Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / Pathfinder Iconics

Go To

Back to the main characters page.

The iconic examples of various classes.

    open/close all folders 

Core Rulebook Iconics

    Amiri of the Six Bears 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amiri_2nd_edition.png
Mythic Amiri
"Well, you’re a big one. I’ve killed bigger."

Race: Human (Kellid)
Class: Barbarian (titan mauler)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Homeland: Realm of the Mammoth Lords
Deity: Gorum

Once the best hunter and warrior in her tribe, Amiri (pronounced ah-MEE-ree) so offended the misogynists that headed up her tribe that they tried to have her killed, sending her out to die in the mountains. Returning home, Amiri murdered the plotters then headed into the southlands, betrayed and bitter. She carries a massive bastard sword once used by a frost giant.


  • Action Girl: Amiri is a barbarian, and even though she came from a tribe where women Stay in the Kitchen she was the best hunter and warrior in the tribe.
  • Ascended Extra: She's a supporting character in the Pathfinder: Origins comic book series (mainly Valeros's chapter), as well as being a party member in the Pathfinder: Kingmaker CRPG adaptation.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: In the "Kingmaker" campaign pack, she is shown as Queen of the Stolen Lands. Also again in Ultimate Campaign.
  • Barbarian Hero: From the Kellid tribe of the Six Bears.
  • The Berserker: Even for a barbarian, Amiri has anger problems.
  • BFS: A giant-sized bastard sword taken from a dead frost giant. She can only wield the thing with full effect when she's in the throes of blood rage.
  • Demonic Possession: After she and Valeros were almost turned into blood sacrifices by cultists seeking to free the devil Sycorius from an idol, Amiri managed to kill the cultist leader by crushing her with the idol in question... which unfortunately provided the blood sacrifice needed to free the devil, which thereafter inhabited Amiri's body and used it to spread mayhem. She spends a while possessed by Sycorius before being freed by Merisiel.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: After her redesign for Pathfinder 2.0, as shown here.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: The Ultimate Combat splatbook introduced the titan mauler archetype specifically to reflect Amiri's lore-established combat style. All stats given for her are of the vanilla Barbarian, however.
    • Taken a step further in the 2nd edition core book - one of the core book's Barbarian Instincts (the Giant Instinct) is all about using an oversized weapon and Amiri's 2e pregen stats use this instinct.
  • No Guy Wants an Amazon: She is brave, brawny and independent, traits that are less than desirable in a Six Bears tribeswoman. Most of the rest of the world disagrees.
  • Shout-Out: Or maybe just an obvious art reference — her main portrait, and thus elements of her costume, are obviously based on one of Yukito Kishiro's cover illustrations for Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, featuring Sechs in his/her original female body.
  • Super-Strength: When raging, she is incredibly strong, being able to lift a stone idol twice her size and use it as a weapon.
  • Took a Level in Badass: As one of the iconic Guardians.
  • Unkempt Beauty: She could not be any less girly if she tried. Still quite attractive.
  • Unstoppable Rage: The only time she can utilise her BFS is when she goes berserk.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Her slaughter of her fellow tribesmen that tried to get her killed has marked her as a kinslayer.
  • You Go, Girl!: She came from a rather sexist tribe and was aware of her status as a woman; that's why she always tried to one-up her male "comrades". They were not happy about it.

    Ezren Zefiir 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ezren_2nd_edition.png
"Some say knowledge flows from sweat and blood. I prefer a tidier approach."

Race: Human (Taldan)
Class: Wizard (Universalist)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Homeland: Absalom
Deity: None (formerly Abadar)

When Ezren's (pronounced EZZ-ren) father was accused of heresy, it ruined his family's lives. Ezren, a wizard and scholar would dedicate most of his early years trying to clear his father's name, only to uncover irrefutable proof of his guilt and worship of Mammon. Leaving home at the age of 42 to seek adventure elsewhere, Ezren knows he's missed out on the greater part of his life, and as he heads into his old age is aiming to make up for lost time.


  • Cain and Abel: His brother is an asshole slave trader who kicked Ezren out of their hometown on pain of death, whereas Ezren is a kind, well-meaning guy. Naturally, this means that Ezren feels obligated to take his brother down.
  • Clear Their Name: His father was accused of heresy. The charges were dropped, but his reputation was ruined. Ezren went through all the records trying to clear his father's name... and instead found irrefutable proof of his guilt.
  • Cool Old Guy: Didn't get started adventuring until he was in his forties and is now considerably older. Still a cool guy though, and one who gets along well with his younger companions.
  • Hedge Mage: Most of what Ezren knows about magic has been self-taught, since he started studying magic much later in life than most wizards and couldn't find another wizard or a magical academy that would take him on as an apprentice due to his age.
  • Hollywood Atheist: Played with. Ezren is an atheist who gave up on the gods when the church of Abadar carried his father away for heresy, but he's good-hearted and philosophical in nature and enjoys friendly debate with his more religious comrades.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With all of his younger comrades.
  • Nay-Theist: Ezren doesn't worship the gods, but that doesn't mean he doesn't believe they exist, he just has... philosophical differences with them. Which is pretty standard for how wizards are in Golarion.
  • Omniglot: In his level 12 stat block in the NPC Codex, Ezren is listed as being fluent in twenty languages — specifically Abyssal, Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Azlanti, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Ignan, Infernal, Kelish, Orc, Osiriani, Terran, and Undercommon. This means that at level 12, the only languages Ezren doesn't speak in base Pathfinder are Aboleth, Boggard, Cyclopes, Dark Folk, Drow Sign Languagenote , Druidicnote , D'ziriak, Grippli, Halfling, Necril, Protean, Sphinx, Sylvan, Tengu, Treant and Vegepygmy. Yes, Ezren knows more than half of all languages used on Golarion.
  • The Philosopher: Ezren is always willing to discuss philosophy, especially with those who hold different points of view from him.
  • Suicidal Overconfidence: He tries to get revenge on his brother when he was still a novice at magic and very nearly got killed for it.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He's one of the iconic Archmages in Mythic Adventures, and, if his bared arms in that picture (or at least the preliminary sketch in the Mythic Playtest) are anything to go by, he is surprisingly ripped for a middle-aged wizard.
  • Wizard Beard: Albeit a short and neatly trimmed one.
  • Wizard Classic: Staff? More of a cane, but check. Wizard Robes? His are a bit more practical for traveling, but check. Long white hair and beard? Check. Casts Spells like a wizard? Check. Yep, Ezren's a Wizard Classic

    Fumbus 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fumbus.png

Race: Goblin
Class: Alchemist
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Homeland: Absalom

A goblin alchemist who fled his tribe after making one too many explosions and was subsequently taken under the wing by a half-orc Pathfinder named Droven.


  • The Exile: He was forcibly expelled from his tribe due to causing more explosions than even goblins are willing to tolerate, especially as the last one before his exile destroyed his clan's prized store of pickles.
  • Hates Reading: Averted. Unlike the usual goblin stereotype of Pathfinder, Fumbus is perfectly okay with reading to acquire more knowledge for his alchemical studies. That said he draws the line at actually writing, preferring to create symbols for every formula, which he's insistent isn't writing.
  • Hero Worship: Towards Droven. It works against him, as Fumbus refuses to accept membership into the Pathfinder Society until he believes he can match up to the standard set by his hero.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:Subverted. In the comic Pathfinder:Fumbus, he manages to stop a alchemical engine that would attack Absalom by exploding it. He is assumed dead and made a pathfinder posthumously, only to be revealed that he actually survived and is continuing having adventures.

    Harsk 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harsk_2nd_edition.jpg
Mythic Harsk

"Gold's fine, but give me a good hunt and a cup of strong tea afterward, and I’m content."

Race: Dwarf
Class: Ranger
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Homeland: Druma

A dwarven ranger whose brother was slain on a raid because he was not there, Harsk (pronounced HARSK) now tries to make the world a better place by ridding it of giants and other menaces. Blaming himself for the loss of his brother, Harsk is taciturn and prefers to be alone.


  • Anti-Hero: Harsk is a taciturn loner who atones for his part in his brother's death by slaughtering giants and making the wilds of the world safe (typically through violence).
  • Big Damn Heroes: Subverted. Harsk tried to be this in his backstory, but he only arrived after his brother's entire party had been completely slaughtered.
  • Came Back Wrong: Deliberately averted In-Universe; in one of the blog posts, James Jacobs mentions that Harsk has a policy against reincarnation. Probably to avoid becoming an Inhuman Human.
  • Hit-and-Run Tactics: How he avenged his brother against the giants that slew him.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Mostly averted. Harsk has the traditional dwarf beard and gruff nature, but bucks tradition by specializing in the crossbow and prefers the wilderness of the surface world to the mines of his kinsmen. He also shuns alcohol in favor of tea as it keeps his senses sharp.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Angainst the giants who killed his brother.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He's one of the iconic Tricksters in Mythic Adventures.
  • Tragic Keepsake: His brother's axe.
  • You Didn't Ask: Why he didn't tell the others he'd met Lini before.

    Kyra Sief al Kiraan 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kyra_2nd_edition.jpg
Mythic Kyra
"May the blessings of the Dawnflower shed light on the dark corners of Golarion."

Race: Human (Keleshite)
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Neutral Good
Homeland: Qadira
Deity: Sarenrae

Losing her family at a young age, Kyra (pronounced Ky-rah) was taken in by the priests of Sarenrae. She now travels the country, spreading her goddess's faith, and does her utmost to save lives.


  • Action Girl: This is actually a religious requirement for Kyra as a Priestess of Sarenrae, since members of her priesthood are required to train extensively with the scimitar in order to defend the innocent and helpless.
  • The Atoner: How she met up with the party. To pay the convict Milos back for saving her life from a chupacabra at the cost of his own, she traveled thousands of miles from Kelesh to Varisia seek out his family and tell them what became of him.
  • Battle Couple: Adventures with her girlfriend (later wife), Merisiel.
  • Church Militant: She is rarely seen in battle without both her scimitar and holy symbol in hand. Sarenrae's clerics tend to be like this.
  • Combat Medic: She is seen going toe to toe with the enemy as often as healing her companions.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Because of her Dark and Troubled Past, it took her a while to internalize the part of her religion where she's supposed to actually forgive people who do wrong and then try to atone for it. Besides the interaction with Seelah and the convicts, she's introduced in the comic continuity furiously calling out a severely hungover Valeros after he interrupts her morning meditations by vomiting up his dinner from the previous night. She softens a lot over the course of the first story arc, leading to her falling in love with Merisiel.
  • Doomed Hometown: The village she lived in as a girl was burned to the ground by bandits while priestesses of Sarenrae attempted to defend it. This inspired her to become one herself.
  • Go and Sin No More: Frequently invoked: as a priestess of Sarenrae, Kyra must offer mercy to those who would change their ways and tell them to Go and Sin No More.
  • Interspecies Romance: Kyra is in a relationship with Merisiel, an elf.
  • Letting Her Hair Down: She does this in the Mythic Adventures book as the Mythic Hierophant, if the sketch is anything to go by. And it looks fantastic.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: A possible concern. If humans are lucky, they get to live to be around 110 years old. By contrast, elves don't reach middle-age until they are 175. According to the forums, Kyra and Merisiel don't talk about this eventuality... mainly because whenever Kyra brings it up, Merisiel either shuts her down or changes the subject.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: The priestesses of Sarenrae who inspired and defended Kyra were all killed in the battle that burned down her Doomed Hometown.
  • Shoot the Dog: When the time for mercy has passed, Kyra puts villains who won't accept mercy and change their ways down like rabid dogs.
  • Sinister Scimitar: A scimitar, which is her goddess's sacred weapon.
  • Straight Gay: Yes, you read that right. Kyra is indeed in a relationship with Merisiel.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Manages to convert a hostile Otyugh to Sarenrae's faith, and it leaves in peace.
  • The Teetotaler: Her sect does not drink alcohol, and she initially scolds Seelah for drinking. Over time, though, she comes to be more flexible about her companions' habits.
  • Took a Level in Badass: She's one of the Iconic Hierophants in Mythic Adventures.

