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wyllzel · 3 months

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🔗 Link to Google Doc.

This is how I built Vampire Ascendant Astarion in my latest Tactician playthrough. As a dual-wielding Gloom Stalker Thief, Astarion has his canon Rogue flavoring with the added bonus of the Ranger class’s Extra Attack and other sneaky, more martial abilities.

I like to run Astarion as a Thief Rogue, but Assassin Rogue also works well (though possibly with different gear – for example, you may want to use a longbow instead of dual hand crossbows).

The vibe of this example of a Gloom Stalker Thief is a stealthy, consistent damage dealer. When you reach Act 3, Astarion can focus on a 100-200 HP enemy and take it out (or at least whittle it down) easily. Or, he can spread his many attacks across lower HP minions and take out a bunch in one round.

Ranger has some good control-type spells, but I primarily run the Gloom Stalker Thief as a ranged martial.

This build is not reliant on elixirs, illithid powers, or mods. While I don’t think this multiclass is dependent on gear, the gear I’ve listed will go a long way in ensuring Astarion is a very competent machine gun. 🤗

Disclaimer: While I tried to powergame as much as I could with this build, I also wanted to keep it easy to follow and fairly thematic. I'm not claiming that this is the most powerful Vampire Ascendant build ever!

(Fair warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

Levelling

I like to start Astarion out in Rogue for the canon flavoring and Extra Bonus Action (Thief Rogue Level 3). But once my party reaches Level 5, I’ll go to Withers and restart Astarion as a Ranger instead for the Extra Attack (Ranger Level 5).

How you progress in the levels is up to you – I recommend reading through the BG3 Wiki pages on Ranger and Rogue and see which of the classes’ benefits you think are most useful! These are just my personal preferences. I’ve also added a star (⭐) next to each of the features I tend to prioritize or take advantage of.

To start with, this is my Astarion’s base stats:

Astarion’s Wisdom Score should be higher than his Intelligence score; any spells he’d be using are Ranger spells (and Rangers cast off Wisdom).

This build guide assumes that Astarion is not the party face – therefore, it’s fairly safe to dump his Charisma stat.

Level 1: Rogue (Level 1)

Sneak Attack ⭐

Select:

Expertise: Stealth, Sleight of Hand

Level 2: Rogue (Level 2)

Cunning Action: Dash

Cunning Action: Disengage

Cunning Action: Hide

Level 3: Rogue (Level 3)

Improved Sneak Attack Damage (+1d6) ⭐

Select:

Subclass: Thief

The Thief subclass has the following benefits:

Fast Hands (Extra Bonus Action)

Second-Story Work (Resistance to Falling Damage)

Level 4: Rogue (Level 4)

Select:

Feat: Ability Improvement (aka ASI) = +1 DEX, +1 WIS ⭐

This should take his Dexterity to 18 and his Wisdom to 16.

Level 5: Rogue (Level 5)

Proficiency Bonus

Improved Sneak Attack Damage (+1d6) ⭐

Level 6: Ranger (Level 1)

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons, martial weapons

Armor Proficiencies: Light armor, medium armor, shields

Select:

1st Favored Enemy: Bounty Hunter

1st Natural Explorer: Urban Tracker

Level 7: Ranger (Level 2)

Select:

Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting ⭐

Spells: Ensnaring Strike, Hunter’s Mark

The Archery Fighting Style could also be good, but I run Astarion as equally reliant on his standard Actions and Bonus Actions – therefore Two-Weapon Fighting works for my build.

Level 8: Ranger (Level 3)

Select:

Subclass: Gloom Stalker

Spells: Fog Cloud

The Gloom Stalker subclass has some awesome benefits:

Dread Ambusher (Extra Attack during the 1st round of combat) ⭐

Dread Ambusher: Hide (Basically another Cunning Action: Hide)

Umbral Shroud (Become Invisible if Obscured)

Superior Darkvision (Darkvision is now 24m / 80ft)

Disguise Self (Gain the ritual spell Disguise Self)

Dread Ambusher, Umbral Shroud, and Superior Darkvision are probably the best features for the stealthy machine gun Gloom Stalker Thief.

