Full Build Friday - Uzui Tengen
- bjacobt1
- 40 minutes ago
- 13 min read
I've established that I'm not quite an anime sort of guy, but I don't mind taking requests for them! And I have to admit - I did see another character from this series that somewhat intrigued me and could make for an interesting build. But that's for another day. For now, 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.
Took me a while to put this video together, but I hope you'll check it out!
Pay your respects and get ready to party with the self-proclaimed god of festivals, Uzui Tengen of Demon Slayer!
UZUI TENGEN
SOURCE Demon Slayer
BUILD GOALS
o A former member of the Demon Slayer Corps who served in a high-ranking position
o He developed and practiced a fighting style called ‘Sound Breathing,’ which involves deciphering the rhythm of enemies’ movements and making strikes likened to explosions and thunder
o He is extraordinarily flamboyant, even calling himself the god of flashiness and festivals, which stands at odds with his training as a shinobi
o All of his physical capabilities are superhuman with his speed being his most notable aspect and superior to those of a similar rank to him
o This extends to his hearing, which he uses for echolocation and to create his Musical Score technique
o Fights using a pair of blades that are chained together and called Dual Nichirin Cleavers. His attacks are fairly simple, mainly involving heavy strikes and spinning the blades at incredible speeds
o Skillfully employs a vast amount of explosive beads as well as kunai
o Resistant to poison
o After losing an arm, he retires to train other members of the Demon Slayer Corps
Summary of Goals: The primary aspects of Tengen I want to represent are his physicality and use of sonic effects. In particular, I wanted to demonstrate his ‘Musical Scoring’ to predict the rhythm of his enemies as well as his use of bombs and the like. On a different side, I want to play into his boisterous and arrogant personality and fulfill his self-proclaimed role as the ‘god of festivals.’
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Aiuvarin Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Ancestry Feat: Haughty Obstinacy
Background: Demon Hunted
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (T), Warfare Lore (T)
o Background Feat: Intimidating Glare
Class & Subclass: Exemplar
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Athletics (T), Performance (T), Religion (T), Stealth (T)
o Class Feat: Sanctified Soul
o Ikons: Gaze Sharp as Steel, Gleaming Blade, Thousand-League Sandals
o Gear: kusarigama, studded leather armor
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +1, Wis +0, Cha +1)
Despite deific claims, we are using the human ancestry for Tengen, but we do spice it up a bit with an aiuvarin heritage. I don’t make much use of this versatile heritage but it does offer us something rather important that will come in down the line. For now, he’ll take Haughty Obstinacy given his own sense of self-importance and then move onto his background. There is actually a ‘demon slayer’ background, but it doesn’t seem regularly available to the point where I couldn’t find it in Pathbuilder. I ended up settling on a background from the Spore War adventure path – the demon hunted. This might actually be a bit overpowered since it has skill increases, a skill feat, and a bonus against mental effects, but I still think this fits him rather nicely. Still, if you can track down the demon slayer background and your GM allows it, I’d actually go for that. We do then call back to his claim as the god of festivals with the exemplar class, which makes him a martial combatant while providing him with an array of extraordinary abilities that feel very in the realm of anime. From his ikons, he takes a Gaze Sharp as Steel for the Perception bonus inspired by his heightened hearing and Thousand-League Sandals for that supreme speed he’s known for. He uses a Gleaming Blade as his weapon ikon, providing him with a hard-hitting weapon that can make two Strikes in tandem, matching the dual nature of his cleavers. To represent those weapons of his, I had to settle on the kusarigama – it’s in the knife weapon group, which allows it to be used as a Gleaming Blade, two weapon ends connected by a chain, and comes with some reach. It honestly fits quite well as long as you ignore the ‘versatile B’ trait. Then, I’m not terribly impressed by the first level class feats of the exemplar and simply settled on Sanctified Soul. My reasoning behind this is that he’s going to get Energized Soul from another option down the line and this will allow him to deal extra damage to demons and the like in the meantime.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Leap the Falls
o Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Demon Lore
o Skill Increase: Demon Lore (T)
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Demon Lore (E), Performance (E)
o Root Epithet: The Proud
o Gear: +1 kusarigama, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Steel on Steel
o Skill Feat: Distracting Performance
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, +1 kusarigama, pyrite rat, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +2, Wis +0, Cha +2)
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Nature
o Skill Increase: Athletics (E), Thievery (T)
o Gear: +1 striking kusarigama, bracelet of dashing, bracers of missile deflection, pyrite rat, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion
