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So we've all talked about the book and have debated if something counts as something and maybe gotten into a heated argument over the minutia of rules that suddenly became relevent with the release of these classes. But y'know what? This is a game where we are supposed to have fun.
So let's just take a second to sit back and have some fun! Right now! Super easy!
Let's come up with some ideas for implements that fit the bill but might not be what the creators had in mind. I've already seen (on another thread) the idea to reinterpret the 'chalice' as a 'ladle of chicken soup,' given to you by a stereotypical grandma who "wants you to eat more, look at you, so skinny!"
I personally like the idea that a particularly pompous thaumaturge would carry around a notarized, framed copy of his noble birth certificate as his regalia (it says an item that represents your status!) Any other thoughts out there for fun re-imaginings of implements?
One idea I had for a regalia implement is a fancy cane with a head made of polished silver. A wand could be a broken flintlock pistol that shoots "magic bullets" because the Thaumaturge thinks that it can. And the only book that would contain all the necessary trivia for Esoteric Lore would be Count Longardeaux's Book of Party Tricks, Redneck Jokes, and Worldly Records.
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My flag waving regalia thaumaturge can't wait to be unleashed in the world !
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I like the idea of Regalia being a cloak/cape or crown/circlet, though Regalia seems like it is intended to be more of a scepter, orb or banner kind of thing.
For bells one can go for some chimes dangling from one's wrist, Hmm maybe one of those wooden drums that has two balls attached with string where you spin it back and forth so that the balls impact the sides of the drum. Tako drum?
Would have viewed a wand as a scepter, though that is apparently more Regalia. Could be a leg bone, or a sprig of some holy plant. Maybe a riding crop?
Tome could be an artifact plate with strange unknown writing. Or some kind of crystal that contains secret information.
Chalice can of course be a skull or gourd. A flask. A bowl.
Lantern can be a candle. A glowing crystal or rock. A sunrod/glowstick. Flint and steel? A glass bottle with some strange liquid in it that starts to glow/emit light when shaken.
Amulet can of course be an amulet, a ring, a bracer, etc. A special bandana. A wallet chain? A deck of cards.
Mirror can be a shiny piece of metal, like a coin or bit of armor, or a reflective crystal. A shard of glass/crystal. A bowl of water perhaps. A monocle.
Weapon is probably too straightforward to really come up with anything particularly interesting, unless one is just reflavoring weapons in general
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The mirror implement as a self-portrait; when you activate it, the image in the portrait disappears.
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Some of the stuff I've made:
For my robot celestial librarian concept:
Tome: a tablet (as in like a magical ipad) that can access a divone database of all knowledge. When using find flaws, she pulls up an entry on the target and reprograms reality to give them a weakness to her attacks
Wand: megaman style arm cannon
Amulet: not all that weird; a holy symbol of Irez (the goddess she was an angel for before blasphemous rites trapped her essence into a constructed body)
Esoterica is a collection of arcane runestones that she mixes and matches to draw on symbolic connections.
My shrine maiden concept
Wand: her gohei (that little wand with the paper tassled on it)
Bell: a scepter with rings hanging from it that can be shaken to make noise to ward off evil
Chalice: a stash of water that washes away wounds and impurities
Esoterica: prayers and wishes written on paper written by others. She selects an appropriate prayer when using Find Flaws (so for example, she might use a prayer for good luck against a creature with misfortune effect, a prayer for true love to defeat a succubus, etc)
My "magical" girl concept:
Tome: the mascot advisor. It's incredibly sassy, but knows a lot of stuff
Regalia: a wand thats lets them "transform" into their magical girl alter ego. When carrying it, they give off an aura of hope and confidence that is infectious
The last one is kinda open and undecided
Esoterica: a collection of items that contain precious memories of all the fun times they've had with their friends. Wehn reaching into the esoterica, they always conveniently pick out an item that brings back a memory thats perfect for soothing their current worries and gives them the strength they need to keep going
Note I use them because the character is an amab enby whos somewhat masc presenting in their normal form but femme presenting in their magical girl form
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Amulet could be a censer, with the smoke coming from it blunting blows.
Bell could be a collection of bones clattering against one another. I wanted something that was a bit more ominous. You can also have something that doesn't normally make noise- a crude doll that cries whenever it's squeezed.
Chalice could be an apple or other piece of food that you can take either a small or large bite from.
Lantern has to shed light, but a holy symbol (especially for a deity of knowledge or truth) would work for a pious thaumaturge, or one not above using a relic they found for a faith they don't particularly follow.
