A Little Poison On The Stage

First post in like.... over a year? God, has it really been that long?

My name is Dokuro Homika. I’m an indie rocker, and for the last seven years I’ve been the Gym Leader of Virbank City. I think you know the story by now. Everything seems fine, and just when the new trainers start coming in on the Gym Challenge, some chucklefucks come out of the woodworks with some grand master plan of evil. And sure, maybe the Plasma Gang wasn’t that bad the first time around, but the fact they came back two years later far, far more willing to take lives? Yeah, I was pretty damn well occupied keeping my city safe. At least the years following that were a fair bit more peaceful. Not counting various other threats like those strange wormholes dotting the sky or the rise of those Macro Cosmo assholes. Honestly not sure what’s worse, having to shove my dagger into a strangely hot bug woman or finding out that some dickweed thought triggering the apocalypse would help with an energy crisis a thousand years in the future. I swear, people these days...

Okay, so flash forward a couple months after those Galar shenanigans. 

I’m in my room at the back of The Dive, practicing some new killer songs- Liar, she was just laying on her bed eating pizza. She wasn’t even doing anything remotely musical, her Scolipede-themed bass just lying at the foot of the bed. Frankly, the only thing close to musical she was doing was listening to the occasional song that came up in her RotoYou playlist. -When the weirdest thing happened. And I gotta say, since that Plasma Gang incident a few years back, weird things have happened to me pretty damn often. But this. This was really fucking weird. As she reached for another slice of pizza, a technicolor burst flashed on her ceiling, flaring from purple to pink to blue, settling on a light cyan. Thinking nothing of it, she attempted to bite into the slice of pepperoni, only for the pizza to glitch the fuck out and shatter in her hand. Grief at the loss of her late lunch flashed in eyes for a moment, for the shock to be overwhelmed by surprise.

The swirling vortex ripped her off her bed with such force she almost couldn’t right herself in the air, and only barely managed to snag the strap of her bass before being sucked right in.

That damn thing threw me through a fuckin’ drug trip tunnel and ping-ponged me against a bunch of buildings before tossing me in front of a harbor. It looked a lot like Virbank City, but... it wasn’t. I knew everyone in my city, and not a single face on the people milling about looked familiar. Not to mention, there wasn’t a single Pokemon in sight. 

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Blue

The last of my builds for this round, we finally get to a Pokemon Adventures character, which means we actually have a heckin’ lot to base this build off of, both from the canon source and from @maskedthief‘s interpretation of her. Blue is the third trainer to rise from Pallet Town, having set out on her journey around Kanto to take part in the league tournament after stealing a Squirtle from Professor Oak’s lab. She’s run into the likes of Red and Green plenty of times, though major moments include stealing Red’s Boulder and Cascade Badges as well as selling him a bunch of fake items. There’s also the raid on Silph Co, where she helped Red and Green knock Team Rocket outa there, even pulling a few fast ones on the mistress of Psychic Types and Rocket Admin, Sabrina. We should also be reminded of her backstory, kidnapped at a young age by a giant bird and raised as one of the Masked Man’s minions. It was there she learned all about Evolution- when something will evolve, how it evolves, how fast it can evolve, etc. These are skills we should be able to translate into some forms of knowledge, which is our first goal. In addition we need to make sure her hands are fast and just as sticky and that she can move fast to wing it outta there. Lastly, let’s try to get some of her Pokemon team represented, with the bulk of them being of the Fairy Type, we should ensure that Blue has plenty of fey influence. Once again, we’ll be using Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition and all books and articles related to it.

Ability Scores

These ventures will use standard array, a set of numbers given as a sort of average stat pool. Feel free to roll for stats if you wanted to use this character, just treat this arrangement as a general order for what stats are most important. We won’t need to bother with multiclassing, so just make sure you use the stat spread as a guideline and you’ll be passing with flying colors. ...Too soon? 

Strength: 8 (Won’t really help us.) Dexterity: 15 (Main attacking stat and useful for thievery) Constitution: 10 (I don’t wanna dump it.) Intelligence: 13 (Need this to be pretty solid.) Wisdom: 12 (Definitely has decent Insight rolls.) Charisma: 14 (Definitely knows how to please people.)

Race

Let’s look at some options here. We could make Blue a Human, since she is one (as far as we’re aware) and get her a free Feat. But I think we can do that juuuuust a little bit better. Know how I mentioned the fey earlier? Let’s actually make Blue a Half-Elf. Half-Elves get the best of Humans and Elves, starting with the typical 30 feet of movement, +2 to their Charisma score (raising it to 16), +1 to two different stats of their choice (bump Dexterity to 16 and Intelligence to 14), and Darkvision out to 60 feet. It doesn’t look very easy to see outta that mask, so she definitely had to see better in low light. Not to mention it’s very handy for a thief. Her Fey Ancestry would also give her advantage on charm saves and she wouldn’t be able to be put to sleep by magic, great for staying away from insomnia and nightmares, eh? She would also get Skill Versatility, gaining two skills of her choice. I’d recommend Arcana for her knowledge of magical metamorphosis and History to cover any research on Evolution already done. As for Languages, she gets Common, Elvish, and a language of her choice. Perhaps Auran, the language of beings close to the Elemental Plane of Air? 

Class and Background

Now, for our thief-y little girl here, I’m thinking that the best way to go is Bard, her About page does mention she’s a good singer, right? Okay that’s a big fat lie and we know it. It’s obvious, she’s a Rogue. Do I even need to explain why? No, she probably stole the reason and flew on outta here. 

Rogues start with a d8 hit die (decent, not the best), proficiency in Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords, thieves’ tools, and four skills from a pretty big list. Of the options listed, Acrobatics, Deception, Investigation, and Persuasion cover her agility and people skills effectively. We’ll get some more skills to aid her thieving from her background. Toss on some light armor, I’d recommend studded leather. As for what weapons to focus on, I’d suggest any Finesse weapon to pair well with her Dexterity. While there’s no real in-character option, but a rapier is pretty stylish and could evoke a sweet masked thief vibe. It deals a d8 + her Dexterity modifier in damage too, making it the strongest option for her. 

As for her background, let’s focus on her time with the Masked Man and call her an Urchin. But since we’re altering it a bit, feel free to rename it Kidnapped Youth or something like that. Take proficiency in Sleight of Hand and Perception to round off her thief-y skills. As I’ve said before, backgrounds also give you access to tools. Her Ditto could be represented early with proficiency in a Disguise Kit while proficiency in the Forgery Kit could make her just as deceptive in writing as she is with spoken word.

This build’s gonna be pretty easy, Rogue from start to finish. We’ll take a look at what Blue gets at each level and discuss ways to make use of them and cover any choices that need to be made. At Rogue 1, Blue gets one of the best things about being a Rogue, a way to make her anime as fuck with incredible skill checks in the skills she uses most:

Expertise: Choose two of your skill proficiencies, or one of your skill proficiencies and your proficiency with thieves' tools. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies..

I’d suggest Arcana to make her an expert in Evolution and Sleight of Hand to make her hands as fast as possible. For the record, proficiency bonuses start at +2 and reach +6 by level twenty, so that’s a free +12 in those stats by the end of the build. Pretty dang good if you ask me. Rogues also get their other key feature at this level, which helps them deal more damage in their turn:

Sneak Attack: Once per turn, you can deal extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon.You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll.

And lastly our girl Blue gets Thieves’ Cant, a secret language of ciphers and symbols that can carry secret messages. Pretty handy way to exchange secret communications.

Thieves’ Cant: You know thieves' cant, a secret mix of dialect, jargon, and code that allows you to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation. Only another creature that knows thieves' cant understands such messages. It takes four times longer to convey such a message than it does to speak the same idea plainly. In addition, you understand a set of secret signs and symbols used to convey short, simple messages, such as whether an area is dangerous or the territory of a thieves' guild, whether loot is nearby, or whether the people in an area are easy marks or will provide a safe house for thieves on the run.

