How would you build the Vampire Survivors in 5e?

[Psyren]

I fell down the rabbit hole of the Vampire Survivors game (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivors/) this past week - for those not in the know, it's a gothic fantasy roguelite shmup with a bunch of Castlevania-esque characters, each with a signature weapon/power that they use to take on hordes of monsters.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/945934606056685591/1094483769181880470/2759023033_preview_Character.png?width=430&height=670

Whether you've played the game or not, I thought the sprites were fairly evocative, and it gave me the idea of building each of these characters in 5e. So out of curiosity, what kind of build(s) would you make for the characters above, based on their sprite and weapon?

[Mastikator]

Use EXP, not milestone.
Monsters spawn over time and based on kills, the faster they die the faster they spawn. CR is timed and has no correlation to PC levels. If the players don't kill fast enough they will not be able to keep up and get overwhelmed.
Monsters spawn after each player turn, the fewer monsters there are the more spawn, they get their turn immediately. It ought to be player -> monster -> player -> monster.
You level up immediately when you gain enough XP and gain a long rest from that, and only that. Maybe short rest on half exp?
Magic items are found in chests, roll on the random magic item lists, maybe increase the table number based on the number of chests found?

[Greywander]

1. No vampires
2. No survivors
3. No input except movement

But seriously, I'm not even sure where you'd start with this. Antonio is, what? A vampire hunter with a whip? Take any class with whip proficiency and the build is already complete at 1st level. Imelda is a mage with Magic Missile (or EB refluffed to look like MM). Christine sits on her butt for ten rounds, then stands up and instantly destroys all the enemies (along with any loot in the area). These characters don't have a defined set of abilities that you can model in a TTRPG, just a singular weapon/attack and maybe a passive buff. If you want to create builds based on these characters, you're going to have to take some creative liberties. At that point, is it even that character anymore, or an original creation that was just inspired by that character?

A lot of these characters are themselves inspired from other works, most notably Castlevania. Those inspirations might be a good place to look in order to flesh out the character concepts into something that can be modeled in a TTRPG.

[Hurrashane]

I fell down the rabbit hole of the Vampire Survivors game (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivors/) this past week - for those not in the know, it's a gothic fantasy roguelite shmup with a bunch of Castlevania-esque characters, each with a signature weapon/power that they use to take on hordes of monsters.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/945934606056685591/1094483769181880470/2759023033_preview_Character.png?width=430&height=670

Whether you've played the game or not, I thought the sprites were fairly evocative, and it gave me the idea of building each of these characters in 5e. So out of curiosity, what kind of build(s) would you make for the characters above, based on their sprite and weapon?

*Cracks knuckles*

Antonio: Monster Slayer Ranger with a whip
Imelda: Evocation Wizard
Pasqualina: Wild Magic Sorcerer (Chaos Bolt)
Gennaro: Zealot Barbarian/Battlemaster Fighter, thrown weapon style and Quick toss
Arca: Dhampir Eldritch Knight
Porta: Dhampir Druid, circle of the land (Mountain)
Lama: Champion Fighter with Tavern Brawler
Poe: Divine Soul Sorcerer
Clerici: Life Cleric
Dommario: Way of Mercy Monk, Acolyte Background
Krochi: Tiefling Kensei Monk
Christine: Valor Bard with Lucky feat
Pugnala: Hexblade Warlock Pact of the blade with guns as pact and hex weapons
Giovanna: Enchanter Wizard
Poppea: Lore Bard
Concetta: Creation Bard
Mortaccio: Revenant (UA rules) long death monk
Cavallo: Circle of the Moon Druid
Ramba: Undead Warlock
O'Sole: Circle of the Moon/Glamor Bard
Ambrojo: Inquisitive Rogue
Gallo: Clockwork Soul Sorcerer or Chronurgy Wizard
Divano: Cleric, Light Domain
Zi'Assunta: Vengeance Paladin

[Psyren]

Use EXP, not milestone.
Monsters spawn over time and based on kills, the faster they die the faster they spawn. CR is timed and has no correlation to PC levels. If the players don't kill fast enough they will not be able to keep up and get overwhelmed.
Monsters spawn after each player turn, the fewer monsters there are the more spawn, they get their turn immediately. It ought to be player -> monster -> player -> monster.
You level up immediately when you gain enough XP and gain a long rest from that, and only that. Maybe short rest on half exp?
Magic items are found in chests, roll on the random magic item lists, maybe increase the table number based on the number of chests found?

Sorry I wasn't clear - I didn't mean "how do we recreate the VS game in D&D" - I was purely interested in the concept of building one of those character's around their appearance and signature weapon, spell, or playstyle :smallsmile:

For example, with Antonio, how would you build a mobile whip-focused character that wears leather and hunts undead and fiends? And with Porta, how would you make a lightning mage that has a special ring but is a bit more indiscriminate with her attacks? That kind of thing.



But seriously, I'm not even sure where you'd start with this. Antonio is, what? A vampire hunter with a whip? Take any class with whip proficiency and the build is already complete at 1st level. Imelda is a mage with Magic Missile (or EB refluffed to look like MM).

I mean, I think we could do an interesting whip build that goes past level 1 :smallsmile: Which class would you lean towards? Rogue? Ranger? Fighter? I agree that Imelda would be a great wandlock or force mage.

I agree Christine would be the most challenging, so I'm fine skipping her :smallbiggrin:


*Cracks knuckles*

Antonio: Monster Slayer Ranger with a whip
Imelda: Evocation Wizard
Pasqualina: Wild Magic Sorcerer (Chaos Bolt)
Gennaro: Zealot Barbarian/Battlemaster Fighter, thrown weapon style and Quick toss
Arca: Dhampir Eldritch Knight
Porta: Dhampir Druid, circle of the land (Mountain)
Lama: Champion Fighter with Tavern Brawler
Poe: Divine Soul Sorcerer
Clerici: Life Cleric
Dommario: Way of Mercy Monk, Acolyte Background
Krochi: Tiefling Kensei Monk
Christine: Valor Bard with Lucky feat
Pugnala: Hexblade Warlock Pact of the blade with guns as pact and hex weapons
Giovanna: Enchanter Wizard
Poppea: Lore Bard
Concetta: Creation Bard
Mortaccio: Revenant (UA rules) long death monk
Cavallo: Circle of the Moon Druid
Ramba: Undead Warlock
O'Sole: Circle of the Moon/Glamor Bard
Ambrojo: Inquisitive Rogue
Gallo: Clockwork Soul Sorcerer or Chronurgy Wizard
Divano: Cleric, Light Domain
Zi'Assunta: Vengeance Paladin

Thanks! This is more along the lines of what I was looking for. I'll dive into these later on.

EDIT: I'm already getting fun ideas from this. I didn't think of Chaos Bolt = Runetracer until now, but it fits perfectly in retrospect.