We continue with the month of morbid monstrosities with a build inspired by the classic Vampire - that just so happens to tap into my favorite franchise! In the case of this creepy character, we are basing the relation on his hypnotic gaze, ability to turn into a bat, and the classically vampiric accent he originally had in the show. 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 Mindwipe from Transformers!
MINDWIPE
SOURCE Transformers Franchise
BUILD GOALS
o Mindwipe is a Cybertronian, a robotic lifeform who traditionally transforms into a flight-capable alternate mode, preferring a mechanical bat or stealth jet alt mode
o An occultist and mystic, he seeks to contact the essences of long-dead individuals but with little success
o While unable to communicate with the dead, Mindwipe is a hypnotist able to control the minds of the organic and mechanic with his gaze
o His powers allow him to remove fear, cause allies to turn against each other, shield minds from harmful effects, and remove memories
o He has a little-explained ‘sixth sense’ that helps to warn him of danger or other plot-relevant issues
o He wields a viper pistol, which can fire a stream of paralyzing liquid
o In some iterations, he is bonded to the humanoid alien Vorath, a scientist who finds his esoteric pursuits to be distasteful flights of fancy
o Despite his tech specs listing intelligence as one of his lower stats, he often plays the role of scientist and inventor for the Decepticon cause
Summary of Goals: The intent is to build a giant robot able to adopt an aerial alt mode, dominate and manipulate the minds of others through his hypnotic gaze, and paralyze foes. This build will want to try to include some representation of Vorath as his binary bonded partner and some measure of his capabilities as a scientist.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Warrior Automaton
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Arcane Eyes
Background: False Medium
o Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Occultism (trained), Fortune-Telling Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Deceptive Worship
Class & Subclass: Silent Whisper Psychic with Wandering Reverie Subconscious Mind
o Class Ability Boost: +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Crafting (trained), Deception (trained), Intimidation (trained), Medicine (trained)
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – daze, figment, forbidden thought, message; 1st – command, mindlink
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +2, Con +0, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +4)
Obviously, when it comes to representing a Cybertronian, it has to be the automaton ancestry though none of the heritages particularly suit him. Warrior at least fits with the idea of him being trapped in a millenia-long war and having learned something from it. He uses Arcane Eyes to gain darkvision, entirely inspired by his nocturnal alt mode. False medium is a new background that this series hasn’t used before and it works to resemble his claim that he can contact the dead despite never having done so. He’s certainly more sincere than the background suggests, but it’s fun to lean into just a bit. For a hypnotist, there’s few better builds than the psychic. For something a little different than past psychics, he uses the wandering reverie subconscious mind, potentially using the Fade Into Daydreams to hypnotize his enemies in redirecting and thereby missing their attacks – and also because he’ll prefer the Charisma key ability score since his Intelligence is lower down on his Tech Specs. Silent Whisper plays into the mental manipulation that he wants, starting him out with forbidden thought so that he can prevent a character from taking actions without suffering for their insolence. The list of command is limited, but it is a step in the right direction of what we want to represent with his hypnotic abilities to start off with.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Familiar Master Dedication
o Skill Feat: Schooled in Secrets
o Spell Repertoire: 1st – soothe
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Occultism (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: 1st – soothe*; 2nd – clear mind*, stupefy
o Gear: Jack’s tattered cape, psychopomp mask, cantrip deck (5-pack)
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Enhanced Familiar
o Skill Feat: Read Psychometric Resonance
o Spell Repertoire: 2nd – paranoia
o Gear: pendant of the occult, Jack’s tattered cape, soulspeaker, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4.5)
o Ancestry Feat: Arcane Safeguards
o Skill Increase: Deception (expert), Stealth (trained)
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – shatter mind; 3rd – heroism, phantom prison*
o Gear: mentalist’s staff, pendant of the occult, ventriloquist’s ring, Jack’s tattered cape, cantrip deck (5-pack), psychopomp mask
With the Familiar Master Dedication and Enhanced Familiar as its follow on feat, Mindwipe can recreate his little buddy, Vorath as a familiar. To represent Vorath and to mesh with this build, options such as Independent, Skilled, Speech, and Second Opinion likely fit this sinister scientist the best who would certainly be disappointed in Mindwipe’s Occultism skill feats. Schooled in Secrets meshes and overlaps a bit with Deceptive Worship from his background while Read Psychometric Resonance feels like something that at least Mindwipe thinks he can do, even if he actually can’t. Incredible Initiative may be important just so that he can lay out his spells and get the enemies vulnerable before his team moves in for the kill. He does get some more restorative effects this block with soothe and clear mind, letting him restore health and remove conditions like frightened – hypnotizing his allies to fight through their pain and suffering. He can start turning allies against each other, or at least make them question who exactly their allies are, with paranoia and then grabs phantom prison. This lets him mentally imprison an enemy, intended to resemble the paralytic capabilities of his viper pistol.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Sixth Sense
