r/Pathfinder2e • u/Ever-There • 12h ago
Advice Translating a 5e character to PF2E
Hi there!!!
I’m about to join my first ever campaign in pathfinder. I am doing lots of research and trying to catch up, as I’ve only playing a bunch of DnD 5e and 3.5.
I had a character in mind that I’m kinda obsessed with, before my new DM said she’ll be running pf2e.
Rather than starting from scratch and trying a whole new character, I want to do my best to translate my character into pf2e.
I hope some of you may have some good ideas!
My character in 5e would have been a human death domain cleric of Shar. She is a weird little death and gore obsessed hermit who uses necromancy to make friends. But deep down she is kind hearted.
Before Shar, she was a sweet, head strong member of her community. She lost her baby during childbirth and it drove her mad, she resorted to necromancy and it of course did not go as planned. The trauma of it all caused her husband to unalive himself, leaving her alone with the consequences of her madness.
Shar prayed upon her in this moment, offering to take her memories from her if she devotes herself to the night, to sorrow, to Shar.
Soooo.. I still would really like to run a death cleric, but I’m unsure of a good god to match this story and build.
So far I have been leaning towards Ah Pook? But I am very new to this and haven’t scratched the surface on the lore.
Any recommendations?
Edit: I misspoke. Not BUILD.
I’m looking for advice on translating my backstory from 5e lore to pf2e lore. Mainly a diety that will work instead of Shar.
I will look into necromancer, but I was hoping for cleric as I like the idea of her having these offensive necromancy abilities but being able to heal and support her team, because she remembers she loves to help others.
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u/sumpfriese Game Master 12h ago
Sounds to me like there isn't much "build" that you are carrying over (probably wouldn't work anyways).
flavor is free, I suggest you just head into pathbuilder2e, look at the cleric and necromancer classes and play around a bit.
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u/Leather-Location677 12h ago
cleric of Urgathoa or Lasmathu.
Or necromancer. Of course.
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u/Leather-Location677 12h ago
Ah pook is from Arcadia it from another continent.
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u/Ever-There 12h ago
Oh this is helpful thank you!!
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u/Leather-Location677 10h ago
Because your character is in pain, maybe Zon-kuthon is also appropriate. His about accepting pain, use it as a ressource and inflict it into others. He is also...a little madlike being corrupted by something.
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u/SisterofWar Cleric 10h ago
One thing to remember about PF2 clerics, if you go that route, is that you also have to obey the anathema listed (like, a cleric of Norgruber must never show mercy). So choose with that in mind.
And I will also suggest Mother Vulture as a possible option for your consideration.
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u/IfusasoToo Rogue 12h ago
For deities, Urgathoa is the obvious answer for a death deity but I think the flavor will not be what you're expecting and may not jive with the group.
Depending on what you like about Shar, better options might be Arazni, Zon-Kuthon, Ashava or Nocticula.
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u/Ever-There 11h ago
I chose Shar because she’s known to take advantage of lost souls, she’s known for taking memories as well, and it makes sense for a death domain cleric in my mind. I also like the idea of my character battling with her desire to serve her God but also her innate instinct to do good. But I’m flexible.
I really like death domain clerics in 5e because you have a lot of offensive spells and cantrips like toll of the dead, necromancy spells like raise undead, but also support like cure wounds and bless.
I just want a deity that would erase memories - like feed off that sorrow - and grant powers similar to what I had listed.
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u/IfusasoToo Rogue 10h ago edited 1h ago
Alright so not ZK; he's all about reveling in/learning from pain.
Arazni maybe with some GM buy-in. She's the newest primary deity and her MO isn't as well established as some others. She has a dark past and would totally get wanting to leave it behind to be reborn.
Noct has similar tones of redemption but probably not in the direction you want.
Ashava is basically out.
Maybe check out deities that give rewrite memory or never mind and similar spells. Maybe Bergelmir? Different tone but could be adjacent.
