#that subtle spell message was also a really cool moment to avoid the wizard getting caught in questioning too

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #91: Ryougi Shiki (Saber)

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re going a bit out of our way to an entirely different Nasuverse production, Kara no Kyoukai, to build the mysterious  『Ryougi Shiki』, a.k.a. Void Shiki, a.k.a. Ryougi Shiki (Saber)! Shiki is the host personality of both Shiki and Shiki, and due to her connection with the Root, is effectively omniscient and omnipotent. She’s trying to keep her potence down to what a servant could do at the moment, so don’t expect a power build.

Check out Shiki’s build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Second verse, surprisingly different from the first.

Race and Background

Shiki is obviously a human, but she’s a human implanted with an additional personality as well as the origin of 「　」, so you’re probably closer to a Kalashtar. I would’ve thought “person with an extradimensional intelligence inside of them” would be a bit niche, but I guess I was wrong. Regardless, you get +2 Wisdom and +1 Charisma. Your Dual Mind gives you advantage on all Wisdom saves, your Mental Discipline gives you resistance to psychic damage, and you can use your Mind Link to speak to a creature within ten times your level in feet telepathically, provided they understand a language. This is a great way to get around that pesky language barrier. You can also spend an action to give a creature the ability to speak back telepathically for up to an hour, and you can only give one creature this ability at a time.

Finally, as a Kalashtar you are Severed from Dreams; you sleep, but don’t dream, so spells like Dream don’t work on you.

As the most reclusive of Shiki’s personalities, and the one with the greatest knowledge of the universe, you’re a shoe-in as a Hermit. This gives you Medicine and Religion proficiency, as well as a great secret of the world chosen by your DM.

Ability Scores:

Put your highest score into Wisdom, you’re literally omniscient and it’s a more useful ability score than Intelligence. Second is Dexterity- you move faster than most people can see, and you’re really handy with a sword. Third is Intelligence, because you’re still omniscient. Your Charisma isn’t that high, but we won’t be using it for much besides multiclassing anyway. Your Constitution is also pretty low, we just needed other stuff more. Finally, dump Strength. You don’t really get out much- it’s hard to go to the gym when you’re letting someone else run your body.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Your power comes more from your knowledge of other’s lines of death and your skill rather than brute force, so we’re going Monk instead of Fighter. It’s also way easier to fight in a Kimono this way, thanks to your Unarmored Defense giving you an AC of 10 + your Dexterity mod + your Wisdom mod. You also gain Martial Arts, making the minimum damage you can do with a monk weapon or your fist 1d4. You can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, and you can use Dexterity instead of Strength when attacking with a monk weapon or unarmed strike. 

You also have proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as Acrobatics and History. You’re nimble and know everything, a powerful combo.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks learn how to use Ki points to dash, disengage, dodge, or make two unarmed blows as a bonus action. You also get Unarmored Movement, helping you move 10′ faster when not wearing armor. New to Tasha’s you can also use a Dedicated Weapon with your martial arts, picking a non-heavy, non-special weapon to use as a monk weapon at the end of a long rest. We’re still not proficient with a long-sword yet, so we can’t quite use it yet, but we’ll get there.

3. Sorcerer 1: We’re popping into sorcerer for a bit to awaken your Aberrant Mind, letting you cast Spells using your Charisma as the casting ability and also make Telepathic Speech. You can use your bonus action to link yourself with another creature nearby. Afterwards, for a number of minutes equal to your sorcerer level you can speak telepathically with them as long as they’re within a number of miles equal to your Charisma modifier. The bond lasts a number of minutes equal to your sorcerer level, and only one creature can be affected by it at once. It might be technically possible for something to run over a mile away in less than a minute, but that seems like an edge case. It’s a bit confusing, but this telepathy has a longer range than your other telepathy, at the cost of lasting a shorter time.

For your spells, pick up Message for yet another way to speak to your party, Dancing Lights, Light, Sleep, and Minor Illusion for some dreamlike effects, and False Life to turn your magical energy into your lifeforce.

