The idea that I had in mind was to try and create a character based off of Sister Friede/Elfriede from the Ashes of Ariandel DLC for Dark Souls III. For those that are unaware who Sister Friede is, I have put two links below, one video of the boss fight and one of lore, so you can check the boss out if you are curious. For those that don't want to check out the videos here is a brief summary of Friede concerning what she can and has done.
Friede started off as a member of some sort of secretive government that governed a kingdom under the name of the Sable Church. The lore has this to say about the three sisters who led the Sable Church beneath the Primordial Serpent "It is apparent that the women in black were highly skilled fencers, capable of founding the Sable Church between just the three of them." (Fencers sound like either fighter or swashbuckler rogue to me but the fact that they were subservient and even granted some power by Kaathe the Primordial Serpent could be translated to Warlock since Kaathe just loves to give the art of Lifedrain to any who agree to serve him.)
Friede was the eldest of the three sisters who were in charge of the Sable Church but eventually Friede went AWOL with her most devote knight following her after Friede was resurrected following her failure to become a "Lord of Hollows" by linking the First Flame. The middle sister, Yuria, took command after Friede's desertion and was known to continue the practice of using spies and assassins to pursue the Sable Church's and Londor's agenda of seeking out a "Lord of Hollows." (Friede might be an oathbreaker paladin if you want to go religious but honestly paladin doesn't have to be used if you don't think it would fit. Honestly I don't feel like this one idea would be a good fit for the PC but you might disagree.)
Friede eventually came upon the Painted World and took the place as not only her new home but her own domain to govern over. Friede feared the practice that the forlorned natives had of setting the painting on fire to rid the false world of rot and pave the way for a new world. Friede might be selfish in wanting to preserve this false world despite the rotting nature of the painting but the lore of her clothing states "Friede discovered a people that she wished to protect, and assumed the precise form that they yearned for." (The part about assuming the form seems to me like either access to the Disguise Self spell or maybe a Warlock's Mask of Many Faces invocation. Friede either manipulated or persuaded the different residents of the painting to granting her authority so I can see her having some Charisma though this doesn't have to be required.)
Concerning the actual fight and moveset against Friede/Elfriede, here are some things about her. The first thing to note about Friede is that she uses a scythe during the first two phases of the boss fight before pulling out a hand scythe that deals magic and frost damage thus dual wielding a pair a scythes. (The scythe isn't a weapon in 5e despite appearing in 3.5 but the sickle does show up. A bit of DM ruling could net you the scythe as a reflavored sickle with that has a d6 or d8 instead of a d4 like normal. The frost effect of the hand scythe/sickle could just be a sickle that does cold damage on top of regular damage. The dual wielder feat could be feasible with this build and maybe a dip in fighter or a 2 level dip in Ranger can get you the two weapon fighting style.)
One of the tricks that Elfriede likes to try during the boss fight is to dash back before turning invisible and jumping up into the air before landing somewhere else usually on the other side of the room. Friede is still invisible upon landing and she will try to sneak up behind you and hit you for heavy damage, that also knocks you prone, though her invisibility wears off as soon as either you get close to her or vice versa. (The Jump spell isn't really needed but from this we can see that invisibility and maybe sneak attack is in Friede's arsenal. The sneak attack can be acquired from levels in Rogue with the invisibility coming from at least a three level dip in Bard, Warlock, Wizard, or Sorcerer unless it is decided to just find an item that grants Invisibility instead of taking levels in a spellcaster. Friede's dashing about during the whole fight could be due to the Haste Spell or if low level than maybe the longstrider spell or something similar could help emulate the boss' speed.)
The most memorable gimmick of Friede/Elfriede's besides dual wielding scythes and capable of invisibility is her almost excessive usage of frost magic during every phase and mixing it up with the addition of (black) fire magic during the final phase of the fight. Sometimes Friede causes a cone of frost damage in front of her while other times she might jump and cause an explosion of frost damage wherever she lands. The third phase adds fire damage alongside some of the frost damage though these flames are black and sometimes replace the frost damage during her attacks. (I can see the PC having Frostbite, Ice Storm, Cone of Cold, Fireball, Wall of Fire/Ice. I can't see the black flames being possible (I might be missing something that can do that but oh well) but maybe just a little flavoring of the spell's appearance or just plain ignoring that one aspect could work. The UA for the Lore Wizard does allow for elemental substitution but considering that is UA a DM might not accept that or maybe they would.)