Mirror could be a marionette styled after the thaumaturge, or a mask. I'm thinking of having the action be to put a comedy or tragedy mask to their face, and pull it off again, only now there are two- one holding a comedy mask, and one with a tragedy mask. The mask's expression changes depending on which is selected as real.
Regalia could be a conductor's baton.
Tome could be a ledger instead. A difficult to read record of metaphysical debts, with skills provided by different entities paying off debts. Or maybe it is a collection of spirits or souls, like the PF1 feat Spirit Ridden.
Wand could be a scroll that never gets used up.
Weapon could be a practice weapon instead of a real one.
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If your character is from Arcadia, your weapon implement being a gun that has been passed down in your family as an heirloom works in the lore.
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An Arcadian thaumaturge with a quipu as a tome implement would be fantastic.
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A makech for Amulet.
A snake (or figurine of a snake if your GM can't hand wave AOE damage) that bites you/your target for Chalice (quick bite for sip, long bite for drain).
A volvelle or antikythera for Tome.
A jar of fireflies for Lantern.
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An imp in a bottle for Lantern. It's a fire imp, so it glows just fine.
A different imp in a different bottle with a metal straw poked into its neck for Chalice.
A human bone with runes burned into it for Wand
A codex of names and summoning rituals for Book. You get new skills by summoning some devil or other and making a deal or enforcing a demand for temporary knowledge.
A copy of the contract with which you sold your soul, indicating that you rightfully possess the power that you sold it for as Regalia
Amulet is the unholy symbol of whoever your primary patron is
Bell is a third trapped imp, this one bound in leather straps rather than stuck in a bottle. When you squeeze it or dig your fingers into it or whack it against something it makes screaming noises. It's learned that that's the quickest way to make the pain stop.
The Mirror is... simple brass. The figures cavorting about its rim are a little distracting, but it's nothing more than simple brass. The fact that sometimes it shows you a burning hellscape rather than your face? The fact that you can sometimes see shadowy figures beating against it from the other side while silently screaming? The fact that it will sometimes whisper to those that listen close? Nothing to concern yourself with. It is simple brass.
A whip for Weapon. Sure, it's made out of demonskin leather and thoroughly soaked in blood, but that doesn't actually change its stats.
Esoterica is a variety of small infernal symbols. Doesn't matter what it is. Somewhere out there there's a devil or other evil power that hates it with a passion.
Not all Thaumaturges are good.
Tome could be an artifact plate with strange unknown writing. Or some kind of crystal that contains secret information.
A magic 8-ball.
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I've just realized... it's nto that I went too far. I didn't go far enough.
- Book is an imp bound in straps who will whisper blasphemous truths into your ear
- Amulet is a particularly small telekinetic imp in a cage on a chain around your neck.
- Regalia is an imp on a stick who is constantly fawning over you and talkign about how awesome you are.
- Weapon is a small bulbous imp, wrapped in chains, with a very long tail (gnomish flickmace)
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I've just realized... it's nto that I went too far. I didn't go far enough.
- Book is an imp bound in straps who will whisper blasphemous truths into your ear
- Amulet is a particularly small telekinetic imp in a cage on a chain around your neck.
- Regalia is an imp on a stick who is constantly fawning over you and talkign about how awesome you are.
- Weapon is a small bulbous imp, wrapped in chains, with a very long tail (gnomish flickmace)
Mirror is a bald imp with a perfectly polished cranium.
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Yes. Yes. This is a Thaumaturge worthy of archetyping into Tyrant. Asmodeus is pleased.
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Human Thaumaturge with the Time Traveler background, though they insist they come from another world rather than another time.
Their Tome is a book bound in what seems to be a strange many-layered paper, with the title "Bestiary", filled with bizarre statistics of the many creatures of the world.
Their Amulet is a simple bag of many oddly-shaped dice of some unknown material, when they give it a jiggle their target's aim seems to shift ever so slightly to their ally's advantage.
And their Mirror is a figurine of them-self made from the same material as the dice, which to activate they toss to the ground wherever they're activating their double, but always winds up back in their pocket when they need it again.
...I have a new character concept now.
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Kuthite Thaumaturge delving in power through fear.
Lantern : their own eye that they pluck from its socket.
Chalice : bleeding wounds they cut on themselves. Here, take a sip.
Wand : the hand of a Mage, still writhing and bleeding. Alternately, their own fingers, stripped of flesh.
Book : ear pendants made of shrunken heads that whisper terrible secrets.
