This was a character build by request. Frankly, I don’t feel like this was my best writing (for the fiction bit), but I had a lot of fun with the project.

Character Concept Background:

Vanyel Dim is 145 year old Dhampir (110 year adulthood+35 (10d6 for the trained category)). He has spent most of his life trying to atone (in his mind) for his inability to protect his younger, human, sister Eryn or his mother. When they were young Vanyel’s father attacked at the behest of his Demonic master. Vanyel was too weak to protect his younger sister or mother, and in a cruel jest the father left him alive to suffer. After many years he asked for the powers over darkness (ala Dark knight in FF) to help find and slay his father and the demonic master. He found an intelligent black bladed sword that promised him the str to do so and the freedom to do as he sees fit, in exchange for blood and freedom from the cave he (the blade) was cast away in. He is a neutral good (though his sword is dark he bends it to his needs, and strives to only kill evil people) character who bends the powers of darkness to his whim in order to serve his needs. He knows that many would see him dead for his abilities, much less his heritage but he doesn’t let this slow him down. He knows that all he can do is to continue to serve good as he sees it.

Well, /u/grich808 said he was alright with making changes to the concept in order for it to work better. The first thing that I’ll do is swap out his racial choice of Damphir for Tiefling. There’s two reasons I’m doing this. Firstly, Damphir doesn’t play well with others. He has a racial ability that causes him to be harmed by positive energy and healed by negative energy. This makes strategy a nightmare for his party healer, and the rest of the Damphir’s abilities don’t make up for the losses. The second reason, is because he describes his father as serving a “Demonic master.” Now the Damphir is a child born of vampire and human parents, which would imply that his father was actually the spawn of a greater vampire. For the purposes of the character build however, I’m going to interpret the player’s intent as preferring a more demonic origin I spoke with /u/grich808 and he wants to go with the Tiefling race.

A refined background:

Vanyel Dim is a 81-year-old Tiefling (60 year adulthood +21 (6d6 for the trained category)). He has spent the better half of his life wandering the Inner Sea.

Vanyel’s father, Targus, was a potent Chelaxian sorcerer. Targus wagered not only his own soul, but those of seven generations of his inheritors in a Demonic pact, granting him powerful bloodline abilities. Compelled to make good on his deal, Targus seduced the young Laurette. Upon Vanyel’s birth, Laurette realized the dark nature of her lover and fled the same night. Several villages over, she was found, unconscious and nearly dead by a Karth, a knight-in-training for a nearby hidden church of Iomedae. Karth brought Laurette and Vanyel to the church where the priest nursed the two back to health and hid them within the church, knowing that if the father were ever to discover their presence, they would be doomed. Over the course of the following year, Karth came to love, and eventually marry, Laurette. He raised Vanyel as his own son, and with Laurette fathered a daughter, Eryn.

Vanyel was kept in secret, reading religious texts and histories that the priest had within the church’s library, and as he grew Karth began to teach him swordplay, “To defend yourself, if you ever must.”

I’m going to make a little roleplaying note here: The Tiefling “adulthood” age is listed as a minimum of 60 years old. To be raised by humans means that a Tiefling’s parents could grow old and die before the Tiefling even reaches the age of maturity, which seems somewhat backwards. The way I choose to interpret this anomaly is that Tieflings, struggling to understand their dual nature, rarely reach a point of inner-conviction and purpose until they have lived far longer than the typical human. The act of watching everyone you’ve ever known grow old and die as you remain youthful becomes the pivot toward gaining your own purpose: You are not human. You are destined for greater things.

