Full Build Friday - Inaros

Rounding out our host of horror heroes for Halloween is a mummy dearest! Building characters from Warframe is an interesting experience and one that could possibly be saved for Starfinder 2e's release, but this particular character fit the theme too perfectly and was also buildable in PF2e. 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.

I'm pretty proud of the video for this build, which has some footage that I collected myself. Be sure to check it out and let me know what you think! Also, I'm going on vacation starting next week, so I'll back in November with new monsters and builds.

That said, let's get into the build for Inaros from Warframe!

INAROS

SOURCE Warframe

BUILD GOALS

o    A mummy and sand-themed Warframe who has no shields but far higher health who was once the protector of Mars

o    Inaros doesn’t trigger his passive until he enters bleedout, at which point he enters his sarcophagus and drains life from nearby enemies until he can resurrect himself

o    He unleashes waves of sand with Desiccation, which curses enemies by blinding and stealing their health

o    He can become a Sandstorm that pulls enemies in, damaging them while restoring Inaros’s health

o    By draining his own health, he can activate his Scarab Shell to grant himself armor, reducing incoming damage while also absorbing status effects

o    His ultimate ability is Scarab Swarm to call forth a swarm that damages and corrodes enemies. When this kills an enemy, a swarm kavat is summon, which will lead the swarm to other foes

o    From his unique mods, his Desiccation’s Curse summons a swarm kavat when he kills a blinded enemy, Elemental Sandstorm adds elemental damage to his Sandstorm, and Negation Armor will consume his Scarab Shell to prevent him from dying

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Technological Fleshwarp

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Constitution, +Wisdom

o    Ancestry Feat: Deepvision

Background: Osirionologist

o    Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Wisdom

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (trained), Ancient Osirion Lore (trained)

o    Background Feat: Oddity Identification

Class & Subclass: Stone Order Druid

o    Class Ability Boost: +Wisdom

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Crafting (trained), Nature (trained), Religion (trained)

o    Class Feat: Steadying Stone

o    Suggested Spells: 1st – gritty wheeze, shifting sands, summon animal

Details

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

With Warframes being these sorts of techno-organic shells, the technological fleshwarp tends to work the best but while this best represents the character’s being, ancestry feats aren’t super important to the build. He settles on Deepvision as a generally useful feat giving him darkvision. His background is mostly a reference to the heavy Egyptian references in his design with Osirion blatantly being Pathfinder’s version of ancient Egypt. Finally, he will use the druid class with the stone order referencing his sand elemental influences in his kit. Druid will also provide the means by which to call forth the beasts associated with his kit such as the scarabs and his swarm kavats. Right at first level, he can tap into gritty wheeze or shifting sands for the blinding effect of his Desiccation with the former option actually dealing damage. Summon animal will be important as he levels, letting him summon cats or swarms, but there isn’t really anything he can do at this rank with it.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Swarmkeeper Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Desert Lore

o    Gear: psychopomp mask

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Diehard

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (expert), Desert Lore (expert)

o    Gear: Jack’s tattered cape, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Pyre Ant Sting

o    Skill Feat: Quick Jump

o    Gear: staff of earth, Jack’s tattered cape, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +2, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +1, Wis +4.5, Cha +0)

o    Ancestry Feat: Transposable Compliance

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (trained), Nature (expert)

o    Gear: wand of crushing leaps, staff of earth, trinity geode, Jack’s tattered cape, ring of discretion, psychopomp mask

As mentioned above, it’s going to be a bit before we can summon swarms, so in the meantime, we can take Swarmkeeper Dedication  to create his Scarab Swarm – or at least start to. This swarm normally deals corrosion damage in Warframe, which is a hybrid element of electricity and poison. He taps into a bit of that poison with Pyre Ant Sting letting his swarm inflict some persistent damage. As a note, I’m not actually huge on the action economy of this archetype. The swarm has to be Sustained. Admittedly, when you Sustain it, you get to move it, but you have to spend a whole other action to grant it the ability to do anything more. This may be due to the fact that the swarm can damage an entire area of creatures and the Bite and Sting DC does scale off of spell DC which is nice, but I think sustained spells might be the best thing to work alongside this. Additional Lore for Desert Lore is purely due to his association with the domain whereas Quick Jump is a little more practical both in functionality and the insane mobility present in Warframe. Diehard references the difficulty in putting Inaros down due to his unique Bleedout mechanics while Transposable Compliance is mostly for the additional skill training though it is also nice as a nod to his role as a guardian and caretaker for the people of Mars that viewed him as a savior.

