Rolero
2018-06-27, 08:05 PM
http://mouse.latercera.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Goblin-Slayer.jpg
As the title says, I've become quite addicted to the adventures of said character in the manga of the same name.
For those who don't know about him, Goblin Slayer is the protagonist of a series of light novels that had been adapted to manga —an also anime next october—. The setting is what could be described as a mix between Konosuba and Berserk, is a fantasy series based around the jobs adventurers do for their guild, with a main focus in monster slaying. Or hero was the only survivor of a village raided by goblins and has ended up obsesed with their demise, to the point that goblin hunts are the only type of job he takes which ended up earning him that nickname.
The appeal of the manga (and I guess the novels since I haven't read them yet) is that when things go wrong, they go horrible wrong. For instance, when goblins attack the victims go out in a very brutal and gory way and the girls are raped and taken to procreate the next generation of goblins in their nest. Goblin slayer witnessed this first hand with the slaughter of their family and rape of his sister in front of his eyes while hidden during the assault.
Growing up, he was taken by a misterious stranger who trained him in combat, enough to become a qualified fighter and ranger (in one chapter his adventurer card —yes, they have those— shows 1 level in figher and 1 in ranger at the start of his carreer.
After a few years of hunting, he rose through the ranks of the guild and at the start of the manga he is silver ranked. Above would be Gold and Platinum. The later are considered legends, the greatest heroes of humanity, so we could consider them as 17-20 level characters. Gold are usually the higher you can go in the ranks and represent Generals, High Priests, Archmages and the like. I would say that makes them 13-16th level. That leaves us with the silver ranked and our protagonist. From what I have read yet, I would say he is between 10-12 level, with average stats and no high level features.
What makes him interesing are his thougth process and strategies. Goblin Slayer has always fought solo, so he uses hit and run tactics, ambushes, alchemy, poison, traps and even the enviroment (he once flooded a nest and set on fire another blocking the exits). Once a fight starts, he uses whatever he has at hand. Generally a short sword and a torch or his buckler as an offhand weapon, but since he doesn't use good quality equipment, those break frequently, so he tends to pick up whatever weapon the gobs drop as he cleans their nests. However, he also has the habit of throwing his weapons as proyectiles if needed to take out shamans, leaders or other priority targets. He has no magic or notable magic items, with the only exception of a magic scroll he used once.
All in all, he basically wins his fights preparing ahead, laying cunning plans, being ruthlessly pragmatic and brutal, and through perseverance and toughness.
So, after this introductory wall of text, I was curious about how he would fit in a D&D game.
The obvious path would be using what the manga hinted, he is a multiclass fighter/ranger. However, he has also show remarkable durabilty and resistance, and his basic training with his master (show in a few flashbacks) was pretty brutal and primitive. So a few levels in Barbarian could fit too. And since he is also very good ambusher, that could earn him Rogue experience too (Assassin or Scout).
His ability scores should not be maxed at all. I would say no higher than 16 on his main stats, he often says he is an average joe among his fellow adventurers. This is proved in the battle against the goblin horde when the veterans probe their might showing that diference. Instead, I think his ASI should be used to adquire useful feats like Alert, Tough, Mobile, Skilled, Sentinel, Shield master or others.
Having said that, this is my take on Goblin Slayer:
Variant Human, Fighter (Battlemaster) 6 / Spell-less Ranger (Gloomstalker) 4 / Rogue 2
STR 15+1 DEX 14 CON 13+1 INT 12 WIS 10 CHA 8 (Actually, I think his Charisma should be lower, but I am using the standard array)
Background: Folk Hero
Seasoned adventurers often pass on goblin hunts because the pay is poor, and so, many people of the frontier and local farming villages apreciate the work of Goblin Slayer, to the point that he has actually become quite famous for it. He was also a village boy and lives in the farm of a childhood friend, so I think this accomodates pretty well the vision presented in the manga.
Goblin Slayer is mainly a front line warrior when the chips are down, hence the focus on Fighter levels. Battlemaster is the closest to his way of fighting.
I would pick either Defense or Two-Weapon fighting as his fighting style, and Feinting Attack, Pushing Attack and Riposte as his maneouvers.
