Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread (My D&D PCs)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Woodclaw
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Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread (My D&D PCs)

Post by Woodclaw »

Well, after a bit of debating I decided to follow the example of Jabs and Thorpa and take advantage of the open nature of Echoes to create my very own fantasy-themed thread.
While I’ll keep the Warehouse thread strictly Mutants & Mastermind, this one is going to be much more varied and host a number of systems (starting with our old pal D&D, of course). The thread will proceed by leaps and bounds, but it would be a nice distraction when I got burned out of M&M.

D&D 5th Edition

My PCs Demo Characters
These are the characters I usually bring with me to conventions and gaming nights to play demo games. They're really simple 3rd level buggers meant to provide a good variety of options and test the limits of the system.


The Classic Four
The old, time-tested quartet of the game, rebuilt to see how they run this time. The Call of the Wild
A team of roughed up and hardened denizen of the untamed wildlands. The Survivors
An unlikely alliance of characters with a checkered past. The Silver Moon Kingdom
Last edited by Woodclaw on Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:28 am, edited 19 times in total.
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#1 D&D 5th: Ami, the Blue Witch

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Ami, the Blue Witch

Race: Human (variant rules); Background: Sage (Wizard Apprentice); Class: Wizard 4th (Illusionist)

Alignment. Lawful Good
Personality.
Ami is used to help those who aren't as smart as her and to patiently explain everything.
Ami really doesn't like when people bicker and fight.

Ideals.
Helping: Ami believes that knowledge and magic must be used for the betterment of all.
Bonds.
Ami wishes her mother would be proud of her accomplishments.
Flaws.
Ami is terribly shy and awkward in social situations.

STR: +0 (10), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +1 (12), INT: +4 (18), WIS: +1 (13), CHA: +0 (10)

Proficiency Bonus: +2
  • Saving Throws: Intelligence +6, Wisdom +3
  • Skills: Arcana +6; Insight +3; Investigation +6 (passive 21); Medicine +3, Perception +1 (passive 16)
  • Tools: -
  • Languages: Common, Celestial, Draconic, Primordial
  • Weapons: Dagger, Dart, Sling, Light Crossbow, Quarterstaff
  • Armors: -
Features
  • Researcher. Whenever Ami tries to recall a piece of lore, if she doesn't know the information, she often knows where to find it.
  • Arcane Recovery (once per Long Rest). When Ami finishes a short rest she regain up to 2 levels of spell slots (but no spell slot over 5th level).
  • Illusion Savant. Ami halves the cost and time required to copy any illusion spell on her spellbook.
  • Improved Minor Illusion. Ami can produce both visual and sound effects with a single cast of Minor Illusion.
  • Feat: Keen Mind. Ami always knows which way is north, how many hours until the next sunrise or sunset and has perfect recall of everything that happened to her within the last month.
  • Feat: Observant. Ami can read lips.
Combat:

Initiative: +2; Armor Class: 12 (unarmored) or 15 (Mage Armor); Speed: 30'
Hit Points: 22; Hit Dice: 4d6

Attacks:
  • Dagger (+4 to hit; 1d4+2)
  • Ray of Frost (+6 to hit; 1d8 + slow enemy)
Other Equipment: Crystal (arcane focus), Clothes (common), Backpack (writing instruments, book of lore, spellbook, 10 sheet of blank parchment, notes about an enigma from her family that she haven't solved yet, small knife), Pouch (10gp)