While Vanyel was still young, his luck ran out. Driven by foul forces, Targus unleashed a torrent of spies and divination magics until he had traced Laurette to the church. The moon that night was full, and somehow, blood-red. The sorcerer launched an assault on the chapel, fel flames melting the stones and burning the heavy doors to ash, until the foyer gaped like an open wound. Karth rose from sleep, armed with nothing more than his sword and shield and valiantly stood between his wife and the rage-drunk sorcerer. The knight was able to land a single blow, a slash across the Targus’s chest, before the sorcerer retorted. Conjuring dark magic, the sorcerer’s hands became long, black claws. He grasped the blade in each hand and snapped it in two, and then plunged one claw into Karth’s chest, plucking out his heart and dropping it to the ground before the family’s eyes. Targus, convinced in his madness that Laurette had been “unfaithful,” stabbed her in the heart with a single dagger-point talon.

At this point the priest, channeling divine magic, tried to banish the sorcerer. Daunted, but undefeated, Targus cast a ray of disintegrating magic in an arc around the church, bringing the stone ceiling down on the whole crumbling structure.

Vanyel awoke. The courtesan from the night before had left, but the smell remained. Not a night went by that he wasn’t plagued by the memory of the night he had lost his family. He had mostly wandered the Inner Sea since that day. No family or business would take him in, as a Tiefling he was far too associated with the destruction that had come to his village. So he found work, as a bouncer, or a mercenary and more often than not, just a laborer.

Here is a roleplaying opportunity. At this point, the adventure begins. Vanyel is a Magus. However, the player chooses not to use any of the Magus’s spells, spell-like abilities or other magical features. He acts simply as a fighter-type character. Early in the campaign, perhaps in his opening act, he encounters another Tiefling, who looks curiously like himself. This Tiefling has been wreaking havoc in a nearby village, and Vanyel is taking the blame due to the similarity in appearance. Vanyel and the party confront the Tiefling, and learn that he is a half-brother to Vanyel. After having spent the last 30+ years in a half-drunken stupor, avoiding the trauma of his past, Vanyel has a clear purpose. To kill his father, and the evil spawn he is producing. Here is the cool part from an RP perspective: The Bladebound archetype of the Magus does not actually receive his “chosen blade” until 3rd level. Vanyel wields the severed half of his fathers sword, which acts as a short sword.

Vanyel, with the help of his party, has reached the village in which he was raised. The townspeople barely disguise their malice toward him as he makes his way to the mausoleum. Were he not traveling with companions, he has little doubt the town would rally itself into a mob against him. He had best move quickly. Within the stone walls of the crypt, he finds the sarcophagus dedicated to his mother, sister and adopted father. A mannequin wore his father’s armor, which had been stained black by the blood and fire from the church. Vanyel would need that. Within he finds the tip of his father’s blade. As he picks up the shard, Vanyel slices his hand on the jagged steel. At this moment, the Tiefling is filled with emotion. Sadness, rage, vengeance. He will never have his family back. Vanyel would never be able to say exactly why he did it, but he pulled the broken sword from its sheath, and joined it to the broken half. With a glow of magic, the two halves fused, joining the sword as though it were new. Yet, the blood also seemed to spread, until the whole of the paladin’s sword was tainted black.

Vanyel heard a voice, that seemed to resonate from the sword into his very bones. “I feel your anger. I know your grief. I will be your means for revenge. I will grant you the power to scourge your father’s dark brood from the earth.”

And Vanyel noticed one more thing: The family tomb held only two corpses…

Note: At this point, play Vanyel as a true Magus. The Black Blade grants Vanyel his magus spells, and he records them in a spellbook drawn with his own blood. His sword functions as a longsword now. Vanyel’s preference as a fighter over a spellcaster is apparent. He possesses a variety of alternate class features. He is a Magus with the Bladebound, Fiend-Flayer and Myrmidarch archetypes. As a suggestion, the character’s growth develops toward overcoming his anger. As a key point in his plot development, the character becomes less dark, and the blade may become a force of light. Alternatively, Vanyel embraces his dark path

Race:

Vanyel is played as a Tiefling, but in order to customize him to play more like a “blood knight” I went ahead and changed some of the racial features using the alternate race features available through core sources. All the material I draw from is core content from the Pathfinder D20 SRD site. First, we swap out the Fiendish Sorcerery racial ability for the Prehensile Tail, because you don’t care about sorcerer spells and being able to draw potions and the like faster will help you in combat. Plus, it really drives home the fact that you’re demon-spawned, not just a grim-dark human. Next, we make you a “Grimspawn” Tiefling, which changes your racial ability modifiers, your skill bonuses and your spell-like ability. All of these lead to your player being a little more “antihero” than before.

