Full Build Friday - Twisted Fate, the Card Master [Elf Magus] (Patreon)

I decided to knock out another request for this one! I've built a card thrower before with Gambit, but TF has a slightly greater range of options, which can make for a unique build. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choices may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

Roll the dice on this build for Twisted Fate, the Card Master from League of Legends!

TWISTED FATE, THE CARD MASTER

CHARACTER Tobias Felix

SOURCE League of Legends

BUILD GOALS

o    Tobias took to cards from a young age, which led him to a life of crime after he was exiled from his people

o    He joined forces with Malcolm Graves, becoming a criminal duo until Malcolm’s imprisonment. Following his escape, they have teamed up once again

o    He is regarded as a burst mage, an offensive ability-focused character that lock down foes and unleash devastating spells, which he channels through his card magic or cartomancy

o    Through his Loaded Dice, Twisted Fate generates extra gold whenever he kills an enemy

o    With Wild Cards, he launches three cards in a cone that deal magic damage

o    When he activate Pick a Card, he can charge his next attack with a gold card that stuns, a red card that damages in an area and slows foes, or a blue card that restores his mana

o    Stacked Deck is actually another passive effect that grants him bonus attack speed and generates stacks that deals extra damage after his third attack

o    Stepping away from his card theme is Destiny, which reveals all enemies before Twisted Fate channels and teleports to a target location

Summary of Goals: Coming from a criminal background, Twisted Fate is a cardsharp who channels much of his magic through his cards, enhancing the innocuous objects with great power and a variety of effects. He can soup up his attack speed and passively add some magic damage to his attacks though finding a way to replicate his Loaded Dice will be hard if not impossible. The teleportation on his ultimate feels a little out of place but very doable.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Ancient Elf

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Strength, -Constitution

o    Ancestry Feat: Nimble Elf

o    Multiclass Dedication: Rogue Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Experienced Smuggler

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (T), Thievery (T)

Background: Gambler

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence

o    Skill Increase: Deception (T), Games Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Lie to Me

Class & Subclass: Starlit Span Magus

o    Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Arcana (T), Athletics (T), Diplomacy (T), Occultism (T), Society (T)

o    Spellbook: Cantrips – bramble bush, figment, phase bolt; 1st - snowball

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +0, Cha +1)

Getting right into it, we’ll mix things up a bit by using the elf ancestry for Twisted Fate. This might help his feeling as an outside as one of the river people in his lore, but it comes with a few other benefits that are some great gets for the build. Right off the bat, TF can use the ancient heritage to gain a Rogue Dedication, which I think is a great way to acknowledge his criminal tendencies since it provides him with the surprise attack class feature, training in Stealth and Thievery, and gives him a skill feat that he can use for Experienced Smuggler. Something of a must-have for a card sharp. On that exact note, the gambler background is an absolute necessity given that much of his history spiraled out of this. The skills are a nice fit for him though I will admit, I’m not quite as sure on the skill feat that this provides. However, I do feel quite certain about the magus class, especially when we combine it with the starlit span hybrid study. While classified as a mage, a number of his abilities modify and enhance his attacks, such as Pick a Card and Stacked Deck. This class provides a mix of that magic and martial might that our miscreant manages. We’ll have to start with something other than cards, such as shuriken or throwing knives though I prefer the former because they explicitly have a reload of 0, which is immensely useful in a throwing weapon build. As for his spells, you’ll obviously want spells that have an attack roll just because they synergize better with the design of the magus. Phase bolt is a solid option from his cantrips and while snowball kind of stinks, in regards to damage, the movement-reducing effect does fit the slow of his Pick a Card’s red card. However, bramble bush might give us another way to represent this though we will need one more thing to add in the area effect that it features. I would also consider one of the damaging cone spells, such as breathe fire, chilling spray, or pummeling rubble to create the cone effect of his Wild Cards.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Expansive Spellstrike

o    Skill Feat: Dirty Trick

o    Gear: predictable silver piece

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Adopted Ancestry – Human

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (E)

o    Spellbook: 2nd – flame wisp

o    Gear: thrower’s bandolier (+1), predictable silver piece, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Basic Trickery – Fane’s Fourberie

o    Skill Feat: Pickpocket

o    Gear: flaming star, +1 deck of cards, necklace of knives, predictable silver piece

