Hey everyone! I’m Alexander Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, and I’m back with another Iconic Design! Special thanks to KDN Captain Ryan Costello for filling in for me last week—my Grandfather suddenly passed away the week before last, and I asked him to fill in for me while I was attending his service and burial. I hope Ryan treated you all right while I was gone.

If you’re been watching the KDN Discord, you might have noticed that I’ve been chatting about a mesmerist that I’m playing in a home game. I absolutely LOVE Maisuro; they’re a genderfluid kitsune fashionista with the ability to adjust their appearance (and the appearance of others) using tons of different techniques. Since lots of people seemed interested in my build, I thought it would be fun to share it with you today. So let’s get started!

Build Concept

Any information important to understanding the build or its roots goes here.

• Classes: mesmerist (material manipulator) 12
• Favored Class Bonus: Gain 1/6 of a new Magical Tail feat.
• Feats: Realistic Likeness (1st), Weapon Finesse (3rd), Dirty Fighting (5th), Magical Tail (6th; Bonus), Improved Dirty Trick (7th), Magical Tail (9th), Magical Tail (11th), Magical Tail (12th; Bonus)
• Abilities: hypnotic stare –3, mesmerist tricks, mental potency, painful stare, revision, towering ego
• Mesmerist Tricks: fearsome mein (1st), psychosomatic surge (4th), misdirection (6th), mesmeric mirror (8th), compel alacrity (10th), umbral transformation (12th)
• Bold Stares: Infiltration (3rd), disorientation (7th), sapped magic (11th)
• 4th-Level Mesmerist Spells (4): dominate person, enervation, innocuous shape, lesser simulacrum
• 3rd-Level Mesmerist Spells (4): bestow curse, claim identity, dispel magic, jester’s jaunt
• 2nd-Level Mesmerist Spells (5): blistering invective, disfiguring touch, hidden presence, quick change, shamefully overdressed
• 1st-Level Mesmerist Spells (6): color spray, hideous laughter, ventriloquism, vocal alteration
• Mesmerist Knacks (6): detect magic, ghost sounds, mage hand, light, prestidigitation, message

Play Description

I’m a firm believer that not all builds need to be powerhouse builds if that’s what your group needs, and that sometimes power comes in unexpected forms. For example, this particular build is basically designed to be the “magic Master Spy,” possessing the ability to very quickly and very easily change not only my appearance, but the appearance of others. That’s how I give my allies a “makeover,” after all!

So, how does this build work? Well, it really has two basic modes—in combat and out of combat. Outside of combat, I can change my appearance basically at will using the Realistic Likeness feat, and I can change other peoples’ appearance using a combination of the fearsome mien mesmerist trick and the revision class ability of the material manipulator archetype. Fearsome mien is especially cool because its basically a 24-hour disguise other spell that I can end to get a free Intimidate check on an opponent. Revision, in contrast, is a polymorph effect, but it’s a polymorph effect that I can do to ANYONE (assuming my target can pass a saving throw). In addition, I get helpful spells like quick change (swift action change), hidden presence (its like invisibility, but I make a few targets completely unable to detect me), and innocuous shape (I make someone look completely inconspicuous).  I also have lesser simulacrum, which makes great use of my massive Disguise bonus, and claim identity. In addition, most of the Magical Tail feats that I get are utility-based, allowing me to charm, change my magical aura via misdirection, and get additional disguise self castings on myself. (Meaning I can save my mesmerist trick uses for my allies.)

In-combat, this build relies mostly on its painful stare and bold stare abilities to make it easier for my allies to survive enemies, but it also has a few neat tricks. Blistering invective is a fun AOE fire damage spell that also intimidates my foes (every fashionista needs to be able to deliver a sick burn), and shamefully overdressed will allow my to force my enemies to take off their drab clothing. Disfiguring touch lets me make a foe look so ugly that they can’t do stuff right, and I also pick up some nice general utility spells like dominate person, enervation,  bestow curse, dispel magic, and jester’s jaunt. Finally, I also have some built-in Combat Maneuver usage in Improved Dirty Trick and Dirty Fighting, which gets amped up by my stare’s ability to penalize CMD. This definitely is one of my tamer dirty trick builds, but it should be more then enough.

So this is the current design-space for my mesmerist. What do you think? Leave your comments below, and I’ll see you back next time for another Iconic Design! Take care.

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex also cohosts the Private Sanctuary Podcast, along with fellow blogger Anthony Li, and you can follow their exploits on Facebook in the 3.5 Private Sanctuary Group, or on Alex’s Twitter, @AlJAug.