#witchwyrd

(art by Izaque Fagundez on Artstation)

Small announcement, folks: After today’s entry, the Starfinder Archetypes, which served as the basis for PF2 archetypes, will be moved into the regular weekly rotation rather than being limited to CFF. There’s enough of them now and the decision for them to be CFF entries was made back before Pathfinder Second Edition was announced. And now there’s a Starfinder Second Edition on the way too! Anyway, on with the entry!

As long as there have been militaries, there have been commanders there to keep their cool, analyze the situation, and issue commands. This has remained true through the Bronze Age to the present day, and will likely remain true into the far future.

There are many different styles of leadership, but today we will be focusing the style common to the individual squads of the Veskarium’s militaries, an adaptation of the ancient vesk tradition of the Battle Leader!

Battle Leaders have their basis in the teachings of the conquerer-god Darmoritosh, and as such they focus on momentum in battle, rewarding victory against individual foes with praise and new orders to direct those under them to even greater heights.

In other words, this is an interesting flavor of the classic “marshal” rpg trope, a military leader whose function is to buff allies with orders and commands, so it’s fun to see that realized in some way outside of the solider class, though you can always combine the two as well.

The core ability of this path is the battle leader’s ability to react to an ally downing or critically wounding a foe and issuing their allies an order afterwards, bolstering their ability to act in other ways. When they start down this path, they learn one such order, which can range from enhanced damage on their next turn, greater speed, enhanced focus on skills or resistance, giving them a moment to recover, helping them stay alert, help them overcome afflictions, and helping them reposition. Some of these affect all allies, while others affect only the one that made the triggering attack.

As they grow in power, they can choose to forgo various abilities of their vocation in favor of learning either a new order, or to learn to better utilize an order they already have, increasing it’s effect.

Eventually, they also learn how to invoke two benefits of orders at once, granting allies even greater benefits.

Naturally, this archetype works best with more militant classes (especially vanguard with their occasional ability to have extra reactions in a single turn), but it can work well with pretty much anyone, especially if your build doesn’t have a lot of use for reactions normally. Also consider pairing it with a buffing support build such as a biohacker, mystic, and other spellcasters. The fact you can choose between your normal class abilities and additional benefits from the archetype is a nice touch as well.

You can’t put your life in another person’s hands without trusting them, and that’s exactly what happens in a military squad. Exactly what style of leadership your battle leader has is up to you, but you should probably roleplay them getting to know their various party members to better reflect their bond with the party.

Forgoing the life of a merchant, the witchwyrd Albonsai instead runs a mercenary company, where she is not afraid of getting mixed up in the fight as well. Unlike other witchwyrds her underlings seemingly keep her secrets out of loyalty rather than binding legal contract, though she also typically offers her best prices to her kin.

A raxilite delegate has long trusted their bodyguard team to protect them, but on their most recent assignment, they hire the party as an auxiliary force. The main team, however, is a very tight-knit group, and are mistrusting of the newcomers, a rift that would-be assassins could exploit if not closed.

detailed commission for @platonic-father of their Witchwyrd Witchwarper, Miraz! This is so different from what i usually do, so fun!

“Come on down to the UNWORLDLY BAZAAR™, home of the GREATEST and MOST MYSTERIOUS items and BARGAINS in the known planes and some unknown ones!”

A wonderful and interesting trader that the players of Panspermia α found in the otherplanar city of Helixitha, and a member of the strange race known as Witchwyrds.

She’s got a very good marketing campaign, namely invisible creatures that ‘blow’ leaflets into peoples’ faces.

We end off this week’s special with a classic race that got it’s start on the fringes of Pathfinder, but only became playable in Starfinder. I present to you the witchwyrds!

The classic idea of the mysterious merchant is one that has pervaded both fantasy and sci-fi for a very long time, and while the witchwyrds are not always traders, their society has flourished under the idea of trade and merchantile acquisition for untold generations.

While witchwyrds rarely show their actual faces due to their culture, it is safe to say that these beings are four-armed humanoids with somewhat elongated skulls, hands ending in three strong fingers, and standing on two digitigrade legs with two toes. They have a natural ability to absorb and manipulate magic, which they can refine, but their most iconic use launching magic-missile-like force projectiles at foes, and even catching magic missiles to throw back at their assailants. They also seem to primarily sport bluish or greenish skin tones, which may hint at a homeworld with intense sunlight.

In the distant past, the witchwyrds developed starship travel long before most other races, and traveled the stars, seeking out worlds with which to trade with or live on, all before Drift Travel was discovered. Typically, they preferred to hide their appearance, disguising themselves as masked and cloaked members of local species so as not to alarm them with their appearances, however, in the distant future of Starfinder, that is hardly a problem anymore, though like the kasatha, it is generally considered taboo to reveal their faces to anyone other than close family and friends.