Spells (can prepare 8 per day)
  • Cantrips (always prepared): Mending, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Shape Water
  • 1st Level (4 slots). Charm Person, Comprehend Languages (Ritual), Detect Magic, Fog Cloud, Ice Knife, Mage Armor, Sleep
  • 2nd Level (3 slots). Blur, Hold Person, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Snilloc's Snowball Swarm
The Story So Far.
The only daughter of the Countess of Hermetia, Ami is a true arcane prodigy and the longest adventuring companion of the Silver Moon Kingdom's Princess.
The Hermetia household has a long tradition of being one of the most well-learned families of the kingdom and great patrons of education, having financed the construction of many schools and libraries. The current Countess is a famed arcanist herself, but also a very aloof and distant figure to her daughter. Hoping to win her mother's approval, Ami has studied long and hard. Her efforts didn't win her mother's love but were not in vain either. When the royal entourage visited the family seat – Mariner Estate – the court sorceress noticed the promising young lady and offered to mentor her.
Ami's uncanny brilliance quickly became to buzz of the Silver Palace, but very few people dared to get close to her... except the princess herself. Being the wild child she is, Serenity often dragged along other people into her little “adventures” and, fortunately, she decided to involve Ami in one of them. While neither girl ever talked the details, it was clear that Ami's knack for illusions and water magic probably saved them both.
Since then the two girls have become almost inseparable and, in spite of the court sorceress's protests, the Queen herself seems pleased of the influence Ami has on her airheaded daughter.


:arrow: Okay this came very much out of the blue for. Ever since the publication of D&D 5th I've seen a number of articles about "how to build x or y" in D&D. Most of them were very much an attempt to get the best of the system and I think a lot of them missed the big point: this shouldn't be a 1-to-1 conversion, but a way to fit a concept to a game. Hence I decided to try my hand with something really random for me.

:arrow: So, Ami Mizuno or Sailor Mercury is actually a pretty easy concept to fit into D&D, being the smart girl of her team she's a natural fit for a Wizard, plus it helps that most of her attacks are based around illusion and water manipulation, two areas where Wizards are really good.

:arrow: To highlight her over the top intelligence I crammed a couple of +1 INT feats on Ami, adding a few really impressive tricks to her out of combat arsenal (starting with a +5 to passive Investigation, which makes almost impossible for her to miss a clue).
Last edited by Woodclaw on Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Davies »

<snort> Cute. Looking forward to the rest of the girls.
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Thorpocalypse »

Yay, more fantasy stuff! And in 5E, too. Love it. 8-)
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Jabroniville »

You're doing Fantasy builds, TOO?!?! YOU TOOK MAH JERB!!!!

J/K. Sailor Mercury as a D&D Wizard is awesome. "Illusions" is an interesting way to go, given that her visor in the show often saw THROUGH illusions. And no Ice Powers!

The "Features" bit is interesting- is that a standard 5e thing, where you can pick from a list or something?
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Davies »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:00 am
The "Features" bit is interesting- is that a standard 5e thing, where you can pick from a list or something?
No, there are specific traits that you get for a class, subclass, background or race. Sometimes there are options, but not often. In this case it also includes the character's feats.
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Woodclaw »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:00 am The "Features" bit is interesting- is that a standard 5e thing, where you can pick from a list or something?
As Davies said Features are semi-standard in 5e, each element from character creation provides some divided as follow:
  • The race provides 2-3 stand-alone features plus others that got rolled up into the general stats of the character.
  • Background provides a single non-mechanical feature (in Ami's case Researcher) that usually allow to skip some details of narrative sequences.
  • Class provide from 3 to 5 features that improve as the character levels up
  • Each class must choose a path/specialization within 3rd level that provide a few more features (usually 3-4) that adds to the class ones.
  • Every few level a character can choose to either gain +2 Abilities or a Feat that provide extra features (a 5e feat is pretty much 4 3efeats rolled together). Feat are optional in 5e, but I've yet to see a GM that doesn't use them.
Jabroniville wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:00 amSailor Mercury as a D&D Wizard is awesome. "Illusions" is an interesting way to go, given that her visor in the show often saw THROUGH illusions. And no Ice Powers!
Well, most of her early attacks seemed to be based around some form of illusion magic (creating mist and whatnot) as for ice... I had to kind of give up on that because most of D&D water magic use cold and ice as the main offensive medium, so a little bit of that had to come into the build.
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#2 D&D 5th: Rei, the Fiery Vestal

Post by Woodclaw »

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Rei, the Fiery Vestal

Race: Human (variant rules); Background: Acolyte; Class: Cleric 4th (Light Domain)

Alignment. Lawful Neutral
Personality.
Rei is very stoic and reserved.
Rei has very little patience for those who are slow on the uptake.