o Skill Feat: Aura Sight
o Spell Repertoire: 3rd – hypnotize
o Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, mentalist’s staff, demon mask, pendant of the occult, Jack’s tattered cape, soulspeaker
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Occultism (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – suggestion*, telepathy
o Gear: stoney hag eye, +1 explorer’s clothing, quick runner’s shirt, mentalist’s staff, pendant of the occult, ventriloquist’s ring
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Brain Drain
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – rewrite memory
o Gear: venomed tongue, lantern of empty light, stoney hag eye, +1 explorer’s clothing, demon mask, mentalist’s staff
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Arcane Propulsion
o Skill Increase: Deception (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – subconscious suggestion*, synaptic pulse
o Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, ethersight ring, venomed tongue, staff of impossible visions, grim ring, quick runner’s shirt
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +3, Cha +5)
o Class Feat: Incredible Familiar
o Skill Feat: Disturbing Knowledge
o Gear: greater pendant of the occult, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater mentalist’s staff, venomed tongue, stoney hag eye, lantern of empty light
Possibly in reference to the echolocation of bats, Mindwipe is known to have a strange sense of things, being able to detect things that aren’t immediately obvious. This build can represent that through the psychic’s Sixth Sense while we tap into a bit of our vampiric inspiration through Brain Drain. Mindwipe might not drink blood, but he can consume aspects of his victim’s mind to restore his focus points and leave them a little vulnerable to his other effects. Incredible Familiar adds another two abilities to Vorath and despite his distaste for magic, the best options are going to be Spell Battery to get more of the very limited spells that psychic has and Familiar Focus to gain an extra focus point in the midst of combat though that can only be done once per day – just like the Brain Drain. Aura Sight is inspired by his general position of eye-based and occult abilities and Intimidating Glare expands on that while also facilitating a way for him to try to debuff enemies before throwing out his bigger spells. Disturbing Knowledge is similar in that regard but it being two-actions means that it is not great at setting Mindwipe up but could help his allies. The big spells here are suggestion and rewrite memory, with the latter referring directly to the Transformers 1988 Annual where he rearranged some of Highbrow’s memories.
Another big thing in this block is Arcane Propulsion, his ancestry feat. This will allow Mindwipe to transform from his robot mode into his alternate mode to fly – whether that be a bat, an F-117 Nighthawk based on his Bayverse version, or my personal reimagining of him as a MQ-28 Ghost Bat. It’s a little more modern but keeps him as a bat.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – contagious idea; 6th – dominate*, sending
o Gear: wand of dumbfounding doom (4th-level), greater pendant of the occult, thunderblast slippers, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, ethersight ring, venomed tongue
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Dream Guise
o Skill Feat: Dubious Knowledge
o Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, wand of dumbfounding doom (4th-level), ring of lies, greater pendant of the occult, desolation locket, greater mentalist’s staff
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Enlarged Chassis
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 7th – visions of danger
o Gear: major mentalist’s staff, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, mind’s light circlet, wand of dumbfounding doom (4th-level), cape of grand entrances, thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Deep Roots
o Skill Feat: Aerobatics Mastery
o Gear: greater desolation locket, major mentalist’s staff, wand of dumbfounding doom (5th-level), +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of lies, wand of dumbfounding doom (4th-level)
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +4.5, Con +1, Int +3, Wis +4, Cha +5.5)
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Occultism (legendary)
o Spell Repertoire: 8th – uncontrollable dance
o Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater desolation locket, greater ring of the ram, major mentalist’s staff, mind’s light circlet, ebon marionette
Dream Guise is a silly feat with a very interesting effect that I think I might have trouble running, and the sole reason for taking it is because that Mindwipe is actually part of a combiner – Galvatronus. At least in the IDW and Earth Wars version. It’s a stretch, but it makes sense in my mind and I thought it was a funny reference. His other class feat for the block is Deep Roots, which is taken almost entirely to play off of the multiple control effects that make up his kit. It’s unfortunate that this only triggers on critical failures but it’s a neat ability outside of that and one that specifically meshes with his kit, making it hard to pass up on. Dubious Knowledge feels a good fit, letting Vorath and Mindwipe exchange ideas to determine at least something about a target whereas Aerobatics Mastery just feels right for a character that has an innate form that allows him to fly. His general feats play into the survivability of Cybertronians who have been known to lose arms only to turn around and use them as bludgeons. Finally, Enlarged Chassis permanently enlarges him, making him the giant robot that he is meant to be, once again proving just how perfect automaton is for representing him as a Transformer.
