#athamaru

Going to eventually be playing some pirate Pathfinder 2e and I am getting some Swashbucklers out of my system.

(art by indra13 on DeviantArt)

Despite the aversion that many people have towards insects, arachnids, and other arthropods, humanity has been cultivating a relationship with such creatures for a very long time. Bees for honey, spiders and silkworms for silk, or in fantasy settings, especially big creepy crawlies as tireless mounts and beasts of burden.

The point being is that so-called vermin have a stronger bond with humanity than some would care to admit. And in a fantasy setting, this can take a deeper and more intimate bond.

Fair warning, the concept of this archetype definitely has elements of body horror, particularly with infestation, trypophobia, and the like. So if that proves to be an ick factor at your table, consider not using it or reimagining it as the character carrying a hive or nest with them instead.

With that in mind, some characters might learn to become fully symbiotic with their swarm of choice, hosting them at least partially in their own body, giving them protection and mobility in exchange for occasionally coming out to lash out and defend the keeper.

Not only do they play host, but they also carefully cultivate the swarm within, even changing it in some ways to adapt to different situations. This might be by selective breeding to bring out useful traits and morphs, or by finding ways to host multiple species at once within their bodies, even those that would normally be opposed to each other.

Naturally, such a power set is unnerving to many, so most swarmkeepers are hermits, and often don bulky beekeeper’s gear when they must venture into civilization to conceal the transformations required to make them possible. Despite this, they have a lot to offer both in terms of the power of their swarm, but also in their intimate knowledge of the crawling, flying creatures of the world.

The basic dedication of the archetype grants the swarmkeeper the titular swarm and define it’s abilities and how the keeper can summon it and how long they can keep it out. Technically they can fly, but they stay close to the ground, having a land and climb speed, mechanically.

Whether they incorporate Osirion aphet beetles or cultivate bioluminescence in their swarm, some can command their pets to unleash a dazzling flash on foes.

Like the pyre ant, some swarms prove especially poisonous, unleashing a burning painful venom into those they sting, weakening them.

Those with spiders as their base swarm, or those that incorporate them later, coat the area they travel in silk that slows and potentially traps foes.

Swarms are painful and distracting, and many keepers know how to take advantage of that, striking while their foe slaps and flails.

Many cultivate their swarm to be faster, crawling over land and obstacle and even swimming with greater speed and control.

Riding the wave of tiny bodies, some learn to let themselves be moved with the swarm to reposition.

Unleashing the horror on their foes, some keepers teach their swarm to target orifices, pouring down the throats of foes to sting from the inside as well as choking them.

The swarm can also become dense enough to block vision as well, with training.

The beat of wings fills the air as the swarm gains true flight, not only able to move vertically, but also deafen and unnerve foes with the sound of their passing.

Finally, some keepers train to store an even bigger swarm in their body (or in supplementary housing they carry), causing their swarm to be much larger when unleashed.

Swarms are a fun asset for any character, but normally they’re locked behind spellcasting. This archetype makes such things available to all classes, and even lets you customize them with abilities inspired by other swarms in the game. Now obviously druid is the simplest thematic fit, but any class can benefit, from combat classes that specialize in keeping their foes stuck inside the swarm, to spellcasters adding their own damage and debuffs to the already-harried victims of the teeming mass. Additionally, while you can choose to go in heavy on this archetype, it is perhaps better to take only the abilities you want to get the swarm you want and move on to other things, but again, it’s your build.

The exact nature of the swarm that these keepers have living in their bodies is left deliberately unspecified since it uses it’s own stats anyway rather than the specifics of swarms in the bestiaries/monster core books. So you can get creative with the sort of specially bred, mutant, or mixed swarm that your character plays host to.

Fascinated by how many types of crustaceans take on the crab form, Kolovos the athamaru alchemist has been cultivating many different species to study them, even letting them infest his body for protection while he tests mutagens that give him carapace armor and the like.

Marked as they are by death, one would think that the urdefhan would not be able to work with swarming vermin, but evil can corrupt many things, and the rangers of the Blinded Third Eye allow corrupted centipedes and spiders nest in them, the crawling horrors visible under their translucent skin.

(art by VanEvil on DeviantArt)

Attraction and charm can be just as effective tools as any sword or spell in the right hands, and media is rife with characters that use a more subtle approach.

Now, to be clear, beauty and seduction are not necessarily the only way to go about doing this. Charisma takes on many forms, after all. (But it does help, certainly)

Enter the captivator! Whether they are self-taught charmers that supplement their smooth talking with a little magic, or a professional that has been trained from an early age to wrap others around their little finger, this archetype can make an enchanter that much more enticing, or give a non-spellcaster a subtle edge in their arts. Either way, as long as they can speak they have a decent chance of finding ways to get what they want without a fight, even if others might not agree if the spell runs out.

Others might question their morality if they use enchantment magic that subverts the will, but to a captivator such magics are simply a tool, one that they wield based on their own judgement.

Needless to say, unless they are trying to stay hidden, a captivator turns heads wherever they go, be it from attraction or simply their magnetic personalties. Perfect for seducers, grifters, master salespersons, the truly gregacious and friendly, and so on!

The base dedication for this archetype grants training in deception or diplomacy, and includes training in two occult cantrips, which must be either enchantment or illusion (that’s “create illusions or affect the mind in some way” for you new players that only know the Remastered version).

They also can learn basic spellcasting, developing mastery of a first, second, and third rank innate enchantment or illusion spell over time and practice.

With further practice, they can cast these spells more often each day as well.

Whether they are jealous of those that would turn away their thralls, groupies, or allies or simply wish to protect them, these charmers can use their own innate magics to try and counteract similar effects used by their foes.

Many even learn to improve their lesser magics to be more potent and effective as well.

As they grow in mastery, they learn more and higher level spells, going through the middle tiers into the higher with even more training.

A well-placed enchantment can turn an attacker into a friend, or at least give them different priorities, and these beguilers can master the art of casting their magic as a foe chooses to target them, potentially changing their mind on what they want to do.

Sustaining their captivator magic becomes second nature to many of these specialists, allowing them to focus on other things.

Despite many folks assertion otherwise, the same trick can in fact work on them twice given the right circumstances. As such, masters of the captivating arts have a trick where they can stop a spell that they realize isn’t going to work halfway through, keeping the spell in mind a precious extra few seconds to try once again on a subsequent turn.

This archetype is a fun way to add an element of magical manipulation to a character. With it you can make an enchantment and/or illusion mage that simply never seems to run out of tricks, add enchantment to caster classes that don’t get as many, like primal casters, or simply give a less magical character that edge of trickery. As such, bard, rogue, enchanter wizards, and the like are natural picks, but if you can come up with something else, like an exemplar with actual abilities that lend into the underrepresented clever trickster side of the class, then by all means go for it.

Like I said before, what spells this archetype gain and how they use them can vary a lot based on the character’s personal code and preferences. An amoral captivator might sport the full gamut of charms and domination spells, while others might use subtler enchantments or focus on illusions instead, or more likely, somewhere in between.

The Poisoned Tongue Guild uses corruptive and toxic arts in all it’s forms, harvesting toxins and poisons from the likes of sporeback frogs and other creatures, as well as mastering magical suggestions and illusions to figuratively poison the thoughts of others all in their service of manipulating the city of Armsreach from the shadows.

Sekin is no merfolk nor siren or any other naturally beguiling being, but the athamaru has always had a talented singing voice, and she mastered the art of using it to protect herself long ago far beyond the capabilities of either other bards.