Advice on creating an Iron Man-like character?

[Chemecalx]

I’m going to be playing in a campaign soon using d&d 5e. Seeing the recent Avengers movies and being a huge fan of iron man and robots/mechs in general, I wanted to try to play that kind of character in d&d. Any advice?

[Sigreid]

I'd probably use Artificer.

[GlenSmash!]

Artificer will let you craft your own magic items, including Armor, strength increasing items, googles of night, ranged and melee weapons, and has access to the fly spell.

That's the way I'd go.

[Chemecalx]

@glensmash! I thought about that, but I also want to be able to use beefier armor. They only get access to medium and below..

[BarneyBent]

@glensmash! I thought about that, but I also want to be able to use beefier armor. They only get access to medium and below..

If you can multiclass, take a level of either Fighter or Knowledge Cleric. Fighter (at first level) gives you CON saves and the option to dip further if you choose (Battlemaster or Eldritch Knight would be best if you take it to 3), while Knowledge Cleric gives you expertise in Arcana plus another INT skill.

[Rerem115]

If your DM allows you, this (https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LAEn6ZdC6lYUKhQ67Qk) artificer on GM Binder has a variant that lets you essentially build an Iron Man suit.

*EDIT* The page doesn't display properly, but if you click the "source" button on the top, you can view the raw text.

[suplee215]

a fluffed hexblade warlock with eldritch blast does a good job.

[Ebon]

Straight up, this is how I describe a Sorcadin to folks.

Heavy Armor, shoots blasts, can fly and make things go boom.

I prefer just a couple levels of Paladin because most of this is about the magic they can pull off while in armor.

[Anderlith]

Warlock who went through the Kwalish adventure

[dunnetg]

Juggernaut Warforged Paladin/Warlock. Paladin 1 gets you access to the Warforged racial feature for heavy armor, follow with celestial warlock to get Eldritch Blast with Repelling Blast at 2 (repulsor blast), Light and Sacred Flame cantrips (chest unibeam), and Fly at level 5. With all that charisma, you’re like a Tony Stark who never leaves his suit.

[clash]

Sun soul monk gets you everything except flight. Unarmored defense is actually his suit and you can switch between punches and repulsor blasts easily. Get flight and you are golden

[nickl_2000]

Sun soul monk gets you everything except flight. Unarmored defense is actually his suit and you can switch between punches and repulsor blasts easily. Get flight and you are golden

Being an Aarakocra gets you flight, Dex, and Wis. Pretty much ideal to combine it with this.

[Wildarm]

I’m going to be playing in a campaign soon using d&d 5e. Seeing the recent Avengers movies and being a huge fan of iron man and robots/mechs in general, I wanted to try to play that kind of character in d&d. Any advice?

Warforged Envoy Fighter 1/Battle Smith Artificer X

Warforged can be in Heavy Armor without the strength requirement so you can go with stats like:
8 Str, 14 Dex, 16 Con, 16 Int, 12 Wis, 8 Cha

Defensive fighting style if your DM allows it with warforged plating. Otherwise, dueling fighting style.

Iron man inside and out with a robotic companion as well. Bonus points for taking Smith Tools as your integrated tool. Power source in your chest that acts as a plasma reactor/mini-forge.

[Spiritchaser]

Battlesmith, and see if the DM will let you trade in your pet for some fancy armor (something that I feel should have been allowed)

Caveat: I’ve never playtested a battlesmith so this is all theoretical.

For most campaigns a F1 dip would also work, as mentioned above, but if there’s any chance of hitting 20, I wouldn’t. That capstone is just too good.

[Anderlith]

If you’re gonna go Artificer, Artillerist is much better fit than Battlesmith.

[Wildarm]

Battlesmith, and see if the DM will let you trade in your pet for some fancy armor (something that I feel should have been allowed)

Caveat: I’ve never playtested a battlesmith so this is all theoretical.

For most campaigns a F1 dip would also work, as mentioned above, but if there’s any chance of hitting 20, I wouldn’t. That capstone is just too good.

Yeah you could skip F1 and take Heavily Armored at level 4. For the above warforged build, you can easily use medium armor and still have a fantastic AC.

[Vogie]

I'd probably do Paladin 2 / War Wizard X.

You get to able to have an AC of 23 in all fights, before using any spell slots. That's Plate Armor (18), with a shield (+2), Defense fighting style (+1), and Durable Magic (+2) while concentrating (Hello Create Bonfire or Dancing Lights!). You also get the Shield Spell, the Arcane Deflection (+2 AC or +4 saving throw, single attack or spell), and can convert any spell slots into damage via Divine Smite.

Since Durable magic works for concentrating on anything, concentrating on Bless for yourself and 2 other members of the party will likely be a standard tactic, but you can hang out at AC of 25 with Shield of Faith.