    Lem 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lem_2nd_edition.png
"No need to look so glum, everyone! I’d hardly call this certain death!"

Race: Halfling
Class: Bard
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Homeland: Cheliax
Deity: Shelyn

Raised as a slave in Cheliax, Lem longed to escape, finally burning down his master's manor in order to make good his getaway. The rest of his family, horrified by his attack on their master, chose to remain as slaves, and Lem accordingly hit the road, never to go home again.


  • Berserk Button: Slavers, as you might expect, irk him something fierce.
  • Cain and Abel: The Abel to his evil brother Meligaster. Their first meeting as adults swiftly devolved into a bitter and heated fight, and Meligaster is now seeking to track Lem down to have his revenge for having come out the worse in their spat.
  • Happiness in Slavery: Averted, unlike the rest of his family. He wasn't happy at all about it, and ended up burning down their master's manor.
  • Jack of All Trades: Fittingly for a Bard, in artwork Lem tends to be shown doing many different roles.
  • Magic Music: He's a bard, it comes with the territory.
  • Mentor Archetype: To Ezren, of all people. He helps Ezren get through his mid-life crisis and points him on the path to becoming a member of the Pathfinder Society.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He tried to save his enslaved family by burning their master's manor. His family tried to put out the fires and bemoaned the loss of their shelter.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: With his oppressive Neutral Evil brother Meligaster, a selfish and manipulative man who uses his psychic powers to enslave others to his will and live the good life, in sharp contrast to his freedom-loving sibling.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He's one of the two Iconic Marshals in Mythic Adventures. Apparently the job came with a bitchin' coat.

    Lini 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lini_2nd_edition.jpg
"Yes, Droogami, they do seem friendly. But let me know if you smell trouble."

Race: Gnome
Class: Druid
Alignment: True Neutral
Homeland: Land of the Linnorm Kings
Religion: Green Faith

In her many explorations and journeys, Lini (pronounced LEE-nee) encountered numerous large animal predators, with whom she seemed to possess a certain affinity. More than once, Lini's traveling companions or enclave came under threat from some great bear or razor-clawed cat, but with a series of soothing noises and precise motions Lini always tamed the beast and sent it on its way.


  • The Beast Master: While this comes with being a Druid, Lini's backstory indicates a particular affinity for predatory animals.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: A mild version. Lini occasionally provides strange comments during battle.
  • Druidic Sickle: She wields a sickle as her primary weapon. Particularly notable in light of her being the game's archetypal druid adventurer.
  • Garden Garment: In her mythic artwork, she is depicted as wearing a cape and clothes made out of leaves.
  • Horse of a Different Color: In artwork, she is sometimes shown riding her snow leopard companion Droogami.
  • Hotter and Sexier: Her redesign as a Hierophant in Mythic Adventures. Like most of the other iconics, her redesign came with a more revealing outfit.
  • Loyal Animal Companion: Droogami, the snow leopard.
  • Nature Hero: Part and parcel of being a druid.
  • Panthera Awesome: Droogami, especially in combat.
  • Took a Level in Badass: She's one of the two iconic Hierophants in Mythic Adventures.
  • Unusual Eyebrows: Apparently part of being a gnome. They look like blades of grass and stick out a significant distance into the air past her temples.

    Merisiel Sillvari 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/merisiel.jpg
Mythic Merisiel
"If I’ve got a big problem, I cut it into smaller pieces and most of the time that solves it!"

Race: Elf
Class: Rogue
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Homeland: Varisia
Deity: Calistria

Merisiel (pronounced meh-RIHS-ee-el) is a Forlorn — an elf raised in human society, by parents and caretakers who did not even live into her teenage years. Having finally reached adulthood, Merisiel has set out to see the world — and steal anything that isn't tied down. Impulsive and prone to getting into trouble, Merisiel makes up for not being the sharpest knife in the drawer by keeping several dozen of them on her person.


  • Action Girl: She is not afraid of getting in a fight or braving a dangerous dungeon.
  • Aesop Amnesia: She repeatedly steals from people she probably shouldn't. As Valeros asks her, "Merisiel, do you notice certain patterns in your life?"
  • Affectionate Nickname: Her teammates call her "Meri" while her old associates called her "Meris".
  • Battle Couple: Adventures with her girlfriend (later wife), Kyra.
  • Blade Enthusiast: "To date, Merisiel hasn't met a problem that can't, in one way or another, be solved with daggers." Conversely, she has run into a number of problems caused by daggers. To give a better idea, take a close look at her picture, and count how many different daggers you can see.
  • Devious Daggers: Daggers. Lots of them. (In her Iconic Trickster sketch, she has upwards of 40 on her person.)
  • The Ditz: Apparently not the sharpest knife in the tool shed, which is why she keeps dozens of them on her person.
  • Elves vs. Dwarves: According to the "Ask Merisiel" thread, she finds Lem's jokes about dwarves hilarious.
    "What's the difference between a dwarf and a bucket of otyugh puke?" — "THE BUCKET!"
    "What do you call a dwarf with twenty arrows in his gut?" — "A good start."
    "Why do dwarves make their wedding cakes out of goblin dung?" — "To keep the flies off the bride."
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Statwise her intelligence is actually average, so either she merely lacks sense or uses Obfuscating Stupidity. (This is a holdover from her original 3.5 statistics; Intelligence is her Dump Stat, and in 3.5 clocked in at a below-average 8. In Pathfinder, elves get a flat +2 bonus to Intelligence, pushing her up to an average Int score of 10.) Her ability scores on her Paizo forums profile (as an alias for Creative Director James Jacobs) give her a whopping thirty in all her stats (including Intelligence) except for Wisdom, which is nine.note 
  • Interspecies Romance: With Kyra, a Keleshite human. Merisiel also experienced a temporary romance with a Phondari, a Black Martian, in Pathfinder: Worldscape.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac: Check out the "Ask Merisiel" thread on the forums. Almost half of her answers involve getting Kyra naked, groping Kyra, or getting Kyra to heal her. Note: all Cure spells are touch spells. She also flirts with Ameiko a lot in the comic. It should be noted that she was raised in a temple of Calistria, Goddess of Lust (the kind of place that has its own prostitutes).
  • Monochromatic Eyes: Merisiel has solid blue-grey eyes, a hint towards the origin of her species as Ancient Astronauts from the planet Castrovel.
  • Raised by Natives: Merisiel is a Forlorn, an elf raised among humans. Though it doesn't necessarily mean that she has no social skills. Part of being a Forlorn is seeing all the people you grew up with and who raised you grow old and die at a (relatively) enhanced rate. This makes the above-mentioned Interspecies Romance a bit awkward, as Merisiel will easily outlive Kyra. Elven middle age being about 60+ years older than a human's maximum lifespan if they are extremely lucky. Merisiel refuses to talk to Kyra about this. She is oddly comforted by Imrijka observing that based on their shared profession, Merisiel and Kyra are overwhelmingly likely to die at the same time.
  • Stepford Smiler: At least part of her cheerful persona is a mask to hide her regret and grief after outliving her family and friends.
  • Sticky Fingers: Merisiel is an impulsive thief who is constantly getting the others in trouble. After being pursued by yet another angry guardian out to reclaim its treasure, Valeros is forced to ask Merisiel if she is starting to notice "certain patterns in her life".
  • Street Urchin: She was one till she became a drifter.
  • Soul-Cutting Blade: Soulsplitter, a knife that severs the soul from the body and irrevocably destroys it that she stole from Lord Corvelis.
  • Take a Third Option: What does she do when faced with the choice between killing a demonic possession victim or losing access to the records they desperately need? Use a soul destroying blade to kill the demonic spirit possessing them and have the cleric resurrect them.
  • Took a Level in Badass: She's one of the Iconic Tricksters in Mythic Adventures. According to the "Ask Merisiel" thread, she's not too happy with the domino-mask-style makeup she got in the artwork.

    Sajan Gadadvara 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sajan_gadadvara.jpg
Mythic Sajan
"We could deny this challenge; we could bypass it. But by facing the challenge, we grow."

Race: Human (Vudrani)
Class: Monk
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Homeland: Vudra
Deity: Irori

Raised to become a warrior-monk, Sajan (pronounced SAW-jonn) never had any intention of leaving his homeland — until his master lost a war, and had to sell Sajan's twin sister to the victor as a result. Sajan now roams Golarion, ever searching for his sister.


    Seelah 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/seelah_2nd_edition.jpg
"Iomedae is my sight and my strength. She will guide my sword into the heart of evil!"

Race: Human (Garundi)
Class: Champion(Paladin)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Homeland: Katapesh
Deity: Iomedae

Although still viewed by many theologians and traditionalists as a newcomer to the world's faiths, Iomedae the Inheritor seems poised for greatness among the divine. Certainly her numerous orders of paladins have risen swiftly to take on the vaunted role of paragon in many societies. Evangelical in their exuberance to spread word of her wisdom, Iomedae's missionaries were pivotal in the defense during the fabled Siege of Solku. They sacrificed their lives saving the town from gnoll slavers, and although none of them survived the siege, their presence lived on. Particularly in the eyes of young Seelah (pronounced SEE-lah).


