This is a slight deviation for me as most of the things I make are on the other side of the DM screen. But this is a level 1 through 20 build for a Pathfinder Second Edition character. The characters featured in these posts will typically be drawn from various franchises and media because I want to focus more on the building and worry less about the character. Having a character gives me an end goal to work towards to instead of getting lost along the way. It’s also a bit of a challenge for the system, seeing how close I can build to the original vision of the character. I’m gonna try to find a balance between making an effective character and mimicking the chosen character’s abilities.
Related to that, these characters are gonna be created in a vacuum – skills and the likes are picked for what seems best without the context of the adventure. Heist-type adventures might call for Stealth and Thievery on a character that otherwise wouldn’t take it, so keep that in mind. At a friend's suggestion, I'm gonna start including gear in these builds but I'm gonna keep it basic - just picking magical gear based on what level of equipment a character should have at that level.
I’m gonna go level by level for these builds but only cover actual choices – such as skill increases, feats, and ability score boosts. Stuff that automatically increases due to level, such as an increase in saving throws, more HP, and the like, are going to go unmentioned.
So with that, let’s get into the build for Marrow-Gnawer!
CHARACTER Marrow-Gnawer
SOURCE Magic the Gathering
GOAL Hailing from the plane of Kamigawa in Magic the Gathering, Marrow-Gnawer is a mono-black ‘Rat Rogue’ with 2/3 Power/Toughness. He grants rats the ‘fear’ ability, and can also sacrifice a rat to make more rats, which is probably going to be the hardest part to replicate. He is shown wielding a kusari-gama and wearing wooden armor. In the lore, he was a leader of a gang of nezumi who slew three rival gang leaders in one night before uniting their gangs under his banner. So we want a sneaky killer who wields exotic weapons and armor while utilizing fear to overcome his adversaries and dominate his followers.
LEVEL 1 We have to go through our ABCs – ancestry, background, and class. Naturally, we’re gonna pick the ratfolk ancestry with the deep heritage, granting him darkvision. The other heritage I was looking at was shadow, but the fact that it makes all animals naturally dislike you doesn’t work well with the idea of making a horde of rats. Our ancestry feat is going to be Ratspeak, allowing us to communicate with rats and other rodents. Our free boost goes to Strength to balance out the penalty we took to it.
There are two main options for our background that I like – criminal and street urchin. However, from what we know of his background, criminal feels like the better fit. The first boost goes to Dexterity while we take our free boost in Strength again. We also become trained in Stealth and Underworld Lore then receive Experienced Smuggler as a skill feat.
Finally, we come to our class and the best fit, in my eyes, is the one listed on the card – rogue. To fit with Marrow-Gnawer’s ability to spread fear, we are going to take the ruffian racket, making us automatically trained in Intimidation and letting us use Strength as our key ability. However, we are going to stick with Dexterity as our key ability. Then, it comes to distributing our four free boosts. There’s a couple ways to take this, but I’m gonna go Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma. This is gonna leave us a little fragile, but we’ll work on that. We are left with this array: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12. We get to be trained in a skill of our choice since we get Stealth from criminal and rogue, and get trained in another eight skills, which is going to be Acrobatics, Athletics, Crafting, Deception, Occultism, Society, Survival, and Thievery. Our high Intelligence is gonna grant us a bonus language – Abyssal, in this case simply due to how closely related the Kamigawa ratfolk are to demons even if Marrow-Gnawer isn’t. As a rogue, we get a skill feat at every level, so the first one we’re gonna take is Streetwise, befitting our background. For our rogue feat, we get You’re Next, allowing us to menace our next victim after we take someone down.
LEVEL 2 We receive a skill increase that we are going to invest in Intimidation, raising us to expert proficiency. For our skill feat, we grab Intimidating Glare, allowing us to demoralize even when we don’t share a language. Then, for our rogue feat, we take Quick Draw, which lets us draw and attack as a single action. This opens up actions for us – letting us do stuff like Demoralize, Stride, and then Quick Draw to Interact and Strike.
Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3 This time, we take our skill increase to Stealth, becoming an expert in that as well. The general feat at this level is going to be Adopted Ancestry (Human), which isn’t entirely fitting but does help set us up for a future feat that we’re looking at taking. Then, we also get a skill feat, which we use to take Quiet Allies to help better represent Marrow-Gnawer’s position as a leader.
Gear: +1 sickle, ring of discretion, predictable silver piece
LEVEL 4 We slot our skill increase in Thievery to achieve expert proficiency. Marrow-Gnawer is a criminal extraordinaire, so we take the Pickpocket skill feat, and then take Dread Striker, an important rogue feat that makes any creature with the frightened condition flat-footed to us.