Final racial benefits:

+2 Dex, +2Int,

–2 Wis

Medium Size

Speed, 30 ft.

Languages: Tieflings begin play speaking Common and either Abyssal or Infernal. Tieflings with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Abyssal, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Infernal, and Orc.

Fiendish Resistance: 5 cold, electric and fire Resistance. That’s right, tank it up.

Skills: + 2 Disable Device, and Sleight of Hand. You’ve got a little more diversity than the typical Magus. Just remember that when doling out stats. You might want to fluff you Int.

Spell-Like Ability: Grimdark, AHEM, Grimspawn Tieflings can use death knell once per day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability equals the tiefling’s class level.

Darkvision: Tieflings can see perfectly in the dark for up to 60 feet. Never stub your toe on the damn coffee table again.

Prehensile Tail: Many tieflings have tails, but some have long, flexible tails that can be used to carry items. While they cannot wield weapons with their tails, they can use them to retrieve small, stowed objects carried on their persons as a swift action. This racial trait replaces fiendish sorcery.

Favored Class Options:

Add +1/4 point to the magus’s arcane pool. I highly recommend this, as Bladebound reduces your arcane pool quite sharply. That said, if you absolutely need more hp or skills, go with that.

Class Features:

I’m not going to list everything the Magus has, but I’ll discuss your class options on a strategic and tactical level, and highlight what to expect from your alternate class features

Bladebound, Key features:

The Blade: All black blades have an alignment in line with the wielder, but that doesn’t mean yours can’t have a dark feel to it. Each blade has a singular purpose, which it prioritizes against all others. This means your blade is dedicated absolutely to the revenge against your father and his brood, often to a fault.

Your sword automatically gains enhancement bonuses, and can change its damage to elemental damage, overcoming resistances. On the downside, you have a smaller pool of Arcane points, which means you’ll have to use them more carefully. Remember my suggestion about your racial Favored Class option for a bigger pool.

Myrmidarch, Key Features:

The typical Magus blends a harmonious mixture of magic and blade to defeat his foes. The Myrmidarch on the other hand is a warrior first, using his magic as a supplement to martial skill. He casts fewer spells, and loses many of his abilities which supplement his casting ability. However, he gains the ability to spell strike with a ranged weapon, as well as a sample of the Fighter’s abilities with weapons and armor. He is a true Arcane Knight, a walking siege engine of magical and martial force.

Buy a set of full-plate, or convince your DM to take my suggestion of your dad’s plate up above.

Fiend Flayer, Key features:

This makes you feel like a dark knight, someone who sacrifices his very life to exact revenge on the wicked. Of course this comes with a price.

Your Infernal Mortification ability will help you bolster your Arcane Pool, regenerating pool points at the cost of constitution. This damage must be restored by time, magic will not cure it, which means you’ll need to use this ability carefully.

The Fiendblade ability is going to be more or less useless to you, as a wielder of a Black Blade, however, if it is ever somehow taken from you, it’s good to know that you have an alternative. You might work out with your DM the possibility to making this a ranged weapon instead, since as a Myrmidarch you’ll be using those along with your sword.

Finally, Bypassing Strike is a great Arcana for you, giving you the ability to bypass the damage reduction of Evil Outsiders (including natives like your dad and his brood).

Strategy:

Your character is a Myrmidarch, Bladebound and Fiend-Flayer. His power lies in martial strength, and his magic supplements this, but is not a crutch he can rely on. Focus on melee combat, strength, constitution and Intellect should be your key scores. Rely on your racial bonus to supplement your dexterity, and leave charisma and wisdom for the rest of the party. You have thrown caution to the wind, and are single-minded in purpose. Accept your flaws as part of your past. You don’t plan, you react. You can’t talk smooth. You leave a trail of destruction in your wake.

