Third-Partystravaganza 5: Severist (Base Class; Gungnir Gamedev)
There’s no end to the strange abilities that might awaken in a would-be hero in a fantasy saying, everything from sorcerous power to being followed around by a dead ancestor to the ability to shapeshift into a powerful battle form, and so on.
Oftentimes great trauma is the catalyst that brings out these powers, and even when it doesn’t, their sudden awakening can often cause tragedy until they are brought under control.
Few are more literally tied to severance and tragedy, however, than today’s entry. Severists, thanks to their keen understanding of loss and isolation, are able to see the threads that bind all things, and even cut them.
Now if that doesn’t sound like a classic comic book or anime powerset, I don’t know what does. The ability to cut anything, especially things typically considered impossible to literally sever due to their metaphysical or even metaphorical nature? That’s the sort of gimmick that you see expanded into a full on superhero or protagonist, and I love that.
The catalyst that creates a severist varies, but defines them greatly to the point of granting them abilities and penalties. The loss of memories, compatriots, a secure home, and even a country are all possible catalysts.
Though they cannot truly detect magic itself, these warriors can see the connection between a caster and their magical effects, whether they be stand-alone effects or directly affecting something else.
As one might imagine, severists specialize in destroying objects with weapons, proving masterful at doing so.
However, they also study an array of techniques to cut away at the metaphysical, such as dispelling magic by cutting the connection to the caster who created the effect, temporarily cutting the connection between familiar or animal companion and their masters, slicing through force effects, the barriers between dimensions, the threads of fate, and even cut the pull of death on a soul, forcing it back into the body to be potentially healed and revived, all of which they pick and choose to learn the secrets of.
By seeing the threads, they can see area effects coming and potentially evade harmlessly.
Additionally, they eventually learn to read the effects of a spell by their thread alone.
Shredding the lines of magical sight, a canny severist can ward themselves against detection by most any method other than ordinary mundane senses.
The blades of these warriors are particularly implacable, slicing and sundering even when failure seems certain, and even causing grievous wounds to foes normally thought immune to such things.
More powerful severists draw strength from failure, pushing themselves to do better in following attacks.
At the height of their power, these blademasters regain a bit of what they have lost, such a memories, standing with past organizations, and so on, removing the problems, while gaining new boons from them.
Interested in a sunder-based character that takes the gimmick of “cut anything” to its logical extreme? This may be what you’re looking for. Naturally anything related to sundering is a must, including the cut from the air feat line, vital strike, cleave, and so on. Feats that gear them towards facing down mages are also good.
Some of the abilities stretch the boundaries of the plausible with this archetype. (The organization that dislikes you turning the other cheek just because you hit 20th level?) However, it’s exactly that sort of borderline implausibility that give it that anime/comic book feel, so I’m cool with that. Pathfinder has been no stranger to such ridiculousness from day one, so it’s actually a decent fit for system. Whether your character is a brooding loner because of their past loss, however, is your call as a player.
Kasskara is a legend in the arena, masterfully cleaving apart the weapons and armor, as well as magical protections of her foes, leaving them forced to concede or be destroyed. Supposing her power over magic is derived from her signature greatsword, some of her disgraced foes have plotted to steal it.
Lost without any memory in a land foreign to lizardfolk like himself, Yemec the cleaver puts his skymetal ax to good use in mercenary work as a means to get by and occupy himself. However, when a mission leads him to a lead on his past, shadowy forces are set in motion, ready to stop his self-discovery if need be.
One of the vampire lord’s greatest allies is no undead, but a cursed soul nonetheless. This armor-clad figure supposedly is a fallen paladin, but his abilities seem to have no chaos or unholy power in them. Nevertheless, they have an unseen power all their own.