Ideals.
Protection: Rei considers her duty to shield others from danger.
Bonds.
Rei hopes to become the head priestess of her temple.
Flaws.
Rei can be incredibly bossy and is prone to bickering.

STR: +0 (10), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +0 (10), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +1 (13)

Proficiency Bonus: +2
  • Saving Throws: Wisdom +5, Charisma +3
  • Skills: History +2; Insight +5; Intimidation +3; Persuasion +3, Religion 2
  • Tools: -
  • Languages: Common, Celestial, Infernal, Abyssal
  • Weapons: Simple, Longbow, Scimitar and two other weapons.
  • Armors: Light, Medium and Shields
Features
  • Shelter of the Faithful. Rei and her companions can expect free healing at an establishment of her faith.
  • Channel Divinity (Action; Once per Short Rest): Rei can channel divine power to use one of the following abilities.
    • Turn Undead. Undead within 30' of Rei must make a DC 13 Wisdom save or be turned for 1 minute or until damaged.
    • Radiance of Dawn. Enemies within 30' of Rei suffer 2d10+3 radiant damage, A successful DC 13 Constitution save halves this damage. She also dispels any magical darkness within the same radius.
  • Warding Flare (Reaction). Rei can emit a flash of light to blind an attacker within 30' that is targeting her. The opponent suffers Disadvantage on its attack roll.
  • Feat: Durable. When Rei rolls her Hit Dice to regain Hit Ponts, the minimum amount per dice is equal to twice her CON modifier.
  • Feat: Weapon Master. Rei is proficient with Longbow, Scimitar and two other weapons she hasn't choose yet.
Combat:

Initiative: +2; Armor Class: 16 (Breast Plate); Speed: 30'
Hit Points: 31; Hit Dice: 4d8

Attacks:
  • Longbow (+4 to hit; 1d8+2)
  • Scimitar (+4 to hit; 1d6+2)
Other Equipment: Clothes (common + vestments), Backpack (Blanket, Rations [1 day], Tinderbox, Candles [10], Censer & Incense, Prayer Wheel), Pouch (15 gp), Prayer Beads (holy symbol) Quiver (20 arrows)

Spells (can prepare 7 per day, plus domain spells, this is the typical selection)
  • Cantrips (always prepared). Guidance, Light, Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, Thaumaturgy
  • 1st Level (4 slots). Burning Hands (D), Faerie Fire (D), Bless, Command, Detect Evil and Good, Protection from Evil and Good
  • 2nd Level (3 slots). Flaming Sphere (D), Scorching Ray (D), Augury (Ritual), Enhance Ability, Lesser Restoration
The Story So Far.
Few households in the Silver Moon Kingdom can boast a reputation as fearsome as the Aresia, since time immemorial they have been the iron fist of the royal family and the current count of Aresia, general of the royal army, is no exception. Since he was often away or busy at the capital, the general entrusted the education of his daughter to his own father, who had retired many years ago to a shrine.
A true daughter of Aresia, young Rei proved to be tough in body and mind, with an unshakeable will. She was a hard nut to crack, but the old soldier eventually managed to quench her fiery temper. What the old man didn't expect was for Rei to take a liking into the monastic life and deciding to rescind all bonds with her father and take the vow as an acolyte of the ancestor spirits, transforming her iron will into a powerful faith. Her father rarely mentions her today.
The second pivotal moment in Rei's life came during the ritual pilgrimage of the royal family to the ancestors' shrines. Rei was very annoyed by the airheaded Princess Serenity and tried to avoid her at all cost, yet the Princess's antics unearthed a dangerous demon hiding along the path to the temple and the two of them were able to drive him away. Other adventures followed, usually sparked by the bumblings of Serenity and Rei, much to her surprise, has taken a liking to her brave, but airheaded, friend.



:arrow: Step two, Rei Hino (Sailor Mars) was another easy call: she's a miko so I went for Cleric and, lucky me, the Light Domain provide an ample number of fire-based damage spells, complementing the usual Cleric's divinations quite well to reproduce her usual arsenal.

