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. I wanted to include gear like I usually do but between a heavy workload this week and having to clean up for some visiting family, I didn't get around to it. I will ensure that the next one has equipment though, sorry about this week's lapse!
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 Prime Speaker Vannifar!
CHARACTER Prime Speaker Vannifar
SOURCE Magic the Gathering
GOAL Hailing from the plane of Ravnica, Vannifar is the Guildmaster of the Simic Combine, which ties her to blue and green mana. She was voted in as the Prime Speaker for her guild after facing the previous leader in the Speaker’s Chamber and is more action-oriented than her predecessor. Her experiments have made her part-ooze, and under her guidance, many other members were mutated into super soldiers. Her card allows her to sacrifice a creature to summon another creature from your library. The typing on her card tells us that she is an ‘Elf Ooze Wizard.’ So our goal is to make a spellcaster who summons and modifies creatures in an effort to ‘improve’ them and is also part ooze.
LEVEL 1 As with anything, we have to start with out ABCs – ancestry, background, and class. So like her card says, she’s an elf. I was looking at ancient elf for heritage before noticing that it only affected multiclass dedications, so we’ll take the seer heritage. Our elf feat will be Unwavering Mien, allowing us to more easily shake off mental effects and be more resistant to sleep effects. We take our free boost to Constitution to balance our the flaw elves have for it.
The most fitting background I could find is scholar with trained proficiency in Arcana. We’re gonna take the first boost to Intelligence and the second to Charisma to reflect Vannifar’s ability as a publican. Already mentioned Arcana, but we’re also gonna become trained in Academia Lore. We also receive Assurance (Arcana) for free, which will be useful for Recall Knowledge checks and a few other cases.
We get the class straight from the card: wizard. This nets us a boost to Int and gives us four more boosts as we go into the details that are going to go to Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. This leaves us with this array: Str 12, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 14. Because we received training in Arcana with our background, we’re gonna swap out the one we get automatically from wizard for Occultism. The other skills we’re gonna pick up the trained proficiency in are Acrobatics, Crafting, Diplomacy, Medicine, Nature, and Society. Also, our additional languages are going to be Draconic, Goblin, Orcish, and Sylvan. No feats for wizards at first level, but we do get the option of an arcane school, which will be transmutation. My initial thought was to take conjuration as our arcane school, but I think her ability is supposed to be her mutating the creature into a new form. Our arcane thesis is going to be Improved Familiar Attunement, which gives us the Familiar feat and a pet to use as a test subject. I will list new spells in our spellbook as we receive them.
Spellbook: Cantrips – acid splash, electric arc, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, read aura, sigil, tanglefoot, telekinetic projectile; 1st – acidic burst, ant haul, fleet step, magic missile, summon animal, summon construct
LEVEL 2 Our very first skill feat! For this instance, we’re gonna take Recognize Spell, which lets us automatically identify some spells as soon as they’re cast. Now, looking at wizard instincts, my first instinct is ‘she has blue mana, so Counterspell,’ but then I remember her creature type. With that in mind, we are instead going to take Oozemorph Dedication. This boosts up our Occultism skill to expert, gives us trained proficiency in Ooze Lore, makes us better at avoiding being Engulfed, but means we have a penalty on Diplomacy checks made against animals and humanoids.
Spellbook: 1st – pet cache, sleep
LEVEL 3 Our skill increase goes towards Diplomacy to balance the penalty we’re taking from being an oozemorph. We’re also taking Toughness as our general feat since Vannifar’s card has a decently high toughness.
Spellbook: 2nd – enlarge, final sacrifice
LEVEL 4 To better fill our role as Prime Speaker, we take Group Impression as our skill feat. We’re gonna go back to what I was thinking back at 2nd level and take Counterspell as our class feat. This isn’t directly tied into Vannifar, but it is very much a thing of blue mana in Magic the Gathering.
Spellbook: 2nd – acid arrow, water breathing
LEVEL 5 Our free boosts are going to go to Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma, giving us this array: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 16. The skill increase will go to Arcana, bumping our proficiency up to expert. We take Elven Instincts as our ancestry feat, giving us a chance to act first and hand out any transmutation spells we need to.
Spellbook: 3rd – aqueous orb, haste
LEVEL 6 With sixth level, we take Automatic Knowledge (Arcana) as our skill feat, allowing us to make Recall Knowledge checks for free on certain subjects. Dipping into our Oozemorph Dedication, we grab Disturbing Defense, giving us some resistance against precision damage and making it easier for us to staunch bleeding.
Spellbook: 3rd – crashing wave, feet to fins
LEVEL 7 We plug this skill increase into Nature to gain expert proficiency in it. We also grab Prescient Planner as our general feat to reflect our far-reaching plans and contingencies resulting in us having random adventuring gear we might need.