Leap the Falls infuses Tengen’s body ikon with Quick Jump and Powerful Leap, which just feels very anime-esque. I will be honest, I originally wanted to use Red-Gold Mortality based on the idea of him negating the regeneration of the demons. However, I was told that wasn’t really a thing in the show. However however, one of Tengen’s brides does use kunais with a poison that could disable their regeneration, so maybe I should have included the feat. Given his use of Sound Breathing, it felt right to take the likes of Steel on Steel as an early ability to deal some sonic damage. At first, I wasn’t sure that it really fit any of his particular techniques but while we don’t see the exact effects, I do think it kind of resembles his ‘Roar’ technique. The last big get from his class is his root epithet and while I liked The Brave, I think The Proud better fits his character and can let him force foes to focus on him over his feeble fellows. For his skill feats, using Additional Lore for automatically scaling Demon Lore is handy and lets him take another feat down the line that I like. I also having him claiming quite a few Performance feats, such as Distracting Performance, which has a similar function to The Proud epithet and lets his ninja wives get into position. To aid his operation alongside them, he has Cooperative Nature and then takes Fleet to get him as much speed as I can.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Investigator Dedication
o Skill Feat: Triumphant Boast
o Skill Increase: Crafting (T), Deception (T)
o Gear: +1 studded leather, +1 striking kusarigama, fiend-bane weapon rune, bracelet of dashing, pyrite rat, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Demon Lore (M), Performance (M)
o Dominion Epithet: Whose Cry is Thunder – Energized Spark (Sonic)
o Gear: aim-aiding armor rune, +1 studded leather, lesser boots of free running, +1 striking kusarigama, bracelet of dashing, bracers of missile deflection
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Investigator’s Stratagem
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o Gear: boots of bounding, aim-aiding armor rune, spiritsight ring, +1 studded leather, +1 striking kusarigama, fiend-bane weapon rune
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Multitalented – Alchemist Dedication
o Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting
o Skill Increase: Athletics (M), Diplomacy (T)
o Gear: +1 resilient studded leather, boots of bounding, fearless sash, aim-aiding armor rune, lesser boots of free running, +1 striking kusarigama
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +3, Con +2, Int +2, Wis +1, Cha +3)
o Class Feat: Advanced Alchemy
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: cape of grand entrances, +1 resilient studded leather, thundering weapon rune, boots of bounding, aim-aiding armor rune, +1 striking kusarigama
Strange as it may seem, this build will make use of an Investigator Dedication and Investigator’s Stratagem, which is entirely meant to resemble his Musical Scoring ability, allowing him to decipher foes to take them down. I also went into an Alchemist Dedication through the Multitalented feat. Along with Advanced Alchemy, this should hopefully help him construct the multitude of bombs/explosive pellets that he makes liberal use of. One final class thing he gets this level of his dominion epithet, which affords him Whose Cry is Thunder. This allows him to down and deafen foes on a crit but perhaps more notable is it providing Energized Spark for sonic damage, letting him turn the spirit damage from his class into pure sound to wield against enemies, befitting his Sound Breathing style. Beyond that, Triumphant Boast does make more use of his Performance and will likely influence me to work in some Intimidation, and is followed by the very anime-esque Cat Fall and Wall Jump based on the insane mobility demonstrated by the characters in the show. He’s also rather hardy, leading to the inclusion of the Toughness feat, reflecting his ability to survive to keep fighting even after losing an arm.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Breath Control
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (E)
o Gear: +2 striking kusarigama, bravery baldric (haste), cape of grand entrances, +1 resilient studded leather, boots of bounding, fearless sash
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Basic Deduction – Shared Stratagem
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess
o Gear: +2 resilient studded leather, +2 striking kusarigama, greater demon mask, cape of grand entrances, lover’s gloves, thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Demon Hunter
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (M)
o Gear: +2 greater striking kusarigama, +2 resilient studded leather, locket of love left behind, greater demon mask, bravery baldric (haste), cape of grand entrances
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Basic Concoction – Quick Bomber
o Skill Feat: Impressive Performance
o Gear: propulsive boots, +2 greater striking kusarigama, brilliant weapon rune, +2 resilient studded leather, greater demon mask, greater invisibility armor rune
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5.5, Dex +3, Con +3, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Athletics (L), Demon Lore (L)
o Sovereignty Epithet: Teacher of Heroes
o Gear: +2 greater resilient studded leather, keen weapon rune, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking kusarigama, bravery baldric (flight), locket of love left behind
While I do think Shared Stratagem does work nicely for the way that Tengen works alongside others, in particular his double team with Tanjiro against Gyutaro, I’m mainly taking Basic Deduction as a stepping stone to Advanced Deduction. However, Basic Concoction for Quick Bomber is a bit more meaningful though more on mechanical matters rather than representing something directly. However, Tengen makes considerable use of bomblets that he throws down. To do this in Pathfinder, he’ll need to remove a hand from his weapon (free action), draw a bomb (1 action), use the bomb (1 action), and then regrip his weapon to use it once more (1 action). With Quick Bomber, he can turn the drawing and using the bomb into 1 action, which means that he’ll still have 1 action left after regripping his two-handed weapon. This block also features Tengen’s final epithet, the sovereignty epithet and this harkens back to his first epithet where there were two that I thought could work. The Last Ruler makes sense, but I settled on Teacher of Heroes inspired by his retirement from the demon slayer corps to take up a position as a trainer. He doesn’t get the most use out of this, but maybe he can put his advanced Demon Lore to use to help out his allies.
