INTRO
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!
STATEMENT OF INTENT
I have for you today Ursula THE SEEEEA WIIIITCH!
Because Howl of the Wild gave us FEATS for a sea witch but not a TENTACLED MERMAID! What the fuck were you guys thinking? That’s rhetorical. I don’t care. We’ll fix it here.
BRIDGING STATEMENT
I usually don’t do this but we’re going to level 20 today. Because usually I build to level 6 to get you STARTED on a theme and then you can use your own creativity from there with a really clear start. I also usually give a backstory but on this one – if you’ve watched The Little Mermaid you know the backstory. Heck, you already know the whole CHARACTER.
BACKSTORY SECTION
In the movie Ursula is a grumpy yet fabulous deceitful manipulator. She creates magical contracts between merfolk and makes everyone default into eternal debt with her. So she morphs them into little plant monsters in her cavern because she’s creepy and likes feeling powerful over her past victims.
Interesting, in the original script they were going to make her the sister of King Triton but cut it for some reason. Time? I guess? I kinda like that feel because it’s more relatable and gives Ursula more depth. She’s been cast out of the kingdom by her brother for… some reason. We can guess, she’s kind of a jerk to people. Sees them as steps along the road of her conquest.
She wants what she thinks she deserves, which is King Triton’s Trident so she can rule the ocean. She wants what she thinks she’s owed and she feels betrayed. I think we can all relate to that.
BACKGROUND
Here you could choose a number of things including lesser scion or hermit but I chose Root Worker because it fit her overall witchy feel, letting you create minor talismans every day and it gives Occultism which also made sense for her.
ANCESTRY, HERITAGE
Merfolk! Obviously. We couldn’t very well have a sea witch who isn’t comfortable in the sea, could we? And Heritage I needed tentacles. So I went Nephilim Hellspawn. Because evil things can have a look that’s strange and I choose freakin’ tentacles.
1st level Ancestry Feat
I’m using Ancestral Paragon so she actually gets 2 Ancestry feats at first level, one will be Wavespeaker so she can talk to fishes and the other is Grimspawn that says... Your lineage traces back to a daemon, one of the manifestations of horrific forms of death that devour souls within their foul home of Abaddon. As a result, you cling tenaciously to the last shreds of your own life force. You gain the Diehard general feat.
FIRST CLASS LEVEL
Ursula will take The Resentment. I wanted to take something that just fit for Howl of the Wild but The Resentment is just too perfect for Ursula. She resents NOT being in power or on top where she belongs and she HATES King Triton and everyone else because it’s all their fault that she isn’t where she’s supposed to be.
Her Familiar is an EEL. Obviously. Here’s something that sucks. You can’t take 2 familiars AND you can’t take a Familiar AND a pet. The Familiar GIVES YOU the Pet feat FOR the Familiar. You could take an animal companion for an eel but it has to be a GIANT eel. There’s just no way to get 2 eel pets or eel familiars. So we’re going to say that her “familiar” is actually two eels, flotsam and jetsam and they’ll just always occupy the same space and do the same things at the same time. Messy, but it’s done.
LEVEL BY LEVEL BREAKDOWN
2nd level Class Feat
Witch’s Armament’s (Hair) but we’re going to say that it’s actually her tentacles again.
2nd level Free Archetype feat cuz Free Archetype.
Then we can take Thlipit Archetype because we have a ranged tendril-like natural weapon. You can call it hair if you’re being a stickler for the rules but otherwise - for the rest of us it’s tentacles.
2nd level skill feat
Bon Mot. Ursula is the queen of attitude and it just makes sense that she could toss a good put-down. Insulting other people is sort of just the way she talks.
3rd level General Feat
Fleet because everyone wants to go faster.
And 3rd level Ancestry Paragon Feat
Seasong. This is mostly for the ability to sing normally but it also lets our voice carry just as well below water as it does above which ensures that her commands will be heard if not obeyed and it’s also just this extra little bit of creepy that I like Ursula to be able to have.
4th level Class Feat!
Cauldron. Because Ursula has a Cauldron and uses it to cast spells. She also has a myriad number of little glass bottles filled with all sorts of random spell components. So she makes magic brews. Seriously, she’s called “THE Sea Witch”. This is a must have for theme.
4th level Archetype Feat
Thlipit Contestant “Lassoing Lash”. It allows us to use our tentacles to pull someone to us. Which is totally an Ursula thing.
4th level Skill Feat
Charming Liar – because she’s good at manipulating. If you prefer, you can take Quick Climber for a later feat. Cuz she’s got tentacles.
