Okay so I'm a GM in a game and we will be starting a new campaign in a few months so a lot of my players have been sending me their ideas for their next characters. However one of my players submitted an idea that sounds neat but I have literally no clue how it would work so I'm hoping one of you can help.
hey!!! im currently making a catfolk witch but i want to play it as a symbiotic relationship between the body of my character and some sort of psychic parasite that i would carry in a container or something. id like it if when i spoke it would come telepathically but i know it would give an extreme advantage in situations... i was thinking i could play it off as it looks and sounds like it coming from the "host" but with a really good perception someone could tell that its like the host is lipsinking
what do you think about the idea? and what could i use as then "parasite" that i carry around?
i was thinging that the parasite is a detective that takes willing hosts to grant their magic to, to solve crimes and mysteries
So that was their idea. (the next campaign might be Agents as its currently a 3/6 vote hence the detective part)
Anyway the idea is neat but I'm not sure how it would work, it feels very 'baldurs gate' to me, which is fine. Is there a psychic parasite in pathfinder that could work in that position?
What witch patron theme would work best here? Or is this fine for it to be any patron theme?
I can think of a few ways this would work, but you might need to get your player to answer a few questions.
1. Why does the host need to lip sync? Is the witch mute? Or are they supposed to be fully puppeted by the parasite?
2. The parasite is the patron, right? That's certainly what they sound like. Or do they want the familiar to be the parasite? My personal suggestion would be make the parasite in the bottle the patron but have the familiar be the only way they can directly in interact with the world-- and somewhat clumsily, hence the familiar's poor perception and difficulty manipulating items. That's why they need the witch. Witch familiars need to move around the battle field independently of the witch, so they can't just be sitting in a bottle.
3. Unfettered telepathic communication is not within the game's expected boundaries. I can't immediately think of a way to break the game with it, but I found ways to do that with GOO warlocks pretty consistently in practice. Is your players willing to bend on that point? For reference, telepathy is a 4th level spell that only lasts 10 minutes: https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1719
But I think they can get a reasonable approximation of this by using the Message cantrip (which now has the subtle trait so people can't tell when you're casting it) and giving your familiar the touch telepathy and/or speech. You can still pull off the basic "dog talks while the human lip syncs" trick that way.
If they intend for the witch to be mute, I'd direct your attention to this passage:
Casting Spells
Source Player Core pg. 299
The casting of a spell can range from a simple word of magical might that creates a fleeting effect to a complex process taking hours to cast and producing a long-term impact. Casting a spell requires the caster to make gestures and utter incantations, so being unable to speak prevents spellcasting for most casters. If your character has a long term disability that prevents or complicates them from speaking (as described in GM Core), work with the GM to determine an analogous way they cast their spells, such as tapping in code on their staff or whistling.
Spellcasting creates obvious sensory manifestations, such as bright lights, crackling sounds, and sharp smells from the gathering magic. Nearly all spells manifest a spell signature—a colorful, glowing ring of magical runes that appears in midair, typically around your hands, though what kind of spellcaster you are can affect this— academic wizards typically have neat and ordered spell signatures, while a druid's might be more organic and a cleric's might be inspired by their deity. How spellcasting looks can vary from one spellcasting tradition or class to another, or even from person to person. You have a great deal of freedom in flavoring your character's magic however you wish!
My suggestions above seem to fulfill the basic premise without needing to homebrew something or change any rules. The patron relationship is vague enough to accommodate carrying the patron around in a bottle. You might also consider a little reflavoring of the undead specific familiars Old Friend and Polong, both of which are anchored to item. The polong even has a bottle. The biggest problem is they require more abilities than a witch can have at 1st level. Also the polong may or may not be permanently invisible, as their flavor and rule text are contradictory. Do with that what you will.
Hope this helps!
Asked the questions to the player and they replied back
1. My original idea was that the witch was just a mute but then decided it would be more interesting to have them full puppeted by the parasite, hence the out of sync speech.
2. Yes the parasite would be the patron
3. I was planning on taking the message cantrip but I got to thinking this morning that maybe instead of the speech being telepathic for my character that it would be more along the lines of the voice would come from the all around, almost like throwing your voice on a windy day or an echo of some sorts.
Then I will reply to their replies. :)
First off, consider the Living Vessel archetype. https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=188
This is the closest mechanical expression for your concept.
If don't want to use it, but you want to flavor the character as being directly puppeted by the patron, it is probably fine-ish as long as you derive no mechanical benefit. For example, if the witch and familiar are asleep or knocked unconscious, the patron is too-- it can't "take a watch shift." I say fine-ISH because this requires GM buy in. I'm personally not a huge fan of reflavoring, but I'll admit I've done the "player is actually the patron" thing as a 5e hexblade.
But I see a few key differences here.
1. Having the familiar be puppeted too kind of muddies the themes for me.
2. This sounds less symbiotic and more full blown evil. Is this character appropriate for a game where you pay cops? Would people really trust them with any measure of authority? Witch is inherently sketchy but this ratchets up the sketch quite a bit.
3. Tying into the above, what does the witch get out of this relationship exactly?
4. The various forms of spooky communication are further complications that don't sit well with me. The first version will draw unwanted attention to the questions raised above. (People will inevitably roll nat 20s on perception checks eventually.) The new "voice comes from all around" thing interacts poorly with the stealth rules around the hidden condition and is bound to make people uncomfortable in the fiction.
This premise feels like a great fit for a Blood Lords campaign, but not most heroic campaigns or Agents of Edgewatch in particular. The idea of a mute witch who talks through their familiar wouldn't require homebrew, nor raise as many sinister flags narratively. The full blown body snatcher feels like a fun character in a vacuum, but I think your player is maybe relying on the meta assumption that the party and NPCs will accept them just because they are a PC. I'd urge you both to discuss what is appropriate for the campaign before you move forward.
Oh, but I never answered your initial question.
Is there a psychic parasite in pathfinder that could work in that position? Probably, but I wouldn't sweat finding an existing creature. Funky anchored ghost is good enough. A specific creature would come with a stat block of abilities that wouldn't be balanced for PC use, and patron mechanics don't really match anything else in the game.
What witch patron theme would work best here? Or is this fine for any patron? Inscribed One is definitely the best fit. Justifying any of the others will go back to the "what is appropriate for this campaign" question.
Thanks, I actually forgot Living vessel was even a thing.
A lot of the above gave me some things to think on and I think some tweaking to the idea could work and not cause major issues with the campaigns theme.
I'll discuss with them and see if we can get something that works for the cop theme without causing (major) trust issues. If not then perhaps see if the character can be shifted to a later campaign.