Hey I'm Jake, I make rpg supplements and videos about Pathfinder2 or Pftoo. I LOVE PFtoo and as a long-time player of DnD, I want to share the things that I find along the way and share them with you in a way that makes them easy to digest and hopefully... FUN!
All information for PF2 can be found on the Archives of Nethys for free.
Otherwise, if you want to get a physical copy of the books you can find most relevant information in the Core Rulebook.
Thaum, including all Implements, and Living Vessel can be found in Dark Archive.
Advanced Players Guide, for Ritualist Archetype, Feral Child Background, Consult the Spirits skill feat, Disturbing Knowledge skill feat, and Tiefling Versatile Heritage.
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Today's build is a Thaumaturge whose focus is Melee... like Thaumaturge naturally lends itself to.
We're also combining Barbarian, self healing and lots and lots of demonic flavor. This build is redeeming the Charger Build from 5e into something that is just beautiful to behold. And freaky as hell to roleplay.
You may recognize this build from the video I did with Bad Luck Gamer, I just think I didn't express it as fully as I wanted to; I missed a few things. You can check the collab video I did with him if you want where we each go over a build that we made with the concept of a Thaumaturge with Living Vessel.
The Gateway
And now the backstory. Which is particularly long because I write a lot. :D BACKSTORY Rafi's first memories were of glass. Mirror shards, actually. Laying on them, surrounded by them and a few embedded in her skin. Then confusion and fear as she saw her father bloody and torn, eyes open on the floor. Then even MORE fear as 3 men all in grey carefully entered the room, seeking her out. She only started crying and screaming after their warm, gentle hands lifted her up from the pool of blood. After this point there are gaps in her memory, but she remembered meals at the monastery and reading lessons in her room. Drawing flowers and singing hymns. And always while surrounded by grey stone – above, below and all around. Her first memories of sky and grass came later. MUCH later, she was told. Brother Lucas with the kind eyes told her she was an elf. A being of woodlands and sparkling brooks. Of birds and fairies. Learning music and magic and more. She didn't know about any of that. She didn't even have an elven name. Llave. That was her name. Or it's all she was ever called, at least. She did as she was told, after what happened to father - she didn't want anyone else hurt because of her. She didn't know how it could be her fault, but she was sure of it. Just as sure as she was that her father never called her Llave. Still; she had no memories of a mother or siblings or pets or other elves or ...anything at all so she obeyed and listened and learned and grew. Then the night of her "Ascension" came. A powerful time for her, she was told. She would meet so many new friends tonight. She remembered the smell of incense, flowers, sulfur... then blood. A blinding flash of blood, flame, screams and horrifying pain. Then all was still. She was reminded of her father as she looked around at the full room of 20 priests, all dead. She could still taste their blood. In panic, she fled the monastery. Fled as she was driven to do, voices whispering and shouting in her mind to kill, to die, to find safety – to run home. After that, she lived in the wild for a long time. It felt so much more free to her than her childhood in the monastery, and eventually she was even able to scrub her mind of the bodies of the brothers, the blood on the walls, the paint on the floor. Finally, running for as long and as hard as she did, she found herself in a desert, where she was sure she could lose herself as much as she wanted. She was found later, her clothes long since torn away and her skin unprotected from the scrubbing sand, her body discovered by pure happenstance. Just by chance did a family of travelers literally stumble upon her; half buried in the sand, browned, burned, and nearly dead. Finding herself once again in tender caring arms when she awoke, her body shook with sobs and she quickly cried herself unconscious again, exhausted. She wouldn't know it for a few more weeks, but... she was finally home. It didn't matter that she wasn't born of their flesh or that she looked anything like them or even that they didn't share a language. She learned. She was loved. Everywhere they went, she was comforted by her adopted Grandmother, her "Gran-Gran" making breakfast every morning in the same cast iron pan whether it was over a campfire, in the kitchen of a roadside inn, or eventually in the home that her family settled in. Eventually Gran-Gran died and she took over the household tasks of fixing clothes, cooking, cleaning, performing minor repairs and even hunting occasionally. She began to be thrilled by and revel in these hunting trips as it somehow felt more comforting and familiar than returning to the house of her adopted family. She even began to recall more of her early life with her father. She spent longer and longer nights