There’s a couple of good spells in this block. Oaken resilience is handy for representing the protective nature of his Scarab Shell before it gets replaced by sand form, which offers better resistances and is much more on theme. While it isn’t summoning swarms, vomit swarm and worm’s repast are nice points towards his Scarab Swarm with the latter actually infesting his target. He could also use antlion trap to create an area that draws in his enemies, which is handy for any area effects he creates. Finally, a 3rd-rank summon animal lets Inaros summon his first big cat, with a level 2 leopard. Continuing to heighten this will give him more big cats of this nature, maxing out with the rank 6 Smilodon. Beyond that, you’ll have to use cat-like creatures that are animals without falling into that family.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Mobile Swarm

o    Skill Feat: Powerful Leap

o    Gear: +1 studded leather, wand of crushing leaps, lifting belt, staff of earth, Jack’s tattered cape, necklace of knives

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Fast Recovery

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (master), Desert Lore (master)

o    Gear: staff of the desert winds, +1 studded leather, desiccating scepter, wand of crushing leaps, bracelet of dashing, trinity geode

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Mummy Dedication – Desert

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Feat: Wall Jump

o    Gear: boots of bounding, wand of teeming ghosts (2nd-level), staff of the desert winds, +1 studded leather, wand of crushing leaps, lifting belt

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Startling Appearance

o    Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (trained), Religion (expert)

o    Gear: +1 resilient studded leather, boots of bounding, jar of shifting sands, staff of the desert winds, preserving aeon stone, desiccating scepter

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +3, Dex +1, Con +4.5, Int +2, Wis +5, Cha +0)

o    Class Feat: Grave Mummification

o    Skill Feat: Natural Medicine

o    Skill Increase: Survival (trained)

o    Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient breastplate, greater staff of earth, boots of bounding, druid’s crown, wand of teeming ghosts (2nd-level)

In the interest of moving into a new archetype, and because it is nice to give the swarm some extra speed, Inaros uses Mobile Swarm. With his first archetype done, he can move on and grab his Mummy Dedication, which is mostly for thematic purposes, given the heavy mummy themes in his design, but does come with a few handy effects. One of them is Toughness as a bonus feat increasing Inaros’s HP, an important matter since health is all he has, lacking any shields. Unfortunately, Grave Mummification is one of those less exciting options, taken to increase his basic undead benefits. Powerful Leap and Wall Jump are must-haves for Warframes, who as a whole demonstrate some insane hops. Natural Medicine as his final skill feat takes advantage of his Nature skill while also once again referencing his role as a savior upon Mars.

Accessing fourth rank spells grants the best blanket resistance spells for his Scarab Shell with mountain resilience and by becoming undead, he can start taking advantage of call the blood to heal (technically, just give himself temp HP, but that’s how we’re flavoring it) like his Desiccation and Sandstorm. Fifth ranks spells means that he can use summon animal to call forth bore worm swarms, who deal acid damage to serve as a great point towards the corrosion damage of his Scarab Swarm.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Numb to Death

o    Skill Increase: Religion (master)

o    Gear: living mantle, armbands of athleticism, elemental wayfinder (earth), +1 resilient breastplate, boots of bounding, jar of shifting sands

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Storm Shroud

o    Skill Feat: Terrain Expertise – Desert

o    Gear: +2 resilient breastplate, living mantle, wand of teeming ghosts (4th-level), armbands of athleticism, wand of teeming ghosts (3rd-level), greater staff of earth

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Spew Tentacles

o    Skill Increase: Nature (master)

o    Gear: greater staff of the desert winds, +2 resilient breastplate, robe of stone, living mantle, armbands of athleticism, elemental wayfinder (earth)

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Cleric Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Sacred Defense

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (trained), Thievery (trained)

o    Gear: sandstorm top, greater staff of the desert winds, wand of teeming ghosts (5th-level), +2 resilient breastplate, living mantle, wand of teeming ghosts (4th-level)

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +1, Con +5, Int +2, Wis +5.5, Cha +1)

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Desert Lore (legendary), Nature (legendary)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient breastplate, propulsive boots, sandstorm top, greater staff of the desert winds, robe of stone, bravery baldric (stoneskin)

Again, this build kind of wants to wrap up the mummy archetype for something else, and Storm Shroud both wraps things up while also creating the impression of his Sandstorm. Unfortunately, this is more of a defensive thing rather than a damaging effect that the ability is in game – though, notably, using Sandstorm in-game makes you invulnerable, so there’s a bit of protection there. With that out of the way, he can take up a Cleric Dedication. He’d probably select an Osirion deity that provides both harm and heal, such as Anubis, Selket, Sobek, or Thoth, but I had him become trained in Stealth and Thievery in this example just for the sake of representing the cyber space ninja that most Warframes are. He also uses Cleric Dedication over another option since their spells scale off of his Wisdom, meaning that their DCs will match those of his primal spells and will just be a little behind in levels. Terrain Expertise for the desert just feels right whereas Sacred Defense provides more (temporary) health for the enemy to work through before they can finally put Inaros down. For the same reasons as Diehard, he’ll take Numb to Death, which he should qualify for if he was allowed to take the Mummy Dedication. He also takes Fleet because of the general swiftness of Warframes. There’s really only one spell of note in this block, but it’s a big one in the form of control sand. This is a sustained spell, which meshes nicely with his swarm and can cycle through effects, but the important one is the sandstorm since it creates his Sandstorm.