5th level Ancestry Feat
Strong Tail (Merfolk) lets us walk on land. In this case it’s on our Tentacles and it’s at a speed of 20 because of Fleet.
6th level Class Feat
Greater Lesson (Lesson of the Shark) it is at it’s most useful in the water where it drags people down underwater and makes the water difficult terrain so they can’t swim out very well. It also does spirit damage but… if you’re not in the water, you’ll want to pick something else for this level.
In that case I would take Lesson of Mischief for Deceiver’s hex (magical disguise, which is a perfect fit) and Mad Monkeys flavored as her eel friends stealing shit and swimming all around them to fuck up their spells.
And 6th level Archetype Feat
Powerful Lash so now our lash does 1d6 and has the Sweep trait.
6th level Skill feat
Intimidating Glare (seriously, she’s just a scary bitch)
7th level Ancestry Paragon Feat
Nimble Hooves (tentacles) for 5 more feet of movement. Now we can finally move at 25 ft on land.
7th level General Feat
Adopted Ancestry (Leshy) I promise, it’s for a reason.
8th level Class Fea
Oozemorph Dedication
You are plagued by sporadic anatomical rearrangements, which grant you insights into other creatures with unusual anatomies. You become trained in Occultism and Ooze Lore; if you were already trained, you become an expert instead. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Reflex saves to avoid being Engulfed by creatures, and to checks to Escape after being Engulfed.
As you develop more abilities based on your amorphous affliction, you become increasingly off-putting to mundane creatures. You take a penalty to Diplomacy checks against animals and humanoids. This penalty is equal to your number of class feats from the oozemorph archetype, to a maximum of –4 for four or more feats.
8th level Archetype Feat
Disturbing Defense Your internal organs and blood vessels have shifted and changed, and even you don't know precisely where in your body they are. You gain resistance to precision damage equal to 2 + your number of class feats from the oozemorph archetype. The DC of your flat checks to recover from persistent bleed damage is 13, rather than 15.
8th level Skill Feat
Quick Coercion – what? She’s manipulative as hell.
9th level Ancestry Feat
Skillful Tail – just in case there were any arguments with our GM, now we can manipulate things with our tail. (tentacles)
10th level Class Feat
Major Lesson (Lesson of Bargains) Gives the most Ursula Spell there is:
Over the Coals
Focus 5
Cast [two-actions] somatic, verbal
Range 120 feet; Targets 1 creature
Saving Throw Will; Duration varies
You accuse the target of breaking its word to you and invoke the wrath of your patron to claim what's due, demanding the target pay you in currency, fulfill an order, or stand down. The demand can't be obviously self-destructive, or the spell fails. If the target resists, you take your payment from its life force. The target must attempt a Will save. Regardless of the result of its save, the target is temporarily immune for 1 day.
Critical Success The target is unaffected and is immune to your pact broker cantrips for 1 day.
Success If the target doesn't comply with your request by the end of its next turn, it takes 3d8 persistent negative damage. If it later complies, the spell automatically ends.
Failure As success, but if the target doesn't comply, it is drained 1 and takes 6d8 persistent negative damage.
Critical Failure As success, but if the target doesn't comply, it is drained 2, doomed 1, and takes 6d8 persistent negative damage. Even if the target completes your commands later, the spell doesn't end until all the conditions end.
10th level Archetype Feat
Rubbery Skin. C’mon she’s an octopus she HAS to have Rubbery Skin.
Your skin develops a malleable, rubbery quality. You gain resistance to bludgeoning damage equal to 2 + your number of class feats from the oozemorph archetype. You also gain resistance equal to twice that amount to extra damage from critical hits; if the resistance is greater than the extra damage, it reduces the extra damage to 0 but doesn't reduce the attack's normal damage.
10th level Skill Feat
Magical Crafting. She’s a Witch. ‘nuff said. How else is she goinna make her contracts?
11th level General Feat
Toughness. Cuz it’s good. No there’s really no reason for it except that Ursula is big and imposing and seems like she’d have a lot of hit points.
11th level Ancestry Paragon Feat
Spore Cloud from Leshy Ancestry. This was just the closest I could get to an ink spray via Ancestries. If you want to more closely approximate it and you’re ok using grafts, just take the Squid Ink Graft. It’s Item level 5. Here’s what the graft does.
Sacs full of dark ink have been implanted inside your mouth, allowing you to spit it forth. Activate—Spray Ink [one-action] (manipulate) Frequency once per day; Effect You splatter ink in a 10-foot cone, covering creatures and revealing invisible ones. Each creature in the area must succeed at a DC 20 Reflex save or become covered in ink. If a creature has its invisibility negated by this ink, it is concealed instead of invisible. A creature can negate the effects of the ink by spending two Interact actions to wipe off the ink.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target’s invisibility is negated for 2 rounds.