away from her family hunting in the wild places, sometimes ranging miles from her bed. She found herself somehow in her bed again during one of these trips, with no memory of returning home. She rose slowly to the scent of iron, her face and hands sticking to her bedsheets. Her adoptive father lay half-sprawled in her bedroom, the rest of the family faring no better. Breathless, she moved around the home looking for anyone still alive and in doing so, her reflection from Gran-Gran's looking glass caught her eye. A black-eyed pale face looked back- a face she didn't know. Working through her sobs and guilt, she gathered a few things from her home that were important to her: a journal, paints, her Gran-Gran's skillet, things that reminded her of their love. She took one of her family's horses and sped as fast and far as she could. For the next many weeks she sought out soothsayers, tavern-keepers - ANYONE who she thought could lead her to the truth of what she was or at least to someone who could help her. She finally found her way back to her monastery, still full of bodies. She spent months flipping through her prior caretaker's wealth of demonology texts, old ecclesiastical documents, infernal contracts and history books until it became clear: This clergy was called the Open Eye and they weren't a clergy at all. They were researchers and scholars certainly, but they were a devil-worshiping cult. They had attempted to use her as a Gateway through which they could speak to and make treaties with Devils. But they hadn't known that an infernal creature ALREADY lay within the girl. The ritual had been twisted away from them and, using her body, the demon killed every single one of the cultists that night. She learned deeply from those texts, from the evil cult who had tried so hard to use her. So much so that she was finally able to speak to the being inside her and learn that his name was Rafthrasa. He told her that he would be with her always. He also claimed that she had asked him in as a young girl and that she had always been a gateway for spirits. Rafthrasa was truly the one who killed her father. She finally knew who killed her adoptive family too and had someone to hate besides herself. But he was with her to stay. Something about the ritual had solidified his anchor in her that night and so they were bound together. She took his name then, as a reminder that she would always be bound and that she would never fully trust herself around others again. Somewhere along the way, all the reading and researching and speaking with spirits and demons became natural for her and Rafi began to learn how to control and speak with such beings. Now she keeps trinkets, charms, and a few truly blessed artifacts with her at all times to keep the possessions controlled. Now she only lets them have what she WANTS them to have, those she's deemed "Monsters" and so unworthy to live. Those who harm innocent people are the offerings that she provides Rafthrasa and the others that sometimes drop in. As her life continues to unfold, Rafi and Rafthrasa sometimes speak, usually about eating someone, but he's often appeased by her letting him take over so he can eat as much food as he likes and get as drunk as he likes. Sometimes she can get away with just talking with him and giving him attention. Sometimes she awakens in a strange place after a blackout and has to retrace her steps. Because of this, she sometimes binds herself with cold iron chains in order to keep the possessions at bay. But sometimes the beast is hungry and her will is weak. She tends to mold her behaviors and personality to kind people she meets in order to ingratiate herself. She desperately seeks inclusion and a new safe haven. She has become comfortable with her lot in life. She is a passageway. A medium by which spirits and demons can come back to interact with this world and she's even acted as such for loved ones, which allowed her to make some sort of peace with her murdered family.
Level 1
BACKGROUND
Feral Child was the background I took. It was for the sense of smell so I had sort of an excuse for an ability I created later. So you could take any ancestry that grants scent instead like Sensate Gnome or Hunting Catfolk and then choose another background like Seer of the Dead or Willing Host. Or even Cook, Cultist or Cursed. They all work with the Backstory.
ANCESTRY, HERITAGE
Ancestry we'll choose Elf. Really that was for a minor ability so it's flexible as I mentioned before.
Now where the Ancestry didn't matter much, the Heritage DOES. Because Living Vessel doesn't give me enough flavor. So we're going to enhance our Demonic Possession angle with Tiefling Heritage. Our character may not have GROWN UP a Tiefling, but that ritual certainly made sure that she had Demonic Blood in her veins. So she may try to hide it but she has all the stereotypes: long black fingernails, little cute nubbin horns, long pointed tail, red skin and HOOVES. And this is where we take Nimble Hooves for an increase to our speed. The fewer actions we spend moving, the more we can spend on ripping our enemies to pretty little pieces.