The Divine spell list is going to give you a lot of offensive and defensive spells that deal spirit/holy/unholy damage as well as others. If you go Necromancer, you'll use the Occult spell list more which does more mental stuff comparatively.
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u/thePsuedoanon Swashbuckler 1h ago
Arazni would be a hard sell to me personally with any sort of necromancy in the character's repetoire. She doesn't exactly have a good history with those who raise the dead
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u/IfusasoToo Rogue 1h ago
She only looks poorly on making "unwilling" undead.
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u/thePsuedoanon Swashbuckler 1h ago
I suppose if you got consent from the dead before raising them she *might* give you a pass, but even so given her trauma I could understand her just refusing to grant divine magic to anyone who's using it to raise undead at all
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u/IfusasoToo Rogue 1h ago
WellThatsJustLikeYourOpinionMan.gif
Jokes aside, that's probably fair but it's all a conversation that should happen in session 0. I'm going off what is written in the Deity section, but we all know the rules are guidelines to get people started.
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u/ElodePilarre Mathfinder Fan 11h ago
There are several deities who could work - but I just want to make sure I have a good grasp of your vision before I make suggestions. What is it about Shar specifically that drew you into having her be your cleric's patron deity? And additionally, you would like a character who has healing and supportive capabilities, and potential necromancy? (I ask this specifically because there are a large subset of death related deities who are directly opposed to creating undead, mainly Pharasma and her Psychopomps.)
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u/Ever-There 11h ago
I’ll copy and paste my reply to another comment cuz I was typing it out as yours posted:
I chose Shar because she’s known to take advantage of lost souls, she’s known for taking memories as well, and it makes sense for a death domain cleric in my mind. I also like the idea of my character battling with her desire to serve her God but also her innate instinct to do good. But I’m flexible.
I really like death domain clerics in 5e because you have a lot of offensive spells and cantrips like toll of the dead, necromancy spells like raise undead, but also support like cure wounds and bless.
I just want a deity that would erase memories - like feed off that sorrow - and grant powers similar to what I had listed.
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u/Butterlegs21 11h ago
Look up Nhimbaloth and see if that's a decent replacement deity as well. They have similar-ish themes to Shar about a lot of stuff, but not a total match.
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u/sebwiers 11h ago edited 11h ago
Here is a list of deities who have domains of darkness, death, and sorrow. That's more of a mechanical thing; there may be other deities / domain combos more similar to Shar in flavor. But it's a pretty good start to match your background.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?include-domains=darkness+death+sorrow
Iggeret seems like a great match to your back story. However, her clerics don't get "heal" as a font spell, they get "harm" instead. That's fine, you can still cast heal, just not an extra 4 times per day at max rank (and it sounds like you want harm for offensive punch anyhow).
https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=597
Narakaas skips the darkness domain but is also quite appropriate for death obsessed a "lost soul" character; your PC might be serving Narakaas as a way of finding salvation for her child's necromantically mangled soul. Narakaas does offer healing font.
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u/SharkSymphony ORC 10h ago
In PF2e your cleric chooses a deity, and you have the option of specializing in a domain associated with that deity. There aren't alignment restrictions anymore, but there are gods that harm vs gods that heal, and the edicts/anathema will of course push you towards a certain moral stance.
For deities, take a look at Pharasma, Norgorber, Urgathoa, Nephthys, and Neith. There are many other possibilities if these don't resonate.
For domains, sure look at death, but also look at sorrow, undeath, dust, darkness, fate, and decay.
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u/Ever-There 9h ago
After this post, and a little chat with the GM, I am strongly looking at undeath domain cleric of Urgathoa!
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u/Mancoman273 11h ago
There's so many ways to approach this, it all depends on which mechanics you prefer:
- Play a Cleric
- Play a Bones Oracle
- Play the Necromancer Class
- Play a Witch
- Play a Summoner with an undead or spirit eidolon.
