Here's a character for yet another game I've never played! This was a request from YouTube that I wanted to give a try, and I honestly got closer than I originally thought I owuld, so I'm pretty happy with it. 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.
Since this was requested on YT, naturally you can check out its video there.
Let's get into the build for Ivy Arroyo from Deadlock!
IVY
CHARACTER
SOURCE Deadlock
BUILD GOALS
o Ivy was a gargoyle that suddenly came to life when a family was being menaced. Adopted by them, she became a protector of her community and took out the cartel residing there
o Wields a rapid-fire rifle with medium range that she’ll use like a bat in melee when needed
o She can summon a patch of choking vines with her Kudzu Bomb, which damages and slows enemies
o Forms a bond with an ally through Watcher’s Covenant, gaining increased fire rate and bullet lifesteal while replicating healing among those connected
o Can turn herself into impervious stone with Stone Form, dropping onto the ground to stun and damage nearby enemies
o Takes flight with an ally or bomb using Air Drop so that she can drop them for a large explosion. Ivy and her ally gain a shield when she uses this
Summary of Goals: Ivy is a gargoyle able to get the literal drop on her enemies by returning to her statue state or delivering an ally to the fray. She can also strike up a bond, a covenant, with her allies to increase their fire rate as well as her own. Furthermore, she can use the vines growing over her body to create bombs that slow and damage foes.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Oread Strix
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Wisdom
o Ancestry Feat: Fledgling Flight
Background: Night Watch
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (trained), Settlement Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Coercion
Class & Subclass: Ranger with Flurry Edge
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Nature (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Initiate Warden – gravity weapon
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +0)
We’re going to use the ancestry here to represent Ivy’s nature as a gargoyle, beginning with the strix ancestry but then modifying it with the oread heritage to make her stony. While she doesn’t fly much within the game, she is fully capable of doing so within the lore and she starts that off with Fledgling Flight with the intent of expanding on it down the line. She wants to use a background that gives her lore for her community or settlement and reaching into the lore of a bit of gargoyles, night watch feels like the best intersection even if the Intimidation training doesn’t quite fit her. What does end up fitting her is the ranger class, leaning into the flurry edge to represent her rapid-fire weapon and the increased fire rate of her Watcher’s Covenant. She could use a firearm, an arquebus could work, but I initially equipped her with a crossbow as that is what her weapon resembles. Initiate Warden is necessary for a later aspect of the build, but none of its spells are super important to her, with gravity weapon at least likely to be the most useful.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Sniping Duo Dedication
o Skill Feat: Hefty Hauler
o Gear: cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Adopted Ancestry - Human
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: +1 arbalest, cloak of feline rest, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Running Reload
o Skill Feat: Multilingual
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, +1 arbalest, Jack’s tattered cape, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +3, Dex +4.5, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +3, Cha +0)
o Ancestry Feat: Juvenile Flight
o Skill Increase: Crafting (trained), Nature (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking arbalest, bracelet of dashing, cloak of gnawing leaves, Jack’s tattered cape, cloak of feline rest, psychopomp mask
Ivy starts out with the Sniping Duo Dedication based on her seeming to have a focus on support capabilities. Notably, the damage bonus provided by sniping duo is circumstance whereas the bonus from her gravity weapon is a status bonus, which means that they will stalk. For functional reasons, Ivy also picks up Running Reload so that she can reload while staying on the move. Looking at her skill feats, Hefty Hauler will be important in allowing her to pick up allies for Air Drop and Multilingual is based on her ability to speak English and Spanish but you should use it to pick up languages appropriate to your campaign. For similar reasons, she uses Adopted Ancestry for the human ancestry, representing the Arroyos taking her in. Rounding out this block is Juvenile Flight, improving the effectiveness of her Fledgling Flight and again feeding into some other feats down the line. Honestly, this block is a lot of set-up for the remainder of this build.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Masterful Warden – ranger’s bramble
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking arbalest, lifting belt, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Unconventional Weaponry (Repeating Crossbow)
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: stag’s helm, +1 leather, bravery baldric (fleet), +1 striking repeating crossbow, bracelet of dashing, cloak of gnawing leaves
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Exploit Opening
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: cloak of thirsty fronds, crown of the companion, stag’s helm, +1 leather, +1 striking repeating crossbow, lifting belt
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Fully Flighted
o Skill Increase: Nature (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient leather, cloak of thirsty fronds, boots of bounding, stag’s helm, bravery baldric (fleet), +1 striking repeating crossbow
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +0)
o Class Feat: Tag Team
o Skill Feat: Aerobatics Mastery
o Gear: thunderblast slippers, +1 resilient leather, corrosive weapon rune, cloak of thirsty fronds, stag’s helm, +1 striking repeating crossbow
Last block had a bit of set-up, and this block sees a good bit of payoff. Firstly, Master Warden follows on from Initiate Warden and allows Ivy to gain access to the ranger’s bramble focus spell, resembling her Kudzu Bomb. Unfortunately, she needs the enemy to critically fail their save to take damage from it, but it still fits the concept. Her remaining two class feats, Exploit Opening and Tag Team, come from her Sniping Duo Dedication, giving her or her companion reactions to attack out of turn and resemble Watcher’s Covenant in that regard. However, with her wielding a reload weapon, it can be a struggle to have the weapon ready to use. Fortunately, this level also features Ancestral Paragon to take Unconventional Weaponry (thanks to her Adopted Ancestry) and pick up proficiency with the repeating crossbow. This helps with these reactions as well as representing her general rapid-fire capabilities, getting more use out of her flurry hunter’s edge. Her other ancestry feat is Fully Flighted, coming from Juvenile Flight and granting Ivy a permanent fly Speed to make use of at her whim. Backtracking a little bit to consider her skill feats, she has a focus on Acrobatics here. Cat Fall actually doesn’t matter as being strix lets her glide during a fall to avoid such damage, but it is important for another feat I have my eyes on. Kip Up and Aerobatics Mastery are a bit more useful with the latter being important for her flight capabilities and letting her fly around with greater ease.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Society (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking repeating crossbow, elemental wayfinder (earth), thunderblast slippers, +1 resilient leather, cloak of thirsty fronds, mirror of sleeping vigil