She likely sees her red skin and hooves and tail as shameful because she equates it to her father's death. As if the death that she caused is her fault and EVERYONE can see it burned into her skin.
1st level Class Feat
1st Level is Thaumaturge. So we have this sorta sparse Occult Library with charms and trinkets inside (the monastery). And she KNOWS that demons can be controlled. So that's her life mission. Keep them from harming any good people ever again. Bad guys though - well, that's a different story.
Ya get Dubious Knowledge as a Thaumaturkey which means that if you fail on a Recall Knowledge check, you still get info but some is true and some isn't. And you don't know which is which. Unless you can tell if the GMs lying. I'd probably just ignore the tells on my GMs face and flip a coin to see which one I act on. Cuz not every GM can lie well and if you know them, it's even harder for them to hide the truth on their face.
You also get Esoteric Lore which is a new Lore skill for you and it advances with your level. You add your Charisma to it, not like other Lores and I like that this sort of symbolized the force of will you've had to put into strengthening your mind against horrible nightmare truths in order to gain the knowledge you have. Anyway, this allows you to Recall Knowledge regarding haunts, curses, and creatures of any type, which is pretty much always useful in combat and not really for much else. But that's ok. Remember, you're a Martial character. Not a caster. Which is sorta the focus of this whole build. OK there's a huge focus on flavor too - I just can't resist things that are just DRIPPING WITH FLAVOR tantalizing just out of reach you wanna reach out and numnumnumnum all the flavor.
ALSO at first level, you get Esoterica. Which are various smaller mystic objects, bits of materials with paranormal affinities, and items used in folk practices. These might include cold iron nails, scraps of scrolls and scriptures, fragments of bones from a saint, and other stuff. You keep them all handy (which sorta means you probably have a thousand pockets) and you use them as the situation dictates. Like you shmear tar with iron filings onto your weapon to harm fairies or demons. Esoterica pretty much never requires another hand as long as you're holding an implement because the two things can be held together in the same hand. I dunno why. Cuz game balance.
You also get the Exploit Vulnerability activity which allows you to roll Esoteric Lore (the Charisma-based Lore skill) and assuming you succeed (it's usually a Standard DC for it's level), you either trigger your enemy's Mortal Weakness or you give them one. Let's say it's a Werewolf; werewolves have a weakness or vulnerability to silver of 5. So you deal an extra 5 damage when you hit, as if your weapon was silver. If they don't have a Weakness, like they're just some bandit dude, then you GIVE them a weakness of 2 + half your level. So you always deal extra damage. This is how you're a melee character.
And FINALLY your Implement. We have a few we could choose from but I like the Weapon implement or the Regalia. Regalia is passive, reduces the frightened condition on your party in combat and does some other minor stuff but let's go with the weapon for now. The Weapon Implement gets:
Implement's Interruption
When the enemy that you've used Exploit Vulnerability on (so the one you're dealing extra damage to) uses a concentrate, manipulate, or move action, or leaves a square during a move action it's using.
You can make a Strike against that creature with your weapon implement. If your attack is a critical hit, you disrupt the triggering action. Which means they lose their spell, can't move, can't turn a door handle, pull out a potion, whatever you're trying to stop. This Strike doesn't count toward your multiple attack penalty, and your multiple attack penalty doesn't apply to this Strike. Which makes sense cuz it's usually on their turn.
So let's say they start casting a spell, you critically hit them, they lose their action and the spell.
It's a 1st level attack of opportunity -ish. For the weapon, you can choose any 1 handed weapon even a ranged one if you want but in this case we'll choose our "Gran Gran's good morning I love you have some Chilequiles Cast Iron Skillet". It does 1d4 which doesn't make any sense it should do 1d10 and it's in the Club group which is fine.
Actually, this is cool because at 5th level you also get the Critical Specialization effect of the weapon so what the club group does is when you smack someone upside the head with a frying pan, they go reeling back 10 feet!
