Full Build Friday - Rumi [KPop Demon Hunters]
- bjacobt1
- Oct 10
- 12 min read
The season of the slayers continues with some younger blood than last week's Blade. I did my homework and properly watched this movie, so I hope you all appreciate the songs that are now lodged in my head. 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.
If you want to get some of those sings stuck in your head as well, you can check out the video for the build - I squeezed in a few clips from it!
Let's get it poppin' and take note of this build for Rumi from KPop Demon Hunters!
RUMI
SOURCE KPop Demon Hunters
BUILD GOALS
o Her dad was a demon while her mother was a hunter of demons
o She was raised by one of her mom’s companions to be a hunter of demons as well as a popstar alongside two others to form Huntrix
o Uses music to connect the spirits of people from around the world into a barrier that protects against demons
o Through her music and voice, she can also blast back demons, shatter lights, and empower herself and her teammates
o Capably wields a sword that she is able to manifest out of thin air. Her sword was able to merge with the soul of a demon to become more powerful
o Through her sword, she can form a protective barrier. It is also able to launch beams of energy
o By tapping into her demonic heritage, she is able to teleport in a puff of smoke
Summary of Goals: For this popstar princess, I want to mix Rumi’s martial might and musical magic and lets her make use of both. This includes her ability to summon a sword out of thin air and the variety of ways that she uses it as well as her music that can infuse and enhance her allies. I also to want make sure that we work in her demonic heritage – we have to accept that as part of her, just like Rumi did within the movie itself.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Nephilim Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Pitborn
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Skill Increase: Athletics (T)
Background: Icon
o Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Strength
o Skill Increase: Performance (T), Media Lore (T)
o Background Feat: Impressive Performance
Class & Subclass: Warrior Muse Bard
o Class Ability Boost: +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Diplomacy (T), Occultism (T), Religion (T), Society (T), Stealth (T)
o Class Feat: Martial Performance
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – glamorize, haunting hymn, infectious enthusiasm, musical accompaniment; 1st – concordant choir, fear, sure strike
o Starting Gear: bastard sword, studded leather armor
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +4)
By using the human ancestry, we can set up a greater contrast with her Nephilim heritage, which is made to further resemble her specific situation through the Pitborn lineage feat. She’s going to be spending a lot of early skill feats on Performance-based feats, so getting in an early Quick Jump is quite handy. We do take the tiniest dip into Starfinder Second Edition to take the icon background because it does fit her a little bit better than entertainer, coming with some of that Performance I was talking about. It is a little redundant given her use of the bard class, which provides her with the warrior muse to make her a bit more martially inclined, which is helped by the remastered bards gaining proficiency with martial weapons. This also provides her with Martial Performance to help extend the duration of her courageous anthem, which she’ll be using to bolster the combat capabilities of herself and her bandmates. From her spell repertoire, glamorize and musical accompaniment help her put on a show while haunting hymn and concordant choir lets her use her singing voice in a slightly more offensive way. She also slips sure strike into the build to encourage her to take a chance on some Strikes.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Starlit Sentinel Dedication
o Skill Feat: Fascinating Performance
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Performance (E)
o Spell Repertoire: 2nd – coiling dance, shatter
o Gear: +1 bastard sword, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Rallying Anthem
o Skill Feat: Distracting Performance
o Spell Repertoire: 2nd – noise blast
o Gear: persona mask, +1 bastard sword, masquerade scarf, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +4.5)
o Ancestry Feat: Extraplanar Supplication – bless
o Skill Increase: Athletics (E)
o Spellbook: 3rd – heroism, roaring applause
o Gear: +1 striking bastard sword, persona mask, bracelet of dashing, masquerade scarf, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
Rumi doesn’t undergo nearly enough change to warrant the use of the Starlit Sentinel Dedication, but it does let her fire bolts of force from her sword, which isn’t entirely off. There’s also some other spells that I’m looking forward to from this archetype that work really solidly for her. However, before we get to those, I do want to grab Rallying Anthem to represent some of the more protective aspects of her music, letting her protect her allies while instead enhancing her attacks with something like heroism or the bless that she gains from her Extraplanar Supplication ancestry feat. As promised, she does focus on Performance skill feats to start out with, grabbing both Fascinating and Distracting Performance to really nail the idea of her being the center of Huntrix that is able to aid her allies on and off the battlefield. For some of her other spells, coiling dance is a very fun effect that matches super well with the fact that she and her companions hunt demons, which will be susceptible to the holy infusion that this provides. Shatter calls to mind the lights she destroys with her voice when her demonic nature is revealed to Zoey and Mira, which leaves noise blast and roaring applause as thematic but not necessarily matching options.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Special Sentinel Technique – shining starlight attack