All in all what do you guys think would be the best route to take in creating a PC based off of this boss from the first Dark Souls III DLC? I was wondering if anyone might be able to come up with something using what is in the PHB and XGtE as well as other official sources to complete this build. I am not looking for a perfect fit but one that is close enough that should someone, not just me but any who reads this post, decide to try the ideas they might feel like their guy could be like Sister Friede/Blackflame Friede/Elfriede. The comments in parentheses during the above points were just individual ideas based off of those events in the lore and boss fight though the build you might suggest does not have to include everything or even anything in those observations if you have a different idea. Even if you find yourself unable to turn this boss into a PC, maybe she could inspire a boss fight or BBEG in your own campaign.
I know the ideas seem a bit scattered on what this build should be but all in all I would like to thank everyone in advance who decided to try out the challenge. Any and all input is greatly appreciated and I hope anyone who decides to lend a hand has a good rest of your day. Goodbye and thanks for any and all ideas.
From everything presented I would recommend a Hexblade Warlock that chooses Pact of the Blade if you want to focus more on her melee combat abilities, or else a Wizard (Evoker or War Wizard) if you plan on focusing on her elemental magic wielding abilities.
The Hexblade grants the ability to really get in the melee fight with the sickles or allowed custom scythes even if they are martial weapons, unifies your Combat and Caster ability score to Charisma so that your to hit bonus for all of them will be excellent. The fact that you can summon your Pact Weapon also makes it easier to start with a single weapon visible and then conjure the second for the dual wielding. You can customize the appearance of your Eldritch Blast to look more like fire or ice, can select Armour of Agathys and Infernal Rebuke for more fire and ice, Misty Step as the sudden back step, as well as Invisibility (or the Eldritch Invocation Shroud of Shadow at 15th Level for Invisibility without spending spell slots) and then using additional description for the flavor.
For the Wizard it would be all about taking the Fire and Ice spells and then providing awesome descriptions to add the desired flavor. The melee would just be much less impressive.
Dark Souls bosses are always such wonderful inspiration for character ideas :)
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The idea that I had in mind was to try and create a character based off of Sister Friede/Elfriede from the Ashes of Ariandel DLC for Dark Souls III. For those that are unaware who Sister Friede is, I have put two links below, one video of the boss fight and one of lore, so you can check the boss out if you are curious. For those that don't want to check out the videos here is a brief summary of Friede concerning what she can and has done.
Friede started off as a member of some sort of secretive government that governed a kingdom under the name of the Sable Church. The lore has this to say about the three sisters who led the Sable Church beneath the Primordial Serpent "It is apparent that the women in black were highly skilled fencers, capable of founding the Sable Church between just the three of them." (Fencers sound like either fighter or swashbuckler rogue to me but the fact that they were subservient and even granted some power by Kaathe the Primordial Serpent could be translated to Warlock since Kaathe just loves to give the art of Lifedrain to any who agree to serve him.)
All in all what do you guys think would be the best route to take in creating a PC based off of this boss from the first Dark Souls III DLC? I was wondering if anyone might be able to come up with something using what is in the PHB and XGtE as well as other official sources to complete this build. I am not looking for a perfect fit but one that is close enough that should someone, not just me but any who reads this post, decide to try the ideas they might feel like their guy could be like Sister Friede/Blackflame Friede/Elfriede. The comments in parentheses during the above points were just individual ideas based off of those events in the lore and boss fight though the build you might suggest does not have to include everything or even anything in those observations if you have a different idea. Even if you find yourself unable to turn this boss into a PC, maybe she could inspire a boss fight or BBEG in your own campaign.
I know the ideas seem a bit scattered on what this build should be but all in all I would like to thank everyone in advance who decided to try out the challenge. Any and all input is greatly appreciated and I hope anyone who decides to lend a hand has a good rest of your day. Goodbye and thanks for any and all ideas.
From everything presented I would recommend a Hexblade Warlock that chooses Pact of the Blade if you want to focus more on her melee combat abilities, or else a Wizard (Evoker or War Wizard) if you plan on focusing on her elemental magic wielding abilities.
The Hexblade grants the ability to really get in the melee fight with the sickles or allowed custom scythes even if they are martial weapons, unifies your Combat and Caster ability score to Charisma so that your to hit bonus for all of them will be excellent. The fact that you can summon your Pact Weapon also makes it easier to start with a single weapon visible and then conjure the second for the dual wielding. You can customize the appearance of your Eldritch Blast to look more like fire or ice, can select Armour of Agathys and Infernal Rebuke for more fire and ice, Misty Step as the sudden back step, as well as Invisibility (or the Eldritch Invocation Shroud of Shadow at 15th Level for Invisibility without spending spell slots) and then using additional description for the flavor.
For the Wizard it would be all about taking the Fire and Ice spells and then providing awesome descriptions to add the desired flavor. The melee would just be much less impressive.
Dark Souls bosses are always such wonderful inspiration for character ideas :)