Regalia : necklace of their own teeth
Amulet : a tiny screaming creature who absorbs the damage. Alternately stretched skin from the Thaumaturge who delights in the pain they feel.
Bell : the removed tongue of the Thaumaturge properly pierced for the various noises. They can use it for actual speaking too.
Mirror : half of their face they rip away and that grows a duplicate of their body. Alternately their shadow that gets a life of its own.
Weapon : recycled torturer's tool
Esoterica : objects of all phobias (spiders, worms, blood, dung, fire, ...)
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The above mention of Arcadian Thaumaturges reminds me of an idea I had. From the same tradition as the Beast Gunner, your Esoterica could represent beast-bits you've collected throughout your adventuring career, referencing previous monster encounters during the campaign to adapt to the weaknesses of your present quarry. Like loading up with a blend of gunpowder and Salamander ash to activate the fire weakness of an Icewyrm, or activating the Personal Antithesis of an Aurumvorax with the remains of that really cool Rust Monster encounter that your GM thought you'd all forgotten about by now.
More on-topic, you could do the same with your implements! Perhaps your Bell is a bullroarer made from the vocal cords of a terrifying Boggard, or your Trollbone Chalice is filled with a carefully-maintained cellular slurry still trying to regenerate itself. Perhaps you use a Wand that you continually craft throughout the adventure, adding those shiny new damage types as you fight the right sort of Elemental creature...
Weapon of course writes itself if you use what you flavour as your own custom Beast(s) Gun, or perhaps you're the odd-one-out who believes that the best possible Beast Gun is actually a Beast Sword... Make sure to make it out of a creature with a powerful reaction! :D
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The above mention of Arcadian Thaumaturges reminds me of an idea I had. From the same tradition as the Beast Gunner, your Esoterica could represent beast-bits you've collected throughout your adventuring career, referencing previous monster encounters during the campaign to adapt to the weaknesses of your present quarry. Like loading up with a blend of gunpowder and Salamander ash to activate the fire weakness of an Icewyrm, or activating the Personal Antithesis of an Aurumvorax with the remains of that really cool Rust Monster encounter that your GM thought you'd all forgotten about by now.
More on-topic, you could do the same with your implements! Perhaps your Bell is a bullroarer made from the vocal cords of a terrifying Boggard, or your Trollbone Chalice is filled with a carefully-maintained cellular slurry still trying to regenerate itself. Perhaps you use a Wand that you continually craft throughout the adventure, adding those shiny new damage types as you fight the right sort of Elemental creature...
Weapon of course writes itself if you use what you flavour as your own custom Beast(s) Gun, or perhaps you're the odd-one-out who believes that the best possible Beast Gun is actually a Beast Sword... Make sure to make it out of a creature with a powerful reaction! :D
Thank you for this.
It made me realize I could use Thaumaturge to build my old dream of a character who starts with only the cloches on their back and use only what they got from defeated enemies to equip themselves.
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The above mention of Arcadian Thaumaturges reminds me of an idea I had. From the same tradition as the Beast Gunner, your Esoterica could represent beast-bits you've collected throughout your adventuring career, referencing previous monster encounters during the campaign to adapt to the weaknesses of your present quarry. Like loading up with a blend of gunpowder and Salamander ash to activate the fire weakness of an Icewyrm, or activating the Personal Antithesis of an Aurumvorax with the remains of that really cool Rust Monster encounter that your GM thought you'd all forgotten about by now.
More on-topic, you could do the same with your implements! Perhaps your Bell is a bullroarer made from the vocal cords of a terrifying Boggard, or your Trollbone Chalice is filled with a carefully-maintained cellular slurry still trying to regenerate itself. Perhaps you use a Wand that you continually craft throughout the adventure, adding those shiny new damage types as you fight the right sort of Elemental creature...
Weapon of course writes itself if you use what you flavour as your own custom Beast(s) Gun, or perhaps you're the odd-one-out who believes that the best possible Beast Gun is actually a Beast Sword... Make sure to make it out of a creature with a powerful reaction! :D
Thank you for this.
It made me realize I could use Thaumaturge to build my old dream of a character who starts with only the cloches on their back and use only what they got from defeated enemies to equip themselves.
I'm using the art for the Psychodermist from 1e's Monster Hunter's Handbook for my Thaumaturge.
Amulet - A necklace of various monster claws/fangs.
Bell - The skull of a slain beast that roars with psychic energy.
Chalice - A flask of troll's blood.
Lantern - A lantern containing a hag's eye.
