PF2e - Not Good Still Awesome Caster Builds
PF2e - Not Good Still Awesome Caster Builds
With Reddit going dark these are no longer available for public viewing. I have taken a copy from the wayback machine to make sure they are not lost forever. Click on the class to expand the build details.
| Post Title | Date Posted | Build Outline | Original Poster |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Living Siege Tower | 6 Mar 20 | Cleric/Champion -Pure tank caster | amalgamemnon |
| SMITE | 2 Feb 21 | Cleric/Champion -Smitepriest | TheGentlemanDM |
| The Dracopontiff | 17 Aug 20 | Cleric/Dragon Disciple versatile caster | amalgamemnon |
| The Kamehameha Cleric | 24 Jan 20 | Cleric/Monk -Focus point blaster | TheGentlemanDM |
| A Leaf on the Wind | 28 Apr 20 | Druid/Rogue -Mobile blaster/healer | TheGentlemanDM |
| Dead Cthulhu Lies Dreaming | 17 Aug 20 | Lore Oracle versatile caster | TheGentlemanDM |
| Rising Angel, Fallen Fiend | 21 Aug 20 | Sorcerer (Angelic) with lay on hands, and Ancestors Oracle with corrupting touch. |
TheGentlemanDM |
| A Knight and Her Knight | 12 Sep 21 | Summoner/Champion – Tandem Combatant | TheGentlemanDM |
| A True Archmage | 19 Feb 20 | Wizard/Halcyon Speaker - Power caster | TheGentlemanDM |
| The Unseen Arcane Archer | 18 Feb 20 | Wizard/Ranger -Controller archer | TheGentlemanDM |
Living Siege Tower Cleric/Champion
We want a character with high personal defences, respectable offenses, and strong spellcasting to supplement. Immediately, the Warpriest doctrine of Cleric comes to mind, but Warpriest on its own doesn’t maximize the Living Siege Tower all on its own. For that, we’ll have to supplement with something a bit more defensive: Champion. We’ll also be making healthy use of Demoralize against our opponents since we’re going to be taking boosts to our Charisma, which further supports our party members by making their hits more reliable.
This is one of those times where choosing Ancient Elf is really going to benefit us (this build is incredibly tight on feats), although an alternative route to a very similar character would be to choose Human and take Natural Ambition as your first level Ancestry feat. This guide will stick with the Ancient Elf build path, as it offers some extra early survivability.
Ancestry: Elf. We really need to get Champion dedication at level 1 for some early survivability and to start picking up those powerful Champion archetype feats. As stated before, however, Human is also an acceptable choice. Ability boosts: +STR + DEX +INT -CON. We also double voluntary flaw INT at the ancestry step to boost our CON for better survivability.
Heritage: Ancient Elf is the only viable heritage for this build. Choose the Champion Dedication.
Ancestry Feat: Nimble Elf. Making sure you can get around the battlefield and assist your allies is what makes you a “Living” siege tower. The extra 5ft of movement is going to get you a lot of mileage (pun!) in the long run (double pun!)
Background: Warrior. Intimidating Glare is going to be very useful with our high Charisma and low Intelligence holding back our number of known languages. We’ll be taking Intimidation to Legendary with this build. For ability boosts, take +STR, +CHA.
Class: Cleric. Cleric offers us a great mix of utility spellcasting and powerful offensive and defensive options as a Warpriest. +WIS
Choose Warpriest as your cause. Healing Font will be your only option here, since you’re going to be choosing either Iomedae or Torag as your deity for access to the Longsword or Warhammer, and you’re going to want to choose Lawful Good so that we can take the Paladin Cause for our Champion archetype. This also means our very powerful Divine Lance cantrip has some additional flexibility.
If you’re able to beg your teammates for a bit of coin, you can start at level 1 with a Cleric class kit, Longsword or Warhammer, Steel Shield, and Split Mail, giving you a starting AC of 19, 21 with your shield raised, and you will be dead broke. If not, you’ll have to settle for Chain Mail, which will give you a starting AC of 18, leaving 2g 5s leftover.
Determine Array: Ability boosts - +STR +CON +WIS +CHA
STR 16 - DEX 12 - CON 12 - INT 8 - WIS 14 - CHA 14
Build Path:
The most important skills to ensure you’re trained in at level 1 are Intimidation (which you get from your deity and your background) and Medicine. Round out your skills as you see fit.
Level 2: Emblazon Armament and Battle Medicine. Emblazon Armament is a nice boost to either your offensive or defensive capabilities, and is required for skills later on.
Level 3: Skill increase Intimidation to Expert. Fleet is a great option for getting yourself into the foray faster.
Level 4: Intimidating Prowess and Basic Devotion (Divine Grace). You meet the prerequisites and you should be making healthy use of Demoralize during combat. This also scales up later on, so it’s good value at level 4. The options from Basic Devotion aren’t amazing, but Divine Grace is a serviceable defensive option, and we’re going to be taking feats using Advanced Devotion later that are quite powerful.
Level 5: I really like Elven Instincts, and there aren’t a lot of better options for us. It also allows us to skip taking Incredible Initiative as a general feat, which opens up other options later.
Take ability boosts to STR, CON, WIS, and CHA.
STR 18 - DEX 12 - CON 14 - INT 8 - WIS 16 - CHA 16
Level 6: Divine Ally (Shield) and Continual Recovery. Divine Ally (Shield) is a key feat for this build, as it makes your shield significantly more powerful.
Continual Recovery is a good option for making sure that your party gets a lot more out of your healing during short and long recovery periods. Ward Medic is also an option here, but I think Continual Recovery gets more value early and you can take Ward Medic later on since it scales.
Level 7: Bump Intimidation to Master for even more powerful Demoralizes (and unlock Battle Cry at level 8) and pick up Toughness as your general feat to put some meat on your Ancient Elven bones.
Level 8: Align Armament and Battle Cry. Using Align Armament then Strike is going to be, on average, more damage than doing two Strikes and taking your multiple attack penalty. You’ll probably be picking Good more often than Law for your damage alignment, but since we took Lawful Good, you do have the option of choosing either. Battle Cry is remarkably powerful for a skill feat, and will scale up to be even more powerful when we reach Legendary, so it’s an easy choice.
Level 9:* I took Medicine to Master at this level, and chose Elf Step for my ancestry feat since monsters with Reach and AoO are going to start to be more common around this level. Resolves gives you Master Will saves makes all your successful Will saves critical successes instead.
Level 10: Replenishment of War, Ward Medic and Ability Boosts. Replenishment of War is very strong personal defensive feat that is a prerequisite for a powerful group defensive feat later on. Taking Ward Medic at this level allows you to treat up to 4 people at once with Treat Wounds and Treat Disease, making your rests even more efficient. Ability boosts to STR, CON, WIS, and CHA.
STR 19 - DEX 12 - CON 16 – INT 8 - WIS 18 - CHA 18
Level 11: The Skill increase at this level is really preference depending on what skill feats you’re chasing that aren’t Intimidation or Medicine.
For your general feat, Diehard is strong and on-theme for our character. Incredible Investiture is a fine option depending on how generous your GM has been with magical items requiring investment.
Level 12: Advanced Devotion (Shield Warden) and Terrified Retreat. Terrified Retreat continues to scale up the power of your Demoralizes, albeit not consistently and not during boss encounters.
Advanced Devotion for Shield Warden allows your adjacent allies to enjoy the benefits of your beefed-up shield almost as much as you do. We’ll be getting the Quick Block feat later on as well, to make this feat even more impactful.
Level 13: Go ahead and bump the skill feat from Level 11 to Master. Again, this is pure preference depending on what skill feats your chasing at higher levels. You will also receive your Weapon Specialization for your Longsword or Warhammer at this level, giving you additional damage.
Brightness Seeker is probably your best bet for an ancestry feat, but really all of the options are pretty underwhelming.
