The last build before I go on leave will be the second build I've done for a character from DotA. I've perused a couple of these characters before and an issue I've discovered is that their abilities are so incongruous, it's tough to put together a build for them outside of the game. I've actually tried building this character before as a gunslinger but couldn't quite make it work only for a suggestion help me realize how to make it work. 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 Snapfire from Defense of the Ancients!
SNAPFIRE
CHARACTER Beatrix Snapfire
SOURCE Defense of the Ancients
BUILD GOALS
o Beatrix Snapfire is a hero from Defense of the Ancients identified as a Keen, a race of diminutive and technologically advanced humanoids that tend to shun magic
o She lives in a desert region alongside her dragon toad Mortimer, known as a weaponsmith and vanquisher of bandits with Ol’ Rackatee, her three-barreled shotgun
o She was part of a gang, during which she found Mortimer, but ultimately left them and doesn’t like talking about those days
o Scatterblast launches a wide blast that damages and slows enemies, dealing greater damage to enemies in a point-blank range
o Beatrix can feed Mortimer or an ally a Firesnap Cookie, which causes them to leap a short distance. Upon landing, they stun and damage enemies
o While Beatrix usually fights with Ol’ Rackatee, Lil’ Shredder has her make use of the mounted turret, making attacks that shred enemy’s armor
o Mortimer Kisses has the dragon toad launch a barrage of firespit that remains on the ground, damaging and slowing enemies that pass through them
o Mortimer is also able to use Gobble Up to swallow an enemy or ally, keeping them in his belly before using Spit Out to upchuck the unit, causing them to impact in an area
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Sensate Gnome
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Constitution, +Charisma, +Dexterity, -Strength
o Ancestry Feat: Gnome Obsession (Firearms)
Background: Gunsmith
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Crafting (trained), Engineering Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Repair
Class & Subclass: Dragon Summoner
o Class Ability Boost: +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Skill (trained)
o Class Feat: Advanced Weaponry – Grapple
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – detect magic, infectious enthusiasm, phase bolt, produce flame, scatter scree; 1st – chilling spray, magic missile
Eidolon: Marauder Dragon (Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10)
o Attacks: jaws – 1d8 piercing (grapple, trip); claw – 1d6 slashing (agile, finesse)
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 18)
This build utilizes the gnome ancestry to represent the Keen, given their predilection towards invention. They tend to shun magic, so she avoids any of those sorts of feats. None of the heritages in particular stand out but the sensate heritage is handy and seems the most mundane. While Snapfire has some history as a bandit and gangmember, she has left that life behind for the gunsmith background, which she’ll also represent with her Gnome Obsession for Firearms Lore. Initially, I attempted this build with Snapfire as a gunslinger with a riding drake animal companion, but some of her abilities are too fantastical for that. In this revision of that original concept, she is instead a summoner who uses a marauder dragon eidolon to represent her dragon toad companion, Mortimer. Eidolons can’t access a swallow whole ability but for the sake of Gobble Up, Snapfire’s first evolution is Advanced Weaponry to add the grapple trait to Mort’s jaws. Strange as it may seem, Snapfire will utilize chilling spray to represent her Scatterblast, being a cone that can slow creatures affected by it. Lil’ Shredder is a little more difficult since armor in DotA refers to resistance whereas armor in Pathfinder is to avoid being hit. Magic missile and phase bolt are meant to help emulate this effect, the former ignoring AC entirely and having a damage time pretty much no one resists and the latter bypassing shields and similar bonuses to armor.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Steed Form
o Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting
o Spell Repertoire: 1st – endure
o Gear: cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Crafting (expert)
o Gear: +1 hand cannon, cloak of feline rest, everburning torch
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Magical Understudy
o Skill Feat: Specialty Crafting (Alchemy)
o Eidolon Spells: Cantrips – produce flame
o Gear: crafter’s eyepiece, +1 hand cannon, goz mask, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 19)
o Eidolon Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 19, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12)
o Ancestry Feat: Eclectic Obsession
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert), Stealth (trained)
o Spell Repertoire: 2nd – chilling spray, resist energy, true strike; 3rd – haste, magic missile
o Gear: +1 striking hand cannon, crafter’s eyepiece, staff of fire, goz mask, cloak of feline rest, everburning torch
By picking up Steed Form, Snapfire can keep her full array of actions even while mounted atop Mortimer. Unfortunately, this feat doesn’t do more but it is an important effect for basic functionality. Mort will also start learning magic with the Magical Understudy though the only cantrip that feels parctiularly important for him is produce flame. As somebody who builds and maintains firearms, it is likely a safe bet that she makes her own ammunition, which influenced the decision to give her a slight focus on Alchemical Crafting with both that feat and Specialty Crafting. The build had to focus on Dex somewhat, leaving Snapfire with a lower Con that she will try to compensate with Toughness. For Mortimer’s sake, the next skill that she focuses on will be Athletics so that he can more reliably grapple creatures – and so that the grapple is also harder to escape.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Gunslinger Dedication (Way of the Vanguard)
