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There's bloodshed between the gods, with more than one of them dying. Animists speak to the many spirits of the world, from the mortal dead to the incarnations of city, sea, and sky. Exemplars carry tiny sparks of divinity in their souls, forging new legends that may one day shake the foundations of the heavens themselves.
It's a Pathfinder playtest, and as our resident story and setting nerd, I wanna know - who are you making?
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There's bloodshed between the gods, with more than one of them dying. Animists speak to the many spirits of the world, from the mortal dead to the incarnations of city, sea, and sky. Exemplars carry tiny sparks of divinity in their souls, forging new legends that may one day shake the foundations of the heavens themselves.
It's a Pathfinder playtest, and as our resident story and setting nerd, I wanna know - who are you making?
An Iobarian Exemplar who will have the Brave, Whose Cry is Thunder, and The Last Ryuler Epithets and Barbarian (Elemental Instinct) Free Archetype who is heavily inspired by Perun (Slavic Mythology's equivalent to Thor.)
He'll have an axe as his weapon ikon (Titan's Breaker), Skin Hard as Iron in the form of tattoos, and a tartan/belt as his Skybreaker's Belt ikon.
Large, loud, and tumultuous like the storms, but brave and heroic to a fault.
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I actually have a mini for him I did up for him in HeroForge (where I design most of my characters) - so, here's Torinn.
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An Alkenstari exemplar armed with an air repeater and grabbing some Pistol phenom feats. Big coat, twirling pistols, knock out some big debuffs. Live the dream.
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Had the perfect character to transition. When I joined an Age of Ashes campaign at level 15, I remade my favorite 1E character, my Paladin of Iomedae from Wrath of the Righteous. I reflavored her story a little, since she couldn't have been one of the Worldwound heroes who slew Deskari, and she left the group after book four to head to the Gravelands to keep fighting undead.
During book five the group got premonitions of the Citadel being attacked by dragons, and sent a message to Steena for help.
This week she came back as an Exemplar with Champion dedication, and now her backstory of being one of the Worldwound heroes is back as we play through the rest of book six. Level 18 playtest character lets go.
This week she came back as an Exemplar with Champion dedication, and now her backstory of being one of the Worldwound heroes is back as we play through the rest of book six. Level 18 playtest character lets go.
This might’ve won the thread early - I LOVE that! A WotR veteran has every reason to be an Exemplar.
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I'm a little caught out by the timing, but I think a dwarf exemplar* with the Sentinel archetype would be perfect for Sky King's Tomb.
*- ikons Scar of the Survivor or Skin as Hard as Horn, Titan's Breaker, Palisade Bangles; probably Brave and Born of the Bones of the Earth (and eventually The Last Ruler) epithets
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Titan's Breaker Exemplar with the Captivator archetype. Get you a girl who can literally heal your wounds with a smile AND smash all of your bones with a hammer
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This week she came back as an Exemplar with Champion dedication, and now her backstory of being one of the Worldwound heroes is back as we play through the rest of book six. Level 18 playtest character lets go.This might’ve won the thread early - I LOVE that! A WotR veteran has every reason to be an Exemplar.
Renamed her "The Last Ruler" epithet to "Right Hand of the Inheritor".
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I'm still figuring them out and i'm not qctually sure I will get to playtest them out in the end, but i have a few ideas. I'll share the most concrete one so far.
But so far I have a this idea. I think either half-elf or half orc, but the ancestry/heritage might change.
Tara'El( name may change) lived a mostly good life. She lost one of her parents at a young age but her mothers took good care of her. She was different from the other kids often talking to herself it seemed. However when tar baphon returned and the Dead-lands came to be her life was caught in thr middle of it. She lost her remaining parents in the escape, and she only made it out thanks to some brave knights and goblins. Then a teenanger, she was inspired to act by those around her but she seemed... inconsistent. Some days she was the ideal squire, always on time training diligently, others she slept in and missed multiple days or practices, only to be found later that day goofing around the campfire, mesmerized by the flames and singing goblin songs to herself. She struggled with this herself not understanding why she couldnt just be consistent. One of the knights who tried ro look after her sent her one day to an elder who knew of spirits and appirations. He assumed she might have been possessed and thought maybe the elder could help.
That was not the case, but the young girl did seem to have a knack an interest in the Elders teachings and beliefs. Thus she trained under the elder, learning of the practice and beliefs of animism. Some days she gravitated towards certain spirits and other days another. It was sometimes based on what she needed for the day, but other times it seemed like a simple prefrence. But working with them felt like she was closer to herself, and closer to those she lost.
