Full ReBuild Friday - Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance [Elf Barbarian] (Patreon)

There was a slight miscalculation on my part and I had to do another rebuild before I had a new vote ready to go. That should be fixed now, but I figured I would run the remaster for the runner-up while I was getting everything else in order.

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 hop to it and take a stab at Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance from League of Legends!

KALISTA, THE SPEAR OF VENGEANCE

CHARACTER Kalista vol Kalah Heigaari

SOURCE League of Legends

BUILD GOALS

o    Once the general of the forgotten kingdom of Camavor, Kalista was betrayed by her liege and fellow commanders, leading to her murder

o    She returned as wraith that became a spirit of vengeance who formed pacts with those seeking retribution and taking their souls in return

o    In-game, she is a marksman who deals sustained damage through her attacks, which are made with spears and javelins that she throws

o    She can move during her attacks thanks to her Martial Poise, which allows her to dash as she attacks

o    Her simply named Pierce launches a spear in a direction that deals damage and continues its flight if it kills the target

o    Passively, Sentinel allows her and her Oathsworn ally to apply Soul-Mark to a target. If both of them apply the mark to the same target, it deals extra damage. She can also summon a patrolling sentinel

o    The Rend ability also has a passive effect, causing her attacks to stab spears into a target. She can then activate this ability to rip the spears out to deal damage and slow the targets

o    Finally, she has Fate’s Call, which pulls her Oathsworn to her. The Oathsworn can then launch themselves towards an area. If they hit a champion, they knock them into the air

o    In Legends of Runeterra, she summons an Ephemeral copy of her strongest dead ally when she attacks

Summary of Goals: When it comes to mechanics, the main aspects of Kalista are her mobility along with the persistent attacks that she launches at range. She also has a surprising number of abilities that are about working with and enhancing her allies, such as her Sentinel’s passive effect and Fate’s Call. Finally, exploring her nature as a specter would be fantastic to work in as well.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Duskwalker Elf

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

o    Ancestry Feat: Deliberate Death

Background: Martial Disciple

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Strength

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

o    Background Feat: Quick Jump

Class & Subclass: Spirit Instinct Barbarian

o    Class Ability Boost: +Strength

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Intimidation (T), Society (T), Stealth (T), Survival (T)

o    Class Feat: Raging Thrower

Details

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

In my revisit of this build, I wanted to lean into the vengeance aspect of Kalista a bit more. To do so, I decided to draw upon the elf ancestry and the duskwalker heritage, which honestly does suit the type of being that she is. For example, the duskwalker heritage allows us to immediately take Deliberate Death. This reaction lets her take vengeance against creatures that strike her down with a swift stab. I also switched up her background a bit with the martial disciple since I think going for the Athletics option and gaining Quick Jump right off the rip is the better way to go for her. Following that though, the build starts to look a bit more familiar. We’re sticking with the barbarian class, we’re sticking with the spirit instinct, and we’re even sticking with the Raging Thrower class feat. I took a look at some other classes when it came to this remaster, but I think that barbarian still brings what we want for this build online faster than other options would. We will be making extensive use of some archetypes, but there’s some very good picks here and the flavor itself, the rage of the barbarian, fits very well with Kalista’s own wrathful fury.

When it comes to kitting out Kalista, I think a spear is perhaps the best option, but you might want to consider using javelins as they can be fitted in a thrower’s bandolier.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Rogue Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Experienced Tracker, Intimidating Glare

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

o    Gear: psychopomp mask

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (E)

o    Gear: +1 spear, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Basic Trickery – Quick Draw

o    Skill Feat: Powerful Leap

o    Gear: boots of quick marching, +1 spear, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask

LEVEL 5

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

o    Ancestry Feat: Nimble Elf

o    Skill Increase: Survival (E)

o    Gear: +1 striking spear, boots of quick marching, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion

In my original take on this build, I went for a Ranger Dedication around this point. However, after looking through things again, I think the Rogue Dedication offers the same class feats while also having some other throwing weapon-based feats. The main advantage to going for ranger is the Hunt Prey feature and the way that it extends her range a bit. If you think that’s worth it, I’d go for that instead. Either way, you can use their feat to take Quick Draw though if you have a weapon with the returning trait, this might not be as valuable. You could consider Strong Arm for the rogue or if you decided on the ranger, I’d consider Relentless Stalker for more mobility or Hunter’s Aim for a deadlier throw. That rogue archetype does mean that we get a third skill feat, which gives us a whole host of options. Intimidating Glare will give her an option of debuffing foes a bit, but it won’t be a major feature of the build. Experienced Tracker will help her track down the culprits of her vengeance while Powerful Leap gives her more range on the jumps and dashes associated with her Martial Poise. The Fleet general feat and Nimble Elf ancestry feat both also help with that idea, which both also work with the barbarian’s Furious Footfalls.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Spiritual Guides

o    Skill Feat: Cat Fall

o    Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking spear, killer’s belt, boots of quick marching, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Feather Step