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +0, Cha +2)

o    Ancestry Feat: Astrology

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (T), Stealth (E)

o    Spellbook: 3rd – haste, paralyze

o    Gear: +1 striking deck of cards, flaming star, charlatan’s gloves, necklace of knives, predictable silver piece, ring of discretion

Expansive Spellstrike opens up a few options for the build. Firstly, it will allow him to Spellstrike with bramble brush or similar spells to damage and ‘slow’ a creature – though in this particular case, it’s a slow via difficult terrain. Alternatively, if TF knows that an adjacent target doesn’t have a reaction to interrupt him, he could Spellstrike with one of his cone effects as another option for Wild Cards. Speaking of which, through his rogue archetype, TF can gain Fane’s Fourberie (or Card Sharp’s Fourberie on Pathbuilder) so that he can use his cards as weapons. There’s a few things to note about this. Firstly, it’s a stance, which means you have to choose between it and Arcane Cascade. But since the startlit span hybrid study can’t actually benefit from Arcane Cascade, that shouldn’t be much of an issue. Secondly, it explicitly notes that you can apply fundamental and property runes to the entire deck instead of having to inscribe each card, which is a pretty crazy benefit. We continue to cover his criminal capers with Dirty Trick and Pickpocket, perhaps making foes clumsy before launching a Reflex-save targeting spell at them. By taking Adopted Ancestry for the human, we can add Astrology to TF’s build. The stars and such don’t quite seem to feature in his character but I think the luck-based aspect of this ability fits really well with Twisted Fate.

With TF not getting the bonus damage of his Arcane Cascade, it might be worth picking up flame wisp as a way to enhance his attacks, which is in turn based on the periodic extra damage from his Stacked Deck. If you do decide to include this spell, I would probably make sure to have him learn ignition so that he has a way of reliably restoring his wisps. As another nod to Stacked Deck, haste could be gained as a third-rank spell, but you can also find paralyze here. While it has the incapacitation trait, combining it with a Spellstrike gives us a great way of resembling the gold card of his Pick a Card ability. There’s a few more potential cones in this block, but the one that I fits best will be in the next block.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Quick Draw

o    Skill Feat: Fane’s Escape

o    Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking deck of cards, deck of mischief, flaming star, necklace of knives, masquerade scarf

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Prescient Planner

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (M)

o    Spellbook: 4th – draw the lightning, weapon storm

o    Gear: endless grimoire, +1 leather, merchant’s guile, +1 striking deck of cards, flaming star, charlatan’s gloves

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Runic Impression

o    Skill Feat: Swift Sneak

o    Gear: ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, phantasmal doorknob, +1 leather, +1 striking deck of cards, deck of mischief

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Heir of the Astrologers

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (M)

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, ring of wizardry (type I), cloak of illusions, phantasmal doorknob, merchant’s guile, +1 striking deck of cards

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +5, Con +0, Int +4.5, Wis +0, Cha +3)

o    Class Feat: Rapid Recharge

o    Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Games Lore

o    Skill Increase: Games Lore (M)

o    Gear: greater charlatan’s gloves, +1 resilient leather, frost weapon rune, ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, +1 striking deck of cards

For this block, we’ve got a small focus on the action economy. Taking Quick Draw will help him sneak in attacks between his Spellstrikes whereas Rapid Recharge will, admittedly only once per day, allow him to regain the ability to Spellstrike as a free action. Translating the mana-granting effect of his blue card isn’t easy, but I feel like this kind of works in regards for letting him make more Spellstrikes. Outside of that, I also wanted to include Runic Impression. Aside from providing him with another focus point, and another spell to refuel his Spellstrikes, the fact that this lets him select an array of runes to reinforce his armament with does make me think of his Pick a Card ability. Further playing into his card theme is Fane’s Escape, which combos nicely with Swift Sneak to let him quickly take cover after tossing up his cards. There’s also Additional Lore for Games Lore just so that he can potentially make a living out of doing so. Prescient Planner might seem like a slightly odd choice, but it is an attempt on my end to explore more ‘luck’ concepts with TF. The idea that he just so happens to have the item that he needs on-hand. Heir of the Astrologers merely expands on his Astrology feat and potentially lets him get a +4 on skill checks.