Gear: bracelets of dashing, +1 sickle, hat of disguise, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5 We put our free ability boosts towards Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma, which puts us at: Str 16, Dex 19, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 14. By taking our skill increase to Society and becoming an expert in it, we can enhance the effectiveness of our Streetwise feat. We get yet another skill feat with which we take Underground Network, making use of our supposed status as a crime boss. We also get to make use of your Adopted Ancestry feat to grab Unconventional Weaponry, which we are using to gain proficiency with a spiked chain and lets us treat it as a simple weapon. The spiked chain is the closest thing I can find to the weapon he’s shown wielding, and because it has the finesse trait, we can use it with sneak attack.
Gear: +1 striking spiked chain, bracelets of dashing, lesser rope of climbing, hat of disguise, ring of discretion
LEVEL 6 The skill increase here will go towards Acrobatics, pushing it to the expert proficiency. The skill feat we’re going to pick here is Alchemical Crafting, and I favor getting the lesser bottled lightning, lesser dread ampoule, lesser quicksilver mutagen, and lesser smokestick. The Gang Up rogue feat is fitting for a leader of a gang of ratfolk, allowing him to take advantage of a foe even when not directly flanking with an ally.
Gear: +1 leather armor, +1 striking spiked chain, demon mask, bracelets of dashing, hat of disguise, wondrous figurine (onyx dog)
LEVEL 7 Our proficiency rank goes up to master for Stealth thanks to our skill increase. We take Incredible Initiative to make better use of our Surprise Attack class feature. Then our skill feat is going to be Swift Sneak, since this level up lets us meet all the prerequisites and being able to sneak at full Speed is invaluable.
Gear: insistent door knocker, +1 leather armor, +1 striking spiked chain, skeleton key, bracelets of dashing, lesser rope of climbing
LEVEL 8 This time, we bump our Intimidation proficiency up to master, and then take the Battle Cry skill feat, allowing us to attempt to Demoralize as a free action when combat begins. With our class feat, we can take Opportune Backstab to use a reaction to stab somebody within our reach that our allies hit. This works well with Gang Up to get some extra damage out early in combat.
Gear: bag of holding (type II), insistent door knocker, vaultbreaker’s harness, +1 leather armor, +1 striking spiked chain, demon mask
LEVEL 9 We achieve expert proficiency in Underworld Lore with our skill feat. We also get an ancestry feat and a skill feat. We could dip back into human feats for our ancestry feat, but Overcrowd is a ratfolk ancestry feat that is suitable and works well with Gang Up. For the latter, we take Foil Senses so that we can obscure ourselves even from special senses that creatures might possess.
Gear: +1 resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type II), slippers of spider climbing, insistent door knocker, skeleton key, +1 striking spiked chain
LEVEL 10 The four boosts at this level go to Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma, giving us this array: Str 16, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16. This skill increase will apply to Thievery, bumping up our proficiency to master. With that increase, we can take Quick Unlock, reducing the number of actions it takes to pick a lock. For our class feat, we take Vicious Debilitations, which allows us to make victims of our sneak attacks clumsy or inflict them with a weakness to a physical damage type.
Gear: mask of the banshee, +1 resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type II), greater rope of climbing, insistent door knocker, +1 striking spiked chain
LEVEL 11 We boost up to expert proficiency in Deception with our skill boost and also pick up Read Lips. For our general feat, we grab Feather Step, allowing us to step in and out even in more rugged terrain.
Gear: +2 striking spiked chain, mask of the banshee, immovable rod, +1 resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type II), gloves of storing
LEVEL 12 This skill increase goes into Medicine to give us trained proficiency in it, which isn’t entirely fitting but gives us access to some nice things. Our skill feat is going to be Subtle Theft, making it even easier for us to steal from others. For our class feat, we’re gonna take Bloody Debilitation, giving us some additional extra options when we make a Debilitating Strike and a real nice one as it inflicts 3d6 persistent bleed damage.
Gear: +2 resilient leather armor, +2 striking spiked chain, greater demon mask, immovable rod, gloves of storing, bag of holding (type II)
LEVEL 13 We take another skill boost to Society to make us a master in that. For our ancestry feat, we take Warren Digger, granting us a burrow speed so that we can pull of heists like tunneling under the bank and stealing the gold inside. Terrified Retreat is going to be our skill feat, allowing us to send lower level foes fleeing with fright.
