Archetypes: P

Some people feel that the universe is a constant struggle. Good against evil, law against chaos, civilization against nature, life against death against undeath. But why fight what you can't change? You prefer to bargain.

As a pactbinder, you make deals with strange entities, otherworldly beings, and all sorts of multiversal denizens, amiable and unapproachable alike. Over the course of your many negotiations, you've learned something important: while such beings always seek a bargain tilted in their own favor, sometimes your definition of value differs enough from theirs that you can still come out ahead. In fact, sometimes, those who don't understand pacts like you do might mistake the payment for the benefit, or vice versa. Perhaps an ancient being of nightmare demanded to consume something you sought to be rid of, like a painful memory or a negative personality trait, priding itself on how it was taking something personal from you. Little did it know, you let it win on haggling your end of the deal. Of course, this practice isn't without its own risks, as who knows what you might become without that part of you.

All these things, you can and must consider in every pact. In addition to pacts, you might also pursue magical contracts. While less of a metaphysical commitment than a pact, contracts offer similar benefits you just can't resist—and you can employ your skill set as a pactbinder to manipulate the precise wording of the bargain.

Graefiadeik kar can initiate a member of another ancestry into their pact, imbuing the creature with their power and their curse. Over time, this pact slowly changes the initiate internally and, sometimes, externally as well. The initiate's mind slowly fills with ancient pieces of lore and techniques that are as much part of the graefiadeik kar as their hands and feet. As the initiate's mind adapts to this knowledge and power, their body sometimes evolves in kind—sprouting sweeping horns, gaining heightened olfactory senses, and growing additional height and muscle—becoming a hybrid between their old ancestry and graefiadeik kar, wrapped in runic tattoos.

An unwilling creature can never be forced to become a pactbound initiate, and only those with deep bonds of mutual friendship with a graefiadeik kar can even attempt the process. Befriending a graefiadeik kar can be enough to begin one's initiation into the pact, though they must choose to accept the burden and can change their minds about undertaking the pact at any point until their final transition (represented by the Bound in Ice feat). Once a creature has completed the pact by accepting the full burden of a graefiadeik kar and taking the Bound in Ice feat, all transformations are permanent. At that point, they can't retrain the Pactbound Dedication, Frostbite Runes, or Bound in Ice feats and must live out the rest of their lives as something between their old ancestry and a graefiadeik kar. If their normal lifespan was less than 400 years, it's increased to at least 400 years. If their natural lifespan was greater than 400 years, it's instead reduced to approximately that amount of time.

You live a life of freedom, taking by force and intimidation all that you desire. You may be a privateer, raiding and plundering on behalf of a particular nation or another authority, or you may answer to no one but your own capricious whims. Either way, you rely on intimidation, wits, and combat prowess to take what you want from those you deem less deserving.

Pirates have much in common with swashbucklers, and many pirates have the swashbuckler class or archetype. Much like a swashbuckler's daring deeds, classic pirate maneuvers are often showy feats intended to impress, intimidate, and gain panache. For example, if you have the panache class feature and your Acrobatics check for a Boarding Assault exceeds the very hard DC for your level, you would gain panache.

“You saw what I can do, so you know I'm telling the truth when I say that I don't miss. That was just a warning shot. Now if you'd kindly empty out that coffer into my bag of holding, I don't see any need for this to get unpleasant... do you?”

— Unidentified pistol-twirling half-elf desperado, just before absconding with the funds a corrupt Tobraid shield marshal planned to use to bribe a judge.

You treat combat as an art and your pistol as an extension of your performance. You might wield a single pistol, a pair of pistols, or a pistol paired with a melee weapon to pull off showy maneuvers. However you slice it, though, the use of pistols or other one-handed firearms is crucial to your technique and style.

To you, everything is a show, and you use your gun as a prop and instrument, not just to kill opponents but to trick, mislead, hinder, and even bully them into doing what you want them to do. While others tend to focus on delivering as much devastation downrange as possible, your style is all about control. By controlling a foe's attention and actions, you can bolster your own attacks and mitigate the foe's potential for mayhem. You control the tempo of the battle much as you would a staged performance, carefully ensuring your foe's actions don't fall outside of your intended script. You're both the director and the star of this show, and your enemies dance to the tune you play with your pistol... sometimes quite literally!

People are so delightfully fragile when exposed to the glories of nature. The bite of a certain serpent makes the blood congeal to jelly. A particular stone, suitably powdered, causes hallucinations and delirium. The sap of a tree inflicts such pain that death seems preferable. You are a student of such dark wonders, making you a dangerous foe indeed.

The provocator is a gladiator who mixes brilliant performance with mastery of weapons.

You've awoken the latent abilities of your mind, taking your first steps into wielding psychic magic.

The mental landscape of the psychic duel rises to meet your steps and reshapes at your touch. You understand the Kulaistun links two minds, making its foundation only as strong as the wills of those involved. Two psychic castles in a siege—patch every loose brick in your walls and single out every flaw in your foe's defenses.