The aberrant mind is especially useful because you also get some Psionic Spells for free. At first level you get Arms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers, and Mind Sliver. Most of those aren’t that close to what you need though, so thankfully you can also replace one of these spells with any divination or enchantment spell of the same level from the sorcerer, warlock, or wizards spell lists. So let’s toss out Dissonant Whispers and replace it with Identify; you know literally everything, including what the cool magical artifact you just found is.

4. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers are a Font of Magic, giving you Sorcery Points equal to your level that you can spend to regain spell slots now, or other neat effects later. Speaking of spells, pick up Shield for more AC- it’s not that in-character, but we needed something replaceable for later. You should also replace Arms of Hadar with Detect Magic to further expand your omniscience.

5. Sorcerer 3: Third level sorcerers learn two Metamagic options to enhance their spells. Distant Spell lets you double a spell’s range or turn a touch spell into a 30′ range, very useful for extending your spying spells even further. You also pick up Subtle Spell, which eliminates the need for verbal or somatic components. You don’t use magic to learn things, you just know, that means you shouldn’t let anyone catch you casting.

You also grab 2nd level spells this level: Magic Weapon lets you slice though lines of death instead of flesh to avoid resistances and deal a little more damage. You also get the psionic spells Calm Emotions and Detect Thoughts. We don’t really need to calm people down though, so replace that right away with Locate Object so you’ll never lose your car keys again.

6. Sorcerer 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Weapon Master feat, bumping up your Dexterity and also giving you proficiency in four weapons, including the Long-sword.

You also grab True Strike, because it’s hard to dodge an attack when you can’t even see what it’s aiming for, Mind Spike for more psychic damage and omniscience, and replace Shield with Shadow Blade for a more magical monk weapon as well.

7. Monk 3: Speaking of monk stuff, let’s head back there for our subclass. Monks that follow the Way of the Long Death study death and incorporate their findings into their martial arts, and it’s really easy to study death when you’re able to see it in person. When you take the subclass, you learn the Touch of Death, gaining temporary hp when you reduce a creature’s HP to 0 within 5′ of yourself. You can also Deflect Missiles to reduce incoming damage or throw it back at them for a ki point.

8. Monk 4: Use this ASI to round out your Dexterity and Wisdom for a better AC and better swordplay. You can also Slow Fall to reduce your falling damage by five times your monk level, or use Quickened Healing to turn your Ki points into health based on your martial arts die and your proficiency bonus.

9. Monk 5:  At fifth level, your Martial Arts grows to a d6, and you can make an Extra Attack with each attack action. You can also make a Stunning Strike with your melee attack, spending a ki point to force a constitution save (DC 8 + your wisdom modifier + your proficiency modifier) against being stunned.

10. Monk 6: Sixth level monks can make Ki-Empowered Strikes, making your unarmed attacks magical. It’s not incredibly useful, since you could already magic up your sword, but hey, now you can save a spell slot. You can also signal the Hour of Reaping as an action, frightening everything within 30′ of you that fails a wisdom saving throw. You’re an omniscient swordswoman who can see the death of all things, and may or may not even exist. That’s pretty scary.

You also get an extra 5′ of movement. It’s not quite as scary, but still pretty useful.

11. Sorcerer 5: Fifth level sorcerers can use the new Magical Guidance, spending a sorcery point to re-roll a failed ability check. You know everything, so you should succeed at everything; that’s why it’s so boring.

For spells, you get Haste as your normal spell for doubled speed, +2 AC, an extra action per turn, and advantage on dexterity saves. You’re fast, what can I say. You also get new Psionic Spells, Hunger of Hadar and Sending. You have plenty of ways to speak your mind already, but let’s replace Hunger of Hadar with Clairvoyance for more all-knowing goodness, letting you place a sensor in a location you’ve been before or an obvious place you haven’t been, like around a corner. You can see or hear through the sensor, but not both at once.