At Rogue 2, we can satisfy that speedy goal of mine and get a way for her to soar like a Pidgeot compared to the average adventurer:

Cunning Action: You can use your Bonus Action to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. Thanks to the Class Feature Variant Unearthed Arcana article, she can additionally use this bonus action to Aim. When using your bonus action in this way, you give yourself advantage on your next attack roll on the current turn. You can use this bonus action only if you haven’t moved during this turn, and after you use the bonus action, your speed is 0 until the end of the current turn

At Rogue 3, Blue can pick a roguish archetype. Arcane Tricksters gain the ability to cast wizard spells, relying on their Intelligence modifier to enchant and illuse. This means her Intelligence modifier is added to the attack rolls of spells and the difficulty check of saving throws her spells require. She gains two cantrips from the wizard list alongside Mage Hand, and three first spells, two of which must be enchantment or illusion schools with the third being free of that restriction. In case someone doesn’t know the difference, cantrips are simple magical tricks you can pull off at will, while leveled spells require expending one of your spell slots of a level equal to or higher than the spell’s level. Here’s some options:

Mage Hand: A conjuration cantrip that manifests a spectral hand that can be used to do a ton of really small things like lifting small objects, pulling levers from a distance, that sort of thing. It’s like a tiny ghost thing, which would be perfect if Blue ever picked up, say, a Shuppet or something. Especially with the benefits that Arcane Trickster gives her, as you’ll see down below. Dancing Lights: An evocation cantrip that creates lines of multicolored orbs of light, like fairy lights. It does require concentration to maintain them, but it’s still a nice little spell for its effects. Message: An transmutation cantrip that that allows the user to send a telepathic message to someone they point at, and that individual can respond telepathically. It’s like a walkie talkie, or a cell phone. A shitty cell phone. With a range of only a hundred and twenty feet. Disguise Self: A first level illusion spell that will let Blue take on different appearances. This is essentially her Ditto, able to shift her into the likeness of Sabrina, for instance.  Charm Person: A first level enchantment spell forces a Wisdom saving throw on the target, and if they fail they become charmed by her and basically become her bestest friend while they’re affected. A great way to get what she wants if her own natural charisma isn’t enough.  Find Familiar: A first level conjuration spell that has a buncha random rules, that you’re gonna wanna look up, but it basically amounts to the ability to summon a pet that will stick around and help her out. I’d recommend a pooch of some sort, and since this spell can allow the beast summoned to be considered a different creature type, it could be a fey dog. You know. Like Snubbull. 

Also at this level, Blue gains some swanky upgrades to her Mage Hand spell, letting her use it for more rogue-y things. Additionally, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 2d6:

Mage Hand Legerdemain: When you cast Mage Hand, you can make the spectral hand invisible, and you can perform the following additional tasks with it: -You can stow one object the hand is holding in a container worn or carried by another creature. -You can retrieve an object in a container worn or carried by another creature. -You can use thieves' tools to pick locks and disarm traps at range. -You can perform one of these tasks without being noticed by a creature if you succeed on a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check contested by the creatures Wisdom (Perception) check. -In addition, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to control the hand.

At Rouge 4, Blue gets the first of her Ability Score Improvements (ASIs). Let’s take the +2 and put it in Dexterity, bumping that up to 18 for better hit and damage rolls with her rapier and better armor. She also gets another spell, which can be from the enchantment or illusion schools:

Color Spray: A first level illusion spell that releases brilliant light in a cone that blinds a certain amount of hit points’ worth of individuals for one round. It’s not the best way to stall a foe, but it’s certainly in character. It’s a solid use of Flash, which would have been an HM back in the day that I suspect one of her team would have had. 

At Rouge 5, Blue gets another incredibly helpful core feature that makes it a lot easier for Rogues to survive in the midst of combat. And it certainly fits her character, as the Pokemon Adventures trainers aren’t hesitant to get right up there with their foes in battles. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 3d6:

Uncanny Dodge: When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you.

At Rogue 6, Blue gains Expertise in two more skills (or her thieves’ tools) of her choice. Let’s make her social skills even more busted and take expertise in Deception and Persuasion. 

At Rogue 7, Blue gets a spell, which can now be of second level, and another key feature which makes her even harder to hit than she was before, even by some of the strongest spells in the game. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 4d6:

Mirror Image: A second level illusion spell that functions like Double Team, creating illusory clones that can draw fire, making it harder to hit the real Blue. A handy little technique that I could see Blue making a lot of use of.  Evasion: When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

At Rogue 8, Blue gets her second ASI and let’s use that to max her Dexterity score at 20 for the best hit, damage, and armor modifiers for her level. She also gets a spell from any school:

Thunderwave: A first level evocation spell that blasts a fifteen foot radius around her with damaging sound, a bit like Hyper Voice, which I have no doubt her Jiggly knows. It’s handy to have magical damage, and with such a focus on utility spells this might be the best option for damage if her rapier won’t cut it.

At Rogue 9, Blue gets another Arcane Trickster feature that makes her oh-so deliciously more capable of messing with her enemies. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 5d6:

Magical Ambush: If you are hidden from a creature when you cast a spell on it, the creature has disadvantage on any saving throw it makes against the spell this turn.

At Rogue 10, Blue gets her third ASI and lets use that to bump her Intelligence by +2 (raising it to 16) for better saves and and hit rolls. She also gets her fourth cantrip and another spell, which again must be from the enchantment or illusion schools:

Ray of Frost: An evocation cantrip that looses a blast of cold energy like some sort of beam or ray of ice. The book says it’s fired from the caster, but I see no trouble flavoring it as tossing out a pokeball to summon a mighty Blastoise to douse a foe with cold water. Some nice damage at range, since cantrips scale up with level, gaining additional damage dice.   Hold Person: A second level enchantment spell that forces a Wisdom saving throw on a foe, restraining them in place if they fail. This is your Whirlpool on Blasty or some sorta weird fairy magic from Jiggly or Clefy. Combine it with Magical Ambush to make it really hard for the enemy to pass the save.

At Rogue 11, Blue gains another spell from the enchantment or illusion schools and another touchstone feature for improving her skills, and let’s just say it’s going to make her a complete monster with the skills she has expertise in. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 6d6:

Sleep: A first level enchantment spell that uses Sing to put a certain number of hit points’ worth of foes in the area to sleep. This is a little more effective than Color Spray and hits over a wider area, but there are times when blinding a foe may be more useful than simply knocking them out. Regardless, a useful spell to have in her kit.  Reliable Talent: Whenever you make an ability check that lets you add your proficiency bonus, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.  

Seriously, consider this for a second. A Sleight of Hand check from her at this level has a bonus of +13 (5 from Dexterity, 8 from doubled proficiency). That means the lowest she can roll on a Sleight of hand check is 23. Lowest. That’s crazy. And super amazing for stealing her friends’ wallets before casually handing them back to them.

At Rogue 12, Blue gets her fourth ASI and lets use that to bump her Charisma by +2 (raising it to 16) to make her all the more sociable and manipulative.

At Rogue 13, she gets another spell, which can now be of third level. Blue apparently decided that it wasn’t good enough to be stabbing people and casting spells at the same time and decided to make it so she can really fuck up a single person that was getting on her nerves. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 7d6:

Fear: A third level illusion spell that forces foes to make a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened by some terrifying visage. Why not show her enemies a massive shadowy bird of doom? Oh, they aren’t afraid of birds? Ouch. I suppose ya could spook ‘em with something else though.  Versatile Trickster: As a bonus action on your turn, you can designate a creature within 5 feet of your Mage Hand. Doing so gives you advantage on attack rolls against that creature until the end of the turn.

At Rogue 14, Blue gains another spell from any school and a feature that may not be perfectly in character, but it does extrapolate on how low to the ground her ears can be. And I see nothing wrong with giving characters features that build on their canon:

Tidal Wave: A third level conjuration spell that releases a massive wave of crushing water, dealing bludgeoning damage over a wide area should the targets fail a Dexterity saving throw. This is the best approximation of Blasty’s Hydro Cannon I could find. Blindsense: If you are able to hear, you are aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet of you.  

At Rogue 15, Blue gets a really handy way to mitigate that lower Wisdom score, something I’d wanted to deal with since the beginning. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 8d6:

Slippery Mind: You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.

At Rogue 16, Blue gets her fifth ASI and honestly her stats look pretty fine, so let’s exchange that ASI for a Feat, and I’d recommend a way to give her more skill proficiencies- as in the Skilled Feat. She also gets another spell from either of her restricted schools:

Skilled:  You gain proficiency in any combination of 3 skills or tools of your choice. Round off her survival skills by taking Survival, Nature, and Animal Handling.  Invisibility: A second level illusion spell that does what it says on the tin, turning Blue invisible for the duration, as long as she maintains her concentration. Really dang handy, and something I suspect could be possible with Ditty, reflecting the light around them to turn invisible or something.

At Rogue 17, Blue gets another Arcane Trickster feature that makes her the bane of enemy casters. Considering her smarts and her knowledge of Pokemon, it does make sense that she’d be able to put her magical know-how to fuck up other people’s days. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 9d6:

Spell Thief: Immediately after a creature casts a spell that targets you or includes you in its area of effect, you can use your reaction to force the creature to make a saving throw with its spellcasting ability modifier. The DC equals your spell save DC. On a failed save, you negate the spell's effect against you, and you steal the knowledge of the spell if it is at least 1st-level and of a level you can cast (it doesn't need to be a wizard spell). For the next 8 hours, you know the spell, can cast it using your spell slots, and the creature can't cast that spell until the 8 hours have passed. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

At Rogue 18, Blue gets yet another feature that makes her really damn hard to hit. Kinda terrifying if ya ask me, she’s lookin’ more like a DBZ character with how many options she has to dodge:

Elusive: No attack roll has advantage against you while you aren't incapacitated.