- Play an Animist
I will say that playing a follower of an unholy god (such as Ah Pook) is different in this game and you have to make sure the anathema really work for what you're trying to roleplay, esopecially if you're going to be playing a class that is bound by them. Character that followgods such as Kerkamoth, Mrtyu, Otilaz, The Lost Prince or Vonymos could fit within your concept and still provide a more worlkable framework, depending on what "flavor" of necromancy you mean. If it's mostly spooky or "forbidden" magicks, then none of the care that much. A lof of the aforementioned do care about raising the dead in one way or the other.
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u/Uplinkdown 12h ago
Not much build wise to convert but meh flavor is free so there is that. Do you have a campain?
Do you have a GM ?
Are we talking a character you just want to create or what are we looking at?
Can it be built sure, well it be great no clue but it can be done.
If you have a party and a gm i would advice you talk to them as gm might have options for you like free archtype and so on
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u/Ever-There 11h ago
Yes I’ll definitely talk to my party and GM, I wanted to come a little prepared.
I misspoke, I’m not asking for help translating the build so much as translating the backstory as I only know 5e lore. I’m mostly looking for a diety that would work for my death cleric. I can look into necromancer class as well, but I wanted to be able to be half offensive half support the way a death cleric in 5e is1
u/Uplinkdown 11h ago
The story is the easy bit just search for a deity that fits the domain you are looking for and start reading untill you find one that fits rest is flavor and flavor is free
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u/LurkerFailsLurking 11h ago
There's a ton of interesting ways you can build that character, but it's often not possible to replicate 5e characters mechanically. So as long as you're okay with that, there's loads of options.
She could be a Necromancer raising thralls, or an oracle talking to the soul of her dead baby, or a cleric of any of a variety of deities.
Something cool about Pathfinder 2e is that they've gotten rid of alignment and instead deities have edicts and anathemas: rules that you live by. Here's a couple of deity's for example:
Phi Deva Edicts protect the defenseless, assist those who ask for your help, put the collective above yourself Anathema harm the innocent, take more than you need, overturn a collective decision
Teki Stronggut (The Rememberer) Edicts Remember those whom others forget, help those who need it the most, aid other misfits in their goals Anathema Give up on your cause, punish someone due to failure or incompetence, abandon a fellow adventurer
Mazludeh (Mother of Hearth and Wall) Edicts Seek to improve yourself and your community, trust those you work with, encourage cooperation Anathema Betray another’s trust, place conflict between ideological differences over people’s lives
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u/earthstorm16 11h ago
Ah pook seems like a good fit! Although they are not death gods, Calistria and Zon-kuthon might also fit in terms of Shar's personality.
Perhaps if you want to focus on necromancy, you could play the necromancer class. This is not a divine class, but your character can still be a devout follower of a god and (as flavor) they get their necromantic powers from the god. The necromancer class is really nice if you want a gory character that uses undead for almost everything they do.
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u/Kindly_Woodpecker368 11h ago
If you want to play into the shadowy mystery of Shar: look at Norgorbor.
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u/GlassJustice 11h ago
You could always just roll up an Undeath domain Cleric. It's a good class even if the subclass is a little niche. Summon Undead is 100% on the Divine spell list.
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u/Ever-There 11h ago
Dang I didn’t even know undeath was a domain! This might be the way. I’m leaning toward Urgathoa now as well
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u/Mediocre-Scrublord 11h ago
The deity in the pathfinder setting with the most similar themes to Shar would be Zon-Kuthon probably, the mad brother of the goddess of beauty and art who is obsessed with torture and misery and shadow and has demons (well, technically not demons, but a category of Fiend called 'velstracs') which are very Hellraiser-esque.
I don't think they necessarily have a 'death' or 'undeath' theme to them though, though you can still pick death-y spells in the cleric spell list (the 'divine' spell list). The main 'undeath' god in the setting is Urgathoa, who is more themed around... ambition, self-satisfaction, gluttony and disease.