  • Action Girl: Since she's a Paladin, it goes without saying.
  • Ascended Extra: She teams up with Kyra in her chapter of Pathfinder: Origins and is a party member in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.
  • The Atoner: As a child, Seelah stole the paladin Acemi's helmet to pawn for food. Days later, Acemi died of a head wound. Seelah became a paladin herself to atone.
  • Breast Plate: Minor example. She's covered completely, but the armour on her chest is more form-fitting than it needs to be.
  • Church Militant: She's a paladin of Iomedae, and sees her skill in arms as a crucial component of her ability to make the world a better place.
  • From Shame, Heroism: In her childhood as a street thief, she stole the helmet of a knight who later died of a head wound while defending Seelah's home city. She tried to commit suicide out of guilt, but the other knights took her in, setting her on the path to becoming a Paladin.
  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Averted. She is rarely seen in a fight without it. Given what happened to Acemi, can you really blame her? Her illustrations as a Marshal, however, tend to show her bareheaded.
  • Holy Halo: Her artwork as a mythic character shows her with a thin golden halo around and above her head.
  • Interrupted Suicide: She tried to burn herself on Acemi's pyre, but was stopped by Acemi's allies.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Played straight.
  • The Lad-ette: While fully committed to her creed, she's pretty informal for a paladin, and Kyra first runs into her having a raucous drink-off with some bar patrons.
  • Mentor Archetype: To a young and brash Kyra in the latter's origins issue, to whom she gave a rather pointed lesson on how anyone can be worthy of forgiveness and redemption and that worth and honor can be found among even the most unlikely — and, sometimes, unsavory — people.
  • The Paladin: She's as archetypal a paladin as most characters are likely to get — Lawful Good to the core, honorable, brave, and always willing to help those in need.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her parents were killed by gnolls when she was young, forcing her to fend for herself on the streets.
  • Put on a Bus: Kyra says she headed north to join the Mendevian Crusades when they parted ways. Owlcat Games took advantage to make her a party member in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: She has worn a dress approximately once in all of her art. But that one time...
  • Smite Evil: Wouldn't be a Paladin without that.
  • Street Urchin: She was this after the deaths of her parents and until she stole a paladin's helmet.
  • Took a Level in Badass: She's one of the Iconic Marshals in Mythic Adventures and one of the few Iconics (along with Amiri and Lem) to not be showing any more skin than in her normal design. The lady's nothing if not practical.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: In the Origins comic, she gives a short but effective one to Kyra when she threatens one of the Boxed Crooks they were traveling with.
    "Well, that was... interesting. I thought Sarenrae was the goddess of redemption."

    Seltyiel Bhrostra 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/seltyiel.jpg
"I will have riches and influence. I will have respect and fear. But most of all, I will have revenge."

Race: Half-elf
Class: Fighter/Wizard (evoker)/Eldritch Knight (became a Magus in Ultimate Magic)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Homeland: Cheliax
Deity: Asmodeus

The son of an elven brigand and the noble's wife whom he had raped, Seltyiel (pronounced SELT-yeel) was born to a dead mother, and raised by a lord who hated the very sight of him. Eventually driven from his home, sickly Seltyiel was briefly taken in by his real father, who subsequently crippled and abandoned him in order to evade capture. Spending most of his formative years in prison, Seltyiel was eventually released, and twisted and filled with self-loathing, has made it his life's goal to murder both of his fathers.


  • Abusive Parents: Both his fathers. His adoptive father hated him, and his biological father was a criminal who raped his mother and left him for dead to save his own skin.
  • Archnemesis Dad: His elven father is a strong candidate for this trope.
  • Affably Evil: For such a duplicitous, self-serving mercenary, he can be rather cheerful and reasonable.
  • Anti-Hero: A definite Nominal Hero.
  • Bastard Bastard: Conceived when an elven bandit-lord raped a married human noblewoman while disguised as her husband, Seltyiel's human "father" pretty much immediately realized that his son was a bastard. Subsequent treatment by his human stepfather and his elven biological father assured that Seltyiel would be a bastard in every other sense of the word as well.
  • Captain Ersatz:
  • Child by Rape: Seltiyel's father used a Bed Trick to rape his mother.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: God yes.
  • Depending on the Artist: Most art (including his main portrait) depicts Seltyiel as being left-handed. This is not always consistent, especially when he's casting spells.
  • Fake Defector: In the Hollow Mountain comics, he fakes getting seduced by an Incubus and turning against the party, only to shank the demon as soon as it drops its guard.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: He's the son of a human noblewoman and an elven outlaw.
  • Kill It with Fire: A subtle case — Seltyiel is usually shown or described using fire magic in combat.
  • Magic Knight: Though his specific class varies, he always mixes martial prowess with magical power.
  • Mr. Fanservice: He makes few efforts to hide his physique, and misses fewer to brag about it. At one point, Seoni notes that she's seen the employees of male skin bars wearing the sorts of outfits he does.
  • Odd Friendship: With Seelah, The Paladin of the team. While the two of them have a number of important differences, their shared Lawful alignment gives them some common ground in terms of their outlook on life, and they genuinely enjoy one another's company. Word of God implies it's probably going to end in tragedy, but for the moment...
  • Properly Paranoid: As it turns out, he had already taken measures to ward himself against enchantment spells. Considering he's in a party with an untrustworthy mesmerist like Meligaster, once can't blame him for being careful.
  • Retcon: He was originally the iconic Eldritch Knight (Fighter/Wizard (evoker)); he became the iconic Magus instead in Ultimate Magic, and has stayed that way since.
  • A Sinister Clue: Goes along with his Token Evil Teammate status, though, again, Depending on the Artist.
  • Token Evil Teammate: He's Seelah's pet project, as it were.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He's one of the iconic Champions in Mythic Adventures.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Especially with his artwork in Mythic Adventures. Before he just had a very open one; as a Champion he's ditched any sort of clothing on his upper body.
    • No longer the case going by the sketch of him in 2e's Secrets of Magic playtest, where he's now wearing much heavier robes and no visible chest at all.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: His hair is white and he's the only core iconic who's evil.

    Seoni 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/seoni.png
"We all choose our paths in life. See to it that yours doesn’t cross mine again."

Race: Human (Varisian)
Class: Sorcerer (tattooed sorcerer archetype, Arcane bloodline)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Homeland: Varisia
Deity: Pharasma

Highly intelligent and more than a little manipulative, Seoni (pronounced see-OH-nee) is a tattooed sorceress who may have the blood of something less than human running through her veins.


  • Depending on the Artist: Her tattoos are virtually never consistent from one artist to another; given the intricacy of them, this is understandable. Also, whether her hair is blonde or white varies; Word of God is that she's supposed to be blonde and that depictions of her with white hair are a mistake.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Sure she's "neutral" but when she sees Valeros about to rough up a captured cultist, Seoni pleads with him not to torture the guy.
  • Familiar: A blue-tailed skink named Dragon.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: The Inner Sea Magic splatbook introduced the tattoo magic subsystem and the tattooed sorcerer archetype specifically to reflect Seoni's lore-established powers. All stats given for her are of the vanilla Sorcerer, however.
  • Kill It with Fire: Her go-to attack spell seems to be Scorching Ray.
  • The Leader: In the comics, she becomes the leader of the party. Sure she's easily the weakest physically and she's not especially smart by magic user standards, but she's extremely charismatic. After seeing the party bicker amongst each other while they were all stuck in a trap, Seoni makes an appeal for calm and gives a rousing speech so successfully that the party unanimously asked her to be the leader.
  • Power Tattoo: She has traditional Varisian tattoos, which literally empower some of her spells. One picture has her storing her Familiar as one.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Ultimate Campaign has a picture of her in a Fairytale Wedding Dress.
  • Stripperiffic: Take a good long look at her clothing. Or lack thereof. This goes even further as an Archmage in Mythic Adventures; she's basically down to just a loincloth and a narrow tube-top now, but is downplayed in 2nd Edition, where she gets an outfit update that gives her better coverage... although it still shows a lot of thigh.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: She's a sorceress of the Arcane bloodline, which means magic runs in her family.
  • Took a Level in Badass: As one of the iconic Archmages.
  • Vapor Wear: Depending on how the artist is drawing her slinky red dress.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: According to Merisiel, Seoni thinks her fancy magic and cleavage can get her out of any situation, when it seems that instead those talents are consistently much better at getting her into situations.

    Valeros 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valeros_2nd_edition.jpg
Mythic Valeros
"For the scar I’ll forgive you; for the spilt drink I’ll have your heart."

Race: Human (Chelaxian)
Class: Fighter (Two-weapon Fighter)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Homeland: Andoran
Deity: Cayden Cailean

The iconic fighter, Valeros (pronounced VAHL-err-ohs) was a simple farm boy who left home hoping to become an epic hero. What he ended up as was a jaded mercenary whose gruff exterior and extensive womanizing camouflages his basically decent nature. Always the first into the fray and the last one out, Valeros is a loyal, if unpredictable companion, who has given up on his childhood dreams, but not his desire to help others.


  • Amazon Chaser: In his own words, he likes a woman who can throw him around a little.
  • Badass Normal: Like all Fighters, his fighting prowess has nothing supernatural about it.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: He's pretty friendly as long as you're not fighting him.
  • Butt-Monkey: Check out the art in the books, especially those prefacing each chapter. If he's in it, chances are something bad has happened, is happening, or is about to happen to him. Like getting caught in one of Damiel's ice bombs. Fan theory holds that this is a Brick Joke: One of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition's iconic fighters, a male human named Regdar, was commissioned specifically for the sake of appealing to the average RPG player (despite the fact that D&D already had an iconic fighter at the time). In response, 3rd Edition's writers and artists loved portraying Regdar in all kinds of awful situations. So just as Pathfinder is the spiritual successor to D&D 3.5, Valeros is the reincarnation of Regdar.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Valeros loves the ladies, but would never dream of pressing the issue once he's been rejected, and goes out of his way to protect the girls he's on a team with. Not that this will stop him from being an ass every once in a while, of course.
  • Dual Wielding: Always carries a long- and shortsword into battle. In close quarters, he'll trade off one or both for a dagger.
  • Eagleland: Valeros hails from Andoran, which in-setting is revolutionary America if it existed in a high-fantasy version of southern France.
  • Expy: Madmartigan from Willow. See for yourself.
  • Farm Boy: A former one. Instead of becoming a hero, however, he's become a jaded mercenary.
  • Friends with Benefits When he meets up with Imrijka, they usually end up sleeping together, though their relationship isn't serious. It usually ends up making so much noise that it bothers the rest of the party (Especially Merisiel if Kyra isn't around, since it leaves her sexually frustrated).
  • Girl on Girl Is Hot: In the fifth volume of the Pathfinder Comic, after Merisiel kisses Kyra and Valeros asks a (blushing) Kyra about the two being in a relationship, in the next panel he has a very wide grin.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has several good scars on his face.
  • Heroic BSoD: In the Runescars comic. After Tanin is killed, Valeros falls into a deep depression and hits the bottle even harder.
  • Hidden Depths: See Obfuscating Stupidity and Knight in Sour Armour.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: He acts like a typical crass mercenary but is actually a really good guy.
  • Hired Guns: A former mercenary who currently works as an adventurer for hire.
  • Interspecies Romance: With Imrijka. They are more Friends with Benefits than a serious couple, but when they get together, they definitely have chemistry.
  • Knight in Sour Armour: Valeros is a good guy who means well and will never let someone in need down. And he has the personality of the most bitter cynic you will ever meet.
  • "L" Is for "Dyslexia": The Spiral of Bones comics shows him struggling to read as a child because "the letters jiggle."
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Tends to charge headlong into danger. Than again, it usually seems to work out for him.
  • Lovable Sex Maniac: While Merisiel may be more well-known for it, there's been several references to Valeros also having a habit of this as well. Crystal Frasiernote  in the discussion about Shardra also heavily implies this and Really Gets Around:
    Crystal Frasier: Any more specific information about her body is reserved for her, Kolo, and whoever she may spend a night with. And Valeros. Because one way or another, Valeros knows what's going on in everyone's pants.
  • The Need for Mead: Out of every character presented in Pathfinder material, Valeros is the second greatest offender, right after his god.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: While not a genius by any means, Valeros is canonically somewhat above average in intelligence. He hides his wit and tactical ability behind a simple facade.
  • Only in It for the Money: He'd like you to believe that payment and treasure is the only things that motivate him (and mead and booty), but that's not entirely case.
  • Shield Bash: In his mini-story for 2nd Edition, he get cornered by three Chelish soldiers in a tavern where he had to check his weapons at the door. He got to keep his shield though, and does a pretty good job using it to fight them off.
  • Took a Level in Badass: As a Champion in Mythic Adventures.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Apparently, becoming a Champion removes the need for wearing stuff on your upper body.

