Full Build Friday - Frieren

It's the end of Ani-May but I've got one hell of a send-off for it! I actually made sure to watch the season that was put out for this series so I could bring you the best build possible. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

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Let's get into the build for Frieren from, well, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End!

FRIEREN

SOURCE Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

BUILD GOALS

o    An elven wizard who has been alive for centuries and even defeated the Demon King with her party

o    Possesses a vast array of mana that she keeps carefully concealed and uses to fuel her spells

o    Loves collecting spells, which can lead her into perilous situations

o    Her most commonly used spells are telekinesis, devastating beams of energy, and a powerful shield

o    Flies and levitate with ease

o    Was taught by a human mage whose favorite spell was simply to produce a field of flowers, which Frieren learned alongside other more primal spells

o    She has been shown to shape and twist her spells, changing the trajectory of her attacks

o    Her vast host of spells includes seemingly turning enemies to stone, dispelling magic, calling forth lightning storms or pillars of fire, summons a golem, and even seemingly summons a black hole

Summary of Goals: A magnificently mighty mage, Frieren is a well-practiced caster who wields a vast array of spells though she has a tendency to focus on fundamentals and prefers simple solutions. She holds a deep love for grimoires and exploration as she loves collecting and expanding on her selection of spells.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Seer Elf

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, -Constitution

o    Ancestry Feat: Ancestral Longevity

Background: Spell Seeker

o    Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Wisdom

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (T), Library Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Recognize Spell

Class & Subclass: Wizard of the School of Unified Magical Theory with a Staff Nexus Arcane Thesis

o    Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (T), Deception (T), Medicine (T), Nature (T), Occultism (T), Religion (T), Survival (T)

o    Class Feat: Spellbook Prodigy

o    Spellbook: Cantrips – prestidigitation, shield, telekinetic hand, telekinetic projectile; 1st – flourishing flora, force barrage, summon construct

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +0, Dex +2, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +3, Cha +0)

This might be one of the most classic sort of builds that I’ve done, but I have managed to work in some pizzazz. Though that comes up more at second level. For now, we still with the supremely classic combo of elf wizard though she won’t be using the ancient heritage despite her age as I don’t really want a multiclass feat for her. Instead, she’ll use the seer heritage based on her love of magic. She will show her age through ancestral longesvity, but then we’re back to demonstrating her almost compulsion to look for grimoires and other magic with the spell seeker background. As I’ve already said, this build will use the wizard class since Frieren clearly learns her spells but she’s a bit of a jack-of-all-trades that doesn’t focus on a specific kind of magic. As such, she is part of the School of Unified Magical Theory, which means that she can Drain Bonded Item for each spell rank to create the idea of her vast mana stores. It also allows her to gain a class feat with Spellbook Prodigy being the obvious pick given her love of tomes and grimoires. She then settles on Staff Nexus as her arcane thesis as none of the other options particularly stand out but she is always seen with her staff, which is understandable. It’s a nice staff. The other side of this is that it possibly provides her with even more castings of spells, which is just a perfect pick for her.

The standout spells to start off with are prestidigitation as we see her using or finding magic to heat food and clean, shield given the protections that she weaves around herself and her allies, and then telekinetic hand and projectile as it might be the most common spell that she demonstrates over the course of the series. An obvious pick for her 1st-rank spells is force barrage, allowing her to unleash a full salvo to overwhelm adversaries. The accuracy of her spells and how quickly she fires them might fit her attack spells quite well. Another option is summon construct. This is based solely on the stone golem-like creature that she calls forth during her fight with her doppelganger.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Magaambyan Attendant Dedication – Cascade Bearers with the Primal Tradition

o    Skill Feat: Assured Identification

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (E)

o    Gear: cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Incredible Initiative

o    Skill Increase: Nature (E)

o    Spellbook: 2nd – dispel magic

o    Gear: brooch of shielding, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Cantrip Expansion

o    Skill Feat: Natural Medicine

o    Gear: staff of air, brooch of shielding, branch attendant’s mask, cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +0, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +4.5, Wis +4, Cha +0)

o    Ancestry Feat: Ageless Patience

o    Skill Increase: Religion (E)

o    Spellbook: 3rd – lightning bolt

o    Gear: wand of reaching, staff of air, polished demon horn, brooch of shielding, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

In an effort to demonstrate Frieren’s mastery of magic and allow her to tap into primal magic, which she needs for a few spells, she takes up a Magaambyan Attendant Dedication (or Collegiate Attendant Dedication over on Pathbuilder). She gets the most benefit out of the Cascade Bearers, takes up the primal tradition as I said, and also becomes an expert in Arcana. It’s a nifty little archetype. It will eventually help to represent her vast pool of mana, but another method towards that end is Cantrip Expansion so that she has even more magic to manifest. Assured Identification will help her find anything legitimately valuable while looking over the treasure pulled from a dungeon raid – though her measure of ‘valuable’ may be a little skewed. The use of Natural Medicine is based off of the time that Fern took sick and Frieren and Stark went searching for ingredients to mix up a cure for her. For her general feat, Incredible Initiative is great for letting her get the jump on demons that try to attack her. She also has Ageless Patience since there’s a couple of instances where she doesn’t mind waiting decades if not longer for certain things to come to pass.

