Sun Wukong

[Fizzban]

How would you build a 3.5 character based around Sun Wukong from Journey to the West? I’m not trying to make infinite clones or jump across the universe just a character with the flavor of Sun Wukong. I’m guessing for race Vanara or some kind of anthropomorphic monkey and for class Swordsage or something gished with Wu Jen maybe? Does anyone know of a staff fighter class, variant or homebrew?

Thanks

Fizz

[Thinker]

How would you build a 3.5 character based around Sun Wukong from Journey to the West? I’m not trying to make infinite clones or jump across the universe just a character with the flavor of Sun Wukong. I’m guessing for race Vanara or some kind of anthropomorphic monkey and for class Swordsage or something gished with Wu Jen maybe? Does anyone know of a staff fighter class, variant or homebrew?

Thanks

Fizz

You don't really have to be an anthropomorphic monkey to pull off the Monkey King. Being a sword sage will pull off several cool tricks, but I think some sort of gish might do a better job of it, given his ultimate power level.

[Morph Bark]

A lot of his magic tricks seem wizardy, but not the high-powered sort, or bardy. A kind of build that makes him into a Swordsage/Sublime Chord somehow could work, perhaps.

[Prime32]

Wu jen has a number of spells which seem to have been inspired by Wukong, namely cloud chariot and body outside body. Wu jen/swordsage/jade phoenix mage could work.

[Heliomance]

Maybe be that monkey race out of Stormwrack.

[Morph Bark]

Maybe be that monkey race out of Stormwrack.

Hadozee. Doesn't seem very appropriate fluff- and appearance-wise though. Crunch-wise only a little maybe. Vanara probably work best, as they might even have been inspired by Sun Wukong in the first place.

[Prime32]

Let's see...

Powers:

Great strength
Can jump/fly 54,000 kilometers in one bound (teleport?)
Can transform into objects or creatures, but cannot hide his tail while disguised as a human. (metamorphosis power?)
Can sprout extra arms (girallon's blessing, arms of plenty or girallon arms)
Can summon clones of himself which possess his transformation abilities, up to 84,000 at once. (throw ectoform power and Astral Zealot PrC from Hyperconscious is typically given as the way to stat Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, so...)
Can manipulate wind and water
Can freeze all kinds of creatures (hold monster)
Can ward off demons (magic circle against evil?)
His name has been removed from the Book of Life and Death. He also has 72 lives, all of which are immortal. (Ghost w/ rejuvenation?)
Defeated 100,000 gods at the same time, while they were led by the greatest tactician in history
Horse empathy (Animal Lord PrC?)
Survived staying inside a divine furnace for 49 days
Skin as tough as diamond (since this is a result of the previous item, green star adept could sort-of fit)
Can see the evil in people's souls (detect evil)
Eyes are sensitive to smoke

Equipment:

Size-changing staff of incredible weight (quarterstaff with the sizing property and maybe a wand chamber with a wand of stretch weapon)
Chainmail
Crown which restricts access to most of his powers, causes him pain on command, and cannot be removed
"Cloud-walking boots"



So, possibilities include:

Silver dragon (can shapeshift, fly, and walk on clouds)
Egoist/Astral zealot (can shapeshift and create clones)

[Zaydos]

Hadozee. Doesn't seem very appropriate fluff- and appearance-wise though. Crunch-wise only a little maybe. Vanara probably work best, as they might even have been inspired by Sun Wukong in the first place.

Vanara are from Hindi legends about Rama and his quest to reclaim his bride. They were ruled by Hanuman (the Monkey King) who is sometimes thought to have been the inspiration for Sun Wukong, though (although the personalities are quite different).

That said I second, third, or whatever vanara as the race.

[awa]

vanarra get a penalty to strength and the sun is no weakling.
Honestly this character is for all intents and purposes a god like entity he should probably have a divine rank

[Zaydos]

vanarra get a penalty to strength and the sun is no weakling.
Honestly this character is for all intents and purposes a god like entity he should probably have a divine rank

Going by the myths he would have a divine rank of at least 0 being an immortal and invited to heaven where he then ate the food of the gods and drank the elixer of immortality, etc.

Also in the 3.5 update for Vanarra they removed their ability score modifiers good and bad.

[TimeWizard]

This sounds like a case for Homebrew, since his abilities are scattered so far and wide.

[Prime32]

This sounds like a case for Homebrew, since his abilities are scattered so far and wide.Nah, "abilities scattered far and wide" describes every spellcaster.

Let's go with

Psion 3/Cleric 3/Psychic theurge (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925b) 10/Astral zealot 1/Swordsage 2/X 1
or
Ardent 1/Cleric 3/Psychic theurge (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925b) 10/Astral zealot 1/Swordsage 2/X 3

Persisted divine power and a few maneuvers should cover his combat ability. The spare levels could be used for a dip into Animal lordCAdv [horse] or for three levels of the ghost savage progression (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a) to gain resistance to nonmagical weapons and immortality.