Mirror - Honestly....I couldn't find anything on that art that was a good match. Probably the same as the lantern. Haha.
Regalia - A cloak made of the wing membrane of a dragon/wyrm.
Tome - Just a straight up tome with all the notes on various creatures and other lessons learned throughout the years.
Wand/Weapon - Either a severed aberrant tentacle used as a whip for the weapon or a dagger made of a bone/claw/fang. Or even what looks like what could be a repurposed owlbear beak affixed to your gauntlet to create spiked gauntlets, a great free-hand weapon for a Thaumaturge.
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Mirror - Honestly....I couldn't find anything on that art that was a good match. Probably the same as the lantern. Haha.
Bio-student brain is thinking the reflective, shimmering scales of some sort of sea creature. Fish scales are usually reflective for some sort of camouflage/light distortion reason, which fits the implement well. I'm sure there's a more mystical variant of that somewhere in the bestiary; 2e especially has impressed me with zoology-inspired monster abilities.
EDIT: Oh, right, "on that art", whoops. The tentacle looks pretty shiny, and Aberrant stuff tends to lend itself well to illusionry...
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Mirror - Honestly....I couldn't find anything on that art that was a good match. Probably the same as the lantern. Haha.The tentacle looks pretty shiny, and Aberrant stuff tends to lend itself well to illusionry...
I was also thinking the same thing. It just kinda felt like a stretch. Also, the draconic membrane looks...copper-ish and copper dragons are fans of illusion spells.
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If you stretch reflavoring /very/ far, you could use a Thaumaturge to represent something like the old 3.5 Daelkyr Half-Bloods, from Eberron. These were essentially Aberrant planetouched, warped in the womb by exposure to power alien beings, and born with an affinity for living tools called "symbionts" that bonded to their bodies.
Make your Weapon out of sharpened bone and shiny meat - maybe a toothed tongue for a Whip? Wands make good sense as spell-shooting tentacles, in the vein of a certain non-OGL tyrannical voyeur. A protective Amulet might be an organ or little bug that squirts Resistance-granting juices into your bloodstream. The Bell could be a shrieking mouth! I love the idea of carrying around a big eyeball as a Lantern.
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If you stretch reflavoring /very/ far, you could use a Thaumaturge to represent something like the old 3.5 Daelkyr Half-Bloods, from Eberron. These were essentially Aberrant planetouched, warped in the womb by exposure to power alien beings, and born with an affinity for living tools called "symbionts" that bonded to their bodies.
Make your Weapon out of sharpened bone and shiny meat - maybe a toothed tongue for a Whip? Wands make good sense as spell-shooting tentacles, in the vein of a certain non-OGL tyrannical voyeur. A protective Amulet might be an organ or little bug that squirts Resistance-granting juices into your bloodstream. The Bell could be a shrieking mouth! I love the idea of carrying around a big eyeball as a Lantern.
Ooo, you could even combine that whip with the Soulforger archetype, except instead of manifesting from another realm of existence it just schlorps out of your wrist. Of course, that then means that you're reflavouring your Soul Path as the unimaginable whims of whatever awful aberrant master put that thing in your arm, which is absolute conceptual gravy. Watch out for that Corruption!
Oh! And your Esoteric Lore could be the voice of your dark overlord whispering sweet Nothings into your ear; becoming flat-footed on a critfailed Exploit Vulnerability is just what happens when you listen a little too closely.
It all works. This is rad and I want to play this.
(Also a Tome that's just a gross pocket brain; take it out and it wraps awful spiked tendrils around your arm that burrow directly into your nervous system. Congrats, you're now an Expert in Basket Weaving Lore.)
My christmas themed pine leshy thaumaturge will use a sugar cane as a wand and a pompous christmas tree topper as the regalia.
Man that is a great idea. Are the Seedpods, assuming you use that feat, pinecones?
With Thaumaturge up in Pathbuilder so I can sit down and try and build this stuff out, instead of just having ideas rolling around as I read the book, I am building a Cactus Leshy. Mostly because that also gives me a melee unarmed strike as well if needed. Pathbuilder automatically defaults to Bartender as Background, and after some thought that actually doesn't feel bad for a Cactus Leshy. And a Thaumaturge probably wants Diplomacy anyway.
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My christmas themed pine leshy thaumaturge will use a sugar cane as a wand and a pompous christmas tree topper as the regalia.
He should team up with my old man Beast Summoner Nicolas Kringle, with his Reindeer Eidolon Randolf (First two feats are mount form and glide!)