Small segue discussion here: In my opinion, the main benefit of reaching level 13 is picking up Divine Défense which increases your proficiency bonus with unarmoured defence (and light armour and medium armour due to the Warpriest doctrine) to expert. Up to this point, you’ll have been wearing Heavy Armor since you had Trained proficiency with it. However, Divine Defense will mean your AC will be exactly 1 higher on Chain Mail than on Half Plate, given the same fundamental runes. At level 14, you will have the option of taking Diverse Armor Expert, which will also raise your Heavy armor proficiency to Expert, which will result in Heavy armor again having the 1 AC advantage over Medium armor (again, with the same fundamental runes). It is my personal opinion that 1 AC is not worth a class feat that can provide much stronger group utility, and therefore, my build guide will not be taking Diverse Armor Expert at 14. Therefore, at this level I recommend that you buy either Chain Mail or a Breastplate, and enhance it with the best runes available to you. If you fundamentally disagree with my assessment here, you’re of course free to continue wearing heavy armor for this level, then take Diverse Armor Expert at level 14, but our builds will likely diverge significantly at this point. Ok, end small segue.
Level 14: Shared Replenishment. Being able to dole out temporary hit points to anyone in your party, including yourself, just for hitting enemies, and all with 0 impact to your action economy? I’ll take this over 1 AC any day (see segue above).
Your skill feat choice at level 14 is purely preference.
Level 15: Legendary Intimidation, Ability Boosts, and a general feat. Bump Intimidation to Legendary to open up Scare to Death. You have the option of taking Scare to Death right now or waiting until Level 16. If you opt to wait 1 level, you can take your preference of general feat here.
Ability boosts to STR, CON, WIS, and CHA.
STR 20 - DEX 12 - CON 18 - INT 8 - WIS 19 - CHA 19
Level 16: Eternal Blessing, Scare to Death. Eternal Blessing is very on-theme for us and provides the group even more bonuses for doing what they want to be doing anyway: standing near you!
If you didn’t take Scare to Death at level 15, go ahead and take it now. Otherwise, this skill feat is up to your preference.
Level 17: Legendary Medicine. Bump Medicine to Legendary for Legendary Medic at level 18, and pick an ancestry feat of your choice.
Level 18: Legendary Medic, Emblazon Antimagic. Take the Legendary Medic skill feat here to boost your already impressive healing suite for your team. Emblazon Antimagic is being taken late relative to its level requirement, but the middle level feat slots of this build were very competitive and this is the one I chose to delay. You can see now why taking Ancient Elf was so important.
Level 19: Whatever you took as your optional skill to increase all the way back at level 11 can be taken to Legendary now. Also take your preference of a general feat at this level.
You also get your 10th level spell slot.
Level 20: The skill feat at this level up to your preference.
Due to our somewhat awkward starting array, we end up taking ability boosts to DEX, INT, WIS, and CHA at level 20. If you get access to an Apex item, apply it to STR.
STR 20/22 - DEX 14 - CON 18 - INT 10 - WIS 20 - CHA 20
Your 20th level class feat choice is really no choice at all. If your GM allows you access to Emblazon Divinity, take it. It’s a no brainer boost to your party’s overall effectiveness. If your GM decides you’re not worthy of the feat, Maker of Miracles is the next best option, and substantially more powerful for a Warpriest than either Avatar’s Audience or Metamagic Channel.
SMITE Cleric (Cleric/Champion) Detail
We want a frontline warrior who makes the largest attacks possible with smiting abilities.
Somewhat counterintuitively, Paladins are not in fact the best at smiting things. They certainly have options for some potent at-will smiting (Smite Evil, Blade of Justice, and the Blade Ally upgrades), but we want something with a little more punch. Cleric offers a lot of ways to get extra dice onto our attacks. Emblazon Armament/Energy, Divine Weapon, and Align Armament are good starts, but the real draw is Channel Smite. Being able to drop our Font and spell slots into a massive pile of raw damage is exactly the kind of oomph we want here. Of course, this means never getting Master proficiency in weapons, but we have heroism and true strike to solve that problem.
Ancestry: Orc. We're here to be good, not nice. We get boosts to STR and CON, darkvision, and access to an abundance of martial feats.
Heritage: Hold-Scarred gives us a little more HP and Diehard.
Ancestry Feat: Orc Ferocity gives us the ability to hold on in a pinch. We'll be fairly reaction hungry in the long run, but it's still useful.
Background: Pilgrim. We get boosts to STR and CHA, become trained in Religion and Ragathiel Lore, and gain the Pilgrim's Token skill feat.
Class: Cleric. We choose the Warpriest Doctrine, gaining medium armour and Shield Block, and getting a boost to WIS.
We choose Ragathiel as our deity. Ragathiel is Lawful Good, offers the bastard sword as a weapon, both Fonts, true strike and haste as spells, and a series of anathema and edicts that suit a character going out to SMITE. Perfect. We choose the Harming Font, and add Intimidation, Athletics, and other two skills.
Determine Array: Boosts to STR, DEX, CON and CHA.
STR 16, DEX 12, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 14. We need to hit stuff, be able to take a few hits, and a supply of Font.
Build Path:
Level 2: Versatile Font. Having the ability to decide between loading out harm or heal means we can have a little extra healing if needed (or adapt to fighting undead).
Level 3: Improved Initiative gets us into the fight faster.
Level 4: Channel Smite. We can fuel our Divine Font into our weapon attacks for big hits. Preparing an abundance of true strikes helps with accuracy.
Level 5: STR 18, DEX 12, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 16
Orc Superstition gives a situational defense against magic.
Level 6: Champion Dedication (Paladin Cause). We gain heavy armour and can now wear plate, which boosts both our AC and our Reflex saves.
Level 7: Tough gives us a little more longevity.
Level 8: Champion's Reaction (Retributive Strike).
Level 9: Pervasive Superstition means we have a permanent +1 defense against magic.
Level 10: STR 19, DEX 14, CON 18, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 18
Basic Devotion: Ranged Reprisal. Makes our Retributive Strike way better.
Level 11: Fleet enhances our mobility, enabling us to get into position for our smites more effectively.
Level 12: Align Armament. We can load up lawful or good damage as needed.
Level 13: Incredible Ferocity gives us more uses of Ferocity.
Level 14: Diverse Armour Expert. Expert Plate.
Level 15: STR 20, DEX 14, CON 19, INT 10, WIS 16, CHA 19
Spell Devourer ancestry feat. Now that we have two Master saves (Fort and Will), we can expect to be making our saves fairly often.
Level 16: Extend Align Armament makes Align Armament actually good.
Level 17: Rampaging Ferocity gives our Ferocity a little more bite.
Level 18: Advanced Devotion: Second Ally (Shield). At these levels, making use of shield block with a Sturdy Shield is more important than a few points of damage from two-handing.
Level 19: Canny Acumen (Reflex) makes us a bit less vulnerable to AOEs.
Level 20: STR 22 (Apex), DEX 14, CON 20, INT 12, WIS 18, CHA 20
Advanced Devotion: Quick Block. We have a lot of reactions we want to use, this gives us another slot for them.
FREE ARCHETYPE VARIANT
| Level | Class Feat Slot | Archetype Feat Slot |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Versatile Font | Champion Dedication |
| 4th | Channel Smite | Healing Touch |
| 6th | Divine Weapon | Champion's Reaction (Retributive Strike) |
| 8th | Align Armament | Basic Devotion: Ranged Reprisal |
| 10th | Replenishment of War | Divine Ally (Blade) |
| 12th | Advanced Devotion: Attack of Opportunity | Advanced Devotion: Smite Evil |
| 14th | Extend Align Armament | Diverse Armour Expert |
| 16th | Resurrectionist | Advanced Devotion: Second Ally (Shield) |
| 18th | Miraculous Possibility | Advanced Devotion: Quick Block |
| 20th | Maker of Miracles | Advanced Devotion: Radiant Blade Spirit |
The Dracopontiff Cleric/Dragon Disciple
The Dracopontiff
I wanna build a dragon-themed character that goes all-in on the theme of a character who is obsessed with dragons, loves dragons, and wants to become a dragon. For our ancestry, we obviously want to stick with the newly released Kobold, but there are multiple options available for the class. A Monk taking dragon stance is attractive, as is the Barbarian taking Dragon Instinct, but neither of those feel quite dragon-y enough. For this character to be even more not-good-still-awesome, I chose to build a Cleric taking the Wyrmkin domain as the base, and supplement with the shiny new Dragon Disciple archetype.