You will receive a Black Blade at level three. I recommend it be a Longsword. This is the best all around weapon, with good damage and crit range. If your DM allows it (and I don’t see why he won’t) ensure it is made of Cold Iron. Cold Iron bypasses Outsider’s damage reduction, and ordinarily you would have to pay more to enhance it, but you get that for free as a Bladebound.

Invest in a set of Full Plate armor or better yet Hellknight Plate, preferable Adamantine. If I were in your shoes, I would work this out with my DM. Here’s what I would propose:

My father was a knight, but in order to get by in Cheliax, he was a member of the Hellknight order, practicing his real religion in secret. He wore Hellknight plate of adamantium, but it was damaged in the collapse and subsequent fire at the church where he died. The cost for the repairs to the armor equal the cost of building the armor anew, plus a refitting. That would be 17,500 gp (Hellknight plate 2,000 gp, +500 gp for refitting, +15,000 for the Adamantine/masterwork component for heavy armor). I would ask the DM to allow you to wear just the breast plat once it was repaired, and around when you hit level 7 and can start wearing Medium armor with out arcane failure. Say that you would pay at least 12,500 gp ( (Hellknight plate 2,000 gp, +500 gp for refitting, +10,000 for the Adamantine/masterwork component for medium armor), and say that you will pay the difference to wear it as full-plate once your class allows you.

You are not to be pushed around. You don’t have quite as much armor as a shielded fighter or paladin, but you make up for that in damage potential and a variety of abilities. Still, I recommend that when selecting your spells and magic items you go with options that compliment your style, bolstering your health (especially if you plan to sacrifice your constitution for Arcane Pool) and ABSOLUTELY invest in a Ring of Force Shield, as it won’t interfere with your signature spellcasting abilities. Select spells that hinder your foes, especially control spells to force them to adapt to your tactics, and debilitation spells that help your party deal more damage. If you have the choice between taking Fireball and Slow, take Slow. You have less spells, even less than a typical Magus, so pick them wisely. I’ve made a selection here of daily spells I most recommend for a level-20 Magus. Of course keep in mind that chance favors the prepared mind, so change your spells based on recon about your coming battles.

Sample Spells at level-20 (based on an ability array of: Str 20, Con 14, Dex 14, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 8 (standard array, plus +1 at each 4th level, with racial modifiers)

0/1/2/3/4/5/6

4/5/5/4/4/4/4

0-Level Spells

1 Read Magic

1 Arcane Mark Why Arcane Mark? Because it is a touch spell, meaning you can cast it all day long for a free melee attack with Spellstrike.

1 Detect Magic

1 Ray of Frost See Arcane Mark for why you want this spell, but with your bow.

1-Level Spells

1 Blood Money

1 Corrosive Touch Guess which resistance Tieflings don’t naturally have? That’s right, acid.

1 Ray of Enfeeblement For use with ranged weapons, before the bad guy gets to you.

1 Infernal Healing It’s not amazing, but sometimes your cleric isn’t to be found. Works well with your motif.

1 Shocking Grasp Your go-to kicker. This spell will change your melee damage from “ow, that stung” to “what in the Nine-Hells was that?!?”

2- Level Spells

1 Blood Blaze This spell is just mean. It’s a low impact force multiplier: Anything struck for at least 5 slashing or piercing damage within 5 feet of you bleeds fire, dealing 1d6 fire damage to one adjacent creature, and 1 splash damage to everything adjacent to that guy. Great for crowd control, and you’ll almost never see this backfire because of your own fire resistance.

2 Scorching Ray This spell holds up at higher levels, and because it fires multiple rays, at higher levels you get to apply it to multiple shots with your bow. This spell is a must-have.