I am thinking she will be a channeler. And the idea behind her is basically like ourselves she is Plural. The Appirations are not her alters/headmates but certain alters do perfer working with certain types of spirits. And to the those who are unfamililar with either concept may make that mistake.
Might have been too long for a simple playtest concept that I might not even get to play but we are pretty excited for the animist.
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https://app.demiplane.com/nexus/pathfinder2e/character-sheet/0001a249-6d42- 496c-bdfa-4efcadf316a4
Testing out both the playtest AND pathfinder nexus character builder. Some options aren’t quite there; one of the backgrounds gave a choice of skill and the builder gave me both, but it’s just to test the math mostly.
In any case, my scenario 4 “healer” in the PF2 playtest was Dorothy the Basketweaver, cleric of Torag and master swordsmith. As she happens to be my sole PF2 character that already has an epithet, I’m renaming her as an Exemplar for a solo run through Sky Kings tomb.
Alternatively, if you use the dual class variant, it’s +2.
Her backstory is that she was a rather skilled weaver, content to be just that, but had an acrimonious divorce from an almost equally skilled swordsmith. She then became a BETTER smith than him just to prove she could. Her new Sky Kings tie in is that she, in the course of showing her ex up, learned, and then improved, multiple “lost” smithing techniques as if inspired by Torag or Droskar themselves. This caught the attention of clan Tolarr, who invite her to collaborate with their smiths in the Torag shield project. Her ex is, of course, of the smithing clan, while she is of the civic virtue clan (both names escape me).
I may rebuild her after book 1 to be a dual class animist, so that the swords will also speak with her.
Her backstory is that she was a rather skilled weaver, content to be just that, but had an acrimonious divorce from an almost equally skilled swordsmith. She then became a BETTER smith than him just to prove she could. Her new Sky Kings tie in is that she, in the course of showing her ex up, learned, and then improved, multiple “lost” smithing techniques as if inspired by Torag or Droskar themselves. This caught the attention of clan Tolarr, who invite her to collaborate with their smiths in the Torag shield project. Her ex is, of course, of the smithing clan, while she is of the civic virtue clan (both names escape me).
I may rebuild her after book 1 to be a dual class animist, so that the swords will also speak with her.
Actually, hmm. I am suddenly curious about her ex-husband. What's his deal? Even if the stuck up jerk I originally imagined, why? What's driving that?
Having him as an Exemplar and her as a Sword Spiritualist, especially if forced to work together by circumstance, has some interesting RP possibilities.
Edit: Yeah, Dorothy as a channeler animist works better. "Steward of stone and flame" fits as a forge spirit, and the others could be awakened spirits of weapons she's crafted over time.
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I highly doubt I'm gonna actually get to play during the Playtest, but Animist really wanting to play one as a Tien priest of Tamashigo. It's the perfect Cleric alternative for that belief system IMO.
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Currently adapting my Fighter for Exemplar use who is an adaptation of an anti-hero character I'm using in my own stories. Since they come from a post-apocalyptic setting that they are trying to end, I'm essentially going to be playing them as a Terminator-esque character who traveled back in time and is on a mission to change the events that led to The Gap (see Starfinder) to prevent it from ever happening and causing Golarion to disappear. (This is very easy to RP by just claiming any important action they do is causing the timeline to deviate since last I checked no one locally knows what the Gap's backstory is.) Flavor wise I want the character to feel like they were pulled off of a metal album cover.
Mechanically, their level 5 build is going to be Noble Branch, Survivor's Scar and Thousand Yard Sandals; root epithet of Mournful and entering into Born from the Earth at 7. Ancestry is Changeling/Orc with Tomb Born background (it is PFS legal, after all). I'm going to be leveraging the Mist Child feat from Changeling against the Mournful effect to really maximize frontline survivability (25% miss chance let's go!) while having Final Spite and Orc Ferocity available to utilize my reaction more often. Should be fun!
My Exemplar for a small mini-campaign/adventure is Fjorn, he is a dwarf from the might northern ice land. Him and his triplets Bjorn and Tjorn were gifted their mother's divine spark whenthey were born and now in a small village of Ashfall they must battle bandits to try to help the village therough from hard times where they been experiencing low amount of growth due to no ash falling recently! His brothers and him are expert marksman using longbows and riding their pet horses.
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I highly doubt I'm gonna actually get to play during the Playtest, but Animist really wanting to play one as a Tien priest of Tamashigo. It's the perfect Cleric alternative for that belief system IMO.
An animist would probably fit in very well with Season of Ghosts, although that would be after the playtest period.