Advanced Player's Guide Iconics

    Alahazra 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alahazra.jpg
"I am the bride of the sun and the prophet of the burning sands."

Race: Human (Garundi)
Class: Oracle
Alignment: Lawful Good
Homeland: Rahadoum
Mystery: Flame

A blind oracle with the power to predict the future, Alahazra would have been honoured and loved had she not been born in Rahadoum. Exiled from her homeland and cut off from her family she now tries to make the best of a bad situation.


  • Blessed with Suck: Like all oracles, Alahazra is blessed with considerable magical power, but at considerable cost — in her case, her eyesight. On a personal level, her powers got her exiled from her homeland and alienated her from her family.
  • Blind Seer: Invoked by her particular Oracle's Curse, which cripples her eyesight in exchange for her powers.
  • Chainmail Bikini: In Mythic Origins, her Hierophant outfit includes a rather skimpy metal breastplate that fits her outline... rather closely.
  • Demoted to Extra: Not as bad as this trope usually implies, but since her backstory no longer lines up with how the Oracle's curse works in the game's 2nd edition, she is no longer the Iconic Oracle (being replaced with the tengu Korakai), though does appear as the art for one of the class' example builds for the Flame Mystery.
  • Head-Turning Beauty: She is described as getting this reaction quite often and is rumored to have made consorts of many powerful men.
  • Nay-Theist: Alahazra acknowledges that the gods exist and sees them as "allies" of a sort, but insists that she does not actively worship any herself.
  • Playing with Fire: As an Oracle of the Flame Mystery, she definitely qualifies.
  • Prophet Eyes: Part of the specific Oracle's Curse she has.
  • Stripperiffic: Her clothing is effectively a bikini with a loincloth added around the waist once the cloak and hat are removed.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She has a cold exterior that hides an inner rage and passion.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the player supplement Mythic Origins, where she's the iconic Hierophant.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Because of her unasked-for gift of divine spellcasting, Alahazra was exiled from her native country, Rahadoum, which outlaws religion, and disowned by her family as well. Ironically, she herself is agnostic. It was later explained that, despite Oracles not necessarily being given their power by a deity, ANY form of divine magic is looked at with distrust in Rahadoum.

    The Antipaladin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_antipaladin.jpg
Race: Aasimar
Class: Antipaladin
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Homeland: Unknown

An unnamed antipaladin who frequently appears in art battling the iconics, especially the paladin, Seelah. One of a number of recurring "sub-iconics", albeit the best-known and most often seen.


  • Arch-Enemy: To Seelah.
  • Black Knight: He's clad in full black armor, and is a recurring antagonist.
  • Flat Character: Unlike other iconics he doesn't have a backstory, he just shows up as an example antagonist from time to time.
  • For the Evulz: He kicks piggies for fun.
  • Kick the Dog: Literally — as seen in Advanced Class Guide, he enjoys kicking around innocent piglets.
  • No Name Given: He's not an official iconic and doesn't have a name or backstory, but frequently appears in illustrations regardless.
  • Sadistic Choice: In one illustration in Pathfinder Unchained, he's implied to have set an orphanage on fire and forced Seelah to choose between saving the children or fighting him. Mind you, he's showing her this choice via road signs (while hiding behind a tree no less), so there may be a little Troll in him too.
  • Slasher Smile: He's sporting one in every single illustration he's in, whether he's in the middle of a fight, burning down an orphanage, or growing mutant tentacles.
  • Tin Tyrant: He's always seen in his black armor with horned helmet, and apparently rules a castle, going by an illustration in Pathfinder Unchained.

    Alain Germande 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alain_germande.jpg
"I strive with every encounter to increase my own legend, whether as scoundrel or saint."

Race: Human (Taldan)
Class: Cavalier (Order of the Cockatrice)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Homeland: Taldor
Deity: Abadar

A narcissistic ass who cares more about his personal glorification than anyone around him, Alain may look the part of the perfect knight, but certainly doesn't act it. Always keen to take advantage of the men and women he encounters, Alain is out to make his reputation no matter who gets killed in the process.


  • Ambition Is Evil: Although Alain is not evil per se, his ambition has gotten a lot of his underlings killed, and he doesn't care, seeing it as simply an inevitable part of his tale.
  • Blood Knight: Alain originally went off to be a Cavalier because he had a romanticized view of combat, based on bardic tales and ritualized jousts in Taldan. When he learned just how bloody real combat was, he ended up being enthralled with it, and now eagerly continues fighting for a combination of glory and the thrill it gives him.
  • The Casanova: Alain has always been adept at seducing women, and has little qualms against doing so. He heartily partakes in womanly pleasures whenever he offers, and has left a number of bastard children in his wake.
  • Demoted to Extra: Moreso than Alahazra up above as the Cavalier class in 2e is now an archetype to be applied to another class, rather than being a class of its own. He's still there as the artwork for the Cavalier archetype in the 2e Advanced Player's Guide, but being the Iconic for an archetype doesn't have quite the same ring as being the archetype for a full-on character class.
  • Fantastic Racism: Is implied to be racist toward elves, if the comment he makes in his backstory about elves learning "a man's language" if they wish to speak to him is any indication.
  • Glory Hound: He's out for profit, glory and all the pleasures those can bring.
  • Hate Sink: The fans really, really don't like this guy. The Iconic Magus, who is the official Token Evil Teammate, is better regarded than this guy! Merisiel rates him as the least attractive male iconic based solely on his personality (he's actually a fairly handsome man). In contrast, despite Lirt being actively evil, she considers him the most attractive. Turns out Alain's personality is just that insufferable.
  • It's All About Me: He refused to become an actual knight because that would mean he'd first have to spend time as a squire, and the idea of taking orders from someone else was intolerable, so much so that he ran away to become a sellsword instead. That sums up a lot about Alain's personality.
  • Jerkass: Alain is basically a Spoiled Brat who never grew out of it and became a highly ambitious Blood Knight. He's one of the most unlikeable, unsympathetic Iconics in the lineup.
  • Knight Errant: Technically. Alain fits the motif, and in his own way tries to live up to it, but he's never been a squire, is certainly not formally knighted, and, oh yes, he's a total jerkass.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Subverted. Alain has the look, but cares only for himself.
  • Politically Incorrect Hero:
    • Implied that he thinks of women as lesser beings compared to men. One of the reasons he has so much hate from the fans is because he is written referring to Alahazra, the Iconic Oracle, as a "crone" in the flavor text for Advanced Player's Guide, chapter two. Alahazra, for the curious, is regarded In-Universe and out as being a very attractive woman, with a tendency to run around in surprisingly skimpy clothes.
    • And there is also his implied racism toward (at the very least) elves.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the player supplement Mythic Origins, where he's the iconic Marshal.

    Balazar 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/balazar.png
"No obstacle is insurmountable, for we need never overcome it alone."

Race: Gnome
Class: Summoner
Alignment: True Neutral
Homeland: Nex

The iconic summoner, Balazar was initially a prankster who displayed little talent for magic, before an incident that saw him bonded to his eidolon.


  • Big Damn Heroes: In his origin story, Balazar was one of several gnomes brought before the Void Chasm — a portal in the shape of a pit full of swirling mist — by a group of mages who hoped to use them to unlock the Void's secrets. When this didn't work, the mages just pitched them into the chasm... until Balazar, who had been transfixed in mental conversation with the formless spirits in the pit, bonded with Padrig. Just as the mages were about to heave Balazar into the Void Chasm, Padrig rose fully formed, slaughtered the wizards and saved Balazar's life.
  • Bond Creatures: His eidolon Padrig, which resembles a cockatrice (head and taloned legs of a rooster, snake body).
  • Feathered Fiend: Well, he's not evil, but Padrig is unfailingly loyal to Balazar and will MESS YOU UP if he's in danger.
  • Fiery Redhead: He had hair as fiery as his temper until the chain of events that led to him becoming a summoner, at which point it turned white.
  • Locked into Strangeness: He used to have brightly colored hair like all gnomes normally do, which in case was bright red. It turned bone white when he was forced to gaze into the Void Chasm, a pit full of spirits and swirling mist that drove everyone else who looked into it mad, which was also the incident that saw him bonded to Padrig. Notably, this makes him look like he's undergoing Bleaching, something he's rather touchy about.
  • Minions Customized at Creation: The origin story of Balazar, and from him, the rest of the "summoner" class and how they form their eidolons. He was about to be thrown into a Void Chasm, Bleached, and presumably killed For Science! when a voice called to him. It said that if Balazar gave it a form, it would help him. So Balazar imagined what he thought the voice would come from: A strong and serpentine body, powerful talons, and a chicken's head because he was getting hungry. Cue exactly that leaping out of the chasm and unleashing hell. The eidolon, which called itself Padrig, pledged its Undying Loyalty to Balazar, and they've been together ever since.
  • Rule of Funny: Why Padrig has a rooster's head: Balazar hadn't eaten all day and was hungry at the time Padrig asked Balazar to give him form.
  • Unusual Eyebrows: Which look like feathers, and stick noticeably far beyond the sides of his head.
  • Wizard Beard, although it's his mustache that's really impressive.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: How Padrig was created. Balazar was about to be pushed into a Void Chasm and become Bleached, when a voice spoke to him, asking him to give it form so it could save him. Balazar agreed. Cue Padrig, now with a body, leaping out of the Void and unleashing hell.

    Damiel Morgethai 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/damiel_4_0.jpg
"Knowledge is the most addictive drug."

Race: Elf
Class: Alchemist
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Homeland: River Kingdoms
Deity: Norgorber

Damiel is a living testament to why both drug abuse and self-experimentation are bad ideas. Once a respected alchemist, he is now a haunted, skeletal elf, with scarred veins and lifeless eyes, forced to battle against a psychotic alternate personality that aims to kill everyone around him.