[balistafreak]

Thing is, the concept of Sun Wukong is so freakin' over the top that there's really no appropriate way to stat him as a PC. :smalltongue:

[Oslecamo]

three levels of the ghost savage progression (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a) to gain resistance to nonmagical weapons and immortality.

And then you become incorporeal wich means you cannot kung-fu people, nor can you suffer pain or hunger at all, wich kinda kills the whole concept.

Really what we're looking here it's a wizard gish with buffs and tricks oozing out of his every hole.

Probably he managed to get Incantrix for metamagic abuse and persist his buffs while throwing quickened spells while bashing his oponents to death for the lulz.

[Prime32]

And then you become incorporeal wich means you cannot kung-fu people, nor can you suffer pain or hunger at all, wich kinda kills the whole concept.There are plenty of ways to "kung-fu people". Just get the ghost touch property on your unarmed strike.

The incorporeal subtype says nothing about pain and hunger. :smallconfused:

[Oslecamo]

The incorporeal subtype says nothing about pain and hunger. :smallconfused:

Being undead kinda does it unless you're a vampire.

[Prime32]

Being undead kinda does it unless you're a vampire.In the existing rules a living character can survive on, what, a cup of gruel once per month? With no penalties.

One of the Dragon mag strips made fun of this.


EDIT: Vampires are hardly the only undead who require food anyway. Ghouls anyone? And who says a character who doesn't technically need to eat can't have a food addiction?

[Zaydos]

Personally I'd say you can't stat out Son Wukong without Divine Ranks. He was already an Immortal (or quasi-deity) who beat on King Enma before ever going to heaven. Then he drank the elixer of immortality, and ate the peaches of ... I forget what they were called but they made you more super awesome. By the end of the story he becomes a Buddha. He has some divine ranks in there; also he was the Stone Monkey before being Sun Wukong and that had implications of divine power to start with, as well as being an animal king which were all quasi-divine.

Game mechanically the best bet is an epic level wizard/rainbow servant/incanatrix/few levels of swordsage with lots of persisted buffs.

[Oslecamo]

In the existing rules a living character can survive on, what, a cup of gruel once per month? With no penalties.

They still need to eat.



EDIT: Vampires are hardly the only undead who require food anyway. Ghouls anyone? And who says a character who doesn't technically need to eat can't have a food addiction?

Well, that would be an interesting take on the legend.

Most would say the monkey king was trapped under a mountain for a 100 years.

They're wrong.

The monkey king was crushed to death a 100 years ago. But his vengefull spirit persevered. And now free, he doesn't realize he's dead, and thus cannot satiate his hunger.

You still didn't solve the pain problem however as BOVD states that undeads do not feel pain.

Plus didn't the collar actualy choke him? Because undeads do not need to breath. They can't choke.

Also, even if he can kung-fu people, some would say there's a diference between weapons bouncing out of you and weapons going trough you.

[Prime32]

You still didn't solve the pain problem however as BOVD states that undeads do not feel pain.

Plus didn't the collar actualy choke him? Because undeads do not need to breath. They can't choke.It's a major artefact. If there are ways to poison undead (even things like skeletons), it doesn't seem out of the question that an Overdeity could cause one to feel pain.

[Oslecamo]

It's a major artefact. If there are ways to poison undead (even things like skeletons), it doesn't seem out of the question that an Overdeity could cause one to feel pain.

If he needed an overdeity to be put down, then the more reason for the monkey king to be a full fleded deity himself.:smallwink:

Also, starmantle cloack happens to make weapons break/bounce out of you when they hit you, whitout all the undead hassles. Also comes in spell version.

Really, we're looking at a character so cheesed out the DM droped rocks on him, and then put him a leash so he would play nice with the rest of the non-cheesed out party!:smalltongue:

[Prime32]

Really, we're looking at a character so cheesed out the DM droped rocks on him, and then put him a leash so he would play nice with the rest of the non-cheesed out party!:smalltongue:I briefly considered applying to one of the Fate/stay night PbP games around here as Sun Wukong. Then I realised that he had Berserker's Noble Phantasm six times over. :smalltongue:

[Fizzban]

Thanks for all the ideas. I know how ridiculously powerful Sun Wukong is and how unplayable that would be in a real game. I am just going for some Wukong flavor. Any other ideas?

Thanks

Fizz

[WinWin]

Wujen. Required for Body outside of Body and Cloud Chariot. Some method of gaining those as an SLA would be good. A minimum of CL 13 sets your character up for Archmage...

Additional spells or SLA's to consider would be Alter self or Disguise Self. Jump, Glibness and True Seeing. The Elemental Heart line of spells from Complete Mage might be useful as well.

Perhaps a reflavoured Jade Pheonix Mage would work to progress some martial maneuvers and combat ability. Devoted Spirit, Tiger Claw, Stone Dragon and Iron Heart are thematic, hard and ferocious combat styles.

Reflavoured Apelord (animal lord) to Monkey Lord could be thematic, but probably not that useful.

I would suggest Green Star Adept as a way of providing Adamantine DR. It could be reflavoured as being periodically 'refined' in a crucible or cauldron instead of eating meteorites. Unfortunately, GSA is painfully underpowered.