#provocator

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #18P: Elisabeth Bathory

today on fate and phantasms we’re building the prettiest, bestest idol in the mooncell, Elisabeth Bathory! she’s mostly a fighter to make her good with a lance, but we also dip into the gladiator and provocatory archetypes for a bloodier performance, and the celebrity archetype to have a performance in the first place.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

next up: lol guy’s got a crying spot named after him. what a dork.

ancestry and background

since all your cool stuff isn’t entirely based on your race, we can finally make eli-chan a human for once! this gives her a boost in charisma and constitution to get the songs started right away, and help with her guts. she’s supposed to be part dragon, but somebody hasn’t put sonic dragons in pathfinder yet, so for now she’s a sylph human instead. that means you have low-light vision, and you get special feats to pick from! natural ambition isn’t one of those, but it lets you get a first-level feat right away, so you can sudden charge even more suddenly! spend two actions to stride twice, and if you end up within reach of an enemy you can attack them as part of those actions. you’ll even be able to use this while flying later on!

at level 5 you grow a skillful tail, letting you open doors with your tail and do other stuff with simple interact actions. idk how your grandma banging a cloud gives you a tail, but i’m not gonna question it if it helps us.

at level 9 your wings of air give you ten minutes of flying once a day. it’s a start.

at level 13 your djinni magic lets you cast two spells, each once a day. invisibility isn’t really why we’re here, that’s more for gust of wind for a kinda dragon breath attack? you can sing so hard to blows people around in a line in front of you, forcing large or smaller creatures to make a fortitude save or they’ll get knocked around. a success can’t move forward, a failure gets knocked prone unless they’re flying. if so, or if they get a critical failure, they get knocked prone, get pushed 30’, and take bludgeoning damage.

finally, at level 17 your eternal wings are always active, so you can fly whenever you wish.

eli was kinda a noble, but more than that she’s an attention addict, giving her a boost in strength and charisma, as well as training in gladiatorial lore and performance. you also get the impressive performance feat, so now you can make an impression using performance instead of diplomacy. i’m sure singing will work waaaay better than just talking to those nobles! you should try it!

Starting Proficiencies

Trained: Class DC, Will saves, Advanced Weapons, All Armors, Acrobatics, Deception, Occultism, Medicine, (Eventually) Society

Expert: Fortitude saves; Reflex saves; Perception; Simple, Martial, and Unarmed Attacks

Class Levels

1. We’re starting things off strong this time. Literally, your Key Ability is strength, and your first Ability Boost bumps up your Strength along with your Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. You also know how to make an Attack of Opportunity as a reaction, striking a creature trying to move, manipulate, or make a ranged attack next to you.

You also know your own strength, at least enough to make an Exacting Strike after making at least one regular attack. This move doesn’t add any extra power behind your strike, but if you miss at least it won’t count for your multiple attack penalty.

You can also use a Shield Block, but you’d need a shield first.

2. Eli isn’t particularly strong for a servant, but she can still make a Brutish Shove against most people, making them flat-footed when you hit them with an attack, and shoving them as well as part of the action, making an athletics check against their fortitude. If you succeed you can push them up to 10’ away, and can even stride after them for free. Be careful though, a critical failure will leave you prone. Even if you fail, they’ll still be flat-footed for the round. (that gives them a -2 to their AC- get ready to see that show up a lot this build.)

you’re also a virtuosic performer, giving you a bonus to all performance checks that involve singing. for you, anyway. you can choose which specialty to pick when you take the feat.

finally, we get the gladiator dedication right away to make you the star of the show. at the start of any fight, if you have an audience, you get temporary HP for the first minute of the fight, and can use performance to roll initiative. you also get training in another kind of lore, and Idol lore will help you keep tabs on the competition. a certain blonde saber’s has a ten build lead on you, and that won’t do at all!

3. at level 3 your Bravery makes you an expert in will saves, and your successful saves against fear are always critical, and you don’t get as frightened as other people. we’re not making saber eli yet, but it’s nice to keep in mind.

like all good singers, your Breath Control gives you 25 times more breath-holding power. that means right off the bat you can hold your breath for over 12 minutes, which feels kind of silly, tbh. you also have a +1 bonus on all saves against inhaled threats- poisons, noxious gases, etc.- and your successful saves are always critical.

finally, we’re going to train you up in intimidation. I think your singing’s good, but people are a bit crueler in-game. It gives you a bit of a reputation after a while.

