#mephit

This starts the mephits.

Well, when I was working on these. I was working from one from a reference picture, with something that looked like this. Though, apparently fire isn't actually an option.

Saw the fight and said "F it,

I'll blow dust in each monster's eye."

The roper and hulk,

Couldn't help but sulk,

(art by cobaltplasma on DeviantArt)

A marvelous property of pure metals is their ability to generate such clear notes of sound when struck or vibrated. So beloved is this aspect of them that we’ve devised all manner of ways to shape metal for that exact purpose, be it complex instruments, wind chimes, or indeed bells.

A bell can be a simple instrument, or it can be a powerful tool of communication, often both at once. Bells can inspire fear and alertness when used as an alarm, or comfort when used to signal times of day or even times of worship.

Indeed, bells are strongly associated with various religions for their ability to signal when certain religiously significant times were approaching over a large area.

Its no small wonder that bells are often considered sacred instruments, and that there is a lot of folklore that paints the sound of bells as able to drive away evil spirits.

It is that significance that thaumaturges capitalize on with their occult arts, and many of them do adopt bells as one of their implements. These are often handbells, though handchimes, windchimes, and even larger bells such as those used by guards in some cultures. Anything that is notable for it’s ability to signal with sound might be appropriate. Such chiming instruments are associated with the cosmic caravan astrological signs of the daughter and the blossom.

Such implements, empowered by the belief and knowledge of a thaumaturge, become especially useful in driving away and disrupting the actions of monsters.

When their chosen foe casts magic or attacks, these thaumaturges can ring their bell to disrupt their concentration. Why they can’t lose the spell because of this, it can still reduce the intensity of the effect or throw off aim enough to help allies avoid the attack or magic.

Later on, their bell continues to resonate afterwards, causing the effects of the chiming to last longer.

They also learn to link their own strikes to the resonance of their bell, causing foes they exploit the weakness of to be more vulnerable to the bell’s disrupting chime.

Finally, those who master the bell learn to intensify it’s effects, as well as use it against all foes, not just the one they are currently targeting with their expertise.

Beyond that, a decent handful of feats are useful and/or thematic for those specializing in using the bell implement, such as Divine Disharmony, Haunt Ingenuity, Root to Life, Esoteric Warden, Turn Away Misfortune, Shared Warding, Thaumaturge’s Demesne, Esoteric Reflexes, Sever Magic, Unlimited Demesne, or Wonder Worker, though obviously your build will differ.

The bell implement is there to give you a way to help protect your allies by debuffing your foe as they attack, potentially protecting allies as they make saves and avoid attacks. That alone makes your thaumaturge a bit more of a support character, so you might consider building in that direction or diversifying to provide a more even approach of attack and defense.

Though thaumaturges aren’t quite the same as their predecessor class, the occultist, they share some of the same bones, so thinking about what sort of significance the instruments that thaumaturges might use as bells is interesting. One might be the bell of a town crier whose alert saved a village, or perhaps a bell from the parade raiment of a priest meant to frighten evil away, and so on.

A child of a magically-assisted union, Vokuss the Horn is a dromaar, or half-orc, but his other half is one of the stout kashrishi, those crystal-horned psychic beings. Though his appearance is unusual, he has a special knack for psychic resonance, particularly with his set of crystal chimes. As such, he has long worked a monster hunter, able to understand their weaknesses by listening to the notes of the chime.

Acclaimed monster hunter and thaumaturge Poculus has gone missing, and whats more, his signature brass bell has turned up, half-melted in the a forge downtown. The owner claims no knowledge, but his fire mephit assistant, Scorchfingers, is being evasive, as if he witnessed something, but it too afraid to reveal it.