D&D Characters: Based on Other Media

We all have our favorite characters from TV, movies and other games. Sometimes we want to think about what it would be like said characters, and one great way to do so is to make them in a D&D campaign! Through this I will be discussing a few ideas of characters from different media and how to make a character as close as possible to them. Now, some things will be easier than others, based on level, and D&D scenario (if it makes sense/fits the setting and such)

Red Mage: Final Fantasy series

Level Needed: 3rd, Multiclassing into fighter at 2 or multiclassing into wizard at 2

Class/Subclass: Fighter level 1 for proficiencies, Wizard 2+ for spells, taking Evocation school

The Red Mage, elegant in both form and magical prowess. In the Final Fantasy universe, they are depicted as a rapier-wielding gentleman or gentlewoman. So to produce our red mage we take our first level in Fighter, this will give us capability of wearing real armor, if wanted, give us two martial weapons which can give us our rapier and one other martial weapon of our choice, so maybe we can have a bit more of a versatility in the melee range fighting. Taking the first level in fighter will also give us Second Wind, which can be great in a pinch giving us 1d10+Fighter level in health back as a bonus action, and getting a fighting style which I would recommend taking Dueling because the single-hand rapier will have +2 to damage rolls with the weapon.

Going into our multiclass Wizard is what I would personally recommend, with Sorcerer as a good second. Wizard is more preferable because of their expansive spell list which, paired with School of Evocation and Arcane Recovery, can be very versatile and can provide deadly spells that can be used more often and with less worry over splash damage to your allies. Sorcerer, on the other hand, gain their Sorcerous Origin at level 1, and if we desire to go for the full Red Mage experience the Divine archetype is the way we want to go, giving us access to cleric spells, and at level 3 giving us our dual-cast ability! You may ask, why multiclass instead of just choosing Eldritch Knight at level 3 for fighter. While the fighters Eldritch Knight subclass is nice, it is not as versatile as directly going into wizard or sorcerer, between losing origin and arcane tradition and taking a more lengthy amount of time to use higher level spells, seeing as with a Red Mage we are trying to have the best of both worlds and this provides us with that.

Jedi/Sith: Star Wars

Level Needed: 3rd for Subclass, 7th for Jedi mind tricks

Class/Subclass: Fighter: Eldritch Knight

The Jedi Knight and Sith Order, two ancient groups who have a never-ending struggle between light side force and dark side force. This is a group of people that many of us know well from the movies to the TV series and all the way to the original books, these characters are something that some people to this day still wish to emulate in real life, and the Fighter class gives us a perfect catalyst for us to create our Jedi, or twist them into our Sith lord.

Starting off, one important difference between the Jedi and the Red Mage as discussed in the prior paragraphs is this: Jedi are fighters, and do not posess the same magical capabilities as Red Mages. The Eldritch Knight subclass gives us just enough to properly play a Jedi, giving us access to the lower level spells of Wizard, which can be used for such things as Friends, Mage Hand, and Mage Armor at the start. Dueling will be our fighting style, allowing us to use our swords to full advantage with a bonus to the damage rolls. Returning to our subclass, some of the main highlights must be the Weapon Bond (given upon choosing this subclass) allowing us to never be disarmed of our trusty weapon, allowing up to two bonded weapons at one time, and War Magic obtained at level 7 giving us the capability to cast a cantrip as well as make a weapon attack. Level 7 will also give us access to Suggestion which is a second level spell that is akin to the Jedi Mind tricks, giving up to two sentences to attempt to influence the creature into your way of thinking.

Sith lords among us get their signature spell available to them at level 3 using the first level spell Thunderwave and Shocking Grasp. These two spells are our closest options to emulate Sith Lightning.

Pokemon Master: Pokemon

Level Needed: If Warlock or Ranger 3, Wizard 2

Class/Subclass: Ranger, Unearthed Arcana Beast Circle. Warlock, Pact of the Chain. Wizard, Conjuration school

Feats: Skilled(Optional, for Tinkers Tools), Ritual Casting(Optional, allows the gain of Find Familiar spell)

We all wanted to catch them all when we were younger, and using these options can let you catch them all in your D&D campaign. However, you need to discuss with your DM if you would like to use the many options of pokeballs that the homebrew community has created for D&D. First, we must discuss Find Familiar, a spell that might be integral to your Pokemon journey. This spell allows you to spend an hour to gain the service of a spirit that can be one of many animals, listed on page 240 of the player handbook, this creature can act independently from you rolling initiative and acting on its own turn (it cannot attack on its turn, however you can use it as a catalyst to cast spells through on its turn if its cast range is touch). Now onto the classes we will be working with.