At Rogue 19 Blue gets her sixth ASI and lets also trade that one in for a Feat. I’d recommend Alert, so she’s always making use of her skills to keep an eye on things. She also gets another spell from one of her restricted schools, which can now be of fourth level. In addition, her Sneak Attack dice go up to 10d6:

Alert: Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits: -You can't be surprised while you are conscious. -You gain a +5 bonus to initiative. -Other creatures don't gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you. Charm Monster: A fourth level enchantment spell that does what Charm Person does to people but to monsters. it forces a Wisdom saving throw, and if the monster fails they become Blue’s best friendy-wend. Very handy to stop marauding monstrous beastly Pokemon if ya ask me.  

At Rogue 20, Blue gets her another spell from any school, and her capstone feature, and a pretty solid one at that:

Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound: A fourth level conjuration spell that yes, may seem a bit odd of a pick, but it’s actually kinda nifty. It summons an invisible dog that guards you for eight hours, chompin’ on anything that gets in Blue’s way for 4d8 piercing damage. Now I said that her Familiar could be Snubbull, and I stand by that, so I suggest you use this spell to emulate her Nido instead. The loyal Nidoqueen already behaves like a guard dog, so it seemed pretty dang fitting to me.  Stroke of Luck: If your attack misses a target within range, you can turn the miss into a hit. Alternatively, if you fail an ability check, you can treat the d20 roll as a 20. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest. 

See what I mean? A once per short rest instant win button. Call it her Dex Holder plot armor if ya want. 

Final Thoughts

Know how I said Clair was terrifying? Blue is just as much, if not moreso. I’ve already talked about just how busted Expertise is and how good it is on someone like Blue, but let’s look at just how many of her skill checks are going to be amazing. There are eighteen skills in the game, and Blue has proficiency in eleven of them. Hell, she practically has proficiency in the hidden nineteenth skill, Initiative! Alert gives her a bonus that’s only one off of her proficiency, so yeah. Not to mention that four of the skills she’s proficiency in will never roll lower than a 20 on the die, seeing as her +12 proficiency bonus stacks on top of Reliable Talent’s ability to turn anything under 10 to 10. That’s just. Really damn good. The few skills she’s not proficient in are just ones she probably wouldn’t need to take anyway. With only seven skills left, her allies could easily handle them. I mean. Yellow definitely has the Medicine and Religion skills covered, both Green and Red have Athletics no doubt. What’s left? Performance? She’s not good at singing. Stealth? Why be sneaky when you can waltz right in and take what you want? Intimidation? That’s more Green’s thing. Insight? That’s more Yellow’s thing. And ah. That’s all the skills left. Yeah. Blue’s a freakin’ skill monkey. And she’s got great damage with her Sneak Attack and plenty of ways to get advantage so she can always get the big damage off. Not to mention her spells make her a threat even at range, mixing in magical damage to boot.

There’s not many cons. I mean… spell slots are a limited resource, sure, but that’s why you gotta be picky about you use them. We also never boosted her Constitution, leaving her with pretty low hit points throughout the build, even with maximum rolls on the hit dice. But that’s why I always say you roll for stats- You’re more than likely going to get a roll you like better to at least get a small bonus. My advice? If you can get a Constitution score of 14 as a Rogue or some sort of caster, then you are perfectly fine as is. And if ya don’t have the Con, Blue still has a ton of ways to avoid damage with all those features from Rogue. Seriously, twenty levels of Rogue makes for a stupidly infuriating game of cat and mouse, and I’m sure Blue would love that.

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Clair

Ah yes, Clair. The final gym leader you fight before reaching the League for the first time in all Johto games. And that’s generally all we really get of her in those games, aside from her rivalry with Lance and how much of a haughty sore loser she is. Though this is not the Clair we are looking at today, today we approach @draconscious​ and their interpretation of Clair, who I firmly believe has developed more into her own person and away from the second-place ruthless girl of old. Let’s start with a few goals. The obvious one is this- Dragons. It’s Clair’s type specialty and we need to put some of that into her D&D counterpart. Let’s also draw some focus toward her ruthless battling style and get some physical damage sources as well. On that same note, we should also make sure that she’s durable. This girl can take Pokemon attacks with ease. That’s gotta mean she’s got high hit points or defenses, right? Once again, we’ll be using Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition and all books and articles related to it.

Ability Scores

These ventures will use standard array, a set of numbers given as a sort of average stat pool. Feel free to roll for stats if you wanted to use this character, just treat this arrangement as a general order for what stats are most important. Make sure to keep some multiclassing minimums in mind but it shouldn’t be that difficult. Personally? I think Clair needs higher stats than what I have available here. So definitely consider rollling.

Strength: 13 (She’s pretty strong, but we just need other stats more) Dexterity: 14 (Will be needed for our armor and attacks) Constitution: 12 (A positive modifier is always good) Intelligence: 15 (A core stat) Wisdom: 10 (Definitely not the best at insight checks but I wouldn’t dump it) Charisma: 8 (She’s attractive, but not the best with people)

Race

In a surprise will be change of pace, I’m going to make Clair an Elf. She’s haughty, comes from a long line of respected warriors, and just look at her. She practically screams elven princess. On that note, let’s push further on that royalty aspect and make her a High Elf. High Elves get the typical 30 feet of movement and get +2 to their Dexterity and +1 to their Intelligence, bringing our core stats up to 16 each. She’d also get Darkvision and free proficiency in Perception to see well in the low light of the Dragon Den. Her Fey Ancestry would also give her advantage on charm saves and she wouldn’t be able to be put to sleep by magic, which is good, since elves don’t sleep anyway. Instead she has a Trance, which gives her the benefits of a long rest over four hours instead of eight. More time for training, right? As a High Elf, Clair would also have free proficiency in the longsword, shortsword,shortbow, and longbow, as well as an addition language of her choice in addition to the Common and Elvish she’d already know. Take Draconic, perhaps? And lastly, High Elves get a free cantrip to start that relies on Intelligence, which is going to be your casting modifier anyway so that’s excellent. Here’s a solid choice:

Green-Flame Blade: An evocation cantrip that uses a weapon attack to strike a foe, causing green flames to leap to another nearby foe. Cantrips scale by character level, not class level, so it will eventually grow stronger, adding extra fire damage to the initial strike. A bit of a substitute for Dragon Breath if you ask me.

Class and Background

Some might be expecting me to go Sorcerer again and take the Draconic Soul, but I wanted to highlight more than just her draconic connection and focus on her personality, what she would do if she was actually growing up in a fantasy world with magical creatures and teens traveling the world fighting monsters. Oh, wait, she does live in a world like that. Well, make it more medieval and then you’d get... a Fighter! Yes, I would say that Clair has plenty of martial experience. But I also think that she has plenty of focus on study and research- especially after realizing the errors of her ways. So we also will stack in a couple levels of Wizard For now, let’s start with some Fighter levels..

Fighters start with a d10 hit die (excellent), proficiency in Strength and Constitution saving throws, simple weapons, martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, heavy armor, shields, and two skills from a short list. Of the options listed, Acrobatics and Athletics will reflect her athletic ability pretty darn well. Gonna need both if she’s running around ancient caverns looking for the rarest of Dragon Pokemon. Toss on some light armor, I’d recommend studded leather. As for what weapons to focus on, I’d suggest any Finesse weapon to pair well with her Dexterity. Could be a dagger or a rapier, but I personally think a whip is the most appropriate for her character.

As for her background, let’s focus on training with the Blackthorn Dragon Clan and call her a Noble. Let’s adapt the background a bit and give her History and Intimidation instead of Persuasion, another language of her choice, and a gaming set of her choice. My bet is chess, she’s probably challenged the Elder to many games to get in his favor.

We’ll start with some early Fighter levels and then proceed to her levels in Wizard, and then go back to Fighter to round off the build. At Fighter 1, Clair can pick a Fighting Style. She’s got some options, but what I would recommend is:

Dueling:  When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

This means that whip of hers deals 1d4 + 3 (from Dexterity) + 2, which is already the maximum damage of a whip in the hands of someone with 20 Dexterity. This should make up for the lower damage of the whip pretty well. Fighter 1 also nets her a recovery ability in the form of the following feature, which will help when she’s taking those Pokemon attacks:

Second Wind: On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

At Fighter 2, she gets a nifty feature called Action Surge:

Action Surge: On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible bonus action. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

By the way, this is the second reason we’re starting Fighter. The first is getting proficiency in Constitution saving throws to make her concentration saves to maintain her wizard spells really damn good. Speaking of magic, let’s get some more. Spamming that Green-Flame Blade can’t be all ya wanna do, right?

