Full ReBuild Friday - Rhys [Elf Rogue] (Patreon)

The votes came in and there was a call for Rhys! I think I managed to get closer to his original effects than I did in the past, so I'd call this rebuild a success. Let me know what you think and be sure to vote on the next rebuild.

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.

Play your cards right for Rhys the Exiled from Magic the Gathering!

RHYS THE REDEEMED

CHARACTER Rhys

SOURCE Magic the Gathering

BUILD GOALS

o    Rhys hails from the plane of Lorwyn where he is an elven hunter who once commanded an entire pack of his ilk

o    He was trained by a treefolk sage that taught him potent poison magic but when his commander pushed him to bring this magic to bear, he lost control of it and killed many of his kin, leading to his exile

o    Represented through two cards and he is associated with green, black, and white mana throughout them

o    ‘Rhys the Exiled’ is a mono-green 3/2 Elf Warrior who grants health when he attacks based on the elves controlled and can use black manage to sacrifice an elf to save his own life

o    ‘Rhys the Redeemed’ is a green-white 1/1 Elf Warrior who can call other green-white elf warriors to the battlefield and duplicate tokens

o    In the art of his cards, he is depicted wielding light blades and carrying a bow

Summary of Goals: There’s honestly not a lot to work with here and what there is to work with might be a little difficult to translate over into Pathfinder. We’re going to have to work in the abstract and ensure that he works with poison, commands hordes of minions, and has restorative capabilities. His Regenerate allows him to escape death, which I have a few ideas for though we might not include the sacrificed ally.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Dromaar Elf

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

o    Ancestry Feat: Orc Ferocity

Background: Pyre Tender

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Strength

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (T), Funeral Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Alchemical Crafting

Class & Subclass: Thief Racket Rogue

o    Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Athletics (T), Deception (T) Medicine (T), Nature (T), Occultism (T), Society (T), Stealth (T), Survival (T), Thievery (T)

o    Class Feat: Twin Feint

o    Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Warfare Lore

Details

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

We mix things up right off the bat because while we’re still using the elf ancestry to represent an elf, we’re actually going to be using the dromaar heritage. This allows him to use the Orc Ferocity feat, saving him from death when he should be reduced to 0 health in a vein similar to his ability to regenerate. I did switch up to the pyre tender background, which you could stretch to relate to his association with Ashling. I mainly wanted the Alchemical Crafting that this grants him and was kind of surprised to fail to find a background steeped in poison, which is why I really picked this up. He has a final switch up with the rogue class as well, for which he’ll be using the thief racket to put his nimble fighting style as an elf to work. The remaster of the rogue giving them martial weapon proficiency is what really opened this up as an option as this will let him switch between his swords and bow and with the second card showing him wielding two blades, I started off with the Twin Feint class feat. Since he gains a skill feat as a rogue, he’ll use Additional Lore to gain scaling Warfare Lore given that he is a leader of an elf squadron that likely needed to employ tactics.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Captain Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Battle Medicine, Group Impression

o    Skill Increase: Diplomacy (T), Medicine (E)

o    Gear: psychopomp mask

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Feat: Battle Planner

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (E), Warfare Lore (E)

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

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Additional Follower

o    Skill Feat: Specialty Crafting – Alchemy

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E)

o    Gear: golden legion epaulets, +1 shortsword, +1 shortbow, psychopomp mask

LEVEL 5

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

o    Ancestry Feat: Defy Death

o    Skill Feat: Continual Recovery

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (E)

o    Gear: +1 striking shortsword, golden legion epaulets, boots of quick marching, +1 shortbow, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion

One options that should really help this build is the Captain Dedication, which provides him with a follower to command. This is inspired by the elf warriors that he can call to battle but we’ll make sure that he has multiple of those with Additional Follower, even if he can’t deploy multiples of them at a time. I had him take a variety of skill feats, including some healing capabilities through Battle Medicine and Continual Recovery inspired by the healing that his first card offers. Battle Planner puts his Warfare Lore skill to work and then he uses Specialty Crafting for Alchemy so that he’s better at brewing up poisons. While Rhys’s in-game toughness isn’t anything to write home about, Toughness will still be useful in the general build and actually makes it easier for him to recover from dying, which leans into his ability to Regenerate, an idea that is further explored by his Defy Death ancestry feat.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Experienced Follower

o    Skill Feat: Ward Medic

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (E)

o    Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking shortsword, +1 striking shortbow, golden legion epaulets, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Diehard

o    Skill Feat: Improvise Strategy

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (M), Warfare Lore (M)

o    Gear: clandestine cloak, +1 leather, quick runner’s shirt, +1 striking shortsword, golden legion epaulets, boots of quick marching

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Veteran Follower

o    Skill Feat: Paragon Battle Medicine

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (M)

o    Gear: stalwart’s banner, clandestine cloak, cassisian helmet, +1 leather, +1 striking shortsword, +1 striking shortbow

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Undying Ferocity

o    Skill Feat: Kip Up

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, stalwart’s banner, clandestine cloak, +1 striking shortbow, +1 striking shortsword

LEVEL 10

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

o    Class Feat: Poison Weapon

o    Skill Feat: Quick Jump

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Gear: thunderblast slippers, +1 resilient leather, decaying weapon rune, stalwart’s banner, +1 striking shortbow, +1 striking shortsword

