Hey I'm Jake, I make rpg supplements and videos about Pathfinder2 or "Pfftoo".
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!
I have for you today the much requested Laughing Shadow build, Daisilodavi. Inspired by a Magic the Gathering Anthology novel, this character has made brief appearances in a few of my adventures over the years, but I've never given him his own build. Today is that day. I'm building based on two assumptions. One is that we are using the Free Archetype variant rule and the other is that we're using the Ancestry Paragon variant rule. Together this means that every even level we'll get an extra Feat that's usable for Archetype Feats only, and every odd level (after the first) we'll get an extra Ancestry Feat. This doesn't affect balance, it just increases variety and FUN. People like it. And it's easier to tell a backstory with extra Ancestry Feats.
I'm trying something different today because of a few requests and I'm not... certain how it'll go. I'm doing a shorter backstory this time. Note that "shorter" doesn't mean SHORT. I'll try. I'll try.
Backstory
His name isn't important. In fact, he barely remembers his birth name, he's pushed it so far back in his mind. His childhood was crap anyway, so it doesn't really matter. It just matters who he is now.
He really only needs to know his job anyway; and where his loyalties lie. The problem is... that his only loyalty is to himself. And his boss is a Vampire and Bloodlord of Geb. Who can read minds. But he serves his Bloodlord so well and without question that it truly doesn't matter.
Daisilodavi is a name mashed up from a variety of sources, so much so that it doesn't mean anything. Which is fine because the true nature of this character... is that he has NO true nature. He follows orders and survives. And that is all.
This character is the perfect assassin because he REALLY doesn't seem like one. He's loud, boisterous, plays music and sings, hits on women, then men, then scampers off and after he leaves, somebody pitches forward into their drink, obviously passed out drunk from the revelry. But they are stone cold dead. This guy loves life because he chooses to and in that way, he feels very self-empowered. He makes himself do things that are new and interesting and fun and he doesn't care what ANYONE thinks about him. In fact, the more people are irritated by him, the better his cover is.
Daisilodavi's cover is in effect, a bard. A bard of all trades but most of them he does poorly. He's a skinny old man who skips into town wearing clothes that are too big for him. He makes friends as quickly as possible and works a crowd well. He usually travels with people who are as stoic and intimidating as possible so that if anyone were to be willing to speak to the party, it'll be to him. Thus embellishing his put-on personality.
Level 1
BACKGROUND
His Background is Charlatan
It says in part: "You traveled from place to place, peddling false fortunes and snake oil in one town, pretending to be royalty in exile to seduce a wealthy heir in the next. Becoming an adventurer might be your next big scam or an attempt to put your talents to use for a greater cause." It's PERFECT.
You become trained in the Deception Skill, Underworld Lore, and gain the Skill Feat Charming Liar. Which basically means that if you critically succeed when lying to someone, their attitude toward you improves by one step as if you'd succeeded on a use of Diplomacy to "Make an Impression".
It says in part: "You must be lying to impart seemingly important information, inflate your status, or ingratiate yourself, which trivial or irrelevant lies can't achieve." It's great for this character. I'd recommend you take Society because of how this skill works, in case your GM requires that you have a working knowledge of the settlement you're trying to make an impression in.
ANCESTRY, HERITAGE
We have this laughing joking drunkard of a bard and so of course, our Ancestry is Fetchling. Laughing... Shadow. Yeah I know it's on the nose! But Fetchling just had TOO MANY aspects of it that work well for assassination. And this is a really FUN personality to embody in game.
So anyway: Fetchling Ancestry, Sylph Heritage. He's a wispy slip of a man.
I wanted someone that just seems so slight and weak that he could just fall over or get knocked down by a strong gust of wind.
I mostly chose them for the cool feats that work VERY well with someone trying to be a stealthy assassin.
No matter what Ancestry you choose, you'll want to focus on Dexterity for your sneakiness and AC, and Intelligence for skills because this build is SUPER skill-rich.
1st level Ancestry Feat
Smokesoul "You have a connection to smoke and haze. You gain the Smoke Blending reaction.