4. I don’t think we’ve been sadistic enough in a fight. Let’s fix that by grabbing a Dragging Strike, letting you attack a creature and drag it around with you for 5 feet. It’ll also make the target flat-footed for the rest of your turn.

If you really want people to think you’re the greatest idol ever, you’ll have to be a charming liar- when you score a critical success while hyping yourself up through lying, it’ll also improve the target’s attitude towards you.

Finally, when you knock someone down to 0 HP while there’s spectators around, you can Play to the Crowd as a reaction using your performance. Pick one of the following benefits if you succeed, or two if it’s critical: temporary HP equal to your level for 1 minute, +1 AC until the end of your next turn, or +1 to your next attack roll before the end of your next turn. No point making combat and crowd-pleasing mutually exclusive, right?

5. level five’s pr easy. use this ability boost to bump up your strength, dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom, and pick a spear for your new fighter weapon mastery. see? we’re making her good with a spear the first time now! dang kris really is learning from his mistakes. im so proud of him. now you’re a master with any spears, tridents, etcetera, an expert with advanced spears, and you get their critical specialization with the ones you’re at least a master with.  if you crit, they become clumsy for a round, reducing their dexterity checks and dcs (including ac, reflex, and ranged attacks) by one. lancers are notoriously good against archers… somehow.

also, you’re an expert in performance now to better wow the crowd!

6. now that you’ve got all those fancy moves, it’s time to put them to use even more! when you make an advantageous assault, you can hit a person that’s grabbed, prone, or restrained, giving you a bonus to attacking them equal to your damage dice + 2. even if you miss, you’ll still deal a lil damage!

the Halloween events get a lil weird, but you’ve been in enough to get some dubious knowledge. when you fail a recall knowledge check, you’ll learn two things- one real, one fake, tho you can’t tell which is which. somehow your statues turned into robots, at this point anything’s possible.

finally, you can put on some stage fighting since you’re a gladiator, so you can make nonlethal attacks with lethal weapons without any penalties! you can’t torture the dead!

7. at level seven you become a battlefield surveyor, so you get a +2 bonus for perception checks for initiative, on top of being a master!

to better enjoy your delicacies, you also become a supertaster, so your dm makes a perception check for you every time you eat or drink poisoned food, maybe letting you know you shouldn’t have eaten that. you can also recall knowledge better if you lick something to figure out what it is.

your weapon specialization makes you less specialized, since you do more damage with every weapon you’ve got, and you’re also better at society now, bein a noble and all.

8. time for more torture! whenever you make an attack of opportunity now, you make a disorienting opening against your enemy, making them flat-footed until they start their next turn.

you can also use your fancy moves to demoralize people using your performance skills, which… yeah. yeah, that works.

finally, you can call your shot when you play to the crowd, adding another option to pick from when you pick your benefits. now you can make a nearby creature frightened, reducing all their rolls and dcs by 1 until they end their next turn.

9. at level nine your combat flexibility lets you swap in a new level 8 or lower fighter feat after every long rest! an idol’s gotta stay on top of trends after all! she’s also got to be a juggernaut, making her a master in fortitude saves, which are always critical when they succeed. let’s also bump up society again.

10. at level ten you get another ability boost, this time in dexterity, constitution, wisdom, and charisma. gotta keep you well-rounded if you wanna be an idol!

oh, speaking of, you’re also a fearsome brute, giving you a bonus to damage for any frightened creatures equal to double their frightened value. so not only can you hit them easier, but you’re hitting them harder!

speaking of frightening people, your musical mastery makes group coercion slightly easier. it’s still based on your intimidation, so you can only use it on 2 people at once rn.

good news though, it’s time for another archetype! as a provocator, you become trained in one advanced weapon of your choice, and you also get its critical specialization! idk why you’d want this since you’ve already got your spears, but maybe you wanna give brave Bathory ago already?

you’re also a master in performance now, and an expert in acrobatics to wheel across the sky easier.