We of course have to increase the proficiency of our followers with Experienced and Veteran Follower though given that he only summons 1/1 tokens, maybe he shouldn’t actually enhance his followers. Poison Weapon goes into a different direction and one that isn’t actually represented in any of his cards. Due to that, it won’t be a focus of my build, but I do want to represent his association with poison magic from his background at least through a few feats. His skill feats are then all over the place. There’s Ward Medic and Paragon Battle Medicine for some healing, Kip Up and Quick Jump for some action compression, and then Improvise Strategy, which is very cool. It’s kind of a better Dirty Trick and also makes him better at leading troops. My feeble attempts at expressing Rhys’s regeneration through making him as unkillable as possible comes through with Diehard as his general feat and Undying Ferocity as his ancestry feat to grant him even more temporary Hit Points when he uses his Orc Ferocity.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Feat: Tactical Acumen

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (M)

o    Gear: +2 striking shortsword, greater shadow armor rune, thunderblast slipper, +1 resilient leather, stalwart’s banner, +1 striking shortbow

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Coordinated Tactics

o    Skill Feat: Swift Sneak

o    Skill Increase: Survival (E)

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking shortsword, +2 striking shortbow, greater shadow armor rune, decaying weapon rune, greater boots of the secret blade

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Avenge Ally

o    Skill Feat: Environmental Guide

o    Skill Increase: Survival (M)

o    Gear: +2 greater striking shortsword, +2 resilient leather, endless quiver, +2 striking shortbow, greater shadow armor rune, thunderblast slipper

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Exceptional Follower

o    Skill Feat: Foil Senses

o    Gear: propulsive boots, +2 greater striking shortsword, +2 greater striking shortbow, +2 resilient leather, timepiece standard, admiral’s bircorne

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4.5, Dex +5.5, Con +3, Int +1, Wis +3, Cha +2)

o    General Feat: Robust Health

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Medic

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (L), Warfare Lore (L)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking shortbow, +2 greater striking shortsword, endless quiver, greater ash gown

One of the reasons that I decided to switch Rhys to the rogue class was the access to poison through Poison Weapon and because it would let him take greater advantage of his sneak attack through Coordinated Tactics. And he can further enhance the followers that fight alongside him through Exceptional Follower. His following skill feats are a bit of a grab bag again though Tactical Acumen does take advantage of his Warfare Lore and allows him to identify troops as well as make those that he identifies a bit more vulnerable to the attacks of the troops that he commands. With him being a hunter and commander of sorts, a Stealth investment with Swift Sneak and Foil Senses felt right, as does some Survival stuff, hence the inclusion of Environmental Guide. As an elf, Rhys is already fast but can become even faster with Fleet and Robust Health helps him heal up faster to remain in the fight, which is a tiny bit based on his Regenerate.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Sidestep

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Professional

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (L)

o    Gear: greater decaying weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, beacon of the wilds, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking shortsword, +2 greater striking shortbow

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Rampaging Ferocity

o    Skill Feat: Tumbling Teamwork

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater striking shortsword, earthglide cloak, greater decaying weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking shortbow

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Improved Poison Weapon

o    Skill Feat: Wall Jump

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (L)

o    Gear: cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking shortsword, +3 greater striking shortbow, greater decaying weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, beacon of the wilds

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: True Perception

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking shortbow, +3 greater striking shortsword, greater propulsive boots, greater decaying weapon rune

LEVEL 20

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

o    Class Feat: Peerless Captain

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Guide

o    Skill Increase: Survival (L)

o    Gear: +3 major striking shortsword, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, major stalwart’s banner, greater ashen weapon rune, +3 greater striking shortbow

While I’m not certain of the story idea behind it, Rhys’s regenerate is essentially somebody else dying in his place. Normally, this has to be one of his allies, but with Sidestep, he can let an enemy take damage meant for him instead. He also manages to squeeze in Improved Poison Weapon before finishing off his class feats with Peerless Captain, since his main thing is making minions. The scant information of what we have on Rhys makes it hard to figure out skill feats on him, but I took a few legendary skill feats as well as Tumbling Teamwork to give him a means of aiding and enabling his allies. He uses Rampaging Ferocity since he’s been investing in Orc Ferocity and True Perception simply seems on point for his greater concept.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: This is another one of those builds that would be absolutely massive in a free archetype game. He could gain even more Additional Followers and a feat that I really wanted for this build, Leader of All. That would let him make his followers elves to better fit the elves that he summons. He could certainly use some more rogue feats, such as exploring his Poison Weapon feats more or the vast array of other fantastic rogue feats. He could also consider something like a Commander or Marshal Dedication to better command the followers that he brings along.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Rhys is a dromaar elf rogue with a thief racket and a background as a pyre tender, which I am mainly taking to acquire Alchemical Crafting so that he can make poisons. This and the Poison Weapon feat, as well as its improvement, is probably the best bet when it comes to demonstrating the poison magic he supposedly wields, which is so underrepresented in his cards, that neither of them even have deathtouch. I placed a much greater focus on his ability to bring allies to the battlefield through the Captain Dedication and the followers it grants him. He also makes considerable use of the Medicine skill and a range of its skill feats to represent his healing and life restoring capabilities. It’s difficult to cover his ability to regenerate from lethal damage, but deflecting damage to others through Sidestep as well as surviving what would be a fatal blow with Orc Ferocity should work for it. As a Dex-focused rogue, he will be able to switch between light blades and a bow with little trouble, which wraps up this rather basic build.

Bounding through boughs and barrows, this blade-and-bow-bearing badass brings a bunch of buddies to the battle, bossing them about to be their best.

Have a fantastic Friday!