The Morrigna
Psychopomps are guardians and shepherds of the dead in the Boneyard, the vast plane of graves where mortal souls are judged and sent on to their eternal rewards or damnations. Psychopomps ensure that the dead come to terms with their transition from mortality and are properly sorted into the appropriate afterlife. They also protect souls from being preyed upon by supernatural predators. Nearly all psychopomps wear masks, especially when they're likely to be interacting with mortals, although the types of masks they wear are as varied as the psychopomps themselves. The courts of the Boneyard preside in Requian, a somber yet melodic language spoken slowly with various tonal shifts.
Many psychopomps are intimately involved with the Boneyard's massive bureaucracy. Few pursue mercy, justice, or personal gain; their duties to Pharasma and her Boneyard are supreme. Nevertheless, individual psychopomps interpret their duties in different ways, which might put them in conflict with mortals or even with each other.
-Psychopomp, Pathfinder 2e Monster Core, published March 2024
Bounty hunters and investigators, morrignas seek out creatures who thwart death or interfere with the natural flow of souls. Morrignas dress in flowing spider silk and wear masks reminiscent of webs, as they consider patient and watchful spiders to be their spiritual kin. -Morrigna, Pathfinder 2e Monster Core, published March 2024
The Morrigna is a fucking beast. A creature 15 level psychopomp and monitor with an enchanted staff and some cool ass spider powers in addition to being able to see in the dark and sense life and also complete immunity to death effects and disease while also resisting poison and void damage while being weak to acid and fire. They can also shapeshift into any Small/Medium animal or humanoid, which we can't really do in Skyrim because even the werewolves are too tall. The only downside is that, despite being depicted as having wings, they can't fly (instead of a fly speed, they have a climbing speed, which is more terrifying I think; imagine a whole lady running up a wall at you like a spider or doing some Exorcist shit). But the flavor of it all appealed to me, so I decided to make a build for the Morrigna.
The race is notable here, because there are five that I think are most flavorful: Dunmer for a connection to Mephala and spiders, Khajiit for their innate Night Eye, Bosmer for their poison and disease resistance, Argonian for their disease resistance, and Redguard for their poison resistance. Frankly, any of these work. And while the Morrigna appears visibly feminine, they're beings from another plane and beyond our mortal comprehension of gender.
The skills of note will be Sneak (what is it with these beefy monsters and putting so much training into stealth?), Speech, Destruction, Restoration, Two-Handed, and then some defense skill (Alteration, Heavy Armor, or Light Armor). Regardless, we start with the Mage Stone to help with leveling those magic skills, then jump over to the Lord Stone or the Atronach Stone later. Notable flavorful spells outside of combat and healing ones will be Detect Life and Paralyze.
For equipment, we have some kind of mask due to all psychopomps bearing masks or missing eyes as references to justice being blind (or something like that); an easy option is a Dragon Priest Mask. Fitting options include Hevnoraak (disease and poison immunity), Konahriik (for being awesome), Miraak (fortifying magicka by 70 points), Morokei (boosting magicka regeneration by 100 percent), and Nahkriin (fortifying magicka by 50 points and making Destruction and Restoration spells cost 20% less). Otherwise, anything that hides the eyes or full face works.
For weapons, alongside scrolls and staves, the Ebony Blade from Mephala's quest works quite well. There are also the Spider Scrolls found on Solstheim in the Dragonborn DLC, and...look, if you're brave enough to go do that quest, be my guest. I for one am scared of spiders.
Pretty much all other gear goes and can fit, though you may wish to utilize robes or enchanted clothing for that more flowing silhouette...but only if you can find them pre-enchanted.
See, as a judge of the dead, my Morrigna would not Soul Trap or enchant things. They would still recharge magic items with already-filled gems, but putting a soul in there themself? Not gonna happen. On the other hand, you can play yours as the Morrigna being sent out by the Ideal Masters specifically to bring in souls for judgment within the Soul Cairn...
Now, the Morrigna is a bounty hunter and investigator. I can imagine several primary factions that would come to their attention and need to be resolved. So from factions alone, the Morrigna's to-do list may look something like this:
kill Harkon
end the civil war
free Kodlak from lycanthropy
Beyond that, write the Morrigna's to-do list yourself! Figure out the quests you come across and how a psychopomp would respond to them.
Followers as a concept are tricky. On one hand, I can't see anything about whether or not a Morrigna would work alone, and as someone who lives dragging followers along, I would air on the side of taking one. On the other, there's a chance that the Morrigna would not bring along a mortal that they would eventually have to take in for judgment.
But if you have any combination of Creations that leave you with pets, both of the Elytra Nymphs and the Frostbite Spider will be good flavor wins. Just a judge of the dead alongside her freak spider pals.
"Jasper why did you focus on the spider psychopomp if you're scared of spiders-" SHHHHH SH SH it's fine everything's fine.
One of my biggest annoyances with D&D's modern iterations is how the Law versus Chaos aspect of it has been ignored in favor of just settling in with Good versus Evil as the only dynamic of note. As a 3.5e player who emphasized the Law-Chaos split, it really annoyed me. So this is one more thing that Pathfinder fixed in my eyes: it made the lawful outer beings fascinating and important too rather than just sticking to angels, demons, and devils.
(Divider by @saradika-graphics)
Here's a picture of a Morrigna courtesy of the Archives of Nephthys website for Pathfinder 2e!