o Skill Feat: Vicious Critique
o Skill Increase: Thievery (trained)
o Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking blunderbuss, lifting belt, crafter’s eyepiece, goz mask, gunner’s saddle
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Crafting (master)
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – seal fate, wall of fire
o Gear: wand of rolling flames (2nd-level), +1 explorer’s clothing, wand of manifold missiles (1st-level), +1 striking blunderbuss, crafter’s eyepiece, staff of fire
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Magical Adept
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Eidolon Spells: 1st – burning hands, 2nd – flame wisp
o Gear: ring of wizardry (type I), ring of the ram, wand of rolling flames (2nd-level), +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking blunderbuss, lifting belt
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Vivacious Conduit
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Spell List: 4th – chilling spray, seal fate, resist energy; 5th – etheric shards¸ magic missile
o Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, collar of the eternal bond, ring of wizardry (type I), wand of rolling flames (2nd-level), wand of manifold missiles (1st-level), +1 striking weapon
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 20)
o Eidolon Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 20, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 14)
o Class Feat: Basic Shooting – Munitions Crafter
o Skill Feat: Impeccable Crafter
o Eidolon Spells: 2nd – flame wisp, 3rd – blazing dive
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, wand of rolling flames (3rd-level), ring of wizardry (type I), wand of rolling flames (2nd-level), +1 striking blunderbuss
By picking up the Gunslinger Dedication, Snapfire can finally start wielding a blunderbuss to better fit her shotgun though this weapon is tri-barreled and could also be represented with a double-barreled musket. It’s important to mention that upon taking this, Snapfire also grabs a gunner’s saddle in her kit, which she will keep for the rest of her life for her mounted weapon. It also negates the kickback trait in case she picks up any such weapons. Munitions Crafter gives her additional bombs and ammo, and also sets her up for other gunslinger feats down the line. Magical Adept isn’t initially important though flame wisp is nice, but by 10th level, it allows Mortimer to learn blazing dive to mimic the effects of Firesnap Cookie. An issue with this is that Snapfire can’t avoid the blast of blazing dive and so some may want to look into grabbing a backfire mantle or other means of fire resistance. With that in mind, while this build takes wall of fire to thematically represent Mortimer Kisses, Snapfire may be better served by picking up resist energy. On that topic, she also has etheric shards to represent Mortimer Kisses mechanically, being an area of difficult terrain that also deals damage to creatures that pass through it. The final spell entry here is seal fate, the last attempt at mimicking the armor shredding effects of Lil’ Shredder by placing a weakness on a creature.
The choice to have a slight focus in Intimidation is entirely mechanical and mainly to give Snapfire a means of debuffing enemies.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Improvised Repair
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – chilling spray, magic missile, resist energy; 6th – etheric shards, seal fate
o Gear: +2 striking blunderbuss, armbands of athleticism, wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level), +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, collar of the eternal bond, ring of wizardry (type I)
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Firearm Expert
o Skill Feat: Inventor
o Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, +2 striking blunderbuss, ring of wizardry (type II), armbands of athleticism, flaming weapon rune, wand of rolling flames (3rd-level)
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Illusion Sense
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Gear: +2 greater striking blunderbuss, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, alchemist’s haversack, ring of wizardry (type II), armbands of athleticism, wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Grasping Limbs
o Skill Feat: Terrain Expertise – Desert
o Gear: wand of manifold missiles (5th-level), +2 greater striking blunderbuss, wand of rolling flames (5th-level), +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater demon mask, ring of wizardry (type II)
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 21)
o Eidolon Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 21, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 16)
o General Feat: Incredible Investiture
o Skill Increase: Crafting (legendary), Deception (trained)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater ring of the ram, wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level), +2 greater striking blunderbuss, alchemist’s haversack, eidolon cape
Firearm Expert is as good as it gets with Snapfire’s proficiency with such armaments and Grasping Limbs simplifies Mortimer’s actions and makes it so that he doesn’t need to worry about rolling Athletics and just needs to land a blow. Given Snapfire’s habitat in a deserted region, she uses some of her Survival training for Terrain Expertise in the desert. Additionally, since she has to invest in her firearm for Mortimer to get its runes, she will also grab Incredible Investiture.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Advanced Shooting – Phalanx Breaker
