Full Build Friday - Husk [Orc Druid] (Patreon)

Sometimes, Blue gets onto me about building obscure characters. However, sometimes I need to do them for my own sake because it helps keep this whole thing fun for me. This is the latest of such character, which I do hope you'll enjoy despite her obscurity.

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.

Let's check out this diamond in the rough, this needle in the hayseed - Husk from Marvel Comics!

HUSK

CHARACTER Paige Guthrie

SOURCE Marvel Comics

BUILD GOALS

o    Paige Guthrie is a mutant from Kentucky, the daughter of a farmer and coal miner who comes from a large family of mutants – most notably, Cannonball

o    Paige eventually exhibited powers of her own and after helping her brother’s X-Force and an ad hoc X-Men team, she attended a branch of the Xavier School

o    She has since become a teacher at various mutant schools but has taught art and literature, served as a lunch lady, and even instructed others in agriculture

o    She’s also adept at using and even hacking computers, which she has a reputation for

o    As a mutant, she has the ability to shed her skin to reveal a new state or shape underneath. She has demonstrated the ability to become metal, diamond, granite, wood, rubber, and glass

o    More exceptionally, she has revealed a body made of fire or acid and has created spikes on her wooden form to stake vampires

o    Shedding her skin can remove minor injuries or effects such as removing a techno-organic infection

o    Her powers can cause her to have excessive mood swings and blackouts

Summary of Goals: Rustic roots give way to extraordinary abilities for this character. I want a mix of natural and technical skills along with some physicality on the simpler side while representing her powers will have to come from ways to transform her body into different aspects. She fights predominantly unarmed, relying on her martial skill along with her various forms to claim victory.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Suli Orc

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Wisdom

o    Ancestry Feat: Iron Fists

Background: Farmhand

o    Ability Boosts: +Wisdom, +Strength

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (T), Farming Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Assurance – Athletics

Class & Subclass: Untamed Order Druid

o    Class Ability Boost: +Wisdom

o    Skill Increase: Computers (T), Intimidation (T), Nature (T), Survival (T)

o    Suggested Spells: Cantrips – eat fire, glass shield, gouging claw; 1st – armor of thorn and claw, nettleskin, shielded arm, threefold limb, wooden fists

Details

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

In regards to building Husk, the main idea is to reflect her ability to strip away her skin. To start with that, we’ll be using the orc ancestry so that we can pick up the Iron Fists feat, giving her a way of delivering solid blows as she scrapes away the skin of her knuckles to reveal iron underneath. However, rather than taking a traditional orc heritage, we’ll use the suli heritage. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really do much for us right now, but it will be important for the build in a few levels. As for this level, farmhand obviously calls to mind her rearing in Kentucky but given her physicality, it might be a bit of a surprise that we’re using the druid for her class. We’ll be using the untamed order for her build, using the claws that she can adapt now to resemble her shedding her skin for jagged rocks or something similar. For similar reasons, I have her taking gouging claw while glass shield might her be literally revealing a glass form beneath her skin. There are a host of spells at first rank that give her other options to shed her skin to reveal something else. Nettleskin and armor of thorn and claw are somewhat more defensive options even if they still do damage while threefold limb and wooden fists enhance her attacks. All of these still manage to fit in with her ability to tear away her skin to reveal a new substance beneath.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Martial Artist Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Forager

o    Gear: ring of discretion

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Elemental Assault

o    Skill Increase: Computers (E)

o    Suggested Spells: 2nd – hidebound, oaken resilience, pyrefowl rebuke, slough skin

o    Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Form Control

o    Skill Feat: Combat Hack

o    Gear: clay sphere, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), squire’s tabbard, ring of discretion

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +4.5, Cha +0)

o    Ancestry Feat: Elemental Bulwark

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Athletics (E)

o    Suggested Spells: 3rd – sand form

o    Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), clay sphere, crushing weapon rune, squire’s tabbard, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