:arrow: Of course Rei isn't your run-of-the-mill healer Cleric, she prefers to take down the enemy first, so I decided to "waste" a feat to provide her with some extra weapon options including her signature longbow. Another option I considered was to keep her with a short bow and use the Elemental Adept (Fire) feat to turbo-charge her damaging spells, I might have to go back on this decision later on.
Last edited by Woodclaw on Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:42 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Davies »

To be consistent with the artist's description, I'd have gone with Fighter/Arcane Archer, but I agree that Cleric is probably the best class for Rei.
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Woodclaw »

Davies wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 9:15 am To be consistent with the artist's description, I'd have gone with Fighter/Arcane Archer, but I agree that Cleric is probably the best class for Rei.
My builds and the artist's idea will diverge even more in the near future :P
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Jabroniville »

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


REEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

My Rei-Chan!! Of course she'd be a Cleric- shooting fire and all sorts of good stuff. Something probably easier to replicate in M&M than D&D, which is always funny to me- D&D is so regimented that doing anything "off-theme" results in sub-optimal characters in many regards.

I'm liking the aspects of her manga-backstory (political father with whom she has disengaged). Her argumentative relationship with Serenity is one of those fascinating things- she both loves and defends her friend... but finds her dreadfully annoying, whiny and incompetent. Few shows have ever done that adversarial relationship so well. Playing it up in a game would actually be great fun.
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by MisterB »

Yay some 5e goodness!
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#3 D&D 5th: Mako, the Thunderer

Post by Woodclaw »

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Mako, the Thunderer

Race: Human (variant rules); Background: Outlander; Class: Barbarian 4th (Storm Herald)

Alignment. Neutral Good
Personality.
Mako watch over her friends like they were a litter of newborn pups.
Mako can stare down a hellhound without flinching.

Ideals.
Peace: Mako believes that her ultimate goal as a warrior is to find a way to ensure peace.
Bonds.
Mako goes were the winds lead her.
Flaws.
In truth, Mako is hopelessly romantic and starstruck.

STR: +3 (16), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +0 (10), WIS: +1 (12), CHA: +1 (12)

Proficiency Bonus: +2
  • Saving Throws: Strength +5, Constitutio +4
  • Skills: History +2; Insight +5; Intimidation +3; Persuasion +3, Religion 2
  • Tools: Cooking Utensils*
  • Languages: Common, Dwarvish, Giant
  • Weapons: Simple, Martial, Improvised
  • Armors: Light, Medium and Shields
Features
  • Wanderer. Mako has an excellent memory for maps and geography and she can easily recall the general layout of the terrain around her. She is also able to find food and water for herself and up to five companions provided the region offers enough resources.
  • Rage (Bonus Action; 3 times per Long Rest): When Mako flew into a berserker rage, she gain Advantage to Strength-based checks and saves, +2 damage on all melee attack and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. The rage lasts 1 minute or until Mako passes an entire round with being hit or attacking an opponent in melee.
  • Reckless Attack. Mako can gain Advantage on all her melee attacks for 1 round, but she also provides Advantage to all attacks against her.
  • Danger Sense. Mako has Advantage on Dexterity saves against visible dangers.
  • Storm Aura (Bonus Action). While raging Mako can call down a lightning bolt against a single opponent within 10' of her, the target suffers 1d6 lightning damage (half as much on a successful DC 12 Dexterity save).
  • Feat: Athlete. Standing up from Prone cost Mako only 5' of movement, she can also climb at full speed and perform a running jump with only 5' of running start.
  • Feat: Tavern Brawler. When Mako hit an opponent with an improvised weapon or an unarmed attack she can immediately start a grapple as a Bonus Action.
Combat:

Initiative: +2; Armor Class: 16 (Breast Plate) or 14 (unarmored); Speed: 30'
Hit Points: 41; Hit Dice: 4d12