1 Frigid Touch You know what the staggered condition means to someone within touch range of you? No more full-attacks, that’s what.

1 Invisibility If you don’t know why Invisibility could be useful to you, you need to find another game.

3-Level spells

1 Dispel Magic Utility you want to have.

1 Blink Outstanding as a defensive spell.

1 Vampiric Touch Harm and heal with a touch attack? Of course you want this.

1 Slow Remember what I said about battlefield control and mass debuffs? Use this as a crowd stopper.

4-Level Spells

1 Black Tentacles You’re grimdark. You’re a battlefield control master. Why wouldn’t you want to give everyone a shitty day?

1 Infernal Healing, Greater Again, not the best, but you can’t always rely on your companions.

1 Stoneskin 4th Level spells tend to be the best for defensive purposes.

1 Wreath of Blades

5-Level Spells

1 Blood Boil A good touch attack. Highly dependent on fort saves, so use it against the milk-drinkers.

1 Cloudkill Remember that thing about battlefield effects? Good. This will make your enemies go where you want them to.

1 Telekinesis This is a utility spell. Never be caught without it.

1 Teleport Another utility spell. You want to be able to get where you need to go.

6-Level Spells

1 Contagious Flame Do you like math? How about a lot of free damage? This spell keeps bouncing its rays around for three rounds, giving you a theoretical maximum of 60d6s if all the bolts hit targets. Pretty cool huh?

1 Disintegrate This spell is for when you absolutely, positively have to destroy something right now.

1 True Seeing As you gain levels, enemies start using increasingly nefarious means of deceiving you. Don’t let them take that advantage.

1 Monstrous Physique IV There’s a lot of variety in the monstrous humanoids out there. Sometimes, you need a wild card to get out of a bad situation, and this gives you that versatility.

Feats:

Power Attack (Combat): Because, yes, you do want free damage on each hit.

Fiend Sight: If your DM likes putting you in the Underdark, this is a good feat. Otherwise, avoid it.

Arcane Strike (Combat): Free Damage, check.

Weapon Focus (Combat): You’re not a fighter, and you’re using Power Attack. You need all the help you can get. Take it.

Greater Weapon Focus (Combat): Seriously consider it. This completely negates the penalties for Power Attack

Improved Critical (Combat): Touch spells can critically hit. When you deliver a spell through your weapon, it has the crit chance of the weapon. What, do I have to spell it out for you? Take this as early as possible.

Lunge (Combat): -2 AC, to improve your reach by 5 ft. Meaning you can strike without taking threat for spellcasting, and can make more Attacks of Opportunity. Frankly, if you take this, and have a higher Dex than I recommend, you might do well to take Combat Reflexes as well for some free damage.

Toughness: You fight in melee. You’re going to get hit. Give yourself a leg up

Reach Spell: This feat lets you turn your Touch Spells into Ranged Touch Spells. If you can convince your DM to let this spell work backwards as well, take this. Otherwise, only grab it if you don’t have better options.

Intensified Spell: Great for boosting low-level spells like Shocking Grasp

Skills:

Not much to put here. Spellcraft, perception, sense motive are all great options if you have nothing else to pick. Beyond that, a healthy couple of ranks in swim, acrobatics, and climb, along with anything with an ACP will help a ton. Knowledges don’t hurt, especially Arcane, Religion and the Planes, with your motif. If you can spare the ranks, Use Magic Device is helpful

Items:

Focus on getting a belt for your Strength, Constitution and Dexterity.

A headband for Intellect wouldn’t be terrible either

Magical and different material arrows will help, especially early on for dealing with damage reduction

Keep all that in an efficient quiver.

At least one dagger of each special material will be nice for DR, and in case you get disarmed. Seriously consider mithril daggers as the focus for Wreath of Blades as well.

Enhancements for your plate? Yes please. Also, see if your DM will let you enhance your Ring of Force Shield when you get one.

Potions, scrolls, wands, all great for dealing with your small spells per day.