Ancestry: Kobold. This gives us access to the Dragon Disciple archetype at level 2 and is very on-theme. Takes boots to Dex, Wis, and Cha with the flaw to Con. You also choose what color of scales you have here that will effect what types of damage you'll be doing with your heritage and ancestry feat choices to follow. If you prefer to play a good-aligned character, take Copper. If you're feeling evil, take Green.
Heritage: You could choose Dragonscale or Spellscale hertiage, depending if you'd prefer to have more defense or more offense. I chose to go for more of an offensive spellcaster, so I took Spellscale.
Ancestry Feat: Kobold Breath. We're a dragon, we need a breath weapon, and getting it at level 1 adds some additional offense to our repertoire.
Background: Barber. It's perfectly on-theme and gives us a nice high-risk/high-reward option in the form of Risky Surgery. Take boots to Wis and Cha.
Class: Cleric. Boost Wis, and choose either NG or NE for our alignment for access to our deity, Nalinivati, the god of serpents and naga (how apropos!) and the wyrmkin domain. For our doctrine, we'll select Cloistered Cleric since dragons don't need no stinkin' armor, and it gives us access to the Domain Initiate feat at level 1. Focus spells will play a significant role in this build, so we may as well start early. Nalinivati is a flexible deity allowing us to take either Healing Font or Harmful Font, and we'll be putting our fonts to great use in this build. I recommend taking Healing Font first to balance out the more offensive nature of our heritage and ancestry feat choices, but this is largely preference.
We get Trained in Medicine and Surgery Lore from our Background, Religion from our Class, Arcana from our deity, and get to choose 2 other skills. I recommend taking Intimidation and one other. I took Diplomacy, but it's largely preference.
Determine Array: Boosts to Dex, Con, Wis and Cha.
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 16.
Build Path:
Level 2: Dragon Disciple Dedication. Choose the dragon type that matches the choice you made for your Ancestry. Copper for Good, Green for Evil.
Pick Battle Medicine; it's is fantastic when combined with the high upside from Risky Surgery.
Level 3: Medicine to Expert. Incredible Initiative combined with our high Cha puts us toward the top of the initiative order with consistency, which is fantastic for landing devastating breath weapon AoE when groups are lumped together early in fights.
Level 4: Scales of the Dragon. A free +2 to AC (with a +2 cap to the Dex bonus) gives us a lot of survivability by itself, and it improves our resistance from the Dragon Disciple Dedication.
Continual Recovery can help get your team back to full more consistently.
Level 5: Ability boosts: +Dex/+Con/+Wis/+Cha, Your array should now be 10/16/12/10/19/18. You're not getting extra AC from your Dex, but it's helping your Reflex saves and on occasion may help you land a ranged attack if, for some reason, you're unable to cast spells.
Take Ally's Shelter, Scamper, or Dragon's Presence here. I personally prefer Dragon's Presence as our Charisma is respectable for this level and being able to Demoralize enemies more consistently is a nice option to have in your hip pocket.
Bump Intimidation to Expert.
Level 6: Cast Down. It's just really good.
I also take Assurance on Medicine here to prevent critical failures with Risky Surgery.
Level 7: Medicine to Master.
Fleet and Toughness are the options here. More mobility vs larger HP pool. I prefer shoring up my HP pool, so I took Toughness.
Level 8: Advanced Domain: Wyrmkin. On-theme for us, but the focus spell itself is quite powerful.
Advanced First Aid is the most attractive option at this level due to our Medicine being at Master proficiency.
Level 9: The Dracomancer ancestry feat gives us even more flexible spellcasting and is on-theme.
Bump Intimidation to Master.
Level 10: Ability boosts: +Dex/+Con/+Wis/+Cha, Your array should now be 10/18/14/10/20/19.
Take Versatile Font for your class feat for even more flexibility for your spell slots. This combos very nicely with Cast Down.
For your skill feat, Battle Cry combos very nicely with your Incredible Initiative and high Perception.
Level 11: A bit of a boring level. You can't increase Medicine or Intimidation to Legendary yet, so bump Religion to Expert.
Fleet would typically be my choice here, but at level 12 we're taking something to solve our movement issues. Alternatives are A Home in Every Port for some RP potential, Incredible Investiture if you're running short on investment slots, or Untrained Improvisation if your group lacks an Intelligence-based character for skill checks.
Level 12: Wings of the Dragon. When all else fails, just fly. Because this is cast as a Focus spell, it's virtually free in all non-combat situations, and flying during combat has some obvious advantages. It also increases our Focus pool by 1 point.
Terrified Retreat gives your Demoralize checks some nice upside potential.
Level 13: You still can't take Intimidation or Medicine to Legendary, so bump Religion to Master.
Elite Dracomancer continues to add to your already impressive breadth of spells. Divine Defense gives you a +3 bonus to your AC, bringing it up to a total of 31 at this level when combined with Scales of the Dragon.
Level 14: Domain Focus. You want to be using your Wyrmkin domain spells and Wings every single fight. Domain Focus enables that.
Taking religion to Master at level 13 allows us to take Sacred Defense at this level, which is a nice all-around support ability that provides a ton of value for 1 action.
Level 15: Ability boosts: +Dex/+Con/+Wis/+Cha, Your array should now be 10/19/16/10/21/20.
Increase either Medicine or Intimidation to Legendary. If you choose Medicine, take Legendary Medic. If you choose Intimidation, take Scare to Death. I personally went with Intimidation since I wanted to be more aggressive.
Level 16: Shape of the Dragon. Since we're level 16, this spell is automatically heightened to level 8. Refer to the spell description for specifics regarding the specific abilities of your dragon form based on whether you chose Copper (good) or Green (evil).
Since we have Master proficiency in religion, we can also take Battle Prayer at this level, which is another well-rounded support skill for the low, low cost of just 1 action.
Level 17: Increase either Medicine or Intimidation to Legendary (based on what you took at level 15).
Take Dragon's Breath for access to a breath weapon when you're not in Dragon Form.
Level 18: Mighty Dragon Shape. You're now use Shape of the Dragon once per hour instead of once per day, ensuring it's up for just about every single fight.
Depending on what you took at level 15, take either Legendary Medic or Scare to Death for your skill feat.
Level 19: Bump Religion to Legendary. If you have room to take Divine Guidance, take it now. Otherwise, choose the general feat that you prefer. You also gain access to your 10th level spell slot at this level.
Level 20: Ability boosts: +Str/+Dex/+Con/+Wis, Your array should now be 12/20/18/10/22/20.
I prefer raw power over flexibility, so I take Metamagic Channel for my capstone class feat, as it's absolutely bonkers with Cast Down. Maker of Miracles is a good choice if you're in favor of being more flexible.
The Kamehameha Cleric Cleric/Monk Detail
I wanna make a character who runs around unleashing souped-up Ki Blasts like many of us pretended to do when we were five. And not just for flavour- I want this character to hit as hard as possible while doing this. And I want this character to be actually playable from 1st level.
We want to wield the most powerful Ki Blast possible in the game.
For Ki Blast, we need to be a Monk. Monks treat Ki blast as a Wisdom-based Divine or Occult spell, but unfortunately their spellcasting proficiency caps at Master, and they don't have access to Wisdom as a Key Ability. Fortunately, the Cloistered Cleric exists. Their spellcasting proficiency goes to Legendary, and Wisdom is their Key Ability. All we have to do is put a STR/DEX requiring multiclass onto a character chasis which wants to maximise WIS/CHA. How hard can this be?
Ancestry: Human. We need all of our stats, and every other benefit and feat we can get our hands on. Ability boosts to WIS and CHA.
Heritage: Half-Orc. There's a lot of benefits to taking Half-Elf or Versatile, or even Skilled, but if we're doing this right, we should be playing a character who comes from a proud warrior race, even if we don't immediately embrace that.