Smoke Blending [reaction] (sylph) Trigger A creature attempts a flat check to target you because you're concealed or hidden due to fog, haze, mist, or smoke; Effect You shroud yourself in smoke, making it harder for your foe to hit you. If you're concealed, the DC of the flat check increases from 5 to 7; if you're hidden, it increases from 11 to 13."
And we'll combine this with Obscuring Mist later to give ourselves an edge.
1st Level Class
Obviously, Laughing Shadow Magus. This character's Archetype feats and Ancestry and Skill Feats and Skills could be taken completely separately from the Class and be useful as a sneaky assassin no MATTER what Class you took. BUT Magus allows for a huge amount of burst damage that couples well with the poisons to take out your target FAST and the spells offer options that are just incredibly nice for a sneaky character or an assassin-type character. Like Humanoid Form to blend into the crowd, Locate to find an object that your target is wearing and then just home in on them, Organsight for even MORE bursty damage, Fleet Step for more teleportation distance, all of it together is just GREAT for a Laughing Shadow Assassin.
Level 2
2nd level Class Feat Force Fang. Sometimes you WILL face an enemy that needs to be hit with force but really... it's just a Focus Point. There aren't many low level Magus feats that fit our needs and later feats will mostly be spent on our Archetype. 2nd level Free Archetype feat cuz Free Archetype. Poisoner Dedication! You gain the basic alchemy benefits, though they can be used only for alchemical poisons. You gain batches of infused reagents per day equal to your level. Your advanced alchemy level for creating these is 1 and doesn't increase on its own. 2nd level skill feat Streetwise. It's a requirement for a later feat that I want but it also saves us from investing in Diplomacy. Because this character has a huge demand on their skills. You can use your Society modifier instead of your Diplomacy modifier to Gather Information. In any settlement you frequent regularly, you can use the Recall Knowledge action with Society to know the same sorts of information that you could discover with Diplomacy to Gather Information. The DC is usually significantly higher, but you know the information without spending time gathering it. Which is kinda cool like you walk into town and know EXACTLY where to go.
Level 3
3rd level General Feat
We'll take Ancestral Paragon and that with our Ancestry Paragon variant rule, we get 2 Ancestry Feats at this level.
The first one: Slink! "You can move through gloom with the speed of darkness. You can move 5 feet farther when you take the Sneak action, up to your Speed. In addition, as long as you continue to use Sneak actions and succeed at your Stealth check, you don't become observed if you end a Sneak action in dim light or darkness, as long as you have cover or greater cover or are concealed at the end of your turn."
So it lets you sneak faster so... more efficiently. And as long as you keep Sneaking from cover to cover or dim light or darkness, you never become observed.
Normally: If you successfully become hidden to a creature but then cease to have cover or greater cover against it or be concealed from it, you become observed again. So like if you DON'T have this feat and you go from cover through bright light, you're observed, you're no longer hiding. You CAN do that with this feat. So it's at LEAST an extra safeguard. At BEST, you can infiltrate where no one else can. It's a very nice feat.
Aaaaand the second Ancestry feat: Shadow Blending. If someone tries to target you while you're concealed or hidden due to dim light or darkness you can increase the DC of the flat check by 2.
So now you can increase the flat check to target you by 2 if you're in fog, haze, mist, smoke, dim light or darkness. I think... that's everything that can conceal or hide you besides a solid object. So you'll probably remain hidden.
Level 4
4th level Class Feat Spirit Sheath. The dude needs to be able to wear practically nothing sometimes to look like a homeless beggar or a drunken brainless old man. And he always needs somewhere to hold his little bag of needles. Or a dagger. Or whatever; any one-handed weapon. 4th level Archetype Feat Subtle Delivery. It says: "Your blowgun Strikes can apply injury poisons even if they deal no damage due to a creature's resistance. If you critically succeed at an attack roll using a blowgun loaded with a dart you've poisoned and the target rolls a failure on the poison's initial save, the target critically fails instead." Which is an amazing perk - to be able to force a crit fail on a fail vs. your poison if you critically succeed on the attack roll. Fuck yeah!
