't be afraid to Create a Diversion over and over again if needed. Thanks to Confabulator, enemies only gain a +1 bonus against new attempts rather than the usual +4.
If a certain foes proves terribly tenacious, kick him out of the encounter with Flinging Updraft to send them off a cliff or into some other area that is difficult to get out of/return from. You can also use this effect on an ally to rescue them from an area that would otherwise be difficult to get out of/return from.
If you're not already flying around, a good first round might be to channel elements and activate your aura and Air Shroud abilities as your first action, then attack with either a 2-action Weapon Infusion elemental blast or an Aerial Boomerang for your second and third actions. Then use your Impulse Junction movement to reposition behind nearby cover and/or take flight. Don't forget: Your Gate Aura Junction and Pushing Wind abilities give you and your allies a +15 foot boost to Speed or Fly speed (+5 circumstance, +10 status) any time you have a fan in hand and your aura active! This means your half speed is as fast as most others' full speed!
If you're already airborne, armed, aurored up, and rarin' to go, attacking with both Aerial Boomerang and Elemental Blast while using your free movement to reposition appropriately is not a bad way to spend a turn in a fight. Alternatively, feint or hide first, then snipe an off-guard enemy with elemental blast.
If you just need to distract a bunch of enemies to buy time, Distracting Performance is hard to beat as your third action for the round. Though it gains the incapacitation trait and requires a critical success in combat, it can still be useful against a horde of weak enemies, leaving their stronger commander without a chunk of their expected support! Obviously, this works better out of combat, such as when you're distracting a roomful of patsies from your allies' activities (be it pickpocketing, sneaking by, or committing an act of sabotage).
Other cool abilities you may not want to forget about are:
- catching falling allies with Air Cushion,
- free skill bonuses with Ageless Patience when time is not a factor,
- retrieve items from your belt or with your prisms (they're primarily used to quickly draw your second fan, but you don't have to limit them to that),
- use Whisper on the Wind to deliver important information to people far away, or just really freak out your enemies when used in conjunction with your fan of falling words' illusions of your cloud pouches' misty clouds,
- conceal contraband or important intel in your magical sleeves with Experienced Smuggler, or
- hold off a narrow hallway filled with enemies via gust of wind from your gate attenuator.
Inspiration: Moosher12 (forum member who inspired me with a similar concept of their own), Avatar Kyoshi and the Kyoshi Warriors (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Community & Social Media Specialist
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The following Remastered characters have been updated to account for changes brought about by the release of Player Core 2:
.Arbutus (7th-level Prince of Flowers)
Badbella (10th-level human rhino rider)
Bram Backhorn (8th-level minotaur squire)
Cassia Thorne (10th-level human information broker)
C.H.A.D. (1st-level android war machine)
Sir Cuddleton Bravepaw (5th-level teddy bear guardian)
Halvor Cade (12th-level human deckhand)
Hama (12th-level venerable human witch)
Harmony Vonn (1st-level halfling primal healer)
Loriush (9th-level iruxi Talon of Gozreh)
Mother (13th-level giant spider broodmother)
Puddlejumper (9th-level giant frog minstral)
Raijin Perun (16th-level human Abendego assassin)
Sienna Hensworth (6th-level human weather witch)
Spart...
Lots of really good characters in here! I think I'll have to give Arbutus a try ^_^
Lots of really good characters in here! I think I'll have to give Arbutus a try ^_^
I'm glad you like them! I hope you have a good time with Arbutus, or whoever else you end up settling for.
Please do come back after and tell us about the adventure! :)
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Community & Social Media Specialist
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Lots of really good characters in here! I think I'll have to give Arbutus a try ^_^I'm glad you like them! I hope you have a good time with Arbutus, or whoever else you end up settling for.
Please do come back after and tell us about the adventure! :)
I absolutely will! Thanks for even making these for everyone, myself included!
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The mech pilot and junk mechanic, Spart Largal, has been updated with the new Guns and Gears Remaster errata!
I've also fixed a few omission errors. Please let me know if it looks like I may have missed anything else.
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Rengoku Nosomu, Thief of Fate (male versatile heritage human grave robber exemplar 7) [Pathbuilder Progression]
"Get out of my head! Honor is for the dead! I am still here!"
The grave had been untouched for centuries. That was why it was perfect.