Failure The target is blinded for 1 round. Its invisibility is
negated for 1 minute.
Critical Failure The target is blinded for 10 minutes. Its
invisibility is negated for 10 minutes.
If this graft is used underwater, you can instead choose to
release the ink in a 10-foot emanation. The resulting ink cloud
lasts for 10 minutes. All creatures in the ink cloud become
concealed, and all creatures outside the ink cloud become
concealed to creatures within it.
And here’s what the Spore Cloud does.
Frequency once per hour
You unleash a cloud of pollen or similar spores. All creatures in a 10-foot emanation around you must attempt a Fortitude save using your class DC or spell DC (whichever is higher) with the following results. Plants and fungi are immune to this effect.
Critical Success No effect.
Success The creature is dazzled for 1 round.
Failure The creature is dazzled and can see only 10 feet away for 1 round.
Critical Failure The creature is blinded for 1 round.
Sure, they’re not the same. But I try to create my builds by the rules with maybe a little exception taken for flavor and no items or gear of any kind. Because I want you to be able to replicate my builds.
12th level Class Feat
Familiar’s Eyes. Let’s her see through her Familiar’s Eyes, which is what she does in the movie.
12th level Archetype Feat
Uncanny Suction (Oozemorph Dedication)
Your limbs produce strange, sucker-like growths that allow you to adhere to walls, objects, and most other surfaces. You gain a climb Speed equal to your half your land Speed (minimum 5 feet). If you have the Quick Climber feat, your climb Speed is equal to your land Speed. In addition, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to your Reflex DC to avoid being Disarmed.
The main reason I took this was for the Climb speed. It just makes sense to me that if she’s have squid or octopus she can freakin’ climb! And that’s not a merfolk thing either.
13th level Ancestry Feat
Sea Witch
You’ve studied the waves, and they obey your will as extensions of your own fin. You can cast aqueous orb and control water as 5th-rank primal innate spells, each once per day.
Aqueous orb drowns people which is cool, 3rd level spell. Control Water lets you raise or lower the level of water by 10 feet which also slows any water creatures in the area. It gives a good watery flavor.
14th level Class Feat
Kineticist Dedication (Water)
14th level Archetype Feat
Through the Gate (Deflecting Wave) it’s a good defensive ability; you use a reaction to gain resistance to acid, bludgeoning, fire, or slashing damage.
14th level Skill Feat
Glad-Hand because she’s good at making a strong impression.
15th level General Feat
Canny Acumen (Fortitude) to help her saving throws.
15th level Ancestry Paragon Feat
Shore Gift – gives you a land movement rate of 25 ft. Which is now 35 feet due to her other feats. The merfolk feat says that you remove your tail, but in this case she EITHER takes on legs or she just walks with her tentacles.
16th level Class Feat
Effortless Concentration because you need it at this level. It just allows you to use a free action at the beginning of your turn to sustain one of your spells. It’s nice. It’s a spellcaster thing. That’s it. Simple. But important.
16th level Archetype Feat
Advanced Element Control (Call the Hurricane)
Massive waves spiral around you, with you as the eye of the hurricane. The waves appear in a 20-foot emanation, or a 30-foot emanation if you're in a body of water. Each creature in the area takes 6d8 bludgeoning damage with a basic Reflex save against your class DC. A creature that fails its save is battered by the waves and pushed 10 feet (or 20 feet on a critical failure).
And at this point it does 10d8 damage; at 20th it does 12d8.
16th level Skill Feat
Go with the Flow; it allows you to keep impersonating someone (like with illusory disguise) by pointing out that someone ELSE is actually the impersonator.
17th level Ancestry Feat
Kraken’s Call
You call forth the sleeping krakens of the deep to crush your enemies. You open a dozen small portals to some lightless, watery abyss in a 30-foot burst within 120 feet. The powerful tentacles of a kraken reach through to grab at each creature in the area. Each affected creature takes 8d6 damage depending
on its Fortitude save against the higher of your class DC or spell DC. You can Sustain the call up to 1 minute. The first time you Sustain it on each subsequent turn, each creature in the area not already grabbed by the tentacles must attempt the save.
Cuz tentacles.
18th level Class Feat
Werecreature Dedication (Kraken) yeah it lets her shapeshift into an octopus. Who cares? One think to keep in mind is that it gives you the Toughness feat so you want to re-train the 11th level General feat to something else. I’d probably go with Incredible Initiative for general combat purposes.
