This was my brother's favorite character from the series, which was an influencing decision in building this character. Though another component is that my buddy Shy, who you can usually catch on the Monster Mashes, brought a fun little combination to my attention. 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 prefer watching over reading, check out the YouTube video on the character!
Let's get into the build for Voldo from the Soul series of fighting games.
VOLDO
SOURCEÂ Soul Fighting Series
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BUILD GOALS
o   Voldo is a playable character from the Soul series who wields a pair of tri-bladed katars and fights using a self-taught contortionism style
o   He was the loyal servant of an Italian weapons merchant who created a vault on an island to house his remaining treasures after much of his stash was confiscated
o   Voldo executed the men who made the vault, known as the Money Pit, and then remained there as its guardian, killing trespassers and hunting down those who escaped with any treasure
o   Left in the dark, he eventually lost his vision but his other sense were heightened to the point that this didn’t limit him, even in a fight
o   Voldo is a self-taught fighter who relies on a contortionism-based style that makes him extremely unpredictable
o   He can fight facing forward, backwards, or in a Mantis Crawl stance, moving on all fours with his back towards the ground
o   Utilizes a number of grabs and low attacks to knock enemies off-balance before delivering attacks while they’re vulnerable
o   Great Gear of Madness involves him grabbing an opponent and rolls into them, savaging them before slamming them into the ground
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LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Mutated Fleshwarp
o   Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Constitution, +Dexterity
o   Ancestry Feat: Living Weapon
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Background:Â Guard
o   Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Dexterity
o   Skill Increase: Intimidation (trained), Warfare Lore (trained)
o   Background Feat: Quick Coercion
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Class:Â Monk
o   Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o   Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Deception (trained), Stealth (trained)
o   Class Feat: Stumbling Stance
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Details
o   Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +2)
The first time I played any game from the Soul series, I didn’t think that Voldo was even human. Some people assured me that he was, but in the course of researching the character, I discovered the truth: he’s an Italian. This discovery led to the use of the fleshwarp ancestry, capturing his innate freakiness while using the mutated heritage mostly to represent the changes he underwent down in the dark of the Money Pit. Created also feels appropriate for the character even if it doesn’t make as much sense. He uses Living Weapon to gain claws, which will be how we represent his favored katars – because those won’t actually be part of this build. Since his master’s death, he has served as the guardian of the Money Pit, lending to the use of the guard background, a solid fit for the creepy carver of conspiring crooks.
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Voldo is (in)famous for his use of katars, a pair of exotic weapons gifted to him by his late master. However, while katars have the monk trait, they both lack the finesse trait and the free-hand trait, which means that he can’t use the trips and grabs and all the other little tricks he does. So, to capture the confounding combative contortions of Voldo as well keeping him able to perform his juggles and knockdowns, he takes Stumbling Stance and forgoes Monastic Weaponry entirely. This stance aids him in confusing foes as Strikes against him while he’s in this stance leaves them off-guard. One final thing of note, Voldo is a blind character much like Toph was. As described in that instance, this build will use an early Blind-Fight feat, as detailed on page 487 of the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook.
LEVEL 2
o   Class Feat: Rogue Dedication – Read Psychometric Resonance
o   Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o   Skill Increase: Occultism (trained), Thievery (trained)
o   Gear: psychopomp mask
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LEVEL 3
o   General Feat: Fleet
o   Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o   Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), cloak of feline rest, psychopomp mask
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LEVEL 4
o   Class Feat: Flying Kick
o   Skill Feat: Nimble Crawl
o   Gear: bracelet of dashing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), necklace of knives, psychopomp mask
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LEVEL 5
o   Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4.5, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +3)
o   Ancestry Feat: Uncanny Awareness
o   Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o   Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, manacles of persuasion, necklace of knives, cloak of feline rest, psychopomp mask
Voldo certainly has some ninja-esque concepts to him, which he’ll start exploring with the Rogue Dedication, an archetype that will mesh beautifully with his Stumbling Stance. Flying Kicks are a pretty standard move in fighting games, but it feels especially appropriate for Voldo who has a move where he pelvic thrusts somebody into the air and then leaps after them to deliver a brutal blow midair. From his archetype, he becomes trained in Occultism, and will then take Read Psychometric Resonance, which will allow him to better track down the treasures stolen from his master’s vault. Quick Jump is always handy and he’s managed impressive leaps from a standing position, but the most important skill feat in this block is Nimble Crawl. Initially, this makes it so that he can crawl up to half his Speed, which he will enhance with Fleet, but as he improves his Acrobatics skill, he will be able to move faster until he isn’t even off-guard while prone – which is a fantastic representation for his Mantis Crawl stance. While Voldo already has Blind-Fight, he can take Uncanny Awareness as his ancestry feat to have an even better sense of the world around him.
