Hope you’re all having a merry Christmas Eve! To celebrate the season, I have prepared a build for Santa Claus. I’ve tried taking a crack at a mythological build before but struggled with differentiating it from another build I did while also incorporating numerous facets of the legend. This build was certainly a bit easier and while I sort of picked-and-chose on what I wanted to include for this, it had more concrete information than what I’d tried to work with previously. As always, this build is conceptualized 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 Santa Claus from mythology and folklore!
SANTA CLAUS
CHARACTER Santa Claus
SOURCE Mythology and Folklore
GOALS
o Santa Claus is a legendary figure based on the historical Saint Nicholas and other Christmas figures
o He is traditionally depicted as a portly, jolly man with a large white beard and a suit of red
o He dwells at the North Pole, amidst the cold with his elf assistants, building toys all year until it comes time to deliver them
o On Christmas Eve, he goes around the world on a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, stopping at each house to deliver presents and toys to good children and coal to bad children
o Landing upon rooftops, he slides down the chimney to deliver presents beneath the Christmas tree without waking up anybody within the house
o According to certain lore, Santa can see others from impossible distances and through barriers, able to distinguish if they’re asleep or not, and can tell who has been bad or good
o Saint Nicholas, a common figure that Santa Claus is based on, is the patron saint of children, coopers, sailors, fishermen, merchants, broadcasters, the falsely accused, repentant thieves, brewers, pharmacists, archers, and pawnbrokers
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Aasimar Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Celestial Eyes
Background: Toymaker
o Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Dexterity
o Skills: Crafting (trained), Mercantile Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Specialty Crafting - Woodworking
Class & Subclass: Construct Innovation Inventor
o Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence
o Skills: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Religion (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Variable Core – Cold
o Initial Modification: Sensory Array
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 12, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 12)
With one of the main inspirations for Santa Claus being ol’ Saint Nick, the aasimar captured some of that celestial spark with Celestial Eyes allowing him to operate at night with greater ease to deliver presents. And he can make those presents with his toymaker background and Specialty Crafting. This doubles up on Crafting, which lets him swap out the automatic trained proficiency for Acrobatics so that he can balance across rooftops and squeeze down chimneys. He gets his famous reindeer using the construct innovation, modifying it with arctic cold damage using Variable Core and allowing it to operate at night with ease thanks to its sensory array modification. The decision to give Santa Claus a higher Dexterity score is due to Saint Nicholas being the patron saint of archers, among other things, and ranged combat meshing well with some of his favored scores for his most important skills Acrobatics and Stealth.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Haphazard Repair
o Skill Feat: Quick Squeeze
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: +1 shortbow, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Advanced Construct Companion
o Skill Feat: Steady Balance
o Gear: crafter’s eyepiece, +1 shortbow, +1 gaff, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 12, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 14)
o Ancestry Feat: Celestial Resistance - Cold
o Skill Increase: Stealth (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking shortbow, crafter’s eyepiece, everyneed pack, +1 gaff, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
Quick Squeeze and Steady Balance are intended to help Santa handle the precarious roofs he traverses and the chimneys he travels down while the increase to Stealth helps him deliver presents without alerting anybody. One idea I had for the build was making him a winter-touched human to make him better at inhabiting arctic environments, but I wanted to capture Nick’s sainthood with aasimar. In place of that, he has Celestial Resistance against cold damage. From his class feats, Haphazard Repair helps him keep Rudolph in the fight while Advanced Construct Companion empowers good ol’ Rudy.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Gadget Specialist
o Skill Feat: Experienced Smuggler
o Gear: +1 leather armor, +1 striking shortbow, bag of holding (type I), crafter’s eyepiece, +1 gaff, hand of the mage
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Canny Acumen - Perception
o Skill Increase: Stealth (master)
o Breakthrough Modification: Durable Construction
o Gear: pathfinder’s pouch, +1 leather armor, snowshoes of the long trek, +1 striking shortbow, crafter’s eyepiece, everyneed pack
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Incredible Construct Companion
o Skill Feat: Swift Sneak
o Gear: bag of holding (type II), chime of opening, pathfinder’s pouch, +1 leather armor, +1 striking shortbow, bag of holding (type I)
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Empyreal Blessing
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Offensive Boost: Chill Boost
o Gear: +1 resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type II), greater everyneed pack, pathfinder’s pouch, snowshoes of the long trek, +1 striking shortbow
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o Class Feat: Overdrive Ally
o Skill Feat: Quick Repair
o Skill Increase: Thievery (trained)