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I definitely won't be able to play this character during the playtest, but I put together an exemplar character from the Land of the Linnorm Kings, a big ol brute of a viking. His name is Hafthor Halfhand, and is definitely based on the positive side of Karsa Orlong from the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Basically, he believes he is is destined to kill a linnorm, but also unite the entire region under his rule. He is not smart.
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I might try to play a Channeler Animist with Stalker in darkened boughs and Impostor in hidden places for the following combo : Start with primary Stalker, 1 action Darkened Forest form for sone inconspicuous pest form (Sustained in later rounds), 1 action Apparition's whirl to switch to primary Impostor, 1 action Discomfiting whispers (Sustained in later rounds).
Enemies will come to hate all pests they see.
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Ended up making the skeleton of a dead harvest god as a 10th level exemplar. He of course wields a +1 Striking Ghost-Touch Scythe and is in +1 Gliding Armoured Cloak.
50 ft. speed and loads of athletics feats so that you cannot escape death. His scythe leaves cursed bone fragments within his enemies preventing them from healing, he can 1/day decide that a person who dies actually doesn't, can burry his enemies beneath the earth, intimidates with just a look, is resistant to most forms of damage except blundgeoning but can make himself have resistance to blundgeoning and when he focuses on making himself so invulnerable he ends up causing people to remember their dead or forces them to contemplate their own death, if you do hit his weak point to ignore his damage resistance he just collapses into bones to negate the crit, can instinctively divine omens about those around him, and can grapple & trip even the largest foes. I also gave him that jar of infinite sand magic item that I think I'll reflavour as an hourglass of infinite sand.
Ended up making the skeleton of a dead harvest god as a 10th level exemplar. He of course wields a +1 Striking Ghost-Touch Scythe and is in +1 Gliding Armoured Cloak.
50 ft. speed and loads of athletics feats so that you cannot escape death. His scythe leaves cursed bone fragments within his enemies preventing them from healing, he can 1/day decide that a person who dies actually doesn't, can burry his enemies beneath the earth, intimidates with just a look, is resistant to most forms of damage except blundgeoning but can make himself have resistance to blundgeoning and when he focuses on making himself so invulnerable he ends up causing people to remember their dead or forces them to contemplate their own death, if you do hit his weak point to ignore his damage resistance he just collapses into bones to negate the crit, can instinctively divine omens about those around him, and can grapple & trip even the largest foes. I also gave him that jar of infinite sand magic item that I think I'll reflavour as an hourglass of infinite sand.
Nice one. I had a nascent idea for a skeleton Exemplar, riffing off a Harbinger-type, but what you have there kind of writes itself doesn’t it. A skeleton of a dead god. A winnower who was a harvester and now reaps etc… Scythe. Hourglass. All you need now is a morose attitude about the pointlessness of Death and your own meaning.
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I'm not very good on actual play-testing in the rules, but reading the stuff in it, part of me kind of feels like the Age of Ashes character concept I've had for a few years would make a GREAT Exemplar. This class may be just the battle-focused non-Battle-Oracle concept I've been looking for!
While Dahak isn't DEAD yet (I'm not sure if War of Immortals is when Exemplars first start appearing on Golarion, or if there have been ones in the past that just didn't have this specific label yet), his avatar being forcibly separated from him could be a great excuse for a shard of Dahak's divinity to get lodged in this poor Aiuvarin dwarf and give him the horrifying nightmares of fire and death that motivate him to learn how to be an adventurer:
Mournful [insert first name here] Oreflame, Born of the Bones of the Earth, Teacher of Heroes!
Throw in a Draconic bloodline Sorcerer multiclass for some fire-themed arcane spellcasting and it'd be perfect!
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I'm kind of torn. I really want to play an Exemplar.
the first is Inzara. a human/duskwalker her memories of her previous life are cloudy. she is known to be very lovely, though a thick scar runs across her throat. She is a fierce swordswoman with a gleaming blade. Her boots are decorated with intricate thorny vine designs. While she cannot remember specifics, she remembers that she was betrayed... over... and over. She remembers that the Gods, and those of faith were among those betrayors. Despite her mournful nature, and her drive to Elevate herself, to put herself beyond the power of any other... she is happy. She is happiest in battle, and at the edge of life and death... She is mortal, and she embraces the beauty of that. Unlike most duskwalkers, she seems to have empathy for undead who were turned against their will, and will allow those who do not spread their curse and do not take innocent lives to continue their existence should they want it.
yeah, very obviously a Shard of Arazni splintered off and brought back as a Duskwalekr.
