Full Build Friday - Jeff [Awakened Animal Druid] (Patreon)

We're well into summer so it should be safe to go in the water again - especially if Jeff's around! Honestly, I was originally planning on building Devil Dinosaur as he was recently added to Marvel Rivals, but a certain somebody beat me to it. Our builds were too similar for me to bother building him myself when I can just point you in the right direction, so I figured I'd take a crack at the lil' blue shark instead of the big red dino! Also, next week just so happens to be Shark Week.

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 dive into this build for Jeff the Land Shark from Marvel Rivals!

JEFF THE LAND SHARK

SOURCE Marvel Rivals

BUILD GOALS

o    An unusually friendly land shark, a creation of MODOK, Jeff is able to manipulate water to blast foes and restore his allies

o    He is a strategist in Marvel Rivals with versatile healing capabilities and high mobility

o    The Oblivious Cuteness passive reduces the damage he takes from critical hits, which is somewhat necessary as he is mostly head

o    Despite its naming, his main fire Joyful Splash unleashes a stream that heals allies and damages foes. His Aqua Burst alt fire launch balls of water that deal high damage at long range that knock around foes

o    With Hide and Seek, Jeff dives into the ground to heal, gain a movement speed buff, and the ability to crawl up walls

o    Healing Bubble creates a bubble that heals and speeds up an ally who collects it

o    It’s Jeff is his ult, which has him dive into the ground and leave behind a healing water zone. When he reemerges, he swallows all allies and enemies and can Hide and Seek with them before spitting them out

o    A friendly fellow, he can ride on Groot’s shoulder, receive a plushie from Deadpool that Taunts foes, or bond with a symbiote to provide healing to allies that he links to

Summary of Goals: Jeff is a small, shark-like creature that can manipulate water in a variety of ways, mostly to heal and harm with streams, splashes, and lingering bubbles. His ability to swim through the ground like it’s water will probably be difficult to represent though his power to swallow whole groups of people only to spit them out later will probably take some flavoring. Likely looking for some way to grapple or entrap multiple foes.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Running Awakened Animal

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

o    Ancestry Feat: Sea Legs

Background: Sailor

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Wisdom

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

o    Background Feat: Underwater Marauder

Class & Subclass: Druid of the Wave Order

o    Class Ability Boost: +Wisdom

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Medicine (T), Nature (T), Survival (T)

o    Class Feat: Shore Step

o    Suggested Spells: Cantrips – rousing splash, spout; 1st – aqueous blast, briny bolt, heal, hydraulic push

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +0, Dex +3, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +0)

To actually create Jeff, we will need to use the awakened animal ancestry but have to represent his more terrestrial nature with the running animal heritage. However, we do at least take Sea Legs so that he has an actual swim Speed and can hold his breath for five minutes. His background is a little silly, but I want to do what I can to enhance his aquatic capabilities, which leads to the use of the sailor background. Like I said, I mainly want this for Underwater Marauder. With his class, I was planning to use the kineticist for this, but after looking through his abilities some more, I think druid is ultimately the better way to go. Given his use of water, he’ll obviously use the waves order, which comes with rising surf for some extra mobility. This could maybe even somewhat simulate the speed-up of his Hide and Seek. For the healing he delivers, he can using rousing splash, which is fantastically on point, and heal. All of the damaging 1st-rank water spells here could possibly suit his Aqua Burst though the knockback of his hydraulic push might best suit the similar effect of it.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Kineticist Dedication – Water Element

o    Skill Feat: Stifle Flames

o    Skill Increase: Diplomacy (T)

o    Gear: cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (E)

o    Suggested Spells: 2nd – brine dragon bile

o    Gear: trusty helmet, cloak of feline rest, stalk goggles

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Through the Gate – Ocean’s Balm

o    Skill Feat: Folk Dowsing

o    Gear: perfect droplet, trusty helmet, Jack’s tattered cape, cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +0, Dex +4, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +4.5, Cha +1)

o    Ancestry Feat: You’re So Cute!

o    Skill Feat: Impressive Performance

o    Skill Increase: Nature (E), Performance (T)

o    Suggested Spells: 3rd – aqueous orb, dive and breach, haste

o    Gear: staff of healing, bracelet of dashing, perfect droplet, trusty helmet, cloak of feline rest, stalk goggles