Level 9: Ranger (Level 4)

Feat:

Sharpshooter (-5 to Ranged Attack Rolls, but +10 to Ranged Damage Rolls) ⭐

Level 10: Ranger (Level 5)

Extra Attack ⭐

Misty Step (from Gloom Stalker Subclass) ⭐

Select:

Spells: Spike Growth

Level 11: Ranger (Level 6)

Select:

2nd Favored Enemy: Mage Breaker

2nd Natural Explorer: Wasteland Wanderer: Fire

I selected Mage Breaker because I had Astarion’s backstory in mind – Cazador, Astarion’s ultimate antagonist, is primarily a caster during Astarion’s final quest battle. However, True Strike is a notably unhelpful cantrip, so you may want to choose a different Favored Enemy.

I selected Wasteland Wanderer: Fire because Fire is a common Damage type that enemies dole out. For the same reason, Wasteland Wanderer: Poison is also a good selection.

Level 12: Ranger (Level 7)

Select:

Spells: Silence

I picked Silence since it’s almost always useful, but if you have a Cleric (or another caster with access to Silence) on your primary team then you may want to pick a different spell.

Alternatives…

If you went 4 Rogue / 8 Ranger, you’d lose Rogue’s Uncanny Dodge and additional 1d6 damage on Sneak Attack (Level 5) – but gain Ranger’s Land’s Stride: Difficult Terrain (Level 8) and an additional Feat (Level 8).

If you went 5 Rogue / 5 Ranger / 2 Fighter, you’d lose Ranger’s additional Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer (Level 6), and additional spell (Level 7) – but gain Fighter’s Second Wind, Fighting Style (Level 1), and Action Surge (Level 2).

I picked a lot of offensive Ranger spells, but the Ranger class also has some great buff spells like Longstrider and Enhance Leap.

Final Composition

By Level 12, Astarion should have the following notable qualities:

Extra Attack and Extra Bonus Action, resulting in 4 possible Attacks per round.

Sharpshooter: On a ranged weapon hit, deal an extra +10 Damage.

Sneak Attack: On a Sneak Attack hit, deal an extra 3d6 (3-18) Damage.

Two-Weapon Fighting, which adds your Ability Score Modifier (+4) to the damage of your offhand attack.

Gear

I like to equip Gloom Stalker Thief Astarion with the following gear. The evil flavoring on some of the pieces (Helldusk, Bhaalist) definitely adds to the ambience of a Vampire Ascendant Astarion.

I’ve made a small note of why I equipped each piece of gear, but you can visit each Wiki link for the full benefits on each piece! None of this gear is really necessary (except maybe the Risky Ring), but I do recommend having Astarion dual-wield to take advantage of Thief Rogue’s Extra Bonus Action.

Headwear: Marksmanship Hat

+1 to Ranged Attack Rolls

Also, he looks cool in it. LOL.

Armor: Bhaalist Armor

Aura of Murder: Enemies within 2m / 6.5ft become Vulnerable to Piercing Damage (unless they are Resistant or Immune to it)

+2 to Initiative Rolls

Cloak: Shade-Slayer Cloak

Reduces the number needed to roll a Critical Hit while Hiding by 1

Handwear: Helldusk Gloves

+1d6 Fire Damage per Weapon Attack

+1 to Weapon Attack Rolls

Footwear: Helldusk Boots

Any boots that give Astarion the option to position himself more aptly are excellent. For example, the Disintegrating Night Walkers or Spaceshunt Boots are also very good.

Amulet: Amulet of Bhaal

On a hit, inflicts Bleeding on targets that have maximum HP

This feels very apt for a Vampire Ascendant.