  • Butt-Monkey: Artwork has shown him locked in stockades and being pelted with rotten vegetables, some of the only "negative" images of the iconics.
  • Demoted to Extra: As of the 2nd edition core rulebook, Damiel is no longer the Iconic Alchemist, being replaced with the goblin Fumbus. His one appearance in a 2e book so far (a two-page spread in the Lost Omens World Guide) is apparently the result of the artist not getting the memo about Fumbus.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: Less evil and more "off his gourd".
  • Jekyll & Hyde: Under the influence of the chemical mutagen he is addicted to, he turns into a monster.
  • Mad Scientist: Mad alchemist, to be sure, but close enough.
  • Split Personality: He's got ranks in the master chymist prestige class, which causes this.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: The Beast of the Change. The write-up for him as a master chymist literally pegs it as evil.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: In the Hollow Mountain comic, Kyra saves him from the brink of death with her healing magic after the final battle. He repays her by holding her hostage at knifepoint.

    Feiya 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/feiya_2e.jpg
"I will have freedom, both in this life and in the next."

Race: Human (Tian-Min)
Class: Witch
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Homeland: Irrisen
Deity: Desna
Patron: Animals

Kidnapped as a child and raised by hags, Feiya was rescued by her fox familiar. Possessed of few social graces, she is nonetheless a basically good person who hopes to regain the life that the hags stole from her.


  • Dark Is Not Evil: She's a witch, and one of the illustrations features her leading an army of undead, but despite all that she remains a fundamentally decent, Chaotic Good person firmly devoted to protecting freedom.
  • Familiar: A fox, which was incidentally the one who helped her escape the captivity of the hags that had kidnapped her.
  • No Social Skills: Hers are less than stellar, due to being raised by baby-eating hags.
  • Raised by Orcs: She was raised by a coven of hags who stole her from her parents.
  • Shout-Out: She seems to share a dressmaker with Final Fantasy X's Lulu.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the player supplement Mythic Origins, where she's the iconic Archmage.
    • Could also apply to 2e's take on Daji where he's now a snow-white, nine-tailed fox with red markings on his face.

    Imrijka 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imrijka.png
"I bring judgment to all who would violate the laws of life and death."

Race: Half-orc
Class: Inquisitor
Alignment: Neutral Good
Homeland: Ustalav
Deity: Pharasma

Abandoned as a child, half-orc Imrijka was taken in by priests of Pharasma, goddess of death, and brought up within their order. Now one of Pharasma's most accomplished inquisitors, Imrijka has earned a reputation as a "monster monster hunter", putting the undead to rest, and working hard to cleanse Ustalav, and the rest of Golarion, of their presence.


  • Action Girl: She is an hunter of undead and a skilled fighter.
  • Badass Longcoat: A long red trenchcoat.
  • Breast Plate: Minor example. She's covered completely, aside from a Cleavage Window. But her hauberk is more form-fitting than it needs to be.
  • Church Militant: Pharasma judges the dead. Imrijka and other inquisitors take the enemies of the faith (especially The Undead) and render them up for judgement. Given her alignment she's about as far from a Knight Templar as you can get though.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: A half-orc working for the Goddess of Death. She's Neutral Good.
  • Doorstop Baby: She was abandoned to, and adopted and raised by, the church of the death goddess Pharasma.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Imrijka appeared as early as the Beginner Box.
  • Famed In-Story: She has a reputation within Ustalav as the church of Pharasma's "monster monster hunter".
  • Friends Withbenefits: When she meets up with Valeros, they usually end up sleeping together, though their relationship isn't serious. It usually ends up making so much noise that it bothers the rest of the party (Especially Merisiel if Kyra isn't around, since it leaves her sexually frustrated).
  • Half-Human Hybrid: A half-orc — regardless of whether she herself is the child of an orc and a human, she certainly has such a pairing somewhere in her ancestry.
  • Hunter of Monsters: As an inquisitor of the goddess of death living in Ustalav, she's a very busy woman.
  • Husky Russkie: In a charity stream, Imrijka is played by Paizo developer Crystal Frasier with an exaggerated Russian accent. Which is more funny, because she's from Ustalav, the Romania-based country in Golarion, and not one of the two Russia-based ones.
  • Interspecies Romance: With Valeros. A little bit of Slap-Slap-Kiss mixed in with Friends with Benefits describes them perfectly.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Had a very bad encounter with an icy man in white who claims to be her father.
  • Magic Knight: Not to the level of Seelah or Seltyiel, but all inquisitors are trained in melee, ranged, and magical combat.
  • Parental Substitute: The head inquisitor at her church serves as an adoptive grandfather for her.
  • Shout-Out: Her clothing style, homeland, and status as a 'monster monster hunter' for an organization that specializes in destroying undead all bring Alucard to mind.

     Korakai 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/korakai_7.jpg
Race: Tengu
Class: Oracle
Homeland: Isle of Erran
The child of immigrants that lived in an isle near Absalom, Korakai's life changed when in his first time in a ship, a terrible storm knoecked him out of the boat. Rather than dying, the experience gave him a connection to the many divine powers of the storm. Now an Oracle of the Storm, Korakai travels the world searching for new experiences, helping the sailboats that he finds along the way.
some caption text

Ultimate Combat Iconics

    Hayato Nakayama 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hayato_1.jpg
"My soul feeds upon honor, and my blade on flesh. We will both gorge this day"

Race: Human (Tian-Min)
Class: Samurai (Ronin)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Homeland: Minkai

A hard man who keeps to himself, Hayato is a ronin — a masterless samurai. Convinced that he should have died with his former master, Hayato has become a mercenary, and struggles to redeem, in his own eyes, his honour and reputation.


  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic; Averted, he's decked out in full armor, including a kabuto-helmet.
  • Honest Advisor: His lord saw that Hayato was not a yes-man even at a young age, earning his favor.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: He's a Samurai. He wouldn't be caught dead without one.
  • The Stoic: Very. Champions of Purity has a picture of Hayato surrounded by Ridiculously Ugly Cute baby goblins, and clearly having no idea what to do with the crying infants. The name of the image in question is Goblin Nursery.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: He ultimately chooses good.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the player supplement Mythic Origins, where he's the iconic Guardian.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: He killed the corrupt government official who goaded his lord into a fatal duel. He would have killed himself afterwards, but his lord's widowed wife told him to flee instead out of affection.
  • Walking Armory: Look at him. He carries a katana, a wakazashi, a naginata and a dai-kyu on his person at seemingly all times.

    Lirianne 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lirianne.jpeg
"I'd be obliged if you stood down, friend. I got no stomach for killing this early."

Race: Half-elf
Class: Gunslinger
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Homeland: Alkenstar
Deity: Brigh

A wanderer in the strange land of Avistan, Lirianne struggles to balance her resurgence of childhood wonder and adult dedication to justice, all while confronting her long-ignored elven blood. While thoughts of family and the familiar industrial life of Alkenstar occasionally tug at her roaming heart, sights remain unseen and people remain unsaved, and Lirianne will be damned if she'll fail in either.


  • Badass Longcoat: Wears a long, ornate, and weighty-looking embroidered leather duster.
  • Boyish Short Hair: Cut to avoid getting it caught in her weapons. Her appearance in Mythic Origins has her hair grown out and fluffed up. Actually one of the complaints with the book was that her Mythic version appeared more like a Steampunk pinup girl rather than the badass gunslinger she first appeared as.
  • Cleavage Window: She wears a corset under the duster, and a scarf over both, creating this visual effect.
  • Demoted to Extra: Similar to Alahazra no longer being the Iconic Oracle, Lirianne been demoted from being the Iconic Gunslinger (her replacement being Nhalmika Ironsight, a female dwarf) to being an example class build (for the Way of the Pistolero) in the 2e Guns & Gears book.
  • Guns Akimbo: Dual-wields flintlock pistols.
  • The Gunslinger: She is, after all, the iconic character for the class of that very name...with the twin pistols to prove it.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Her father is a human, her mother was an elf. She was mostly raised as a human after her mother walked out on the family, and is now seeking to reconnect to her elven heritage.
  • Missing Mom: Whose fickleness (she walked out on the family on the grounds that ten years and three kids was a "fling") was the main reason why Lirianne's father tried so hard to shelter her.
  • Out of Focus: Due to Fantasy Gun Control, she doesn't appear all that often. Although if guns are involved, she's usually the go-to girl.
  • Schizo Tech: She comes from Alkenstar, a city-state in a wasteland where magic doesn't work all that well, which is why she relies on guns. This makes her stand out in the outside world. To say nothing of what she picks up in Iron Gods and the Technology Guide, which is straight up Science Fantasy material.
  • Spy Catsuit: She wears one on the cover of the Technology Guide.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Her father and his friends on the force did everything they could to keep Lirianne out of the Alkenstar shieldmarshals, and even after she proved herself beyond a shadow of the doubt, had her consigned to menial jobs. But she has spirits, and every attempt that her father made to talk her out of joining the Shieldmarshals made her all the more determined to do exactly that.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the player supplement Mythic Origins, where she's the iconic Trickster.

    Reiko 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reiko_7.jpg
"The spider waits for its prey to come to its web."

Race: Human (Tian-Min)
Class: Ninja
Alignment: True Neutral
Homeland: Minkai

Reiko is cool and aloof, quick with a cutting remark or withering glare, and she’s nevertheless managed to get along for nearly ten years in a land where Minkai itself is a legend, and ninja are little more than exotic fairy tales. Though she’s studied with the most capable thieves and assassins in the region, Reiko has yet to find the carefully codified engagements of honor and subtlety that her mother spoke of, and grows tired of Avistan’s seemingly endless collection of brute highwaymen and lowbrow killers.


  • Action Girl: As befits her character class, she's a Stealth Expert with all kinds of weapons on her person.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Described as being "quick with a cutting remark"
  • Ninja: It's her actual character class, after all. She has martial-arts, spy, and assassin skills; and, if her art is any indication, she runs around in a stagehand costume.
  • You Killed My Father: She's plotting revenge on the feudal lord who killed her parents.

Advanced Class Guide Iconics

    Adowyn 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adowyn.jpg
"No quarry escapes my arrows—or Leryn's jaws."

Race: Human (Taldan)
Class: Hunter (Erastil)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Homeland: Nirmathas

There's always a need for a skilled hunter, someone who can track down a threat and put an end to it. And when a quarry is particularly dangerous or elusive, there’s only one hunter the people seek: Adowyn.


    Crowe 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crowe.jpg
"Savor the lightning’s flash, for the thunder that follows will be the last thing you hear."

Race: Human (Shoanti)
Class: Bloodrager (Air Elemental Bloodline)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Homeland: Varisia

A Shoanti with serious rage problems.


  • Expy: Based on artist Wayne Reynold's barbarian from the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path.
  • Scary Black Man: Definitely looks the part.
  • Shock and Awe: Crowe's Bloodline is Elemental (Air), which gives him access to electrogenic abilities through that element's association with lightning, although his history makes it sound more like Stormborn.

    Enora 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enora.jpg
"Look, I don't want to have to hurt you, but you're standing between me and that artifact."

