Ursula the Sea Witch
Almost everything we need to know about the Ursula, the Sea Witch from Disney's The Little Mermaid, comes from her song "Poor Unfortunate Souls". It's a banger of a Disney tune, sung with a harsh brass by Pat Carroll.
If you aren't familar with the song, Ursula is convincing Ariel (the titular little mermaid) to make a deal. Ariel gets to be human (so she can be with her prince) and Ursula gets... Ariel's voice.
Is it a good deal? The consequences of breaking it are dire, as we see from the garden of souls who couldn't pay their price.
So who is Ursula anyway? She tells us herself: In the past, she's been a nasty. But she fortunately knows a little magic (a talent she always has possessed) and she uses it (please don't laugh) on behalf of the miserable, the lonely and depressed.
Not bad, right?
Well she also shapechanges in to a quasi-Ariel, stolen voice and all, to make sure that the deal can't work out. Not such a good business partner, but great witch.
The Little Mermaid came out when I was 2, and we watched it a lot, like all Disney movies of that golden era. Unlike lots of those other DIsney movies, though, it holds up. The songs are bops. The animation is still great – there are even a few camera moves that have no business being as involved as they are. And, to cap it all off, Ursula is still the best Disney villain of all time.
But how can we play her in Pathfinder?
Keys to the Character
Right In The Eels
Flotsam and Jetsam, Ursula's eels, are equal parts pets and power conduits. In other words, they are familiars.
Lawyer Up
Even King Triton himself – and his powerful trident – couldn't break the contract Ariel made with Ursula. These deals are binding, unerring, unbreakable and magic.
Eight Is Enough
Unlike the rest of her merfolk peers, Ursula has a cephalopod-like lower half of tentacles, rather than mermaid fins. It is an iconic difference, something that is as cool as it is spooky.
A Real Baddie ;)
When the going gets tough, the tough polymorph themselves into a hottie to steal a prince away. "Vanessa" is as evil as her name, and irresistible to princes.
In a party, Ursula fills Enchanter and Controller roles, debuffing enemies with powerful hexes and spells. Any foes that find themselves going up against Ursula will soon find themselves weakened – or useless – ready to be taken down by her allies.
The Pact Patron is the perfect starting point to build toward this role. It is the ultimate Ursula flavor, making deals with poor unfortunate souls that end up being detrimental. With this patron, Ursula can force deals unto her foes, ensuring they don't attack (with big penalties if they do).
Alongside her pact-flavored hexes, Ursula's spells provide a multitude of ways of shaping a battle by affecting her enemy's ability to do almost anything. From stealing voices to slowing to dazzling to stunning... if there's a status effect in Pathfinder, Ursula the Sea Witch can force it onto a foe.
Outside of battle, Ursula uses her legendary diplomacy to help the party by striking deals that the team always comes out on top on. Plus, her Cauldron alchemy can provide some extra items in a pinch.
Build OVERVIEW
Ancestry
Thalassic Azarketi
Maybe this gets changed when the new Merfolk ancestries drop in 2024, but for now the Azarketi represents the most thematic aquatic ancestry available.
And it gets pretty close.
Background
Magical Misfit
In Ursula's own words, her magic is "a talent that I always have posessed." The official reason she was banished from the kingdom may be for her ambitious schemes for the throne, but we all know it's really because her magic is spooky.
Class
Witch: Pacts Patron
They weren't kidding when they called her, well, a witch.
There are plenty of Witch feats that feel like they were designed with the Sea Witch herself in mind, and many more that fit the character with just a little bit of flavor tweaking.
The Pact Broker hex cantrip, for starters, sets the tone for Ursula to make brutal deals with enemies, persuading them to refrain from attacking, lest they do so at a great disadvantage. And that disadvantage gets worse as Ursula grows in power, and she unfortunately has to "rake 'em across the coals", leaving enemies with drained 2, doomed 1, and 6d8 persistent damage if they fail to comply with a pact.
Even the Witch class' familiar feature works well, with Flotsam and Jetsam standing in for a typical aquatic familiar. Familiar abilities like Snoop and Witch feats like Familiar's Eyes fit Flotsam and Jetsam perfectly: two sneaky little eels collecting information and watching on behalf of their master.
Finally, we go down the Living Hair line to represent Ursula's tentacles. It isn't a stretch to imagine those eight lengthy appendages standing in for prehensile strands of hair, and it adds a lot of fun flavor to the Sea Witch's action economy, especially at higher levels.
To start, the hair is just a method of striking enemies between spell casts and hexes. However, it does gain the grapple trait at level 12, allowing Ursula to use her tentacles to pull foes under the water. Titan Wrestler and Master in Athletics helps make this work more often.
By the peak of her power, Ursula can deliver hexes as part of an attack, as well as attack with a staggering amount of options, including a hefty sweep.
Skills & General Feats
Despite being a magic user, Ursula focuses more on her ability to make deals than her occultism, featuring a Legendary diplmacy skill. Beyond that, she is quite adept in deception (for fooling) and athletics (for drowning).
Legendary: Diplomacy
Master: Athletics, Deception, Occultism
Expert: -
Attribute Increases
Equipment
Suggested Starting Equipment
Key Spells
Changelog
Related Builds