o Skill Feat: Virtuosic Performer
o Spell Repertoire: 3rd – the four hunters
o Gear: +1 studded leather, +1 striking bastard sword, sleeves of storage, persona mask, necklace of knives, masquerade scarf
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Performance (M)
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – planar tether, translocate
o Gear: cassisian helmet, +1 studded leather, resonating fork, +1 striking bastard sword, persona mask, bracelet of dashing
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Call and Response
o Skill Feat: Inflame Crowd
o Gear: greater resonating fork, cassisian helmet, lesser grub gloves, +1 studded leather, +1 striking bastard sword, sleeves of storage
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Fiendish Magic
o Skill Increase: Athletics (M)
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – spiritual torrent, translocate
o Gear: +1 resilient studded leather, greater resonating fork, greater masquerade scarf, cassisian helmet, lesser boots of free running, +1 striking bastard sword
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +5)
o Class Feat: Blade of the Heart
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: cape of grand entrances, +1 resilient studded leather, moderate armory bracelet, greater resonating fork, cassisian helmet, +1 striking bastard sword
One of the options provided by the starlit sentinel is the Special Sentinel Technique, which provides her with the shining starlight attack. She attunes to a constellation for this and I like the idea of her using the Swordswoman, creating a line effect akin to the great slash that she launches at Gwi Ma. She does take a quick little swap back to bard so that she can get Call and Response, inspired by the nature of her being part of a group rather than a solo act, letting her bring her bandmates into the performance with her. Then, she’s back into the starlit sentinel archetype to take Blade of the Heart, which is a major reason that I took this archetype in the first place. My intent is for this to resemble the way that Jinu’s soul merged with her blade, transforming it into a more powerful form. As for her skills, she’s focusing on Performance with Virtuosic Performer and Inflame Crowd though I don’t think the latter is something she would really do. At least, not intentionally. She also has Wall Jump in her build inspired by the way that we see her jumping off of walls a few times to get around demons to attack them from different angles. Obviously, we’ve been building her as a melee combatant who aids her allies, so I included Toughness in her general feats to give her some extra Hit Points with which to weather the assault of her amoral adversaries. This level also features Fiendish Magic, which will provide her with an extra daily casting of shatter and likely paranoia as I feel like that fits her quite nicely.
For other spells in this block, the big gets are planar tether as she can use it to trap demons from crossing over to the mortal realm and then translocate, which is honestly the more important of the two. She demonstrates the ability to teleport in a puff of pink smoke after tapping into her demonic heritage, and this will help with that concept.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: A Home in Every Port
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E)
o Spell Repertoire: 6th – phantom orchestra, spirit blast
o Gear: +2 striking bastard sword, cape of grand entrances, armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient studded leather, greater resonating fork, greater masquerade scarf
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Soulforger Dedication – Planar Pain
o Skill Feat: Rapid Mantel
o Gear: +2 resilient studded leather, +2 striking bastard sword, entertainer’s cincture, cape of grand entrances, moderate armory bracelet, thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Slip Sideways
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)
o Spell Repertoire: 7th – curse of the spirit orchestra, vibrant vibrato
o Gear: +2 greater striking bastard sword, +2 resilient studded leather, talented tap shoes, entertainer’s cincture, cape of grand entrances, armbands of athleticism
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Multifarious Muse – Maestro (Lingering Composition)
o Skill Feat: Tumbling Teamwork
o Gear: propulsive boots, +2 greater striking bastard sword, major resonating fork, +2 resilient studded leather, entertainer’s cincture, cloak of the bat
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +5.5)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Performance (L)
o Spell Repertoire: 8th – musical shift, spirit song
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, greater ring of the ram, +2 greater striking bastard sword, skirmisher’s coat, talented tap shoes
With two class feats from the Starlit Sentinel Dedication under her belt, Rumi can take a Soulforger Dedication with twelfth level so that she has the ability to summon her weapon out of thin air. As a noted bonus to this, she can gain the planar pain essence power, which will allow her to deal good damage. This archetype hasn’t been remastered, but hopefully your GM will allow you to translate that into holy spirit damage so that she has the advantage against demons. However, rather than explore that farther, she’s going to return to the bard class for a Multifarious Muse. She can use this to gain the maestro muse, giving her a muse of music and martial might alike. This has the happy coincidence of providing her with the Lingering Composition feat and focus spell though the why for taking this will be explored more deeply in our next block. For now, we have Rapid Mantel to help her swiftly scale buildings while Tumbling Teamwork both ties her into her closeknit friend group and how they excel together both on and off the stage. Also, with her only being an expert with her weapons, she’ll want every advantage she can get when attacking foes and this should help her in setting up flanks. Given her fame, A Home in Every Port is an obvious pick especially since the group is known worldwide. Slip Sideways gives her a 5th-rank translocate from her fiendish forefather, which works out pretty much perfect for her. That leaves her spells and there’s some fun ones here. Phantom orchestra allows her to wield her music and sound a bit more offensively while musical shift is an amazing utility spell that will simultaneously bolster allies while hampering foes.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Fortissimo Composition