_shrug_ The frying pan has been imbued with love so much that it has become a personal talisman. And y'know, cast iron. Good against Fey, Demons and other creatures of the night.
Level 2
2nd level Class Feat At 2nd Level we will take Talisman Esoterica as a Class Feat which will continue scaling with us and gives us interesting little minor benefits that we can use or give a friend. We can make them in downtime, but we have 2 temporary ones that we can make per day and they do things like the Wolf Fang which lets you 1 time if you trip someone you add your Strength modifier to the damage of the trip. Or maybe the most popular one; a Potency Crystal which makes your weapon for the rest of your turn add 1 to hit and 1 more damage die. So it's Magic Weapon for one turn no matter who you are. The Jade Cat talisman lets you treat a fall as 20 feet shorter, a Lover's Knot heals you 1 time for 2d6 or more if you have Battle Medicine. All of this stuff just kinda makes sense to me. You have a little braided cord and you bless it with some angel droppings and it heals people. Great.
2nd level Free Archetype feat cuz Free Archetype.
We'll take the Living Vessel Dedication. This means that you have to constantly be making your Demon happy (in this case we have a demon) and if you would drop to 0 but not die outright, you instead drop to 1, get temporary hit points, and the Demon takes over. It wants to protect the body it's in so it'll PROOOBABLY kill your enemies. This is the first time we have a game mechanic that is specifically our theme. I'm so glad we were able to do this by 2nd level. It really makes you feel otherworldly. At this level we also get a Skill Feat and we'll take Preternatural Scent. Yeah, I made it up - it's not in the book.
Preternatural Scent Prerequisites trained in Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion. Must have a strong sense of smell, such as the Imprecise Scent ability. Your sense of smell is not only sharp, but it can give you a vague sense of an alien creature in your scent range. Choose one of the following creature types when you take this skill feat: daemon, demon, devil, or fey. If the type of creature you chose when taking this feat enters or exits the radius of your scent ability, you are aware that it has entered or exited the area. If you are within 5 ft. of a creature you automatically discern whether or not they are your chosen type of creature. You just go _SNIFFFFF_ nope, not demon. Yeah, it's not useful at all unless the GM includes Demons. But that doesn't stop the character from talking about it all the time. Oh, that jacket's mine. You can tell by the smell. What, can't you? It smells like Demon sweat. Mm Mmm good. This Skill Feat will be with the PDF to download this character sheet and if you don't like it you can take Arcane Sense. It has a similar vibe. Or Otherworldly Magic for Read Aura. Same thing. Similar Vibe. Arcane Sense lets you know if there's magic in the area and Read Aura tells you what kind of magic an object has. They're just not on point enough for my purposes. They're not good enough.
Level 3
Level 3 General Feat
Like usual, I'll take Ancestral Paragon. We will use it to take an Elf feat: Elemental Wrath (Fire). Because it just feels right that we can burn things with a touch or throw fire. We touch the spark of the demon inside and it causes black fire to poof into life in our hand.
Level 4
4th level Class Feat We will take Instructive Strike. "You attack your foe and analyze how it reacts. Make a Strike. On a hit, you can immediately attempt a check to Recall Knowledge about the target. On a critical hit, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to the check to Recall Knowledge."
This can be Esoteric Lore. It just saves you an action in combat. Yeah, not everything is flavor. This is just sort of convenient and lets you work well as a melee combatant. For your 4th Level Archetype Feat
We'll take the Living Vessel feat Entity's Strike. We'll get a 1d6 claw attack that has the Brawling, Agile, Finesse, and Magical Traits. And THAT'S pretty cool. Your claws are automatically magical for monsters that require magic weapons. And you have it at 4th level.
And when we enter a fight and we've used our Thaumaturkey abilities already, we'll extend claws, our eyes turn black, our dripping saliva turns black and we attack while growling. This is either us getting in touch with Rafthrasa or maybe even just letting him kill people. It makes him happy. :) Which is actually mechanically useful for keeping him in line and keeping his personality from bleeding into ours, which is what happens if he's not happy.