Attacks:
  • Long Spear (+5 to hit; 1d10+3; Reach)
  • Javelin (+5 to hit; 1d6+3; Thrown [30'/120'])
  • Unarmed (+5 to hit; 1d4+3)
Other Equipment: Clothes (traveller), Backpack (Bedroll, Mess Kit, Tinderbox, Rations [10 days], Torches [10], Rope [50'], Hunting Trap), Pouch (10 gp), Trophy from a Past Hunt (bear fang earrings), Waterskin

The Story So Far.
The Windsong Forest marks the border between the proper Silver Moon Kingdom and the region of the Outer Marches. While technically part of the Kingdom, it's a wild and unexplored region famed for being home to ancient creatures from the elder days. No noble family lay claim to this territory, but the nominal leaders of the sparse communities of hunters, woodchoppers and waywatcher are the Seusa clan ... until recently. Just last year tragedy struck, most of the able-bodied men and women of the clan were killed in a mysterious accident.
When the Queen was informed she dispatched a company of her knights to explore the region. When they arrived they found that all the dead had been neatly buried and fresh flowers decorated each mound. Only a single set of human tracks was found. They press on and a few days later they met a young woman camping in the wilds next to the skinned corpse of a massive bear. She introduced herself as Mako, the last of the Seusa.
Mako was brought to the capital, where rumors about her feat started to circulate and caused many to give her a wide berth. Even the Princess was very much scared, until one night she runs into another boatload of trouble and it was the tall child of woods to save her and nurse her back to health. Since then Mako has started to watch over the Princess like an older sister of sorts and while she hasn't joined the royal guard, many think it's just a matter of time.



:arrow: Makoto Kino was a bit of a problem to fit into D&D format, I knew I wanted her to be a warrior class, but I also didn't like the idea or relegating her lighting powers to some kind of magic item. For a while I was dead set on a Way of the elements Monk (a.k.a. a bender from Avatar/Korra) then the Storm Herald Barbarian came along. A warrior that calls down lighting while raging? Sold!

:arrow: Of course Mako is the bulldozer of the team, she might not have the raw damage output of Ami or Rei, but she can take a hit and return the favor like no one else in the business. Her big trick is that she is extremely flexible: her lighting supplement her basic attack instead or replacing it or she can punch someone and start a grapple.

:arrow: For her weapon of choice I decided to go with a little homage to the live-action version of the show and went for a spear, easily the most iconic of the bunch given that all the other Senshi got some form of bladed weapon.

:arrow: Under normal circumstances, the Outlander background provides proficiency with one musical instrument, but I decided to trade that for proficiency with cooking's utensils, which is much more in line with the character.
Last edited by Woodclaw on Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Jabroniville »

Mako is, as always, rad. Her as a Barbarian suits the character, given how she's always the first one to attack, and the first one to get her butt kicked as a result. That 5e apparently has a "Bring the Thunder" kind of weapon, it's a really good fit :).

Gotta love that her "Romantic" nature is still a Complication :).
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Re: Wizards & Wyverns - My fantasy build thread

Post by Woodclaw »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Mar 15, 2018 6:54 am Mako is, as always, rad. Her as a Barbarian suits the character, given how she's always the first one to attack, and the first one to get her butt kicked as a result. That 5e apparently has a "Bring the Thunder" kind of weapon, it's a really good fit :).
I don't know about the "getting the butt kicked" between the ungodly amount of HP and the ability to halve all physical damage, 5th Edition barbarians are pretty much the ultimate bullet sponge.
Jabroniville wrote: Thu Mar 15, 2018 6:54 am Gotta love that her "Romantic" nature is still a Complication :).
That's one of those bit that left me kind of there: I borrowed almost the entire manga run from a friend and I noticed how the cartoon pretty much turned many one-time jokes into recurring jokes and catchphrases (case in point, Makoto only mentioned her infamous senpai once or twice in the entire run). Truth to be told I understand why, Takeuchi sensei was not very good at writing secondary characters.
Still, I believe that having a tough as nail barbarian acting all girly and romantic is enough of a weird combination to ensure many awkward situations.
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