Crystal Keeper (Pathfinder 2nd Edition Archetype)
(Art by Noe-Leyva on DeviantArt)
It doesn’t come up that often because most racial deities other than the big important ones are not well-known, but elves have their own selection of deities. The deity relevant to today’s entry is Yuelral, elven goddess of magic and gemcrafting.
It was elven devotees of Yuelral who created the technique of the crystal keeping long ago, channeling magic through perfect prisms and even magically growing crystals charged with their magic when needed.
Using crystals as foci also grants them greater understanding of runes, sigils, and all other writing as well, similar to how the truth can be seen in a gem of seeing.
Sadly, the secrets of this tradition were almost lost, but after the events of the Age of Ashes Adventure Path, they might start to repopulate back into the world. Thankfully, unlike certain other elven deities, Yuelral is not quite as xenophobic, and does not seem to mind non-elves that learn the tradition as long as they show proper knowledge and respect for elven customs.
Of course, outside of this setting, this archetype can be used with any character that wants a little dose of crystal-themed powers.
At the most basic level of this discipline’s training, the prospective keeper learns how to meditate with a crystal to aid in deciphering text of any kind, be it another language or even written in code. What’s more, their familiarity with the physical and magical properties of crystals makes them good at resisting and avoiding harm from them.
They also learn a spell for growing an electrified crystal trap on a lock or hinge, warding the entrance against entry.
They can also learn basic magic to sense magical auras and draw sigils. However, this method requires a gem of some kind as the focus.
Eventually, however, they can use their mastery of runes and crystals to temporarily alter the runes on magical armor or weapons, leading to different effects. This could be flavored as them drawing temporary runes on the armament, or they might grow temporary crystal formations that alter the flow of magic.
This archetype provides some fun crystal and magical utility, though I must admit, the archetype going on about various crystal-themed focus spells and only giving you one is kinda lame. Focusing on runes the way it does also makes sense in context, but kinda takes away from the original crystal focus the archetype seems to have. In any case, naturally, this archetype is most useful on a spellcaster of some description, though primal casters will struggle thanks to Nature not being a skill that is used by the archetype. That being said, if you’re playing a martial character that wishes they could have the right magic weapon for the situation, they might also like to benefit from this archetype as well. It is a rare archetype though, so it might be hard to actually spec into it if your GM gives a flying hoot about rarity tags at all.
Within the context of Golarion’s lore, these keepers, no matter their background, are essentially the last remnants of a forgotten tradition, which is a fun trope to play with no matter what it is. They might deeply want to survive and pass on these teachings to others, have angst about the future prospects of the tradition, or they might not care at all about the legacy and have to deal with the reactions of people who know and do care.
Encrusted with gemstones and crystal formations, many who meet Alkassar assume that he is either a positively ancient undead or even a lich about to undergo transformation into demilich, but in truth, the old skeleton is merely a keeper of the old magic of crystals. He wanders the world now, concealing his true appearance, looking for a worthy apprentice.
They say that in certain caverns that remain above the water in Malaxhai Mire are rife with crystals with unique properties, which could be very valuable to the crystal mages, but one must brave dangers like corpselights and more to find them.
On the world of Cavaa, crystal magic is not rare at all, and in fact has led to many fascinating innovations. However, recently a new form of crystal has become popular for usage, one that is blood red and stinks of necromantic magics.
