#xill

(art by David Thor Fjalarsson on Artstation)

It’s been a long time since we touched on a racial archetype from Advanced Race Guide, but here once again we find ourselves, having apparently missed one. I blame the unreliability of the human brain and the sheer vastness of Pathfinder 1st edition.

In any case, we’ve all seen fighters as a class. Strong, skilled, and able to specialize in all manner of forms of combat, which can include fighting dirty. In particular, certain orc clans scoff at the idea of fighting fair, seeking only victory, making this archetype a natural association with those clans.

However, like most racial archetypes, these dirty fighters are one GM hand-wave away from being made available to all characters.

Also, notably this is not the only archetype for fighters that specializes in such dirty tactics. The cad archetype, is specialized in both dirty tricks and other underhanded combat maneuvers such as tripping or disarming foes, though their speciality let them perform dirty tricks as part of certain attacks that got past their foe’s defenses.

As we will soon see, the dirty fighter is more about blending dirty tricks directly into their combat style.

 There is nothing less dignified to someone who fights dirty than being immediately punished for their underhanded tactics, so they train to better dodge such retaliatory strikes, useful for those combat maneuvers they haven quite mastered yet.

They do, however, become quite masterful at dirty tricks in particular, using those tactics and countering them with practiced ease.

Normally such a dirty trick is something you do other than directly attacking, but these warriors learn how to fluidly blend the two, substituting a swing with all manner of underhanded tricks when attacking repeatedly.

The more powerful can perform tricks that leave foes debilitated in multiple ways.

Interested in specializing specifically in the dirty trick maneuver to gain the advantage? This archetype might be for you. I’d recommend a build that can open with a dirty trick or other combat maneuver, potentially taking advantage of their sidestep ability, and then hammering debilitated foes repeatedly while peppering in new dirty tricks every now and again to make sure your foe never fights you at full strength. Feats that take advantage of negative conditions are also a good idea as well.

 The cad archetype in comparison to this has some more emphasis on improvised weapons, as well as rewarding critical hits with the dirty tricks, whereas this one is more about using dirty tricks directly. With that in mind, one can argue that there is plenty of difference between the two, the dirty fighter treating such maneuvers as a first resort and fluid part of their combat style.

 Most never return when kidnapped by the xill, but there are those that do, and worse, there are those who come back changed, seeing the xill tactics as a superior form of combat. This burgeoning “xill style” is not officially recognized, but while most cannot replicate the planewalking and paralysis without the help of magic or poison, they aren’t afraid to use every nasty trick to inhibit foes.

 They say that across the sea, warriors worship a different god of war, one that laughs at honor and only values victory. As a result, they fight very differently than combatants the party is used to. However, it seems there is a link between the two war gods that nobody has realized, and that the clergies of both have tried to hide.

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oof looks like something happened

bonus!

Trix: AND WHO'S FAULT IS THAT?!?!

Cync: Trix! Calm down! They're right about the noise! I'll deal with them, go cool off!!

Trix growls lowly but stalks away into the main cave, Vortex still on his head as he grunts a greeting to Dia and Xill

Cync approaches you.