LEVEL 6
o   Class Feat: Whirling Throw
o   Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o   Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape
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LEVEL 7
o   General Feat: Feather Step
o   Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o   Path to Perfection: Reflex (master)
o   Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 explorer’s clothing, quick runner’s shirt, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, manacles of persuasion
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LEVEL 8
o   Class Feat: Flurry of Maneuvers
o   Skill Feat: Kip Up
o   Gear: ring of sustenance, vaultbreaker’s harness, lesser grub gloves, +1 explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt
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LEVEL 9
o   Ancestry Feat: Mutate Weapon
o   Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o   Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, cloak of elvenkind, ring of sustenance, lesser grub gloves, boots of elvenkind, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
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LEVEL 10
o   Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +5, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +4)
o   Class Feat: Sneak Attacker
o   Skill Feat: Quick Squeeze
o   Gear: thunderblast slippers, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, mask of the cursed eye, ring of sustenance, lesser grub gloves, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
Between some of the throws in Voldo’s combos along with the slam into the ground from Great Gear of Madness, he makes use Whirling Throw to toss his victims around. Before he unleashes that, he can use Flurry of Maneuvers to seize enemies, which can lead to fun combos such as tripping or grappling a target before making a stumbling swing, benefiting from both its agile and backstabber traits. He can expand upon this even further with Sneak Attacker, meaning that gets to deal an extra 1d6+1 precision damage against such targets. Voldo is way outsized by a number of foes in the Soul series with Astaroth probably being the most obvious example, which lends to the use of Titan Wrestler. Quick Squeeze feels like it falls well into his purview, given his contortionist nature, but Kip Up is the big one here. By the time he takes Kip Up, he can Drop Prone, Crawl at his terrifying Speed as a monk, and then Stand as a free action thanks to this feat, all but unaffected by being prone. Feather Step plays further into his nimbleness while Mutate Weapon allows him to enhance his claws to bring them a bit closer to his katars, which is as good as it’s going to get.
LEVEL 11
o   General Feat: Toughness
o   Skill Increase: Deception (expert)
o   Second Path to Perfection: Fortitude (master)
o   Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), thunderblast slippers, armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of sustenance, cloak of thirsty fronds
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LEVEL 12
o   Class Feat: Stumbling Feint
o   Skill Feat: Fleeing Diversion
o   Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), ring of lies, thunderblast slippers, mask of the cursed eye, greater skittering mask
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LEVEL 13
o   Ancestry Feat: Slip the Grasp
o   Skill Increase: Deception (master)
o   Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, smuggler’s sack (type III), ring of lies, thunderblast slippers, armbands of athleticism
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LEVEL 14
o   Class Feat: Basic Trickery – Tumble Behind
o   Skill Feat: Slippery Prey
o   Gear: smuggler’s sack (type IV), handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, daredevil boots, ring of lies
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LEVEL 15
o   Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +5.5, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +4.5)
o   General Feat: Fast Recovery
o   Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)
o   Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, smuggler’s sack (type IV), greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater boots of elvenkind, smuggler’s sack (type III)
Voldo needed to increase his Acrobatics and Athletics skills for the sake of his skill feats and maneuvers, but he starts increasing Deception so that he can take Stumbling Feint. If a creature Strikes Voldo, they’ll be off-guard to his next Strike, but then he can use this with Flurry of Blows to make them off-guard to his next two Strikes as well, unleashing a furious series of devastating blows. With the tumbling, rolling around, and attacking from the ground that Voldo sometimes does, he uses Basic Trickery to take up Tumble Behind, giving him even more ways to throw foes off-guard. Fleeing Diversion plays into his newly increased Deception, letting him slip back out before re-engaging enemies when he once more has the advantage. This block does also have some focus on Escaping between Slippery Prey and Slip the Grasp, which is a flourish action, but is nice for both combining actions and potentially allowing him to make a Strike without the multiple attack penalty. Toughness and Fast Recovery are more defensive options that are more generally useful than specific to the character.
