Can Ember be built as anything other than blaster/buffbot?

[Super Cosmic Space Magnet]

Hello reader!

I've been musing about entertaining builds you can do to do something a bit different with the companions. Nenio can be made into a reasonably competent Magus, Seelah can be a fine Skald, Lann can be a decent Inquisitor etc etc. Characters you recruit later on are more difficult to make alternate builds for since your options are more restricted.

Ember however starts at a nice low level, meaning in theory you can build her into just about anything. The Blackened stigma's attack penalty is so prohibitive though, I'm struggling to think of anything I can reasonably do with her other than the standard hex support/ray caster, or just going full Loremaster and making her the one-stop-shop for every buff in the game.

Have people managed to come up with interesting/novel ways to build Ember that takes her in a different direction?

[fox5s]

Oh! You can ignore her Ray Casting options and build her into a decent Summoner fairly easily. She's too sweet to be a primary nuker IMO! :D

The only issue with turning her into a summoner is that it competes with her ability to Hex things as Summoning takes Full-Round Actions. But, that also means you can have her summoning in the important fights and Hexing during less important ones (or vice versa to taset). Or just falling back to Hexing when she's out of summons.

Some people also advocate mods to allow you to control the summons. Which I can understand. Can't tell you how many times my whole six man squad of Animate Dead charged past the Combat Reflexes mob that murders them all on the way by instead of just attacking that closer mob. >.>

[Super Cosmic Space Magnet]

It does feel a little odd to have her blasting things with THE HELLFIRE APOCALYPSE DEATH BEAM, yes xD That said, it comes so late in the campaign anyway that it feels sort of redundant. Summoning isn't a bad idea at all though! I've completely fallen in love with Ring of Summoning, so having someone who can just spawn a huge amount of bodies to then turn into endless spiders sounds super useful.

[fox5s]

There's a rather expensive ring you can get to give it to her a good three levels early. It's prob more worth for an Oracle but it still does fine for her.

But, yeah, I prefer Summoning with her. It's pretty easy to set up. One mythic feature, Ascendant Summons, and you can happily spend the rest on extra spell slots. For Feats, after Augment Summons, Metamagics like Extend, Maximize, and Empower all work fine. Though, Maximize and empower are prob better in Rod form. But options exist.

[Moo]

She's got decent DEX and CHR, you could turn her into a skald or DEX based dmg character.

[RedwoodElf]

Well my favorite build is a level dip into Shaman to get the "Frost" patron, and another dip into Crossblooded Sorcerer (white dragon/Water Elemental) and then going into Winter Witch. Yeah, it's technically another "Nuker" build, but a spontaneous caster winter witch is SO much more versitile, particularly with the bracers from Blackwater and the Red Salamander Ring, basically giving her a ton of fire and electric spells that she can convert to cold with the Water Elemental Sorcerer ability, and get +1 damage per die from White Dragon.

[Super Cosmic Space Magnet]

Originally posted by jeem1972:

She's got decent DEX and CHR, you could turn her into a skald or DEX based dmg character.

She'd still never be able to hit anything because of the Blackened trait though, right? Still, it would let her be a reasonable buff machine I suppose.

[Moo]

Originally posted by Super Cosmic Space Magnet:

She'd still never be able to hit anything because of the Blackened trait though, right? Still, it would let her be a reasonable buff machine I suppose.

True, I forgot about her blackened curse. I think she'd make a decent skald, she can rage and hex. If she gets wandering hex, she can use whichever hex the situation calls for.

[everanon]

You can focus on the spell greater command. I can't remember if you'll eventually get access to the spell or if it's a Loremaster dip.

[Schlumpsha]

Ember makes for a very decent Overwhelming Soul. Both RP wise and mechanic wise. Plus... she's not very "witchey" for a supposed Witch in the first place. And that way you also evade the contradicting hellfire fetish of hers. She even gets to keep her pet raven via Elemental Whispers.

[Dave]

Ember is the most versatile companion you meet.

You get her at level 4 and yet, she can become whatever you need (not a melee or tank anyway)

Blaster + Ray = Salamander Ring on Act 2
Conjuration/Enchanting DC caster
Necromancer Ray + DC

On top of these builds, she is also a witch, meaning she has Hexes that are extremely valuable for the whole game. Slumber, Evil Eye, Fortune. Protective Luck

Basically Bufbot is the only way i wouldn't build her, due to how bad witch spell list is.

So........unless you main a Witch...bringing her along is NEVER a bad choice.

[Cutlass Jack]

I always thought it might be fun to do a 'melee' Ember that turned blackened into an advantage and give her every ability that works when missing the target.

She's so good just being a healer and knocking the enemy unconscious that I rarely use her for anything else. Oh that and maxing her perception so I can hear her adorable trap finding line as much as possible.

[B Unit]

Originally posted by Schlumpsha:

Ember makes for a very decent Overwhelming Soul. Both RP wise and mechanic wise. Plus... she's not very "witchey" for a supposed Witch in the first place. And that way you also evade the contradicting hellfire fetish of hers. She even gets to keep her pet raven via Elemental Whispers.

I second this - flame Kineticist seems very appropriate but unfortunately I'm not sure Raven is an available familiar for Kineticist so even with a full respec might need a dip in Witch.

[BluMuSa ♥]

I love making her my main healer! I tried multiclassing to Oracle ❤️ and the full witch, buying scrolls of cure mass until she has the level to cast them 🤗

[BluMuSa ♥]

I once tried the dragon disciple class, and she was a golden Terendelev tank!

[Super Cosmic Space Magnet]

Originally posted by BluMuSa |♥| Mariina:

I love making her my main healer! I tried multiclassing to Oracle ❤️ and the full witch, buying scrolls of cure mass until she has the level to cast them 🤗

That's definitely what her character seems to lean towards being played as, yeah. Going Loremaster to pick up missing spells is kinda rough, since you need to spend two of her already starved feats on skill focus and metamagic (which she'll likely not enjoy anyway since she's spontaneous). :(

Oracle absolutely fits, though! Having your life changed by the intervention of a powerful otherworldly patron? Yeah that fits Ember alright.