o Skill Feat: Legendary Performer
o Spell Repertoire: 8th – uncontrollable dance
o Gear: greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater ring of the ram, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking bastard sword, major resonating fork
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Divine Countermeasures
o Skill Increase: Athletics (L)
o Spell Repertoire: 9th – unfathomable song
o Gear: +3 greater striking bastard sword, greater cape of illumination, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater ring of the ram, propulsive boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Eternal Composition
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o Gear: bracers of strength, +3 greater striking bastard sword, quickstrike weapon rune, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, bracers of strength, greater entertainer’s cincture, +3 greater striking bastard sword, greater cape of illumination, greater thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +4, Con +3, Int +1, Wis +3, Cha +6)
o Class Feat: Effortless Concentration
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (T)
o Gear: +3 major striking bastard sword, +3 greater resilient leather, titan’s grasp, greater entertainer’s cincture, quickstrike weapon rune, amplifying aeon stone
In the long-gone days of the pre-master, the Fortissimo Composition was known as Inspire Heroics and that along with the ability to enhance the bonuses her composition cantrips provides makes it an alluring pick and the main reason I went for a Multifarious Muse on her. On the topic of compositions, she also gets Eternal Composition this block and I find it rather interesting that PF2e hands out a permanent quickened condition to the bard sooner than any other class. Naturally, we will be taking this feat, which might make a few of her other options a little superfluous such as Call and Response and Martial Performance, but it’s simply too good to pass up on. Rather than taking a capstone feat, she’ll finish out on Effortless Concentration, which is a truly fantastic feat for her with all the sustained spells that she’s worked into her repertoire. As a quick rundown for her skill feats, Legendary Performer is an obvious get for this phenom, Cat Fall is based on her dive from the plane in the opening number, and then Kip Up just enhances her action efficiency even farther than the options we’ve already invested in. She closes out her ancestry feats with Divine Countermeasures, calling to mind her resistance to Gwi Ma’s mental manipulations. We mostly see the girls dancing to the music of the Saja Boys, but I don’t doubt that they have some songs to justify the inclusion of uncontrollable dance in her repertoire.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: You might be able to eke a bit more out of her starlit sentinel and soulforger archetypes, such as Rapid Manifestation and Soul Flare, but I think it would be better to go for a new archetype. Particularly, I like the celebrity archetype, which is fantastic flavor for Rumi and also comes with some actually solid feats, such as Never Tire, Statement Strut, and Perfect Pitch. An option that a free archetype might give us is taking Multifarious Muse earlier so that she can potentially take Fortissimo Composition earlier and thus get Effortless Concentration faster.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Rumi is a nephilim human bard of the warrior muse and a background as an icon, inspired by her own songstress mother and caretaker alike. That nephilim heritage, and specifically the Pitborn lineage, denote her demonic dad though the likes of coiling dance and planar pain for her soulforger weapon help her hunt down such horrors. She follows in her mother's footsteps as a slayer and superstar alike as demonstrated by her Performance investment and the whole array of feats that it grants her with particular notice being given to her Legendary Performer feat. For some of her more magical uses of music, we've got a nice little suite of spells. The likes of haunting hymn, concordant choir, and phantom orchestra lets her songs pack a real punch, and shatter, which is further provided by her Fiendish Magic, lets her really bring down the house. However, she can show a softer side by bolstering her allies with a protective rallying anthem, an inspiring courageous anthem, and the ever-adaptable musical shift. We have to work up to a Soulforger Dedication before she can just manifest her sword out of thin air, but the starlit sentinel's Blade of the Heart allows her to merge it with the soul of another to empower it further. She can also launch a shining starlight attack for the slashing beams she creates with her sword before taking Slip Sideways and the translocate spell to gain access to her demonic disappearances.
A songstress supreme, this slayer sends spiteful spirits splitting through sonorous sonnets and skillful swordplay while subtly shrouding her own sorrowful sins.
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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