I talked about flame wisp earlier as an alternative option to generating the magical damage that we aren’t going to get from Arcane Cascade, but another option comes in at fourth-rank with draw the lightning, which provides a bit more punch and doesn’t need to be refreshed. Also at this rank is weapon storm, which creates copies of his weapon that can cover a cone, per his Wild Cards, or an emanation. This might not be the best mechanically, but it should be flavorfully on-point. One final spell from fourth-rank is translocate, per his Destiny though I do think that we have better ways or representing that.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Prescient Consumable

o    Skill Increase: Deception (E)

o    Spellbook: 6th – teleport, vitrifying blast

o    Gear: +2 striking deck of cards, greater charlatan’s gloves, greater ventriloquist’s ring, +1 resilient leather, ring of wizardry (type I), cloak of illusions

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Evasiveness

o    Skill Feat: Fleeing Diversion

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking deck of cards, greater endless grimoire, greater charlatan’s gloves, frost weapon rune, greater flaming star

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Avenge Ally

o    Skill Increase: Deception (M)

o    Spellbook: 7th – telekinetic bombardment, true target

o    Gear: +2 greater striking deck of cards, +2 resilient leather, master magus ring, greater endless grimoire, greater charlatan’s gloves, greater ventriloquist’s ring

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Hasted Assault

o    Skill Feat: Slippery Secrets

o    Gear: major vigilant eye, +2 greater striking deck of cards, ring of wizardry (type III), +2 resilient leather, greater endless grimoire, charlatan’s cape

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +5.5, Con +0, Int +5, Wis +1, Cha +4)

o    General Feat: Incredible Investiture

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (T), Games Lore (L), Stealth (L)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, major vigilant eye, +2 greater striking deck of cards, master magus ring, skirmisher’s coat

One of the unfortunate aspects of the magus is that even if you’re a Dex-based magus, your Fortitude is what increases first. Fortunately, through the rogue’s Evasiveness, we can represent what a slippery customer that TF by increasing his Reflex saving throw. We do snap back to the magus for Hasted Assault, providing him with yet another Focus Point and a quick spell that can provide him with the quickened condition, per his Stacked Deck’s increasing of his attack speed. As the member of his gang that never got caught, Fleeing Diversion and Slippery Secrets both feel appropriate for TF as far as his skill feats go. Furthermore, for those allies that he has lost or let get captured, he can pull off an Avenge Ally for another fortune effect that we can apply to his attacks. As for his general feats, Prescient Consumable simply improves upon Prescient Planner and then he takes Incredible Investiture inspired by his desire for riches, magic, and power. The big spell of this block is honestly teleport, which I think is the best way to represent Destiny, but there’s also vitrifying blast that can damage and slow foes, fitting for his red card. By tapping into eighth-rank spells, telekinetic bombardment can damage in a burst while knocking foes prone and true target might honestly be a good way to call to mind the enemy-revealing aspect of his Destiny.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Bullseye

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak

o    Gear: greater frost rune, +2 greater resilient leather, major endless grimoire, major vigilant eye, +2 greater striking deck of cards, ring of wizardry (type III)

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Magic Rider

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater striking deck of cards, greater frost rune, major phantasmal doorknob, +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, major vigilant eye

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Versatile Spellstrike

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Thief

o    Gear: pilferer’s gloves, +3 greater striking deck of cards, quickstrike weapon rune, greater frost rune, +2 greater resilient leather, major endless grimoire

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Reveal Machinations

o    Skill Increase: Deception (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient armor, pilferer’s gloves, phantom shroud, +3 greater striking deck of cards, greater frost rune, major phantasmal doorknob