For Ranger, revised should fit him well with Humanoids as his Favored enemy and whatever fighting style not picked before. I choose Gloomstalker because GS is used to fight in the caves and underground nests the goblins live in. The main reason to pick this conclave is that he has developed Darkvision over the years and this is the only non-magical non-race option I came up with to cover that detail.
Finally, I toss some levels of Rogue to grant him movility, as he usually tries to maneouver quite a bit during his fights. Expertise should go to Steatlh and Perception.
With this build, he has access to four ASI. I would pick the following: Alert, Tough, Skilled, Dungeon Delver. Again, going with the theme.
So, to sum it up.
-Two fighting styles: Defense and Two-Wpn Fgt.
-Second wind
-Action Surge
-Four superiority dice (d8)
-Maneuvers: Feinting Attack, Pushing Attack, Riposte
-Student of war
-Extra attack
-Favored Enemy (Humanoids)
-Natural Explorer
-Primeval Awareness
-Dread Ambusher
-Umbral Sight
-Expertise (Perception, Stealth)
-Sneak Attack (1d6)
-Thieves' Cant
-Cunning Action
-Skills: Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Investigation, Insight, Perception (E), Stealth (E), Survival
-Tools: Alchemic Suplies, Poisoner's Kit, Herbalism Kit, Thieves’ Tools, Carpenter’s tools, Vehicles (land)
-Feats: Alert, Tough, Skilled, Dungeon Delver
-Saves: Strength, Constitution
-HP 122 (10d10+2d8+24+24)
-AC 19 (Breastplate+Shield+Defense)
-General gear: Breastplate, Shield, Short sword, dagger, torch, antitoxins, potions of healing, dungeoneer's pack, several poisons, herbs and alchemic concoctions.
As I mentioned before, this is my take on the character adaptation, but I think other builds could representing him as well. Maybe focus on Rogue (Scout) instead of Ranger.
Maybe some barbarian levels (Path of Zealot or Totem warrior), or switching Battlemaster to Champion or Monster Slayer (if allowed)
In any case, if there are other fans of this guy, I would love to see how you would build him in a D&D game. If not, this can work great as a Bounty Hunter or Monster Slayer theme for a player or npc.
As the title says, I've become quite addicted to the adventures of said character in the manga of the same name.
For those who don't know about him, Goblin Slayer is the protagonist of a series of light novels that had been adapted to manga —an also anime next october—. The setting is what could be described as a mix between Konosuba and Berserk, is a fantasy series based around the jobs adventurers do for their guild, with a main focus in monster slaying. Or hero was the only survivor of a village raided by goblins and has ended up obsesed with their demise, to the point that goblin hunts are the only type of job he takes which ended up earning him that nickname.
The appeal of the manga (and I guess the novels since I haven't read them yet) is that when things go wrong, they go horrible wrong. For instance, when goblins attack the victims go out in a very brutal and gory way and the girls are raped and taken to procreate the next generation of goblins in their nest. Goblin slayer witnessed this first hand with the slaughter of their family and rape of his sister in front of his eyes while hidden during the assault.
Growing up, he was taken by a misterious stranger who trained him in combat, enough to become a qualified fighter and ranger (in one chapter his adventurer card —yes, they have those— shows 1 level in figher and 1 in ranger at the start of his carreer.
After a few years of hunting, he rose through the ranks of the guild and at the start of the manga he is silver ranked. Above would be Gold and Platinum. The later are considered legends, the greatest heroes of humanity, so we could consider them as 17-20 level characters. Gold are usually the higher you can go in the ranks and represent Generals, High Priests, Archmages and the like. I would say that makes them 13-16th level. That leaves us with the silver ranked and our protagonist. From what I have read yet, I would say he is between 10-12 level, with average stats and no high level features.
What makes him interesing are his thougth process and strategies. Goblin Slayer has always fought solo, so he uses hit and run tactics, ambushes, alchemy, poison, traps and even the enviroment (he once flooded a nest and set on fire another blocking the exits). Once a fight starts, he uses whatever he has at hand. Generally a short sword and a torch or his buckler as an offhand weapon, but since he doesn't use good quality equipment, those break frequently, so he tends to pick up whatever weapon the gobs drop as he cleans their nests. However, he also has the habit of throwing his weapons as proyectiles if needed to take out shamans, leaders or other priority targets. He has no magic or notable magic items, with the only exception of a magic scroll he used once.