The other... I kind of want to make Percy Jackson... and this is kind of the perfect class (give him a water kineticist archetype)
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Having taken a closer look at Animist, I got an idea that'd probably require a bunch of GM buy-in, but would still be pretty cool: Combine Animist with the Time Mage archetype and flavor the character's apparitions as future and alternative versions of themself, kind of like the Echo Knight Fighter subclass from 5e D&D. They'd have a sort of character arc gimmick with the character slowly changing physically over the course of their adventuring career to resemble whichever apparition they bond with most often, as their timeline stabilizes and the future they've chosen most often becomes their present!
Now that I think about it, Thaumaturge with a mirror implement would be a good chassis for this concept too, using Chronoskimmer instead (though that'd require more GM buy-in, since Chronoskimmer is Rare, while Time Mage is not)!
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Gurdy was a legend in his hometown; nobody was a better bouncer for the local tavern! His imposing height and rotund physique (coupled with a full childhood of farm work) meant he was unparalleled in his ability to bar chuck rowdy malcontents. One unassuming night while standing his post out front he felt a warm splash on his balding scalp. He cursed the gulls of his seaside region but his head was magically dry when he went to wipe it. He didn't think much more on it and continued his shift until a scream down the road alerted him to danger: old farmer Whithers raced through the town's front gate with a werewolf hot on his heels. Gurdy pulled out his trusty sap and raced to meet the beast and protect his favorite turnip farmer! He reared back and smacked the creature upside the head....unexpectedly sending it into orbit. ".....well that's a bit much, 'init?" whispered Gurdy to himself and quickly left town to figure out what was going on with his body and protect his neighbors from inadvertent harm.
Animist is the class I'm more interested in, I just haven't thought of a character yet. When I do I'll post it!
1e Medium here. I probably won't get to try out the playtest because of a lack of game to play in. But I am really hoping to eventually find my way into a 2e game someday.
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Gurdy was a legend in his hometown; nobody was a better bouncer for the local tavern! His imposing height and rotund physique (coupled with a full childhood of farm work) meant he was unparalleled in his ability to bar chuck rowdy malcontents. One unassuming night while standing his post out front he felt a warm splash on his balding scalp. He cursed the gulls of his seaside region but his head was magically dry when he went to wipe it. He didn't think much more on it and continued his shift until a scream down the road alerted him to danger: old farmer Whithers raced through the town's front gate with a werewolf hot on his heels. Gurdy pulled out his trusty sap and raced to meet the beast and protect his favorite turnip farmer! He reared back and smacked the creature upside the head....unexpectedly sending it into orbit. ".....well that's a bit much, 'init?" whispered Gurdy to himself and quickly left town to figure out what was going on with his body and protect his neighbors from inadvertent harm.
Animist is the class I'm more interested in, I just haven't thought of a character yet. When I do I'll post it!
I love him already.
Ya know, while Wrath of the Righteous is an obvious 1e adventure path to pull Exemplar ideas from there is another one that has come to mind. The set up for Tyrant's Grasp feels like a perfect set up to explain an Exemplars origins.
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I probably won't be able to use this one during the playtest phase, but just in case:
Character: John; Exemplar; human (smokesoul slyph); witchlight follower background
Ikons: Gleaming Blade (kriegsmesser-style greatsword, possibly modified and reflavoured halberd); Scar of the Survivor; Victor's Wreath (red sash)
Backstory for Abomination Vaults:
John arrived in Otari over ten years ago. Just a young boy, badly injured and without memories, the first thing he vaguely remembers is washing ashore near the Otari fishery. Thankfully, Tamily Tanderveil is a kind soul and took him in. His wounds healed to just an odd looking scar over time, but his memories never returned. Regardless, his surrogate mother taught him many things, not just fishing, but her old martial skill as well.
A month before the events of the story, John, during one of his "walks" near the Fogfen, spotted a curious light and followed it, transfixed. Hours later - despite the Fogfen not really being that large - he woke up from his stupor. He was deep in the swamp and in front of him was a small hill with some sort of... protrusion. He curiously touched the object and immediately light enveloped him. When he could see again, he held in his hand an exquisitely crafted but positively plain sword. Even better, some of the light remained on the blade, guiding him home. Tamily grounded him for a week (and let him off after three days, because she's a big softie).
When Wrin first told him of the strange lights she was seeing, that night he received a red parcel. It just seemingly appeared on his bed, containing only a red sash and a card reading "you know what to do". With all the questions in the world and exactly zero answers, but a great desire to find out, he is off on his first adventure!