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +6, Con +1, Int +5, Wis +2, Cha +4)

o    Class Feat: Supreme Spellstrike

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Professional

o    Gear: +3 major striking deck of cards, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, greater impactful weapon rune, greater ashen weapon rune, amplifying aeon stone

We make a return to the rogue archetype for the Bullseye feat. The magus is already a little action-intensive, which might make this seem like an odd fit, but if TF begins a turn with a card already drawn, maybe he can use this and then follow it up with a Spellstrike. Aside from the bonus on attack rolls that it grants, it also lets him bypass concealment or reduce cover, which could be thought to resemble the way that his ultimate reveals everybody. I like Versatile Spellstrike for the way that it presents him with a choice, with options, just like his Pick a Card does. Finishing out his class feats is Supreme Spellstrike to make him permanently quickened. Once again, with the fact that the extra action permits a Strike, this resembles the extra attack speed of his Stacked Deck. He uses all the legendary skill feats for the skills that he’s been investing in, even adding in Reveal Machinations rather than taking a more standard general feat as it’s a great debuffing option. Legendary Sneak and Thief will both be handy for his illicit activities whereas Legendary Professional gives him a slightly more legitimate means of earning moolah. We do finally get to the other reason I took the elf ancestry with the Magic Rider ancestry feat, improving his proficiency with teleportation magic, inspired by his Destiny.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Twisted Fate could easily expand upon his rogue archetype, either taking the likes of Sneak Attacker or looking at more of the throwing weapon feats, such as Strong Arm and Far Throw. I think it’s weird that Pathfinder doesn’t have an archetype for a thrown weapons fighting style, but the rogue does have some decent options. An alternative that I actually considered but didn’t include in this build was a Witch Dedication. As an Intelligence-based caster, we could use it to provide TF with some more spells and possibly go for an object familiar and use some familiar abilities to get Familiar Focus to gain more Focus Points and thus more spell, per his blue card.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Twisted Fate, the Card Master, is an ancient elf magus with a starlit span hybrid study and a background as a gambler. This covers the time he spent among the river people he was born to as well as how he met Malcom Graves in the first place and its Games Lore is something I dropped a few feats into. The use of the starlit span hybrid study in conjunction with the Fane’s Fourberie feat from the rogue will let him use his playing cards as weapons and even lace them with magic. Regrettably, his Loaded Dice passive just doesn’t really fit in Pathfinder. He could attempt to Steal from enemies in the midst of combat or even outside of that, but even that might be a little limited by the nature of the game. We do at least have some solids ways of resembling his Wild Cards through an assortment of cone spells, such as pummeling rubble, weapon storm, or whichever one of the vast array of options fits your fancy. I went for a couple ideas that capture the spirit of Pick a Card, such as Runic Impression and Versatile Spellstrike, but I also found a way to cover most of the cards through Spellstrikes. For his gold card, you’ll want something that can stun or slow your targets, such as the spell paralyze. Resembling his red card, we want an area damaging at slowing effect such as bramble bush or vitrifying blast. Regrettably, we don’t really have a way to cover his blue card because mana doesn’t exactly translate over into Pathfinder. Rapid Recharge lets you Spellstrike more as does gaining more Focus Points, but I’ll admit that it’s a bit of a stretch. As for the attack speed of his Stacked Deck, we have haste, Hasted Assault, and even Supreme Spellstrike. We can’t rely on Arcane Cascade for the extra magic damage it inflicts, so we might have to look into something like flame wisp, draw the lightning, or even the aforementioned Runic Impression. Finishing off with his Destiny, the likes of translocate and teleport cover the primary affect of this ability while the revealing of others could come in through spells such as unrelenting observation or other scrying spells.

A copiously capable cardsharp and crook, this crafty cavalier casts cards into a chaotic course that causes catastrophe as he keeps a careful cognizance of conjectural calamities and combatants.

Let me know what you think and what other sorts of builds you'd like to see!