Good Evening,
I'm in a group that is about to start Quest for the Frozen Flame, and I was thinking about running a Wizard
If anyone has any advice on how to build one for this AP, it would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Prux
I think the biggest question is why do you want to play one in the first place? How do you plan to reconcile the classically educated wizard default with the tribal backdrop? Scribbling in a spell book is just a weird vibe. Not to say you shouldn't, but I don't know how to advise on a build without overcoming that conceptual hurdle, and I imagine you have already come up with a reason.
Beyond that, I'd recommend focusing on Crafting as your primary skill, especially if your group isn't playing with the Automatic Bonus Progression. Someone will need the Magical Crafting feat in that case. I believe that the game also calls for more Society checks than you might think at first. The Broken Tusk following and the Mammoth Lords are still societies, even if they aren't what we associate with nobility and an urban backdrop. The snare focused archetype also seems like a good one here.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
After a harrowing life living as a Pathfinder-wizard-Templar among the knights of Mendev, you’ve decided (like many young people of your age and heritage) that you really just want to go out into wilderness and “find yourself” among the ‘noble savages’ of the RotML.
Unexpectedly…the Mammoth Lords were not only willing to take you in, but proved to have a much, much deeper societal structure than you were prepared for- and they are NOT interested in learning any of that ‘progress’ you had hoped to impart.
The truth is- you’re also starting to doubt some of that self-same ‘progress’ anyway, and maybe that’s kinda the point of your personal mission of self-discovery. In any case, the Broken Tusk Tribe has already agreed to share with you their ways, and allow you to record that knowledge whilst continuing any “non-meddling”, magical research.
In return, you will one day act as their liaison with the Pathfinder Society- working to bring to the Society whatever knowledge the Tusks are willing to share ‘in exchange’ for whatever outside knowledge the Tusks are willing to receive. Fair enough. But so far the only subjects this crazy old man seems interested in concern nature; religion; Demonology; current news across Golarian; and boring historical trivia. A few examples you ask? Sarenrae; the released and forgotten Elemental Lords; Old Sarkoris; the rise of Irrisen; closing of the WorldWound; a friendlier Hold of Belkezin; and the return of Tar-Baphon…
**yawn**
But it’s not so bad. The Tusks for the most part leave you alone to scribble notes in your Tapir-hide tome(s), and you’ve kept yourself busy planning/Macgyvering a gigantic, waterproof ‘saddlebag’ -in anticipation of your own mammoth one day- to magically protect all your books, scrolls, and ‘other necessary comforts’ you might need.
Some days, you honestly have serious doubts about your decision. You’re still unused to the hard labour and harsh elements, flora, and fauna you’ve so far subjected yourself to. Most following get frustrated watching you attempt (and fail) at even the simplest of the Tusks’ routine tasks for mere survival. You miss your tea, Tian Xian cups and dishes, basic silverware - a REAL chamber-pot for once?!?
But you know that if you leave, you’d just be confirming what most of the Following have already long suspected (even bet upon) since your arrival- You’re too weak. Too Southern. Too soft. You’re no Mammoth Lord. You also know that if you left you wouldn’t be able to witness the sights that you now currently see: Living skies dancing with polar fire; gigantic death-lizards with exotic feathers; that handsome Pakano who scowls deeply at your clumsy attempts to flirt.
You’re in a tough situation, and feel out of your league. What were you even thinking taking your spellbooks and scry-mirrors to this…godsforsaken piece of Avistan?? Sometimes during these brooding moments, you catch the old man, Grandfather Eiwa, staring at you, wry smile upon his face, and a joyous laughter in his eyes. There’s something very off about that crazy old man- almost like he’s staring deep into your very soul.
In any case, you know you can’t just up and leave. You’ve heard rumours that Grandfather Eiwa himself has bet his favourite hunting knife, and personal share of the Autumn jerky on your sticking around.
-and at his age and appearance, you’re pretty sure that old fossil needs every scrap he can get!
After a harrowing life living as a Pathfinder-wizard-Templar among the knights of Mendev, you’ve decided (like many young people of your age and heritage) that you really just want to go out into wilderness and “find yourself” among the ‘noble savages’ of the RotML.
Unexpectedly…the Mammoth Lords were not only willing to take you in, but proved to have a much, much deeper societal structure than you were prepared for- and they are NOT interested in learning any of that ‘progress’ you had hoped to impart.
The truth is- you’re also starting to doubt some of that self-same ‘progress’ anyway, and maybe that’s kinda the point of your personal mission of self-discovery. In any case, the Broken Tusk Tribe has already agreed to share with you their ways, and allow you to record that knowledge whilst continuing any “non-meddling”, magical research.