Race: Halfling
Class: Arcanist
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Homeland: Rahadoum
Deity: Nethys

Like many halflings, Enora has always been driven by an unlikely pairing of curiosity and luck. Her parents, both professors at Manaket's premier arcane institution, the Occularium, fostered in their only daughter a hunger for knowledge that was rivaled only by her optimism and determination. Enora is singularly driven in her search for knowledge, but isn't above working with others in order to achieve common goals. She remains cheerful and optimistic about most things, yet holds deep-seated anxiety about the conflict she will inevitably face should she return to Manaket and be outed as a follower of Nethys. She doesn't talk much about where she came from, but knows that one day her travels will take her back to Rahadoum, and she'll be hard pressed to keep her secret.


  • Badass Bookworm: Rather than simply rely on her natural Sorcerous talent, Enora studies as well.
  • What Have I Done: Minor, but hits her twice. She realizes both how much knowledge her Rahadoumi upbringing has made her blind to, and also realized her new path will cut her off from her home.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Yet another Rahadoumi who can't return home. Although Enora found religion rather than it finding her like with Alahazra.

    Hakon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hakon_5.jpg
"The dance of my axes and your blood will provide excellent material for the next verse of my saga."

Race: Human (Ulfen)
Class: Skald
Alignment: Neutral Good
Homeland: Land of the Linnorm Kings

As a youth, Hakon proudly told the stories of great viking heroes, yet always dreamed of creating his own. Since departing the Lands of the Linnorm Kings in search of his brother, Ostog the Unslain, he has earned his own fame. Tales of Hakon’s victories fill his companions with unparalleled battle spirit and combat prowess, further cementing his growing legend. But the skald knows that his journeys must continue until his deeds rival those of the greatest heroes, and the Saga of Hakon is complete, daring those who come after him to even greater feats of bravery and legend.


    Jirelle 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jirelle.jpg
"Winning is easy. It's putting on a show that's the real challenge."

Race: Half-Elf
Class: Swashbuckler
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Homeland: The Shackles

Jirelle may have been born and raised on a ship, and she might call the Shackles her homeland, but she never considered herself a pirate, even if only to distance herself from the darkest part of her childhood: her mother. Jirelle seeks the funds to someday finance a ship and crew of her own. She plans not to become a pirate — for a life of plunder and cruelty holds no appeal for the daring swashbuckler — but to finish the job she started on the eve of her thirteenth birthday when she escaped her mother's crew. Jirelle knows she can't do this on her own, though. So she seeks true and able allies, knowing that only with bravery and trust will the Bloodcrow's days be numbered.


  • Abusive Parents: To rather extreme degrees. Her mother was a vicious pirate captain who had planned to give Jirelle as a blood sacrifice to a shark demon before her daughter killed her.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: A half-elf. Her mother was an elf, and her father was therefore likely a human.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Destroying her pirate mother and her ship only resulted in unleashing a Banshee-helmed ghost ship on the world, a mistake she's determined to fix.
  • Self-Made Orphan: She sunk her mother's ship with crew and captain still aboard when she was thirteen, although, to be fair, her mother planned worse for her. It didn't stick — her mother came back as the captain of ghost ship crewed by the undead, and Jirelle's driving goal in life is to make enough money to afford a ship and crew of her own, hunt down her undead mother and finish the job.
  • She-Fu: Jirelle’s showoff fighting style is described close to this.

    Kess the Bull 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kessilandrie_vlastos_6.jpg
"Fencing is for dandies and duels are just ego dramas. I solve problems with a fist to the jaw."

Race: Human (Taldan)
Class: Brawler
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Homeland: Taldor
Deity: Kurgess

She was raised to be Lady Kessilandrie Anicia Vlastos, but the thousands of cheering fans that fill the arena's seats when she fights shout her preferred name — Kess the Bull.


  • Action Girl: The medals she wears as accessories prove to everyone that she is this.
  • Book Dumb: Officially, she has an Intelligence score of 8. She makes up for it by being Street Smart. The fact that Brawlers are treated as having an equal amount of Fighter levels as well as having Int 13 for the purpose of determining which Combat feats they can access also helps.
  • Brutish Bulls: She's a well-intentioned and morally upright person, but her blunt approach to life, love of rough physical combat, dislike for niceties and assorted fripperies and deliberate rejection of a noblewoman's life for one of a bare-knuckle ring fighter more than fit the traditional associations of the animal she names herself after.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Subverted. Kess respects the rules of the ring and despises cheaters.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Her stage name; bulls are — by definition — male, yet Kess the Bull is a woman.
  • Tomboy Princess: Much to her family's dismay. She was raised to be a noblewoman, but she preferred to spend her time in the nobility's gardens and estates rooting around for bugs, climbing walls and trees and scuffling with other children. She eventually ditched the noble life entirely to live as a professional wrestler and arena fighter.

    Oloch 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oloch.jpg
"Every fight is a fight to the death."

Race: Half-Orc
Class: Warpriest
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Homeland: The Hold of Belkzen
Deity: Gorum

Oloch has no memory of a time before pain — pain suffered, and pain inflicted. A quiet, brooding warrior with a disturbing love of violence he is not actively evil, and scornful of those who pick on obviously weaker opponents, but nevertheless takes it as a given that might makes right.


  • Ax-Crazy: Even by orc standards, since his violent urges were the only thing that allowed him to survive in their malevolent culture. It eventually got him driven away from his human mother's hometown, by his mother, when he proved so addicted to violence that even she couldn't stomach him.
  • Badass Family: He's a member of one; his mother is a barbarian chieftain badass enough to roam the Hold of Belkzen on her own, and she has several other children. And while his father is left unstated, two of the more likely options are Krun Thuul and Grask Uldeath, both of whom are notable chieftans in the Hold of Belkzen, with the latter being the de facto ruler of the Hold, and the former being the leader of the Black Sun tribe, which is descended from the eponymous Belkzen.
  • BFS: Specializes in wielding an oversized sword.
  • Black Sheep: Due to his nigh-uncontrollable bloodlust and quick temper; his mother loves him, but won't allow him in her city.
  • Blood Knight: Like most other followers of the Lord in Iron, he lives for battle, slaughter and combat, and has very little interest in anything else.
    Oloch: We fought our way here for a champion's prize. All I see is blood and fresh iron. Not what I was expecting, but this pleases me!
  • The Brute: He's the ill-tempered, Blood Knight muscle of Seltyiel's adventuring group.
  • Child by Rape: Averted, despite this being the official standard origin for half-orcs in Pathfinder; his mother bore him after a consensual liaison with an orc male, but the orc then stole him from his mother's camp and brought him back to the tribe to be raised as a slave.
  • The Exile: Was exiled from Trunau after one too many incidents of viciously maiming someone who annoyed him.
  • Gladiator Games: Fought in them for his tribe.
  • Gladiator Revolt: A one-man version; when he decided to leave his tribe, he severed limbs as well as ties.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: He tends to react with violence with little provocation.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: He's a half-orc, the child of an orc warlord and a human adventurer fearsome enough to roam the Hold of Belkzen on her own.
  • Happiness in Slavery: Downplayed; he wasn't happy as a slave, but it did provide him with ample opportunity to fight, and that's one of the few things that makes him happy. He hasn't yet learned to adjust to life outside of the arena.
  • Hates Being Touched: Again, downplayed; when his mother embraced him warmly and with affection, it made him very uncomfortable as he had never experienced such a thing before.
  • Klingon Promotion: In one of the comics arcs, he becomes "blood king" of a tribe of wrathspawn by tearing their previous king in half.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: In the comics, Oloch considered Valeros a coward. Let that sink in.
  • Might Makes Right: He believes in this utterly.
  • Religious Bruiser: So devoted to Gorum and his ideals that he can cast spells as well as he can fight.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: More like armor without those pieces, but the effect is the same: showing off how utterly ripped Oloch is.
  • Token Good Teammate: While not entirely morally upright, he's by far the most honorable and sympathetic of Seltyiel's adventuring group — he's nowhere near as malicious and double-faced as Seltyiel and Meligaster are, and less amoral and mercenary than Damiel. He may have some rather odd moral principles, but he's nonetheless the only member of the group to have any to begin with.

    Quinn 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quinn_5.jpeg
"A man needs only three things to change the world: a quick wit, a righteous heart, and a stylish coat."

Race: Human (Garundi)
Class: Investigator
Alignment: Lawful Good
Homeland: Taldor

Quinn is a genial, gentlemanly sort, quick with a joke and able to fit easily into both high society and low. His well-honed analytical mind is capable of astounding feats of logic and deduction, and he's fond of sharpening it still further with alchemical extracts learned from his parents and his own personal studies. Roaming the nations of the Inner Sea, he constantly keeps an ear out for allegations of unjust accusations or abuses of power. When he finds one, he investigates the case himself, using a lifetime of association with law enforcement agents and detective agencies like the Sleepless to help him ferret out the truth.


  • Badass Longcoat: As noted in his quote, he's quite proud of it.
  • Clear Their Name: Pretty much his purpose in life now.
  • Cultured Badass: Suave, well-educated, and quite capable in a fight.
  • Expy: Was inspired by Lester Freamon, according to James Jacobs.
  • Sword Cane: Which he uses to make a point that "things are not always as they appear to be" to his Grey Maiden partner.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Quinn is a good man, but in Runescars he ends up working for Queen Ileosa, one of the worst people in the entire setting.

    Shardra Geltl 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shardra_geltl.png
"The spirits of the stones and my ancestors whisper secrets to me, and their power flows through me."

Race: Dwarf
Class: Shaman
Alignment: True Neutral
Homeland: Five King Mountains

  • Bling of War: She's decked out in ceremonial jewelry in addition to her armor.
  • Carry a Big Stick: Her weapon is a spiked heavy mace.
  • Demoted to Extra: Makes a cameo in the Second Edition Lost Omens World Guide, identified only as "Rivethun Dwarf".
  • Familiar: Her spirit animal is a crag tuatara named Kolo.
  • No MacGuffin, No Winner: To settle a brewing battle between her government and the local spirits, she wrecked the shrine they were fighting over.
  • Supernaturally-Validated Trans Person: Shardra was assigned male at birth but has shamanic powers that usually run along the female line of her family.
  • The Unfettered: For the most part, Shardra prefers not to have anything tie her down.

    Zadim 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zadim.jpg
"I am judgment made flesh. I am justice visited upon those who are beyond redemption."

Race: Human (Keleshite)
Class: Slayer
Alignment: True Neutral
Homeland: Qadria
Deity: Sarenrae

Zadim, the so-called "Shadow of Sarenrae," travels the lands of the Inner Sea as an associate of Sarenrae's church, providing deadly solutions to problems the religion cannot resolve through diplomacy and forgiveness. The world of Golarion teems with misguided folk who can be turned from darkness, but it also contains multitudes who are beyond redemption, who revel in evil, wickedness, and selfishness. Zadim is one answer to their depravities.