Level 5
At 5th Level
We increase our proficiency with all our attacks. And now we get another Implement. You have choices. I'd take a Passive Implement because your actions are going to be largely spoken for and you already have a Reaction. Your "Cast Iron Pan Upside the Head" action. I'd like to go with Regalia. Now I don't really like that this has to take up a hand, because I like the idea of it being a ring or a royal robe. But for flavor, our Regalia will be a length of iron links from the Chains of Mephistopheles. Legendary iron chains that once held a demon lord for over 1000 years. Or hell you can use a Demon's skull if you want. Whatever it is, it should have an impressive story so it inspires your allies.
The Regalia gives you +1 to Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation. If an ally follows the expert with you they get +1. And all allies in a 15 ft. radius gets +1 to fear saves and at the end of your turn they lose a level of their Frightened condition if they have it. They're just encouraged by your presence. I picture you taking a strong stance with a resolute look on your face, assuring your allies that you know what you're doing. Or maybe even the Chain glows red when an ally is trying to make a fear save or while they're losing a level of Frightened, just to show that it has some mystical power. And now you get the Critical Specialization effect of the weapon implement so when you critically hit someone with a frying pan, they go reeling back 10 feet! Take THAT! And Finally we choose an Ancestry Feat.
I'd like Devil in Plain Sight at this point. It allows us to take an action concentrating to hide all of our demonic traits. I actually want this from the beginning but the rules say we can't do that. I personally don't care if I'm running it I'd say just act as though you had it the whole time. But you could say that it took you time to learn how to control your demon features if you like. You had to come to a point of acceptance to use the Demon to hide the Demon.
Level 6
At 6th Level
We finally get Tap Vitality from Living Vessel. This heals a LOT when it heals you. It's only once per fight, but it's 4 times your level. And you start becoming more like your Demon until you spend an hour or more doing whatever your Demon wants. At this level it's 24 hit points every hour.
For the Skill Feat you can take whatever you seem to need I like Root Magic because it sorta doubles down on the Talisman thing. You help your friends by giving them a bonus to one spell saving throw per day. You have good luck trinkets that could be valuable to your enemies if they fell into their evil clutches. They're always after yer lucky charms.
And here for the 6th level Class Feat I thought of 3 ways you could go; Barbarian for more flat melee damage on every hit, Witch for a wee little bit of spellcasting and for cool feats like Cauldron which lets you make potions really well. I went with Ritualist Dedication at this point.
If you take Ritualist Dedication here, you get to choose 4 Rituals. You can perform up to level 3 Rituals at this point and y'know what a 3rd level Ritual is? Reincarnate. Yep, you are a demon-infested lifesaver. Ech that sounds gross. Probably tastes like sulfur. But really; it's easy to die in Pfftoo. Your friends may love you for this. Or you can have a pet Ghoul. Sure, why not? Or Animated Armor or an Animated Statue or a Broom that's your friend. You can also have a portable alarm with Elemental Sentinel or give your friends a Tarot Reading that lets them hold onto a reroll until they need it. That last one actually sounds kinda essential. But seriously. Animate Objects. Yeah, it's expensive but at this level you could get a jumble of silverware to be a pet. Seriously. It's a thing. It pins enemies to the ground with an ability called "Stick a fork in it"!
Now here is where we would stop if we're just going to 6th level like I enjoy doing so people can have a lower level build that they can enjoy the feel of right away.
But now let's take it to Level 10. Because that's what I did in the Collab video and I want to clarify some things.
So first there are a few changes if we are STARTING at any level from 6 to 10.
We'll hold off on the Ritualist abilities until later levels and still take Living Vessel but we'll go Barbarian first.
So the changes: at 1st level instead of Nimble Hooves, we take Form of the Fiend for claws. Because you're only allowed to take it at 1st level and that means we don't need to take the Living Vessel Feat for claws later. At 2nd Level instead of Living Vessel, we take Barbarian Dedication. At 4th we still take Instructive Strike because it still saves an action, but we take Barbarian Basic Fury which gives us a Barbarian Feat so we take Sudden Charge. AGAIN saving actions. It just makes you feel way more badass in combat so you can be a tazmanian devil tearing your enemies apart.
