ravenkith
2020-03-09, 09:12 AM
So, I've seen a few tries at making Riddick in 5E recently (on youtube), and to some degree, they've been successful, but limited to the obvious rogue/ranger mashups that I don't think actually do Riddick justice.
If we are going to do this, then we have to start with one question: What is it that Riddick does?
What have we seen him depicted as doing?
In answer to that, Riddick kicks a lot of ass, seems to be proficient in just about everything, and while he can be very, very stealthy, that seems like almost a secondary shtick for him by the time we're done with all four films. He's definitely tough, both mentally and physically, and seems to be excellent and at survival and improvisation, with great situational awareness and an understanding of how human beings tend to work and how to manipulate them.
Two of the scenes that comes to mind to illustrate how the Rogue (Sneak attack) model doesn't quite fit Riddick come from his one-on-one battles a) in the prison on Crematoria (It's a teacup, actually) and b) in his final confrontation with the Lord Marshall.
In the first battle, Riddick is clearly using improvised weapons, facing his foes out in the open, and somehow summoning enough offensive force to kill a man with a teacup in one blow by somehow shoving said tin tea cup through the guy's rib cage. Now some claim this is sneak attack at work, and state that Jack/Kiera is his triggering ally in this scene, and that's fair enough, but sneak attacks do not work with improvised weapons.
In his battle with the Lord Marshall, Riddick is using spiked gauntlets (imp weapons per the current ruleset, as they are not listed in the PHB weapon table), and exhibits some supernatural prowess, once again, this time by resisting the Lord Marshall's attempt to strip out his soul through what looks like sheer willpower. He takes a hell of a beating in the process. He eventually triumphs by first jamming his blade into the Lord Marshall's head and then kneeing him in the face as a finisher.
First of all, while Riddick clearly prefers knives of various kinds, he's pretty much capable of using whatever weapon he comes across. Guns, knives, swords, clubs, and yes, teacups and spiked gauntlets, he pretty much doesn't seem to care. He also seems to use whatever armor he feels like. He can be equally as deadly with ANY item. This argues AGAINST sneak dice, because you can only use sneak with finesse and ranged weapons. This means he flat out can't use sneak with a tea cup, for instance.
Second, there are his skills. He pretty clearly, in the most recent film, has the ability to detect poison (in the water), has basic medicine skills, has animal handling skills (although it's more...magical in its effect than the skill could really explain), survival skills, and then of course, there's the eyes.
Third, he seems to be really, really hard to kill.
So, let's start with the obvious: Riddick needs proficiency in all weapons and armor. He has GOT to have the ability to use improvised weapons effectively. He's also got to have two weapon fighting capabilities, and he's got to have stealth and eyes that see in the dark. He then has to (somehow) have the ability to do massive amounts of damage in a single hit. Then we have to add a litany of skills to his repertoire.
My initial pass at this character yields the following:
1st: Variant Human (Tavern Brawler Feat, Stealth skill), Paladin 1 - All weapons, all armor, Intimidation skill, Athletics skill, Lay on hands. Urban bounty hunter background gives deception, insight, thieves' tools, and the ear to the ground feature, which let's him be hooked into the criminal network.
2nd: Sorceror (Shadow) 1 - No proficiencies here, but he does pick up Eyes of the dark (120 ft darkvision!) and strength of the grave, which enables our Riddick to survive what would normally kill others (like any good main character in a movie/video game). Also picks up spell casting here, with the friends cantrip and the absorb elements and shield spells going a long way toward helping Riddick take those absurd beatings.
3rd: Paladin level 2 - Divine smite, people. It can be used with ANY melee weapon attack, including improvised weapons. Now you can start killing people with teacups :D You also get the defensive fighting style, making any armor just that little bit better for you, and paladin spells, which CAN include detect poison and disease, compelled duel, and Heroism - an ability that can really help make a hero in terms of being fearless and tough as balls.
4th-9th Level: Bard (Lore) - Here you get a lot more skills, including Perception, Investigation (Riddick is quick to figure things out), Animal Handling and Survival. You ALSO get Jack of all trades, meaning that even if you aren't proficient in something, you can fake it better than anyone else.
Cutting words lets you pull off Riddick one liners (all back of the bus and ish), making yourself tougher in the process, and Expertise in Athletics and perception are going to help you out a LOT. For your ASI you take Dual Wielder (yummy), and for your extra magical secrets I opted to take Haste and Counterspell.
Strictly speaking, counterspell is NOT something you see Riddick really do, but it is something that is utterly necessary to this build in DND: gotta be able to shut down those enemy casters and make them your bitch. Let's you pretend to be one step ahead the way Riddick always is :D
Bardic inspiration is for those scenes where Riddick gives his little speeches about if you don't keep up, Imma leave you behind, but then actually goes back and helps people - those moments are where they use the inspiration die to make their stamina checks and stuff (lol).