At Fighter 3, Clair can pick a martial archetype, and we’re going to get that magic going with Eldritch Knight. Eldritch Knights gain the ability to cast wizard spells, relying on their Intelligence modifier just like her cantrip from High Elf. This means her Intelligence modifier is added to the attack rolls of spells and the difficulty check of saving throws her spells require. She gains two cantrips from the wizard list and three first spells, two of which must be evocation or abjuration with the third being free of that restriction. In case someone doesn’t know the difference, cantrips are simple magical tricks you can pull off at will, while leveled spells require expending one of your spell slots of a level equal to or higher than the spell’s level. Here’s some options:

Fire Bolt: An evocation cantrip that deals fire damage from a distance- a pretty solid Ember attack, if you ask me. Her Salamence likely knew it when it was a Bagon after all. Lightning Lure: An evocation cantrip that forces a Strength saving throw lest the target be drawn up to 10 feet closer, and deals lightning damage if the target is pulled within 5 feet of her. A handy Thundershock if you ask me. Earth Tremor: A first level evocation spell that forces a Dexterity save by shaking up the ground in a localized quake, dealing bludgeoning damage if they fail the save. A solid Bulldoze. Shield: A first level abjuration spell that increases your armor class by 5 for a round of combat as a reaction. Pretty good use of Protect if you ask me. Feather Fall: A first level transmutation spell that basically saves people from a falling damage up to a point. Rather handy if she falls off a dragon.

Additionally, she gets a nice ribbon ability from the EK, which can be applied to her whip so that she always has access to a weapon:

Weapon Bond: Over the course of 1 hour short rest, you can bond a weapon to you. Once bonded, you cannot be disarmed unless you are incapacitated and if the weapon is on the same plane of existence, you can summon it to your hand as a bonus action. You can bond up to two weapons at once.

At Fighter 4, Calir gets her first Ability Score Improvement (ASI) and let’s dump the +2 into Dexterity to make her weapon attacks all the better. She also gets another spell from the wizard list, which must also be either evocation or abjuration. Here’s a good choice:

Burning Hands: A first level evocation spell that releases a gout of flame, burning a line of foes if they fail a Dexterity saving throw. A solid Flamethrower if you ask me.

At Fighter 5 she gains a simple level that gives you the most useful skill a martial character can have, the ability to hit more times with her weapon:

Extra Attack: You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

It should be noted that this wouldn’t stack with Green-Flame Blade, as casting the spell is not taking the attack action. However, we will gain a way around that restriction soon. But first, let’s lean in to Clair’s dragon research with some levels in Wizard.

At Fighter 5/Wizard 1, Calir gains some buffs to her spellcasting. Since we’re multiclassing two separate casters, it’s worth mentioning that the spell slots Clair has will be modified a bit, since wizard is a full caster and eldritch knights are 1/3 casters, she’ll have a slightly higher amount and level of spell slots. Just look up the effects of this online or in the player’s handbook. The modified spell slots do not change what each of her classes could learn normally, so we will proceed as if she only had the slots of her respective classes. Wizards, unlike Eldritch Knights, can use a spellcasting focus to ignore material components- let’s make that a Dragon Fang or Dragon Scale- as well as cast spells tagged as rituals without using a spell slot as long as she takes extra time doing so. With the caveat that those spells have to be within the Spellbook, a tome of knowledge that the wizard has filled out with their magical secrets. The Dragon Pokedex, perhaps? Wizards can prepare a number of spells from their spell book equal to their Intelligence modifier plus their wizard levels, which will cap out for her at seven. She starts with six of these spells and can add more to her book if she finds them and has the time and money to do so. For every additional level in Wizard she takes, she also gets two more added. Since all these spells will be first level, use it to hold the spells she can’t grab due to the restrictions on Eldritch Knight. Here’s six solid options to add to her book:

Comprehend Languages: A first level divination ritual spell that lets the caster understand any spoken or written language while it’s in effect. Pretty handy when investigating old sites. Find Familiar: A first level conjuration ritual spell that, to reduce the massive amount of rules around familiars to a few sentences, basically allows the summoning a special pet that can do a number of things for her in and out of battle. Use this to summon a snake, perhaps, and make a baby Dratini! Absorb Elements: A first level abjuration spell that uses a reaction to deflect elemental damage that you take and apply it to your next attack. Handy for adding some extra damage to her whip, I’d say. Fog Cloud: A first level conjuration spell that requires concentration to throw up a cloud of mist, which can be used to hide from enemies. Handy. Ice Knife: A first level conjuration spell that deals cold damage by hurling icy shards, almost like the move Ice Shard. It also has the fun side effect of forcing a Dexterity save for extra piercing damage in an as the knife explodes. Detect Magic: A first level divination ritual spell that does what it says on the tin, requires concentration to sense magical auras. Could be useful in locating all manners of old relics and the like.

Clair also gains a nifty Wizard feature at this level that helps with the brunt of the spell slots she’ll be spending when casting leveled spells so frequently:

Arcane Recovery: Once per day when you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your wizard level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher.

At Fighter 5/Wizard 2, Clair gains an Arcane Tradition, and I don’t know if she as trained in folk music as a kid, but we’re giving her the Bladesong tradition anyway to make her martial skills even more magical. The Training in War and Song feature nets her proficiency in light armor, a one handed weapon of her choice, and in the Performance skill. Two of those things she’s already got, but that’s not why we dipped wizard. This is:

Bladesong: You can invoke a secret elven magic called the Bladesong, provided that you aren't wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield. You can use a bonus action to start the Bladesong, which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are incapacitated, if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you use two hands to make an attack with a single weapon. You can also dismiss the Bladesong at any time you choose. While your Bladesong is active, you gain the following benefits: -You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1). -Your walking speed increases by 10 feet. -You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks. -You gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make to maintain your concentration on a spell. The bonus equals your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).

You can use this feature twice. You regain these uses each time you complete a short or long rest.

She’d also gain two more first level wizard spells to toss into her book, and really any of those first level spells have some use. Especially if it’s a ritual spell.

At Fighter 6/Wizard 2 she gets another ASI, cap her Dexterity at 20 for +7 additional damage every time she strikes with her d4 whip.

At Fighter 7/Wizard 2 Clair unlocks second level spells, and gains a feature that finally lets her cast a spell like Green-Flame Blade and also strike with her whip in the same turn without having to rely on Action Surge. Let’s also take a second level spell:

War Magic: You can use your action to cast a cantrip and make one weapon attack as a bonus action. Chromatic Orb: A first level evocation spell that hurls a ball of elemental energy for big damage. Nice because she can choose the type of energy from a small list of acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder. 

At Fighter 8/Wizard 2 she gets another ASI, use it to bring up her Intelligence to 18, which as a reminder will let her prepare more wizard spells and enhance her spells’ power. The spell she learns at this level can come from any school, so I suggest one that finally gets us some real dragon representation:

Dragon’s Breath: A second level transmutation spell that is actually Dragon Pulse, not Dragon Breath. A creature she touches, say, herself or her Familiar, can release blasts of elemental force (acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage) from their mouths for the spell’s duration. Pretty damn awesome if ya ask me.

At Fighter 9/Wizard 2 she gains a feature that helps with her durability, making her insanely hard to take down. She also gets another spell:

Indomitable: You can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll, and you can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest. 

At Fighter 10/Wizard 2 she gains a handy ability that will make decimating her foes all the easier as well as another spell. 

Eldritch Strike: Any creature you hit with a weapon attack has disadvantage on its next save it makes against a spell you cast before the end of your next turn. Scorching Ray: A second level evocation spell that launches off a multitude of rays of fiery energy, which can strike one or multiple targets. A solid spell and a great interpretation of Flame Burst or other Fire moves.

At Fighter 11/Wizard 2 she gains another attack as a part of her Extra Attack feature, bringing her total attack when she takes the attack action up to three, dealing 24 damage minimum. Not the best with the d4 whip, but definitely pretty terrifying, especially if she’s got other boosts up. Or uses Action Surge for another three attacks, bringing her total up to a minimum of 48, and very likely over 50 damage in one turn. Not better than others with stronger weapons, but pretty darn good for a whip. And let’s pick another spell:

Gust of Wind: A second level evocation spell that can force a Strength save on her foes to push them around with lines of wind. Seems like a good representation of her Dragonite’s Hurricane, I’d say.

At Fighter 12/Wizard 2 she gets another ASI, use that to cap her Intelligence for the best spell saves and attacks possible and some handy bonuses from her Bladesong.