Rengoku Nozomu stood at the edge of the burial site, his breath slow and measured. The stone seal bore no name, only the engraved image of a warrior standing against a storm, nodachi raised high, the final guardian of a forgotten battle. Whoever this man had been, he had died alone. And no one had come to disturb him.
Until now.
Nozomu pried the seal open, the soft rasp of shifting stone barely audible in the night. The grave yawned before him, a dark passage leading into the earth. He dropped inside without hesitation, boots landing on smooth stone. The air was thick with dust and old incense, a cloying reminder that the dead did not part with their treasures easily.
But Nozomu was no fool. He had heard the stories—of vengeful spirits, of curses that followed men to their graves. He muttered a quick apology, more out of habit than belief, then pressed forward.
The sarcophagus stood in the center of the chamber, its surface etched with faded calligraphy. Nozomu did not stop to read. His eyes were on the treasures that lay before it: a nodachi, its sheath lacquered in black and gold; a pair of bangles, their intricate metalwork shimmering in the dim light; and a suit of o yoroi, its plates woven with silk that had somehow resisted the passage of time.
Nozomu grinned. Jackpot. He moved quickly, slipping the bangles onto his wrists first. They were lighter than they looked. The nodachi came next; it was long, far longer than any blade he had wielded before, but something about it felt right. The armor—he hesitated. It was bulky, impractical for a man in his line of work. But its craftsmanship was beyond anything he had seen before. He grabbed it anyway.
And then the earth trembled.
The heavens themselves had begun to shatter. A light unlike any other streaked across the sky, divine fire raining from above. The Godsrain had begun.
When the war god fell, his essence did not vanish into the void. It rained down upon the world in silver and red, drops of divine blood and power scattering like falling stars. Where the silver droplets landed, mortals were forever changed—imbued with a fragment of divinity, transformed into something greater than themselves.
As Nozomu stumbled out of the ancient tomb, the tremors beneath him threatened to bury him with the dead. He barely had time to look skyward before a droplet of silver fire struck him. His body locked, his vision blurred, and then—
He became.
A searing heat coursed through him, deeper than flesh, deeper than bone. It was not pain—it was presence, vast and overwhelming. The bangles burned against his wrists. The nodachi pulsed, its blade shimmering with newfound energy. The armor wrapped around him, no longer merely worn but bonded, as though it had always belonged to him and had simply been waiting for his touch.
Then came the realization.
The General. The Thief.
Nozomu staggered, clutching his head as foreign memories surged within him. He was still himself. And yet... something had shifted, something irrevocable. He had not just taken these relics—they had taken him, their history entwining with his own. The Godsrain had fused his essence with the lingering echoes within the artifacts, binding him eternally to the last traces of a forgotten warrior.
Not a voice. Not a will. Just memories.
They coiled within his mind, creeping tendrils of forgotten duty, whispering of battles fought in another lifetime. The weight of a thousand moments that were not his own threatened to drag him into the past.
But Nozomu was not a warrior. He was a survivor.
In the distance, the sound of shifting feet stirred him from his haze. Figures emerged from the darkness, their eyes wild with something beyond greed. Rogues—others who had come for the tomb, but they had waited, letting Nozomu disarm the traps before striking. They had been watching. Waiting. And now, with the heavens split and the air thick with the red mist and the scent of divinity, their bloodlust was sharpened into something beyond mortal hunger.
Nozomu recognized them for what they were. The kind of men who would cut his throat and walk away laughing, their veins burning with the remnants of Gorum’s final breath.
His fingers flexed around the hilt of the nodachi. The metal felt lighter now, an extension of his own body. The bangles thrummed with unseen power.
The General might have given them a chance to surrender.
The Thief did not.
Tactics: Possible example round--Say you start a round of combat next to an enemy who just ambushed the party and injured you. Start with Barrow's Edge as part of initiative to get a boost to your weapon damage, then strike the foe who hurt you once for your first action, then use the Drink of my Foes transcendence to heal your injury for your second action. This shunts your power into your skin, granting you damage resistance against your foe's attacks with Skin Hard as Horn during others' turns. For your final action, you might get some distance or raise your shield if you have one. Between your damage resistance, shield AC bonus, and reaction to Shield Block absorbing even more damage, you're a pretty beefy tank (who can also hit hard and self heal). Designer's Note: I built Nosomu to be more offensive with a two-handed reach weapon and Reactive Strike due to personal preference; if you want a stronger tank build, swap out the nodachi for a one-handed melee weapon ikon and pick up a shield--you're unlikely to regret it.