On top of that, you're 99% of a full caster, save that you have a single 7th level spell slot, instead of 2, at level 20 (as paladin 2 counts as a single level for spell slot advancement). Pushing CON and picking up the Tough feat is probably useful to help your largely d6 hit dice.

[Chemecalx]

I'd probably do Paladin 2 / War Wizard X.

You get to able to have an AC of 23 in all fights, before using any spell slots. That's Plate Armor (18), with a shield (+2), Defense fighting style (+1), and Durable Magic (+2) while concentrating (Hello Create Bonfire or Dancing Lights!). You also get the Shield Spell, the Arcane Deflection (+2 AC or +4 saving throw, single attack or spell), and can convert any spell slots into damage via Divine Smite.

Since Durable magic works for concentrating on anything, concentrating on Bless for yourself and 2 other members of the party will likely be a standard tactic, but you can hang out at AC of 25 with Shield of Faith.

On top of that, you're 99% of a full caster, save that you have a single 7th level spell slot, instead of 2, at level 20 (as paladin 2 counts as a single level for spell slot advancement). Pushing CON and picking up the Tough feat is probably useful to help your largely d6 hit dice.

Stat spread?

[paladinn]

Moon Druid/ Arcane Trickster

Just kidding.. Some of these suggestions are a little silly..

Of course he's an artificer.. That class was almost designed with Tony Stark in mind!

Stark has had some training with Capt. America, so a level of fighter might be appropriate. Especially if it can get him heavy armor.

There needs to be an option to equip with an "eldritch blast".. obviously the best equivalent to repulsors.

[Man_Over_Game]

I’m going to be playing in a campaign soon using d&d 5e. Seeing the recent Avengers movies and being a huge fan of iron man and robots/mechs in general, I wanted to try to play that kind of character in d&d. Any advice?

It really depends on what exactly is important to you.


Flight
Laser Beams
Heavy Armor
Building your own stuff
Intelligence
Super Strength
Lots of ranged attack options
Charismatic


I can definitely make you a build that gives you half of those, and then give you another build that has the other half. I don't think there's a build out there that does all of it without it being fairly half-assed (the Draconic Sorcerer, for instance, fits the concept, just poorly). What'd really help is if you organized that list (of Ironman's capabilities) ordered by priority.

[Chemecalx]

If your DM allows you, this artificer on GM Binder has a variant that lets you essentially build an Iron Man suit.

*EDIT* The page doesn't display properly, but if you click the "source" button on the top, you can view the raw text.

I LOVE this edit. Definitely what I’m looking for. But some of the pages are kind of wacky and unreadable. Is that just because I’m on my phone, or does there need to be some sort of edit?

[Vogie]

Stat spread?

You'll need to have decent stats, as you'll need at least 13 cha, and want both high Int and a large enough Strength to not get dragged down by the armor, while not dumping Constitution. Wisdom will be lower than you'd like and your dex will be low. You'll probably want to use this with stat's you've rolled well.

However, If you're using Standard Array, you'd probably use 13, 8, 14, 15, 10, 12 with the Human's +1 to everything (making it 14, 9, 15, 16, 11, 13)

[Chemecalx]

If your DM allows you, this artificer on GM Binder has a variant that lets you essentially build an Iron Man suit.

*EDIT* The page doesn't display properly, but if you click the "source" button on the top, you can view the raw text.


It really depends on what exactly is important to you.


Flight
Laser Beams
Heavy Armor
Building your own stuff
Intelligence
Super Strength
Lots of ranged attack options
Charismatic


I can definitely make you a build that gives you half of those, and then give you another build that has the other half. I don't think there's a build out there that does all of it without it being fairly half-assed (the Draconic Sorcerer, for instance, fits the concept, just poorly). What'd really help is if you organized that list (of Ironman's capabilities) ordered by priority.

These are what I’m looking for, in order.

Building my own stuff
Heavy armor
Laser beams
Flight
Intelligence
Charismatic
Super strength
Lots of ranged attacks

[Man_Over_Game]

These are what I’m looking for, in order.

Building my own stuff
Heavy armor
Laser beams
Flight
Intelligence
Charismatic
Super strength
Lots of ranged attacks

So we're probably working around an Artificer base, maybe 1 level into Forge Cleric if we can afford the Wisdom, and then focusing on the Artificer subclass to determine your playstyle.

Flight can be acquired by being an Aarokocra or Variant Tiefling, or by using one of your infusions for Winged Boots.



Forge Cleric can be swapped out for anything that has heavy armor (like a Fighter, if you want to focus on stats), but Forge Cleric just seems the most thematic.

