Was there any doubt that Velma would be an investigator? 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.
I needed my boy Blue to record one last video for me, but I'll be back this Monday! Hope you enjoy it.
Now, let's get into the build for Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo!
VELMA DINKLEY
SOURCE Scooby-Doo
BUILD GOALS
o Velma is the resident genius of Mystery Inc. who is often responsible for actually deciphering the clues and solving the crimes
o She is sharp-witted and at times sarcastic as well as being the most skeptical of the gang, believing in a rational explanation for everything
o While highly reliant upon her glasses and being nearly blind without them, she is highly capable when it comes to identifying fakes jewels and the like after years of experience
o She is a surprisingly capable combatant, faring well when forced into a wrestling match alongside Daphne and hurling a pair of women at once
o Despite being the smallest member of the gang, she has carried all of them at once several times
o While mostly dedicated to solving mysteries, she has actually been behind one mystery that the gang faced
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Versatile Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Intellligence
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition
o General Feat: Toughness
Background: Detective
o Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Strength
o Skill Increase: Society (trained), Underworld Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Streetwise
Class & Subclass: Empiricism Investigator
o Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Crafting (trained), Deception (trained), Intimidation (trained), Medicine (trained), Occultism (trained), Religion (trained), Society (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Class Feat: Known Weaknesses, That’s Odd, Trap Finder
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 16, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 10)
I did debate going gnome for this build given Velma’s inventiveness and as a nod to her seeming dwarfism in the Scooby Apocalypse comics, but was discouraged by a couple of my friends. Instead, I stuck with human and much like the Daphne build, took advantage of the versatile heritage to pick up Toughness since her health is a little lacking early on. As the most dedicated investigator of the gang, she makes use of the detective background and then takes the actual investigator class with the empiricism methodology (the next investigator I build will use a different methodology, I promise) since the others don’t really fit her. This automatically nets her That’s Odd and then she’ll take Known Weaknesses so she can really put her vast array of knowledge to use and then Trap Finder after learning from Fred.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Wrestler Dedication
o Skill Feat: Hefty Hauler, Titan Wrestler
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert), Society (expert)
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skillful Lesson: Dubious Knowledge
o Skill Increase: Occultism (expert)
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Athletic Strategist
o Skill Feat: Cognitive Crossover – Occultism and Society
o Skill Increase: Arcana (expert)
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 18, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 19, Wis 14, Cha 10)
o Ancestry Feat: General Training – Adopted Ancestry (Gnome)
o Skillful Lesson: Alchemical Crafting
o Skill Increase: Thievery (expert)
Based solely on a single scene in which Velma took part in a wrestling match and hurled a pair of professionals, she takes the Wrestler Dedication and Athletic Strategist. The former gives her an unarmed attack she can make use of for mechanical reasons while also increasing her Athletics to expert and giving her the Titan Wrestler skill feat. Athletic Strategist lets her use Devise a Stratagem for a maneuver, fitting how she vocalized her calculations before performing the Flying Dinkley. She takes up Hefty Hauler because a number of series have had her carrying the entire gang during chases while Dubious Knowledge and Cognitive Crossover help her better Recall Knowledge and perhaps make better use of her Known Weaknesses feat. In her time, Velma has synthesized, tested, and recognized a variety of chemical compounds and will therefore also take up Alchemical Crafting. Fleet will help in all the chase scenes that the gang partakes in and then General Training for her ancestry feat allows her to take Adopted Ancestry for gnome because some of the stuff there is just too good to pass up, which you’ll see as we get deeper into the build.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Connect the Dots
o Skill Feat: Forensic Acumen
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Thorough Search
o Skillful Lesson:Schooled in Secrets
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Clue Them All In
o Skill Feat: Disturbing Knowledge
o Skill Increase: Occultism (master)
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Gnome Obsession – Mystery Lore
o Skillful Lesson:Biographical Eye
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master), Mystery Lore (master), Underworld Lore (master)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 19, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 10)
o Class Feat: Whodunnit?