11. level eleven’s all about doing stuff a lil bit better! your armor expertise and fighter expertise do what you’d think they do, plus you get armor specialization for medium and heavy armor. or you would if you wore those. your untrained improvisation makes you a lil bit better at just about everything, adding your level to all untrained skill checks. speaking of training, you’re better at athletics now, so your shoving isn’t as bad.

12. at level 12 you can make a spring attack, leaping between enemies, making a stride away from one to get within melee range of another, making a strike with the same action. you can even use this while flying!

we’ve been getting a lot of society for some reason, and it’s time for that to pay off! with courtly graces, you can pass yourself off as a noble using your society skill, and make impressions on nobles with the same. i mean all that blood had to come from somewhere, right?

finally, you can make a flourishing finish as an action after offing someone, making a performance check against every nearby enemy’s will dc, and frightening them on a success. then beat those guys up too!

13. level 13’s another simple one, you’re now an expert in Intimidation to sing to larger crowds, and you’re a Weapon Legend, making your simple and martial weapons master-tier, and advanced weapons expert. You also get to go one step further for spears, making them legendary or master-tier, respectively.

14. at level 14 the flowers and birds are going to have a bad time, because a kid like you has Determination. that means once a day you can end a condition on you immediately, or make a counteract attempt on a spell with a will save. you can’t can’t will away being flanked, obviously.

You can however make a Distracting Performance while your allies are trying to sneak around. If you aid an ally who’s making a diversion, you can instead roll a performance check instead of their deception check.

If the crowd isn’t too pleased with that, you can turn them into a captive audience with Pin to the Spot. spend two actions to strike a target. if you hit and hurt them, they’re also restrained until the end of your next turn.

15. level 15’s got some new stuff! first off, the basics. an Ability Boost in Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma to be a little bit better all around. You also get Evasion, bumping your reflex saves to master and making your successes critical. Your Improved Flexibility gives you a longer setlist, letting you swap around two feats each day instead of one, and your Greater Weapon Specialization means even more damage with the weapons you love.

Finally, you’re now legendary in Performance, making you a Legendary Performer. I know the story’s mean to Liz a lot but she’s a good singer and I love her, dammit!

*ahem* I mean, NPCs now have a better chance of hearing about you, and usually have a better disposition to you. You also earn income with performing better, increasing your audience levels by at least two, usually.

16. at level 16, it’s finally time for you to realize murder is bad and start working on your idol career properly as a Celebrity! you can now Upstage people as a reaction- you try the same skill check they did, and if you do better than them you get a +1 bonus to attacks, checks, and saves for a round. You also do better earning income if you bite off more than you can chew.

to help with that, your Resounding Bravery makes you even harder to take down- when you critically succeed at a will save, you get a +1 bonus to all saves and temporary HP for a minute, gaining twice as much for both if you critted on a fear effect.

Also, your Fascinating Performance make it harder for your special someone to ignore you. You can compare your performance check against another creature’s will DC, and if you rolled higher they’re fascinated by you for one round, so the only thing they can focus on is you. You have to pick your target before you start singing, and regardless of outcome they’ll be immune for an hour. Also, this was a level 1 skill, and it increases with training- since you’re legendary, you can fascinate any number of observers at once.

17. easy level- you’re a master in all armor, and a master in Intimidation too.

18. at level 18 your Savage Criticals mean you crit on 19s and 20s now, for twice as much torture I mean fun. only fun now, no torture. You can also start off each fight with a Battle Cry I mean jaunty tune, demoralizing a foe you can see when you roll initiative. You can keep this song going every time you score a critical hit if you’re legendary in intimidation, so I think you can see where this is going.

finally, you can Command Attention like only an idol can, improving nearby creatures’ saves against visual effects, and preventing enemies from targeting other people they can see for a round.

19. at level 19 you’re famous enough for some quality groupies as a Hireling Manager, giving your roadies a +2 bonus to all skill checks.

You’re also a Versatile Legend, making your simple, martial, and unarmed attacks legendary, and your advanced weapons and class DC mastered. You’re also a legend in Intimidation now, just like I said earlier.

20. For your final level, bump up your strength, dexterity, wisdom, and charisma. then, make your setlist as long as possible with Ultimate Flexibility giving you a third feat to swap around each rest. The first must be level 8 or lower, the second level 14, and the third level 18, and you can use the lower level feats to qualify for higher level ones. On top of that, you can even swap them around on the go by spending 1 hour learning your next show, though you can’t trade out limited-use feats you’ve already used up.

