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Help me make a PC based on The Butterfly King, from The Sidekicks Initiative by Barry J. Hutchison. Because weirdness, roleplaying and comic relief, and I need a new low level character. Ideally, I'd like him to be legal for PFS 1E play.
The character is almost totally inept, but what he lacks in ability he makes up for in overconfidence. His gimmick is being able to summon, command and talk to butterflies - which seems to take a long time if it works at all. He talks like Batman but fights like a wet paper bag. I'd like him to have a limited ability to summon butterflies at level 1.
School familiar (illusion) seems to be out, as he'd need to be level 10 before he could have the greater school familiar feat and the ability to summon swarms.
Blight druid or wizard only gets a familiar, although the druid's 5th level miasma ability is sort of like a swarm's distraction, only better.
Swarm monger looked promising, but for some reason the fecund familiar choices are limited to just a few tiny creatures. Diminutive (aka weaker, more limited) familiars (like a butterfly) are not allowed, and if you somehow make the familiar diminutive, its copies when it turns into a swarm will not be.
I like some of the effects of the pipes of the sewers, specifically how distance and availability impact the summoning time. Maybe a headband of some sort could be created to work similarly for butterflies.
As far as I can tell, the only game effect a butterfly swarm can generate is distraction, and that with a pitifully low save DC due to the creature's 4 CON. I suppose there could be also be color changes like the fireflies in a metalseeker swarm.
An effect similar to color spray might be a little more useful than the distraction ability. I was looking for a metamagic feat that changes how spells manifest (thematic spell casting), but it doesn't appear that something like this made it into the PFRPG ruleset.
Do the butterflies need to be real? Silent Image should be able to give the appearance of a butterfly swarm.
I'd probably go with a cleric and take the Vermin Domain, that would give you the Vermin Whisperer ability, allowing you to interact with vermin as if they were animals. As your 2nd domain, take Animal Subdomain so you can get speak with animals 3 + your cleric level rounds per day.
As far as being able to summon a swarm of butterflies, you'd probably have to talk to your GM about re-skinning Summon Swarm to summoning only butterflies, and can no longer be used to summon bats, rats, or spiders.
You could have all this online as early as level 3.
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Do the butterflies need to be real? Silent Image should be able to give the appearance of a butterfly swarm.
They probably don't need to be real at level 1, although it would be nice if believing in them had a potential real effect.
I also found Stylized Spell, but alas one must be level 5 to have the prerequisite skill ranks, and then at least one more feat or ability if you want to negate the spell level increase.
For some reason, all the fecund familiars and the summon swarm spells and items seem to focus on tiny creatures - I guess they wanted to have things that most monsters could damage with natural attacks. The rat swarm doesn't follow the general swarm creature rules (giant rats are tiny, and so are the rats in a rat swarm). If the swarm is a manifestation of an illusion spell, tiny/diminutive/fine creature size and base creature type shouldn't matter.
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I'd probably go with a cleric and take the Vermin Domain, that would give you the Vermin Whisperer ability, allowing you to interact with vermin as if they were animals. As your 2nd domain, take Animal Subdomain so you can get speak with animals 3 + your cleric level rounds per day.
As far as being able to summon a swarm of butterflies, you'd probably have to talk to your GM about re-skinning Summon Swarm to summoning only butterflies, and can no longer be used to summon bats, rats, or spiders.
You could have all this online as early as level 3.
Yeah, the summon swarm spell restrictions make this tricky, even at level 3 (and GM leeway isn't an option if I'm aiming for a PFS-legal build). I am not sure there is a legal option at level 3, much less at level 1.
If I make them be illusory at level 1, I could get something else later - maybe even with multiclassing.
If I look at items, a rod of wonder summons butterflies, but a 1st level PC could neither afford nor control such an item.
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The magic trick feat for prestidigitation can give you the flavor of butterflies to most spells, at level 3
Thaumaturgic Aesthetics (Bluff 3 ranks, Disguise 3 ranks, Deceptive): While you have a prestidigitation spell active, you can thematically change the effects of other spells you cast, such as changing the color of a fireball, granting your magic missile a specific shape, or adding a floral smell to your mage armor. This increases the DC of Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana) checks to identify your magic by an amount equal to half of your ranks in Disguise (minimum 1).
Deceptive is a bit of a feat tax but sounds like it fits the character flavor anyway.
Edit: by deceptive, I assume they mean the deceitful feat, since it matches those skill requirements
According to chatgpt:
The Butterfly King is a character from the novel "The Sidekicks Initiative" by Barry J. Hutchison. He is a supervillain who possesses the ability to control butterflies and other insects.
The Butterfly King's real name is not revealed in the book. He is described as a lanky man with long hair and a goatee. He wears a purple suit with a butterfly pattern and a mask with butterfly wings.
The Butterfly King's powers allow him to control swarms of butterflies and other insects, using them to attack his enemies or to spy on them. He can also use his powers to create illusions and to manipulate the minds of others.
In the book, the Butterfly King is one of the main villains who are opposed by a group of sidekicks, who are trying to prove themselves to their superhero mentors. The Butterfly King teams up with other supervillains to try to take over the city
Overall, the Butterfly King is a memorable and quirky character in "The Sidekicks Initiative," known for his unusual powers and flamboyant costume.
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Sounds a lot like a mesmerist to me. And mesmerist has the spells I’d suggest. Silent image for level 1. At level 3 you can use the prestidigitation with magic trick for spells like obscuring mist in the form of a cloud of butterflies.
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Sounds a lot like a mesmerist to me. And mesmerist has the spells I’d suggest. Silent image for level 1. At level 3 you can use the prestidigitation with magic trick for spells like obscuring mist in the form of a cloud of butterflies.
chatgpt is a bit off. I'm not to the end of the book yet, but The Butterfly King so far has been one of the sidekicks (good guys). He concentrates to try to summon butterflies, and I was thinking mesmerist might have some potential fit here due to the mental exertion. Divine vermin affinity or arcane conjuration/illusion magic could be paths to the build. I also noticed an ability of phantasm subschool specialist wizards to create a "nightmare" illusion a few times per day, which has a little more game effect than silent image alone. I think eventually the bugs should be able to cause distraction, blindness, confusion, etc., which could be different spells. Magic Trick looks like a quicker route than Stylized Spell (accessible at a lower level). I like the idea of obscuring mist effects from a cloud that looks more like butterflies than mist.
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Thanks for the thoughts on this. I think some good options have been captured for classes and archetypes and spells.
There probably won't be much for equipment initially, but I'm also starting to think about traits and feats.
The character in the book is presumably human, which means 2 feats and 2 traits at level 1. Magical Flair trait is sort of a cheap and immediate option versus Magical Lineage and Stylized Spell. Any other thoughts out there regarding traits and feats for this build?
"The MONARCH!"
If you wanted to weaponize your friendly little butterfly [Familiar], then the Venom Siphoner Witch could do it... since the butterfly lacks the required natural attacks, it would get to spit poison as a ranged touch attack. Lol. Other than that, Witches have the Summon Monster spells on their list... you could even grab something like the Aurora Patron for spells like Color Spray. If you happen to be Chaotic Good, then you can trade your butterfly in for a Lyrakien with Improved Familiar at level 7. This aforementioned Lyrakien would still have the ability to spit poison, since it also lacks the appropriate natural attacks.