  • Ambiguous Ending: Of the "The Lady Or The Tiger" situation in his background. His background has him making a decision on whether or not to complete his assignment to kill a noble who had persecuted followers of Sarenrae, only to find he had become a Paladin of Abadar since them. You never find out what choice he made.
  • Dual Wielding: Uses two kukris.
  • Hitman with a Heart: Implied in his backstory, and by the mere fact that he's effectively an assassin working for the goddess of mercy.
  • Kukris Are Kool: Seeing as how the Slayer class can't effectively dual-wield scimitars, his goddess' favored weapon, these are the next best thing.
  • Religious Bruiser: Despite not being a divine spellcaster, he is a member of the Cult of the Dawnflower and is dedicated to eliminating enemies of the faith who cannot be redeemed.
  • The Hashshashin: A Fantasy Counterpart Culture variant.

Occult Adventures Iconics

    Erasmus 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erasmus.jpg
"I may look fragile, but the spirits who follow me are not. Consider yourself warned."

Race: Human (Varisian)
Class: Medium
Alignment: True Neutral
Homeland: Ustalav

The youngest son of a minor noble house in Ustalav, Erasmus lived a content life with no burdens of becoming an heir. However, as he grew, his family members began dying mysteriously, and Erasmus began to hear their voices in his mind. Their message was clear – their deaths were murders at the treacherous hand of Erasmus’ older brother Vinn. Vinn, to hide his deeds and remove Erasmus, had him commited to Havenguard Lunatic Asylum. Yet Erasmus learned to channel the restless spirits of his murdered family and use their skills to escape the asylum. He now travels widely, to understand the world, to better commune with the spirits who follow him, and to escape their grim fate.


  • Cain and Abel: The Abel to his brother Vinn's Cain.
  • I See Dead People: More specifically, his murdered family members.
  • Powers via Possession: While he has psychic talent of his own, Erasmus’ real muscle comes when he channels his spirits.
  • Willing Channeler: Erasmus willingly opens himself to his spirits influence to gain their powers and guidance.

    Estra 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/estra.jpg
"Respect your elders, child. I’m a forgiving sort, but my husband not so much..."

Race: Human (Chelaxian)
Class: Spiritualist
Alignment: Neutral Good
Homeland: Isger

Raised in a family of charlatans, Estra had been fooling people she could commune with spirits long before she truly could. But she changed her ways when a noble knight named Honaire came to her, seeking to speak with his deceased mother. Each smitten with the other, Estra couldn’t live with her deceit and confessed her lies. Yet Honaire still accepted her, and the two spent several happy decades together. When he died, she began bilking mourners again, but it wasn’t long before his spirit returned to her. A reminder of his enduring kindness, Estra vowed to use her gifts to help others and provide real comfort to mourners. She aids the helpless wherever they’re afflicted, though her impatience and sharp tongue sometimes get the better of her.


  • I See Dead People: In a twist — Estra conned people as a false spiritualist, gave it up, then actually started contacting the dead.
  • Living Memory: It is hinted that Estra's phantom may not precisely be Honaire, but a manifestation of her guilt.
  • Reformed Criminal: Once made a living performing fake seances, her husband set her straight.

    Mavaro 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mavaro.jpg
"All objects tell stories, friend. You just need to listen when they speak.

Race: Human (Varisian)
Class: Occultist
Alignment: True Neutral
Homeland: Mindspin Mountains
Deity: Pharasma

Mavaro is a man of many indulgences, making up for a modest childhood and young adulthood spent deep in a Pharasmin convent. When he was 22, Mavaro pilfered and sold the convent’s specially cast silver talismans to pay for a strange but intriguing sword. Little did he know, however, that the talismans had been keeping an ancient evil entity at bay. Newly loosed, the entity called the Thorn Priest murdered the nuns and possessed the prioress. Mavaro himself only survived by listening to the ghostly whispers that emanated from the skull of Mother Wren, the convent’s founding abbess, who helped him harness the power of the convent’s remaining relics and expel the Thorn Priest. Since then, Mavaro has quietly sought the relics he traded away long ago, hoping to undo the folly of his youth and to finally face the Thorn Priest, which stalks him still.


  • The Atoner: After releasing the Thorn Priest and causing the death of the Pharasmin nuns, Mavaro prepares to one day slay the beast and redeem himself.
  • Bad Ass Book Worm: He's a scholar turned adventurer.
  • Cool Sword: The sword he bought with the stolen talismans.
  • Eldritch Abomination: His nemesis, The Thorn Priest, seems to be one.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Stealing those talismans was a really bad idea Mavaro.

    Meligaster 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meligaster_6.jpg
"Look deep into my eyes. Everything will be so much easier when I am in complete control."

Race: Halfling
Class: Mesmerist
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Homeland: Cheliax

A former slave in a minor Chelish noble house, Meligaster used his mental powers to dominate the masters who had treated him so cruelly. He didn't stop there, though — he tyrannized the household's other halfling slaves. It was only when Meligaster's brother, a cheerful bard named Lem, found him that the slaves broke their psychic bonds and prompted a Hellknight investigation of the house. Meligaster fled and began an adventuring career in which he always seeks the easy route to wealth and the finer rewards of success.


  • The Evil Genius: Of Seltyiel's adventuring group.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Lem; even Meligaster realizes it when he first meets Lem.
  • Exact Words: Meligaster's first meeting with Lem ended with him hypnotizing him to leave his estate. Which Lem does... but not before freeing all his slaves and taking their mother with them.
  • Kick the Dog: Mind controlling the PTSD-suffering Sole Survivor of the Pathfinder Society expedition to Hollow Mountain, and forcing him to return (which leads to the poor man's death).
  • Man of Wealth and Taste: Or halfling, as the case may be. Meligaster is a throughly evil bastard who enjoys the finer things in life.
  • Mind Control: Being a mesmerist, this is his bread and butter.
  • Punny Name: Meligaster's name makes for the anagram "Lem is great".
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: With Lem — a free-spirited Chaotic Good bard and a cruel Neutral Evil psychic slaver.
  • Smug Snake: He is a smart and competent villain... but not as much as he likes to think. He is also confident that he is manipulating Seltyiel, when it's actually the other way around.
  • Tempting Fate: He boasts to Ezren that no one can resist his mind control powers. Soon after, he tries to mind control one of Alaznist's Slave Mooks... and utterly fails.
  • Villain Respect: In Hollow Mountain, he is honestly impressed when he learns that Seoni's party defeated a black dragon.

    Rivani 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rivani.jpg
"We are all one. The pain you bring others, you bring yourself."

Race: Human (Vudrani)
Class: Psychic
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Homeland: Vudra

The path of the initiate is long and fraught with danger. For Rivani, the journey began as a young girl in Vudra, when she took the Trial of the White Lotus, a test to determine a child’s psychic aptitudes. Rivani passed the trial, but her unexpected foray into the consciousness of the court’s members revealed dangerous secrets. Proclaimed a great scholar reborn, Rivani was shuffled off to the distant lands of the Inner Sea to teach and learn what she could. A life filled with travel has only fed Rivani’s wanderlust, and while she’s kind and generous to all, she avoids forming long-lasting connections, knowing that her path is one of constant exploration.


    Yoon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoon.jpg
Click here to see Yoon in Pathfinder Second Edition.
"Gom-Gom likes it when the fire burns. Don’tcha, Gom?"

Race: Human (Tian-Hwan)
Class: Kineticist
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Homeland: Minkai

Yoon’s short life has been filled with tragedy and adventure. Hailing from Minkai’s Oda province in distant Tian Xia, Yoon lost her adventurer mother at the age of five to a battle with an aquatic threat. When Yoon was eight years old, her father started a revolt using his pyrokinetic powers at a fireworks festival. Yoon’s grandmother unleashed her own powers to allow Yoon to escape from the imperial soldiers. With no place left for her in Minkai, Yoon is eager to see the world and user her newfound abilities to help those in need, and to one day reach Hwanggot, her mother’s homeland.


Ultimate Intrigue Iconics

    Aric / The Red Raven 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aric_of_halvon_5.png
Aric of Halvon
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pzo1134_redraven_360.jpeg
The Red Raven
"Who’s the Red Raven? No one—and perhaps any of the people you’ve passed on the street tonight."

Race: Human (Taldan)
Class: Vigilante
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (In Flight of the Red Raven), Chaotic Good (In Requiem for the Red Raven), Neutral Good (as Aric)
Homeland: Galt

An orphan of Galt’s vicious revolution, Aric fled the orphanage he was raised in as soon as he was old enough to. He found kinship in the bandits who caught him, as they had lost everything they had in the revolution, just like Aric. The bandits' leader, Tharanus, taught Aric how to fight, but also how to show mercy. When Tharanus was killed, Aric became a vigilante the populace later nicknamed the Red Raven, and made it his mission to free Galt of the cruel Council of Skulls.

He succeeded, and a new council lead by Citizen Goss was formed with the Red Raven’s assistance. Soon, Aric found himself torn between speaking out for liberty and enforcing Goss’ rule. When the Red Raven was enlisted to kill Aric, he surrendered himself to the Gray Gardeners and whatever judgment they had. A man named Quinn freed him from prison, convinced the Red Raven had wronged Aric by turning him in and vowing to catch the vigilante who had captured so many innocents. Gifted with a second chance, Aric set to wandering the Inner Sea as an ambassador of liberty by day and a punisher of the tyranny by night.


  • Animal-Themed Superbeing: Type 2, as his name doesn't inform his abilities in any way. Like others who just picked the animal as a motif and not a guiding principle for abilities, he seems to be just a Badass Normal.
  • Art Shift: His physique is noticeably more muscular in the art for Ultimate Intrigue than in Flight of the Red Raven and Requiem for the Red Raven. There's a simple reason for the shift — the iconic vigilante wasn't originally going to be the Red Raven, but an entirely original character instead. Upon seeing character visual designer Wayne Reynolds' concept sketches, Paizo head honcho Erik Mona suggested the vigilante could be the Red Raven. The design was altered to fit the theme, but it's still rather different from the previous one.
  • Badass Normal: If you can dissect the urban myths surrounding him, the Red Raven appears free of supernatural powers.
  • Demoted to Extra: Like Alain, his class in 2e became an archetype you can apply to any other class though is still the one appearing in the archetype's artwork.
  • Expy: Sure does remind one a lot of Batman, all the way to his appearance.
  • Heel Realization: The Red Raven realizes that he has been a tool of Citizen Goss and has gone from defending the public from the cruel regime to enforcing it.
    "How can I delude myself? The Red Raven was supposed to end tyranny, yet here I am the worst tyrant of them all."
  • Non-Powered Costumed Hero: He kicks ass in the same world as divine servants and reality warping wizards.
  • Orphanage of Fear: After the murder of his parents, Aric was raised in one of these. The experience only hammered in his hate of Galt’s vicious cycle of revolution.

Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path Iconics

    In General 
  • Number of the Beast: Instead of the normal four iconics, Hell's Vengeance has six.
  • Villain Protagonist: Hell's Vengeance is the first Adventure Path for evil characters. All of the iconics are Evil by default.

