PATHFINDER 2E BUILDS FOR YOUR
FAVORITE CLASS

It's usually pretty obvious whether a character falls into the Alchemist class.

If bombs, potions or medical healing are what makes the character stand out, usually that means Alchemist is the right choice.

A lot of Alchemists in pop culture turn out to be villains. The emphasis on poisons, toxins and throwable explosives attracts the nefarious. Toxic fume connoisseurs like Scarecrow makes an excellent Alchemist character, for instance.

But on the other side, they also make great healer characters. Li Li from Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm, with her healing teas, is a great healer Alchemist build.

Characters who possess immense strength, unparalleled endurance, and a fierce determination to protect or avenge those they care about often fit the Barbarian class.

Typically in TTRPGs, Barbarians are characterized as dumb, hulking behemoths – quicker to attack than to talk. Famous examples of these types of characters – like Marvel's Hulk – can definitely be built with the class.

But Pathfinder 2e's Barbarian Instincts allow for a wide spectrum of other themes for Barbarian characters. For instance, the lightning-fuelled fervor of Thor also fits great as a Barbarian build.

Any character who provides some entertainment – playing an instrument, singing, telling jokes and so on – is probably a good fit for a bard.

But beyond that, Pathfinder 2e Bards are one of the best available support classes. Many famous characters might fit best as a bard with some careful justification on flavor, in order to highlight their supportive qualities.

Pathfinder's Archetype Dedication system makes it easy to take any Bard character down a specific road after creation. Are they a Kraken-summoning sea captain like Davy Jones and a dour slice-and-dicer like Darkest Dungeon's Jester both start out as bards and end up very different.

Champions in Pathfinder 2e are one of the classes with the wildest spectrums in terms of flavor. Their tenets can range from nearly selfless – completely focus on aiding and protecting allies – to totally selfish, taking all glory for themselves.

Both Tyrael and Maltheal from the Diablo universe make sense as Champions – a Paladin and a Desecrator, respectively.

If there character heals, or is religious, they're probably going to be a Cleric.

If that seems a bit more straightforward than other classes, don't worry – the Domain subsystem for Clerics offers a ton of flexibility for building pop culture characters on-theme.

‍For instance, Mipha from Zelda and Dutch van der Linde from Red Dead Redemption both make good Clerics. One is a Zora – an amphibious species with water powers. The other is a human cowboy outlaw demanding that his crew keep their faith. Nothing alike, other than their class.

Most characters with powers that influence nature in some way – growing plants, causing storms, commanding a menagerie of animals – will be Druids.

‍The Pathfinder 2e Druid class has multiple Orders that greatly affect the gameplay and overall theme of the character.

The Leaf order, for example. is perfect for DC's Poison Ivy or Ivern from League of Legends. Meanwhile, the Wave order is perfect for Aquaman. Very different characters, all Druids.

It seems like a lot of pop culture characters can default to the Fighter class. This is probably because, even in settings with fantastical powers, straightforward punch-em-ups are more common that mages, mutants or other super-powered people.

It helps that Pathfinder 2e Fighters are a great, well-rounded class to use as a starting point before adding a ton of nuance with Dedications and feats. Take Link, for instance, who begins as a fighter but feels more true to the character once his Alchemist Dedication is letting him lob bomb flowers and other items.

Fighters in Pathfinder enjoy the highest melee proficiency, which also is attractive for many characters who are known as the best among their peers. They don't necessarily hit the hardest, but the hit the most consistently.

Not everyone likes gunpowder weapons in fantasy settings. The editors of Pop Culture Pathfinder think those people are losers.

To us, fantasy settings are complete when there are pirates with flintlock pistols, dwarves with blunderbusses and goblins hurling makeshift grenades. Thankfully, Pathfinder 2e makes gunslinger characters possible.

What other system would make it so easy to make iconic builds like Cobb Vanth, Tracer or Barret in a setting that also includes dragons and wizards? And those three characters – as different and varied as they are – only scratch the surface of what's possible by adding some black powder to the mix.

Inventors are somewhat similar to Gunslingers in the response they receive from TTRPG fans – though they receive somewhat more leeway due to the popularity of clock or steampunk themes.

Clockwork automatons, steampunk armor suits, electrified blasters with some Tesla-coil looking apparatus – if these things aren't fantasy to you, you like Lord of the Rings too much.

Inventors in Pathfinder focus on either a new weapon, an armor suit, or a construct. These options allow for famous characters to be built, like Doctor Octopus, Iron Man or Zeri.

We especially love playing with what a construct invention can be. For example, Doc Oc straps his to his back, using the limbs as manipulating octo-arms, while Green Goblin uses his as a flying glider, zipping around the battlefield while he throws bombs. Like inventors, the possibilities are endless!