Ring A: Risky Ring*

Advantage on Attack Rolls

Disadvantage on Saving Throws

*This ring is extremely important to the build, IMO! The Advantage on Attack Rolls does a lot to offset the -5 to Attack Rolls from the Sharpshooter feat.

Ring B: Caustic Band**

+2 Acid Damage per Weapon Attack

**This ring can add up to +10 Acid Damage, since you have four Attacks and an additional attack on your first round of combat from Dread Ambusher. However, this +8-10 may not be negligible by the time you reach Act 3 – instead, the Killer’s Sweetheart ring (basically one free Critical Hit on demand per long rest) may be more overall effective.

Melee Main Hand: Crimson Mischief

+1d4 Piercing Damage when you have Advantage on targets with <50% of their HP

+7 Piercing Damage when you have Advantage on a target

If you’re wearing the Risky Ring, you’ll almost always have Advantage, so the added Piercing Damages are basically a guarantee.

Melee Off Hand: Rhapsody

Scarlet Remittance: Gain +1 to Attack Rolls, Damage, and Spell Save DC for each foe you slay (up to +3)

Sweet Bloodletting: Possibly inflict Bleeding when hitting a target with this weapon while Hiding or Invisible

Rhapsody used to belong to Cazador – so I find it thematically fitting for a Vampire Ascendant Astarion to now use this knife. But if you’d rather avoid it, Knife of the Undermountain King is also a good one!

Ranged Main Hand: Ne’er Misser

Deals Force Damage rather than Piercing Damage

Gain one use of Magic Missile Level 3 per Short Rest

I like this hand crossbow a lot because some enemies are Resistant to Piercing Damage – but very few (if any?) are Resistant to Force Damage. But since it doesn’t deal Piercing Damage, this hand crossbow won’t benefit from the Bhaalist Armor’s Aura of Murder.

Ranged Off Hand: Hellfire Hand Crossbow

+2 Weapon Enchantment

Hellstalker: Possibly inflict Burning when attacking while Hiding or Invisible

Damage Numbers

After you finish leveling and equipping Vampire Ascendant Astarion, your final Damage stats should look something like the following table. When calculating these numbers, I assumed the following:

The target isn’t Resistant to Piercing, Force, Acid, Necrotic, or Fire Damage

No conditional Damage on Crimson Mischief

Sharpshooter is toggled on

(I tried to calculate the above numbers by hand… So apologies if my calculations are fudged due to an incorrect understanding of Damage rolls, haha! This should be approximately correct, at least.)

Example: Combat Against Githyanki

For an example of how this build plays, here’s how Level 12, Vampire Ascendant, fully equipped Gloom Stalker Thief Astarion did against a group of Vlaakith’s githyanki warriors (Elfsong Tavern) in Tactician:

Here, Astarion did 43+75+26+35 Damage, or a total of 179 Damage in one round. (And that’s with four Attacks instead of five.) This is pretty standard for how my Act 3 combats tend to go, so I think this is a fair representation of this Astarion build’s abilities.

Conclusion

Of course, there are many other builds for Vampire Ascendant Astarion that can also do ridiculous (if not far more!) Damage. For example, some powergamers will class Astarion as a Monk (usually with the Tavern Brawler feat) – whether that’s Way of the Open Hand for maximum Damage output, or Way of Shadow for more vampiric vibes – with a multiclass dip in Thief Rogue for the Extra Bonus Action. This gives Vampire Ascendant Astarion a standard six Unarmed Strikes per round of combat; he adds 1d10 Necrotic Damage to each of those for an additional 6d10 Necrotic Damage total.

And, of course, even without the Vampire Ascendant trait, this build tends to do a good deal of Damage and can work for any character (whether that be an edgy Tav, the Dark Urge, or a different Companion). For example, a lot of the infernal gear might be cool for a post-Pact Ranger Wyll.