Druid ends up suiting Jeff better than kineticist, but I think he can still make use of a Kineticist Dedication as it will let him go Through the Gate to take Ocean’s Balm. This provides a water-based healing effect to better resemble his Joyful Splash with effect and flavor alike. His skill feats further play into watery effects with Stifle Flames and Folk Dowsing, which are very much about just tying him into water without quite reflecting any effects. He does use Fleet to enhance his Speed per Hide and Seek, and then he obviously uses You’re So Cute! He’s been the recipient of this very compliment plenty of times in fanon and canon alike. In regards to his spells, aqueous orb can entrap creatures in move them around, which is actually a way to resemble his It’s Jeff – it swallows and entraps foes, can drag them around, and deposit them places. Dive and breach offers some additional mobility and actually lets him dive into the ground.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Current Spell

o    Skill Feat: Combat Climber

o    Gear: +1 hide, staff of healing, sailor’s collar, perfect droplet, Jack’s tattered cape, trusty helmet

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Fast Recovery

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Suggested Spells: 4th – grasp of the deep, hydraulic torrent, soothing spring

o    Gear: wand of choking mist (2nd-rank), +1 hide, lesser boots of free running, staff of healing, bracelet of dashing, perfect droplet

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Advanced Element Control – Deflecting Wave

o    Skill Feat: Quick Swim

o    Gear: boots of bounding, cassisian helmet, wand of choking mist (2nd-rank), +1 hide, staff of healing, sailor’s collar

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Wild Stride

o    Skill Increase: Nature (M)

o    Suggested Spells: 5th – geyser, healing well

o    Gear: +1 resilient hide, ethersight ring, ring of substance, staff of the tempest, quick runner’s shirt, lesser boots of free running

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +5, Cha +2)

o    Class Feat: Advanced Elemental Spell – Pulverizing Cascade

o    Skill Feat: Quick Climb

o    Gear: moderate diver’s gloves, +1 resilient hide, greater perfect droplet, boots of bounding, wand of choking mist (2nd-rank), staff of the tempest

It is difficult to resemble Oblivious Cuteness within this build, but he can create some protective features for himself with Current Spell as he surrounds himself in swirling water. The kineticist’s Deflecting Wave has a similar idea behind it, and then takes the Advanced Elemental Spell to gain pulverizing cascade. Given Jeff’s ability to swim through water and up walls alike, he takes a selection of Athletics skill feats for the block. Combat Climber and Quick Climb will let him swiftly and capably ascend walls while Quick Swim is a bit more central to his nature as a shark. Fast Recovery is a tiny nod to the enhanced healing provided by his Hide and Seek, and Wild Stride actually helps with that as well with its speed increase. Hydraulic torrent is the line effect of his Joyful ‘Splash’ while grasp of the deep is another way to resemble It’s Jeff. Also important at this level is healing well, which allows Jeff to place healing that his allies can pick up – just like his Healing Bubble.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Pick Up the Pace

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (E)

o    Suggested Spells: 6th – personal ocean

o    Gear: greater staff of the tempest, moderate diver’s gloves, submersible helm, +1 resilient hide, boots of bounding, ring of substance

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Purifying Spell

o    Skill Feat: Prepare Elemental Medicine

o    Gear: +2 resilient hide, wand of choking mist (4th-rank), living mantle, moderate diver’s gloves, greater staff of healing, greater perfect droplet

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Digger

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (M)

o    Suggested Spells: 7th – dancing fountain, hungry depths, regenerate

o    Gear: major perfect droplet, +2 resilient hide, moderate boots of free running, greater staff of the tempest, moderate diver’s gloves, submersible helm

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Advanced Element Control – Torrent in the Blood

o    Skill Feat: Battle Medicine

o    Gear: greater submersible helm, major staff of healing, major perfect droplet, +2 resilient hide, living mantle, wand of choking mist (4th-rank)

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +1, Dex +4.5, Con +4.5, Int +1, Wis +5.5, Cha +2)

o    General Feat: Caravan Leader

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

o    Suggested Spells: 8th – whirlpool

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient hide, greater submersible helm, greater ring of the ram, major perfect droplet, greater obsidian goggle, moderate boots of free running