Beyond just the stuff from his class, he’s got Intimidating Prowess for when his Triumphant Boast doesn’t work and Impressive Performance to get the crowd on his side as the god of festivals. Breath Control is inspired by the fact that members of the Demon Slayer Corps practice ‘breathing’ fighting styles though they are honestly somewhat disconnected. His other general feat will be Fast Recovery as the closest way I can cover the poison resistance he demonstrates in the fight against Gyutaro though this actually makes him better at recovering from it rather than actually resisting it. Outside of that, he finally takes advantage of his aiuvarin heritage and his Additional Lore by taking the Demon Hunter ancestry feat, letting him plot methods to take down a particular type of demon. It isn’t the most precise fit for him, but I think it’s really fun.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Advanced Deduction – Defensive Stratagem
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient studded leather, keen weapon rune, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking kusarigama, brilliant weapon rune
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Demon Slayer
o Skill Increase: Performance (L)
o Gear: +3 greater striking kusarigama, greater cape of illumination, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient studded leather, keen weapon rune, propulsive boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Flow of War
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Gear: commandant’s scabbard, +3 greater striking kusarigama, quickstrike weapon rune, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient studded leather, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (L)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient studded leather, commandant’s scabbard, greater boots of free running, +3 greater striking kusarigama, greater cape of illumination, greater thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +6, Dex +4, Con +4, Int +2, Wis +3, Cha +4)
o Class Feat: Cutting Without Blade
o Skill Feat: Inflame Crowd
o Gear: +3 major striking kusarigama, +3 greater resilient leather, sandals of the stag, vorpal weapon rune, headbands of translocation, quickstrike weapon rune
When I observed Tengen using his Musical Scoring, he mainly used it to read and predict Gyutaro’s attacks, making it more of a defensive measure. With that being the case, something I really wanted to work in was Defensive Stratagem providing him a way to buff his defenses, which will stack with the bonus to AC against ranged attacks from his Gaze Sharp as Steel. One thing I want to point out about this – he can’t make Strikes after deciding to use a Defensive Stratagem, but he can follow it up with a Steel on Steel. After that, he is finally back to his exemplar feats starting with Flow of War to allow him to be quickened for a round once per hour and is meant to resemble that speed of his. He ends his class feats on Cutting Without Blade, which provides a host of benefits that are maybe a little too mystical for what the slayers demonstrate in their series, but the ability to gain an ikon feat each day is a super attractive effect and can let him get Motionless Cutter to spin his blades about in a fearsome whirl. With the last block of his skill feats, he gets a nice mix with Cloud Jump letting him bound impossible distances, Battle Cry letting him Demoralize a foe before the fight even begins, and Inflame Crowd letting him make some requests of crowds that he’s impressed. With his final ancestry feat, he can become the titular Demon Slayer, giving him a fearsome Strike that could go crazy if he can predict a crit with Devise a Stratagem. I’m of two minds when it comes to his last general feat – Incredible Initiative is highly useful and will help him act first, but he could also consider Ancestral Paragon so that he can get Nimble Elf to make him even faster.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Obviously, in a free archetype game, Tengen will be starting off with the archetypes already featured in this build. However, doing so would require a slight adjustment with his initial array of ability scores – he’ll need to swap out one of his initial Dexterity boosts for an Intelligence boost and settle for using medium armor until he can increase his Dex. Starting with the investigator, he can use it to enhance his skills with Skill Mastery, maybe get some more Stealth and be a bit more of a ninja, and alchemist can be used for Poison Resistance, which he certainly demonstrates in the fight against Gyutaro. If you can fit it in, I’d also consider a Monk Dedication since the kusarigama has the monk trait and after he gains Monastic Weaponry, he can use it with the likes of inner upheaval, Monk’s Flurry, or One-Inch Punch.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Uzui Tenzen is an aiuvarin human exemplar with the demon hunted background though we reflect his position in the Demon Slayer Corps with the likes of the Demon Slayer feat. For his Sound Breathing style, he has Energized Spark for sonic damage and the likes of Steel on Steel, but uses an investigator archetype and its Devise a Stratagem to recreate his Musical Scoring technique. A heavy investment into Performance and its feats fits with his claim as the god of festivals whereas the flash, and his many, many bombs, comes from an Alchemist Dedication. His Thousand-League Sandals, Fleet, and Flow of War are meant to sell his incredible speed while another one of his ikon, his Gaze Sharp as Steel, gives him a bonus on Perception checks meant to resemble his extraordinary hearing capabilities. He wields a kusarigama to represent his dual cleavers and captures the twinned nature of them through the likes of his Gleaming Blade ikon, which has the Flowing Spirit Strike Transcendence. Along this same idea, he could use Cutting Without Blade to gain something like Motionless Cutter to get his blades whirring. Fast Recovery is unfortunately the closest we get to resembling his poison resistance and then, finally, his Teacher of Heroes epithet references the role that he took up among the Demon Slayer Corps following the events of the Entertainment District encounter.
Rowdy, raucous, but righteous, this rambunctious rival routinely routes rogues and rapscallions with rare rapidity, readily razing their roost with roaring reports and rending rips.
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. This is a bit of a whetting of a whistle - next week sees us starting in on our October builds, and I am once more doing some themed builds. After making monsters and assembling slashers, this time we're looking at the hunters and slayers of those things that go bump in the night!
Have a fantastic Friday!
Comments