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Gear: ring of the ram, +1 leather, grim ring, +1 striking spear, boots of quick marching, bracelet of dashing

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Friendly Toss

o    Skill Feat: Wall Jump

o    Gear: boots of bounding, cassisian helmet, ring of the ram, +1 leather, +1 striking spear, killer’s belt

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Elf Step//Swear Vengeance

o    Skill Increase: Survival (M)

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, ghost scarf, ring of the ram, grim ring, +1 striking spear

LEVEL 10

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

o    Class Feat: Share Rage

o    Skill Feat: Terrain Stalker – Rubble

o    Gear: greater killer’s belt, +1 resilient leather, astral weapon rune, boots of bounding, ring of the ram, +1 striking spear

Honestly, the activated effect of Kalista’s Sentinel is pretty hard to replicate without somehow getting her a familiar. That isn’t happening for this build, but we do have Spiritual Guides, which can trigger when she fails a Perception check just like how the Sentinels are meant to serve as sort of mobile wards for her. This block comes with another important aspect of Kalista’s kit with Friendly Toss. Just like in my original take of this build, the idea is to use this to resemble her Fate’s Call with her throwing her allies into the midst of combat. She can further connect with an ally through Share Rage, which is actually inspired by the passive effect of her Sentinel, increasing the damage of an ally per the Soul-Mark. We do keep with a range of skill feats for this block as Cat Fall can help save us from our missteps, Wall Jump keeps with the jumping abilities, and then Terrain Stalker helps her in hunting those who have harmed her contractors. We once again having her general and ancestry feats working together with Feather Step letting her more easily maneuver through difficult terrain while Elf Step lets her Step twice, which could be used to Step through two squares of difficult terrain. It will help her kite foes about the battlefield though we still need a bit more mobility for her.

ADDENDUM: The Galactic Ancestries book for Starfinder Second Edition introduced two new, vengeance-themed ancestry feats. Elf Step works great for the build to enhance Kalista’s mobility, but Swear Vengeance is a great effect that is very on theme. This reaction can only be triggered once per day when Kalista is reduced to 0 HP without outright being killed, and it allows her to stay conscious at 1 HP and with the wounded 1 condition. It additionally makes her quickened for 1 round, but she can only use the extra action to Stride toward or make a Strike against the triggering creature. Either way, I think that really suits her!

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Diehard

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E)

o    Gear: +2 striking spear, armbands of athleticism, greater killer’s belt, +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, ghost scarf

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Skirmish Strike

o    Skill Feat: Rolling Landing

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking spear, instinct crown, greater killer’s belt, astral weapon rune, lover’s gloves

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Avenge Ally

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)

o    Gear: +2 greater striking spear, +2 resilient leather, skirmisher’s coat, instinct crown, armbands of athleticism, greater killer’s belt

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Exemplar Dedication – Noble Branch

o    Skill Feat: Kip Up

o    Gear: eye of fortune, +2 greater striking spear, greater quick runner’s shirt, +2 resilient leather, instinct crown, greater demon mask

LEVEL 15

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

o    General Feat: Canny Acumen – Reflex

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (L)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, eye of fortune, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking spear, skirmisher’s coat, bravery baldric (stone)

We get a bit more of that aforementioned mobility with this block as we use Advanced Trickery to take Skirmish Strike. The only issue with this is that it has the flourish trait, so Kalista can’t quite spam it. One big change to the build does come in the form of an Exemplar Dedication, which I want to use to take the noble branch Ikon. I wish that you could tap into the exemplar’s humble strikes with this archetype, but the noble branch can apply to the spears that she throws and aside from increasing her damage, its Strike, Breathe, Rend action is a great fit for her Rend ability, letting her follow up a Strike with some guaranteed damage. Rolling Landing and Kip Up both help her action economy, letting her more swiftly continue her pursuit of vengeance instead of being stopped by paltry things such as falls or being knocked prone. Her undead nature and persistence after the fact lends to the use of Diehard and then while Canny Acumen is a bit of a dud right now, in two levels it’ll make her a master in Reflex. With how dexterous she is, I honestly feel like this is a better than her legendary Fortitude given the character. Then, one of the main reasons that I took up the elf was knowledge of a feat such as Avenge Ally. I like how this can apply to melee or ranged Strikes and it lets the Spear of Vengeance deliver exactly that.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Penetrating Projectile

o    Skill Feat: Cloud Jump

o    Gear: greater astral weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater boots of bounding, eye of fortune, +2 greater striking spear, greater quick runner’s shirt