Speaking of which, it has hinted at for a while that kasatha were somehow related to witchwyrds, and were advised to build their worldship, the Idarii based on witchwyrd advice, and an article in PF2’s Age of Ashes adventure path confirms this. However, many may not know that they are also kin to the shobhad of Akiton, whom a cabal of them apparently split off from the main witchwyrd clan on the planet and changed to become stronger and more war-like at the expense of their magic… I’m honestly not that big a fan of that revelation, as not only must there have been some heavy gene modding in both cases (changing the hands, and the legs from digitigrade to plantigrade in both cases) but it also makes both the shobhad and the kasatha kinda-sorta aliens even to their own homeworld, and ruins the common trait that the shobhad share with their inspiration: green martians of the Barsoom series, in which entire ecosystems of six-limbed fauna evolved, including the white apes Barsoom, which inspire fellow six-limbed Akitonians: the girallons.

Regardless, the witchwyrds have been just about everywhere since before spaceflight reached other worlds, and while they seem content to buy and sell in peace, one can’t help but wonder if they might have greater plans. For their part, the witchwyrds prefer to live in isolated, self-sufficient clans that can nonetheless contact each other in times of need, relying on secrecy and exclusivity as their first line of defense.

 Witchwyrds are charming and intelligent, but are somewhat frail.

With keen vision, they can see into darkness.

With a free hand and an awareness of the incoming attack, witchwyrds can use the innate magic they possess to catch up to one incoming magic missile in each hand, which linger there as a glowing aura until either they dissappate, are dismissed, or are used to fuel their own force bolts.

Indeed, while witchwyrds can launch multiple said bolts once a day, they can also use the force from caught missiles to fuel the ability as well, letting them use it more often as long as foes keep trying to hit them with such attacks.

Like other four-armed races, witchwyrds can hold plenty of equipment at the ready, though they can’t necessarily use it all at once.

As part of a culture of traders, it only makes sense that they would be skilled diplomats and hagglers.

 Cunning and charming, witchwyrds do well in almost any class, though their comparatively weak constitutions do mean that they find vanguards, as well as tanky roles in general more difficult. Where they really excel is in social roles, making envoy a very good pick, though witchwarper and technomancer are also very good choices. Biohackers and mechanics of all stripes can also be found as well. Despite their risks in direct combat, some witchwyrds become solarians to take advantage of their charisma in combat. Mystics might show up in any sort of manner as well, and those who take the path of the operative might do so in the role of a treasure hunter, or perhaps a shady but skilled fence or black market merchant.

We’re back again with another round of my own personal characters that either I have played, or that exist in concept form, ready to be built and played. The idea being that I get to share some of my own concepts, while also inspiring other players.

This time, we’re starting with a concept for a Starfinder character, in the form of a witchwyrd smuggler!

 While the witchwyrd race lives by a philosophy of spreading far and wide and surviving by being useful to others due to their merchantile skill, not every witchwyrd agrees on what sort of business they should be in.

Kunek, one such trader, started out as an apprentice in part of a larger witchwyrd network, moving rare and exclusive goods for discerning customers. Early in his training, a mistake got him caught with illegal goods. Disavowing any knowledge of his cargo, his consortium threw him under the bus, but did discretely help him get a reduced sentence for his indiscretion, as well as a small stipend and ticket offworld to start a business elsewhere.

Having mixed feelings about this treatment, Kunek took up smuggling again, but this time with newfound experience to keep himself out of trouble. Now, he runs exotic extralegal good in addition to more ordinary cargo, and could even be hired on with an adventuring crew, always looking for a new deal and exotic goods.

 Though most of his features are obscured by his clothing, Kunek has blue-gray skin that darkens near the end of his extremities.

While he does retain the traditional red hood of many witchwyrds, Kunek’s outer robe is removable, revealing his more form-fitting and dark-colored armor and outerwear underneath. This allows him to shift between his appearance as a businessman and as a more active figure as needed.

 For Kunek, I’m thinking of building him as an operative with the free trader archetype tacked on and the outlaw theme. This allows Kunek to be able to sell goods at a better price and buy them for a really good low price, as well as use bribes to get out of conflict with the law. Additionally, I would go with the thief specialization as an operative, since not only does this reward him for keeping weapons concealed and give him a free way to offer a distraction, but it also gives him a contingency ability at higher levels, whether it be acquiring goods or preparing for exchanges that go south.

Equipment-wise, he would favor small arms and operative melee weapons that are easy to conceal, and have options for both lethal and nonlethal attacks. Additionally, he would also be packing grenades and devices that can be triggered to gain control of a situation, or disrupt an opponent’s control over the situation as needed.