If the enemy instead decides to move around you to attack your allies, you can shift your power into your Fetching Bangles activating Crash Against Me as you do so. This gives you damage resistance until the start of your next turn, allowing you to maintain your protection despite no longer having empowered skin. Furthermore, if the enemy attacks you and fails to hurt you, they take a penalty to attacks with that weapon. With your bangles so empowered, you have a 10-foot aura of save or disrupt the enemy's attempt to move away from you. Even if they do manage to escape and close in on one of your allies, you can use your bangles' Embrace the Destiny transcendence ability on your next turn to drag the target right back to you. If you're willing to give up the damage resistance by using Shift Immanence instead of Crash Against Me, you can even drag the target back immediately, without waiting for your next turn.
And that's all at 1st-level! Quite a fun tank character if I do say so.
Adding in The Proud root epithet at level 3 to create aggro effects against enemies and Born of the Bones of the Earth dominion epithet at 7 to create an area of difficult terrain around yourself every time you Spark Transcendence just serves to make the character a really high end tank capable of drawing enemies in and trapping them.
Inspiration: This one's a bit longer than most, so I am spoilering it.
A hardened survivor shaped by tragedy, wielding a massive blade and battling forces beyond mortal comprehension.
Though he’s pragmatic and ruthless, echoes of an honorable warrior’s path haunt him.
Like Nozomu, he never wanted to be a hero but finds himself caught in something far greater.
2. Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher)
A monster hunter who carries a heavy burden, forced into a role he did not choose.
Wielding a legendary blade, Geralt walks the line between hero and killer, much like Nozomu.
He is a reluctant participant in fate, much like Nozomu, who never wanted divine power.
3. Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings)
A warrior with a hidden legacy, living in exile but bound to the past.
Nozomu, like Aragorn, carries the weight of another’s history, struggling with the expectations placed upon him.
Both have an ancestral weapon that represents an era of war and duty.
4. Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)
A warrior defined by raw strength and mastery of the sword, with a singular purpose.
Nozomu, like Zoro, is practical but deadly, with no room for sentimentality in combat.
Both possess a near-supernatural connection to their weapons, as if fate itself has bound them together.
5. Alucard (Castlevania)
Burdened by an unwanted legacy, Alucard is caught between two identities: the monster and the noble warrior.
Like Nozomu, he has an elegant but deadly fighting style, wielding an ancient blade.
Both struggle with memories and influences from another era, affecting their choices.
6. Sekiro (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
A lone warrior whose fate is forever changed after a supernatural transformation.
Survival-driven, yet disciplined, he wields a blade once used for war, now tied to something greater than himself.
Like Nozomu, he does not fight for honor or glory, but because he must.
7. Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin)
A former assassin burdened by a past of bloodshed and war, trying to live on his own terms.
Both Kenshin and Nozomu possess incredible skill but battle their own identities, torn between the past and the present.
If Nozomu ever attempted to break free from his past, he might follow a path similar to Kenshin’s.
8. Jin Kazama (Tekken)
A man cursed with power he never wanted, fighting against the influences of a legacy of war and destruction.
Nozomu, like Jin, is a survivor—caught between an internal battle of identities.
Both are hunted for what they have become, forced to fight or be consumed.
9. Raiden (Metal Gear Solid)
A warrior transformed by circumstances beyond his control, struggling to retain his sense of self.
Like Nozomu, Raiden’s humanity is threatened by the power he now wields.
Both were once mere killers, but now face a fate that ties them to something greater than themselves.
10. Yasuo (League of Legends)
A wandering swordsman, falsely accused and hunted for his past.
Yasuo’s blade is infused with supernatural power, much like Nozomu’s nodachi.
Both have an elegant yet deadly combat style, blending raw talent with something more than human.
Designer's Note: Nozomu wields a +1 returning nodachi. As a melee weapon, the nodachi normally is not eligible for the returning rune. However, as his ikon, he can imbue it with the thrown 15 feet weapon trait at will and in perpetuity. I interpret this as allowing for the inscription of the returning rune (which becomes inactive when not so imbued). You or your GM might interpret the rules differently however. If you are a player, I encourage you to check before bringing such a combo to your games. If this is not acceptable, at your table, I recommend adding a backup thrown weapon to the character instead and possibly even swapping out Hurl at the Horizon for something else.