We take a brief detour into the Martial Artist Dedication so that Husk’s melee attacks are a bit more potent even before she starts tearing away her skin. However, we’ll probably refrain from using any of the stances because they require being unarmored. Between that and most stances limiting you to their Strikes, I think it’s better to skip them. Unfortunately, there aren’t many class feats of interest in the following level but we can at least use Form Control since she is usually able to maintain her forms for a considerable length of time. When it comes to her skill feats, the ones for this block are a bit juxtaposed. The Forager feat is meant to call to mind her rearing as a farmer and an agriculture instructor. On the other hand, Combat Hack is inspired by her pastime involving computers and being known as a bit of a hacker. Thanks to Ancestral Paragon, we have two ancestry feats for this block and we can start tapping into her suli heritage. Elemental Assault and Elemental Bulwark are both meant to represent Husk’s ability to strip away her skin for a different element and has both offensive and defensive aspects. Oaken resilience is probably the truest representation of her powers that we’ve seen so far but I think hidebound, slough skin, and sand form are all fantastic fits.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Follow-Up Strike

o    Skill Feat: Digital Diversion

o    Gear: +1 breastplate, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), spiny lodestone, crushing weapon rune, necklace of knives, squire’s tabbard

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Fast Recovery

o    Skill Increase: Computers (M)

o    Suggested Spells: 4th – glass form, mountain resilience, reflective scales, vapor form

o    Gear: greater clay sphere, +1 breastplate, lesser rending gauntlets, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), crushing weapon rune, medal of gorilla’s might

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Grievous Blow//Adamantine Body

o    Skill Feat: Predict Weather

o    Gear: conducting weapon rune, greater clay sphere, bestiary of metamorphosis, +1 breastplate, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), spiny lodestone

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Tetraelemental Assault

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Suggested Spells: 5th – elemental form, plant form, any of the mantle spells

o    Gear: +1 resilient breastplate, conducting weapon rune, medal of the wolf pack, greater clay sphere, lesser rending gauntlets, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4.5, Dex +1, Con +3, Int +2, Wis +5, Cha +0)

o    Class Feat: Elemental Shape

o    Skill Feat: Experienced Tracker

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (T)

o    Gear: elemental wayfinder (earth), +1 resilient breastplate, greater spiny lodestone, conducting weapon rune, greater clay sphere, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)

We explore a few more martial artist feats this block with Follow-Up Strike and Grievous Blow though I think you could also consider Adamantine Body. I’m not as sold on this one because we have plenty of spells to make use of that already grant us resistance. And we can use this Grievous Blow and Follow-Up Strike even when Paige is in an Elemental Shape, which is why I went for the untamed order. It isn’t a perfect fit, but it works well alongside all the other spells that we’ve been picking up. Before discussing those, I want to discuss her skill feats real quick, which is a real mix. Digital Diversion calls to her hacking habits, Predict Weather is important for any farmer, and Experienced Tracker is based on some tracking that she actually did within the comics. While we have touched on it with a few spells, such as slough skin, this will be helpful when it comes to recovering from afflictions, which she has done in the comics before. Tetraelemental Assault simply builds out of Paige’s Elemental Assault and lets her make the most out of it as she cycles through skins with each blow. There’s some more spells that we can use to represent Husk’s powers that I’ve suggested here. I do actually like plant form for a feat that we’ll be looking at in a few level and any of the mantle spells, which I think are super solid fits as well. Mountain resilience is another obvious pick but I wish glass form could launch shards or something like that.

(There were some issues with these character sheets specifically for some reason)

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Nature (E)

o    Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), elemental wayfinder (earth), ashen weapon rune, +1 resilient breastplate, conducting weapon rune, medal of the wolf pack

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Healing Transformation

o    Skill Feat: Quick Jump

o    Gear: +2 resilient breastplate, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), living mantle, elemental wayfinder (earth), greater spiny lodestone, flaming weapon rune

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Continuous Assault

o    Skill Increase: Nature (M)

o    Suggested Spells: 7th – corrosive body, cosmic form, fiery body

o    Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient breastplate, robe of stone, living mantle, elemental wayfinder (earth), ashen weapon rune

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Pesh Skin

o    Skill Feat: Powerful Leap

o    Gear: propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), major spiny lodestone, +2 resilient breastplate, living mantle, greater staff of elemental power

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +5, Dex +2, Con +3, Int +3, Wis +5.5, Cha +0)

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Increase: Computers (L), Stealth (T)

o    Suggested Spells: 8th – ferrous form, monstrosity form

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient breastplate, propulsive boots, shockwave weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), bravery baldric (stone), robe of stone