At Fighter 13/Wizard 2 Clair gains another use of Indomitable, now able to use it twice before a long rest. She also unlocks third level spells, let’s take a classic one, one that every madlad wizard takes:

Fireball: A third level evocation spell that deals insane fire damage in an area. It’s stupidly strong, and forcing a foe to make the save at disadvantage through her Eldritch Strike feature is pretty terrifying. Sounds like a good representation of her Pokemons’ Fire Blast move, no? 

At Fighter 14/Wizard 2 she gains another ASI (Fighters get a ton of these) but her stats look pretty good, so let’s exchange that for a Feat that will make her hit point pool pretty damn crazy. Her spell this level can come from any school, and there’s some pretty dang good stuff in there, but she should take:

Tough: Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by an additional 2 hit points. Haste: A third level transmutation spell that offers a whole slew of bonuses including an additional +2 to AC, advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and the ability to use an additional action for another attack, dash, disengage, hide, or use an object actions. It’s concentration for one minute, but that’s still ten rounds of combat if it lasts the whole duration. When the spell ends, the target can’t move or take actions until after its next turn as a wave of lethargy sweeps over them. This stacks really well with Bladesong, but it should be mentioned that you can only have one concentration spell going at a time. Choose carefully. 

At Fighter 15/Wizard 2 Clair gains the rather inaccurate ability to be incredibly scary and teleport right in front of her foes. While it doesn’t really fit her, it certainly fits the dark presence she’s got:

Arcane Charge: You can teleport up to 30 feet to a space you can see when using your Action Surge. The teleport can take place before or after the Action Surge.

At Fighter 16/Wizard 2 she gets the last ASI of the build, and lets drop that into Constitution to further buffen-up our girl. Increasing Constitution buffs hit points retroactively, so she’ll actually gain 16 hit points this level instead of an additional one. She also gains her last spell: 

Lightning Bolt: A third level evocation spell that is the Fireball of the lightning damage type, blasting foes in a straight line with electrical power for massive damage if they fail a Dexterity saving throw. A terrifying Thunderbolt attack. It also pairs extremely well with her Eldritch Strike, since she wouldn’t be in the blast radius like she’d likely be with Fireball. 

At Fighter 17/Wizard 2 she gains a third use of Indomitable. Should be mentioned that this feature can be used to reroll death saves, which is incredibly handy. Though with her beef, she might not need it.

Fighter 18/Wizard 2 is our capstone, a feature that pairs well with the number of spells she’s got, especially like Fireball and Haste.

Improved War Magic: You can make one weapon attack as a bonus action whenever you use your action to cast a spell.

Final Thoughts

Clair is terrifying. I feel like that needs to be said. Fighters are really good, with their ridiculous physical damage potential and the ungodly amount of ASIs, it was easy to load her up with all the stats she needed. If you rolled well, it might even be possible to cap her Dexterity, Constitution, and Intelligence at 20, instead of only two of them. Then we have that Bladesong to make her even harder to hit and make it easier to maintain her concentration spells. Add in all the damage types she has access to with her spells and the versatility she has in when she can cast them, and you have a recipe for an absolutely terrifying foe. Probably my favorite build so far. Can we talk hit points for a second? Fighters start with 10 base hit points from their d10 hit die, and if we take the average for every level, she’d get 6 x 17. Even with the wizard levels giving her two d6 hit dice that yield a 4 x 2 bonus to hit points, that’s still 110 hit points before we even add in Constitution or the Tough feat. Adding Constitution at a modifier of +2 for every level bumps it to 150 and adding Tough gives a +40 bonus bumping her to 190 hit points. If you rolled well on the hit dice, it’s entirely possible- actually, very probable- that she’d have over 200 hit points. That’s really freaking good. And how about AC? Studded leather + dexterity mod gives her a base AC of 17, Bladesong bumps that to 22, Haste brings it to 24, and Shield would temporarily kick it to 29. You do realize that that is really hard to hit, right? Even if a foe had a +12 bonus to their attack, they would still need to roll a 17 or higher on the d20 if they wanted to actually hit. That’s terrifying.

There’s not many cons. I mean... spell slots are a limited resource, I guess? While you can get a second level spell back during a short rest thanks to wizard’s Arcane Recovery, the wizard dip might not have been all that handy. Dropping the wizard levels would give her more hit points and another ASI as well as the option to attack four times in one turn. It would make her a terrifying martial powerhouse if we dropped the wizard levels entirely.

Just. I do not want to run into this Clair in a dark alley. She’d obliterate everything in her past for sure. And if anything dared to stand up after the blasting, she can just smash them harder. 

Tumblr Meets D&D - Your Muse as a D&D Character

Hilbert Dean Bailey

So, Hilbert here is the male protagonist of Pokemon Black and White, though @luckynatured here decided to take the character in her own direction, basing the muse in its entirety on a Nuzlocke Challenge of Pokemon Black. One of the aspects of this particular challenge drew my attention- the fact that Rowan chose to implement a rule involving dice rolls or coin flips any time there was a choice to be made. Leaving things to the whim of fate, almost seems perfect for a D&D character. Let’s make that a goal, we need a little randomness. Reading through some of Hilbert’s interactions also points to evidence that he’s extremely determined and exceptionally lucky to get so far without losing core team members. Speaking of team members, let’s make sure we have varied damage types to account for any threats, paying special attention to Hilbert’s main, league-winning team. Once again, we’ll be using Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition and all books and articles related to it.

Ability Scores

These ventures will use standard array, a set of numbers given as a sort of average stat pool. Feel free to roll for stats if you wanted to use this character, just treat this arrangement as a general order for what stats are most important. No need to worry about multiclassing with this build.

Strength: 8 (Not needed) Dexterity: 13 (Useful) Constitution: 14 (Will be useful later) Intelligence: 10 (Hilly’s decently smart) Wisdom: 12 (Hilbert’s determined, and that tends to equate to decent Wisdom related saving throws and the like) Charisma: 15 (Our most useful stat here)

Race

Hilbert will be, surprise surprise, a Human. I could have gone a type of Halfling, which would have given him some extra luck, but Hilbert is shockingly tall, so that seemed a little out of place. Even so, we can make some choices early to get some handy bits of luck. Variant Humans also get some snazzy bonuses. Put the two free points Variant Humans get into Dexterity and Charisma to round those odd numbers up to evens. Then you’ve got your typical 30 feet of movement speed, a skill proficiency, and a free Feat. For Hilbert, also gets a base speed of 30 ft, a skill proficiency, and a free Feat. It might seem like a silly choice but let’s give him Perception. It will help with noticing things going on around him, and hopefully keep him aware of any dangers and it’s not a skill he’ll be able to grab from his class. As for his Feat, well I did say our boy needed to be lucky:

Lucky: You have inexplicable luck that seems to kick in at just the right moment.You have 3 luck points. Whenever you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can spend one luck point to roll an additional d20. You can choose to spend one of your luck points after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined. You choose which of the d20s is used for the attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.You can also spend one luck point when an attack roll is made against you. Roll a d20, and then choose whether the attack uses the attacker's roll or yours.If more than one creature spends a luck point to influence the outcome of a roll, the points cancel each other out; no additional dice are rolled.You regain your expended luck points when you finish a long rest.

Class and Background

Alright, but hear me out on this. Hilbert... is a Sorcerer. Not only do magical effects line up well with Pokemon attacks, but there’s a certain subclass of the Sorcerer that is the definition of random, and is the best way, in my opinion, to reflect his combination of luck and skill that got him to where he is today.

Sorcerers start with a d6 hit die (which is... not the best out there), proficiency in Constitution and Charisma saving throws, daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows, and two skills from a short list. Of the options listed, Insight and Persuasion make the most sense. 

As for his background, let’s focus on his rise as a Champion and give him the Folk Hero background, giving him proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival, as well as with two tools, two languages, or a language and a tool. Gaming sets are tools, so let’s giving our boy proficiency with a dice set, and might as well toss on a language like Elvish or something. Humans in the D&D world tend to pepper their native tongue with Elvish and Dwarvish words anyway, so it tracks.

This build is taking Sorcerer all the way from one to twenty, so let’s hit up what Hilbert gets at these levels one by one. At level one, he gains the ability to cast spells. Charisma is his casting stat, and it is added to his spell attack rolls and the DC of any spells of his that require saving throws to resist. He is notably able to use a spellcasting focus to ignore material components- let’s make that coin he always has in his wallet a casting focus. He can also pick a Sorcerous Origin, and the one that best fits our chance-manipulating mage boy is the Wild Magic Sorcerer. Wild Mages get two abilities:

Wild Magic Surge: Immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, the DM can have you roll a d20. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a random magical effect. A surge can happen once per turn. If a surge effect is a spell, it's too wild to be affected by Metamagic. If it normally requires concentration, it doesn't require concentration in this case; the spell lasts for its full duration. Tides of Chaos: You can gain advantage on one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. Once you do so, you must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again. Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. You then regain the use of this feature.

