Let's Make Santa Claus

[SociopathFriend]

It's that time of year again and you know what- it's Santa time. Now obviously he's an epic-level character, easily at level 20 at least and clearly packing the mother of all Bags of Holding.

With that said, how best could we recreate Santa Claus in Dungeons and Dragons? What combination of classes, abilities, spells, and equipment would best give us good Old Saint Nick? The only prerequisite is he must be human- presumably Variant.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Some kind of cheezy short rest regenerating Sorcerer who gears up infinite teleport spells for use one day a year?

No, a cheezy Haste casting Sorcerer who worked up a billion Haste spells between him and his infinite number of Simulacrums who he uses to gather kid's wishes from around the world. Boy his reindeer are going to be tired when 101,001 Haste spells wear off.

[Zonugal]

The only prerequisite is he must be human- presumably Variant.

I'm wondering, why?

[SociopathFriend]

I'm wondering, why?

Because I get the feeling scores aren't going to matter so no real reason to make him a regular human and he does have to be Human.
It was either Human or presumably some kind of Elf but given that Santa is specifically not an Elf in most interpretations it didn't make sense to go for Elf, any kind of them.

[Unoriginal]

Because I get the feeling scores aren't going to matter so no real reason to make him a regular human and he does have to be Human.

Why does he have to be human?

A Bugbear would be better for a hairy guy who can carry a lot of stuff all night and who commits several hundreds breaking & entering acts.

[Digimike]

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/W1WsnSh

Someone already did some awesome work on this, but I don't see how Santa couldn't simply be any race and have polymorph. I'd like to think that Santa is a benevolent immortal Dragon. 😀

[noob]

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/W1WsnSh

Someone already did some awesome work on this, but I don't see how Santa couldn't simply be any race and have polymorph. I'd like to think that Santa is a benevolent immortal Dragon. 😀

Santa can not be an immortal dragon since he is based on saint Nicholas which is an human and the first requirement for being a saint is to have died and someone who died is definitively not immortal.
On the other hand you can have a setting where you have a benevolent immortal dragon which does the same thing but that dragon will not be the same thing as saint Nicholas(it can be similar however).
But you can totally have a Santa be an undead since he would fit the dead clause for being a saint.
So we could just take the lich stat block then add a bunch of magical items.

[EggKookoo]

Because I get the feeling scores aren't going to matter so no real reason to make him a regular human and he does have to be Human.
It was either Human or presumably some kind of Elf but given that Santa is specifically not an Elf in most interpretations it didn't make sense to go for Elf, any kind of them.

He was sometimes referred to as an "elf" but by appearance he'd be a gnome or even a dwarf. Even his elves in the workshop are much better represented in D&D by gnomes. Santa only became a full human figure once Coke got ahold of him.

[Unoriginal]

Santa can not be an immortal dragon since he is based on saint Nicholas which is an human and the first requirement for being a saint is to have died and someone who died is definitively not immortal.
On the other hand you can have a setting where you have a benevolent immortal dragon which does the same thing but that dragon will not be the same thing as saint Nicholas(it can be similar however).
But you can totally have a Santa be an undead since he would fit the dead clause for being a saint.
So we could just take the lich stat block then add a bunch of magical items.

"Based on" doesn't mean "is".

Santa isn't Saint Nicholas, same way he isn't Kris Kringle or the Befana.

Also this is about D&D Santa, not Earth!Santa

[SirFrog]

"Based on" doesn't mean "is".

Santa isn't Saint Nicholas, same way he isn't Kris Kringle or the Befana.

Also this is about D&D Santa, not Earth!Santa

Santa Claus literally means Saint Nicholas

[EggKookoo]

Santa Claus literally means Saint Nicholas

Santa is a conglomerate figure with varied origins. He's also Odin.

[Raynor007]

At least one level of Fighter, with the Two-Weapon Fighting Style:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fe/d3/78/fed378a22a177b6a3fd85cbb5a16a363.jpg

[xroads]

Class:

I can see Santa Clause as being a:


A divination wizard. After all, he knows when you're naughty or nice.