Thanks for reading, and hope this gave you some ideas for your ranged martial builds! :)

#chelle.txt #ch.build #astarion #i have been working on this for a while now LOL #happy to finally post this!#apologies if the damage table looks wonky - i'm sure i messed up some math somewhere haha #and yes this build requires being a bit amoral since 1) ascension and 2) bhaalist gear #so it's definitely not for everyone #but i think it's fun!

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grailfinders · 3 years

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Fate and Phantasms #109: Emiya (Assassin)

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re continuing our trek through Fate Zero with the assassin class Edgemiya, with the ability to alter his own time and everyone’s luck. Despite all his cool powers, he’s still pretty depressed. Oh well, it’s probably nothing a few more builds won’t fix.

Check out Emiya’s build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I am large- I contain multitudes.” -Walt Whitman

Race and Background

Emiya made a deal with the spirit of humanity to protect the human race, which is exactly why he’d make a great Hobgoblin... I’m kidding, he’s a Variant Human, for +1 Dexterity and Charisma, Arcana proficiency (or whatever else a rocket launcher would fall under idk), and the Crossbow Expert feat, allowing you to ignore loading crossbows, fire well with enemies in melee range, and dual wield hand crossbows. You can control the flow of time, you should be able to fire more than once a round.

You’ve fought in plenty of wars, but it’s hard to call a professional assassin anything but a Criminal. This gives you Deception and Stealth proficiencies.

Ability Scores

This is a pretty mono-ability build- make your Charisma as high as possible. You’re a pretty scary guy, and you shoot good. That’s charisma. Somehow. After that is Dexterity- you’re really stealthy, and really, really fast. Your Intelligence isn’t half bad. You can use plenty of fancy modern weapons, and you can hunt down mages to use them on. Constitution doesn’t have to be that high, you don’t need health if you just don’t get hit. Your Strength isn’t great, but it’s enough to get the job done. We’re dumping Wisdom, though-your entire characterization is about how much you regret making that deal with Alaya. You’re not bad at noticing things though, we’ll just have to patch that up with skills.

Class Levels

1. Rogue 1: You have a particular set of skills, and rogues start off with the most, so let’s spend a little time here for now. First level rogues get proficiency with Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws, as well as four rogue skills- Acrobatics to enhance your mobility, Intimidation for that no-nonsense attitude of yours, and Perception and Investigation to hunt down and destroy your enemies.

You also get Expertise, doubling your proficiency bonus for Stealth and Intimidation. Presence Concealment A+ is some good stuff.

You can also add a Sneak Attack bonus to damage done by attacks with advantage or directed at creatures who are occupied with other creatures. Right now, it’s just 1d6. You also learn Thieves’ Cant. It’s a language.

2. Warlock 1: Alaya’s kind of a lot of things to a lot of people, but Hexblades work best for us so a Hexblade it shall be here. As a hex warlock, you learn how to place a Hexblade’s Curse on a creature. It lasts one minute, or until one of you two dies, and you can use it once per short rest. While cursed, you can add your proficiency to damage against the target, all attacks made crit on 19s as well as 20s, and you gain hp when the cursed creature dies.

You also become a Hex Warrior, giving you proficiency with medium armor and martial weapons. You can also use charisma as your attack modifier for one weapon per long rest, as long as it isn’t two-handed. Right now, that means you’re using hand crossbows.

One last benefit of being a warlock is Pact Magic, spells you can cast using Charisma. Grab Eldritch Blast for more shooting and True Strike for more careful shots, Expeditious Retreat for some extra speed, and Cause Fear to drain the luck of one poor sap for up to a minute, rendering them unable to move closer and giving them disadvantage on attacks while you’re in sight for the duration. Sure, making yourself luckier would technically be more directly in line with canon, but it’s a “six in one hand, half a dozen in another” sort of situation.

3. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, extra ways to customize the Selling Your Soul Experience! You get two right now, but we’re saving one for The Obvious next level. Grab Thief of Five Fates for yet another way to ruin someone’s day. You can cast Bane once per long rest by using a warlock spell slot. This reduces all the saves and attack rolls of three creatures who failed their charisma saves by 1d4 for up to a minute. The DC on those saves, by the by, is 8 plus your proficiency bonus plus your charisma modifier. You can also cast Hex now, in case your enemies weren’t unlucky enough. This makes your attacks deal extra necrotic damage, they get disadvantage on ability checks with one ability, and you can move the effect to another creature if the first drops to 0 hp, which is nice considering it lasts an hour.

4. Warlock 3: Pact of the Blade time! This level lets you summon a magical pact weapon as an action. This weapon always has the benefits of being a Hex Warrior, and thanks to Improved Pact Weapon it can also be a ranged weapon. Specifically, it has to be a Light Crossbow now, because weapon requirements in D&D are obtuse and terrifying.

On a lighter note, you get second level spells now! You can speed up enough to create a Mirror Image of yourself, creating three copies of yourself on the same square you’re standing. If you’d take a hit, there’s a 75% chance a copy will get hit instead and get destroyed, leaving you with only two, and so on.

5. Warlock 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma for better... everything, really.

You can also cast Minor Illusion to leave afterimages further away from yourself, and Blur, which gives creatures attacking you disadvantage.

6. Rogue 2: Back in your other class, you learn how to make Cunning Actions, speeding up your Dash, Disengage, and Hide actions so they can fit in a bonus action instead.

7. Rogue 3: It’s no surprise that you’re an Assassin. I mean, it’s your class, but it’s also your subclass. As an Assassin, you can Assassinate enemies that are surprised and/or slower than you are. You have advantage on creatures who haven’t taken a turn yet, and hits against surprised creatures are instant criticals. Speaking of advantage, you can use your Steady Aim as a bonus action to give your next attack advantage, at the cost of losing al your movement for the turn. Despite this, you’ll have plenty of ways to move in a pinch if you really have to.

Also, your sneak attack goes up to 2d6.

8. Fighter 1: Yes, it’s another 3-class build. Don’t worry though, this one’s just a splash. As a fighter, you get a fighting style- Archery will make your shots even more accurate than they were before. You can also use your Second Wind as a bonus action for a bit of healing. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding time for a breather, after all.

9. Fighter 2: Second level fighters can use an Action Surge once per short rest to add an extra action to a turn. Save up for a burst of gunfire, or cast Mirror Image and Blur at the same time to become almost invincible have fun with it!

10. Warlock 5: Speaking of doubling up on things, at fifth level warlocks get another Invocation. Thirsting Blade lets you attack twice per action. You can also move fast enough to Blink out of existence. On the end of each turn for a minute, you have a 50% chance to enter the ethereal plane until the start of your next turn.

11. Rogue 4: Use your next ASI to grab the Piercer feat, for +1 Dexterity, the ability to re-roll one die of piercing damage per turn, and an extra critical hit die when you shoot somebody. If you don’t plan on wearing medium armor, this will also increase your AC.

12. Rogue 5: Fifth level rogues gain an Uncanny Dodge, spending your reaction to halve the damage of a single attack. I’d think you wouldn’t get hit by this point, but nat 20s happen to everyone eventually. Also, your sneak attack is 3d6 now.

13. Rogue 6: Use your second round of Expertise to double down on Perception and Investigation. You’re a professional, you’ve got to get results.

14. Rogue 7: Seventh level rogues get Evasion, making you fast enough to outrun fireballs. If an effect makes you roll a dexterity save to halve damage, a failure makes you take half damage now, and a success completely negates it. Your sneak attack reaches its final form at 4d6.

15. Warlock 6: Sixth level hexlocks can make an Accursed Specter once per long rest out of humanoids you kill. They stick around until your next long rest. This is very not in character for you, but free help is free help.

To help with all that killing, you can also cast Spirit Shroud, adding extra damage to short-range combat, preventing healing, and slowing down nearby enemies.

16. Warlock 7: You can now burn spell slots to power gunshots thanks to Eldritch Smite, which adds a lot of force damage to a weapon attack. To help maneuver around the battlefield, you can also cast Dimension Door for a quick burst of speed.

