It feels like it has been a minute since I had the chance to build a comic book character, but this is an idea I've been sitting on for a while. I had fun putting this one together though it's not the most effective build ever. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in an attempt to fit the character. These choices might not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Let's get into the build for Psylocke from Marvel Comics!
PSYLOCKE
CHARACTER Elizabeth Braddock
SOURCE Marvel Comics
BUILD GOALS
o Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock is a powerful mutant psychic who has developed various telepathic and telekinetic powers over the years
o Born and raised in England, she briefly pursued a modeling career before joining a British intelligence agency known as S.T.R.I.K.E.
o After being blinded by a supervillain, she was kidnapped by Mojo and forced to star in one of his shows until she was rescued by the X-Men who she subsequently joined
o Her mental powers allow her to manipulate the minds of others at a distance though she often wields such powers in a more aggressive manner
o A frequently used aspect of this is the creation of psychic knives, blades of mental energies that she forms in her hands to drive into the minds of her enemies
o She can also unleash psychic blasts that can cause everything from pain to confusion to even death
o Psylocke has demonstrated the ability to read the minds of her opponents mid-fight, allowing her to adjust to counter their moves
o Fitting for the ninja aesthetic that she has gained ever since swapping bodies with the ninja Kwannon, Psylocke is able to generate a telepathic suggestion to discourage detection
o Her telekinetic powers may wax and wane depending on writers, but she often uses it to create telekinetic weapons, create force fields, and sometimes even lift herself in flight
o She was trained as a fighter but these skills expanded after she swapped with Kwannon, gaining all her skills as a ninja including infiltration, concealment, acrobatics, and espionage
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Versatile Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Unconventional Weaponry (wakizashi)
o General Feat: Toughness
Background: Charlatan or Schemer
o Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Deception (trained), Underworld Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Charming Liar
Class & Subclass: Eldritch Trickster Rogue – Tangible Dream Psychic
o Class Ability Boost: +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Intimidation (trained), Occultism (trained), Performance (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained), Survival (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Class Feat: Tumble Behind
o Skill Feat: Length Diversion
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – shield
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 12, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 18)
With a history as a secret agent and the knowledge she has from Kwannon’s ninja training, rogue was an easy choice but obviously couldn’t fulfill her psychic power – at least not alone. By using the eldritch trickster racket, Psylocke can pick up the Psychic Dedication with the tangible dream conscious mind serving well for the psychic armaments that she creates. Regrettably, she can’t start out with imaginary weapon, so she’ll start with shield to represent the telekinetic barriers that she creates for protection. Charlatan is meant to convey her past as a secret agent though Schemer (from Taldan Schemer) may also fit the concept but is region-based. In addition to her psi-blades, Psylocke often wields weapons thematically appropriate for a ninja but the katana doesn’t well for a rogue. Instead, she’ll use Unconventional Weaponry to pick up the wakizashi, which she can use to make sneak attacks with. As a member of the X-Men, Psylocke is used to fighting as a member of a team, but she needs Tumble Behind to infiltrate the backlines and set herself up for success while awaiting for her allies to join the fray.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Magical Trickster
o Skill Feat: Read Psychometric Resonance
o Skill Increase: Deception (expert)
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Feat: Shadow Mark
o Skill Increase: Stealth (expert)
o Gear: +1 wakizashi, everburning torch, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Basic Psychic Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Quiet Allies
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: 1st - command
o Gear: ventriloquist’s ring, +1 wakizashi, necklace of knives, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 19)
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition – Nimble Dodge
o Skill Feat: Steady Balance
o Skill Increase: Occultism (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking wakizashi, bracelet of dashing, ventriloquist’s ring, necklace of knives, everburning torch, ring of discretion
Regrettably, Magical Trickster is immediately useful and is something that she’ll be making use of down the line. While it is listed for the sake of the build, consider taking a more useful feat – such as Quick Draw or Minor Magic – until level 6 and then retrain into Magical Trickster. Basic Psychic Spellcasting is going to help capture her mutant telepathic and telekinetic powers, starting with the ability to manipulate the minds of others through command. A target that critically fails its save when told to drop prone means they will still be prone on her next turn, allowing her to deliver sneak attacks to them. From her skill feats, Read Psychometric Resonance delves into her psychic powers whereas Shadow Mark, Quiet Allies, and even Steady Balance are based on her ninja know-how. Quiet Allies is also based on her position as a member of the X-Men and similar teams that have conditioned her to work with others. Lacking any other particular reactions, Psylocke also picks up Nimble Dodge through Natural Ambition to save herself from sticky situations.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Psi Development