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I probably won't be able to use this one during the playtest phase, but just in case:
Character: John; Exemplar; human (smokesoul slyph); witchlight follower background
Ikons: Gleaming Blade (kriegsmesser-style greatsword, possibly modified and reflavoured halberd); Scar of the Survivor; Victor's Wreath (red sash)
Backstory for Abomination Vaults:
John arrived in Otari over ten years ago. Just a young boy, badly injured and without memories, the first thing he vaguely remembers is washing ashore near the Otari fishery. Thankfully, Tamily Tanderveil is a kind soul and took him in. His wounds healed to just an odd looking scar over time, but his memories never returned. Regardless, his surrogate mother taught him many things, not just fishing, but her old martial skill as well.
A month before the events of the story, John, during one of his "walks" near the Fogfen, spotted a curious light and followed it, transfixed. Hours later - despite the Fogfen not really being that large - he woke up from his stupor. He was deep in the swamp and in front of him was a small hill with some sort of... protrusion. He curiously touched the object and immediately light enveloped him. When he could see again, he held in his hand an exquisitely crafted but positively plain sword. Even better, some of the light remained on the blade, guiding him home. Tamily grounded him for a week (and let him off after three days, because she's a big softie).
When Wrin first told him of the strange lights she was seeing, that night he received a red parcel. It just seemingly appeared on his bed, containing only a red sash and a card reading "you know what to do". With all the questions in the world and exactly zero answers, but a great desire to find out, he is off on his first adventure!
I had not thought of creating playtest PCs for PF2 APs we already have. Well done.
So, naturally I thought about other APs and Strength of Thousands sprung to my mind.
And it meshes so well with the free Wizard MC Dedication that I can now use to tell a story of a life path changing completely (something RAW PF2 MC does not adequately support).
Imagine someone who was pretty much predestined to one day be a prestigious Wizard at the premier school of wizards in the world. Until one day they wake up with strange abilities, strange ideas, strange instincts that have replaced wizardry at the core of their being. Exemplar with free Wizard MC. Maybe an Anadi, for that "peaceful soul called to battle" touch.
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A kid of Amatatsu Ameiko, empress of Minkai, sounds like a perfect Exemplar.
Though I could see another of her kids being linked to the spirit world as an Animist.
Refining a little the latter concept, I would try building the kid as an Animist MC Cleric (or even MC Champion), likely of Shizuru. Paying due respects to both spirits / apparitions and deities.
In Chel's village only men were allowed to participate in ceremonial reenactments of the Battle of Integration.
Long ago upon the fertile slopes of Mount Cinis a foreign army driven South by famine waged war to eliminate the natives and claim the farmland as their own. They were fueled by desperation more than numerical superiority and were nearly slain to a man before the spirit of the mountain interjected. The surrending chieftain begged for the future of his people upon the deaf ears of his local counterpart who was tainted by the rage of lost neighbors, brothers, and sons. Before the local chief could strike the man down Mount Cinis spewed it's anger toward the heavens and the local chief hung his head low in admonishment. Subsequently, the surviving soldiers as well as the refugees were taken in and fully integrated within a few generations.
Chel knew this history front to back yet she still wasn't allowed to partake in her people's most cherished holiday!! As the festivities began to die down she climbed onto the slopes and wept over her inability to live the story of her home. The spirit of Mount Cinis as well as the spirits of all those who died fighting upon it heard her cries and invested within her their anima. Feeling changed and renewed she danced down the mountain and performed a complete (and pyrotechnically vivid) history that shamed even the most studious elders of the village.
Afterwards, she left to share the story of her people with the world!
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If I get to play the playtest (which is unlikely), I'll play a halfling animist with the prisoner background who just escaped.
You know, a small medium at large.
(Yes, the joke is. Sue me. :P )
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With the Exemplar, I can refine my character that is basically Dominic Toretto from FF.
For him I need a brawler with access to the Family domain. Champion worked but the flavor didn't really fit.
As an Exemplar with the Tinker background, he would have the Ikons Titan's Breaker (any club like weapon flavored as a wrench), Gaze Sharp As Steel & Victor's Wreath (which is a bottle of whatever passes as Corona on Golarion).
Get Claim Initiate & Advanced Domain and basically fill the other feat slots up with Vehicle Mechanic and later Trick Driver.
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I cannot believe this did not occur to me before, but a Leshy Exemplar could be "the falling divine spark landed on a potted cactus. It has been trying to cope ever since."
Wasn't all that enthused about my previous concepts, but this one should be fun.