One quick side note on the Mummy Dedication – I may have rushed into getting it but if you want to take Cleric Dedication following Swarmkeeper, he could take Basic Cleric Spellcasting at tenth level and Expert Cleric Spellcasting at twelfth to then grab the Mummy Dedication. Since this is a sort of side option, I’ll just cover he could then follow that up with his choice of mummy feats with one important callout in the form of Desiccating Inhalation providing him a way to drain health from enemies, again based on his abilities that do so.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Basic Cleric Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Sanctify Water

o    Gear: major sanguine fang, +2 greater resilient breastplate, fossil fragment (petrified wood), sandstorm top, greater staff of the desert winds, wand of teeming ghosts (5th-level)

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Gripping Limbs

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)

o    Gear: major staff of the desert winds, major sanguine fang, earthglide cloak, +2 greater resilient breastplate, propulsive boots, sandstorm top

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Expert Cleric Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Morphic Manipulation

o    Gear: headwrap of wisdom, major staff of the desert winds, wand of teeming ghosts (7th-level), major sanguine fang, +2 greater resilient breastplate, sandstorm top

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Robust Health

o    Skill Increase: Religion (legendary)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient breastplate, headwrap of wisdom, armbands of athleticism, major staff of the desert winds, major sanguine fang, earthglide cloak

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +2, Con +5, Int +3, Wis +6, Cha +2)

o    Class Feat: Master Cleric Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Cloud Jump

o    Skill Increase: Society (trained)

o    Gear: wand of thundering echoes (8th-level), +3 greater resilient breastplate, sage’s lash, greater armbands of athleticism, major staff of desert winds, wand of teeming ghosts (7th-level)

Diving into the cleric spellcasting feats has a few benefits. Firstly, it grants him more spells to drain life, such as vampiric life and its more powerful versions. Notably, these versions simply grant temporary Hit Points, but building up to devour life does straight up heal Inaros, which is very nice. Additionally, it grants him access to seal fate. This might seem odd to mention at first, but the corrosion damage dealt by Scarab Swarm reduces the armor of the target and armor in Warframe reduces damage taken. A seal fate could functionally reduce the resistance of a creature to simulate this effect or otherwise just make a creature take more damage. Harm is also a good get here so that Inaros has something to heal himself with. The last primal spell (that I specifically want to mention) is wrathful storm. Another sustain spell, this creates an area that can swap between different types of damage with options for bludgeoning, cold, and electricity, which can at least be a tiny nod towards his Elemental Sandstorm.

Otherwise, he’s taking feats that fit his role as a savior of Mars, such as Sanctify Water and Morphic Manipulation to create a holy oasis, or things that simply fit with him being a Warframe. Cloud Jump is a must for any character of the sort with some of the distances they bound and is one of the skill feats that I’m a bit more adamant about taking. There’s also Robust Health, which is at least handy given him being pure health.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: In case you weren’t keeping track, this build doesn’t specifically choose a single druid feat. Sure, it gets Steadying Stone, but that’s just an ancillary benefit of choosing Inaros’s druidic order. It isn’t something he gets for that feat or anything like that. Therefore, a free archetype game is huge and there’s a lot of good general feats in the class, but I’ll specifically call out Call of the Wild and Primal Summons to more readily call forth and empower his swarm kavats as well as Harden Flesh giving him a way to more regularly create resistance for himself without having to cast a spell – but it does cost an action instead, which is perhaps even more costly. Furthermore, exploring any of his archetypes further is great. Swarmkeeper could get some serious use out of Carried With the Swarm, Expanded Swarm, and Buzzing Death Cicadas. The last of those would be particularly nice just to get him something that targets Will saves. I already mentioned the mummy’s Desiccating Inahaltion and then we actually got most of what we wanted out of cleric. The only other thing there is Divine Breadth, simply to gain more spells.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Inaros is a technological fleshwarp druid of the stone order and an Osirionologist background, which is mainly because Osirion is pretty much just Egypt and that features heavily in the themes and design of Inaros. His high health comes from the Toughness granted by his mummy archetype, fitting one of those themes, as well as the Constitution he invested in. Sadly, I couldn't quite capture his bleedout effect, but he does pick up a number of life-draining spells such as call the blood, the handful of vampiric spells, and devour life. Numb to Death can be thought to play into it a little bit as well. Gritty wheeze or scouring sands work solidly for the blinding effect of his Desiccation with the former actually inflicting damage. For his Sandstorm, we have to build up to control sand for one of its numerous sustain effects but earlier than that, can at least lean into the flavor with the mummy's Storm Shroud. There's also something like antlion trap, which features the drawing in enemies effect. To capture his Scarab Shell, at varying levels, we’ll look at oaken resilience, sand form, and then mountain resilience to recreate that enhanced armor to reduce damage. His Scarab Swarm ultimate ends up summoning two different creatures. Obviously, it calls forth his swarm, which we see both with heightened summon animal spells and his Swarmkeeper archetype, but it can also summon Swarm Kavats, which are most easily created with summon animal. This already sort of captures his Desiccation's Curse mod and he can sneak in a variety of damage types with wrathful storm as his Elemental Storm. However, he doesn't quite nail the Negation Armor, the last of his unique mods.

Bound in bandages, this bulky being bedevils baddies with bevies of beetles, blinding blasts, and billowing blows that bare them to the bone but still bears a boundless benevolence.

Let me know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!

If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog.

Have a fantastic Friday!