Pathfinder Iconics – Part 1

Paizo, the developers of the Pathfinder games, have made a series of characters known as “Iconics“, characters meant to embody the game’s classes. The characters appear in the art of various books, and are even sometimes provided as pre-generated characters for players who don’t wish to create their own characters to use.

I thought it would be a fun challenge for both myself and my friend and Pathfinder GM Andrew to develop our own “Iconics”, and so I put forth the challenge to him, with the following rules.

1. One character per class, obviously
2. Homebrew subclass options are perfectly valid choices
3. No using an Ancestry more than twice. If you do use one more than once, they HAVE to have different Heritages.
4. For the purposes of this challenge, versatile heritages count as Ancestries, but their associated “main” ancestry must be different if you use them twice, as must any lineage options they have. So for example, Aiuvarin and Dromaar count as Ancestries but their second halves must be different if you use either of them twice. Nephilim and Changeling each count as ancestries, but you must not only pick different “main” ancestries, but also a different lineage if you use them each more than once.

I’ll admit, I have something of a lead on Andrew, having been developing characters for many, but not all, of the game’s classes for quite some time now. Andrew added in the benchmark of “We must fully build the character at level 5”, so I’ve got a bit of ways to go, as I had previously only made some characters beyond simple concepts, and those were at level 2.

That being said, at press time, I have finally managed to at least build concepts for all classes, and so I wanted to share my own “Iconics” here.

Pathfinder, however, currently has twenty-three classes (with two more being released this year), so we’re going to split this up over a series of posts. The first one will cover the classes in the recently released Player Core book. Subsequent posts will cover the classes planned for Player Core 2, and the remainder, the ones being updated for the Remaster via errata documents (and the Kineticist, which was designed with the Remaster in mind) will have their own post.

Let’s get started!

Astria Foxgrove, the Bard

Ironically, we must start off with one of my lease favorite classes, and one of the last characters I developed.

Astria Foxgrove is an Aiuvarin (what Pathfinder has renamed half-elves to) who grew up hearing the many wild and various tales of her proud adventurer ancestors, and decided to find and collect them all. Though it was impossible to truly separate the myths and legends from the real events that had taken place, Astria didn’t care, she loved all of the tales, and treated them all as truth. Regardless of their veracity, these heroic tales provided glimpses of power, and from them Astria was able to learn enough to become an adventurer in her own right, wielding magical power, various tricks, skills, and training gleaned from (or inspired by) those heroic tales.

Fans of Plus 5 to Hit will no doubt recognize the Foxgrove name as belonging to two of the characters in that game, Falwin and Samantha, as well as Rho’s fighter in our Strixhaven interlude, and it is these characters that Astria is intended to be descended from. But how can they be, if she is part of the Pathfinder universe and not that of the Forgotten Realms, you might ask? Who knows? Regardless of whether Astria truly is their descendant, she has nonetheless gotten her hands on their stories and teachings and is determined to use what she has learned to become a legendary adventurer in her own right.

Astria uses the Fable muse from the PlayerCore1 Expanded book. While most of the abilities mention animals meant to embody the lessons of a fable, I would be reflavoring those abilities to make use of the legends of her ancestors, referencing them by name and possibly event, were I to play her.

Laridia-2, the Cleric

We’ve talked a fair bit about Laridia-2’s story in this post, so please give that a perusal to get the full story of her.

Krel Vichuk, the Druid

Krel is a Tengu that once hailed from a small fishing village that venerated the mercurial storm god (and ancestral god of the Tengu) Hei Feng. The Duke of Thunder is a mercurial one, however, and one day a tsunami washed over their land, annihilating the village and most who lived in it. The survivors believed Hei Feng had send the massive wave over some perceived slight. Krel’s sister, his only living relative, was among the dead, and Krel raged at Hei Feng for his callousness and impulsiveness, likening him to a child. Having heard stories of mortals such as Cayden Cailean and Iomedae who had ascended into divinity, Krel has resolved to do the same. He has joined a druidic order that wields the powers of the storm, and vowed that he will not rest until he has mastered all the order has to teach him, learned all that he can of nature’s powers, ascended to godhood, and deposed Hei Feng’s mastery of the storms, the sea, and his people. He will then justly rule over these domains, freeing his people from the childish deity’s whims.

Krel uses the Storm order druid subclass.

Meleket, the Fighter

Meleket is a human of Garundi ancestry from the undead-ruled nation of Geb, where he is part of the caste known as the Quick: living mortals who might have more rights than the thralls used for slave labor and food, but are nonetheless very much subservient to the undead who occupy Geb’s highest caste. Meleket himself was once part of Geb’s military, serving in an elite unit of scythe wielding warriors known as the Reapers. While Geb was at peace, Meleket was content to serve, but with war with their ancestral enemy of Nex seemingly inevitably due to resume, Meleket knew that the most likely outcome for himself was death and reanimation, a fate he desperately seeks to avoid.