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Tsubo no Sake, The Wandering Jar of Joy (male steadfast tanuki gambler monk 10) [Pathbuilder Progression]
"Fortune favors the foolish. So pour me another!"
Tsubo no Sake (literally “Jar of Sake”) hails from Shokuro, the land of freedom and rebellion, but his fight for liberty has always been of a more liquid nature. Born into a family of tanuki brewers, his early life was spent surrounded by barrels of fine sake, heated tavern debates, and the raucous laughter of mercenaries and travelers. While his kin took pride in their craft, Tsubo preferred the company of dice, cards, and a well-poured cup of alcohol.
From a young age, he discovered the many advantages of shape-shifting—especially when it came to getting free drinks. Among his earliest tricks was transforming into a hando, a large pottery vessel commonly used to store water or alcohol. He would sit inconspicuously among a merchant’s wares, waiting for the unwitting vendor to fill him to the brim with sake along with the rest of their stock. Then, once properly saturated and alone, he would waddle away, leaving the poor merchant dumbfounded when their inventory numbers didn’t add up at the end of the month.
At other times, he would turn into a cup, letting eager drinkers unknowingly pour their own spirits straight into his waiting maw. Confounded alcoholics would blanch in horror as their liquor mysteriously vanished before it could touch their lips, blaming everything from other patrons to ghosts to their own overindulgence.
Despite his antics, Tsubo isn’t heartless—he has a soft spot for the downtrodden and enjoys humbling the arrogant. If there’s a fight worth joining, he’ll throw himself in, just as long as there’s a celebratory drink waiting at the end. He reveres Kofusachi, the Laughing God of Joy and Fortune, and Cayden Cailean, the Drunken Hero, embodying their philosophy of freedom, revelry, and seizing life’s pleasures. Some call him a fool, a rogue, or a menace, but to Tsubo no Sake, life is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest.
His early years were spent hopping between gambling dens, tea houses, and traveling taverns, always looking for the next bet, the next drink, and the next big laugh. Despite his mischievous nature, he was a cheerful rogue, well-liked by innkeepers and gamblers alike—even when he won more than he should have. He made a name for himself as a storyteller, entertainer, and trickster, spinning tales (some true, some wildly exaggerated) about his past adventures.
Tsubo had an uncanny knack for getting into—and slipping out of—trouble, sometimes by quick words, sometimes by faster feet, and sometimes by literally turning into a sake jug to avoid angry debt collectors. His life of mischief reached a tipping point when he crossed the wrong gamblers in a high-stakes dice game run by the Red Silk Society, a notorious underground syndicate. Using his talents to manipulate the odds, he walked away with a small fortune—but at the cost of some very powerful enemies. By the time he realized how deep in trouble he was, a dozen enforcers were already on his tail. One night they caught up to him and gave chase through the streets. He barely escaped with his fur intact—thanks to an old, one-eyed drunken master named Kurosawa, who dragged him into a hidden sake house and offered him a drink.
Kurosawa, a retired monk who had seen too many wars, recognized the potential in the shapeshifting rogue. “You drink well,” he said, pouring another cup. “But can you fight while drinking?” What followed was a brutal yet hilarious series of drunken sparring sessions, where Kurosawa turned Tsubo no Sake’s natural slipperiness into something deadly. “A true master lets their enemies underestimate them,” Kurosawa explained. “And what do people underestimate more than a drunken fool?”
Over the years, Tsubo no Sake developed a unique style of Drunken Boxing, using his shapeshifting to feint, confuse, and vanish mid-battle. His fighting style became as unpredictable as his bets, shifting from a clumsy stumble to a devastating blow in the blink of an eye. Though he honed his skills, Tsubo never lost his love of wagers, revelry, and ridiculous antics. With Kurosawa’s training and his own tricks, he slipped out of Shokuro before the Red Silk Society could catch him. Now, he wanders the roads of Tian Xia, looking for his next game, his next drink, and his next great tale.
Though he trained with Kurosawa for a time, Tsubo no Sake was never one to stay in one place for long. When his debts started piling up again—and a particularly unlucky dice game put him on the bad side of a Shokuran general’s daughter—he did what he did best: vanished into the night, laughing all the way.
Now, he wanders from town to town, never staying long enough for the consequences of his wagers to catch up to him. Whether it’s drinking contests in riverside inns, high-stakes games in the backrooms of noble estates, or back-alley brawls with bandits who underestimated the “fat drunk guy”, Tsubo no Sake thrives in the thrill of chance, the warmth of sake, and the joy of a well-executed trick.