These two abilities work well in the randomness aspect of things, and give Hilbert some utility to manipulate what fate gives him. As for the spells he gains at this level, he starts with four cantrips and two first level spells from those in with sorcerer list. In case someone doesn’t know the difference, cantrips are simple magical tricks you can pull off at will, while leveled spells require expending one of your spell slots of a level equal to or higher than the spell’s level. First, the cantrips:

Shape Water: A transmutation cantrip that basically lets you manipulate water. A simple utility cantrip that you could make use of for a few clever things. A good reference to his starter being an Oshawott. Light: An evocation cantrip that gives you a flashlight so your weak little human eyes can see in the dark. Just kinda useful to have. Chill Touch: A necromancy cantrip that deals necrotic damage and restricts the affected foe’s ability to heal themselves. A neat little ghostly trick to represent Chandelure, perhaps?  Ray of Frost: An evocation cantrip that deals cold damage by firing a beam of icy energy- sounds like an Ice Beam if you ask me, something fitting for his Beartic or any Pokemon that knows Ice Beam.

And the spells:

Mage Armor: A first level abjuration spell that buffs up your armor class, setting it to 13 + your Dexterity modifier, which at this moment brings your AC from 12 (10 + Dexterity modifier) to 15. Pretty okay for a caster. It also lasts eight hours, meaning you can cast it at the start of a day and basically be armored for all your encounters moving forward. Chaos Bolt: Now this is the good shit. It’s just a first level evocation spell, sure, but the damage is pretty good, 2d8 + 1d6. And it can be decided what damage type it deals practically at random by selecting one of the d8s and using the element that corresponds to the number, starting with acid at 1, cold, fire, force, lightning, poison, psychic, and thunder at 8. Even more wild, if the d8s roll the same number, you can select a second target for the spell and make another round of rolls. This spell has some seriously wild propagation and represents so many types that it’s insane. 

Onto second level, which gives Hilbert a Font of Magic, which gives him Sorcery Points equal to his level, which he can spend to make more spell slots (or vice versa, converting spell slots to sorcery points) and, thanks to a class feature variant Unearthed Arcana article, cool protagonisty shit. Won’t go into too much depth on the making more spell slots thing or the converting spell slots to sorcery points, that can be found in the Player’s Handbook easily enough. The fun stuff are in the protagonist powers, like Empowered Reserve, which lets you spend two sorcery points in order to gain advantage on an ability check; Imbuing Touch, which lets you spend two sorcery points to make a nonmagical weapon magical for one minute; and Sorcerous Fortitude, which lets you spend a number of sorcery points and roll that many d4s, the result of which you gain as temporary hit points. Really handy options. He also learns another first level spell, so why not try out:

Sleep: A first level enchantment spell that has you roll some dice to determine how many hit points worth of individuals you can put to sleep. Great example of the Hypnosis move Munna and Musharna are famous for.

Sorcerer 3 gives ya access to Metamagic, also known as the stuff you spent your sorcery points on before that class feature variant UA. You get two metamagic choices at this level and can only apply one of them to a given spell at a time unless it’s stated otherwise. The ones I feel that reflect Hilbert most are the following two:

Unerring Spell: A metamagic option from the aforementioned UA, it lets you spend two sorcery points to reroll a missed spell attack roll, and you can use it even if you’ve used a metamagic option on the spell. You do have to stick with whatever the second roll is though, but if you’re using this then I would expect that first roll to be terrible. Pairs well with Tides of Chaos.  Careful Spell: Spend one sorcery point to make a number of targeted allies about to be hit by one of your area spells instantly succeed on the saving throw. A big way to prevent damage to your allies, though it won’t be to him right now since he doesn’t have any spells that could cause more trouble. Wonder when we’re going to fix that.

Sorcerer 4 nets you an Ability Score Improvement, let’s put that +2 in Charisma to make your spells- ahem, your Pokemon- even more badass. You also get a new cantrip and new spell, but you also get another spell at Sorcerer 5 and not much else, so let’s cover that too. That spell at Sorcerer 5 can be a third level spell so, I think you know what this means:

Shocking Grasp: An evocation cantrip that deals lightning damage and restricts the use of the target’s reaction. Pretty handy.  Mind Spike: A second level divination spell that deals psychic damage and magically tracks a foe, pretty handy representation of Musharna’s Psychic attack and his general ability to perceive things.   Fireball: A third level evocation spell that does big fire damage over an area, perfect for blasting shit with Chandelure. This is the one you wanna use your Careful Spell on so you don’t get any... accidents.

Sorcerer 6 will give Hilbert another fun way to manipulate dice rolls with the Bend Luck feature:

Bend Luck: When another creature you can see makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can use your reaction and spend 2 sorcery points to roll 1d4 and apply the number rolled as a bonus or penalty (your choice) to the creature's roll. You can do so after the creature rolls but before any effects of the roll occur.

And one more spell, still of third level or less:

Tidal Wave: A third level conjuration spell that calls up a giant wave of crushing water. You know. Like Surf. Which I’m sure Michelle knows. 

Sorcerer 7 unlocks fourth level spells, but let’s not take any of those, instead dipping back to the third level:

Fly: A third level transmutation spell that gives ya a flying speed. Requires your concentration, but your Con saves are pretty good. Keep out of range on the back of your Altaria and you’ll be fine. 

Sorcerer 8 gives you an Ability Score Improvement, cap your Charisma at 20. Let’s also give him another spell, and let’s dip back to first level for:

Expeditious Retreat: A first level transmutation spell that lets you dash as a bonus action for ten minutes. Also a concentration spell, but if you need to make a run for it, this is the best way to go about it.

Sorcerer 9 gives our boy fifth level spells, so let’s take one:

Synaptic Static: A fifth level enchantment spell that is basically FIreball but for psychic damage. Wreck face with the power of your team leader, Hilbert!

Sorcerer 10 is also pretty simple, another metamagic option and a spell:

Quickened Spell:  When you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action, you can spend 2 sorcery points to change the casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting. Erupting Earth: A third level transmutation spell that rips up the ground, damaging foes and making int into difficult terrain. Perfect for an Excadrill’s Bulldoze if you ask me.

Sorcerer 11 unlocks sixth level spells, and let’s take one:

Investiture of Ice: A sixth level transmutation spell that transforms you into an awesome iceman, blasting cones of freezing energy, gaining immunity to cold and resistance to fire respectively. Something tells me Hilbert doesn’t like dragons. Put them on ice. Just don’t try using this tactic on a cold-focused chromatic dragon. A White Dragon... Like Kyurem. In D&D terms anyway.

Sorcerer 12 no new spell, but he does get an ASI. Let’s use that to bump up either his Dexterity or his Constitution, depending on preference. Dex will help him not get hit by attacks and Con will help him maintain his concentration spells.  

Sorcerer 13 unlocks seventh level spells, let’s take one:

Teleport: A seventh level conjuration spell that, well... let’s you teleport. Weird, right? Anyway, there’s some minute rules about how it works, but it basically boils down to making sure you have an object with a connection to where you’re going and you’ll be fine. Maybe Hilbert can use it to go home and talk to his mother for once. 

Sorcerer 14 helps streamline the randomness a bit with the Controlled Chaos feature:

Controlled Chaos: Whenever you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, you can roll twice and use either number.

Sorcerer 15 unlocks eighth level spells, and we’re taking one.

Earthquake: This one’s for you, Garfield and Jude! An eighth level evocation spell that does just what it says on the tin, smashing up the ground and structures to damage foes directly and crush them under toppling buildings. A really fun spell that may very well be able to crumple a sparky sparky boom dargon held by a dude with a letter for a name. Specific, I know. 

Sorcerer 16 just gives you an ASI, so how bout we bump up either of Hilbert’s secondary stats? If you put this +2 in the same one, then you could max that stat in a couple levels, which could be really nice.

Sorcerer 17 gives our boy his final metamagic as well as unlocks ninth level spells, the strongest spells out there. 

Empowered Spell: When you roll damage for a spell, you can spend 1 sorcery point to reroll a number of the damage dice up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). You must use the new rolls. You can use Empowered Spell even if you have already used a different Metamagic option during the casting of the spell. Wish: A ninth level conjuration spell and one of the strongest spells in the game, capable of duplicating the effects of any other eighth level or lower spell, or alternatively any number of possible things that could be phrased in the form of a wish. This spell is a little finicky though and it really up to the DM how easily it’ll work out. Regardless, it’s the ultimate way to manipulate fate, which is why I chose it for this build. 

