Build suggestions: how to stat up Master Chief from Halo?

[sengmeng]

Title kind of says it all. I was going to just homebrew it, or wing it, but I kind of wanted to see how close it was possible to get to a Spartan II within the rules.

[Imbalance]

He's a barbarian. Cortana said so.

[carrdrivesyou]

Alright...here we go....

Race: Vanilla Human (+1s all around)
Background: Soldier (obvious)
Class 1: Fighter (Battlemaster or Gunslinger UA) 5
Class 2: Artificer (Armorer) 4
Class 3: Rogue (Thief) 3
Class 4: Barbarian (Totem Warrior) 3
Class 5: Monk (Shadow) 3
Class 6: Ranger 2


Here is why:
Fighter - this is fairly straightforward, he is a super soldier, gets extra attack, and some gun related combat abilities, weapon and armor proficiencies, and some HP
Artificer - mainly here to get some power armor, but some neat abilities that fit mechanically (lol) into the lore. he has technical proficiencies with a basic understanding of Forerunner tech.
Rogue - he can be sneaky when he needs to be, and knows how to strike for max efficiency. This also gets us second story work and fast hands for those hard to reach enemies.
Barbarian - rage and reckless attack. just to open some options. go bear totem for those "shields." also helps pad that HP. we don't wanna piss off the Chief.
Monk - this one opens some options to represent his armor mods. minor illusion for hologram, pass without trace for camoflauge, etc.
Ranger - grab a second fighting style, as well as urban terrain for explorer. favored enemy likely human, but we also grab Hunter's mark

All in all, it's a mess of a character sheet, with a few low level spells and ki abilities reflavored as tech and his armor upgrades, good AC in and out of armor, speed increases, 2 ASIs, some expertise, and +1 to every stat.

[thoroughlyS]

A quick and simple answer is Eldritch Knight/Armorer with Crossbow Expert. Artificer lets you reflavor your spells as grenades, covenant weapons, and armor upgrades. The way I see it there are two major considerations for the progression: 1st level, and getting Extra Attack.
Armorer 5/Eldritch Knight + gets you Extra Attack on time, 2nd-level artificer spells (including mirror image and shatter), and INT saves, but you lose martial weapons and Fighter 5 gives you nothing.
Fighter 1/Armorer 5/Eldritch Knight + gets you martial weapons, 2nd-level artificer spells, and STR saves, but you get Extra Attack a level late and Fighter 5 gives you nothing.
Fighter 1/Armorer 3/ Eldritch Knight + gets you martial weapons, STR saves, and you get Extra Attack from Fighter, but you get Extra Attack three levels late.

[MrCharlie]

Armorer 100%. The weapons are mostly modeled as lighting launcher and potentially reflavored to deal piercing or force. Grenades and gadgets are modeled as spells and infusions (I don't know quite enough to match the full list of abilities) such as acid+catapult=plasma, shatter=frag, invisibility=cloak, Hologram=mirror image, Regenerator=healing spells, etc. etc. I'd probably keep him as an infiltrator and toss him armor of magical strength as soon as he can.

(This works fairly well with a few exceptions; Magic missile is a needler, mirror image is holograms, shatter is a nade, lightning bolt could be a railgun, greater invisibility is active camo, and wall of force is deployable cover). The ones that don't make sense are thunderwave (Well, kinduve) hyponotic pattern, fire shield, and passwall, at least of the spells you always have prepared.

Battlesmith is a potential alternative here, but master chief isn't known for his companion, and you don't get the armor.

[Keravath]

I think armorer artificer and the repeating crossbow infusion for a blast pistol or blast rifle gets most of it. Focus on dex to start. Pick up sharpshooter. If the DM has actual guns then the Gunner feat might be useful. The archery fighting style feat or a level of fighter might also be useful.

Three levels of battle master fighter would get you some maneuvers that could be used to reflavor as various abilities.

Probably lots of other options too.

[thoroughlyS]

(This works fairly well with a few exceptions; Magic missile is a needler, mirror image is holograms, shatter is a nade, lightning bolt could be a railgun, greater invisibility is active camo, and wall of force is deployable cover). The ones that don't make sense are thunderwave (Well, kinduve) hyponotic pattern, fire shield, and passwall, at least of the spells you always have prepared.
Lightning bolt is the Spartan Laser, and thunderwave is the Gravity Hammer.

[MrCharlie]

Lightning bolt is the Spartan Laser, and thunderwave is the Gravity Hammer.
Is there anything like a flashbang? I don't remember anything like that, but...

[Pinkie Pyro]

well variant human to start with lucky, obviously.

[Littlemike137]

Is there anything like a flashbang? I don't remember anything like that, but...

Blindness/deafness works for at least one of the effects at a time, although I don’t believe you could get it as a pure artificer. Thematically though a spell storing item filled by the party wizard gives a nice limited grenade feel.

[MrCharlie]

Blindness/deafness works for at least one of the effects at a time, although I don’t believe you could get it as a pure artificer. Thematically though a spell storing item filled by the party wizard gives a nice limited grenade feel.
Oh, I'd use hypnotic pattern instead as a flashbang, my question was "are there flashbangs in Halo".

[thoroughlyS]

No, although there was the Flare in Halo 3. It was basically an inverse darkness, which blinded you while you were within the area.