Alternate Level 6
Then at 6th Level instead of taking Ritualist Dedication and Tap Vitality, we take the Barbarian Instinct Ability for Spirit Instinct, adding more damage to our strikes and allowing our attacks to harm incorporeal undead. Which then means we can train in a different Archetype; which will be Living Vessel Dedication at this point, at level 6. I really like starting at 6th because it's the whole package together. Including the barbaric brutality of a Demon. So at this point in the build you do your Thaumy Esoteric Lore things and then Rage. And when you Rage, you can't Concentrate. So you have to drop the Devil in Plain Sight so it looks like you just start Raging and transform into a demon while you rush forward with Sudden Charge and scratch a bitch. Caught up? Good.
Level 7
At Level 7 for a General Feat we'll take Ancestral Paragon for Nimble Hooves at this point. Now this could just mean that we finally learned how to use our Hooves but we've had them the whole time.
And we get Implement Adept so one of our Implements go to Adept and we'll choose the Regalia because it adds 2 to damage for all your attacks and all nearby allies. It does a couple other minor things but that's why we take it.
If your GM says you can't take Ancestral Paragon this 2nd time, just take Fleet. Or Shield Block. Or Armor Proficiency, I don't care.
ALSO at 7th Level we get +2 to damage on all our attacks. Yes. Same as the Adept Regalia. Weapon Specialization is what it's called. So you got a total of +4 to damage this level on all your attacks.
Level 8
Level 8 we will take Tap Vitality (the thing that heals you a bunch and makes you more... uh spiritual.) Demons are Spiritual... they're like... spirits that live in Hell.
And also here we take something else from the Living Vessel Archetype: Exude Abyssal Corruption. It lets you take an action to excrete poison onto any weapon or your claws and you deal an extra 1d6 poison damage. Yep, it only lasts for a round so you have to do it again next turn. You're basically squirting Demon juice onto your hands so yeah it takes effort ;)
Aaaand Level 8 Skill Feat you can take Disturbing Knowledge. It says: "You utter a litany of dreadful names, prophecies, and descriptions of realms beyond mortal comprehension, drawn from your study of forbidden tomes and scrolls." You roll Occultism and at best you make them Confused and Frightened. So it's like a maddening Demoralize. I picture this as Demonic Speech. Like when Gandalf spoke the Black Speech of Mordor. The light darkens, clouds gather, pain and fear spread.
Dripping with Flavuh.
LEVEL 9!
You increase one of your skills, increase Perception AND you get an extra power from each of your Implements. Here's how it works in a turn: first use Exploit Vulnerability then at the EARLIEST next round you can do this it's called "Intensify Vulnerability" which seems a misnomer because it powers up your Implements. Yeah go figure anyway if you've done this action, the weapon adds another 2 to hit on the target of your Exploit Vulnerability and the Regalia lets your friend get +1 or +2 to hit the target of your Exploit Vulnerability IF you hit them. Yeah, the weapon 's better. Obviously.
Also at Level 9 you get another Ancestry Feat and we'll take Defiance Unto Death to fit this character's stubbornness and will to retain control of her own mind and body. It's an elf thing. If you are confused, controlled, or fleeing you can choose to just be paralyzed instead. Yeah, kinda dumb but keeps you able to re-enter the fight faster. And it FREAKING makes sense for a person who has had to struggle with someone controlling her emotions and actions for literally all her life. You have to be strong-willed to get through this shit.
If you like, you could instead take the much much more fun Ancestry Feat Fiendish Wings from Tiefling. Yeah allows you to fly once per day for 10 minutes. Oh, and they add +10 to awesome! Seriously this would be freakin' INTIMIDATING. Even without the flying.
Now LEVEL 10!