Ancestry Feat: Adapted Cantrip. Cloistered Clerics lack a good cantrip. We'll take one of Electric Arc or Telekinetic Projectile.
Background: Martial Disciple. We've grown up around warriors of course, and we've been training under a master to hone our skills. Ability Boosts to DEX and WIS, and we get Cat Fall and Acrobatics training.
Class: A Cleric of Irori, taking the Cloistered Doctrine. We receive the Domain Initiate feat, and take either Perfected Mind or Word of Truth. We get a boost to WIS. We are trained in Religion and Athletics, plus two more skills of our choosing.
Determine Array:
We'll get more boosts into STR, DEX, WIS and CHA.
We end up with STR 12, DEX 14, CON 10, INT 10, WIS 18, CHA 14. We're a little fragile, but we can make this work.
Build Path:
Level 2. Healing Hands. We have three uses of Heal per day, we might as well get as much benefit as possible from them.
Level 3. Shield Block as a general feat greatly extends our survivability.
Level 4. Emblazon Armament. We've picked up Shield Block, this makes it a little better.
Level 5. STR 14, DEX 16, CON 10, INT 10, WIS 19, CHA 16. We're still dumb and squishy, but at least we've been hitting the gym.
Ferocity. This can save us when the shield can't.
Level 6. Monk Dedication. Now that we have our 14 STR, we can learn the sacred art of beating people to death with our fists like our father always wanted. Since unarmed strikes is the only martial offense we'll ever reach Expert in, this is not that bad.
Level 7: Incredible Initiative. Getting the drop on our enemies is always useful, and with Expert Perception and 19 WIS, this will keep us in the front of the initiative a lot.
Level 8. Channeled Succor. We have five Heals by now, and being able to put them to work in removing conditions is a nice bonus.
Level 9: Natural Skill. Our skills are lacking at this point; we might as well get more of them.
Level 10. STR 14, DEX 18, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 20, CHA 18. We're still fragile next to our teammates, but slightly less so.
Basic Kata for Ki Rush. We now have a second focus spell and a second focus point. This will help keep us mobile and out of harms way.
Level 11. Fleet. We're a Monk now. We might as well move like one.
Level 12. Advanced Kata for Ki Blast. Finally, after years of struggle and training, we come to learn our ultimate technique. It's already pretty potent: if we take the time to charge, we get 10d6 force damage to basically the entire battlefield. This also gets us our third focus point, which is nice.
Level 13: Incredible Ferocity gets us out of trouble every fight now.
Ki Blast climbs to 12d6.
Level 14. Domain Focus. We have the power, now we need consistency. Getting up to two Ki Blasts per fight means we're able to utilise this as a reliable primary offensive tool.
Level 15. STR 14, DEX 19, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 21, CHA 19.
Toughness. We're squishy, we kinda need this.
Ki Blast climbs to 14d6.
Level 16: Perfection's Path (Fortitude). Our CON is bad, this helps.
Level 17: Clever Improviser. This fills all the gaps.
Ki Blast climbs to 16d6.
Level 18. Domain Wellspring. All the blasts, all the time.
Level 19. Canny Acumen (Perception). Master Perception, combined with our spectacular Wisdom and Improved Initiative means we'll be going first more reliably.
Ki Blast finally caps out at 18d6, and on a Legendary DC to boot. We're in the ballpark of an 8th level actual spell now, and you're bringing three of these every fight.
Level 20: STR 14, DEX 20, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 24 (Apex), CHA 20. Everything finally comes together at this point. We reach our AC cap, we're as powerful a caster as anyone can be, our HP and saves are adequate, and we have 6 10th level Heals per day (and look all the more handsome for it). Maker of Miracles. It feels like a Miracle that this build is now functional, we might as well celebrate it.
A Leaf on the Wind Druid/Rogue Detail
Lost in time (at the moment)
Dead Cthulhu Lies Dreaming Oracle Detail
I wanna play a character who knows everything. Some would say they know too much. They wouldn't personally say that, of course, because they're too busy speaking in tongues and having visions of truths people were not meant to know.
We want a versatile caster with eldritch mental magic, knowledge skills for days, and severe consequences for the above two abilities.
For a character suffering knowledge-related debilitation from the influence of the Great Old Ones, Lore Oracle is perfect.
Rather uniquely for this series, this build doesn't warrant the use of an Archetype. Instead, we can unlock everything we thematically want from careful selection of Oracle feats.
In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming
Ancestry: We want an ancestry notable for their endless curiosity and natural connection to magic. Gnome will do perfectly. We get boosts to CON and CHA, a penalty to STR, and put our free boost into INT.
Heritage: Wellspring Gnome grants us the daze cantrip as an innate divine cantrip (and means that other Gnome spells we acquire are treated as divine spells). We've always had a knack for mental magic.
Ancestry Feat: First World Magic grants us the acid splash cantrip (which is an innate divine cantrip for us); our first little hint at our darker side.
Background: Scholar suits an intellectually inquisitive character perfectly. We become trained (and gain Assurance) in Occultism. We get boosts to INT and CHA.
Class: Oracle. We get a boost to CHA and choose the Lore Mystery, afflicting us with the Curse of Torrential Knowledge, and the brain drain and the scholarly recollection focus spells. Our initiative will suck, and we'll be perpetually flat-footed at higher curse grades, but we're smarter. Thanks to our Mystery benefit, our repertoire is now broader than any other Oracle's.
We become trained in Religion, Arcana, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, and Society.
Determine Array: Boosts to DEX, CON, WIS and CHA.
STR 8, DEX 12, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 18.
Build Path:
Level 2: Domain Acumen grants us the word of truth focus spell, and expands our focus pool to the full 3 points.
We can also pick up with Additional Lore skill feat. While we'll still be picking up a few choice enablers for Intimidation, Deception, etc, a good chunk of skill feats will be spent on taking Additional Lore. We should have half-a-dozen Lores at Legendary proficiency by the end of this.
Level 3: We get the Ancestral Paragon general feat, granting us the Unexpected Shift ancestral feat. Our connection to reality is not as complete as others', and we can use this to our advantage.
Level 4: Divine Access. Via the knowledge Domain, we have access to an immense selection of deific granted spells, and thanks to our Mystery benefit, we have room to stock our repertoire with a broad selection of spells not from the divine list. We choose Narriseminek, unlocking mindlink (1st), confusion (4th), and synesthesia (5th) for our repertoire.
Level 5: STR 8, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 14, CHA 19.
We get the Gnome Obsession ancestry feat, which functions as another Additional Lore.
Level 6: Advanced Revelation grants us the access lore focus spell, enabling us to have perfect knowledge regardless of the situation at hand. Combined with the effects of our moderate curse, and using the ruling that the DCs for knowledges for Lore should be lower than normal, we can very reliably know about anything we encounter.
Level 7: Shield Block enables us to protect ourselves more effectively with a shield. Given that our AC is a severe weakness, this is a useful option.
Level 8: Debilitating Dichotomy. You open the floodgates to channel your madness to another. The most potent focus spell in the game, bar none, and it fits this build to a 't'.
Level 9: Fortuitous Shift ancestry feat, enhancing our control over our shifting.
Level 10: STR 8, DEX 16, CON 18, INT 14, WIS 16, CHA 20.
Divine Access: Nyarlathetop. We unlock humanoid form (2nd), mislead (6th), and weird (9th) for our repertoire.
Level 11: Fleet general feat helps keep us mobile on the battlefield.
Level 12: Divine Access: Abraxas. We unlock black tentacles (5th), feeblemind (6th), and spell turning (7th) for our repertoire.
Level 13: Theoretical Acumen ancestry feat. We can use our vast selection of knowledge to exploit foes in new ways.
Level 14: Mysterious Repertoire grants us access to any one spell of our choosing. For now, we'll take slow.
Level 15: STR 8, DEX 16, CON 19, INT 16, WIS 18, CHA 21.
Toughness enhances the durability of our physical form.