While we did go for Ocean’s Balm, we can still use the druid to pick up Purifying Spell and add some water effects to his heal spell. He gets a bit of an area heal with Torrent in the Blood, but that will take some aiming so that you don’t catch enemies in it. We can then follow on with some Medicine skill feats to better capture his healing capabilities though he starts with Prepare Elemental Medicine since he mainly uses elemental effects. For his general feat, I want to use Pick Up the Pace followed by Caravan Leader to enhance the speed of his allies, which is based on the speed increase of his Healing Bubble. Then, since he can swim through the ground as readily as water, I wanted to work in a burrow speed. There’s somehow not a spell to do so (really dropping the ball Paizo), so I had to use the Digger ancestry feat, which is why I went for the running animal heritage to begin with. As another means of healing based off of his Hide and Seek, he could cast regenerate on himself while spells such as hungry depths or whirlpool might be an alternative means of resembling his It’s Jeff but lacks the ability to remove entrapped enemies.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Effortless Concentration

o    Skill Feat: Continual Recovery

o    Gear: earthglide cloak, +2 greater resilient hide, greater boots of bounding, greater submersible helm, major staff of healing, major perfect droplet

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Awakened Stride

o    Skill Increase: Nature (L)

o    Gear: amplifying aeon stone, earthglide cloak, greater diver’s gloves, +2 greater resilient hide, greater submersible helm, propulsive boots

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Primal Aegis

o    Skill Feat: Ward Medic

o    Gear: amulet of the third eye, major crown of the fire eater, amplifying aeon stone, earthglide cloak, +2 greater resilient hide, major greater staff of the tempest

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Natural Senses (Tremorsense)

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient hide, amulet of the third eye, greater boots of free running, true staff of healing, earthglide cloak, greater diver’s gloves

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +5, Con +5, Int +1, Wis +6, Cha +3)

o    Class Feat: Ley Line Conduit

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Medic

o    Gear: cloak of waves and clouds, +3 greater resilient hide, greater fortification armor rune, amulet of the third eye, amplifying aeon stone, true staff of healing

Between spells such as aqueous orb or hungry depths, Effortless Concentration is a great addition to the build for a mechanical benefit. Primal Aegis is a bit of a weird one, but it gives him a permanent aura to defend his companions, which is great for a strategist. The Ley Line Conduit feat is also one just solid final option and will give him a free casting of something like aqueous orb or a number of other very solid spells. His skill feats are all about Medicine for this block, which might be a little redundant with his Ocean’s Balm, but he could use that and then Treat Wounds during the 10 minute cooldown. Potentially even on multiple people thanks to his Ward Medic. He’ll use two ancestry feats for his final block, using Ancestral Paragon for Natural Senses so that he can gain tremorsense to help him while traversing underground. There’s also Awakened Stride, expanding out of Wild Stride and giving him triple time on the Stride as well as the concealed effect. It’s a decent way of resembling the protection he gains from diving into the dirt as part of Hide and Seek.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: For a free archetype game, he could expand on the kineticist archetype with stuff like Improved Elemental Blast and Expert Kinetic Control. He could also consider a Cleric Dedication to explore some more healing options. With more druid spells, he’ll probably want Widen Spell, Natural Swimmer, and similar spells to enhance his general ability.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Jeff the Land Shark is a running awakened animal druid of the wave order and a background as a sailor. The land part comes through with the running animal heritage while the shark part is explored through Sea Legs, Underwater Marauder, and Quick Swim. His water manipulation powers are expressed through his spells as a druid and a few of the elemental impulses that he picks up from a Kineticist Dedication. Oblivious Cuteness is a little difficult to represent and outside of etching a fortification rune onto some medium armor for him, I think something like Deflecting Wave or the hidebound spell might be your best bet. A heal spell with Current Spell, Ocean’s Balm, or rousing splash probably best suit his Joyful Splash while a hydraulic torrent has the long-range effect to damage and knock back enemies, matching with his Aqua Burst. For some reason, there isn’t a spell to give you a burrow speed, but through the running animal heritage and Digger ancestry feat, he can at least burrow in that manner while swiftly scaling walls with Athletics and his Quick Climb. Thanks to healing well, he’s got a great way to set up his Healing Bubble though he might need haste to create the speed-up that it also provides. When it comes to It’s Jeff, we have to unfortunately rely on some unusual means. I think that aqueous orb is your best bet because it captures enemies and can then roll around with them, but a heighted grasp of the deep, whirlpool, or maybe hungry depths, could also work.

Displaced from the depths, this dainty dude with the daunting dentures dives through dirt to deliver doctoring downpours and deluges that dole out damage in droves against delinquents.

Have a fantastic Friday!