In anticipation for the upcoming Adventures+, here’s a preview and some stories and characters that can be told with the new Vessel class!
Something thrums from within your body, an inner ferocity you cannot hope to contain. A Vessel is a being of contradictions: a mortal that seeks a path to steady themself; and a monster within with an unquellable fury. A vessel’s origins are varied, they might be the host of a literal entity or the monster within might be a part of themselves brought out by a curse or a set of magic gone wrong. Some vessels offer themselves up willing to become one, while many others are struck by unfortunate circumstances. A magical connection binds you, and as you grow frustrated, no amount of quelling it can prevent the monster from temporarily taking control, and thus a struggle for it defines their life.
A connection to a monster within is what defines a vessel, but the nature of it is split into two common categories:
- You serve as a host to a literal entity, be it a demon, aberration, or some other monster. You may have been involved in a ritual that called it into your body whether willing or not. Your body may have been offered in a bargain, perhaps on your dying breath the creature came to you, offering to save you in trade for allowing you to serve as their vessel. Regardless, these vessels host two souls within their body, one their own and one another, and the mortal can only hold the monster down for so long.
- The others, for one reason or another your connection is to some part of you that lingers on the fringes of your being. This may be through curse or other magics: Werecreatures are the most famous example, but many in the Mana Waste find this connection in the midst of a mana storm, and another might find these forms brought out through contact with a cursed relic. For others this may be through a strange reaction to alchemical admixture, or through strange technology from ruins in Numeria. These vessels are at war with themselves, perhaps some part of themselves they may hope to repress.
Examples of Vessels
A Vessel begins at the moment their magical connection is formed, and their path to containing it begins. These are the mortal form, who takes up methods to keep the monster at bay, and the monster within which unleashes when it can be contained no longer. The following examples showcase different of both in this format (Mortal/Monster).
(Consul/Aberration)
In a lonely hamlet under a quiet night, a young girl climbs above the canopy of the forest, searching for a view of the night sky. She had always been a dreamer, seeking the wonders of the world and where her place within it was. Fate is often unkind, and as she gazed upon the stars she noticed an unnatural spot of darkness where light seemed to die. A sense of dread overtook her, but she found herself unable to look away. Something from beyond the stars dwelt there, and it bound itself to her to reach down upon Golarion. She awoke the next day with a strange feeling, she thought the night a dream, but she felt a thrum from within that was not her heart. She took to self expression and magic to soothe her soul, giving her a sense of approachability and calm that allows her to appear normal on the surface. When her dread and fear are roused however, the thrumming goes incessant, clawing at her mind until she can’t help but release it. Her body morphs into something unfathomable, an inky unnatural darkness that she’d seen on that terrible night.
(Ascetic/Celestial)
Pulled from a dying home of Lastwall, a young man has seen terror that he’d never thought possible. Overnight, the dead were roused and marched in the thousands, tearing apart the only home he’d ever known. He was lucky to survive, but he felt anything but. There was a need for vengeance in his soul, and he’d go to any lengths to see it delivered. He prayed upon the gods, any who would listen, and something holy answered, an archon stoked by a vengeance twice as hot as his own. It gave a proclamation at the folly of man, all of them, and asked the young man to offer his body to be theirs so that together they might deliver justice. The young man accepted, but the celestial’s anger burned hotter than he could’ve ever imagined, unleashed it wrought its fury, toppling anything in its path to see the dead back to their graves. Still, he doesn’t regret his choice, but he knows he must contain their power. Through prayer, he found an inner peace that can cool the burning heart within him, but when he finds those marching upon his ruined home, the heat is ablaze, and holy vengeance is the only thing that’ll quell it.
(Wanderer/Fiend)
One day in Sarkoris Scar, a fierce reclaimer fought bravely against a terrible demon empowered by the godsrain. She fought with all her might and nearly won, but the demon refused to perish, the divine spark within it keeping it undying. When the demon fell, she was heavily wounded and knew she needed to flee, but the terrible fiend was already regenerating. She couldn’t let it run rampant, it would destroy what little they had reclaimed, and she swore it would never come to that again. Instead of fleeing, she called out an impossible incantation, if she couldn’t kill it she would instead bind it, and the sacrifice for doing so: herself. The demon and her became as one, and its fury raged out, seeking to escape its imprisonment, and though it could take control it could not escape. The burden was now hers to bear, and for her people she departed, she’d use the demon’s fury to lash out at the other fiends that plagued Sarkoris Scar, and perhaps hope for a day in the future where her home may once again be free.