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o Skill Increase: Thievery (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – imaginary weapon; 2nd – magic missile*
o Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking wakizashi, mentalist’s staff, ventriloquist’s ring, hand of the mage, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: clandestine cloak, +1 leather, wand of manifold missiles (1st-level), +1 striking wakizashi, bracelet of dashing, ventriloquist’s ring
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Basic Thoughtform – Psychic Rapport
o Skill Feat: Swift Sneak
o Skill Increase: Stealth (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 3rd – fear
o Gear: cloak of elvenkind, clandestine cloak, deck of illusions, +1 leather, +1 striking wakizashi, mentalist’s staff
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Know Oneself
o Skill Feat: Slippery Secrets
o Skill Increase: Deception (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient leather, cloak of elvenkind, boots of bounding, clandestine cloak, wand of manifold missiles (1st-level), +1 striking wakizashi
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 20)
o Class Feat: Advanced Thoughtform – Psi Strikes
o Skill Feat: Foil Senses
o Skill Increase: Arcana (trained), Occultism (master)
o Gear: wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level), +1 resilient leather, greater mentalist’s staff, cloak of elvenkind, deck of illusions, +1 striking wakizashi
Finally, Psylocke can pick up Psi Development to gain access to imaginary weapon, which is the main way to represent her psychic or telekinetic knives. This will be the only spell attack roll she’ll likely be picking up, but since it’ll be one of her main tools, Magical Trickster feels like a good way to enhance it. The fact that it’s a melee spell attack means it’ll be a little easier for her to get in situations where enemies are flat-footed to it but she’ll still have to be cautious of foes with attacks of opportunity. Psylocke grabs Basic Thoughtform to set up other feats down the line, but Psychic Rapport fits nicely, playing into a bit of her ability to read minds of opponents as she’s fighting them and gain the upper hand. With that feat, she can pick up Psi Strikes, which plays into a fun little combat loop. When set up for a flank or against an otherwise flat-footed enemy, Psylocke can attack with imaginary weapon and deal a sneak attack thanks to Magical Trickster. Then, she can siphon some of the mental energy from that spell with Psi Strikes into her wakizashi and make an attack with that, which should also be making a sneak attack while benefitting from the agile trait of the weapon. Swift Sneak continues to play into her being a ninja whereas Slippery Secrets and Foil Senses are meant to bring to mind her ability to telepathically erase her presence and hide from others. As a fairly powerful psychic, it seems reasonable that Psylocke would be resilient to the mental manipulations of others, which leads to the choice of picking up Know Oneself. Magic missile is intended to represent psychic projectiles whereas fear is simply more mental manipulation.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Feat: Doublespeak
o Skill Increase: Thievery (master)
o Gear: +2 striking wakizashi, greater shadow armor rune, wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level), +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, unmemorable mantle
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Expert Psychic Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – implement of destruction
o Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking wakizashi, shadow signet, wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level), invisibility armor rune, greater mentalist’s staff
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Keep Up Appearances
o Skill Feat: Pickpocket
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Gear: +2 greater striking wakizashi, +2 resilient leather, greater boots of elvenkind, shadow signet, greater ventriloquist’s ring, wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Eldritch Debilitations
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – mind probe
o Gear: wand of manifold missiles (5th-level), +2 greater striking wakizashi, major mentalist’s staff, +2 resilient leather, cloak of the bat, shadow signet
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 21)
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Feat: Subtle Theft
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, keen weapon rune, wand of manifold missiles (5th-level), +2 greater striking wakizashi, greater boots of elvenkind, bag of holding (type III)
Expert Psychic Spellcasting advances her psychic powers whereas Eldritch Debilitations allows her to mess with the minds of foes, leaving them stupefied when she strikes them with her psychic knives. Diehard seems an essential pick for pretty much every comic book character who take a beating that would leave most folks crippled but are right as rain by the next issue. Again, Keep Up Appearances plays well into the self-control you would expect a psychic to have but also fits nicely into that traditional British ‘stiff upper lip.’ Most of the skill feats for this block simply play to her strengths with both Quick Jump and Wall Jump feeling very ninja-comic-booky. She adds implement of destruction to her repertoire, which adds lingering mental damage to the strikes of her wakizashi. Mind probe is less combat and more utility that allows her to dive into the minds of others, per her telepathic abilities.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Perfect Distraction
