How to create a Tarzan character for 5e?

[ZorroGames]

This came from discussing a past game of In Her Majesty’s Name.

How to most clearly create a Tarzan or his son ( in the books, not TV,) type character for D&D 5e.

Strength clearly emphasized over dexterity but not dumping dexterity. No Armor. Knife in the book seems way more than a dagger, almost a short sword. Spear and bow early in the series. Rage a factor, especially early on. Ability to fight on beyond normal damage expectations. Wisdom and Intelligence start average at best. Charisma a dump stat or not?

Leave out his later years with rifles, flying airplanes and even very late immortality, obviously.

Barbarian? Zealot?
Monk? Kensei?

How to build the stats at first level... and later...

Feats fine if they do not use magic. Unsure if MC helps or hinders.

Ideas?

[Man_Over_Game]

Now, I've just googled him, so nothing I'm gonna say is going to be wrong.

But why not 4 into Barbarian for either Elk or Tiger totem, then the rest into Kensei or Drunken Master?

A few things described is that he is able to speak almost any language within days, and that is definitely a Monk feature. He's also incredibly mobile and is able to jump better than a gorilla, which is why I suggested Elk or Tiger. Drunken Master has the benefit of being mostly melee and utilizing mobility, and utilizing strength more often, although that last bit can be fixed by using Darts as your ranged weapon if going kensei (they're finesse, so you can throw them using Strength).

[paladinn]

I can definitely see Barbarian.. Tarzan was raised in the wild by animals, for pity's sake. I do Not see anything Monk-ish, because that is really a matter of training, of which Greystoke had squat. For the animal handling and communication, I'm thinking Ranger, perhaps Beastmaster. After his return to civilization, and then back to the wild, he definitely had a foot in both worlds, which has Ranger all over it.

[ZorroGames]

Two good thoughts. Appreciate the seeds of a design.

[Pex]

Totem Barbarian gives speak with animals and beast sense. That plus proficiency in Animal Handling could work. Trouble is speak with animals & beast sense are rituals, which takes too long activate for the atmosphere. You could house rule in exchange for at will speak with animals there is no beast sense since at least that part isn't a Tarzan thing.

The yell is an issue. I'm not familiar with the books, but it always works in movies and tv shows. The animals come. If the player can be ok with it not being an autosuccess then he makes an Animal Handling check as his yell is him speaking with animals and the roll determines the type of aid that arrives if any. A Natural 20 could be a herd of elephants to make it special and fun. A 15 on the check could be a couple of panthers. It's something to work on.

[ZorroGames]

Yes, in the books, 24 core by Burroughs, it usually occurs after the action is over. The movies flipped it around for story purposes. His son IIRC instead of a cry of triumph basically causes silence as the Jungle acknowledges his dominance.

Edit: When we moved to the apartment I dumped all but books 1-4 and 19 (immortality story) because those were the best of the lot. So many were written “to pay bills” and show it sadly.

Much as I loved a couple of the TV or movie Tarzan characters having read the series I prefer the Book versions of Tarzan, American Victorian Woman Jane, and his son Korak the Killer. And Jane becomes the wilderness heroine in one book (not one I kept) but the rest of the story fails to live up to the standard.