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Add in an elven artificer, who generally wears green
For the Krampus, go with a hobgoblin beastkin (goat) for the looks and eventual size, and take Barbarian( Animal Instinct (Frog)) for the impossibly long tongue.
My christmas themed pine leshy thaumaturge will use a sugar cane as a wand and a pompous christmas tree topper as the regalia.Man that is a great idea. Are the Seedpods, assuming you use that feat, pinecones?
With Thaumaturge up in Pathbuilder so I can sit down and try and build this stuff out, instead of just having ideas rolling around as I read the book, I am building a Cactus Leshy. Mostly because that also gives me a melee unarmed strike as well if needed. Pathbuilder automatically defaults to Bartender as Background, and after some thought that actually doesn't feel bad for a Cactus Leshy. And a Thaumaturge probably wants Diplomacy anyway.
Please make your chalice a Stein with cactus Juice then, makes people hallucinate Feeling better
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Your Thaumaturge is a cook
Amulet: A Tastevin (the thing a Sommiler wears around their neck)
Bell: Is the dingy bell rung when a dish is done
Chalice: a measuring cup or a soup ladle
Lantern: a coal from the hearth of your home, the place where you learned to cook, forever glowing
Mirror: a finely polished silver platter
Regalia: your chefs hat that your teacher handed down to you
Tome: Your families recipe book
Wand: A wooden spoonm handed down by your nana who made the worlds best sauces with it
Weapon: a kitchen knife, a meat cleaver, a meat tenderizer, a rolling pin
Esoterica: you never leave home with your bag filled with handpicked spices
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Your Thaumaturge is a cook
Tome: Your families recipe book
This has some delicious implications vis a vis the whole "all Recall Knowledge checks" thing and how good Esoteric Lore is at identifying all creatures. On one hand it COULD be telling you all the weaknesses of your humanoid foes because, well, it's useful to know who can handle spice and so on, but on the other hand... Well, the other hand might be served with some nice chianti given that Adept +1 bonus you got to lopping it off.
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How about a Duskwalker Thaumaturge who learned their Esoteric Lore from Psychopomp tutors in the Boneyard before being sent back to maintain the cycle of souls? Here are some potential implements:
Amulet: A holy symbol of Pharasma which was created in her own demesne for an extra symbolic connection.
Bell: Though the bell looks ordinary, it creates the sound of a Nosoi's song when rung.
Chalice: A bowl of sweet liquor used by some Catrinas to ease the passing of spirits to the next world.
Lantern: A mote of light from Groetus's Moon, encased to help you reveal the truth of things and bring about their end.
Mirror: A shard of Glass which has a small fragment of Pharasma's power over fate trapped within it. It allows you to nudge your own destiny a little, to be in a slightly different place which could change your story entirely.
Regalia: A spider-silk half-cape embodying the patient authority of a Morrigna, or a Yamaraj's feather which gives you an aura of finality.
Tome: A book about various mortal jobs and professions loaned to you by a Yamaraj who found you intriguing.
Wand: An actual literal bone from the Boneyard you were allowed to take with you. Will probably do cold damage at first, though will get better as you practice with it.
Weapon: A holy dagger of Pharasma is naturally an idea, but a weapon used by a Champion of Pharasma or a Psychopomp usher in the past is also good.
Esoterica: Since you are connected to the Goddess of Death, your esoterica tends to be more macabre. The cursed effigy feat would be very good for you.
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Had an idea for a Ghost thaumaturge, a dead lighthouse keeper.
Her Lantern is a manifestation of her memory of the lighthouse, a rotating beacon that pierces the darkness and guides those around her to safety.
Her Amulet is a broken compass, the needle constantly twitches before spinning to point at the ally protected by its power.
Not sure what her third implement will be.
... A little out there, but a friend of mine has been homebrewing a PF2 modern thing I'm also making a thaumaturge for that. Her Tome is a smartphone. She'll confidently tell the enemy she's 'googling how to beat them' before invoking its power or imposing a personal antithesis. Her Weapon's a baseball bat she's plastered in sealing charms.
I mounted a Thaumaturge Windup Poppet on Pathbuilder, as the first implement I chose a weapon, nothing special, but for the second implement I'm thinking of a chalice, in this case it would be those machine oil containers, it would be difficult to convince others to drink this...
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I'll take that one further. Fleshwarp Thaumaturge. Their implements aren't the thing that holds the magic. Their implements are mnemonics, rich with memory, that remind the character how to reshape parts of their own body into forms that do the magic.