Skill Feat: Consult the Spirits for Occultism. It allows you to contact lingering spirits, psychic echoes of the departed dead, and spirits from beyond reality, who tell you about things like strange auras, effects, or the presence of unnatural occult beings. Totally fits with the vibe of a Thaumaturge and RITUALIST cuz that's what we're taking next. Level 10 Class and Archetype Feats are going to be Ritualist Dedication and Efficient Rituals, within the Ritualist Archetype. Now I talked about the lower level rituals but NOW you have access to 4th and 5th level Rituals. 4th level Rituals that I would take:
Plant Growth. It lasts a year, takes 1 day to cast and costs NOTHING. Talk about earning goodwill for your adventuring party. Just bless the crops of all the towns you come across! You'll get discounts at stores, free lodging, and REALLY good PR. Especially good if you have a group of murder hobos. Or like if your demon has ...been free to have fun at night at your expense. Maybe it feels like it karmically balances out the pain and death you've caused just by existing near other people.
I also like Garden of Death or Simulacrum, but mostly as plot devices or to get poisons for your Rogue.
5th Level:
Incarnate Ancestry. It's a silly in-world excuse to change your Ancestry or Heritage. But seriously it's just useful. It allows you to change all of your Ancestry feats or even choose a brand new Ancestry and Heritage. Could be used on a party member for roleplaying purposes, or on yourself to express paths of self-discovery, or even on the whole party to get ready for a specific adventure. Like maybe you all need to be able to breathe water so you change into Undines or Azarketi.
Resurrect: Just bring anyone back from the dead. Sure, it costs a lot but this is awesome for getting your friends characters back if the Ritualist survives a fight. And you have a selfish Demon inside you that heals you if it's injured, heals you if you're about to die, and is probably more than happy to run the fuck away if it's in danger of truly dying.
Planar Ally: Get an angel friend to help you with the Big Bad
Heroes' Feast: See my Rituals video. But getting cured of poisons and diseases AND healed? Awesome. And cheap.
You are a melee fighter. BUT you could be a ranged fighter, you just couldn't use claws for it. Which kinda detracts from the whole "Demon inside me" thing. So I would stick with melee for flavor. There are some options for Ancestry and Archetypes as well: Instead of Elf you could take Fleshwarp for claws or any Ancestry you want and take Changeling for big IRON claws if you want more damage. But then it's harder to attack more times and you get a lot of flat bonus damage, so agile is probably the way to go. That being said, Strength doesn't really matter if you don't want to take Barbarian. Because claws can easily be finesse and you add flat damage from being a Thaumaturkey anyway. You could choose a Hunting Catfolk for this build which would allow for claws and scent, and then when you Rage and all your demon features come out, you could have the fur burn off in patches from smoking acid or sizzling fire and you look all mangy. Like a werewolf cat. Or all the fur could burn off and you just look alien and terrifying. Maybe even with burn scars all over your skin that normally gets covered by your fur when you're not in a fight.
You also don't have to take the Elven feat that lets you throw fire, I just like it.
A WORD ABOUT ROLEPLAYING The inspiration for this build was from the show Diablero on Netflix, the character Nancy is frequently possessed. Watching that show for roleplaying ideas would be fun if you're interested.
Just occasionally have weird twitches to your face and head while your eyes turn black, like the demon inside just decided to look around for a moment. When you get angry enough to start yelling, you can spit black spittle as your voice gets deeper.
I have to say that I love the idea of summoning the demon by cutting yourself on purpose and then counting down from 10 while your voice gets deeper and more distorted with each number, finally ending on the next round when it's your turn and you go full demon rage, vomiting black blood, black veins popping out of your arms and neck, black slimy talons fully extended as you rush for the slaughter.
There is a free downloadable pdf of this character's fillable character sheet already built for 6th level AND 10th level made so you can step into this wonderfully, flavorfully, creepy "Gateway".
Thank you to all of our wonderful Patrons. If you are interested in being a supporter of our work and get signed up to partake in the monthly Patron only giveaway check out our Patreon. And remember: Humans can tell the difference between over 1 trillion different scents. I totally believe it and I use my nose often to tell when I need to flip a piece of meat in a pan, or if there are harmful chemicals in the air. I love being able to smell things apart. Don't you? Science smells fun! Here's the link to that study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24653035/
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