We see Frieren dispelling some of the corpses and armors bespelled by Aura, which leads to the inclusion of the dispel magic spell. We see her using Zoltrak quite a bit and it usually shows up as a big beam and to that end, she needs a good line spell. Lightning bolt is the most obvious pick for this and one of the earliest ones available at third rank.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Cascade Bearer’s Flexibility

o    Skill Feat: Cognitive Crossover – Arcana and Nature

o    Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, wand of reaching, wand of widening, staff of air, brooch of shielding, branch attendant’s mask

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (M)

o    Spellbook: 4th – dispelling globe, fly

o    Gear: endless grimoire, +1 explorer’s clothing, wand of shardstorm (1st-rank), wand of reaching, staff of air, polished demon horn

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Halcyon Speaker Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Quick Recognition

o    Gear: ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, wand of noisome acid (2nd-rank), +1 explorer’s clothing, wand of reaching, wand of widening

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Expert Longevity

o    Skill Increase: Nature (M)

o    Spellbook: 5th – telekinetic haul

o    Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of wizardry (type I), ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, wand of caustic effluence, wand of shardstorm (1st-rank)

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +0, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +5, Wis +4.5, Cha +1)

o    Class Feat: Cascade Bearer’s Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Magical Crafting

o    Gear: wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank), +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater staff of air, ring of wizardry (type I), wand of noisome acid (2nd-rank), endless grimoire

Frieren has demonstrated the ability to shape and twist her spells and while this build couldn’t quite spare the space for the spellshaping feats to fit that, she can take Cascade Bearer’s Flexibility. This fits with that idea and lets her pick up any druid or wizard spellshaping feat that she may need with the one downside being its limited usage. Through this archetype, she can also take Halcyon Speaker Dedication so that she has more magic on hand. Cascade Bearer’s Spellcasting will also allow her to tap divine and occult magic for her halcyon spells, which will be important for her spell selection as well. Sticking with her ability to go wield both arcane and primal traditions, she uses Cognitive Crossover for their related skills so that when she fumbles with one skill, she can catch herself with another. Given her knowledge of spells, Quick Recognition could possibly allow her to Recognize Spells multiple times in a round. She rounds out her skill feats with Magical Crafting so that she can try to upgrade her staff itself and it feels in line with the array of knowledge that she’s picked up. Keeping to that idea, she also uses the Expert Longevity skill feat.

We see Frieren – and mages in general – lifting a lot of items and other people with their spells, and while she has telekinetic hand for that initially, she can lift even more with telekinetic haul. Similarly, she has shield but I personally think that dispelling globe fits the shield that she usually creates better. She also needs fly since it’s what she does in all her most hype shots.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Prescient Planner

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (M)

o    Spellbook: 6th – chain lightning, flame vortex

o    Gear: greater endless grimoire, wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank), eyes of the moonwarden, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of wizardry (type I), ring of wizardry (type I)

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Halcyon Spellcasting Initiate

o    Skill Feat: Quick Identification

o    Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater endless grimoire, ring of wizardry (type II), wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank), greater staff of air, greater polished demon horn

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Universal Longevity

o    Skill Increase: Library Lore (E)

o    Spellbook: 7th – telekinetic bombardment

o    Gear: ring of wizardry (type III), +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, countering charm, greater endless grimoire, eyes of the moonwarden, wand of shardstorm (3rd-rank)

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Halcyon Spellcasting Adept

o    Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting

o    Halcyon Spells: 5th – lightning storm

o    Gear: wand of shardstorm (5th-rank), ring of wizardry (type III), staff of arcane might, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater endless grimoire, ring of wizardry (type II)

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +0, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +5.5, Wis +5, Cha +2)

o    General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Otherworldly Magic

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (L)

o    Spellbook: 8th – summon archmage

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, propulsive boots, wand of shardstorm (5th-rank), ring of wizardry (type III), countering charm, greater spectacles of understanding