12. Sorcerer 6: Sixth level Aberrant Minds get Psionic Sorcery; you can now cast Psionic Spells either by using a spell slot or by spending sorcery points equal to its level. Doing the latter lets you cast it without verbal, somatic, or unconsumed material components. You also have Psychic Defenses, giving you resistance to psychic damage and advantage on saves against being charmed or frightened. This almost entirely overlaps with the Kalashtar abilities you got at level 1, but who knows, maybe there’s a weird spell out there that charms with a constitution save.

For your spell, Blink loosens your grip on this reality, causing you to blink out of existence at the end of your turn if you roll eleven or higher on a d20. At the start of your turns and the end of the spell, you blink back into reality for more fighting. It lasts up to a minute, and isn’t concentration, so pair it with your favorite buff to really become a frightening anomaly. 

13. Sorcerer 7: Seventh level sorcerers get fifth level spells, like Far Step, which gives you the cool anime-level speed we’ve been looking for. As a bonus action each turn the spell is up, you can teleport up to 60′ away for speed so blinding people literally can’t see you do it. You also get Evards Black Tentacles and Summon Aberration as Psionic Spells. Neither are in-character, so replace the one you’ll use less with Arcane Eye for one last way to learn things you shouldn’t. This spell creates a magical sensor within 30′ of you, but you can move it as an action with no limit to how far it can go. 

14. Monk 7: We’re done switching around classes now; back in Monk, you learn Evasion, which gives you half damage on failed dexterity saves and no damage on successes when you’re trying to avoid damage. Your connection to the Void also gives you Stillness of Mind, letting you end a charming or frightening effect as an action.

15. Monk 8: Pick up the Tough feat for 2 extra HP per level- you’re a monk and your constitution is bad, you’ll really want this.

16. Monk 9: At ninth level you can run over liquid or up walls thanks to your Unarmored Movement Improvement. Just be sure to end your turn somewhere solid.

17. Monk 10: Tenth level monks have a Purity of Body, making them immune to diseases and poisons. You don’t have to deal with poison, Shiki does. You should probably apologize to her one of these days. You also get another 5′ of extra movement, because why not.

18. Monk 11: Eleventh level Long Death monks have a Mastery of Death; when you would hit 0 hp, you can instead spend a Ki point to stay at 1 hp instead. You’re pretty hard to kill, which is just as well- I don’t want to force your DM to have to figure out what happens when the origin of the universe dies. Also, your Martial Arts increases to a d8, for stronger unarmed attacks and more healing.

19. Monk 12: Use your last ASI on more Dexterity for a higher AC and more deadly weapon.

20. Monk 13: Your capstone feature is the Tongue of the Sun and Moon, letting you understand and be understood by anything that speaks a language. I’m almost getting tired of saying this, but you’re omnipotent; Duolingo should be pretty easy by now.

Pros:

You have 50′ of movement normally, the ability to dash or teleport as a bonus action, and access to the haste spell. You’re pretty goddamn mobile, is what I’m trying to say. And unlike a lot of these builds, you can run straight up walls and teleport into the air, so vertical mobility isn’t that much of an issue for you. As long as you don’t mind falling.

You have plenty of options to heal yourself, and you have to die almost a dozen times before you actually stay down. As befitting of The Thing the Universe Is Recorded On, you’re pretty hard to kill.

You’re not as omniscient as you should be, but you’re still really good at learning things you shouldn’t.  With plenty of divination spells that you can cast subtly, you’ll be able to spy on events without anyone knowinng you were ever there.

Cons:

A lot of your buffs and divination spells require concentration, which would be annoying enough even if your constitution wasn’t bad in the first place.

Your best way at dealing with flying enemies is to throw yourself into the air and hope you land okay. I mean you’re a high level monk, so it’s not that big an issue, but it’s still not dignified.

This build is a little bit complicated, with different kinds of points to keep track of. Have fun keeping your sorcery points, spell slots, and ki points all straight.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #void shiki #Fate and Phantasms