(Scientist/Scourge)
In a quiet chamber of the University of Lepidstadt, Ustalav, a student of alchemy practices late into the night. This professor warned him against the admixture he was testing, saying it was far too dangerous to practice. Of course he hadn’t chosen to listen, after years of feelings of inadequacy stoked from his family and peers, he wanted to make a breakthrough and show that he could rise above all the times he’d been put down. When the vial brewed, it was far more volatile than his theorem had anticipated. It shattered, spraying glass and hot liquid across him. The pain of the impact was only the start, there was a pain and a struggle as his body and mind morphed. All the terrible things that’d been said to him welled up, mocking and tormenting him, reaffirming his deepest fears. But he did not cower anymore, the mixture brought out a rage he didn’t know he could muster, his body grew monstrously, jutting out in a terrible form and lashing out at everything around him. Its fury eventually subsided, but those emotions wouldn’t leave, whenever they reawakened so too did that monstrous side of him. In time, he’d practice alchemy for a different purpose, to contain that rage within, even if only for a time.
(Wanderer/Beast)
Along a lonely path a young hunter wandered, checking their traps to see if Erastil had blessed them with game, even a rabbit would’ve helped these days. They’d known better to not go out at this time of night, especially under the night of the full moon, but desperate times called for desperate measures. They heard a monstrous howl, and readied their bow, quickly scanning their surroundings before masking their trail and trying to move slowly and quietly back toward the village. It was no help though, the beast had caught their scent, and when it descended, fangs bared sinking into their flesh they’d thought death would come quickly. A different fate awaited them. By the next full moon they’d awoken to a terrible beast, and wrecked havoc across their village. When they came too and saw the destruction they wrought, they knew they had to go, they couldn’t put anyone else at risk. Their inner beast clawed at them, it wanted to lash out at the slightest misstep, and the lonely road was the only place in which they felt that inner beast felt free.
Vessels and Others
Barbarians:
While a Vessel and a Barbarian might seem superficially similar, especially for Barbarians whose rage awakens an inner transformation, there’s a fundamental difference that defines them. For a Barbarian, their rage is something to be honed and controlled, they let their instincts guide them and their wanton strikes are devastating, but directed. A barbarian doesn’t fear their rage, they embrace it. A vessel’s inner fury is far less controlled, when their monster can be contained no longer, it lashes out at everything around it in a frenzy. Its strikes are deadly and precise, but its presence harms all those around it. In the throes of anger, the mortal within might quell the vessel’s presence to keep their allies safe, but the feedback from it causes they themself to become the target of the monster’s fury as the two fight for control
Sorcerers:
A sorcerer carries the power of magical creatures within their body much like a vessel does, but the nature of these connections is vastly different. A sorcerer holds power within their blood, but this connection is one of legacy, diluted over time or caused by exposure that changes you. It manifests in the innate magic a sorcerer commands. If a vessel possesses a similar legacy, its manifestation is far more potent. A demon blooded vessel feels their legacy in their daily life, their blood calls out to them with terrible fury, and in frustration a demonic beast within their heart comes out. For a sorcerer, this blood is easier to control and harness, an everyday part of life. A vessel’s blood might be more recent to their forbearers than a sorcerer, or if not, their power certainly holds more sway over their nature than the sorcerer.
Summoners:
Vessels and Summoners both may bear a connection to either an otherworldly entity or something within themselves, but the nature of these is entirely opposite. A summoner and eidolon are defined by synergy and connection, an unshakable unity that allows them to perform in tandem. A vessel and their monster are the reverse, constantly vying for control against one another. Their origins may be identical, a summoner and a vessel may have done the same methods to bind an entity to themselves, the differing result is defined by their relation.