o Skill Feat: Assured Identification
o Skill Increase: Arcana (master), Nature (trained)
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient studded leather, brooch of inspiration, clockwork heels, choker of elocution, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
Many of the investigators feats, obviously, aid in investigating and Connect the Dots is one of those. At their core, Scooby-Doo stories are whodunnit mysteries and this feat can help Velma eliminate suspects. Clue Them All In is a teamwork-focused feat that helps the entire gang investigate the mystery, and she takes this over something like Shared Stratagem since the gang’s first and foremost focus is on solving mysteries – the combat capabilities in these builds are mainly just because that’s what Pathfinder is like. It does follow that after mentioning whodunnit mysteries that Velma’s final feat in this block would be Whodunnit? Something in particular that stands out with this feat is that Velma can use the first question on the list to determine whether the mystery monster is an actual monster or just a man in a mask. Forensic Acumen helps Velma investigate injuries left by culprits whereas feats such as Disturbing Knowledge and Schooled in Secrets better fit the Mystery Incorporated incarnation of Velma and its more eldritch themes. Biographical Eye covers her keen eye for detail that she can use to unravel mysteries whereas Assured Identification feels like something Velma would have in a world of magic. She takes Thorough Search for similar reasons as Fred to better investigate a scene and makes use of her Adopted Ancestry to take up Gnome Obsession. It is a little hard to say what lore skill to take – I personally like Mystery or Crime Lore, but that might overlap with Underworld Lore or be too vague for the GM to allow it.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Expeditious Search
o Skillful Lesson: Skeptic’s Defense
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Whirling Throw
o Skill Feat: Vicious Critique
o Skill Increase: Thievery (master)
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Theoretical Acumen
o Skillful Lesson: Train Animal
o Skill Increase: Crafting (expert)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Thorough Research
o Skill Feat: Read Lips
o Skill Increase: Crafting (master)
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 20, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 21, Wis 18, Cha 10)
o General Feat: Prescient Planner
o Skillful Lesson: Legendary Codebreaker
o Skill Increase: Society (legendary), Mystery Lore (legendary), Underworld Lore (legendary)
With that Wrestler Dedication, Velma can take Whirling Throw to actually perform the Flying Dinkley maneuver, launching enemies out of the ring. With the slight focus on Recall Knowledge that this build has, Velma can make use of Thorough Research while also setting herself up for her capstone feat. Velma is always dedicated to the rational explanation of whatever mysteries the party encounters and she can cover that with Skeptic’s Defense – which is also her sole reason in investing in Intimidation. To match the slightly more sarcastic and acerbic Velma seen in modern series, with Mystery Incorporated being the stand-out example, she takes Vicious Critique largely for flavor. In many instances, Velma is Scoob’s closest friend after Shaggy, leading to the inclusion of Train Animal. With her investment in Society and the number of ancient texts, clues, and codes that Velma has translated over the years, Legendary Codebreaker was an easy feat to decide to slot in. Expeditious Search lets her make quick searches when she’s pressed for time and Theoretical Acumen continues the Recall Knowledge focus of her build while also serving as a sort of defensive version of her Devise a Stratagem.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Reconstruct the Scene
o Skill Feat: Snare Crafting
o Skill Increase: Occultism (master)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Eclectic Obsession
o Skillful Lesson: Legendary Professional
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Lead Investigator
o Skill Feat: Recognize Spell
o Skill Increase: Arcana (legendary)
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skillful Lesson: Craft Anything
o Skill Increase: Crafting (legendary)
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 20, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 22, Wis 18, Cha 12)
o Class Feat: Just the Facts
o Skill Feat: Oddity Identification
o Skill Increase: Stealth (trained), Thievery (legendary)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient studded leather, archivist’s gaze, major brooch of inspiration, moonstone crystal ball, dragonscale amulet
I think the best use of Reconstruct the Scene is to do the summations that Velma typically gives after capturing the criminal. Lead Investigator builds out of Clue Them All In, further enforcing the teamwork theme that I want to have at least slightly present in her build. Her capstone feat is Just the Facts; it is hard for me to pass up on feats that make a character permanently quickened and it plays in beautifully with the RK focus of the build and Velma’s vast wealth of knowledge. She picks up Snare Crafting From Fred and Legendary Professional will allow her to leverage her knowledge of mysteries for financial gain. I mainly like Recognize Spell because I could see her using it to help figure out a culprit. Rather than taking Heroic Presence again, Eclectic Obsession is a fun feat to let her cram on a subject and gain a new Lore skill at the drop of a hat.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Velma could explore the Wrestler Dedication deeper but in a free archetype game, I would instead suggest taking the Wrestler Dedication later (and maybe pick up a different weapon) to instead take an option such as Archaeologist Dedication or Loremaster Dedication, which both further play into and encourage her knowledge focus. There is also the Edgewatch Detective Dedication, which surprisingly doesn’t have too much overlap with the investigator class.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Velma Dinkley is a versatile human investigator with the empiricism methodology and the detective background. This class, along with her gnome feats and knowledge based skill feats, lend themselves fantastically to the smartest member of Mystery Inc., with Devise a Stratagem allowing her to use her intellect rather than physical prowess. Athletic Strategist expands upon this, allowing her to apply calculations and theory to grappling, tripping, or otherwise tangling up foes. This in conjunction with her Wrestler Dedication and its Whirling Throw allows her to pull off the impressive maneuver that is the Flying Dinkley. Her slight focus on Strength and feats such as Hefty Hauler play may not let her carry the full gang, but at least play into that idea. While her investigator feats can help her piece together clues and put her vast array of knowledge to use, Skeptic's Defense reflects her dedication to rational explanations for whatever she and her friends face. She can also aid them in the investigation with feats such as Clue Them All In and Lead Investigator. Regrettably, this build got a little crowded and couldn't quite fit in a deeper dive into her Deception to reflect her involvement in the mystery of Where's My Mummy, but it does capture some of her more acerbic interpretations with the likes of Vicious Critique.
This clever clue collector captures culprits with crafty capers and capable clutches then concludes with a conspectus of the case.
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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