Spellbook: 4th - bestial curse, fly
LEVEL 8 It might seem a little boring, but we’re gonna grab Assurance (Occultism) to use with our skill. The class feat for this level will be the Advanced School Spell, furthering our study of the school of transmutation and giving us the shifting form focus spell.
Spellbook: 4th - ice storm, reflective scales
LEVEL 9 By taking our skill increase to Arcana, we can bump it up to master proficiency. We can take Elf Step as our ancestry feat, allowing us to take larger Steps, and get us out of sticky situations.
Spellbook: 5th – blister, grisly growths
LEVEL 10 These free boosts will go to Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma, giving us this array: Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 18. Our skill feat will be Quick Recognition, letting us swiftly identify spells that others are casting. With the Oozemorph Dedication, we can pick up Rubbery Skin, granting us some additional resistance to different types of damage.
Spellbook: 5th – acid storm, telepathic bond
LEVEL 11 We take our skill increase to Occultism, increasing it to master proficiency. Since we picked up Prescient Planner earlier, we can take Prescient Consumable, increasing the range of items we can have prepared with the previous feat.
Spellbook: 6th – baleful polymorph, disintegrate
LEVEL 12 With a focus on Vannifar’s magical skills – and her nature as a wizard – we are going to take Magical Shorthand as our skill feat. This lets us learn spells significantly faster. Normally, you have to use the same spell to Counterspell another spell – but by taking Clever Counterspell at this level, we can Counterspell a spell as long as it’s in our spellbook.
Spellbook: 6th – dominate, teleport
LEVEL 13 This skill increase goes to Nature, giving us master proficiency in it. Our ancestry feat is going to be Ageless Patience, allowing us to take a task slower to get a bonus on performing it. It feels like a fitting feat for a scientist like Vannifar.
Spellbook: 7th – duplicate foe, magnificent mansion
LEVEL 14 We can take Automatic Knowledge (Occultism) since we have Assurance in it, letting us swiftly identify more things. Then our class feat is gonna dip into oozemorph again to grab Peculiar Anatomy, increasing the effectiveness of our Disturbing Defenses.
Spellbook: 7th – contingency, prismatic spray
LEVEL 15 More ability boosts! We’re gonna plug them into Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom, leaving us at this array: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 21, Wis 14, Cha 18. This time, we’re going to increase Arcana, since at this level we can get it up to legendary proficiency. Since skill feats are general feats, we are going to use this level’s general feat to pick up Assurance (Nature).
Spellbook: 8th – horrid wilting, monstrosity form
LEVEL 16 We take the Unified Theory skill feat, allowing us to use Arcana in place of certain Nature, Occultism, and Religion checks. Since we invested in the Counterspell and Clever Counterspell feats, it feels appropriate to grab Reflect Spell, which lets us throw spells targeting us back at our foes.
Spellbook: 8th – disappearance, maze
LEVEL 17 We use our skill increase to boost up Diplomacy, raising it to master proficiency to hold our position as Prime Speaker. Not a lot of great ancestry feats for Vannifar, but little bit more speed is always good, so we grab Nimble Elf, bumping out movement Speed up to 30 feet.
Spellbook: 9th – shapechange, weird
LEVEL 18 Thanks to our Assurance in Nature and our master proficiency in it, we can pick up Automatic Knowledge (Nature) and still use Arcana for these Nature checks thanks to our Unified Theory. We’re also gonna swing back to the oozemorph archetype and grab Ooze Empathy, allowing us to speak with oozes and influence them.
Spellbook: 9th – prismatic sphere, telepathic demand
LEVEL 19 The last skill increase we receive goes to Diplomacy, making us legendary in it. Our last general feat is going to be Incredible Investiture, allowing us to use more worn magical items.
Spellbook: 10th – gate, remake
LEVEL 20 We’re down to you last set of boosts, and they’re going to get slotted into Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom. Our final array of ability scores is gonna be Str 14, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 22, Wis 16, Cha 18. Vannifar’s own experiments upon herself have separated her from other humanoids, including the magic she wields. To demonstrate this, we’re taking the Bizarre Magic skill feat. Then, we take the Archwizard’s Might class feat to give us a 10th-level spell slot.
Spellbook: 10th – cataclysm, time stop
CONCLUSION We sought to build an elf ooze wizard who can call forth or mutate creatures under her command. With her focus on transmutation magic and her Oozemorph Dedication, I feel like we managed to capture the feel of her. Heightening her summon animal spell is gonna be something she does even into later levels as she then empowers them with her transmutation magic, which we can flavor as ‘mutating’ them and sending them into battle. I invested what I could into her Constitution to reflect her card’s toughness. Basic gear is going to be a staff and a crossbow for her, just so that she has a ranged weapon of some sort.
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!
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