That could be the difference between just taking 1d4 damage or taking 1d6 damage and being Enfeebled. It ALSO means that they're 1 step deeper into the stages of the poison and so it takes more successful rolls and more damage or penalties before they get over it. It's a huge buff to your poisons if you're sneaking around blowing darts at people. A slightly side benefit is that all of your darts can be pre-loaded with poisons. So you can have a variety of poisons for different purposes that you've made ahead of time in different darts. This says to me the idea that Daisilodavi could have just row after row of snugly held poisons inside his little vest or jacket or boots or wrist cuffs. To me this guy has a motto: "A poison for every purpose and a purpose to every poison."
Now, this isn't always going to be useful. Because a Laughing Shadow Magus can only deliver Spellstrikes with a Melee Weapon or Unarmed Attack. Not a ranged attack. Which is what this feat uses. But it WILL be useful if you're sneaking around BEFORE combat begins. THIS is where the "Assassin" side of this character really comes to life. With the Poisoner Dedication you HAVE Alchemy and can craft poisons during downtime. You should totally do so. And have them at the ready. THIS is what Daisilodavi is all about so spend some extra time on this. I'll have a link to the poisons on Archives of Nethys below sorted the way I prefer to see them so that it's obvious what the ONSET time is, what level it is, and what each stage of the poison does.
4th level Skill Feat
Underground Network. "You're connected to groups that know what's going on in the streets, and you can get information out of them quickly. When you use Society to Gather Information in an area where you have a network (typically a settlement where you've spent at least a week or spent a day of downtime to build a network faster), you can contact a member of these groups to get information directly from them. This usually takes about an hour, and it doesn't draw as much attention as Gathering Information in public might. The check and information gained otherwise follow the normal rules for Gather Information.
In addition, if you have successfully consulted the underground network, you get a +1 circumstance bonus to the next check to Recall Knowledge you attempt about the subject you were Gathering Information on, or a +2 circumstance bonus if you're using Underworld Lore for the check. "
This just makes sense if you're used to serving as a Bloodlord's Assassin. You probably also take out other contracts and you're used to killing. You just accept that it's pretty much your job. If you're being hired, it's to infiltrate, befriend, and murder. This is NOT a friendly character.
Level 5
5th level Ancestry Feat Cloud Gazer from Sylph.
Which says: "You can see well enough through fog, mist, and clouds that would normally cause creatures to be concealed that you don't need to succeed at a flat check to target creatures benefiting from such concealment."
So NOW we can use something like Obscuring Mist to make OURSELVES EXTRA CONCEALED while our enemies have NONE of that protection. So awesome. Just laughing our ass off while dancing around our enemy in the mist, stabbing them with lots of little poisoned pointy things. Or blowing their ass up with spellstrike damage.
Level 6
6th level Class Feat
Expert Poisoner. You need to take this to keep improving your ability to use poisons, it's just a tax you have to pay to keep pace with your teammates. Your poisons do more damage and have better effects.
And 6th level Archetype Feat
Poison Weapon. Now you can apply poisons to your weapon that you hit people with to spellstrike with fire or needles or frost or what have you.
6th level Skill feat
Backup Disguise. Daisilodavi always has a plan "B". If all else fails, he has a beggar's disguise under his clothes that he keeps at the ready, eye patch and all.
I would prepare a couple of personalities or effects that are purposely stereotypes. The quicker someone can look at you, decide that they know what you're all about and move on, the better. You could play the part of a lost foreigner mispronouncing words and telling stories while people try to get you to go away, a wandering drunk who's whistling to himself or even hitting on people that pass, a very sad-looking beggar... this would work well in real life and it will also work well in game because your fellow players will instantly feel like they know what you're trying to put across.
Spell Selection!