o Skill Feat: Reveal Machinations
o Skill Increase: Deception (legendary)
o Spell Repertoire: 6th - heroism
o Gear: dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather, greater boots of bounding, wand of manifold missiles (5th-level), +2 greater striking wakizashi, major mentalist’s staff
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Heroic Presence
o Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak
o Skill Increase: Stealth (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking wakizashi, dragonscale amulet, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, boots of speed, wand of manifold missiles (5th-level)
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Master Psychic Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Disturbing Knowledge
o Skill Increase: Occultism (legendary)
o Spell Repertoire: 7th – phantasmal killer*
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking wakizashi, speed weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: True Perception
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, anklets of alacrity, dread blindfold, +3 greater striking wakizashi, dragonscale amulet, greater flaming weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 16, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 22)
o Class Feat: Hidden Paragon
o Skill Feat: Legendary Thief
o Skill Increase: Thievery (legendary)
o Spell Repertoire: 8th – true target
o Gear: +3 major striking wakizashi, +3 greater resilient armor, mercurial mantle, dread blindfold, speed weapon rune, orange prism aeon stone
Psylocke has planted illusions in the minds of others before and this combined with her ability to mentally erase her presence combines excellently into the Perfect Distraction feat. Master Psychic Spellcasting continues to expand her psychic powers. Hidden Paragon focuses on her ability to erase her presence and the invisibility that it grants allows her to make sneak attacks without having to rely on flanking or other methods of making the target flat-footed. However, since she did invest in Perfect Distraction, picking up Reactive Distraction could also be appropriate and would fit the character. None of her skill feats particularly stand out here, but feats such as Disturbing Knowledge and Reveal Machinations could potentially play into her mind-reading and manipulation abilities. More importantly, she uses spells such as heroism to increase her combat ability, which lags behind slightly due to her lower Dex and use of spell attack rolls. As one of the X-Men more willing to wield lethal force, phantasmal killer is a solid fit whereas true target helps both her and her allies land blows while also playing into mid-combat mind-reading to counter foes.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: By using the eldritch trickster racket, Psylocke already takes an archetype, which can mess with options slightly as the GM has to grant permission for her to get a 2nd-level archetype feat. If the GM allows another archetype to be taken at least for 2nd level, the Acrobat Dedication frees up some of her skill progression, and gives her feats such as Tumbling Strike and Tumbling Opportunist. With additional feats for the psychic, look towards picking up additional psychic feats such as Cantrip Expansion, Remove Presence, and Signature Spell Expansion. With her extra rogue feats, she should consider Gang Up, Quick Draw, Opportune Backstab, and possibly Loaner Spell. Other archetype options to consider are the Mind Smith Dedication or the Psychic Duelist Dedication, but the lack of mental damage in the Mind Smith Dedication is annoying and the latter can be very situational.
BUILD CONCLUSION
As a telepath with on-and-off telekinetic powers who has all the skills and capabilities of a ninja, Psylocke is built as an eldritch trickster rogue, using Unconventional Weaponry to wield her wakizashi. The charlatan or schemer background serve as a stand-in for her time as an intelligence agent and her skill proficiencies and feats play both into this and her ninja skills. With the eldritch trickster racket, Psylocke picks up the Psychic Dedication to achieve the effects of her psychic power though she doesn’t get her classic psychic knives until she picks up Psi Development and unlocks imaginary weapon. Regrettably, this spell doesn’t deal mental damage, but Psi Strikes and implement of destruction both allow her to imbue her blade with mental energy. Magic missile covers the psychic bolts that she can fire off though phantasmal killer covers some of its deadlier effects. For her mid-combat mind reading, Psylocke takes options such as true target with the flavor that she reads their mind for their next move to strike where they’re going to be. Outside of combat, she can use mind probe to read the mind of her target, as per her telepathy. Her ability to mentally erase herself from the perception of others is accomplished by Perfect Distraction and Hidden Paragon or some of her high-level Stealth feats such as Legendary Sneak. Whereas Psylocke’s telekinetic powers are dependent on the writer, this build has to play into it a bit with the shield that she gains from her conscious mind serving as a telekinetic force field. This build suffers slightly from accuracy issues, which she will hopefully counter with heroism and by making strikes against disadvantaged foes – as a rogue should be doing. Nevertheless, with this, we have successfully built a psychic ninja that wields blades from her mind!
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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