o Skill Feat: Crafting Anything
o Gear: greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of wizardry (type IV), wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level), +2 greater striking blunderbuss, wand of rolling flames (5th-level)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Gnome Polyglot
o Eidolon Transcendence: Strength
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking blunderbuss, greater flaming weapon rune, greater fire-absorbing armor rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater ring of the ram, wand of manifold missiles (3rd-level)
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Magical Master
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Eidolon Spells: 1st – burning hands; 2nd – flame wisp; 3rd – blazing dive; 4th – blazing dive; 5th – blazing fissure; 6th – blazing fissure; 7th – blazing dive
o Gear: troubadour’s cap, +3 greater striking blunderbuss, speed weapon rune, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of wizardry (type IV)
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: A Home in Every Port
o Skill Increase: Survival (expert)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, troubadour’s cap, greater armbands of athleticism, +3 greater striking blunderbuss, greater flaming weapon rune, greater fire-absorbing armor rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 22)
o Eidolon Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 24, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Eternal Boost
o Skill Feat: Forager
o Gear: +3 major striking blunderbuss, +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, mask of allure, greater armbands of athleticism, major crown of the fire eater, speed weapon rune
By comboing abilities, Snapfire is able to create Gobble Up and Spit Out. It starts, as previously described, with Mortimer grabbing the foe in its jaws and may want to try to hold them for the round so that Snapfire can Phalanx Breaker the unfortunate victim back into their allies, dealing damage if they collide with an obstacle. Admittedly, she doesn’t have a high chance of landing this shot, she’s helped by being flat-footed from the grab, but these builds are always more flavorful than functional. Magical Master allows Mortimer to use his blazing dive more frequently and without more appealing options, Eternal Boost allows Snapfire to keep her beasty buddy ready to fight. Since Snapfire has to feed not only herself but good ol’ Mortimer, she picks up Forager and a final few increases to Survival.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Taking the Gunslinger Dedication is big for this build and I didn’t use more of it in this build because I needed some of the summoner feats. Practiced Reloads may not specifically be useful, but other reload feats could be handy as could options such as Alchemical Shot, Advanced Shooter, and Munitions Machinist. However, another option is to take Sniping Duo Dedication and duo with Mortimer. This is a little funkier, but provides some fun options such as Assisting Shot to functionally lower Mortimer’s next attack or Duo’s Aim boosting Snapfire’s aim. Tag Team also allows Mortimer to take a swing when Snapfire misses.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Beatrix Snapfire is built as a gnome summoner with the gunsmith background, using the Gunslinger Dedication to wield a blunderbuss while riding atop her dragon eidolon, Mortimer. Her preference for her desert home is represented by her Survival skill and Terrain Expertise. Steed Form allows her to ride Mortimer without issue and a gunner’s saddle makes it easier to wield her weapon atop him. Many of her abilities come from her spells. Scatterblast damages and slows enemies in a cone, which works perfectly for the chilling spray spell though it misses the proximity component. Firesnap Cookie allows a creature to leap and deal damage and while she can’t provide this effect by others, by taking the Magical Adept feat, she can allow Mortimer to learn blazing dive so that he can do so for himself – though Snapfire will want some resistances when he does so because while you can exclude yourself in an emanation, I’m not sure that extends to your rider. Rather than using another weapon for Lil’ Shredder, Snapfire attempts to represent the armor shredding effects of it with magic missile, which ignores armor, phase bolt, which bypasses some armor bonuses, and seal fate to increase the damage the target takes, which is closest to DotA where armor reduces damage. Mortimer himself could use blazing fissure for Mortimer Kisses thanks to his Magical Adept, but it is more closely represented by Snapfire’s etheric shards. The full effect of Gobble Up takes a long time online but Snapfire starts building towards it at level 1 with Advanced Weaponry adding grapple to Mortimer’s jaws, allowing him to trap enemies in them. Then, Snapfire eventually picks up Phalanx Breaker to launch the foe back and damaging them if they hit obstacles, such as their own allies.
With that, Snapfire is a dragon riding gunslinger who controls the battlefield with both her own spells and that of her companion while traveling between enemies with effects such as blazing dive. Mortimer can lock a foe down before she blasts them back with a Phalanx Braker, throwing them into obstacles.
As I said, I'm going to take a small break starting next week, but I'll be back at the end of the month.
Lemme 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 and are trying to get some milestones made up for.
Have a fantastic Friday!
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