Harley Quinn
Something I love about the DC Universe is Arkham Asylum. Marvel has some famous prisons, but none rival the namesake institution of Amadeus Arkham, one of the founding members of Gotham City.
It is there where many of Batman's rogues gallery get interred after meeting his justice. That includes Joker, on multiple occasions.
One of the things that makes the asylum so interesting is the many supporting characters we've seen there – like Jonathan Crane, working on his fear-based therapeutic experiments, or Harleen Quinzel, a psychiatrist to the criminally insane.
But unfortunately, one of her patients was too much for even the good doctor to handle. The patient – the aforementioned Joker – broke Harleen in a way, causing her to adopt the moniker Harley Quinn and become a lover and subservient follower to "Mister J."
That was how we knew Harley for years, until recently, when the character was expanded in many ways. Her cartoon, in which she is in a relationship with Poison Ivy, is genuinely funny. And her movie turn, where she is played by Margot Robbie, is one of the shining spots of the DCEU franchise.
I remember Poison Ivy from Batman the Animated Series, but she was in her "Mister J" phase there, complete with the harlequin hat that annoyed me. It wasn't until the recent, meta / ironic takes on the character that she has really blossomed for me into one of the best characters in the DC universe. Often, even more interesting and fun than Mister J himself.
But how can we bring her to life in Pathfinder?
Keys to the Character
The Doctor Is Out (Of Her Mind)
Once a well-respected, accomplished psychiatrist working at Arkham, Harlene fell from grace after the influence of a certain patient. Can you guess who?
Good Night
Whether it's her original giant mallet, or the more recent baseball bat, Harley is no stranger to whomping enemies with bludgeoning damage.
Bud and Lou
The less common a pet is, the more unhinged the owner seems, right? I'd say that twin hyena pets are right up there on the unhinged level.
Another Killing Joke
She may have evolved into her own character in her own right, but Harley Quinn still has echoes of her original Joker influence. Like some of his gadgets, for instance.
Like many of our builds based on comics characters, Harley has a long history to draw inspiration from for a Pathfinder build. So the first step is deciding which Harley Quinn we want to create.
For me, it is the most recent takes on the character that are interesting and exciting, so we'll draw largely from her solo animated series and the Margot Robbie live action takes.
It is there where she is a witty, manic, bat-swinging, hyena-owning, acrobat of destruction. Sounds like fun. A bit like a Human Swasbuckler with a splash of Beastmaster and Inventor coupled with a Goblin adopted ancestry. Let's go with that.
On the battlefield, Harley Quinn is a mobile skirmisher, deftly moving past enemies with panache, stopping briefly to smoke them with her baseball bat. Meanwhile, her hyena is causing chaos, chomping at the ankles of enemies, leaving them frightened.
As a gymnast swashbuckler, Harley gains panache when she's doing the things she wants to do in the melee – tumbling around, tripping and shoving enemies away. These activities can wreak havoc on enemy plans, making her strikes – and finishers – all the more potent.
Alongside her bat (a probing cane that she modifies with her Inventor Dedication to add the two-handed trait) she also carries a dragon mouth pistol. This weapon doesn't benefit from her swashbuckler panache, but hey, it's a gun.
Outside of battle, Harley can tap into her old profession a bit to help with medical concerns – although she wasn't a physician, so her first aid is still somewhat limited.
Build OVERVIEW
Ancestry
Versatile Human
The human ancestry and versatile heritage helps Harley stack level one with tons of extra feats, including an extra General Feat for Adopted Ancestry, to pick up Goblin feats along the build.
This is a great flavor for Harley, who doesn't feel right as a full goblin, but is influenced by their manic unruliness.
As well, Harley uses the Human Multitalented feat for an Inventor Dedication at level 9, which she uses mainly to upgrade her trusty bat weapon with some extra cool modifications.
Background
Secular Medic
A science-based medic background will fill in well for her doctorate in psychiatry. The Anatomy Lore skill will be more useful than many background lores often are, and the Battle Medicine feat is always a useful feat to pick up, even if this is basically as far as she focuses in Medicine.
The Dexterity boost is right on track for her class as well.
Class
Swashbuckler – Gymnast Style
So much of the swashbuckler class fits the theme we want for Harley Quinn –
The class choice works especially well with the Probing Cane standing in for her baseball bat. It is one of the only 1-hand bludgeoning weapons with the finesse trait but not the agile trait. This distinction becomes important later, when we add the Dynamic Weighting modification from the Inventor Dedication, which isn't allowed on agile weapons.
The modification lets Harley choose weather to keep a hand open for important actions like Shoving, Tripping and other panache-generating things, or grip the bat with both hands for a real walloping finisher strike.
Speaking of panache, the baseline generator of Tumble Through is already great for a skirmisher like Harley, but the Gymnast additions of Shove, Trip and Grapple make her a more beneficial teammate to the rest of the party, as those actions can greatly affect how easy it is for allies to strike.
Harley takes two dedications in the build. The first, early on, is the Beastmaster Dedication, for her hyena pet (either Bud of Lou). By level 4, this pet can act on its own with one action per turn – this is as specialized as we need to go, as that is already a lot of extra help with just two feats. Plus, the Support action for Hyena's is a nice frighten condition applier.
The second is the aforementioned Inventor Dedication, which is used to represent some classic Joker & Harley funhouse gadgets.
Skills & General Feats
Athletics is the most important, with Harley needing successful Trips, Grapples and Shoves to earn panache when she's not tumbling through foes. Acrobatics is also legendary, though, because that just feels right.
Beyond that, Harley puts an emphasis on Deception and Crafting, the latter of which she uses for the extra gadgets.
Legendary: Acrobatics, Athletics
Master: Deception
Expert: Crafting
Attribute Increases
Equipment
Suggested Starting Equipment
Probing Cane - Maybe the only option to represent a baseball bat that has finesse and can get Dynamic Weighting.
Key Spells
Changelog
Related Builds