By delving into the likes of Halcyon Spellcasting Initiate and Adept, Frieren harnesses more spells with particular note given towards lightning storm as it resembles a spell she cast during a fight against her doppelganger. Using Ancestral Paragon for Otherworldly Magic also grants her some more spells to the point where she is up to eleven cantrips. Quick Identification simply works well with Assured Identification and Alchemical Crafting calls to mind the brew that she made for Fern when she was sick. Prescient Planner works less on the idea of her preparing stuff ahead of time and more just the vast collection that she has built up over the years. Chain lightning and flame vortex fit with her final fight, telekinetic bombardment expands on her telekinetic powers, and summon archmage lets her call upon Serie despite their disagreements.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Flexible Halcyon Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Unified Theory

o    Gear: robe of the archmagi, +2 greater resilient armor, major endless grimoire, wand of shardstorm (5th-rank), ring of wizardry (type III), staff of arcane might

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Otherworldly Acumen – Arcane

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (E)

o    Spellbook: 9th – falling stars

o    Gear: greater staff of arcane might, robe of the archmagi, greater countering charm, +2 greater resilient armor, propulsive boots, wand of shardstorm (5th-rank)

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Halcyon Spellcasting Sage (Primal)

o    Skill Feat: Unmistakable Lore

o    Gear: crown of intellect, greater staff of arcane might, amplifying aeon stone, robe of the archmagi, +2 greater resilient armor, major endless grimoire

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Prescient Consumable

o    Skill Increase: Library Lore (M)

o    Gear: true endless grimoire, crown of intellect, wand of shardstorm (7th-rank), greater staff of arcane might, robe of the archmagi, greater countering charm

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +3, Int +6, Wis +5, Cha +3)

o    Class Feat: Spell Mastery

o    Skill Feat: Magical Crafting

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (T)

o    Gear: greater robe of the archmagi, true endless grimoire, wand of shardstorm (7th-rank), crown of intellect, greater staff of arcane might, amplifying aeon stone

Just like the last block, Flexible Halcyon Spellcasting and Halcyon Spellcasting Sage increases the number halcyon spells that she can call upon. With her capstone feat, I settled on Spell Mastery given the way that she has some fundamentals of magic nailed down. Some good options for this are fly at 4th-rank, force barrage at 9th-rank, dispel magic or dispelling globe probably right below it, and then whatever else suits you. Unified Theory and Unmistakable Lore details the study of arcane magic that she has thrown herself into. And from all that, she’s managed to acquire Magical Crafting so that she can put together her own trinkets. Otherworldly Acumen secures her even more spells and then Prescient Consumable ensures that when somebody’s special day comes around, she has the perfect gift to give him. Falling stars is entirely included just as a reference to the shooting stars that she watched with her companions.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Frieren’s build already heavily features archetypes so when it comes to talking about a free archetype game, it’s mainly about what sort of wizard feats she would use. Some simple spellshaping feats such as Reach Spell or Widen Spell will be handy, but perhaps more appropriate is Conceal Spell given her habit of hiding her mana and Quickened Casting so she can fire off spells quicker. Bond Conservation isn’t a spellshaping feat, but it is a good one for her as it means that she can cast even more spells.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Frieren is a seer elf wizard from the school of unified magical theory with a staff nexus as her arcane thesis. Given her great love of spells and tendency to seek out more, she uses the spell seeker background and takes the Spellbook Prodigy feat. Her longevity is expressed through her Ancestral Longevity and the feats that she's expanded upon it with. Magic in Pathfinder doesn't run off of mana, but we can represent her vast stores of magic with her Halcyon Speaker Dedication and its Spellcasting Flexibility as well as the wizard's Cantrip Expansion. For her favorite spell, she can grow a field of flowers with flourishing flora or entangling flora though part of me wishes that there was a spell that didn't have a combat effect to really capture the flavor of this. She takes a host of telekinetic spells, going from telekinetic hand all the way up to telekinetic bombardment, for one of her more regular uses of magic and can use line effects such as inner radiance torrent or lightning bolt for those devastating beams that she tends to launch. For her magic shield, there is the classic shield cantrip but I think dispelling globe might fit the actual effects it produces a bit better. Fly is an easy spell to pick up from her spell slots while she can use Cascade Bearers' Flexibility to adjust and manipulate her spells on the fly. For other quick picks, petrify will let her turn Qual to stone, dispel magic lets her do exactly what it says on the tin, she can pick up lightning storm or flame vortex, and even use summon construct or summon elemental to call forth servitors of stone.

A magnificent mistress of mysticism, this mighty mage manages of massacre a magic missiles, maxes out mana, and mixes metamagic manipulations into her many, many manifestations.

Please let me know what you think and what other builds you'd like to see!

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Have a fantastic Friday!