I have a character that is a role-playing concept more than a mechanics concept. So up-front: role-playing choices take precedence over mechanics. If a choice makes the character weaker so be it. If I was going purely for mechanics she'd be a cleric dedication.
The character idea is a half-elf who was corrupted in utero by divine-sourced void energy(think, a speck of a dead god). Upon her birth, this magic killed her elven mother and she grew up with her human father and elven grandfather (both of whom treat her well and love her dearly). As she grew up she found herself obsessed with the arcane and specifically undeath, but was raised by her grandfather, an acolyte of Pharasma and caretaker of the dead for the community, to revere Pharasma. This conflicts some with her darker nature, and she has episodes where things fade to black and she does things without knowing or remembering them. She just thinks she feints sometimes and doesn't realize what is happening. I'm having the character start out as a wizard of the boundary with the familiar arcane thesis.
I'm role-playing that Pharasma gives her nudges through her owl familiar to do her bidding and that she believes that the source of her few divine abilities is Pharasma. However, in reality, she is a Sorceror with the Undeath bloodline (sorcerer dedication at 2nd level) and she just doesn't realize the Divine abilities she starts developing are coming from herself, not from her deity. Pharasma is fine with this mistake, as she noticed at the character's mother's death that the character was corrupted and has been keeping an eye on her since through her grandfather and other followers.
I had her get stabilize and vitality lash upon becoming dedicated, representing that she is trying to do what Pharasma wishes. Once she gets basic spellcasting benefits from sorcerer, I'm trying to come up with ideas for what divine spells she should get that are thematically appropriate (on the character sheet I've just penciled in harm and heal so far but it seems a bit boring). Narrative-wise I want her to eventually turn against Pharasma after realizing her own true nature, but that should be a relatively high level (if it happens in-game at all). In the meantime, she'd be struggling with conflicting impulses while striving to serve Pharasma as well as she could.
Does anyone have some cool ideas? Especially for spells or abilities? If she ever gets to high levels the plan is to have her have the Bloodline Breadth feat, Basic Blood Potency (cantrip expansion), Advanced Blood Potency (Divine Evolution), and all the spellcasting feats.
Current character sheet (may not be perfect, I just redid some things on it for the remaster / changed out some ideas)
Looking for cool ideas with tragic past trope character who thinks she gets powers from pharasma, but actually has Undeath Bloodline and is a sorceror.
Interesting character idea. Drawing a blank for ideas right now though. :-(
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The thing you need to balance for this concept is that PF2 multiclassing isn't super friendly to changing your class over time like other games were. You can gain more of your multiclass but your primary class always remains primary. And if your character's powers ultimately comes from their blood you probably want to start as a sorcerer.
The other problem I see is that arcane magic doesn't feel appropriate to them. I'm not aware of Pharasman accolytes using arcane magic instead of divine. And the two magic types are distinct enough from each other that you should be able to tell the difference with minimal training, and this character definitely has that training. I'd think you'd mistake yourself for a cleric, oracle, or divine witch. The owl familiar being a direct tool of Pharasman makes me think witch.
If you're going to need to play through level 1 and it is important you have the familiar (and can't get it through an ancestry feat) you could start as a witch and then take the sorcerer dedication at 2nd, and work with your GM to eventually retrain and become a sorcerer with the witch dedication. (Or ditch the witch dedication for something else if you're at the point where she's turning against Pharasma.
Great thoughts! I like the ideas of looking into the witch or oracle class more and I'll have to play with that concept. It would definitely make the familiar corresponding to the deity a much bigger part of gameplay which would be a lot of fun.
As far as the spell traditions being different. The thought I had was that she would know her arcane powers come from normal wizard stuff (or witch or w/e). Where the confusion would be is where her Divine Powers (that come later) come from. That she wouldn't realize those are from herself rather than a deity. A real cleric on the other hand might be able to tell, and especially if they are of Pharasma.
Edit: to be clear I'm saying an observer of her using her abilities might be able to tell.
In addition the original concept was that she would be a "late bloomer" re her divine blood. So until she hit level 2 / was around 20 she had been solely studying arcane magic but then at level 2 realizes she is able to do Divine magic as well, thinking this is a gift of Pharasma to help her fight
Got it. Then an arcane witch into sorcerer seems like the most fitting option to me. The Inscribed One is a weak patron but you're focusing on the RP here, som
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Was supposed to be so. Not som
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There's lots of fun dark twists you can add, yeah. Though I'd maybe play the character first to feel them out along with the campaign. Play to find out can be important for tone.