17. Warlock 8: Use your last ASI to maximize your Charisma for stronger spells and weapons. You can also cast Shadow of Moil for that dramatic shadowy look you get at higher ascensions. It also works as yet another reason people really shouldn’t hit you.

18. Warlock 9: Ninth level warlocks max out their spell slots at fifth level, allowing you to cast Far Step for a longer speed-up session. While the spell lasts (it’s concentration, up to a minute) you can use your bonus action to teleport 60′. You also get the invocation Trickster’s Escape, which lets you cast Freedom of Movement for free once per long rest. While active, your latent timewarping prevents you from being slowed down by magical effects or difficult terrain. (At least that’s what it looks like from the outside. They don’t need to know you secretly spent two turns getting through those hedges.)

19. Warlock 10: Our final gift from Alaya is the Armor of Hexes. If you’re going to get hit by a hexcursed creature’s attack, you can use your reaction for a 50/50 chance of ignoring the attack completely.

You can also cast the cantrip Friends this level. You’re scary, this’ll make you scarier for a bit.

20. Warlock 11: Having sixth level spells on short rests would be busted, so instead of growing your spell slots warlocks get a Mystic Arcanum. This lets you cast one sixth level spell once per long rest, like those plebeians with spellbooks. Your spell is the Circle of Death, letting you go full on Reaper on a pretty large area, dealing 8d6 necrotic damage to every creature that fails a constitution save in a 60′ radius sphere. It’s not dexterity, purely because there’s that many bullets flying around.

Pros:

You are very, very good at critical hits. With a doubled chance of critical damage and guaranteed crits on surprised creatures, you’ll be rolling a lot of dice pretty often. Especially since you can take advantage of critical hits easily thanks to your smites and sneak attacks.

While you can dish out damage easily, you’re also great at avoiding damage entirely, with plenty of spells that make you harder to hit, teleportation to get out of tricky spots, and multiple ways to dodge attacks even if they’re critical hits. Your mobility also makes it a lot harder to escape from you.

Maxed out charisma, the archery fighting style, and free advantage from Steady Aim means even after the fight starts you can still deal consistent damage over long periods of time. Your shots are going to land more often than not, and they land pretty hard.

Cons:

While you can deal damage over time, your kit is definitely geared more towards short bursts, because most of your skills are on a strict cooldown, with one or two uses per short rest. This is especially true of your spell slots. Warlocks eat up spells fast, especially if you’re using them for offense and defense.

Your low wisdom means you’re going to be fooled by illusions and charmed pretty easily. As a precaution, it might be best to use up your burst damage skills as soon as possible. You really don’t want to have to turn 9d8 + 4d6 + 12 damage on your party members.

Your HP isn’t that high, barely scraping above 100 at higher levels. While you have a lot of ways to make that last a lot longer than you’d think, there’s always the chance your DM’s getting sick of you surviving everything and will just throw someone with Power Word Kill your way.

#Fate Grand Order #D&D 5e #Emiya Assassin #FGO #Fate and Phantasms

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hanbeihood · 4 years

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A D&D 5e Build: Ron Stoppable

I did one of these sometime last year for Halloween and just wanted to do another, so here it is. First up: Why am I attempting to build Ron and /not/ KP? Simply put, Kim is a fairly straight forward build in 5e terms. She’s an Inquisitive Rogue with a single dip into Monk. You could give her some Fighter levels (that UA Unarmed Fighting Style is so tempting) to keep up with Shego’s combat prowess, but her brain is honestly her key feature, making those Rogue levels very valuable (11 at minimum as far as I’m concerned). She’s you’re basic, average girl, and she’s here to save the world. Ronald, on the other hand, is remarkable by just how unremarkable he is while still somehow keeping up with Kim. Barely. For those who didn’t watch Kim Possible when they were younger or don’t have Disney+, he might not even seem like an adventurer. But Ron’s amazing in game terms; he’s at that level of naco cheesiness I just love to play. Plus, he has Rufus, and everyone loves Rufus. Spoilers may appear.