Level 16: Diverse Mystery grants us the interstellar void focus spell from the Cosmos mystery, enabling us to force our foes to bear not only the mental impact of the Great Old Ones, but also the physical impact of their existence.
Level 17: Energized Font ancestry feat. We can channel more focus than ever before, enabling us to push ourselves to the extreme bounds of our curse when necessary.
Level 18: Divine Effusion functionally grants us two extra flexible spell slots. We can use these for extra high grade slot fuel, enabling us to be more assertive with our spells.
Level 19: Canny Acumen grants Master rank in Reflex saves.
Level 20: STR 8, DEX 18, CON 20, INT 18, WIS 18, CHA 24 (Apex).
Oracular Providence. We fuel the raw power of the Great Old Ones, gaining an additional 10th level slot.
Spell Repertoire:
(Signature spells in bold, uncommon options not included)
Focus Spells: access lore, brain drain, debilitating dichotomy, interstellar void, scholarly recollection, word of truth
Cantrips: acid splash, chill touch, daze, detect magic, guidance, message, read aura, shield
1st level: bless, command, heal, mindlink
2nd level: augury, restoration, humanoid form, ventriloquism
3rd level: agonizing despair, dream message, fear, slow
4th level: air walk, confusion, remove curse, silence
5th level: black tentacles, breath of life, enervation, synesthesia
6th level: feeblemind, mislead, repulsion, spirit blast
7th level: eclipse burst, spell turning, regenerate, resist energy
8th level: dispel magic, divine inspiration, finger of death, spiritual epidemic
9th level: foresight, heroism, wail of the banshee, weird
10th level: miracle, overwhelming presence
Rising Angel, Fallen Fiend Sorcerer/Oracle Detail
I wanna make two characters who are polar opposites. For one, I want to be the physical embodiment of good. I want to heal people in combat. I want to heal people out of combat. I want to fix poisons and diseases and curses and debilitations. I want to fly around and make my teammates happy and be a sugary sweet beacon of hope and optimism.
For the other, I want to be the physical embodiment of evil. I want to be a force of corruption. I want to be a bringer of weakness and pain. I want children who see this character to run away crying, and foes who see this character to lament their fortunes. I want to fly around and excavate my metaphorical bowels upon the light of the world.
We want a pair of casters, one dedicated to supporting who can efficiently deal with any problem that might befall the party, the other emphasizing aggressive front line combat and debuffs.
In order to emphasize the dichotomy of these two characters, two mirrored options stand out. The first is the dichotomy between aasimar and tieflings. One from the upper and one from the lower planes, but both gain bloodline related options, can access spells, and gain fly speeds. The second is the dichotomy between lay on hands and corrupting touch, which are exact mirrors, again on the good/evil axis.
It would be fitting to make them both Sorcerers as well (Angelic and either Demonic or Diabolic), but there are more interesting build optionss for the dark side.
Ancestry: Halfling. We are tiny and adorable. We get boosts to DEX, WIS and CHA, and a penalty to STR.
Heritage: Aasimar. We are the Virgin Mary Sue of ancestries. We are literally angelic.
Ancestry Feat: Angelkin. We become trained in Society, learn Celestial, and gain Multilingual.
Background: Blessed. Yes, It's a rare background, but it fits this character perfectly. We get boosts to DEX and CHA, and gain guidance as an innate cantrip.
Class: Sorcerer. We get a boost to CHA. We take the Angelic Bloodline (surprise!), locking us in to a selection of supporting divine spells, granting us a supporting Blood Magic effect, and the angelic halo focus spell.
As well as Society, we become trained in Diplomacy, Religion, Medicine and Nature.
Determine Array: Boosts to DEX, CON, WIS and CHA.
STR 8, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 18
Build Path:
Level 2: Blessed One Dedication. We round out our holiest of holy characters with the holiest of Archetypes. We gain the lay on hands focus spell and a second focus point. As a CHA based divine spell, we'll be able to make better use of it than even Champions can.
Level 3: We gain the Ancestral Paragon general feat, which in turn gives us Halfling Luck. The divines smile on you, friend.
Level 4: Blessed Sacrifice. We gain the protector's sacrifice focus spell and our third focus point, enabling us to redirect damage to ourselves when the need is dire.
Level 5: STR 8, DEX 18, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 16, CHA 19
Blessed Blood ancestry feat. Evildoers that bring harm to us will come to regret it as our blood sears them.
Level 6: Mercy. Our lay on hands can remove the frightened and paralyzed conditions by making a counteract check.
Level 7: Shield Block general feat helps greatly improve our durability, and also gives us a useful reaction.
Level 8: Invigorating Mercy. Our lay on hands can remove the enfeebled and clumsy conditions.
Level 9: Celestial Wings ancestral feat. We can fly for 10 minutes per day.
Level 10: STR 8, DEX 19, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 18, CHA 20
Greater Mercy. Our lay on hands can remove the blinded, deafened, sickened, and slowed conditions.
Level 11: Fleet general feat keeps us mobile so we can better get to allies in need.
Level 12: Bloodline Focus. We can guarantee lay on hands twice per fight.
Level 13: Incredible Luck ancestry feat.
Level 14: Affliction Mercy. Our lay on hands can remove the cursed, diseased and poisoned conditions.
Level 15: STR 8, DEX 20, CON 16, INT 12, WIS 19, CHA 21
Tough general feat helps us stand up to the punishment high level threats can present.
Level 16: Blessed Denial. We can reduce the frightened, drained, enfeebled, sickened, or stupefied conditions our allies would receive as a reaction.
Level 17: Eternal Wings ancestral feat. Our fly speed becomes permanent.
Level 18: Bloodline Wellspring. We can guarantee lay on hands thrice per fight.
Level 19: Canny Acumen (Perception) enables us to respond faster, and ensure than the needy do not fall beneath our notice.
Level 20: STR 8, DEX 20, CON 18, INT 14, WIS 20, CHA 24 (Apex)
Rejuvenating Touch. Allies we heal with lay on hands gain temporary hit points every round for a minute, enabling them to stay in the fight longer.
Ancestry: Orc. We are stereotypically savage and intimidating. We get boosts to STR and CHA, a healthy supply of starting HP, and full Darkvision.
Heritage: Tiefling. We are the Bloody Mary Sue of ancestries.
Ancestry Feats: Nimble Hooves grants us +5 speed, and Orc Weapon Familiarity (via our Mystery benefit) grants use of the greataxe.
Background: Cursed. Again, a Rare background, but well suited to this character and a dark mirror to the Blessed background. We get boosts to STR and CHA, become trained in Occutlism and Curse Lore, and gain the Warding Sign reaction.
Class: Oracle. We get a boost to CHA and choose the Ancestors Mystery, afflicting us with the Curse of Ancestral Meddling, and the ancestral touch and the death's call focus spells. As well as an intrusive connection to our Orcish forebears, we also have literal demons whispering in our ears and guiding our actions. So long as we follow their guidance, we gain greater access to power. We gain an extra Ancestry feat at 1st and 11th level, and automatically gain improved focus recovery at 11th and 17th level.
As well Occultism, we become trained in Religion, Society, Athletics, Intimidation, and Deception.
Determine Array: Boosts to STR, DEX, CON, and CHA.
STR 16, DEX 12, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 18
Build Path:
Level 2: Champion Dedication. We choose to follow Shax, The Blood Marquis, and enter the NE Desecrator Cause. The heavy armour we gain, combined with our greataxe, enables us to fight in melee.
Level 3: We gain the Fleet general feat to improve our movement speed.
Level 4: "Healing" Touch. We gain the corrupting touch Champion spell and our third focus point. A single action, CHA divine focus spell which does decent damage and lowers AC is exactly what a melee gish wants.
Level 5: STR 18, DEX 12, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 19
We gain the Fiendish Resistance ancestry feat, giving us Resistance 5 to the energy type of our choice. Probably fire.
Level 6: Champion's Reaction. We gain the Selfish Shield reaction, which can absorb damage for us every round and grant us a little extra negative or evil damage back.
Level 7: Ancestral Paragon general feat for Orc Superstition gives a little extra defense against magic.