I used Wereshark for this part because it has a swim speed and grapple and a bite (squids have a beak, so why not?)
18th level Archetype Feat
Whirling Clobber (Thlipit Archetype) lets you use a grabbed enemy to hit every enemy within reach. It’s awesome.
18th level Skill Feat
SLIPPERY SECRETS
You elude and evade attempts to uncover your true nature or intentions. When a spell or magical effect tries to read your mind, detect whether you are lying, or reveal your identity, you can attempt a Deception check against the spell or effect’s DC. If you succeed, the effect reveals nothing.
19th level General Feat
Numb to Death. Ursula has a stubborn will and she doesn’t go down easy.
Your past has left you numb to death’s call. The first time each day that you regain Hit Points while you are dying, you regain additional Hit Points equal to your level, and you neither gain the wounded condition nor increase the value of this condition.
19th level Ancestry Paragon Feat
Doom of Sailors
Frequency once per day
Sailors know that the sight of an angry merfolk might well mean that they never see the shore again. You sing a song that foretells the fate of a creature you can see within 60 feet. The fear that grips the target’s soul causes 10d10 mental damage, depending on the target’s Will save against the higher of your class DC or spell DC. A creature who’s in the water or onboard a seagoing vessel takes a –4 circumstance penalty to its saving throw.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target takes half damage and is frightened 1 as it
glimpses its demise.
Failure The target takes full damage and is frightened 1. In
addition, it rolls twice for all skill checks and saving throws
it attempts until the end of its next turn and takes the worse
result; this is a misfortune effect.
Critical Failure As failure, except double damage and
frightened 2.
20th level Class Feat
Force of Nature You’re a nigh-unstoppable killing machine, with only silver able to quell your rampage. When in hybrid or animal shape, you gain fast healing 5. If you take damage from a silver weapon, your fast healing deactivates until the end of your next turn.
20th level Archetype Feat
Dire Growth; it’s a level 10 feat from Werecreature Archetype.
You transform into a primal reflection of your animal shape. If you aren’t already in your animal shape from Werecreature Dedication, you Change Shape into it. As long as you stay in animal shape, you have the effects of enlarge.
Howl of the Wild is sometimes lacking some detail. Like this doesn’t say the level of the Enlarge spell but the Enlarge spell increases to Huge if cast as a 4th level spell, which I can only assume that it counts as when you’re 20th level. At least that’s how I would run it. 20th Level Skill Feat
Reveal Machinations
You reveal that you played a minor but recurring role in another humanoid’s life—or at least convince them that’s the case. Attempt a Deception check against the target’s Will DC. On a success, the revelation makes them frightened 2, and on a critical success they are frightened 3. In addition, you gain information about the subject as though you had attempted to Recall Knowledge about them using an appropriate skill and received the same result on your roll. You can’t use this ability against the same humanoid again until 1 day has passed and you’ve also successfully disguised yourself as a different person.
Special At the GM’s discretion, this feat can be used against non-humanoids if they have regular contact with humanoids or you are able to disguise yourself as a member of the target’s ancestry or type of creature.
This is the ultimate "IT WAS ME ALL ALONG!" or from The Little Mermaid: "You're too late! YOU'RE TOO LATE! HAHAHAHA!"
FINAL THOUGHTS AND IDEAS
So now you have a Huge Were-Kraken Witch that has a melee range of 20 ft., fast healing 5, buttloads of hit points (248), can grab someone and hit every enemy within 20 ft. WITH that person, can cause a HURRICANE that does 12d8 bludgeoning damage within 20 ft. or 30 ft.
can do 8d6 damage in a 30-foot burst within 120 feet with TENTACLES, has resistance to bludgeoning and precision damage 6 and critical hits 12 passively, can use a Reaction to gain resistance to bludgeoning or slashing damage 20 or resistance to acid/fire 40....
Oh and she has spells.
And IMPORTANTLY… she can use rituals and create CONTRACTS! Yes, Contracts exist in Pathfinder 2. You’d have to make one up to fit perfectly, but they do exist.
And key elements to fit The Little Mermaid
Steal Voice. On a crit fail, the target permanently loses their voice and you get to use it.
Cursed Metamorphosis/Baleful Polymorph lets Ursula transform people to little harmless creatures… like her garden?
And to give Ariel Legs? Incarnate Ancestry. It allows you to re-pick your Ancestry feats or even an entirely new ancestry.
And remember...
A fear of long words is called Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.
And since I haven't done a build in a while, here's another "And remember..."
Mahatma Gandhi walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ...A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
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