LEVEL 16
o   Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Head Stomp
o   Skill Feat: Lengthy Diversion
o   Gear: greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, major sealing chest, smuggler’s sack (type IV), handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), moderate grub gloves
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LEVEL 17
o   Ancestry Feat: Augment Senses
o   Skill Increase: Deception (legendary)
o   Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, smuggler’s sack (type IV), greater ring of the ram
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LEVEL 18
o   Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – The Harder They Fall
o   Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o   Gear: anklets of alacrity, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), speed weapon rune, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, major sealing chest
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LEVEL 19
o   General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o   Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o   Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, anklets of alacrity, greater armbands of athleticism, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, greater cape of illumination
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LEVEL 20
o   Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +6, Con +3, Int +1, Wis +3, Cha +5)
o   Class Feat: Enduring Quickness
o   Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o   Skill Increase: Medicine (trained)
o   Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, mercurial mantle, greater armbands of athleticism, highhelm drill (mark III), greater flaming weapon rune
Voldo takes a few feats in this block that take advantage of his maneuver usage and possibly ironically, comes from his archetype. Advanced Trickery is used to take up both Head Stomp and The Harder They Fall. The former allows him to take advantage of already downed targets while the latter allows him to dole out more damage simply from using these maneuvers. Finally, Enduring Quickness makes him permanently quickened, which helps with his more bizarre tactics and lets him weave in these other tricks and the like. His skill feats are mainly just picking up generally handy options that are allowed by his skill increases while Incredible Initiative as his final general feat can help him get some use out of the surprise attack class feature from his archetype. Finally, Augment Senses just expands on the unnatural senses that he has developed from his decades in the dark and damp.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: A deeper dive into the rogue archetype actually has the chance of allowing Voldo to make use of his katars though it still isn’t great due to their lack of the finesse trait. But the free up feat could make room for Monastic Weaponry and the rogue’s Quick Draw could help him switch more swiftly between his Stumbling Stance and katars. He could also take up Opportune Backstab, Skirmish Strike, Nimble Dodge, and Overextending Feint. Beyond rogue, an argument could perhaps be made for bounty hunter to represent Voldo hunting down thieves that stole from the Money Pit or acrobat just for his general agility.
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BUILD CONCLUSION
Voldo is a mutated fleshwarp monk with the guard background to represent his considerable time spent as the guardian of the Money Pit. This build, in a possibly controversial move, forgoes taking his katars to instead emulate his bizarre, contortionist style with the Stumbling Stance. This allows him to throw enemies off-guard even as they successfully Strike him. He lost his vision in the dark of the Money Pit, which he’ll use Blind-Fight for as described in Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook page 487, but he can also take up Augment Senses and Uncanny Awareness to further explore this option. He can expand on his unpredictable style with Stumbling Feint and choices such as Nimble Crawl and Kip Up to move around, which in particular helps to imitate his Mantis Crawl. Flurry of Maneuvers and sticking with unarmed combat keeps Voldo able to perform grapples, trips, and the like, which he will expand upon with feats such as Whirling Throw, Head Stomp, and The Harder They Fall while Flurry of Maneuvers can help him land them in the first place. His Greater Gear of Madness is probably best represented by a Flurry of Maneuvers that leads with a grapple, a couple of stumbling swing Strikes, and then a Whirling Throw, which fortunately doesn’t have the attack trait!
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This abomination of an acrobatic assassin absolutely annihilates avaricious adversaries with agile attacks, angling abnormal antics at his antagonists.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!