Arcane spells that fit this theme by level. Cantrips Prestidigitation - This will allow you to really support that Charlatan Background. You can slowly levitate something small or create a small object. And you can do this over and over again which would help you pose as a potion seller, stage magician, priest, medium, scholar, really just about anything. Temporarily fabricating a little object is SUPER versatile. Ghost Sound - for creeping out someone you're following or distracting guards or getting people to go somewhere else... ghost sound is just useful. Needle Darts - to fit the theme of the needler assassin. But also if you have a tiny piece of cold iron or silver, it can be used to trigger weaknesses. And it does decent damage. And a little bleed isn't bad. Ray of Frost - because we need another damaging cantrip for options in case something is immune to piercing. I can't picture this character using something as flashy as fire or lightning, and frost can reduce someone's speed too, which is a nice side-benefit for this build. Root Reading - in case your prey decides to get sneaky or you suspect that someone might be hunting the hunter... Daisilodavi KNOWS he is good at remaining unseen so he wouldn't mind hiding NEAR the target and using this cantrip to seek him without leaving cover. 1st level Flashy Disappearance - it makes a puff of smoke, you stride, then hide with a +2. Great for a stage-magician act or just for getting the hell out of a bad situation. It was only a bad idea if you get caught.
Fleet Step - increases your speed by 30 for 1 min. mostly useful for increasing your teleport range with Dimensional Assault, the signature ability of the Laughing Shadow Magus. But it's also useful for in-combat movement rate or just catching up to someone very quickly. 2nd level Humanoid Form - easily take on someone else's appearance. This gives you a +4 to deception checks to disguise yourself as an average member of that Ancestry. This even allows you to disguise yourself as someone smaller than you. Like a happy-go-lucky halfling.
Obscuring Mist - this is the most perfect spell you could use as this character. At third level when you get this, it's harder for your enemy to target you than it is for you to target your enemy thanks to Smokesoul - the Sylph Feat. At 5th LEVEL however, this spell means that you can see your enemy just fine and your enemy has a hard as hell time targeting you. 3rd level Locate - you can target a specific object or a general type of object that you think your mark might carry and find them easily with this spell (within 500 ft). It's also super-useful to find items in an adventure that you need in order to complete it.
Organsight - you target a creature and if you succeed at a Medicine check (with a +2 bonus) then the next time you deal damage to them with piercing or slashing, you add 4d6 precision damage. You can do this once every round.
So using this, under the most optimal conditions at 6th level, with the needle darts spell... weapon damage +5d4 +4d6 +4 +poison. All the while your enemy can't hit you, you can hit them, if they start to run you just teleport after them, and you've probably disabled them with some nasty poisons. For later levels after 6th, I would switch to Assassin for extra cool stealthy powers and theme or Alter Ego to really double-down on the "man without a true self" concept. Character Quotes:
"Ha HAH! Did you see that Khairt?! Did you see that?! Hahahah!" (slap your friend's back).
"Oh what a lovely day! Makes me want to break into song! Oh what a beautiful mooorning! Oh what a beautiful daaaaay! Everything's coming up rooooses! Everything's going... my waaaaaay. *hic*"
"Oh I like these apricots and figs! So fresh and delicious! Thank you madam... young lady, would you like an apricot?! They're liquid sunshine. And have a flower too! Just for you."
"Oh poor fellow! He must have collapsed from sunstroke! Yes, it's very hot out there today I told him, I said "You have to be wearing more protection for your skin!" Here, let's get him home so he can rest. I can help, you grab his legs and we'll get him on his horse. I'll lead him home - it's no trouble. No trouble at all. :D"
Thank you for being here and THANK you to our lovely Patron people, I release unique videos on Patreon, do giveaways and we chat in our Patron-only Discord. If you'd like to see if you might be interested you can check it out here. If you want to make sure to catch the next build I make, make sure to subscribe to our Youtube Channel. The pdf of this character's fillable character sheet already built for 6th level and can be downloaded here. Feel free to leave a comment if I missed something or if you have ideas that could go with this build. I love when you guys share new ideas I never thought of. And remember... Poison is more about dosage than substance. Drinking water quickly enough WILL intoxicate you and then kill you. Drinking chlorine bleach will kill you, but adding a little chlorine to dirty water will sterilize it. Nearly anything can be toxic. Just depends on how you use it.