Some say he’s running from something. Others say he’s running toward something. But if you ask Tsubo no Sake himself? He’ll just laugh and say, “I’m running to the next round of drinks, my friend! Now, how about a little wager?”
Tactics: Tsubo plays much like other monks, using his superior mobility to position himself wherever he is most needed in combat. However, there are some notable combos that make him stand out.
Nimble Crawl allows him to crawl at full speed, which combos well with his Rolling White Bottle Form reaction. This allows you to cover as much as 80 feet of distance as a reaction. Even if you need to spend an action to Drop Prone, this might well be worth it depending on the situation. Note that you are prone at the end of the movement. Fortunately, you can Stand as a free action thanks to Kip Up. Did I also mention that this free double crawl doesn't provoke movement-based reactions? :)
His Feather Step feat allows him to get full benefit of Winding Flow, even while within areas of difficult terrain.
Stumbling Feint and Stumbling Stance along with your high Deception ensures that your foes will frequently be off-guard to your flurry of blows.
In a single round you could drop prone as your first action, bottle roll 80 feet towards an enemy, stand up from prone as a free action, enter Stumbling Stance (if you weren't in it already), Feint for free, and make two Strikes as part of flurry (both of which benefit from the feint, making your target off-guard). If both Strikes hit, you combine the damage and force a save against Stun. If you were already in your stance, you can end your turn by making a third Strike, or Striding away with the benefits of Guarded Movement (or roll away as a bottle if you initially closed with a normal Stride).
Your size-changing armor can grant you reach and a bit of damage in combat, or allow you to get into small spaces by becoming Tiny. It also works well for expanding the size limitations of your Whirling Throw feat.
Slippery Secrets somewhat covers for your low Wisdom from too much drink.
Out of combat your Change Shape abilities allow you to get into all kinds of mischief. You could sneak into a warehouse or merchant ship and turn into a small crate, only to carry out the goods they fill you with when no one is around. You could transform into a die or other game piece and have an ally gamble (cheat) with you crawling into desirable positions. You could replace a valuable item belonging to someone you intend to spy on, observing all that they do while they carry you around. You could hide yourself in plain site, and use your greater ventriloquist's ring to scar the hell out of people with your disembodied voice. The possibilities are endless!
Inspirations: Bo’ Rai Cho (Mortal Kombat), Gambit (X-Men), King Bumi & Sokka (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Roronoa Zoro (One Piece), Tanuki (Pom Poko), Wong Fei-Hung (Drunken Master), Yajirobe (Dragon Ball)
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It seems I did not properly link Rengoku Nosomu's Pathbuilder Progression last week.
Here is the corrected link: Rengoku Nosomu's Pathbuilder Progression
Ah, that's better.
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Lady Carmilla Vaelith, the Bloody Countess (Female cavern elf student of magic sorcerer 14) - Pathbuilder Array
“The finest art is never without pain.”
Carmilla Vaelith is an elven noble of forgotten scandal, a blood-soaked artist who sculpts beauty from death. Raised in the decaying silence of her Ustalavic estate, she learned early to value elegance, permanence, and control. Her magic does not dazzle—it disarms, entrances, and bleeds. Every kill is a composition; every spell, a brushstroke. To Carmilla, murder is not malice but medium, and blood the most honest pigment. Beneath her guise as an aloof socialite lies a curator of exquisite ruin, pursuing undeath not as escape, but as the final refinement of form. Immortality, she insists, must be earned—in crimson, in elegance, and in perfect poise.
Tactics: Carmilla is a battlefield manipulator and debuffer who thrives on graceful control, psychological warfare, and elegant brutality. Her tactics revolve around inflicting fear, bleeding, and pain at range, while keeping herself protected behind illusions or distance.
Carmilla avoids direct confrontation, instead weakening and disorienting foes while bleeding them out. Her ideal battlefield is segmented and chaotic, where she can manipulate movement, apply pressure, and “curate” each kill with flair. She’s not a nuker or a tank—she’s a tormentor with a palette of pain.
Inspirations: Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu / Castlevania), Carmilla (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust), Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village), Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal TV series and films), Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray), Bayonetta (Bayonetta video game series), Lust (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood), Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Historical / Myth), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth by Shakespeare), Zuleika (Sandman: Endless Nights)
I like this one! Had a couple problems making her in HLO. Submitted bug reports. We'll see.