Let’s get into it:

I’m going to be using the standard point array from the PHB. If you would like to roll for stats, just keep in mind where to put your higher and lower rolls.

Ron’s 15 is going into Wisdom. He may seem like a totally inept doof, but he’s incredibly insightful and holds onto his own philosophies. Also, his best friend aside from KP is a naked mole rat (a very smart one at that, but that’s cartoon logic). I’m going to put 14 in Charisma. Ron isn’t intended on being conventionally attractive, but Charisma =/= being hot. It’s all about your presence and ability to get people to listen to you and consider what you’re saying. Ron is somehow able to casually talk with so many villains, so his CHA must be high. Also, he’s an honorary Pixie Scout. 13 is going straight into Constitution. He is R-unstoppable after all... He can take a real beating from even the more threatening foes and eats so many nacos that an above average CON is the only reason he hasn’t been hospitalized for his diet. I’ll give 12 to his Dexterity. He’s dodged lasers, booby traps, and incoming fire from all sorts of things. An adolescence of fighting robots and super-humans will leave you light on your feet and your hands. This may sound weird, but I’m giving his Strength the 10. He’s worked in retail and has lugged around some pretty heavy looking things. And that leaves Intelligence with 8. Ron isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He says good stuff, but don’t ask him to tutor you for the upcoming exam unless it’s a subject he excels at without question. I know he was kind of a genius when he became evil that one time, but I’m going to rationalize that as his INT & WIS swapping places when his alignment got shifted. Ron’s a Neutral Good guy with Chaotic leanings, so going Evil is bound to mess with your brain in more ways than one.

STR 10 || DEX 12 || CON 13 || INT 8 || WIS 15 || CHA 14

Ron’s a Human of the Variant variety, but if you want to play him as a Bugbear, that’s cool I guess. I’m not your dad. I’m going to bump up his WIS to 16 and CON to 14. And I’m going to give him the Magic Initiate (Wizard) feat. Prestidigitation & Mending can reflect parts of his Movie Makeup Magic Kit, but I’m really taking this feat for Find Familiar so we can have Rufus right off the bat. He’ll also get the Animal Handling skill because Rufus loves him.

For his Background, I’m going with Entertainer for proficiency with Acrobatics, Performance, Disguise Kits, & a musical instrument of your choice. This solidifies his place as the Middleton Mad Dog mascot, the costume of which he made using his MMMK, and he has disguised himself as Mr. Dr. Possible & The Fearless Ferret. However, if you feel that the By Popular Demand feature doesn’t fit Ron quite right, go with the Rustic Hospitality feature from the Folk Hero background.

Oh boy, time for the class.

Ron is a Monk, first and foremost. Despite his clumsy, slacker nature, he’s incredible capable when it comes to dodging blows from Shego & Kim even with his hands behind his back. In addition to Martial Arts & Unarmored Defense, he’ll receive proficiency in Cooking Utensils, Insight, Stealth. He will continue down this class for some time, but what kind of Monk would he be? In the show, he eventually becomes the Supreme Monkey Master as recognized by Master Sensei (I know what you’re thinking.), so we should probably begin with looking for which subclass could best emulate Monkey Kung Fu.

There is a lot of history when it comes to Kung Fu, more than I’m going to type out. That’s not even to mention the 5 variations of the Tai Shing system. I bring this up because Ron’s arch-nemesis, Monkey Fist, is a pracitioner of Tai Shing Pek Kwar and probably would be best described as a user of Wooden Monkey. However, the beauty of 5e is that many different martial art styles can be emulated based on how you use your action economy and describe your attacks & movements. Flavor is everything.