Level 8: Divine Access: Shax. The Demon Lord of sadism and torture grants us phantom pain, invisibility and haste as divine spells. The latter two are particularly important for gishes, giving us an exceptional defensive and exceptional offensive enhancement as we want them.
Level 9: Fiendish Wings ancestry feat. Our connection from below enables us to rise once per day.
Level 10: STR 19, DEX 12, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 20
Basic Devotion for Ongoing Selfishness. Our damage resistance can apply against multiple hits.
Level 11: Our Mystery grants us the Pervasive Superstition ancestry feat, ensuring a permanent enhancement to saves against magic.
We also gain the Diehard general feat.
Level 12: Advanced Devotion for Cruelty. We can use a metamagic with our corrupting touch to enfeeble foes for a minute.
Level 13: Orc Weapon Expertise grants us Expert proficiency with our greataxe.
Level 14: Diverse Armour Expert. Our proficiency in heavy armour increases to Expert.
Level 15: STR 20, DEX 12, CON 18, INT 10, WIS 16, CHA 21
Tough general feat to improve our frontline staying power.
Level 16: Advanced Devotion for Greater Cruelty. We can use Cruelty to inflict the much stronger clumsy and stupefied conditions.
Level 17: Relentless Wings. The ground holds no tether to us, and we can fly indefinitely.
Level 18: Mysterious Repertoire enables us to take any spell we could want.
Level 19: Canny Acumen (Reflex) makes us a bit more explosion-proof.
Level 20: STR 20, DEX 14, CON 18, INT 12, WIS 18, CHA 24 (Apex)
Oracular Providence grants us a second 10th level slot.
A Knight and Her Knight Summoner/Champion Detail
I wanna play a character who exemplifies the ideals of being truly devoted to someone. Two halves of a whole. Two individuals fighting as one. Two characters for whom even the trauma of death could not break their bond.
We want two characters fighting side by side who can coordinate for both offense and defense.
The immediate decision here is obvious. If we want two characters who are intimately, fundamentally linked, we play a Summoner. If we want the Eidolon to be able to protect their Summoner, and to lean into the thematic ideal of devotion, we choose the Devotion Phantom.
All we then need to do is get the Summoner themselves into fighting shape.
Ancestry: Human. We don't have a mechanical need to be human, but it fits thematically for the image we're going for. We get boosts to STR and CHA, and take flaws into INT and WIS to boost CON. (We're sharing a HP bar; CON is important!)
Heritage: Skilled Heritage helps offset our negative Intelligence. We become trained in Diplomacy, which will automatically scale to Expert at 5th.
Ancestry Feat: Unconventional Weaponry grants us training in one uncommon martial weapon, treating it as a simple weapon. The Naginata (d8 reach, deadly, versatile P/S) should fit nicely, and in particular is thematically on point for the concept of an onna-musha fighting alongside her samurai.
Background: Noble. We gain boosts to CHA and STR, training in Society and Genealogy Lore, and Courtly Graces.
Class: Summoner. We get a boost to CHA, and choose the Devotion Phantom Eidolon.
We choose the Stalwart Guardian form (18/14/16/10/10/10), gain the Dutiful Retaliation ability, gain a d8 trip attack (slashing) and a d6 agile finesse attack (bludgeoning), and pick the Advanced Weaponry Evolution to give our primary attack Versatile piercing.
As well as Diplomacy and Society, we become trained in Occultism, Medicine, Intimidation, and Athletics.
Determine Array: Boosts to STR, CON, WIS, CHA.
STR 16, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 18
Build Path:
Level 2: Champion Dedication (Paladin). Following either Shizuru or Shelyn fits well. Either way, we end up trained in Religion and Crafting, and more importantly gain proficiency in heavy armour. Full Plate is going to solve our AC problems very nicely.
Level 3: Toughness. (We're sharing a HP bar; HP is important!)
Level 4: Tandem Movement. In order to fight as one, you must move as one.
Level 5:
Summoner: STR 18, DEX 10, CON 16, INT 8, WIS 12, CHA 19
Eidolon: STR 19, DEX 16, CON 18, INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 10
Natural Ambition for Dual Studies. The Summoner gains Deception, and the Eidolon gains Survival.
Level 6: Champion's Reaction (Retributive Strike). Now you and your Eidolon can properly watch each other's backs. No matter who gets hit, the other retaliates.
Level 7 Fleet. As a pair of melee characters, every square of movement counts.
Level 8: Tandem Strike. Now you truly fight as one.
Level 9: General Training for Diehard. We're still vulnerable when fighting together, but your bond is going to keep one of you alive.
Level 10:
Summoner: STR 19, DEX 10, CON 18, INT 8, WIS 14, CHA 20
Eidolon: STR 20, DEX 16, CON 19, INT 12, WIS 14, CHA 10
Protective Bond means you can now cover for each other's weaknesses in AOE blasts and debuffs. You now share both offenses and defenses.
Level 11: Incredible Initiative.
Level 12: Weighty Impact gives our Eidolon a bit more control over the battlefield.
Level 13: Bounce Back. We're good at keeping going when knocked down.
Level 14: Diverse Armor Expert helps keeps your AC competitive in the frontlines.
Level 15:
Summoner: STR 20, DEX 10, CON 19, INT 8, WIS 16, CHA 21
Eidolon: STR 21, DEX 16, CON 20, INT 14, WIS 16, CHA 10
Incredible Investiture means we can invest more items, providing boosts that both Summoner and Eidolon will want.
Level 16: Resilient Shell grants your Eidolon physical resistances. (We're sharing a HP bar; resistance is important!)
Level 17: Advanced General Training for Numb to Death. Even if you haven't died by this point, your Eidolon certainly has, and you're stubbornly refusing to fall yourself.
Level 18: Effortless Concentration enables you to keep powerful spells or summons going while still fighting in the frontlines.
Level 19: Canny Acumen raises our Perception to Master.
Level 20:
Summoner: STR 22 (Apex), DEX 12, CON 20, INT 8, WIS 18, CHA 22
Eidolon: STR 24 (Transcendence), DEX 18, CON 20, INT 16, WIS 18, CHA 10
Eternal Boost means we can always be helping our Eidolon. You boost, you both move, you both strike,
A True Archmage Wizard/Halcyon Speaker Detail
I wanna make the ultimate spellcaster. Someone who potentially has access to 95% of the spells in the game, and casts all of them at full power. A spellcaster which leaves other spellcasters in awe of their sheer breadth of magic talent and power.
(This won't be a regular occurrence, but I will occasionally be supplementing Not Good, Still Awesome with some real power builds.)
We want a character who can cast spells from all traditions at Legendary proficiency.
In order to make this work, we're first going to need to find a way to access all the spell lists. This is normally possible; a human spellcaster can comfortably reach Expert in three schools of magic as well as their own Legendary rank by picking up spellcasting multiclass dedications, but we can do better than that.
For this build, we're exploring the immense power of the Halcyon Speaker/Magaambyan Attendant Archetypes. By the end of this, we'll have access to spells from all four traditions up to 7th level, all at Legendary proficiency, and a generous supply of spell slots to cast them with.
A True Archmage:
Ancestry: Halfling. Delicate, unassuming, and easily overlooked, this pint-sized adventurer is going to demonstrate that size isn't everything. We get ability boosts to DEX, INT and WIS, and a very welcome penalty to STR.
We weren't planning on donning armour or swinging weapons anyway.
Heritage: Nomadic Halfling. The Archmage has been everywhere and seen everything in their time, and picked up a whole bunch of languages along the way.
Ancestry Feat: Halfling Lore. We're trained in Acrobatics and Stealth, both of which are useful.
Background: Emissary. We've been everywhere, but with purpose, since our service is ultimately to the Magaambya. We're trained in Society, get Multilingual for all the languages, and get boosts to INT and WIS.