Sorcerer 18 if a nifty little level for Hilbert, since it gives him a nasty little ability I like to call Judgement. Same he ain’t from Sinnoh, it would reflect Arceus well. For now it will just represent the badassery of Reshiram:

Spell Bombardment: When you roll damage for a spell and roll the highest number possible on any of the dice, choose one of those dice, roll it again and add that roll to the damage. You can use the feature only once per turn.

Sorcerer 19 gives our boy his last ability score. Cap that secondary stat, or spread it around a bit. Focus on what’s mattering most based on how his battles go. Dexterity if he keeps getting hit, Constitution if he keeps dropping his concentration spells at the wrong moment.  

And last we have Sorcerer 20, which only gives you one kinda eh ability. I suppose it’s nice if you use them pretty often, which a lot of the Wild Magic features do make use of them pretty consistently. So maybe it actually will benefit Hilbert xD.

Sorcerous Restoration: You regain 4 expended sorcery points whenever you finish a short rest.

Final Thoughts

Okay, so the biggest pro we got with this build is the sheer amount of damage types available by all those spells. Even Chaos Bolt alone can deal a bunch of different damage types. Wish is also a fantastic spell that can easily save yer ass. Hilbert is a really good blaster with his spells, but he also has some utility with flight and the like, not to mention ways to protect himself and his allies by manipulating dice rolls. Don’t hesitate to make use of those Wild Magic abilities. Depending on the surge table the DM uses, there’s some darn good options on there that will greatly benefit you. 

Unfortunately, there’s just as many bad things that could happen. Or you could turn into a potted plant and be unable to do anything for several turns. Not to mention you’d have just... terrible hit points. Taking the average puts you well under even Homika’s 88 hitpoints. d6 hit dies are not your friend if you wanna soak damage. But that’s not what you’re good at. You’re good at taking down the big monster before you go boom. 

I tried to get something on there for Stoutland, but there aren’t many ways to get a Normal Type in there. ‘Cept maybe some thunder damage, equating it to Hyper Voice. I always wanted to get Awaken on this build so Hilbert could get his awakened shrub Carmen, but apparently Sorcerers don’t get the spell. I’d have to take him through bard or wizard or something like that too far to justify it. 

Send me your muse’s name + D&D and I will create a max level adventurer using Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition rules, much like I’ve already done for my own muse earlier, Dokuro Homika, which can be found here.

Dokuro Homika

So. I like Pokemon. And I like D&D. Thing is, those two things don’t mix very well. Pokemon makes a very bad tabletop game, without having some structures in place to calculate the absurd amount of things required for something of that measure. I know there’s a few fan-made systems by I’ve tried them and they are a dumpsterfire to work with. So. I would like to introduce you to a new endeavor on this blog. I’m going to see what I can do to make a version of beloved Pokemon characters using all available material, both official books and UA articles, for Dungeons and Dragons 5e. Let’s start with my version of Homika, or rather Roxie from Black 2 and White 2.

Ability Scores

These ventures will use standard array, a set of numbers given as a sort of average stat pool. Feel free to roll for stats if you wanted to use this character, just treat this arrangement as a general order for what stats are most important. Just keep multiclass minimums in mind, since she’s gonna need it.

Strength: 8 (Not needed) Dexterity: 15 (Most important) Constitution: 12 (Wish I could put more, but others are needed more) Intelligence: 10 (Not really important, didn’t want it lower than Strength) Wisdom: 13 (Will get higher later, needed for multiclassing)  Charisma: 14 (Also useful, needed for multiclassing)

Race

Homika is a Human. I could have gone Lightfoot Halfling, playing up her short stature and giving her some extra luck and bonuses to Dexterity and Charisma, but there are other ways to give her those sorts of things. Variant Humans also get some snazzy bonuses. Put the two free points Variant Humans get into Dexterity and Wisdom to round those odd numbers up to evens. She also gets a base speed of 30 ft, a skill proficiency, and a free Feat. Let’s take Animal Handling, since she’s pretty good with the Pokemon around Virbank. And as for her Feat, she has those rollerblades in her boots, so how about Mobile?

Mobile: Your speed increases by 10 feet. When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn't cost you extra movement on that turn. When you make a melee attack against a creature, you don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether you hit or not.

Class and Background

I know what you’re thinking. She plays the bass, she’s in a band. So she’s gotta be a Bard, right? Wrong! The one direction I took differently with my interpretation here is her ties to Koga and Janine’s (or rather Kyou and Anzu’s) family. Homika was trained as a ninja since an early age, so she starts with a different class. I considered Rogue, but the best way to make her really good with a pair of daggers is in fact... Monk.

Monks start with a d8 hit die (which isn’t terrible), proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saving throws, simple weapons, shortswords, and two skills from a short list. She’ll take Acrobatics and Stealth here, other things she needs she can get from other sources. She also gets proficiency with an instrument or an artisan tool, so here let’s take her lute. No bass guitars, so I figured this was the next best thing. 

As for her background, let’s reflect that early ninja training and give her proficiency in Perception, since she’d be pretty observant, and Persuasion, since she’s a little rascal who can get people to do what she wants. Since backgrounds can also give you tool proficiency, let’s take the poisoner’s kit to allude to her connection to Poison Type Pokemon. 

Since I don’t want this post to be massive, let’s summarize her leveling. Her first five levels will all go into Monk, giving her a number of features that let her become devastatingly brutal in combat even without a weapon. Martial Arts lets her punches and kicks do damage as well as improve the damage die of her daggers over time, Unarmored Defense and Unarmored Movement help her avoid attacks and move quickly respectively, and her Ki lets her do a whole heap of rad ninja things. Her character sheet, link below, will go into greater detail. She can also Deflect Missiles after hitting level three, where she also gets a chance to pick a Monastic Tradition. 

Know how I said I wasn’t going Bard? Well that’s kind of a lie. Since we’re injecting some Bard into this Monk with the Drunken Master tradition. She gets free proficiency in Performance and the ability to brew her own booze with the Brewer’s Supplies. I’d say any disciplined rock star can still fight at her best while sloshed to hell and back. She also gets an Ability Score Improvement at level four, which we’ll put the +2 into Dexterity, and Slow Fall, which lets her reduce falling damage. At level five, it’s Extra Attack and Stunning Strike. The former is obvious, it lets her slash with each dagger in her hands. The latter is also obvious, giving her hits a little more bite so she can stagger her foes more easily. 

So she’s got some training. How bout we start her music career? And for that, we’re going to go into Bard. Yes, I lied about that too. Multiclassing into Bard gives her light armor if she wanted it, but more importantly it gives her another skill proficiency, which we’ll take Athletics to help with her low Strength. With her first bard level she gets Bardic Inspiration, which she can give to her allies to bolster their rolls, as well as the ability to cast a few spells through the power of MUSIC. She starts with two cantrips and four first level spells from those in with bard list. First, the cantrips:

Minor Illusion: Gives her some weird ninja tricks. Vicious Mockery: Lets her weaponize her snark to deal psychic damage and make her enemies just a little bit less likely to smack her or her friends.

And the spells:

Thunderwave: Line your foes up and blast ‘em with the power of Rock. Even though your specialty is Poison. Animal Friendship: Will help you start to gather up some bestial allies. Charm Person: For when your persuasion ain’t enough, use magic. Hideous Laughter: Helps you stall your enemies, underestimatin’ you.

Now let’s take three more levels of Bard, bringing our girl up to Monk 5/Bard 4. These levels give her Song of Rest, a way to give her and her allies some extra healing during short rests, and Jack of All Trades, giving her a half-proficiency bonus to every ability check she isn’t proficient in, like Arcana or even Initiative rolls. It’s pretty good and one of the best parts of going Bard. She also gets some schooling at Bard 3, and let’s expand her view of the world with the College of Lore. Lore gives her a new way to abuse her Bardic Inspiration, using Cutting Words to weaken her foe’s dice rolls. The college also gives her three more skill proficiencies, which we’ll take in Medicine, Nature, and Survival to reflect her knowledge of poisons. It also compliments her Animal Handling, making her quite handy in the wilds. Speaking of which, this level also gives her Expertise, letting her double the proficiency bonuses for two of her skills- let’s make those Performance for obvious reasons and Nature for buffing her knowledge of plant-based poisons. Since there’s just so many Grass/Poison Types, right? These Bard level also give her three more spells and second level spell slots, so she can learn second level spells. Let’s take advantage of that.

See Invisibility: Synchronizes well with your ninja abilities, so she would be able to see what others can’t.  Locate Animals and Plants: Helps you find some creatures to use those nature-based skills on. Speak with Animals: Wouldn’t it be nice to talk with Pokemon? This was she can. Assuming they’re beast-like, I guess. Also meshes witht he other animal-based spells you got.

Oh, and Bard 4 gives her another Ability Score Improvement. Max that Dexterity at 20, and, speaking of Dexterity, I want better daggers, let’s go back to Monk for five more levels. 

