Thor
Thor has shown up all over the place. Even excluding his centuries old origin in Norse Mythology, Thor has been part of recent popular culture for years as Marvel Comics character – represented in comics, tv and movies.
Beyond those appearances, he’s also appeared in spirit in dozens of games – nearly every game that features vikings in some capacity has a thundering, hammer-smashing figure who may or may not be Thor.
I’ve always had some affinity for Norse Myth themed games. A recent stand out, for example, is Northgard – a great strategy game where you control different Norse clans. The soft reboot of the God of War games, set in a Norse pantheon rather than the former Greek games, also features a popular Thor (though this one is a little closer to Norse mythology than a Hemsworth).
Thor's depictions differ, but a few elements are always the same: throw hammer, use lightning, be strong.
In the MCU, Thor is one of the best examples of a character's powerset getting stronger over time, something we see often in the comics – and more often in the games – that isn't always as directly translatable to screen. His powerup moments in Ragnorok and Infinity War are some of the best "level ups" in the franchise.
In comics form, the God of Thunder was also one of my favorite 60’s era Marvel comics characters, even though I hated Donald Blake and couldn’t wait to get to an era where that “alter ego” was left in the past. Although, tying his powers to his wooden walking stick did provide an opportunity for some exciting stakes (no pun intended) when it would get kicked away. There was always a running concern that 60 seconds would pass and suddenly this mighty Thunder God would revert back to the limping doctor Blake. Don't worry though, that's not part of the build.
But what is the build?
Keys to the Character
Mjolnir: It’s Hammer Time
Almost as famous as the god himself, Thor’s mystical hammer has had adventures all of its own. In the Marvel canon, the Uru hammer has a powerful enchantment limiting its use only to the “worthy” – which Thor is most of the time. Most importantly, it has been shown to return to him whenever he calls for it – which is necessary, as he throws it just as often as he swings it.
God of Thunder (That Includes Lightning)
Thor's godly domain is thunder, and he wields it with expertise. Depending on the medium, that can mean everything from having a stormcloud form when he's angry to being a full-on electrical conduit, zapping everything around. Both are cool (one's cooler).
Strongest Avenger
In most representations, Thor’s pure brute strength is more of a focal point than his command of thunder. He is a hulking, burly figure who can destroy mountains with hammer swings.
Somewhere Across The Bifrost
Thor is Asgardian, which is either a realm of gods, or a planet of a species strong enough to be considered gods by human standards, depending on the interpretation.
What makes a Thor?
Regardless of which version of the character we are building, the fantasy of Thor remains a careful balance of womping foes with a mighty hammer and shocking them silly with lightning. He should be able to fly around the battlefield – landing with great fury, ready to send enemies reeling.
In Pathfinder 2e, it is hard to be really good at multiple things, but by spreading a character thin, it is ver easy to be bad at a lot of things. We don't want to fall into that trap with Thor. It is unlikely that we will be able to make the strongest avenger with incredible melee strikes, while also landing critical hammer throws and having a high spell DC. But it would be easy to make a character that "can do" all those thing, badly.
That's actually where we landed on the first version of this build, before it was recently updated (see the Changelog below). To fix that, we are rebuilding from the ground up – focusing on a strong melee Thor who uses lightning spells to engage enemies and boost his strikes.
On the battlefield, Thor boosts his already immense physical prowess with lightning buffs, like Conductive Weapon and – the real gem – Draw The Lightning. These power up his hammer for up to a minute, leaving lots of rounds before they need to be refreshed.
Once he's powered up, Thor leaps into position with feats like Sudden Leap or spells like Jump and Blazing Dive. Then (perhaps after an extra Blastback or Impressive Landing reaction) he is ready to hammer smash. His elemental dragon rage adds a hefty bonus to each melee strike – so once he is raging, it is best to avoid agile hammer throws or spells that minimize that bonus.
Because Thor has a few alternate engages, and many longer-range spells and strikes, he forgoes Sudden Charge. Also worth noting, since Thor is known in his past to be a bit of a glory-hound, he also chooses flashier feats over the more helpful Attack of Opportunity.
Outside of battle, Thor's master over thunder can come in handy out amongst nature, and his peak athleticism can be the difference between moving something heavy and moving something incredibly heavy.
Build OVERVIEW
- Shockingly strong
- Multiple playstyles to fit encounters
- Very flashy (not just from lightning)
- Can take many levels to feel like Thor
- Hard to balance attributes for melee, throwing, spells
- Loud
Ancestry
Dwarf – Aasimar
Sorry Hemsworth fans. For the best results on our Thor build, we need to look at something closer in appearance to the big, bearded drunk from God of War: Ragnarok.
The Dwarf Ancestry gives us the boosts to Constitution and Wisdom we need to give this bruiser a fighting chance. Thor wants to do a lot of things with his actions, but needs to be alive to do them.
The Aasimar heritage represents his Asgaurdian background. He is a god, after all. This provides some great flavor and minor utility at early levels. But over time, this heritage is what will give Thor his flight.
Background
Warrior
Simple but effective, Thor is a warrior god. The Intimidation and Warfare Lore skills fit right in to what we know about him, and the Strength or Constitution ability boosts are needed.
Class
Barbarian – Cloud Dragon Instinct
At first, it seems like there are a lot of options in Pathfinder to meet the the Thor fantasy. Magus, for instance, would allow him to imbue his hammer with spells, shocking enemies with giant Spellstrikes. Warpriest, with the Lightning Domain, likewise has many tools for striking enemies and creating storms.
Both of these are a mix of martial and magic, and both feel okay as far as the magic goes, but something is lacking on the martial side. Thor isn’t just a skilled warrior, he’s a mighty god. Yes, he needs to zap – but the power behind his hammer strikes needs to be unparalleled. For that, it’s got to be Barbarian.
Luckily, the Cloud Dragon Instinct subclass for Barbarians gives some immediate electricity flavor to Thor’s build – even before he can take the Druid Dedication feat at level 2. Plus, it offers a multiple use per day elemental “spell”, Dragon’s Rage Breath, once the feat is picked up. This Dragon Rage scales with level up to 20d6 in a 30ft cone, representing a huge Thor fulmination.
Since the base Barbarian features add so much martial ability, most of Thor’s feats are focused on the Druid Dedication with an Storm order to get relatively strong primal spellcasting focusing on electricity spells (and some fire spells reflavored).
Skills & General Feats
Thor will need Legendary Nature in order to benefit from the highest Sorcerer Dedication feats. Besides that, Legendary in Athletics accounts for his godlike conditioning. Finally, he’ll need a fairly high Acrobatics to do some maneuvering in the air once he gets his flight.
Legendary: Athletics, Nature
Master: Acrobatics
Expert: Intimidation
Attribute Increases
Equipment
Suggested Starting Equipment
Key Spells
Changelog
2023-07-15
- Added Stormbreaker
- Added Attribute Increases
2023-08-14
- Build overhall
- Changed from Human to Dwarf
- Removed Sorcerer archetype, Scouring Rage
- Added Druid archetype
Downloads
External Resources
- Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology is a traditional look at Thor, but written in a modern, digestible way.
- Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War
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