Class: Wizard. We get a boost to INT. We're going to become Universalists, which is both thematic for a True Archmage, and will also get ridiculous once we consider that we can Drain Bonded item to reuse our prepared Halcyon spells as well as our Wizard spells. We gain the Familiar class feat, which offers us a few extra abilities, and write our thesis (Beyond the Usual Constraints; the Potential for Broader Magical Application Using Magaambyan Arcane Thaumaturgy) on Spell Substitution, offering us even more flexibility in our casting.
As well as Acrobatics, Society, and Stealth, we're now also trained in Arcana, Diplomacy, Medicine, Nature, Occultism, and Religion.
Determine Array: Ability boosts into DEX, CON, INT and WIS.
STR 8, DEX 14, CON 12, INT 18, WIS 16, CHA 10. Our spellcasting and skills are on point, our physical defenses aren't too terrible, and our saves, Perception and initiative are as good as they're going to get.
Build Path:
Level 2: Enhanced Familiar. We have a familiar; we should make it better. Getting four abilities is a nice upgrade. In the long run, Flier, Fast Movement, Spell Delivery and Spell Battery are likely to be our regular picks.
Level 3: Canny Acumen (Perception). Initiative is important for casters. Once we reach 11th level and naturally reach Expert in Perception, we'll retrain this into Toughness for more HP.
We also become an Expert in Medicine. We have a high Wisdom score and no need to refocus, so it makes sense for us to focus on Medicine.
Level 4: Magaambyan Attendant Dedication. An uncommon feat requiring us to have joined the Magaambya. We gain a Druid cantrip (Guidance is a great choice), Expert in Arcana, and affiliate with the Cascade bearers.
Level 5: STR 8, DEX 16, CON 14, INT 19, WIS 18, CHA 10.
Halfling Luck. It's a good safety blanket to have available.
We become an Expert in Nature.
Level 6: Halcyon Speaker Dedication. Again, this requires that we've reached a certain rank within the Magaambya, but for today, we're min-maxers, and we'll assume this is happening. We gain two Halcyon cantrips, two 1st level Halcyon spells, and a spontaneous Halcyon spell slot. We choose Halcyon spells from the Arcane or Primal list, but we get to treat all of them as Arcane spells (thus using Intelligence casting with our full casting proficiency), can prepare them in our Wizard spell slots (though we can't upcast until we reach that spell level with Halcyon spells), and can reuse them with our Drain Bonded Item.
Level 7: Incredible Initiative. Initiative is important for casters.
We become a Master in Medicine.
Level 8: Bond Conservation. It takes a little forward planning, but we can chain our abundant uses of Drain Bonded Item to get many more spells each day.
Level 9: Shared Luck. We can watch out for our teammates as well with our luck.
We become a Master in Arcana.
Level 10: STR 8, DEX 18, CON 16, INT 20, WIS 19, CHA 10.
Halcyon Spellcasting Initiate (HS Archetype). We gain two 2nd and 3rd level Halcyon spells, and a 2nd and 3rd level Halcyon spell slot.
Level 11: Diehard gives us a little more longevity.
We become a Master in Nature.
Level 12: Cascade Bearer's Spellcasting (MA Archetype). We gain an extra Halcyon cantrip and an extra 1st level spell known, but more importantly, we can now also choose Divine and Occult spells for our Halcyon spells. At this point, we'll take a pause to retrain into spells from the new lists we'd prefer to have.
Level 13: Incredible Luck. A free reroll of a failed save every hour is sweet.
We become an Expert in Stealth.
Level 14: Halcyon Spellcasting Adept (HS Archetype). We gain two 4th and 5th level Halcyon spells, and a 4th and 5th level Halcyon spell slot. Also, not that it matters, but we're now an Expert in Primal spellcasting.
Level 15: STR 8, DEX 19, CON 18, INT 21, WIS 20, CHA 10.
Fleet makes us a little more mobile.
We become Legendary in Medicine.
Level 16: Flexible Halcyon Spellcasting. We gain another known Halcyon spell and another Halcyon spell slot for each spell level except the highest (so spell levels 1st to 4th).
Level 17: Halfling Ingenuity is a nice boost to our untrained skils.
We become Legendary in Arcana.
Level 18: Halcyon Spellcasting Sage. We gain two 6th and 7th level Halcyon spells, plus a spell slot for each (and also gain an extra 5th and 6th level spell known and slot from Flexible Halcyon Casting)
Level 19: Canny Acumen (Perception) gives us a much appreciated boost.
We become a Master in Stealth.
Level 20: STR 10, DEX 20, CON 18, INT 24 (Apex), WIS 20, CHA 12.
Spell Mastery (uncommon). We gain an extra 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level spell each day for free.
Build Summary:
226 HP is adequate. Expert AC, Fortitude and Reflex isn't great, but it's what we signed up for. Master Will and Perception with +5 Wisdom is nice.
Spell Attack Modifier of +35, and a Save DC of 45 is very respectable.
We have heaps of spell slots. While multiclass Dedications could grant us even more fuel, a) we can use our Drain Bonded Item at least 9 times per day (and way more than that if we get creative with Bond Conservation) and b) every single one of those slots uses our full casting DC of 45.
We have a spellbook we can load up with Arcane spells for every situation, and Spell Substitution enables us to swap them around at short notice (and load in or out Halcyon spells as well).
| Spell Level | Prepared Slots (plus Drain Bond) | Spontaneous Slots | Minimum Total Slots | Halcyon Spells Known |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantrips | 5 | - | - | 4 |
| 1st | 3+1 | 2 | 6 | 4 (Cascade Bearer) |
| 2nd | 3+1 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 3rd | 3+1 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 4th | 3+1 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 5th | 3+1 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 6th | 4+1 (Spell Mastery) | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| 7th | 5+1 (Spell Mastery, Spell Battery) | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| 8th | 4+1 (Spell Mastery) | - | 5 | - |
| 9th | 4+1 (Spell Mastery) | - | 5 | - |
| 10th | 1 | - | 1 | - |
Recommended Spells: As a True Archmage, you can learn pretty much any series of spells you want, and specialise in any strategy or theme. For now, I'm including a generally strong selection from the Arcane tradition, and useful (and otherwise unavailable) choices from the Divine, Occult and Primal traditions as Halcyon spells.
Cantrips: Telekinetic Projectile, Electric Arc, Detect Magic, Shield, Message, Light, Mage Hand, Guidance, Stabilise
1st level: Alarm, Fear, Grease, Longstrider, Magic Missile, Heal, Pass Without Trace, Sanctuary
2nd level: Dispel Magic, Invisibility, Resist Energy, Silence, Paranoia, Restoration
3rd level: Fireball/Lightning Bolt, Haste, Slow, Heroism, Wanderer's Guide
4th level: Dimension Door, Fly, Resilient Sphere, Holy Cascade, Remove Curse
5th level: Black Tentacles, Cone of Cold, Wall of Stone, Breath of Life, Sending, Synesthesia
6th level: Disintegrate, Repulsion, Wall of Force, Raise Dead (uncommon), Spirit Blast
7th level: Contingency, Mask of Terror, True Target, Retrocognition, Visions of Danger
8th level: Disappearance, Maze, Prismatic Wall
9th level: Meteor Swarm, Weird
10th level: Wish
The Unseen Arcane Archer Wizard/Ranger Detail
I wanna make a character who mixes magic and martial talents to silently and stealthily manipulate and master the battlefield. Someone cool, calm and collected because they always have a plan (even if that plan just happens to be "turn invisible and shoot it 'til it dies").
We want a magic-centered tactical gish with an emphasis on stealth and ranged damage output.
2E's multiclassing system gives a lot of different options and combos for building characters who can use both martial and magical talents. In general, it's better to use a martial class as the base, since the caster chassis generally lacks the defensive and offensive proficiencies to actually want to bother with hitting things, or cope with being hit.
The best way around this problem is to a) have a way of making attacks efficiently enough to compensate for your worse proficiency and b) be able to operate from range so you're not getting hit. So while sword-and-boarding should be done on a martial chassis, adding archery to a mage chassis works just fine.
The Unseen Arcane Archer:
Ancestry: Elf. Being able to access bow proficiency through our ancestry takes a lot of pressure off of our class feats. We get ability boosts to DEX and INT, and put our free one into WIS.