Pathbuilder has this table under "details":
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Rank Qty Cost Total Spell Cost
0 20 2 gp 40 gp
1 44 2 gp 88 gp
2 42 6 gp 252 gp
3 28 16 gp 448 gp
4 25 36 gp 900 gp
5 22 70 gp 1,540 gp
SUM 3,268 / 2 = 1,634 gp (halved due to Magical Shorthand and no chance of failure)
AoN lists different numbers:
Rank Qty Total Cost
0 25 50
1 51 102
2 46 276
3 30 480
4 27 972
5. 24 1680
For a total cost, after halving, of 1780.
I wonder why the difference? I searched the Arcane spell list for Common spells from Rank 1 to 5 (AoN lists Cantrips as Rank 1) from PC1 or PC2.
By my calculations, she's about 123 GP short of being able to buy all these spells at level 14.
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Here's Lady Carmilla at level 1:
Lady Carmilla 01
Female elf sorcerer 1 (Rage of Elements, Secrets of Magic)
Medium, Elf, Humanoid
Age 468, Hair Red, Eyes Red, Complexion Pale
Height 5'7, Weight 120[b]
[b]Deity Zura
Heritage cavern elf
Background magaambya academic
Perception +3; darkvision, low-light vision
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Orcish
Skills Academia Lore +6, Arcana +6, Deception +7, Diplomacy +7, Intimidation +7, Nature +3, Occultism +6, Society +6, Stealth +5
Str +0, Dex +2, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +0, Cha +4
Items explorer’s clothing, paint set[LOGB], purse (13 gp, 9 sp)
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AC 15; Fort +3; Ref +5; Will +5
HP 12
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Speed 30 feet
Arcane Sorcerer Spells DC 17, attack +7; 1st (3 slots) alarm, charm, force barrage Cantrips (1st) detect magic, electric arc, gouging claw, read aura, slashing gust[RE]
Focus Spells 1 Focus Point, DC 17; 1st Ancestral Memories
Ancestry Feats Forlorn
Skill Feats Recognize Spell
Other Abilities blood magic, imperial, imperious defense, sorcerous potency
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Carmilla Vaelith descends from a noble elven house so old that even the great archives of Kyonin speak of it only in footnotes, half-erased by scandal or intent. Her family’s estate still stands among the mists and thorns of Ustalav, perched like a lacquered dagger above a forgotten river pass. It is a place of quiet grandeur—unvisited, uninviting, and untouched by time. So too is Carmilla.
To be born into fading glory is to learn the art of preservation. Her childhood was a lonely, curated thing: hushed corridors, porcelain dolls, formal tutors, and bloodless conversation. She took to study not out of duty, but out of yearning—to understand the forces that gave beauty form and permanence. In time, her magical talent surfaced, unbidden and unsettling. Her power did not flare or flash; it bled. Her spells crept in like a whispered rumor, shaped to disarm, to distort, to entrance. Magic, for Carmilla, was not force—it was intention refined to the point of elegance.
Where others were repulsed, Carmilla saw meaning. In blood, she found structure, expression, honesty. She began to paint in it. First small patterns, then entire scenes. Each death she orchestrated became a study in balance, texture, and mood. Her victims—never random—were carefully selected for composition. A disloyal servant posed in a prayerful sprawl. A rival’s lover arranged among thorned roses, face just so. It was art, she insisted. And it was beautiful.
She carries her title like a blade: ceremonial, gleaming, and always visible. She makes no apology for her rank, and she expects no questions. Among the shorter-lived peoples, she passes herself off as an eccentric socialite—too refined to question, too remote to suspect. And when she travels, it is not to seek fortune or justice, but to find new subjects, new palettes, new themes. Every ruin holds potential. Every ally is a witness. Every monster she slays is a canvas, waiting to be posed.
Carmilla does not kill out of hunger. She kills with purpose. Murder is her medium. Blood is the paint upon her brush. Magic is the frame that holds it all together. Even her allegiance to Zura is more philosophical than religious—an appreciation for what the Crimson Mistress understands: that ecstasy, agony, and beauty are all shades of the same red.
She speaks often of transformation, of transcendence. Undeath, to her, is not escape but culmination. She reveres Zura not as a goddess to be worshipped, but as an ideal to be refined toward. Death, she believes, can be survived with the right vision. Immortality must be earned, and she carves her path to it in blood, elegance, and perfect form.
