Today's build comes at the request of my little brother because it just so happens to fall on his birthday! I'd never heard of this show, but it's not very long so I binged it and got to work. 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.
This build is pretty straightforward, but there's a nice little video to go along with it if you want to check that out.
Let's get into the build for Maya from Maya and the Three!
MAYA
CHARACTER Maya
SOURCE Maya and the Three
BUILD GOALS
o Maya is the princess of the kingdom of Teca, a civilization roughly based on the Aztecs
o She is daughter of the king of Teca and Lady Micte, the goddess of death, making Maya a demigod though she never demonstrated any powers related to this
o Though her swift recovery from dislocated or broken bones, which has been remarked upon, may be related to her divine heritage
o She went on a quest to gather supposed members of a prophecy, initially accompanied by Chiapa, a jaguar and battle cat of the Teca royal family
o Within the prophecy, she believed herself to be the Teca Eagle Warrior and was outfitted in an appropriate armor
o Maya is a highly capable fighter both unarmed and with her macuahuitl known as Eagle Claw, which is crafted from the blood of the gods
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Duskwalker Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Ancestry Feat: Gravesight
Background: Royalty
o Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Strength
o Skill Increase: Society (trained)
o Background Feat: Courtly Graces
Class & Subclass: Fighter
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Nature (trained)
o Class Feat: Power Attack
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str 18, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12)
Despite being a demigoddess, Maya doesn’t show many supernatural abilities but given that she is the daughter of the goddess of death, she is represented as a duskwalker human. Throughout the show, she seems to operate in the dark without any issue or impairment, leading to the use of Gravesight. As the princess of Teca, she makes use of the royalty background and her fighting style is fairly straightforward, leading to her being built as a fighter. She makes plenty of strikes that are backed with tremendous might, which lends itself well to Power Attack as an initial feat though Sudden Charge could also be a solid fit for her. The macuahuitl was a standard weapon in Pathfinder 1e, but by that name, it only exists in an advanced weapon that is baseline level 8 in PF2e. To start off with, she’ll try to represent her Eagle Claw with the leiomano, which is at least conceptually similar as a weapon.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Beastmaster Dedication – Cat
o Skill Feat: Combat Climber
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: +1 leiomano, cloak of feline rest, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Mature Beastmaster Companion
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, +1 leiomano, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str 19, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12)
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Skill
o Fighter Weapon Mastery: Club
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert), Intimidation (trained), Religion (trained)
o Gear: +1 striking leiomano, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet, necklace of knives, cloak of feline rest, psychopomp mask
To expand on this fairly basic character, this build will use the Beastmaster Dedication for a cat companion to represent Chiapa, the jaguar battle cat of her family. Obviously, she’ll be taking feats to upgrade Chiapa such as Mature Beastmaster Companion to represent his size and might even if he spends much of the show struggling to overcome his PTSD. Largely based on her fight against Zatz among the rock pillars and a few other scenes throughout the show, she makes use of Combat Climber and has demonstrated Quick Jump plenty of times throughout her series. Toughness secures her a few more hit points, which might be necessary given the beatings that she seems to take pretty regularly. Fighters don’t get a ton of skills and to compensate Maya will grab Natural Skill to become trained in Intimidation and Religion. The leiomano and the future weapon that she’s looking are both clubs so she’ll pick up clubs for her fighter weapon mastery.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Dual-Handed Assault
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: +1 studded leather, +1 striking leiomano, belt of lifting, bracelet of dashing, Jack’s tattered cape, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: cassisian helmet, +1 studded leather, bravery baldric (fleet), +1 striking leiomano, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Advanced Weapon Training – Club
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: boots of bounding, cassisian helmet, ring of the ram, +1 studded leather, +1 striking leiomano, belt of lifting
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Spirit Strikes
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient studded leather, bravery baldric (restoration), ethersight ring, cassisian helmet, boots of elvenkind, +1 striking leiomano
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str 20, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 14)
o Class Feat: Incredible Beastmaster Companion – Savage
o Skill Feat: Quick Climb
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient leather, +1 striking clockwork macuahuitl, boots of bounding, cassisian helmet, ring of the ram
Maya seems to alternate between wielding her Eagle Claw in one or two hands, so while leiomano doesn’t have the two-hand trait, she can still use this feat to boost its damage. As mentioned, the only macuahuitl in Pathfinder 2e is the clockwork macuahuitl, a level 8 advanced weapon in the club group. At level 8, she can take up Advanced Weapon Training for clubs so that it scales like a martial weapon for her. However, this is a two-handed weapon, which means that she can’t take advantage of Dual-Handed Assault and should likely retrain out of it. If you instead prefer wielding and using the leiomano, don’t take Advanced Weapon Training and pick up Incredible Beastmaster Companion early. Then, at level 10, take Cut From the Air as she has smashed a few arrows from the air a couple times. For Chiapa, he becomes a savage animal companion as he appears burlier than anything though nimble probably ends up being a more effective companion. She gains combat flexibility during this block, which probably works best for Sudden Leap.