Of course, you get bardic spells as well. By 9th level, this build will have 4 1st lvl slots, 3 2nd, 3 3rd, and 2 4th. Any of these slots can be used to fuel Riddick's divine smite ability, letting him teacup someone to death fairly nicely. You only have one base attack per round at this point, but you have two weapon fighting to turn to here, letting you use your bonus action to get in a second attack whenever it is fitting. In addition, you can also pop haste, giving you up to three attacks a round in any combat where you need it. Keep in mind that these attacks are really only mechanisms for smite delivery. Using a d4 improvised weapon/gauntlet/whatever just doesn't matter, because your damage isn't coming from the weapon. You can also use your attacks and initiate grapples if you want to, which can allow you to get yourself a human shield, and or shove someone to the ground or keep them from getting away.
Then you add in the versatility of some of those bard spells - Cantrips definitely include Vicious Mockery - a very flavorful choice - and friendship. But you also, mechanically, want to take green flame blade with this build as well. At first level, Animal Friendship, off the bard list, makes too much damn sense to ignore. Feather fall, Longstrider, Invisibility, Silence, Hypnotic Pattern....all fit.
I went ahead and gave Riddick speak with animals and speak with plants as well, as he seems to get a lot of information out of his environment at times, more than can really be accounted for with just Investigation.
At this point, your build is pretty much fully on line. You can pretty much do anything you've seen Riddick do in other media - including falling off a cliff and surviving (lol), running way faster than others without really breaking a sweat, taming animals in an instant, getting people to listen to your proposals when they KNOW they should kill you right the eff away, and yes, murdering people with a teacup.
But then you can take things to the next level. Personally, a level 20 build, for me, would include 5 more levels of Paladin (go oathbreaker), and at least 4 more levels of Bard.
This would get you access to Extra Attack, Aura of Protection, and Aura of Hate from the paladin side, while giving you two more skills with expertise (stealth for sure) and two additional magical secrets (Steel wind strike would be an obvious choice). How you would want to implement this would, of course, be up to you.
Extra attack is obvious of course, and fits well. Aura of protection would help mechanically shore up Riddick's mental and physical toughness, explaining how he dealt with the lord marshall's supernatural soul stealing so 'easily', as well as shrugging off the tranqs and the issues he has with hypersleep. Aura of hate would just make his multiple attacks that much more effective. Expertise in stealth is a no-brainer, and realistically should be earlier in the build, but the extra points in athletics would likely mean more, which is why I have it the way I do.
Taking your final two levels in Sorceror would possibly make sense, as you would then get metamagic - not a lot of it, of course, but it would enable you to potentially do subtle spells and quickened spells and also turn in spell slots for more spell points, for instance, but there are arguments for taking levels elsewhere, too.
Thoughts, comments?
If we are going to do this, then we have to start with one question: What is it that Riddick does?
What have we seen him depicted as doing?
In answer to that, Riddick kicks a lot of ass, seems to be proficient in just about everything, and while he can be very, very stealthy, that seems like almost a secondary shtick for him by the time we're done with all four films. He's definitely tough, both mentally and physically, and seems to be excellent and at survival and improvisation, with great situational awareness and an understanding of how human beings tend to work and how to manipulate them.
Two of the scenes that comes to mind to illustrate how the Rogue (Sneak attack) model doesn't quite fit Riddick come from his one-on-one battles a) in the prison on Crematoria (It's a teacup, actually) and b) in his final confrontation with the Lord Marshall.
In the first battle, Riddick is clearly using improvised weapons, facing his foes out in the open, and somehow summoning enough offensive force to kill a man with a teacup in one blow by somehow shoving said tin tea cup through the guy's rib cage. Now some claim this is sneak attack at work, and state that Jack/Kiera is his triggering ally in this scene, and that's fair enough, but sneak attacks do not work with improvised weapons.
In his battle with the Lord Marshall, Riddick is using spiked gauntlets (imp weapons per the current ruleset, as they are not listed in the PHB weapon table), and exhibits some supernatural prowess, once again, this time by resisting the Lord Marshall's attempt to strip out his soul through what looks like sheer willpower. He takes a hell of a beating in the process. He eventually triumphs by first jamming his blade into the Lord Marshall's head and then kneeing him in the face as a finisher.
First of all, while Riddick clearly prefers knives of various kinds, he's pretty much capable of using whatever weapon he comes across. Guns, knives, swords, clubs, and yes, teacups and spiked gauntlets, he pretty much doesn't seem to care. He also seems to use whatever armor he feels like. He can be equally as deadly with ANY item. This argues AGAINST sneak dice, because you can only use sneak with finesse and ranged weapons. This means he flat out can't use sneak with a tea cup, for instance.
Second, there are his skills. He pretty clearly, in the most recent film, has the ability to detect poison (in the water), has basic medicine skills, has animal handling skills (although it's more...magical in its effect than the skill could really explain), survival skills, and then of course, there's the eyes.
Third, he seems to be really, really hard to kill.