    Emil Kovkorin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emil_kovkorin.jpg

Race: Tiefling
Class: Rogue/Assassin
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Homeland: Andoran

As the adopted son of an Andoran minister, Emil was introduced to the nuanced politics at a young age and learned to scheme through it. He found that subterfuge and violence were his favorite tools, and his efforts to advance his father’s political agenda came to a peak when he snuck into the Drumish embassy to murder a blackmailing diplomat. As Emil dropped the lifeless body to the ground, the rush of excitement gave him new purpose: he would be the face of death in Almas. Since that night, Emil has claimed dozens of unsuspecting lives—sometimes for gold, sometimes for fun—each time lingering to watch death take hold of his new victim before vanishing back into the night, leaving nothing more than a few wisps of smoke.


    Lazzero Dalvera 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lazzero_dalvera.jpg

Race: Human
Class: Cleric
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Homeland: Molthune
Deity: Asmodeus

The iconic evil cleric, Lazzero Dalvera, the eldest child of an officer in the Molthuni army and a priest of Abadar, was born under an auspicious moon with a full head of bright red hair. Everyone assumed he would earn respect and fame as an army officer like his mother. His training began as soon as he could walk, and he attended the best military academies to which his parents' money and connections could win him entrance.


  • Church Militant: Cleric of Asmodeus, it comes with the territory.
  • Evil Redhead: Born with a head of bright red hair, and may we remind you, is a cleric of Asmodeus.
  • Evil Is Petty: He was competitive with another cleric of Abadar, Laureth, and decided to ruin her life because she was more favoured than him.
  • Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Ye gods, Lazzero looks like he uses a whole bottle of eye-shadow.
  • Freudian Excuse: Bullied in school, washed out of the military because he was physically weak.
  • Rules Lawyer: Oh yes, he's a smart bastard who manages to use the law to his advantage.
  • Start of Darkness: His bullying in school. Yes, really.
  • Who's Laughing Now?: Bullied in school, eventually became a Cleric of Asmodeus.

    Linxia Benzekri 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/linxia_2nd_edition.png

Race: Human (Garundi)
Class: Fighter/Hellknight
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Homeland: Cheliax

The iconic Hellknight, Linxia Benzekri was born and raised in Khari, the Chelish enclave on the northwest corner of Garund. Although ethnically Garundi, Linxia always thought of herself as Chelaxian. After all, Khari had been part of Cheliax since long before she was ever born, and though Linxia's parents kept their Garundi surname, they gave her a traditional Chelish first name. Her family long ago abandoned the clan ties that define many Garundi, and while Linxia's grandparents still occasionally spoke Osiriani in private, it was never spoken in her own home, and Linxia never bothered to learn her native tongue. To Linxia, the mighty ruins of the Arch of Aroden that tower above Khari were more a symbol of her heritage than the city's Rahadoumi sandstone architecture.


  • Ambiguously Evil: As noted by commenters on her reveal, nothing in her backstory pegs her as "evil", yet, according to Word of God, all Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path iconics have Evil in their alignment. However, she is a member of the Order of the Rack, which is one of the "Evil" Hellknight orders that is normally used as enemies and believes in enforcing order through fear, torture and force, was responsible for the deaths by torture of her parents and killed her own brother.
  • Bald Head of Toughness: She's the bald Iconic Hellknight, a group of militant orders that ruthlessly enforce the law and slay demons. Her backstory describes her desensitizing herself to pain by drinking boiling water until her throat scarred, and beheading her own brother without a second thought after he was convicted of rebellion.
  • Bald of Evil: The Hellknights are depicted as a villainous organization, ruthless in pursuit of their gols as Utopia Justifies the Means. Linxia is the bald Iconic for the Hellknights.
  • Breast Plate: Like Seelah, she's a minor example. She's covered completely, but the armour on her chest is more form-fitting than it needs to be.
  • Evil Counterpart: Fans have already noted Linxia is, essentially, an Anti-Seelah.
  • If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: One of the tests of character the Order of the Rack gave her during her time as an armiger was when her own brother was convicted of rebellion and handed over to the order for punishment. Assigned to execute him, she beheaded him without a second thought.
  • Scary Black Man: Gender Flip version. Definitely looks the part, and she's a Hellknight to boot.
  • Tattoo as Character Type: She has a tattoo of the Order of the Rack's symbol—a spiked torture wheel—on her forehead, so every time she looked in the mirror she would be reminded of her goal, her purpose, and the terrible consequences of failure.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: She enforces conformity and justice to preserve a peaceful and ordered society—no matter the cost.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: See above.

    Nyctessa 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nyctessa.jpg

Race: Dhampir
Class: Wizard (necromancer)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Homeland: Geb

In the nation of Geb, the dead far outnumber the living—and they hold the reins of political power. Most of Geb's living citizens are slaves, chattel, or most gruesomely, food for their undead overlords. Nyctessa was born into this world, yet she straddled both sides of class and society, being a dhampir—the child of a vampire and a living human mother. The heart of a living being beats in her chest, but her flesh is infused with the negative energy that animates the living dead, and she inherited her vampiric father's taste for blood. In the laws of Geb at least, Nyctessa was neither wholly alive nor truly dead.


    Urgraz 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/urgraz.jpg

Race: Duergar
Class: Antipaladin
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Homeland: Beneath Avistan
Deity: Mazmezz

Urgraz is a duergar antipaladin of Mazmezz who resisted his clan's devotion to Droskar in favor of chaos. After betraying and torturing his family and allies, selling diseased slaves, and wreaking anarchy among the order of his native Darklands, he ventured to the surface to continue his work.


  • Bald of Evil: As with all Duergar, he cannot grow any hair on his head.
  • Beard of Evil: A very long, very straight one. Fitting for an evil dwarf.
  • Black Knight: Comes with being an Antipaladin and all that.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: His defining character trait; he's already double-crossed and murdered everyone who ever knew him before the adventure even begins.
  • Consummate Liar: He's described as a natural liar.
  • Dumb Muscle: Not dumb at all, in fact he exploits this to his advantage. How he acts in his story is closer to a Genius Bruiser.
  • For the Evulz: His root motivation is simple boredom, and he delights in breaking rules just to break them.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: He acts as Dumb Muscle to lull people into a false sense of security, just how he wants them.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Subverted quite a few times over. Duergar are already different by being evil, but Urgraz is a traitor even to his own race, being a Chaotic Evil member of a normally Lawful Evil culture.
  • Rebellious Rebel: Very dark example; he gets a rush from breaking rules, which likely fed into his eventual class choice.
  • Sinister Schnoz: Urgraz has a very large, hooked nose, and his evil cannot be disputed.
  • Spikes of Villainy: His armor has a lot, and his shield is covered in spikes.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Exaggerated. In a Villain Protagonist crew, he's beyond a doubt the worst of the bunch.
  • Typhoid Mary: Not Urgraz himself (although his class lets him be a malicious version of this if he does catch a disease), but he often sold diseased slaves with the express purpose of them being this trope.
  • Where I Was Born and Razed: Uninterested in the lifetime of toil his clan's worship of Droskar promised, Urgraz destroyed his clan from the inside using poisons, plagues and betrayal.

    Zelhara 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pzo90106_zelhara_360.jpeg

Race: Human (Nidalese)
Class: Inquisitor
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Homeland: Nidal
Deity: Zon-Kuthon

  • Academy of Evil: Both the nursery Zelhara was brought up in, and the Umbral Court she later trained in.
  • Chain Pain: Uses Zon-Kuthon's sacred weapon, the spiked chain, as her primary weapon.
  • Child Soldiers: Zelhara was recruited by the Umbral Court to train as a torturer while still a child.
  • Church Militant: Very much a member of one.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: As part of her final exam to become an inquisitor, she killed her closest friend with no remorse or hesitation, disappointed in him for being so useless a tool for the cause.
  • Mind Rape: Zelhara's preferred torture method — she believes physical pain is too holy and blissful for non-believers.
  • Parental Neglect: Par for the course for Nidal, Zelhara was brought up in a massive nursery run by the church of Zon-Kuthon until she was old enough to be able to help at home... except she ended up being chosen for training by the Umbral Court just weeks before she was due to return, and her parents gleefully let her be taken away. She did have the privilege of visiting them during training, though, so she probably saw more of her parents at this point than she had while she was at the nursery.
  • The Sociopath: Has more or less considered herself the superior tool of the church since her teenage years. Killed her one friend as part of a test and felt no remorse — and actually mocked him after death for succumbing so easily.
  • Torture Always Works: Or at least Zelhara believes so.

Ultimate Wilderness Iconics

    Zova 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pzo1140_zova_360.jpeg
Race: Human (Shoanti)
Class: Shifter
Alignment:
Homeland: The Cinderlands

  • Cain and Abel: The Abel to Loper, the ghostwolf of Ashwood who claims to be her brother.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Averted, unlike most Iconics. She had loving parents who supported her and understood her desire to strike out on her own and see the world.
  • Nice Guy: She's protective by nature and compassionate to the adventurers she falls in with, most of whom have some degree of trauma in their lives.
  • No Social Skills: Downplayed, but she's more at ease alone in the wild than in a crowd.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: She can take on traits from various animals.
  • Walking the Earth: Her goal in the world is just to see it.

Guns and Gears Iconics

    Droven 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/594px_droven.png
some caption text

  • Handicapped Badass: Lost his arm in an accident, and had it replaced with a metal prosthetic.
  • Odd Friendship: He and Fumbus meet eachother when he saved the Goblin from a certain death alone in the world. And while Fumbus is highly excitable and reckless and Droven is calm and pragmatic, they both share experiences with prejudice and Fantastic Racism and a love for scientific experiments.
  • The Stoic: His reaction to being stranded in a unknown shore with the rest of his crew dead and his arm injured was to calmly analyze how best he could survive.

    Nhalmika Ironsight 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/375px_nhalmika.jpeg
some caption text

  • Action Mom: Already a widow with children by the time she starts adventuring.
  • Hand Cannon: Her main gun (seen in the picture) is massive compared to her body.

Dark Archive Iconics

    Mios Uriev 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/375px_mios.png
some caption text
    Thaleon 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/375px_thaleon.png
Race: Elf
Class:Psychic
Homeland:Rahadoum
An young desert elf from Rahadoum with the ability to bring his art to life. His culture believed in the concept of a "Brightness", a moment of clarity that came when one found their true calling. After years of wandering, he finally found it when he used his art to protect a friend from death. Now he wanders the world searching for that clarity again.
  • Art Attacker: His Psychic abilities manifests as colors of painting that mold themselves to his whims.
  • Walking the Earth: Has been walking the world by himself for a century, exploring the wonders of the world in search of his Brightness

Secrets of Magic Iconics

    Ija 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/375px_ija.jpg
some caption text
A young girl from a small village, Ija always had an incredible imagination, creating worlds and stories that enchanted everyone. In particular, many of her thoughts dwelled on the image of a pink dragon, whom she called Tuku. One day while admiring the plats of the florest nearby, Tuku manifested in the physical world to all to see.
  • Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Since she was a young girl, Ija had a imaginary friend in the shape of a pink dragon named Tuku. Turns out Tuku wasn't just a imaginary friend but a draconic Eidolon.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Tuku is an Eidolon, an spiritual entity that binds itself to a Summoner.

Top