Laser Beams would be duplicated by either:

Using a hand crossbow, enhanced with the new artificer spell that allows you to charge your weapon with an element. Shoot Lightning bullets and call it a day.
Using cantrips.



Artificer subclasses that'd fit would be the Artillerist (uses a mobile turret, crafts wands, and great with cantrips) or the Battle Smith (has a pet that you maintain, good with melee or ranged weapons)

[FabulousFizban]

warlock. maybe with a few levels of paladin. heavy armor + fly + eldritch blast = iron man

starting as paladin gives you heavy armor proficiency. warlock gets you fly and eldritch blast. both are charisma based. take the guild artisan (smith) background for your “building stuff” requirement and you are good to go!

i would go pact of the fiend with eldritch sight and either repelling blast or agonizing blast.

protip: don’t worry about the strength requirement for the armor. since you are flying, all you need is proficiency.

protip 2: if you are flying above enemies and hit them with repelling blast, it will auto-prone them

[Rerem115]

I LOVE this edit. Definitely what I’m looking for. But some of the pages are kind of wacky and unreadable. Is that just because I’m on my phone, or does there need to be some sort of edit?

Yeah, it was made in Homebrewery, so it doesn't play nice with a lot of browsers. If you click the source button (the little one immediately to the right of "print/export") though, you can get the raw text/code, which is bland but legible.

[Man_Over_Game]

protip: don’t worry about the strength requirement for the armor. since you are flying, all you need is proficiency.

It's important to note that Fly simply grants your character a flying speed of 60, and the penalty on heavy armor reduces ALL of your speeds by -10.

It's not that big of a difference (60 to 50), but it's worth clearing up any ambiguity on the relationship.

[Wildarm]

These are what I’m looking for, in order.

Building my own stuff
Heavy armor
Laser beams
Flight
Intelligence
Charismatic
Super strength
Lots of ranged attacks

Winged Tiefling Fighter1/Hexblade2/SorcererX could give you all of that

You should be able to fly with Heavy Armor + Shield
Will give you 2/short rest Shield Spell(Fluff as energy shield)
Eldritch Blast + Quickened Eldritch Blast will give you plenty of pew-pew power(Fluff as laser beams)
Buy some gauntlets of ogre strength to get your super strength(Fluff as Suit Servos)
Buy a headband of intellect to get more intelligence(Fluff as Suit AI)
Tank Missiles are of course AOE spells like Shatter or Fireball

[Man_Over_Game]

Winged Tiefling Fighter1/Hexblade2/SorcererX could give you all of that

You should be able to fly with Heavy Armor + Shield
Will give you 2/short rest Shield Spell(Fluff as energy shield)
Eldritch Blast + Quickened Eldritch Blast will give you plenty of pew-pew power(Fluff as laser beams)
Buy some gauntlets of ogre strength to get your super strength(Fluff as Suit Servos)
Buy a headband of intellect to get more intelligence(Fluff as Suit AI)

The problem is, he ranked inventing at the top of the list, and I'm not sure if you can create those magic items, even as an Artificer.

[Wildarm]

The problem is, he ranked inventing at the top of the list, and I'm not sure if you can create those magic items, even as an Artificer.

You can make both of those magic items as an artificer. Added sorcerer for more laser beam action but you could go artillerist artificer and be able to make all that. Could also make a bunch of cheap wands and rain death from above. Wands of magic missles, wand of lightning bolt and wand of fireball can all be made VERY cheap with an artillerist artificer.

[GlenSmash!]

You can make both of those magic items as an artificer. Added sorcerer for more laser beam action but you could go artillerist artificer and be able to make all that. Could also make a bunch of cheap wands and rain death from above. Wands of magic missles, wand of lightning bolt and wand of fireball can all be made VERY cheap with an artillerist artificer.

Yeah one of the reasons I recommended Artificer is the ability to make Gauntlets of Orge Power/ Belt of Hill Giant Strength, Headband of Intellect, and Amulet of Heath.

Hell the last one is pretty much the first thing Tony Stark makes in a cave.

[Anderlith]

All right, so Tony Stark is Cannith Human, an Artificer, an Artillerist who goes for wands & turrets & blasting.

He gets injured in a bandit raid while selling magic weapons to some soldiers, he gets captured & starts to die out. This is when he makes a bargain to spare his life & give him the means to escape. He gains a pact with a Great Old One, who stops the crossbow bolt’s broken off head from piercing his heart.

Tony then escapes & crafts the power armor from Lost Lab of Kwalish. Any other abilities of his, flight, strength, etc, are his infusions & crafted magical items

[Chemecalx]

Thank you all so much for your input. I will definitely be using these recommendations! Being the first time I’ve ever used a forum, I’m overwhelmed with the helpfulness of all your replies. Now I just need to find a game to play this class in. Haha