All in all, he basically wins his fights preparing ahead, laying cunning plans, being ruthlessly pragmatic and brutal, and through perseverance and toughness.
So, after this introductory wall of text, I was curious about how he would fit in a D&D game.
The obvious path would be using what the manga hinted, he is a multiclass fighter/ranger. However, he has also show remarkable durabilty and resistance, and his basic training with his master (show in a few flashbacks) was pretty brutal and primitive. So a few levels in Barbarian could fit too. And since he is also very good ambusher, that could earn him Rogue experience too (Assassin or Scout).
His ability scores should not be maxed at all. I would say no higher than 16 on his main stats, he often says he is an average joe among his fellow adventurers. This is proved in the battle against the goblin horde when the veterans probe their might showing that diference. Instead, I think his ASI should be used to adquire useful feats like Alert, Tough, Mobile, Skilled, Sentinel, Shield master or others.
Having said that, this is my take on Goblin Slayer:
Variant Human, Fighter (Battlemaster) 6 / Spell-less Ranger (Gloomstalker) 4 / Rogue 2
STR 15+1 DEX 14 CON 13+1 INT 12 WIS 10 CHA 8 (Actually, I think his Charisma should be lower, but I am using the standard array)
Background: Folk Hero
Seasoned adventurers often pass on goblin hunts because the pay is poor, and so, many people of the frontier and local farming villages apreciate the work of Goblin Slayer, to the point that he has actually become quite famous for it. He was also a village boy and lives in the farm of a childhood friend, so I think this accomodates pretty well the vision presented in the manga.
Goblin Slayer is mainly a front line warrior when the chips are down, hence the focus on Fighter levels. Battlemaster is the closest to his way of fighting.
I would pick either Defense or Two-Weapon fighting as his fighting style, and Feinting Attack, Pushing Attack and Riposte as his maneouvers.
For Ranger, revised should fit him well with Humanoids as his Favored enemy and whatever fighting style not picked before. I choose Gloomstalker because GS is used to fight in the caves and underground nests the goblins live in. The main reason to pick this conclave is that he has developed Darkvision over the years and this is the only non-magical non-race option I came up with to cover that detail.
Finally, I toss some levels of Rogue to grant him movility, as he usually tries to maneouver quite a bit during his fights. Expertise should go to Steatlh and Perception.
With this build, he has access to four ASI. I would pick the following: Alert, Tough, Skilled, Dungeon Delver. Again, going with the theme.
So, to sum it up.
-Two fighting styles: Defense and Two-Wpn Fgt.
-Second wind
-Action Surge
-Four superiority dice (d8)
-Maneuvers: Feinting Attack, Pushing Attack, Riposte
-Student of war
-Extra attack
-Favored Enemy (Humanoids)
-Natural Explorer
-Primeval Awareness
-Dread Ambusher
-Umbral Sight
-Expertise (Perception, Stealth)
-Sneak Attack (1d6)
-Thieves' Cant
-Cunning Action
-Skills: Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Investigation, Insight, Perception (E), Stealth (E), Survival
-Tools: Alchemic Suplies, Poisoner's Kit, Herbalism Kit, Thieves’ Tools, Carpenter’s tools, Vehicles (land)
-Feats: Alert, Tough, Skilled, Dungeon Delver
-Saves: Strength, Constitution
-HP 122 (10d10+2d8+24+24)
-AC 19 (Breastplate+Shield+Defense)
-General gear: Breastplate, Shield, Short sword, dagger, torch, antitoxins, potions of healing, dungeoneer's pack, several poisons, herbs and alchemic concoctions.
As I mentioned before, this is my take on the character adaptation, but I think other builds could representing him as well. Maybe focus on Rogue (Scout) instead of Ranger.
Maybe some barbarian levels (Path of Zealot or Totem warrior), or switching Battlemaster to Champion or Monster Slayer (if allowed)
In any case, if there are other fans of this guy, I would love to see how you would build him in a D&D game. If not, this can work great as a Bounty Hunter or Monster Slayer theme for a player or npc.