She is not cruel for cruelty’s sake, but she is deeply unkind. Lesser mortals amuse her, for a while. She speaks to them gently, encourages their little hopes, and then—if they interest her enough—immortalizes them in the only way she knows how. Her reputation trails behind her in whispers and red-inked rumors. A patron of unsanctioned galleries. A collector of antique blades and preserved hearts. A noblewoman who never ages, never forgets, and never forgives.
Carmilla Vaelith is not a villain in her own mind. She is a curator of fleeting moments. A sculptor of endings. Her life is her gallery, and she walks through it unhurried, elegant, and waiting for her next piece to begin.
SPELLS KNOWN
Carmilla knows all of the common arcane spells of 5th rank and lower from Player Core 1 and Player Core 2.
Rank Qty Cost Total Spell Cost
0 20 2 gp 40 gp
1 44 2 gp 88 gp
2 42 6 gp 252 gp
3 28 16 gp 448 gp
4 25 36 gp 900 gp
5 22 70 gp 1,540 gp
SUM 3,268 / 2 = 1,634 gp (halved due to Magical Shorthand and no chance of failure)
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free demo available at https://herolab.online
Pathfinder and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc., and are used under license.
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And at Level 5 (Profile deleted to save space):
Lady Carmilla 05
Female elf sorcerer 5 (Advanced Player's Guide, Lost Omens Character Guide, Rage of Elements, Secrets of Magic)
Medium, Elf, Humanoid
Age 468, Hair Red, Eyes Red, Complexion Pale
Height 5'7, Weight 120
Deity Zura
Heritage cavern elf
Background magaambya academic
Perception +7; darkvision, low-light vision
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Kholo, Orcish
Skills Academia Lore +11, Arcana +13, Crafting +11, Deception +11, Diplomacy +13, Intimidation +11, Nature +7, Occultism +11, Religion +7, Society +11, Stealth +10
Str +0, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +0, Cha +4
Items +1 explorer’s clothing, paint set[LOGB], scroll of clairaudience, sterling artisan's toolkit, purse (20 gp, 9 sp)
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AC 21; Fort +10; Ref +10; Will +9
HP 41
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Speed 30 feet
Arcane Sorcerer Spells DC 21, attack +11; 3rd (3 slots) fear, haste, illusory disguise* 2nd (4 slots) acid grip, dispel magic*, invisibility, telekinetic maneuver 1st (4 slots) alarm, charm*, force barrage*, gentle landing Cantrips (3rd) detect magic, electric arc, gouging claw, read aura, slashing gust[RE]
*Spells marked with an asterisk are signature spells; these spells may be heightened freely
Focus Spells 1 Focus Point, DC 21; 3rd Ancestral Memories
Ancestry Feats Ancestral Suspicion, Elven Verve[LOCG], Forlorn
Class Feats Arcane Evolution, Bleed Out
General Feats Ancestral Paragon
Skill Feats Magical Shorthand, Quick Identification, Recognize Spell
Other Abilities blood magic, imperial, imperious defense, sorcerous potency
--------------------
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free demo available at https://herolab.online
Pathfinder and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc., and are used under license.
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And at 10:
Lady Carmilla 10
Female elf sorcerer 10 (Advanced Player's Guide, Lost Omens Character Guide, Lost Omens Divine Mysteries, Rage of Elements, Secrets of Magic)
Medium, Elf, Humanoid
Age 468, Hair Red, Eyes Red, Complexion Pale
Height 5'7, Weight 120
Deity Zura
Heritage cavern elf
Background magaambya academic
Perception +13; darkvision, low-light vision
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Kholo, Orcish
Skills Academia Lore +16, Arcana +20, Crafting +16, Deception +17, Diplomacy +23, Intimidation +17, Nature +13, Occultism +16, Religion +13, Society +16, Stealth +16
Str +0, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +5
Items +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, cloak of repute[LOCG], messenger’s ring, paint set[LOGB], ring of minor arcana, scroll of clairaudience, scroll of talking corpse, scroll of translate (3rd rank), sterling artisan's toolkit, wand of cozy cabin, purse (250 gp, 9 sp)
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AC 27; Fort +17; Ref +19; Will +16
HP 86
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Speed 30 feet
Arcane Sorcerer Spells DC 29, attack +19; 5th (4 slots) acid storm[LODM], corrosive muck, scouting eye, subconscious suggestion* 4th (4 slots) carryall, fly, invisibility, translocate* 3rd (4 slots) fear, haste*, illusory disguise*, shrink item 2nd (4 slots) acid grip*, dispel magic*, invisibility, telekinetic maneuver 1st (4 slots) alarm, charm*, force barrage*, gentle landing Cantrips (5th) detect magic, electric arc, gouging claw, read aura, slashing gust[RE]
*Spells marked with an asterisk are signature spells; these spells may be heightened freely
Focus Spells 2 Focus Points, DC 29; 5th Ancestral Memories, Extend Blood Magic
Rituals mystic carriage, phantasmal custodians
Ancestry Feats Ageless Patience, Ancestral Suspicion, Elven Verve[LOCG], Forlorn
Class Feats Advanced Bloodline, Arcane Evolution, Bleed Out, Bloodline Resistance, Signature Spell Expansion
General Feats Ancestral Paragon
Skill Feats Assured Identification, Glad-hand, Magical Shorthand, Quick Identification, Quick Recognition, Recognize Spell, Shameless Request
Other Abilities blood magic, imperial, imperious defense, sorcerous potency
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Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free demo available at https://herolab.online
Pathfinder and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc., and are used under license.