In return, you will one day act as their liaison with the Pathfinder Society- working to bring to the Society whatever knowledge the Tusks are willing to share ‘in exchange’ for whatever outside knowledge the Tusks are willing to receive. Fair enough. But so far the only subjects this crazy old man seems interested in concern nature; religion; Demonology; current news across Golarian; and boring historical trivia. A few examples you ask? Sarenrae; the released and forgotten Elemental Lords; Old Sarkoris; the rise of Irrisen; closing of the WorldWound; a friendlier Hold of Belkezin; and the return of Tar-Baphon…
**yawn**
But it’s not so bad. The Tusks for the most part leave you alone to scribble notes in your Tapir-hide tome(s), and you’ve kept yourself busy planning/Macgyvering a gigantic, waterproof ‘saddlebag’ -in anticipation of your own mammoth one day- to magically protect all your books, scrolls, and ‘other necessary comforts’ you might need.
Some days, you honestly have serious doubts about your decision. You’re still unused to the hard labour and harsh elements, flora, and fauna you’ve so far subjected yourself to. Most following get frustrated...
F%&~ing A+ my dude.
Thx!
I imagine a wizard within the Broken Tusks would be more akin to an anthropologist- someone who re-examines the arcane through their daily observation- even participation -within a society that greatly values the primal- to the degree that they consider the divine, arcane, and occult as mere (and unnecessary) extensions of said primal power(s).
Imagine a wizened and tattooed mammoth lord astride their Mammoth companion- the latter of which is essentially a warm, walking, hairy and smelly library -with leather sacks and pockets hanging from its back and strange, zoic, and arcane fetishes dangling from the animal’s tusks.
Sometimes a character concept is about leaning into its internal contradiction, and discovering that they perhaps aren’t as contradictory as they first appear. Magic in pathfinder is weird because it **habitually defies** the classifications that mortals (player characters) ascribe to it, as it is nothing less than the essence of storytelling- the Familiar mixed with the Unknown -itself.
There’s a kind of mutualism, yet inner turmoil to this relationship between the Familiar and fearful Unknown in storytelling- like a certain ‘Watcher’, and a certain ‘Survivor’ in a story I know...
|
Good Evening,
I'm in a group that is about to start Quest for the Frozen Flame, and I was thinking about running a Wizard
If anyone has any advice on how to build one for this AP, it would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Prux
I think the biggest question is why do you want to play one in the first place? How do you plan to reconcile the classically educated wizard default with the tribal backdrop? Scribbling in a spell book is just a weird vibe. Not to say you shouldn't, but I don't know how to advise on a build without overcoming that conceptual hurdle, and I imagine you have already come up with a reason.
Beyond that, I'd recommend focusing on Crafting as your primary skill, especially if your group isn't playing with the Automatic Bonus Progression. Someone will need the Magical Crafting feat in that case. I believe that the game also calls for more Society checks than you might think at first. The Broken Tusk following and the Mammoth Lords are still societies, even if they aren't what we associate with nobility and an urban backdrop. The snare focused archetype also seems like a good one here.
I've played a Rogue and a Cleric in PF2E thus far and wanted to try a Wizard for something different.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
...After a harrowing life living as a Pathfinder-wizard-Templar among the knights of Mendev, you’ve decided (like many young people of your age and heritage) that you really just want to go out into wilderness and “find yourself” among the ‘noble savages’ of the RotML.
Unexpectedly…the Mammoth Lords were not only willing to take you in, but proved to have a much, much deeper societal structure than you were prepared for- and they are NOT interested in learning any of that ‘progress’ you had hoped to impart.
The truth is- you’re also starting to doubt some of that self-same ‘progress’ anyway, and maybe that’s kinda the point of your personal mission of self-discovery. In any case, the Broken Tusk Tribe has already agreed to share with you their ways, and allow you to record that knowledge whilst continuing any “non-meddling”, magical research.
In return, you will one day act as their liaison with the Pathfinder Society- working to bring to the Society whatever knowledge the Tusks are willing to share ‘in exchange’ for whatever outside knowledge the Tusks are willing to receive. Fair enough. But so far the only subjects this crazy old man seems interested in concern nature; religion; Demonology; current news across Golarian; and boring historical trivia. A few examples you ask? Sarenrae; the released and forgotten Elemental Lords; Old Sarkoris; the rise of Irrisen; closing of the WorldWound; a friendlier Hold of Belkezin; and the return of Tar-Baphon…
**yawn**
But it’s not so bad. The Tusks for the most part leave you alone to scribble notes in your Tapir-hide tome(s), and you’ve kept yourself busy planning/Macgyvering a gigantic, waterproof ‘saddlebag’ -in anticipation of your own mammoth one day- to magically protect all your books, scrolls, and ‘other necessary comforts’ you might need.
Some days, you honestly have serious doubts about your decision. You’re still unused to the hard labour and harsh elements, flora, and fauna you’ve so far subjected yourself to.
That's sensational !