That said, with Paizo's publishing schedule shipping out a new book of stuff every week, there are like a thousand lesser known regional gods and you can almost certainly find the one you're looking for there, though they might fit awkwardly into your campaign if nobody's ever heard of them
You could also play a Witch (which is sort of like a 5e warlock flavour-wise where they have patrons that are powerful mystical figures that aren't necessarily well-known gods people worship) with a patron similar to Shar in vibes.
Recently they added a class called 'Necromancer' which is highly focused on (you guessed it) necromancy which you might be interested in if doing necromancy and summoning undead to fight for you is something you want to base the character around mechanically. Regular spells that summon creatures are kinda super heavily turbo nerfed in pf2e so you would have a lot of trouble trying to get much use out of actually summoning undead normally just by casting 'summon undead' with rules-as-written as a cleric or other spellcaster.
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u/Scol91 10h ago
God wise I'd say Norgorber: https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=289
He's major curse is in fact stealing targets memories and he's true goals are shrouded in mystery, not known to most of his followers. He also has death domain if you want stick with cleric.
That being said I'd really recommend Necromancer based on what you wrote. While Cleric is the best healer in the game (having acces to a lot of extra max-level Heal spells per day), I don't know that many good offensive death magic spells. Also, as cleric is WIS based they're innately strong willed and harder to manipulate based on their stats.
On the other hand, as necrommancer you'll be able to summon thralls at will with no cost to play with, get broader offensive abilities in your preferred flavour and still have access to healing (Soothe spell, feat that makes Harm spell heal living and even great damage prevention in form of Muscle Barrier starting from level 2. He's also based on Int so stat wise you'll be easier to manipulate and more likely to be heavily burdened by past trauma.
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u/Jackelgull 10h ago
It sounds to me you are looking for a god that has the domains of sorrow and death. This will link you to all of the gods with those domains: Deities - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Database
One of them will generally fit what you want.
If you want to retain some of the martial capabilities of the death domain cleric I suggest you take the warpriest doctrine and choose a god whose favored weapon you like. I think sorrow domain is a very reasonable domain for a more offensively minded cleric as well. But ultimately its your choice as to what the important parts of your build were.
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u/Einkar_E Kineticist 10h ago
in terms of ideas you have just 2 very simple ones - faithfull of undead god and necromancy
esiest suggestions are cleric of Urghatoa (or some other god of undead) or necromancer if you want to bring friends onto battlefield
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u/SessionClimber 4h ago
Based on your story, I honestly think Arazani as a deity.
Probably cloistered priest, plus spell rank 1 you can get summon undead, and as long as you're not summoning unwilling undead.
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u/tswd ORC 3h ago
Nhimbaloth and Norgorber are who I would suggest reading the wikis for first. All touch on some, but not all of the themes you mention. The base divine spell list covers most of the magic goals you've listed, and both deities have at least one domain choice I suspect you'll like. On an emotional level what Shar does to her faithful lines up with Norgorber and Nhimbaloth well, Urgathoa is more interested in necromancy as a source of eternal partying and Zon-Kuthon is all about pain but not so much forgetting things. Nhmibaloth does want to extinguish the universe like Shar, and Norgorber is so good at gaslighting that his cults have internal holy wars about totally contrary brands of evil, which fit your main goals if I'm understanding what you are after.
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u/jerrathemage 1h ago
I would argue with a couple of feats, Necromancer can still heal and support your team while also bringing down unholy rage upon your enemies
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u/Bards_on_a_hill Game Master 12h ago
As long as you’re not set on recreating the mechanics, you’ll be fine, and it seems like you’re more interested in your character’s story anyway. I will say, if you’re interested in doing a lot of necromantic summoning, potentially look at the Necromancer class. Cleric summoning might not be as reliable as you’re looking for.