o Gear: greater sleeves of storage, +1 resilient leather armor, frost weapon rune, bag of holding (type II), pathfinder’s pouch, +1 striking composite shortbow
Incredible Construct Companion continues to empower Santa’s robo-reindeer while Gadget Specialist and Overdrive Ally are meant to represent the presents that he hands out. His offensive boost channels the frigid aspect of his home, adding cold damage to Rudolph’s attacks while its durable construction increases its HP. With the Canny Acumen general feat, Santa Claus is better able to see you when you’re sleeping and know whether you’ve been bad or good. The skill increases this block help Santa Claus do his job as usual while his inventor class handles the automatic progression of his Crafting skill.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Hireling Manager
o Skill Increase: Survival (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking composite shortbow, stole of civility, greater sleeves of storage, +1 resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type II), greater everyneed pack
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Shared Overdrive
o Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting
o Gear: +2 resilient leather armor, +2 striking composite shortbow, +2 striking gaff, greater sleeves of storage, frost weapon rune, cold-resistant armor rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Nature
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (expert)
o Gear: +2 greater striking composite shortbow, +2 resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type III), +2 striking gaff, stole of civility, greater sleeves of storage
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Paragon Companion
o Skill Feat: Magical Crafting
o Gear: bag of holding (type IV), +2 greater striking composite shortbow, +2 greater striking gaff, +2 resilient leather armor, daredevil boots, greater clandestine cloak
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 21, Wis 12, Cha 18)
o General Feat: Prescient Planner
o Skill Increase: Stealth (legendary)
o Revolutionary Modifications: Flight Chassis
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type IV), +2 greater striking gaff, +2 greater striking composite shortbow, greater crafter’s eyepiece, holy weapon rune
Several feats from this block play into Santa’s gift giving such as Shared Overdrive and Prescient Planner while Hireling Manager covers his elf workers that assist him in building toys. Cooperative Nature continues to play into Santa’s giving nature while his Alchemical and Magical Crafting allow him to create a wider array of gifts. Additionally, Rudy finally gains the ability to fly thanks to his newly added flight chassis.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Ubiquitous Gadgets
o Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak
o Gear: greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, major ring of cold resistance, bag of holding (type IV), +2 greater striking composite shortbow, greater cordelia’s construct key
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Soul
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (master)
o Gear: +3 greater striking composite shortbow, greater frost weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather armor, bag of holding (type IV), +2 greater striking gaff
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Deep Freeze
o Skill Feat: Craft Anything
o Gear: diadem of intellect, +3 greater striking composite shortbow, speed weapon rune, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, major ring of cold resistance
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Prescient Consumable
o Skill Increase: Survival (master)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather armor, diadem of intellect, greater daredevil boots, +3 greater striking composite shortbow, greater frost weapon rune, dragonscale amulet
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 16, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 22, Wis 14, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Ubiquitous Overdrive
o Skill Feat: Impeccable Crafter
o Skill Increase: Occultism (trained)
o Gear: +3 major striking composite shortbow, +3 greater resilient leather armor, possibility tome, diadem of intellect, speed weapon rune, +3 greater striking gaff
While this build does pick up Ubiquitous Gadgets a little late, I still found room to pick up Deep Freeze to further that arctic feel and rounded out his class feats with Ubiquitous Overdrive to give presents to everybody. The Stealth feats help him better perform his job while the increases to Diplomacy, as well as picking up Cooperative Soul, really sell what a jolly old soul the old fellow is. His Crafting feats further expand upon what he can create while Prescient Consumable improves Prescient Planner and allows him to pull better presents out of his sack.
CONCLUSION
His aasimar heritage as well as his cold-related feats, such as Celestial Resistance, Deep Freeze, and his chill boost, sell his connection to Saint Nicholas and other winter figures. His background as a toymaker and his Hireling Manager feat assist him in creating the toys he must deliver each winter. His flying reindeer is included more obviously with his construct innovation and its flight chassis while its darkvision and tremorsense help it guide him through the night. The skills he focuses on help him traverse snow-covered rooftops, squeeze down chimneys, and deliver presents or coal without ever being caught. Canny Acumen increases his Perception, making him better at telling when people have been bad or good through Sense Motive. Additionally, some choices were made based on Saint Nicholas and his patrons, including his patronage of archers and fishermen for his weapons with the gaff also resembling a candy cane.
Be sure to lemme know what you think of the build!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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