We shall start with Wizard because it is the most simple of the choices. Wizards do not have a large amount of customization but can be used to be a simple test run of your Pokemon master. School of Conjuration allows you the minor effects of being able to swap places with a willing creature of medium or smaller at 6, not allowing concentration being broken while casting a conjuration spell at 10, and allowing half time and gold cost for spell copying at 2. The important part is the Minor Conjuration, Durable Summons, and the versatility of conjuration spells allowed to Wizards including being the only class to naturally learn Find Familiar.

Next we will have the Warlock, the eldritch spellcaster, this may be a stronger option to choose as compared to our wizard, allowing us to make some more aesthetic choices for our companions. At level one of warlock we choose an otherworldly patron, depending on this we can have our familiar take characteristics from your patron(such as tentacles if you choose a great old one such as Cthulhu, or if going along the fiend path it could be smoldering). Warlocks also gain two important things as a Pokemon master, Voice of the Chain Master, and Pact of the Chain. Pact of the Chain allows you to cast Find Familiar not counting against your number of spells known, this pact allows the familiar to take the form of a pseudodragon, imp, quasit or sprite and also allows you to forgo your attack action to have your familiar attack. Voice of the Chain Master is a very simple Eldritch Invocation which allows you to communicate with your familiar telepathically, and see or speak through said familiar. Our final Pokemon Master is possibly the best choice, the Unearthed Arcana Ranger. Something that Wizards of the Coast did with Ranger in this was improve it in many aspects. The main thing we will be looking at here is the revamped Beast Conclave (formerly Beast Master). As with the Beast Master previously, you gain an animal companion, however the companion gets benefits for being bonded to you and this can be used as a “starter” looking at this from our Pokemon side. This one will be bonded with you after 8 hours of work with the creature and you may be able to discuss with your DM the capability of keeping the creatures you make as your companions. Because of the Companions Bond your animal will gain proficiencies, ability score improvements, favored enemies and can fight with you in tandem starting at level 5 and getting to attack multiple times starting at level 11.

Some options that we have for minor aesthetics, or for Ranger who cannot learn find familiar in any way shape or form is taking the feats of Skilled or Ritual Caster. Ritual Caster is pretty straightforward and allows you to learn two first level ritual spells from any spell list and cast them using the class chosen from casting ability, explained on page 169 in the Player Handbook. This will give us Find Familiar for our ranger, and that is the extent of getting this feat unless you chose to not take Pact of the Chain playing warlock. Our other feat Skilled is completely cosmetic outside of homebrew, it allows us proficiency in any combination of three skills or tools of our choice. Taking at least proficiency in Tinker Tools you will be capable of crafting pokeballs for yourself, if your DM is allowing the pokeball route, or allow you to create some sort of collar to help bind your companion or familiar to you in some way.

Kids Next Door Member: KND

Level Needed: NA

Class/Subclass: Monk

Race: Human(Variant for immediate Feat)

Feat: Tavern Brawler (For improvised weapon proficiency)

Some of us may remember the adventures of Nigel Uno and his comrades of Sector V in the Cartoon Network show Codename:Kids Next Door and the gadgets they built and used on missions to thwart adult villainous activity. These fantastical devices were all made of very simple objects and most of them would be able to be built in a D&D setting.

Choosing Monk allows you to use Martial Arts allowing Unarmed Strikes to be greater damage than the normal human being, and having the Unarmored Combat feature allows us to fight in plain clothes like the characters from the show. Unlike the other character ideas we have gone over throughout this post we do not need a specific subclass to make this work well. However, it is much easier to do if we choose to go with the Human Variant race from the player handbook, which instead of giving us plus to all of our stats it has us choose a stat and allows a feat right off the bat, and to make our KND member this is integral. Taking the Tavern Brawler feat allows us to get proficiency bonus in improvised weapons, which most of the weapons that are in the show for the most part are, this will also allow us a bit more free reign in later levels if we need to take a second feat such as skilled to have proficiency in a toolset to help us make our improvised weapons.

On another hand we could discuss with the DM of the session, which with discussion may allow you to use some of the weapons as something you already have proficiency with, such as a crossbow for the S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.. This would allow our first feat to be Skilled instead of Tavern Brawler, or allow you to change what race you would like to be.

In conclusion, these should be ideas to help you create your character. Always remember to discuss with the person running your game before doing something like this because it may not fit the setting or it may be too complex than what the DM is wishing to deal with.

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