There’s a single spell of note here, but it is absolutely a big one – dominate. This, finally, lets him fully seize control of a victim and bind them to his dark will as he is wont to do.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Psi Burst
o Skill Feat: Consult the Spirits (Occultism)
o Gear: greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, wand of dumbfounding doom (6th-level), greater desolation locket, major mentalist’s staff, wand of dumbfounding doom (5th-level)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Greater Augmentation – Arcane Propulsion
o Skill Increase: Deception (legendary)
o Spell Repertoire: 9th – paralyze, telepathic demand
o Gear: major staff of impossible visions, selenite crystal ball, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater desolation locket, greater ring of the ram
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: All In Your Head
o Skill Feat: Reveal Machinations
o Gear: mask of allure, wand of dumbfounding doom (7th-level), major staff of impossible visions, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Incredible Investiture
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, mask of allure, cauldron of nightmares, major staff of impossible visions, selenite crystal ball, greater thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +6)
o Class Feat: Mind Over Matter
o Skill Feat: Bizarre Magic
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (trained)
o Gear: major desolation locket, +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, wand of dumbfounding doom (8th-level), necklace of allure, major staff of impossible visions, wand of dumbfounding doom (7th-level)
Psi Burst is mostly just a nice spot of damage, something that’s a little missing from his kit, for a single action that he can use after casting a spell. It isn’t representative of him, but is just a good feat, which is kind of a running theme for this block. All In Your Head could be flavored as a touch of self-hypnosis and Mind Over Matter mostly just comes about through the process of elimination. Ironically, he ends up with Consult the Spirits (as a treat) because I think the poor guy deserves it and Bizarre Magic is intended to refer to his alien nature, making his magic harder to comprehend for most. Perhaps more importantly, at least mechanically, is Reveal Machinations. Mindwipe can use this to sow the seeds of mistrust, make his victims wonder who they can trust to make them more susceptible to his actual manipulations. He’ll want his Greater Augmentation to upgrade his Arcane Propulsion, ensuring that he can fly whenever he wants. His T-Cog gets a cleaning, clearing out the gunk so that he swap between his robot and flight-capable alternate mode without restriction. Finally, with his obsession with magic, Incredible Investiture lets him invest in more mystical trinkets. Of spells, he picks up a heightened paralyze in honor of his viper pistol and telepathic demand comes from his conscious mind and gives him another way of controlling others.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: This build could expand upon Familiar Master further with Familiar Conduit or Improved Familiar if you want to go for a specific familiar. Otherwise, there is the Captivator Dedication, which does have some issues with being pre-master, but is otherwise a fantastic fit, especially with the likes of Reactive Charm letting him quick cast certain spells that fit in with his hypnotic abilities or Effortless Captivation allowing him to Sustain such spells as a free action.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Mindwipe is a warrior automaton psychic with a wandering reverie subconscious mind and then a silent whisper conscious mind. He also has the false medium background, which reflects his failed attempts to contact the dead of his people, turning up only TV broadcasts for all his trouble. His ancestry does a good job of representing his alternate mode, with Enlarged Chassis bringing him up to classic Cybertronian stature and Arcane Propulsion letting him transform into his aerial alt mode - such as a Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat if you want to be cool. His hypnotism abilities start pretty minor with the likes of command but it then expands with hypnotize, suggestion, and finally dominate to fully seize control of a victim. Clear mind lets him take away the fear of his allies while he can cause his enemies to start questioning and turning on their own allies with the likes of paranoia. Soothe features some ability to protect and restore the minds of others while rewrite memory lets him change or remove the memories of others at his own whim. He can even explore the strange ability he has to detect things beyond the normal ken of others through his Sixth Sense feat! Rather than actually giving him a viper pistol, he'll simulate its paralytic abilities with paralyze and phantom prison to lock down enemies. His binary bonded partner Vorath shows up as a familiar thanks to Familiar Master and its feats make him an intelligent scientist that tries to balance out Mindwipe's flights of fancy.
This metal mentalist molds minds to menace, manipulating mates to match in a magnificent melee he manages to miss with his own mechanical might.
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. With this being a rebuild, the vote for the next rebuild, slated for November, will be up on the YT channel and Discord. Next week we put together a patchwork person for our Halloween horrors!
Have a fantastic Friday and go watch Transformers One!
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