So, let's start with the obvious: Riddick needs proficiency in all weapons and armor. He has GOT to have the ability to use improvised weapons effectively. He's also got to have two weapon fighting capabilities, and he's got to have stealth and eyes that see in the dark. He then has to (somehow) have the ability to do massive amounts of damage in a single hit. Then we have to add a litany of skills to his repertoire.
My initial pass at this character yields the following:
1st: Variant Human (Tavern Brawler Feat, Stealth skill), Paladin 1 - All weapons, all armor, Intimidation skill, Athletics skill, Lay on hands. Urban bounty hunter background gives deception, insight, thieves' tools, and the ear to the ground feature, which let's him be hooked into the criminal network.
2nd: Sorceror (Shadow) 1 - No proficiencies here, but he does pick up Eyes of the dark (120 ft darkvision!) and strength of the grave, which enables our Riddick to survive what would normally kill others (like any good main character in a movie/video game). Also picks up spell casting here, with the friends cantrip and the absorb elements and shield spells going a long way toward helping Riddick take those absurd beatings.
3rd: Paladin level 2 - Divine smite, people. It can be used with ANY melee weapon attack, including improvised weapons. Now you can start killing people with teacups :D You also get the defensive fighting style, making any armor just that little bit better for you, and paladin spells, which CAN include detect poison and disease, compelled duel, and Heroism - an ability that can really help make a hero in terms of being fearless and tough as balls.
4th-9th Level: Bard (Lore) - Here you get a lot more skills, including Perception, Investigation (Riddick is quick to figure things out), Animal Handling and Survival. You ALSO get Jack of all trades, meaning that even if you aren't proficient in something, you can fake it better than anyone else.
Cutting words lets you pull off Riddick one liners (all back of the bus and ish), making yourself tougher in the process, and Expertise in Athletics and perception are going to help you out a LOT. For your ASI you take Dual Wielder (yummy), and for your extra magical secrets I opted to take Haste and Counterspell.
Strictly speaking, counterspell is NOT something you see Riddick really do, but it is something that is utterly necessary to this build in DND: gotta be able to shut down those enemy casters and make them your bitch. Let's you pretend to be one step ahead the way Riddick always is :D
Bardic inspiration is for those scenes where Riddick gives his little speeches about if you don't keep up, Imma leave you behind, but then actually goes back and helps people - those moments are where they use the inspiration die to make their stamina checks and stuff (lol).
Of course, you get bardic spells as well. By 9th level, this build will have 4 1st lvl slots, 3 2nd, 3 3rd, and 2 4th. Any of these slots can be used to fuel Riddick's divine smite ability, letting him teacup someone to death fairly nicely. You only have one base attack per round at this point, but you have two weapon fighting to turn to here, letting you use your bonus action to get in a second attack whenever it is fitting. In addition, you can also pop haste, giving you up to three attacks a round in any combat where you need it. Keep in mind that these attacks are really only mechanisms for smite delivery. Using a d4 improvised weapon/gauntlet/whatever just doesn't matter, because your damage isn't coming from the weapon. You can also use your attacks and initiate grapples if you want to, which can allow you to get yourself a human shield, and or shove someone to the ground or keep them from getting away.
Then you add in the versatility of some of those bard spells - Cantrips definitely include Vicious Mockery - a very flavorful choice - and friendship. But you also, mechanically, want to take green flame blade with this build as well. At first level, Animal Friendship, off the bard list, makes too much damn sense to ignore. Feather fall, Longstrider, Invisibility, Silence, Hypnotic Pattern....all fit.
I went ahead and gave Riddick speak with animals and speak with plants as well, as he seems to get a lot of information out of his environment at times, more than can really be accounted for with just Investigation.
At this point, your build is pretty much fully on line. You can pretty much do anything you've seen Riddick do in other media - including falling off a cliff and surviving (lol), running way faster than others without really breaking a sweat, taming animals in an instant, getting people to listen to your proposals when they KNOW they should kill you right the eff away, and yes, murdering people with a teacup.
But then you can take things to the next level. Personally, a level 20 build, for me, would include 5 more levels of Paladin (go oathbreaker), and at least 4 more levels of Bard.
This would get you access to Extra Attack, Aura of Protection, and Aura of Hate from the paladin side, while giving you two more skills with expertise (stealth for sure) and two additional magical secrets (Steel wind strike would be an obvious choice). How you would want to implement this would, of course, be up to you.
Extra attack is obvious of course, and fits well. Aura of protection would help mechanically shore up Riddick's mental and physical toughness, explaining how he dealt with the lord marshall's supernatural soul stealing so 'easily', as well as shrugging off the tranqs and the issues he has with hypersleep. Aura of hate would just make his multiple attacks that much more effective. Expertise in stealth is a no-brainer, and realistically should be earlier in the build, but the extra points in athletics would likely mean more, which is why I have it the way I do.
Taking your final two levels in Sorceror would possibly make sense, as you would then get metamagic - not a lot of it, of course, but it would enable you to potentially do subtle spells and quickened spells and also turn in spell slots for more spell points, for instance, but there are arguments for taking levels elsewhere, too.
Thoughts, comments?