During her fight with Zatz and a few other instances, Maya can be seen leaping from walls leading to the use of Wall Jump. Since she already has Combat Climber, she’ll grab Quick Climb just to go along with it. If Maya has any powers from her divine lineage, it seems to be enhanced healing given how quickly she gets back on her feet after her many injuries. As such, she’ll take Fast Recovery. Also, several characters mention that Maya is uniquely equipped to kill the gods and Spirit Strikes helps to represent that, letting her strike against creatures outside the Material Plane.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Religion (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking clockwork macuahuitl, armbands of athleticism, thunderblast slippers, +1 resilient leather, bravery baldric (restoration), ethersight ring
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Cut From the Air
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking clockwork macuahuitl, daredevil boots, armbands of athleticism, crown of the fire eater, thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Resist Ruin
o Skill Increase: Religion (master)
o Weapon Legend: Club
o Gear: +2 greater striking clockwork macuahuitl, +2 resilient leather, bravery baldric (flight), talisman cord, armbands of athleticism, thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Specialized Beastmaster Companion – Bully
o Skill Feat: Pilgrim’s Token
o Gear: winged armor rune, +2 greater striking clockwork macuahuitl, moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient leather, daredevil boots, talisman cord
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 21, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 16)
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, moderate clarity goggles, winged armor rune, +2 greater striking clockwork macuahuitl, bravery baldric (flight), greater boots of elvenkind
The previous block gave my explanation for Cut From the Air but if you took it during that block, Resounding Bravery is an excellent fit for Maya and her courage. Then she’ll grab Specialized Beastmaster Companion, using the bully specialization as it better benefits the more Strength-based Chiapa. With the number of times that Maya has been knocked down, Kip Up will help her and then can use a Pilgrim’s Token to get a jump on foes while also representing the amulet she was given. Incredible Initiative helps represent her headstrong nature that often leads her to rush into battle. As a demigoddess born from the goddess of death, Resist Ruin feels like an appropriate fit for her. She’ll also use weapon legend to become legendary with clubs, regardless of whether she wants to wield her leiomano or clockwork macuahuitl.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Side by Side
o Skill Feat: Battle Prayer
o Gear: greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient leather, aeon stone (olivine pendeloque), winged armor rune, +2 greater striking clockwork macuahuitl, moderate grub gloves
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Death’s Call
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking clockwork macuahuitl, greater thunderblast slippers, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, moderate clarity goggles, winged armor rune
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Overwhelming Blow
o Skill Feat: Sacred Defense
o Gear: belt of giant strength, +3 greater striking clockwork macuahuitl, speed weapon rune, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient leather, aeon stone (olivine pendeloque)
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Incredible Investiture
o Skill Increase: Religion (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, belt of giant strength, greater cloak of the bat, +3 greater striking clockwork macuahuitl, greater thunderblast slippers, greater thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str 22, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Weapon Supremacy
o Skill Feat: Divine Guidance
o Gear: +3 major striking clockwork macuahuitl, +3 greater resilient leather, sandals of the stag, greater cloak of the bat, major crown of the fire eater, greater thunderblast slippers
Though Chiapa often fights on his own, it seemed fun to include the Side by Side feat, allowing him and Maya to work together to bring down a foe. Overwhelming Blow probably makes more sense if Maya is still wielding the leiomano with its fatal trait, but feels like a good fit for some of her wilder blows. Finally, it’s hard to pass up on the capstone feats that permanently make a character quickened and Weapon Supremacy allows Maya to take advantage of some of her multi-action abilities woven in among regular Strikes. Maya’s entire mission was to fight the gods, but she ended up relying on several of them, lending well to some feats such as Battle Prayer, Sacred Defense, and Divine Guidance with the last of these reflecting some of her calling upon Ah Puch for help. Within the show, Maya has a key for the gate to the underworld, which she can represent with Death’s Call.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Obviously, the first choice in a free archetype game should be Beastmaster Dedication, which will allow Maya to take some more of her fighter feats. She can take up options such as Sudden Charge, United Assault, Knockdown, and possibly Brutish Shove into Powerful Shove. Beyond the beastmaster archetype, for builds that use the clockwork macuahuitl, she can likely make use of the Mauler Dedication whereas a Soul Warden Dedication fits with her fight against supernatural forces while also tying her to a deity of death.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Maya is a duskwalker human fighter with the royalty background, which represents her being the princess of the kingdom of Teca. Her heritage is a rough approximation of her descent from the goddess of death though the powers she gains from this relation is sparse. Fast Recovery references her swift healing after her bones have been broken or dislocated. She wields Eagle Claw, represented as a leiomano or a clockwork macuahuitl, and makes powerful blows with it through the likes of Power Attack and Overwhelming Blow. Its ability to slay the supernatural comes from her Spirit Strikes though this likely won’t be enough for her to kill the gods. The presence of Chiapa is not always assured given his fears, but this build represents him through the use of the Beastmaster Dedication with a cat animal companion that focuses on bulking up with the savage advancement and bully specialization.
Maya meets many monsters and myths, matching their mysticism with her mere mortal might and mastery over martial matters.
Lemme 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. Next week's build is another request for the tankiest ninja I've seen in any setting.
Have a fantastic Friday and a happy birthday, Blince!
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