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And at 14: (Note: if you don't want red eyes for her, I'd make 'em black. :-)
Note 2: "Common Arcana" is her spellbook, where she stores all the spells that aren't in her repertoire.
Lady Carmilla 14
Female elf sorcerer 14 (Advanced Player's Guide, Lost Omens Character Guide, Lost Omens Divine Mysteries, Rage of Elements, Secrets of Magic)
Medium, Elf, Humanoid
Age 468, Hair Red, Eyes Red, Complexion Pale
Height 5'7, Weight 120
Deity Zura
Heritage cavern elf
Background magaambya academic
Perception +19; darkvision, low-light vision
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Kholo, Orcish
Skills Academia Lore +20, Acrobatics +3, Arcana +26, Crafting +24, Deception +23, Diplomacy +27, Intimidation +21, Nature +17, Occultism +20, Religion +17, Society +22, Stealth +19, Thievery +3
Str +0, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +5
Items +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, socialite staff[TV], cloak of repute[LOCG], Common Arcana, messenger’s ring, paint set[LOGB], ring of lies, ring of minor arcana, sanguine pendant, scroll of clairaudience, scroll of talking corpse, scroll of translate (3rd rank), shadow signet, sterling artisan's toolkit, wand of cozy cabin, purse (1,657 gp, 9 sp)
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AC 33; Fort +21; Ref +22; Will +20
HP 118
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Speed 20 feet
Melee [1] [i]socialite staff[/i] +18 (magical, two-hand (1d8), monk, staff), Damage 1d4+2 B
Arcane Sorcerer Spells DC 33, attack +23; 7th (4 slots) corrosive body*[SoM], duplicate foe, replicate[SoM], retrocognition 6th (4 slots) disintegrate, dominate, hallucination*, repulsion 5th (4 slots) acid storm[LODM], corrosive muck, scouting eye, subconscious suggestion* 4th (4 slots) carryall, fly, invisibility, translocate* 3rd (4 slots) fear, haste*, illusory disguise*, shrink item 2nd (4 slots) acid grip*, dispel magic*, invisibility, telekinetic maneuver 1st (4 slots) alarm, charm*, force barrage*, gentle landing Cantrips (7th) detect magic, electric arc, gouging claw, read aura, slashing gust[RE]
*Spells marked with an asterisk are signature spells; these spells may be heightened freely
Focus Spells 3 Focus Points, DC 33; 7th Ancestral Memories, Arcane Countermeasure, Extend Blood Magic
Rituals mystic carriage, phantasmal custodians
Ancestry Feats Ageless Patience, Ancestral Suspicion, Elven Verve[LOCG], Forlorn, Unwavering Mien
Class Feats Advanced Bloodline, Arcane Evolution, Bleed Out, Bloodline Resistance, Greater Bloodline, Quickened Casting, Signature Spell Expansion
General Feats Ancestral Paragon
Skill Feats Assured Identification, Glad-hand, Magical Crafting, Magical Shorthand, Oddity Identification, Quick Coercion, Quick Identification, Quick Recognition, Recognize Spell, Shameless Request
Other Abilities blood magic, imperial, imperious defense, sorcerous potency
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Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free demo available at https://herolab.online
Pathfinder and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc., and are used under license.