Gear: +2 greater striking spiked chain, +2 resilient leather armor, greater insistent door knocker, greater demon mask, immovable rod, greater sleeves of storage
LEVEL 14 Largely for lore purposes, this time we’re gonna slot our skill increase in Underworld Lore, so that we can achieve master proficiency in it. Then we grab Quick Jump, increasing some mobility options for, and Defensive Roll, a rogue feat with some defensive capabilities that can help us stay in the fight a bit longer when we’re in dire straits.
Gear: bag of holding (type IV), +2 greater striking spiked chain, ring of climbing, +2 resilient leather armor, greater demon mask, greater clandestine cloak
LEVEL 15 Some last ability boosts before the end, which we will put towards Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma, leaving us with this array: Str 18, Dex 21, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18. Thanks to our increased Intelligence, we get to grab trained proficiency in Ratfolk Lore, which makes sense to me as he’s a leader of a gang of ratfolk. We also get Undercommon as a bonus language. Since we can now increase skills to legendary proficiency, we do so with Intimidation. The Thorough Search general feat allows us to carefully scour places for hidden valuables or other secrets while we grab Scare to Death with our skill feat, allowing us to potentially kill an enemy with fear alone.
Gear: +2 greater resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type IV), boots of speed, +2 greater striking spiked chain, greater insistent door knocker, greater demon mask
LEVEL 16 For our skill increase, we pump up Stealth to legendary proficiency, which allows us to take Legendary Sneak for our skill feat, letting us disappear from sight. Rogue feats at 16th-level are limited for us because we fail to meet most of their prerequisites so while it isn’t an exact fit for the character, we can grab Dispelling Slice to attempt to end spells affecting flat-footed targets.
Gear: earthglide cloak, +2 greater resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type IV), boots of speed, +2 greater striking spiked chain, ring of climbing
LEVEL 17 This skill increase raises our Thievery skill to legendary proficiency. For ancestry feat, I could see this character using Rat Magic to unobtrusively send messages to his minions when setting up a job. We can also get Legendary Thief to steal even more.
Gear: +3 greater striking spiked chain, earthglide cloak, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient armor, boots of speed, bag of holding (type IV)
LEVEL 18 We can increase our proficiency in Deception to master, and then use that increased Deception to take Doublespeak, letting us communicate our hidden intents. We reach back a little bit to pick up Preparation as our rogue feat, potentially letting us use Defensive Roll and Opportune Backstab when things are looking a little rough.
Gear: dread blindfold, dragonscale amulet, +3 greater striking spiked chain, earthglide cloak, boots of speed, +2 greater resilient leather armor
LEVEL 19 As we near the end, we slot another skill increase into Deception, becoming legendary proficiency in it. The True Perception general feat allows us to see through illusions and the like, finding things that others try to hide from us. Then our skill feat will be Reveal Machinations, allowing us to frighten targets and learn more about them.
Gear: +3 greater resilient leather armor, dread blindfold, major insistent door knocker, +3 greater striking spiked chain, dragonscale amulet, earthglide cloak
LEVEL 20 The last stop when it comes to character creation, we have four final boosts to distribute. They are going to Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom, which leaves us with this array: Str 18, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18. Our bonus to Intelligence nets us training in Nature and gives us the Infernal. Then, largely for lore purposes, we bump Underworld Lore to legendary proficiency. With Slippery Secrets, we can actively deceive try to deceive certain spells. Then we grab Enduring Debilitation to make the effects we can cause with our Debilitating Strike last even longer.
Gear: +3 major striking spiked chain, +3 greater resilient leather armor, greater cloak of the bat, dread blindfold, dragonscale amulet, bag of holding (type IV)
CONCLUSION And there he is! Our murderous, fearmongering ratfolk crime boss is complete. Regrettably, I couldn’t replicate his ability to summon rats, but doing so would require archetyping into a spellcasting class. And after looking them over, none felt like a particularly good fit. To represent his ‘Fear’ ability, I tried to focus on the Intimidation skill and abilities related to it. I also wanted him to be able to spread the frightened condition through means other than just Demoralize. For basic equipment, I went for leather armor (though it might be better to switch somewhere down the line), sickle, and shortbow. As soon as we could use the spiked chain, I grabbed that.
Thanks for taking the time to check out this build and please let me know what you think. Does this build work? Does it represent the character? What would you change about it? Is it something you’d like to play?
Lemme know what other characters you might like to see and if you’re so inclined, join the blog’s Discord server at the following link: https://discord.gg/W4THAs5
Have a great day!