If I were to put all the Monkey magic from the show aside, I would guess Ron could pass as a user of various styles due to him not being nearly trained as much as Monkey Fist in a particular discipline. For D&D 5e, he could be seen as a Drunken Master or Open Hand Monk, but he does have that Monkey magic, putting Four Elements on the table even if we want to say the more mystical side of his simian abilities are due to multiclassing.

At 2nd level, Ron gets access to Ki Points that he can use for Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind, or Patient Defense. PD is especially handy for the sidekick who would rather avoid danger. He also gets Unarmored Movement which is incredibly useful for a guy like Ron. His running ability landed him a spot on the Middleton High School American football team. Crazy right?

With all that out of the way, I’m going to say once he reaches 3rd level of Monk, Ron will adopt the Way of the Four Elements, learning Elemental Attunement (a more elemental version of Prestidigitation that we can swap out later) & one other viable Four Elements Discipline of your choice. Fist of Unbroken Air is a great option for pushing a foe back while dealing damage. He also gets the ability to Deflect Missiles which is always good.

4th level Monks get the option for an Ability Score Increase or a feat. Take the Lucky feat. It’s honestly super impressive that Ron survived so long fighting baddies before he started his martial arts training. Remember, Kim Possible is one of those shows that has stuff going on off-screen, so there have been many missions between the episodes we see. Monks get Slow Fall here too; Ron falls a lot and this may be how he’s avoided concussions when he should clearly get one.

5th level gives Ron an Extra Attack and Stunning Strike. The best way to avoid a punch is to insure your opponent can’t even throw one. Also, your Martial Arts die is now a d6.

At 6th level, Ron can gain a new 4EleDis as well as swap one out for another. Drop Elemental Attument like I mentioned earlier for Gong of the Summit. This allows you to cast Shatter, and we can flavor this to be a sort of mystical monkey screech. Pick up Clench of the North Wind so you can cast Hold Person; KP will have an easier time boppin’ bad guys when they aren’t moving. Also, your unarmed strikes are now magical when it comes to overcoming resistance and immunity against non-magical attacks & damage. Talk about that Ron factor.

7th level Monks get Evasion for even more ways to avoid danger & Stillness of Mind; he may seem like a coward, but Ron Stoppable won’t be swayed into abandoning his friends.

8th level gives Ron another chance for an ASI/feat. Bump up DEX by 2 to 14 so you can start dealing more damage and have a higher AC. 15 isn’t great but PD has probably served you well if you’ve survived this long.

At 9th level, Ron’s Unarmored Movement is improved so you can have him run along walls or over liquids as long as you keep moving. This isn’t super in-character, but it’s useful.

10th level of Monk gives our boy Purity of Body, making him immune to disease and poison. Looks like he won’t be able to miss school unless he fakes being sick.

11th level is really what we wanted from the Four Elements because now Ron can use Ride the Wind to cast Fly on himself like the Supreme Monkey Master he is. Plus, his Martial Arts die is a d8 now.

For 12th level, we have another ASI/feat opportunity, so that’s another +2 to Ron’s Dexterity for a 16. This gives him an AC of 16 with the ability to take the Dodge action as a bonus action with PD.

I’m going stop here with this build because I think this is a solid place that could potentially coincide with the show, but if you want to take Ron to 20th level, Monks do get two more ASI/feat opportunities at 16th & 19th level. Use these chances to bump up your DEX & WIS to 18 each, or make one of those a 20. Four Elements Monks also get one more Discipline they can take at 17th level; Ron would probably take the Fist of Four Thunders in order to cast Thunderwave. However, if you don’t want to continue levels in Monk, almost any subclass of Fighter or Thief/Swashbuckler Rogue (if your DM is cool with Martial Arts counting towards Sneak Attack) could be viable.

If you decided to opt out of the Magic Initiate feat I took at 1st level, you could easily just take the pet mouse from the Urchin background equipment. Or you could make Rufus a player character with an Awakened Rat as the race if you want him to be more involved.

#ron stoppable #rufus #kim possible #Dungeons and Dragons #dnd #character build #5e

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