Heritage: Ancient Elf grants us Ranger Dedication from the get-go. We're less of the regular nerd who stays in the library, and more of the weird jock-nerd hybrid survivalist uncle, who likes to go out into the field and shoot stuff and collect bug(bear)s in jars to put up around our log cabin. We can now Hunt Prey, which gives us boosts to Perception to seek, and gets us into our second range increment without penalty. We're also trained in Survival.
Ancestry Feat: Elven Weapon Familiarity. Longbows, shortbows, longswords and rapiers is a great selection of weapons for those that otherwise lack martial proficiency.
Background: Hunter fits thematically. We get boosts to DEX and INT. Survey Wildlife is okay, and since we already have Survival, we'll pick up Stealth proficiency.
Class: Wizard. We get Intelligence as our ability boost. We choose the Illusion School to specialise in, learning the Warped Terrain focus spell, and write our thesis (On the Practical Application of Natural Leyline Conduits as Influences for the Augmentation of Standard Arcane Structures) on Metamagical Experimentation. We gain the Reach Spell Metamagic as a bonus feat, and will gain an extra metamagic each day from 4th level.
(The familiar thesis is also a good choice, offering a broad selection of little bonuses, and being on theme with our wilder side, but we can't really afford to protect a familiar, and taking them with us while invisible is a grey area, so we're better off just focusing on our own survivability.)
We arm ourselves with a shortbow. Coupled with save-based cantrips like Electric Arc and Disrupt Undead, this enables us to present a steady supply of ranged damage. You can swap out to a longbow if you prefer, depending on how much space you usually open up in a fight.
As well as Survival and Stealth, we're also now trained in Arcana, Athletics, Crafting, Deception, Medicine, Occultism, and Society.
Determine Array: Ability boosts into DEX, CON, INT and WIS.
STR 10, DEX 16, CON 10, INT 18, WIS 14, CHA 10. Yeah, we're an elf wizard with 10 CON (and thus a terrifyingly bad total of 12 HP). We NEVER want to get hit.
Build Path:
Level 2: Conceal Spell (Metamagic). This enables us to try and hide our spellcasting from our foes, and more importantly serves as a prerequisite and enabler for the powerful Silent Spell Metamagic.
Level 3: Canny Acumen (Fortitude). Our Fort saves are abysmal, and there's so much stuff that can kill us with poison around this level. We'll retrain this into Toughness at 9, because we'll want all the HP we can get.
This is also the level at which we learn the single most important spell in the game for us: Invisibility. Invisibility (which we can prep in our extra school slots) is a spectacular tool for infiltration and survivability in combat, provided we don't take a hostile action while using it. Hostile Actions are defined as 'one that can harm or damage another creature, either directly or indirectly'. There's some grey area in there which is up to DM interpretation, but in general, casting illusions, so long as you're not using them to deal damage, shouldn't break your cover.
Oh, and we raise our Stealth to Expert.
Level 4: Basic Hunter's Trick for Hunted Shot. We can now make two attacks against our Hunted Prey with a single action, which helps compensate for our otherwise underwhelming martial abilities. The martials climb to Expert next level, and we'll need all the help we can get to keep up.
At this point, our thesis also kicks in with our flexible choice of metamagic. We'll usually be preparing Widen Spell for now.
Level 5: STR 10, DEX 18, CON 12, INT 19, WIS 16, CHA 10. Little bit better at dodging, little bit sturdier. It'll be appreciated.
Nimble Elf grants a bit more mobility. Base 35 speed is important for outrunning faster foes.
We raise Crafting to Expert.
Level 6: Bespell Weapon. We've got a larger supply of spell slots and an action-efficient multiattack. An extra d6 of damage is a nice boost to our archery.
Level 7: Incredible Initiative is a very welcome boost to initiative, whether it's Stealth or Perception based.
We can also now prepare Invisibility as a 4th level spell, and can thus unleash hell and hostile actions to our heart's content while remaining unseen.
We raise Stealth to Master.
Level 8: Advanced School Spell for the Invisibility Cloak focus spell and a second focus point. Now we essentially have basic Invisibility as an encounter power.
Also at this point, our Arcane Thesis can finally grant us access to the Silent Spell feat (Metamagic), and we will be taking this every day and never looking back. This is a fantastic metamagic for illusionists. All we need is a single Stealth check, and our foes have no idea that their tenuous grip on reality is really our fault. Illusions live and die on whether or not foes can tell if they've been magically created, and this fixes one of the biggest weak points for that. Also, it means that foes can't hear you casting once you have invisibility active, making you very hard to target.
We also pick up the Swift Sneak skill feat at this level. Being able to move at full speed while keeping quiet is excellent for this build.
Level 9: Elf Step. Two steps is often necessary for getting away from threats which have both Attack of Opportunity and reach, or situations where you're flanked.
We raise Crafting to Master.
Level 10: STR 10, DEX 19, CON 14, INT 20, WIS 18, CHA 10.
Advanced Hunter's Trick for Snare Specialist. Snares are a useful tool for us, since our Intelligence and the breadth of spells we can learn encourages us to invest in Crafting. Being able to hide our snares under our illusions is just gravy.
Level 11: Diehard. Even with our investments into DEX and CON, we're still very fragile.
We should also probably raise Deception to Expert. It's useful as an illusionist, even if our CHA isn't the best.
Level 12: Master Spotter. Going to Master Perception is huge for fragile spellcasters, in that a) it's an important boost to your initiative, enabling you to ideally act before your foes and b) makes you harder to sneak up on, which is never bad for a squishy.
Level 13: Elven Weapon Expertise. We're now an Expert with our bows, meaning that while we're still behind the martials, we're not completely useless at shooting things.
We raise Deception to Master.
Level 14: Advanced Hunter's Trick for Quick Snares. With our invisibility cloak, and access to Haste, this enables us to move around the battlefield and enemy territory invisibly setting more powerful traps.
Level 15: STR 10, DEX 20, CON 16, INT 21, WIS 18, CHA 12. We finally reach our DEX cap for AC.
Fleet. Base 40 is a lot of movement speed, which when coupled with Swift Sneak, makes us exceptionally hard to track.
We also raise Stealth to Legendary.
Level 16: Effortless Concentration enables us to sustain more powerful illusions (and other spells) without draining our action economy.
Level 17: Ageless Patience is always nice.
We raise Crafting to Legendary.
Level 18: Ranger Resiliency. 18 extra HP is basically just an extra Toughness. Still, extra HP is far from bad for us. You may prefer to instead take Bonded Focus if you want to get more out of your focus spells, or Overwhelming Energy (Metamagic) if you like blasting.
Level 19: Canny Acumen (Reflex). Being a bit better at dodging breath weapons and AOE blasts is nice here.
We raise Deception to Legendary.
Level 20: STR 10, DEX 20, CON 18, INT 24 (Apex), WIS 18, CHA 14.
Metamagic Mastery. Silent Spell is now a free action, which is basically an excuse for us to attach it to literally everything we ever cast. (If you happened to pick up Overwhelming Energy, it also gets way better.)
Recommended Spells: The following is a list of spells you are recommended to acquire for your spellbook.
Cantrips: Electric Arc, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Message, Shield
1st level: Alarm, Charm, Fear, Feather Fall, Grease, Illusory Disguise, Illusory Object, Longstrider, Ventriloquism
2nd level: Dispel Magic, Illusory Creature, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Web
3rd level: Haste, Hypnotic Pattern, Lightning Bolt, Slow
4th level: Dimension Door, Fly, Hallucinatory Terrain (uncommon), Phantasmal Killer
5th level: Cloak of Colours, Cone of Cold, Hallucination, Illusory Scene, Sending, Shadow Siphon, Wall of Ice/Stone
6th level: Mislead, Phantasmal Calamity, Repulsion, Wall of Force
7th level: Contingency, Mask of Terror, True Target
8th level: Disappearance, Dream Council, Maze
9th level: Meteor Swarm, Weird
10th level: Wish
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