Your songs are also earworms now, so your Lasting Coercion can keep that tune playing for up to a month.

Finally, you Never Tire, so you’re always ready for an encore. If you’d get fatigued while at least three non-foe creatures are watching, you can push back that condition for up to a minute, or until the audience leaves.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Flight is always super powerful, especially in a game like Pathfinder where it’s more heavily restricted than D&D. While you’re mostly a melee fighter, there’s plenty of thrown spears to play with too to become a rain of death from on high.

You’re also really good at forcing crowds to obey you, with legendary intimidation, the ability to coerce 25 people at a time, and the ability to make that coercion stick for up to a month means you’ll easily rule over most peasants.

You’re also great a fighting dirty, with plenty of options to throw enemies around, stick them in place, and leave them an easier target for any rogues you have in your party. Also, doubled crit chances will make enemies drop faster, meaning you can play to the crowd more often.

Cons:

Both your wings and your class are built on gradual growth, so you won’t be doing too much until later levels. D&D Bathory wasn’t much better tbh, but there was the Feral Tiefling option if you wanted to fly earlier.

You’re also trying to be a popstar and serial killer at the same time. You’ll definitely be known far and wide, but that might not be a good thing given how much of your build is about brutalizing people.

You’ve got zero damage options outside of standard weapon attacks, so enemies that resist or are immune to nonmagical damage can be a pain to deal with. So yeah, this build specializes in fighting the weak enemies while the rest of the party fights the big bad, so ironically it’s not that glamorous to play.

#fgo #fate grand order #Pathfinder 2nd Edition #PF2E #Elisabeth Bathory #Fighter #Celebrity #Gladiator #Provocator

[muninn-raven]

Hungarian gladiator school: Collegium Gladiatorium

#collegiumgladiatorium #gladiator #ancient rome #murmillo #hoplomachus #retiarius #provocator #thraex #savaria #savaria tortenelmi karneval #fight #armour #warrior #soldier #gladius #reenactment #history

[githling]

it's tough being short :/

#more tinyzel and tallheart shenanigans #laezel is nothing if not provocable #it's hard being tinyzel it's hard and no one understands #shadowheart #lae'zel #shadowzel #bg3 #baldurs gate laezel #baldurs gate shadowheart #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate fanart #my art

[satelliteduster]

oh my god i forgot to post my absolute favorite strip from gay comix (issue #2, 1981)

#this collection is full of so many hilarious vignettes #between the fictional and biographical they range from hilarious to saddening but theyre all candid looks at #lgbt life in the 60s 70s and 80s #id recommend it if you're interested in older underground work #edit: for ppl who notice the opening blurb i will say this: #1. Many artists in the underground comix scene (yes the lgbt ones too) delighted in being overly provocative for the sake of it #hence the cringeworthy 'political unity is not the goal' line #2. i worried abt this too when i started going thru the issues but there are quite a few strips and comics focusing on the trans experience #that said. there are unfortunately not a lot of transgender artists involved in this collection #3. given the preceding two points i think its fair to say that a good chunk of the strips in gay comix just. Suck #but like they actually said it's important that we're capable of recognizing that a full 40 years down the line #so we can actually learn something from the life experiences the mistakes and even the lack of perspective tht sm of these artists displayed #nocturnal writings

[elektroblues]

david cronenberg and james spader on the sex scenes in crash (1996)

#PROVOCATION ! #aggressive head jerks ensue #god i love him #david cronenberg #james spader #crash 1996 #video

[shmepoe]

Otasune drawings i made a little while back .smiles

#i also drew snake posed in a very provocative manner but if you want to see that you'll have to find it on my twitter lol #otasune #snotacon #metal gear solid #otacon #solid snake #iroquois pliskin #shmepoeart

[fence-time]

Fallen angle or smth 📐

#fence posts #skizzleman #hermitcraft #hermitblr #me when skizzleman and religious imagery or something #I need to make a counter for how many times I’ve drawn partially / completely nakey skizz in somewhat provocative poses in religious setting #cuz at this point it must be more that 3?