When Husk rips away her skin, she can use it to recover from minor wounds and the like. To that end, we can use Healing Transformation so that she can help keep herself in the fight whenever she changes form. She can take advantage of the plant form I suggested with Pesh Skin, representing the thorns or even stakes that she will sometimes grow across her body. We get a bit more physical with her skill feats, using the likes of Quick Jump and Powerful Leap for the physicality that seems pretty important in the course of being an X-Man. True to their name, Fleet and Toughness are generally useful that Husk will have no problem making use of, especially with her generally being in the frontlines. We also pick up Continual Assault so that we can use our Elemental Assault even more regularly. It combos nicely with our Tetraelemental Assault, giving us four rounds that we can make use of every hour. There’s actually a few spells of note here that I really like. Corrosive body, fiery body, and ferrous form are all great selections with similar effects that not only transform her body, representing her not only tearing away her skin, but also powering up spells of the same element. It’s honestly kind of a shame that there aren’t more spells like this, but we can certainly make use of these ones.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Explosive Metamorphosis

o    Skill Feat: Morphic Manipulation

o    Gear: greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient breastplate, major clay sphere, propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), major spiny lodestone

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Improved Elemental Bulwark

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (L)

o    Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater corrosive weapon rune, dragonsacle amulet, +2 greater resilient breastplate, propulsive boots, shockwave weapon rune

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Cleansing Transformation

o    Skill Feat: Cloud Jump

o    Gear: bracers of strength, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), quickstrike weapon rune, greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient breastplate, major clay sphere

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Diehard

o    Skill Increase: Nature (L)

o    Suggested Spells: 10th – element embodied

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient breastplate, bracers of strength, greater impactful weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater corrosive weapon rune, dragonsacle amulet

LEVEL 20

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

o    Class Feat: Perfect Form Control

o    Skill Feat: Phreaker

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (T)

o    Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient breastplate, greater living mantle, bracers of strength, greater dinosaur boots, quickstrike weapon rune

During those times when Husk doesn’t need the restoration of Healing Transformation, I think Explosive Metamorphosis is a good get. With her relying on spells that represent her ability to tear away her skin, she might be a little lacking in damage. She’s a little reliant on extra damage provided by her various forms and this provides her with some extra options. However, for when she needs that healing, Cleansing Transformation should certainly be helpful. She closes out her class feats with Hierophant’s Power because there is actually a final tenth-rank spell that I like here. Again, she has a weird mix of skill feats. Influence Nature will help her grow plants and the like given the agriculture-focus she sometimes has. Cloud Jump is a classic for superheroes and then I slipped in Phreaker to round out her Computer skill feat options. Diehard is also pretty essential for comic book characters and Husk is even one of those characters who has died and come back to life. She finishes off her feats with Improved Elemental Bulwark so that she can gain greater resistances against others trying to use elements against her, letting her swap to something to counter what others are targeting her with. As promised, finishing off our build is element embodied, a sort of souped-up elemental form that we’ll be able to get two castings of per day thanks to Hierophant’s Power.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: In a free archetype game, you could tap into a few more martial artist feats. Adamantine Body is still good and there’s also Path of Iron and Echoing Violence. While its use might be limited, I think you could also consider a Barbarian Dedication that possibly taps into the element instinct. The main idea behind using this would be to cover the idea that Husk’s overuse of powers can lead to her developing violent moodswings. Rage could perhaps suit that concept. The last archetype I could really see making sense is a Geomancer Dedication but isn’t as solid a fit as the other suggestions and just fits with the idea of her drawing upon the very elements.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Paige Guthrie or Husk is a suli orc druid of the untamed order and a background as a farmhand, representing her upbringing as well as the interest in agriculture that she sometimes demonstrates. However, despite these humble roots, Paige has a talent for computers and hacking, which she has some renown for. I sought to demonstrate that with investment in the Computers skill as well as its skill feats such as Combat Hacker. When it comes to representing Paige’s rather unique powerset, we have a wide array of options. It starts simply enough with the likes of the Iron Fists feat before she starts expanding on it with spells such as wooden fists and nettleskin. As she grows in power, spells like oaken and mountain resilience are even better fits for her power sets and directly relate to some of the forms that she’s taken on. As does the likes of glass shield and glass form. Outside of these more physical materials, she has also revealed fiery and acidic forms, which we can represent through fiery or corrosive body. For the spikes that she has demonstrated in some of her wooden forms, she can use that aforementioned nettleskin, armor of thorn and claw, or the Pesh Skin feat that we picked up though we’ll have to prepare a plant form spell to combo it with. Switching skins can sometimes cause her to recover from minor injuries or remove certain effects and to that end, I worked in Healing Transformation and slough skin as an option to represent that.

Swift to switch skins, this super swaps into a series of supreme states that serve to survive and settle severe scenarios with succinct and sundering strikes.

Have a fantastic Friday!Level 10 Husk, Page 1