These five levels will buff the damage die on her daggers, give her some movement options and the ability to redirect attacks with Tipsy Sway, as well as make her fists magical so she can punch all those nasty Steel Types that she mighta broken her hand on before. Level seven gives her Evasion, making it easier to avoid damage from those Dexterity save spells- which you also have a dang good save for anyway- as well as Stillness of Mind. Here’s the easy way to stave off the fear effects that Halflings would have had bonuses toward, but this also includes charm too. Level eight nets another Ability Score Increase, let’s dump that +2 in Wisdom to get a better Armor Class. 

And Monk 10 gives us the whole dang reason I went so deep into Monk- Purity of Body grants immunity to disease and poison, which includes both the poisoned condition and the poison damage type. Why is this crucial? Because it’s the skill Homika had to develop to be so close with her Poison Types like, Dogars, the ones constantly radiating toxic gas or sludge. Now at character level 14, let’s swing back to Bard for four more levels.

Bard 5 makes her Bardic Inspiration dice fresh on short rests, so she can play more concerts. Bard 6 gives her Countercharm, a way to give her allies a taste of being super awesome so they gain advantage on saves against being frightened or charmed. And because of our college, she gets a core Bard ability early, Early Magical Secrets. It lets her select two spells from any list, so let’s actually get some Pokemon on this Pokemon Trainer. With access to third level spells from Bard 5 onward and fourth level spells at Bard 7, she’s got some options. First, her Magical Secrets:

Fly: How could she not get her trusty Crobat to fly her places? Pass without Trace: A handy ability to make other people nearly as sneaky as her, and it could be flavored as a sort of arcane smokescreen, which ties in well with her Dogars. 

And for the other spells from her Bard levels:

Earth Tremor: A solid representation of her Scolipede’s Bulldoze move. Hold Person: It takes some flavor, but this could be a bunch of grasses and vines tying down a foe, a good example of Ruffresia’s Grass Knot.  Stinking Cloud: Took some time, but we have poison damage now with this stink cloud, which could be a great Sludge Bomb or Sludge Wave sorta thing, representing Dogars really well. Phantasmal Killer: And finally, a spell added to the Bard’s list from a recentish Class Feature Variant UA. This creates a nightmarish creature that spooks the heck outa your foes to murderify things. Sounds like a good Gangar substitute to me! And lines up with your other abilities pretty well.

Bard 8 also gives her another Ability Score Improvement, let’s dump that +2 into Charisma so she isn’t such a terrible Bard. 

And finally, two more levels in Monk to buff her Martial Arts one step further and give her a final Ability Score Improvement at Monk 12, so dump that in Wisdom to finally have a pretty dang respectable AC of 19. 

Final Thoughts

Monk 12/Bard 8 is a pretty solid combination. She doesn’t lose out on any ASIs, she has great damage with a capped Dexterity, varied ways of dealing damage with Bard spells, and spectacular team play with Bardic Inspiration. Not to mention fantastic utility with all her skills. 

Unfortunately, that usefulness came at a cost. Her hit points, taking the average, are well under 100 and fully capable of getting squooshed easily. Not to mention that neither her Wisdom nor her Charisma are capped, which weakens both her Ki saves and her Spell saves respectively. Having to focus on two mental stats makes her a little bit less effective at both of them. That said, this build works best as a sort of ambush tactic. Cast one of your ranged spells to lock down a foe, move in close to stabby-stab, and then duck out so you don’t get hit. Your movement speed is freakin’ 60, make use of that.

Here’s the character sheet I made with Dicecloud. 

BODY.

long legs. short legs. average legs. slender thighs. thick thighs. muscular thighs. skinny arms. soft arms. toned arms. muscular arms. toned stomach. flat stomach. flabby stomach. soft stomach. six pack. beer belly. lean frame. slender frame. muscular frame. voluptuous frame. petite frame. lanky frame. short nails. long nails. manicured nails. dirty nails. flat butt. round butt. toned butt. bubble butt. thick butt. small waist. average waist. thick waist. narrow hips. average hips. wide hips. big feet. average feet. small feet. soft feet. slender feet. calloused feet. calloused hands. soft hands. big hands. average hands. small hands. long fingers. short fingers. average fingers. broad shoulders. underweight. average weight. overweight.

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HEIGHT.

shorter than 140 cm. 141 cm-150 cm (147 cm). 151 cm to 160 cm. 161 cm to 170 cm. 171 cm to 180 cm. 181 cm to 190 cm. 191 cm to 2 m. taller than 2 m.

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SKIN.

pale. fair. rosy. olive. dark. tanned. blotchy. smooth. acne. dry. greasy. freckled. scarred. combination.

—

EYES.

small. large. average. grey. brown. black. blue. red. green. gold. amber. hazel. doe-eyed. almond. close-set. wide-set. deep-set. squinty. monolid. heavy eyelids. upturned. downturned.

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HAIR.

thin. thick. fine. normal. greasy. dry. soft. shiny. scruffy. frizzy. curly. wild. unruly. straight. smooth. wavy. floppy. cropped. pixie-cut. pigtails. short. shoulder length. back length. waist length. floor length. buzz cut. undercut. bald. jaw length. mohawk. braids. vermilion. white. platinum blonde. strawberry blonde. golden blonde. dirty blonde. ombre. light brown. mouse brown. chestnut brown. golden brown. chocolate brown. dark brown. jet black. ginger. auburn. dyed red. dyed any “unnatural color”. streaked. thin eyebrows. average eyebrows. thick eyebrows.

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TATTOOS / PIERCINGS.

full sleeve. partial sleeve. arm tattoo. thigh tattoo. shin tattoo. wrist tattoo. lower back tattoo. shoulder tattoo (Shiny Koffing). hand/finger tattoo. foot tattoo. neck tattoo. face tattoo. chest tattoo. one tattoo. a few here and there. multiple. no tattoo. wants a tattoo.

monroe piercing. nose piercing. septum. nipple piercing(s). genital piercing(s). industrial piercings. earlobe piercing(s). cartilage piercing(s) (Toxic Badge). prince albert piercing. eyebrow piercing(s). tongue piercing. lip piercing(s). tragus piercing. angel bites. labret. stretches out ears. navel piercing. inverse navel piercing. cheek piercing(s). smiley. nape piercing(s). no piercings.

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COSMETICS.

light eyeliner. heavy eyeliner. cat eyes. mascara. fake eyelashes. matte lipstick. regular lipstick. lipgloss. red lips. pink lips. dark lips. bronzer. highlighter. eyeshadow. neutral eyeshadow. smoky eyes. colorful eyeshadow. blush. lipliner. light contouring. heavy contouring. powder. matte foundation. shiny foundation. concealer. wears makeup regularly. wears makeup from time to time. never wears make-up.

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SCENT.

floral. fruity. perfumes. aftershave. cocoa. moisturizer. natural soap. shampoo. cigarettes. leather. sweat. food. incense. marijuana. cologne. whiskey. wine. fried food. blood. fire. metal. rain. grass. ocean. autumn leaves. baked bread. freshly baked cookies. smoke. campfire. lavender. trees. pumpkin pie. musk. rose. gingerbread. peppermint. oak. honey. lemon. vanilla. coffee. cake. mint. rawhide. chemicals.

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CLOTHES.

jeans. tight pants. over-the-knee socks. tights. leggings. yoga pants. pencil skirt. tight skirt. loose skirt. tight/formfitting dress. cardigans. blouse. button-up shirt. band t-shirt. sports t-shirt. sweatpants. cargo pants. tank top. cut off t-shirt. designer. high street. online stores. thrift. lingerie. long skirt. miniskirt. maxi dress. sundress. tie. tuxedo. cocktail dress. high slit dress/skirt. t-shirt. loose clothing. pteruges. tight clothing. jean shorts. sweater. sweater vest. armor. khaki pants. suit. hoodie. harem pants. basketball shorts. boxers. briefs. thong. hotpants. hipster panties. bra. sports bra. crop top. corset. ballerina skirt. leotard. polka dot. stripes. glitter. silk. lace. leather. velvet. chemise. patterns. florals. vintage. neon colors. pastels. plaid. red. blue. black. dark colors. fur. faux fur. cool colors. warm colors.

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SHOES.

sneakers. slip-ons. flats. slippers. sandals. high heels. kitten heels. ankle boots. combat boots. boots. cowboy boots. knee-high. platforms. bare feet. loafers. caligae.

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Send one of the chess pieces below to see an AU headcanon about my muse taking on one of the following roles from the Pokemon world!

- ♟ Gym Leader 

- ♞ Trial Captain

- ♜ Evil Team Member/Leader

- ♝ Elite Four

- ♚ Champion

So... here’s a sneak peek.