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Winged Warrior Dedication
o Skill Feat: Morphic Manipulation
o Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking repeating crossbow, impactful weapon rune, thunderblast slippers, corrosive weapon rune, lover’s gloves
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Shaitan Skin
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
o Gear: +2 greater striking repeating crossbow, +2 resilient leather, warden’s signet, impactful weapon rune, elemental wayfinder (earth), thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Thunderous Landing
o Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting
o Gear: greater ring of the ram, +2 greater striking repeating crossbow, cloak of devouring thorns, +2 resilient leather, daredevil boots, impactful weapon rune
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +5.5, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +4.5, Cha +1)
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, greater ring of the ram, communication pendants, +2 greater striking repeating crossbow, bravery baldric (stoneskin), warden’s signet
We’ll also increase her flight speed with Winged Warrior Dedication, which will lead into her taking Thunderous Landing. This is intended to resemble her Stone Form, specifically with the drop part of it. While it lacks damage, it knocks creatures back, meaning that they will have to spend actions to get back into position and playing a bit into the idea of the stun effect. Morphic Manipulation is inspired by her association with plants and Alchemical Crafting is based on the bombs that she uses. Shaitain Skin means that she can cast stoneskin or mountain resilience three times a day to represent the damage impervious aspect of her Stone Form. Fleet increases her speed on the ground, which is actually based on one of the level-ups for her Watcher’s Covenant, and Toughness just makes her a bit sturdier.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Bombing Run
o Skill Feat: Rolling Landing
o Gear: greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient leather, soaring armor rune, greater ring of the ram, +2 greater striking repeating crossbow, cloak of devouring thorns
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Heroic Presence
o Skill Increase: Nature (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking repeating crossbow, earthglide cloak, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient leather, greater ring of the ram, communication pendants
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Hunted Shot
o Skill Feat: Tumbling Teamwork
o Gear: cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking repeating crossbow, quickstrike armor rune, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient leather, soaring armor rune
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: True Perception
o Skill Increase: Society (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, cloak of swiftness, major alchemist goggles, +3 greater striking repeating crossbow, earthglide cloak, greater thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +5, Dex +6, Con +3, Int +1, Wis +5, Cha +1)
o Class Feat: Warden’s Boon
o Skill Feat: Eyes of the City
o Gear: +3 major striking repeating crossbow, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, voyager’s pack, misleading armor rune, quickstrike weapon rune
There aren’t a ton of feats to help with delivering an ally to your enemies, but Bombing Run will at least help with the bombing aspect of her Air Drop. Hunted Shot helps greatly with action economy while taking advantage of her flurry’s edge, which she gains the ability to share with her allies through Warden’s Boon, recreating the fire rate improving effect of her Watcher’s Covenant. She finally gets Rolling Landing so that she can move as a reaction after falling, getting a bit more mobility into her kit and it’s something she wouldn’t be able to get without her Cat Fall. Tumbling Teamwork just plays into her ability to work alongside allies while Eyes of the City to finish off her skill feats lets her track down criminals and the like the harm her community and establish her as a city girl. Heroic Presence is actually a solid feat her as one of the upgrades for Air Drop includes a shield for Ivy and her companion, which she can provide with this.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: The options presented in this build are great ways to go in a free archetype game, expanding on them for additional options as needed and getting them online much faster. But perhaps more interesting than all of that is that in a free archetype game, Ivy can work in a Barbarian Dedication. This sounds like an utterly bizarre idea, but what it does is let Ivy gain access to two things. Firstly, it lets her get Friendly Toss so that she can launch her allies into the fray, as per her Air Drop. Secondly, it would let her take Impressive Landing – as a capstone feat from her free archetype feats – so that she can add some damage to her drop when she uses Stone Form. It’s utterly ridiculous and totally awesome.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Ivy Arroyo is an oread strix ranger with the flurry hunter's edge and the night watch background. She actually references her adoption by the Arroyos with the Adopted Ancestry feat and uses her Society and Eyes of the City to root out criminals threatening her community. Her flurry hunter's edge and Hunted Shot, as well as some of her Sniper Duo feats, play into her rapid fire weapon, which she represents through a repeating crossbow. Ranger's Bramble recreates her Kudzu Bomb, letting her trip up foes though she needs them to critically fail against it to take any damage. She has a range of feats to support her allies based on Watcher's Covenant - her Sniping Duo Dedication, Warden's Boon, and even a bit of Heroic Presence. Her Stone Form is assembled through a pairing of two other feats, which can actually both be done on the same turn. First off, there's Shaitan Skin to give her some resilience and then there's Thunderous Landing so that she can drop in on enemies and throw them off-balance rather than a full-on stun. While she doesn't quite have a feat to let her bring an ally along for a flight, she increases her bulk limit to facilitate this with Hefty Hauler - or she could just use Bombing Run with the bombs that she's made with Alchemical Crafting to drop them on foes. For the shield she grants to herself and her teammates, she has Heroic Presence, and her flight feats let her take into the air.
A craggy crusader, this crepuscular caretaker carries companions into combat, crashes chaotically in on criminals and cartels, and cruises through courts and causeways with her capable cannon.
Please let me know what you think and what other builds you'd like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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