Or a warlock (pact of the tome) whose patron is an archfey. A powerful fey who wishes to spread merryment to children around the world.

His ability to give every good kid in the realm a gift is probably from a DM fiat. Perhaps he has a mcguffin that lets him freeze time and do the impossible. Or perhaps the warlock's patron possess Santa one day a year.

Background:

His background is probably as a guild artisan. Hence his familiarity with building toys. Heck, maybe he belongs to an gnomish toy builder guild that is located in the northern/coldest regions of the realm.

[lunaticfringe]

I said it last year & I'll say it again: Firbolg Knowledge Cleric

[Ganymede]

The idea of statting Santa Claus is far less interesting than the idea of a PC discovering a slain man's red snow suit, putting it on, and gradually gaining the man's powers a la The Santa Clause.

[stewstew5]

Class:

Or a warlock (pact of the tome) whose patron is an archfey. A powerful fey who wishes to spread merryment to children around the world.


https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/281592265103638529/525816736923254785/unknown.png
This almost got me kicked from a discord last week

[Zonugal]

Plus, elves aren’t fat.

Says who?

Elves can come in any shape & figure, just like dwarves and gnomes and halflings and humans and...

[Zonugal]

2e Book of Elves: “All elves are very slim, hiding their natural strength under a vail of fragility.”

That book was written in 1993.

For the second edition of the game.

Times change and so do editions of the game!

[Damon_Tor]

He's likely a cleric of a heretofore unpublished "giving" domain. His repeated ability to give gifts to all the good boys and girls in a single night can only be mechanically justified by the Divine Intervention feature (and an extremely benevolent GM).

[Rusvul]

Tolkein's elves are mystical beings beyond the full comprehension of humans. D&D--especialy 5e--with its trend of making traditional fantasy races more human, has reduced elves from the status of "humans but magical and better at almost everything" to "humans but frailer, nimbler, and older, with pointy ears." I have no idea if Tolkein's elves (or some other setting's Tolkein-esque elves) have some magical metabolism that always keeps them perfectly fit regardless of what they do or eat, but I think in lieu of specific lore stating that elves cannot be obese, it makes a lot more sense to assume that they can gain and lose weight more-or-less like humans (though probably with a strong genetic tendency towards lean and waifish). Jumping from "There are no fat elves in published material" to "elves are incapable of being overweight" seems like a big leap of logic to me.

A bigger issue might be facial hair. Santa's gotta have a beard. Is it 5e canon that elves never grow facial or body hair, or has that changed since 3.5?

[Rusvul]

If you take the 2e Book of Elves to be the authority on elves in your 5e game, then... sure. Nothing wrong with taking things from earlier editions. But suggesting that a 2e book--25+ years old, and from a largely Greyhawk-focused edition (in contrast to 5e's love of FR)--be considered authoritative on 5e outside of your table seems a bit off. But "5e Santa can't be an elf because Elves are never fat" doesn't really make sense without a homebrew setting or importing fluff from another edition.

But hey, if you want your elves to all be magically skinny, then... why not. D&D characters are generally fit anyway. In that case, though, you're right, Santa would have to be a human or a dwarf or something. No-one likes a skinny Santa. :)

[Mith]

At least one level of Fighter, with the Two-Weapon Fighting Style:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fe/d3/78/fed378a22a177b6a3fd85cbb5a16a363.jpg

If you read the book this is based off of, a 20th level fighter with some artefacts is perfect.

[JakOfAllTirades]

Santa Claus is a Warlock Patron.

And his Warlocks can be found in shopping malls everywhere.

Pact of the Beard.

[stewstew5]

Santa Claus is a Warlock Patron.

And his Warlocks can be found in shopping malls everywhere.

Pact of the Beard.

Asking DM...

[Angelalex242]

Santa is a demigod. His powers work exactly one day a year at one specific time, but on that day, boy howdy does he get the job done.

[Unoriginal]

Santa is a demigod. His powers work exactly one day a year at one specific time, but on that day, boy howdy does he get the job done.

You better watch out, you better not cry
You better not fight, I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is going to town