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Yamaraj’s Grandeur//Exact Retribution

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater striking spear, greater astral weapon rune, major armory bracelet, +2 greater resilient leather, eye of fortune, propulsive boots

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Strong Arm

o    Skill Feat: Steady Balance

o    Gear: cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking spear, quickstrike weapon rune, greater astral weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater boots of bounding

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Fast Recovery

o    Skill Increase: Survival (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, cloak of swiftness, greater armbands of athleticism, +3 greater striking spear, greater astral weapon rune, major armory bracelet

LEVEL 20

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

o    Class Feat: Contagious Rage

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Survivalist

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (T)

o    Gear: +3 major striking spear, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, greater armbands of athleticism, greater ashen weapon rune, quickstrike weapon rune

The barbarian doesn’t have a lot of feats that play into ranged options, but there is Penetrating Projectile in this block, which rather fantastically fits in for her Pierce ability. We do go for a lower-leveled option than by taking Advanced Trickery for Strong Arm to extend the range of her weapons. If you took that earlier because you have a returning rune on your weapon, I’d instead probably go for Far Thrower for a similar idea. When it comes to class feats, that leaves us with Contagious Rage, which expands on the effects of Share Rage and lets her more regularly empower her allies – and to greater effect. She can use Cloud Jump to give her some truly crazy hops, Steady Balance because I’m running out of ideas, and then Legendary Survivalist because she’s a wraith. She should be able to ignore all those effects without much issue. Fast Recovery is kind of standard on my League character builds, but Yamaraj’s Grandeur certainly isn’t. This gives her a nasty little area effect that she can throw out when she has to deal with an entire array of enemies. Maybe this is her finally picking up a Runaan’s Hurricane.

ADDENDUM: Building out of Swear Vengeance is Exact Retribution, a free action that triggers when you use the aforementioned reaction. When you use this, you make a Strike against the foe that brought you to 0 Hit Points. If this Strike brings that for to 0 HP, the Swear Vengeance activation doesn’t count against its once per day limit and Kalista’s wounded value doesn’t increase. This almost works with how Rend refreshes on kills!

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: It is a damn shame that there isn’t a throwing weapon themed archetype in Pathfinder Second Edition. If you think there should be, consider becoming an Orc Overlord to check out the upcoming Mythic Monthly Moment. In the meantime, you could further explore the rogue archetype for some more of its throwing feats. If you explore the exemplar further, there’s options such as Hurl at the Horizon, Flow of War, or possibly getting a second Ikon.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Kalista the Spear of Vengeance is a duskwalker elf barbarian with a spirit instinct and a background as a martial disciple. This calls to mind her service as a general of Camavor and its Quick Jump helps with her passive while the duskwalker heritage and its Deliberate Death feat fits with the betrayal she faced at the hands of Hecarim. Between that heritage, Avenge Ally, and her spirit instinct, we have her pretty well covered as a spirit of vengeance. We have her designed as a ranged barbarian, making use of Raging Thrower and some feats from the rogue to fit her ranged fighting style. Skirmish Strike is perhaps the best way to represent the mid-attack dash of her Martial Poise while the barbarian’s Penetrating Projectile is a pretty great way of demonstrating her Pierce. The damage increase of the Sentinel’s Soul-Mark comes in through her Share Rage as she boosts an ally’s power while the activated aspect can come from Spirit’s Guidance as it lets her reroll a Perception check. While far from perfect, we can then use the exemplar to gain a noble branch Ikon to represent her Rend with an ability that partially shares that name. The last of her abilities is represented through Friendly Toss, letting her lob an ally into the midst of their enemies to disrupt them. It’s an attack rather than a knock-up effect, but it’s still pretty solid overall. This could also slightly reference her LoR’s ability to bring an ally along for the attack, but hopefully those friends aren’t quite as ephemeral…

This spear-slinging, spite-sparked spirit strikes at scheming snakes with supreme severity, sure to sever their souls and send them into a sudden cessation of survival.

Have fantastic Friday!