[knifearo]

"asexual discourse" is so funny cause dude that's not discourse and it's never been discourse. it's not an argument and it's not a conversation bitches are just yelling at us unprompted and then making up people to get mad at 😭

#exclusionists will act like they're in the fucking trenches when they're posting #as if they're not taking the time to walk into someone else's community without provocation and start being nasty. #saw a post the other day that was saying smth aphobic and was like 'it's true and we should be allowed to say it' #babe nobody's Stopping you. you can say whatever the fuck you want. #thing is though that when you say shitty things. people don't typically like it <3 #anyway die mad sorry that you fell for heteronormativity and amatonormativity and assume both to be the norm. #i'm gonna keep creating community with other queer people and you are more than welcome to go off and die alone <3 #also if you're fr going into ace discourse in the year of our lord 2024. jesus fucking christ get a hobby #aromantic #aromanticism #arospec #aroace #aspec #talking #asexual #ace discourse #ace exclusion

[destinyandcoins]

ryan: what would you say if you turned on the tv and saw on the news that sara had robbed a bank?

shane:

#🥰 partnership goals #watcher #mystery files #shane madej #also them ragging on steven and saying he's probably out robbing a bank at that moment 😂 #i love their sibling instinct to rag on steven with literally the slightest provocation #shane and ryan are never more united than when faced with the opportunity to pick on steven

[druizard]

"Given my propensity towards verbosity, it surely can't be a surprise that I have a practiced tongue!" - Gale "Rizzard" Dekarios

Just some quick fanart of Gale being a tease~ Artwork by me: Charlee-Monstah/Druizard

#what dat tongue do #there are so many provocative lines he slaps you with during his romance and i think of them constantly #may make this into stickers and i might just make several more to go with it #I cannot with him #i need him carnally #bg3 #bg3 gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #gale bg3 #my post #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #gale fanart #baldur's gate 3 fanart #bg3 fanart #practiced tongue #druizard #charlee monstah #my art #my artwork

[mylittleredgirl]

when i hear "found family" in relation to an ensemble of fictional characters in media there's two different things that could be happening here.

often it's what i think of as forced family, which is like "i found myself in a situation with these people" but a key part of the trope is that, like most families of origin, they're stuck with each other and can't leave without taking extreme action. voyager's "found family" is a forced family. i'm watching m*a*s*h now and it seems that way too. in both cases there's an outside constraint where you literally cannot escape these people and so grow to love them as a result, often in a codependent or unhealthy way but you are closer to them than you will ever be to anyone who did not share this experience. you would sell some of them to satan for one corn chip but god help any outsider who tries to break you up or even understand the situation. sometimes you get lucky and there's a person or two in there that you would choose to spend every day with regardless of circumstance (but would you really? can you even tell for sure??). but also it's "i will never ever speak to you again as long as i live but i'm really bored so can you give me a ride to the 7-11 first."

meanwhile chosen family is more like star trek the next generation where they are placed in this group at random but there's no hostage element to it. any one of them could request a transfer at any time, but they never will because this community and group of people have become an inseparable part of their identity. in both cases they'd saddle up and risk their lives to save each other forever at any personal cost ("not to me, not if it's you") but forced family also contains the element of "i'll fucking do it but christ alive." not every ensemble fits into one or the other but i think it's fun to distinguish as a concept.

#on fandom #star trek thoughts #i was thinking about all the times when hawkeye and frank are like i would literally murder you at the slightest provocation #but then in that ep where trapper thinks he's leaving he's like are you gonna move out to get away from frank #and hawkeye's like of course not. or the time when they both trick frank into staying at the 4077 for some flimsy reason?? #or when margaret tries to rage quit the 4077 and henry's like lol yeah we all commit psychological warfare on each other #but how could you actually want to leave that?? we're a family margaret hello?? #mashblogging

[uncanny-tranny]

Whenever people who are entrenched in diet culture talk about how terrible chemicals are, I just want to whip out this:

#diet culture #diet culture tw #described images #image description in alt #'it's got CHEMICALS in it' and so do you! and me too! IT'S ALL CHEMICALS ALL THE WAY DOWN #instead of running from this world we must learn to embrace it #i'm not particularly angry at people who say this because it makes me think that they're incredibly invested in diet culture... #...i just don't want the whole 'food = bad' or 'bodies = bad' to go unchallenged... #...part of the reason why diet culture seems just as prevalent now (if not moreso) is partially because it isn't really... #...challenged or questioned without provocation. it's just assumed to be correct because it makes you 'feel in control' #when chemicals are bad you can control what chemicals you consume. it's individualistic and places the blame onto you for 'being good' #it places responsibility onto the person in such a way that it becomes impossible to fulfill #it isn't that i'm upset that people want to treat their bodies in a way they think is responsible... #...moreso that the *way* they go about it ensures that they're stuck in a cycle of self-blame and even self-hatred #because the METHOD is ineffective. not the desire to treat your body well #also the state of ohio looks stupid and i do Not respect it #it looks like a ball that is simultaneously deflated and over-inflated #also their state flag looks silly to me #it looks like the person who was making it fell asleep making it #i'm just clowning on ohio at this point. have never been to ohio but. are you guys okay

[literaryspinster]

I keep hearing that sex has no place onscreen and doesn't further the plot, but Jordan having sex with a man in their dorm and talking about Marie the whole time is the epitome of furthering the plot.

#a+ character building right there #gen v #jordan li #limoreau #sex scenes don't just exist to be provocative they can be absurd and hilarious

[lambmotifz]

early seasons sam who’s always bitching about dean being overly possessive of him, but also riles him up and gives him reasons to be possessive, because he secretly likes it when dean fucks him rough and calls him “mine” and leaves marks and bruises on his hips and wrists. and he likes to press on them after being fucked good and relish in the memory of how much he drives dean feral

#thinking about early seasons sam and how he was so sl*tty & provocative #while knowing damn well his brother wants to possess him #just thinking about him being like “yeah i know you’re batshit insane about me and i’d like to see that side of you more often” #because he secretly craves dean’s attention & possessiveness (while simultaneously trying to escape it) #wincest #samdean #sam winchester #dean winchester #spn

[comradekatara]

“my first girlfriend turned into the moon” “that’s rough buddy” is adorable not only because zuko positioning himself as sokka’s friend is simply wishful thinking and desperate projection on his part, but because sokka referring to yue as his girlfriend is also just. incredibly lovely. like, back when they were together in the northern water tribe, yue was trying not to explode from overwhelming lust and affection, but meanwhile sokka was like. “we’re literally just friends. this dynamic is nothing more than an innocuous, platonic friendship. the fact that we’ve kissed and clearly want each other and have spent the past month solely in each other’s company talking little strolls around the city and romantic bison rides on appa (and who knows what else) means nothing as long as you just. repress all the emotions and desires and every last shred of humanity you’ve ever had and convince yourself that this is a reasonable way to live a life.” even while yue was adamant that living in utter denial was intolerable, actually, sokka was just like “i don’t get what the big deal is. repression is so easy.” but then yue changed everything by giving up her mortal life to become a spirit, and in the process transcending the human, patriarchal paradigms that prevented their love from being realized. like, if anything, yue wasn’t sokka’s girlfriend, he was her mistress. but then again, yue never wanted hahn; she wanted sokka, and they both knew it. so by shedding those limitations as she sheds her corporality, she is also giving sokka (as well as herself, of course) the permission for them to redefine their relationship on their own terms, beyond simply being forced to succumb to the patriarchal stipulations that dictated the terms of their love. and who knows whether sokka ever admitted it before, to himself or otherwise, but here, in this moment, he can reevaluate what they shared, and instinctively, he knows. she was his first girlfriend. his first love.

#and then she died in his arms . womp womp #(but not rly bc he’s gonna go visit her in the spirit world at aang’s invitation/provocation) #sokka #yue #sokkaxyue #analysis #i guess ? #god…… they make me so….. #yue my beloved 3 episode wonder my principesa my forever girl…. #sokka if he was still in denial: my stunningly beautiful princess friend who wanted me carnally turned into the moon #zuko would still say that’s rough buddy . but there would be a way bigger pause

[ruinme-please]

A little sass off between iii and ii (x)

Melbourne, April 18th '24

#ii went straight for the throat #he might have something pent up #or mutual provocation must be their love language #ii #iii #sleep token