He deserted and fled Geb, trading his scythe for food and passage as far away from the forthcoming war as he can. He continues to make a living as an adventurer and soldier for hire, avoiding any jobs that might take him close to his ancestral home.

Tsemahi, the Ranger

Tsemahi is a Kitsune, a shapechanging fox-headed humanoid race that originated on the continent of Tian Xia. Tsemahi himself, however, lives in the Inner Sea region, in the Kitsune settlement of Angen. Angen lies within the Veradun Forest, which despite straddling the borders of several nations is largely controlled by an order of druids known as the Wildwood. Tsemahi has spent a great deal of time among Angen’s druidic neighbors undergoing training as a ranger, learning the ways of nature and gaining a drive to defend it. He became an enemy of the Lumber Consortium of the nearby nation of Andoran, executing guerilla strikes and assassinations against their personnel, until the Consortium threatened the Wildwood to do something about him, or risk the conflict escalating. Though many privately agreed with his actions, the Wildwood was unwilling to risk open conflict with the consortium or Andoran, and thus they petitioned Tsemahi to cease his activities. Though not inclined to surrender to the cowardly manipulations of the despoilers, Tsemahi himself was unwilling to risk the safety of his home or the forest he had come to love, and so he agreed to depart. He did so with a promise; the druids would one day have to push back on Andoran for their unwillingness to respect the forest, and when that day came, they should send for him.

Tsemahi has left for new adventures and new targets who likewise abuse nature’s gifts, constantly honing his skills for the inevitable conflict back home.

Taess Taephestus, the Rogue

Taess did not have a happy childhood. The Elf has no memory of any parents or other family other than the vile hag who served as her guardian. The hag tried to force her to obey, to learn vile magics and foul alchemy, hoping to corrupt Taess into becoming a hag herself, but Taess had a streak of stubborn rebelliousness that kept her safe (and earned her many a beating). When she was a young adult, Taess began plotting her escape. She quietly learned to pick the locks of her room, to swipe food and supplies and secret them away. Finally the day came when her preparations were complete. She waited until the hag was otherwise distracted, then stole away in the night with her prizes.

Taess didn’t stop running for hours until hunger and exhaustion forced her to stop, and even then she lingered only for a few minutes. Eventually she made it to the relative safety of a nearby city. The young woman had no name, no documentation, and no coin, however, and the city proved almost as uncaringly cruel as the home she’d just fled. After one too many hard nights and close calls, Taess resolved to die whatever she needed in order to survive. She became and expert thief, pickpocket, and cat burglar, first to survive and later to earn a very comfortable living. After having known real power, and happiness, for the first time in her life, she began seeking new challenges and thrills. Adventuring became her new calling.

Sehnrael Kavanrel, the Witch

Like Laridia-2 above, we’ve talked about Sehnrael a fair bit in this post, so please give that, as well as this short story in which Sehnrael was first contacted by her patron, a read.

Xiczik, the Wizard

Xiczik was never the biggest or most charismatic kobold in his warren, and that meant none of the others ever showed him any respect. He was quite intelligent, however, and his occasional stratagems were the only reason they kept him around. Eventually his successes lead to an overblown ego, and the chieftains decided he was no longer worth the trouble. They tossed him out, leaving him to wander alone in the tunnels under the surface of the world, or worse, on the surface itself.

It was many weeks later, weeks of running and fleeing monsters and monster hunters alike, before the kobold would stumble across a curious encampment. Tents were neatly organized, forming a circle around the site, which boasted a number of shelves, desks, and work tables. A small number of men and women were taking lessons from an elven woman, who smiled at Xiczik’s approach. She invited him, by name, to join them. When the kobold asked what exactly he was joining, she informed him that the camp was a makeshift school of arcane learning, a school of wizardry, and she was its sole instructor.

Xiczik stayed with them for months, learning the ways of arcane magic. Many students departed before he, having completed their initial studies before being sent out on various tasks or assignments by their mysterious instructor. Finally he was able to cast his first cantrips and basic spells, transcribed into his own spellbook, the last remaining student. His instructor smiled at his success, before changing shape into a mighty ancient dragon. She informed him that his time in their camp was over for the time being, and that he needed to go out into the wider world, both to learn on his own and put his newfound skills to good use. So enraptured was he at this mighty and beautiful creature, and full of pride at having been her pupil, he accepted without hesitation, revenge on his former warden long forgotten. She gifted him with a charm made from her scale, an item that would allow her to periodically contact him when she sensed he was ready for a new lesson. Xiczik has made his way to a nearby city, and proudly made a name for himself among the local adventurers.

Xiczik’s particular school of arcane instruction is the School of Draconic Design, also from Player Core 1 Expanded.