PDA

View Full Version : How would you build Kenpachi Zaraki [3.5]



H0L7
2008-06-15, 03:58 AM
Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach

be brutal think cr 28-32 you can gestalt and use any classes or feats you want

Hurlbut
2008-06-15, 05:03 AM
You want us to build an epic level character?

SurlySeraph
2008-06-15, 07:04 AM
That's "Captain Broken," right? I'm going to say gestalt Swordsage// Barbarian, with levels in Frenzied Berserker and arbitrarily high Strength and Constitution, and call it a day.

Tengu
2008-06-15, 07:40 AM
No, Aizen is Captain Broken. In DND, he'd be a batman wizard, specialising in mind-affecting spells and illusions.

Kenchan needs, apart from the ability to hit like a truck, also extreme damage reduction.

Closet_Skeleton
2008-06-15, 10:45 AM
2000 pt. buy with no 18 stat limit.

Seriously, unarmoured swordsmen are the 1 character concept that completely fails in D&D. The only way to do it is Iaijutsu Master, which is okay for Kenshin but terrible for Zaraki who wouldn't have decent Int.

To be honest, if he's Epic, he's not a PC, he's an Abomination.

Eldritch_Ent
2008-06-15, 10:53 AM
He needs something like damage reduction -/awesome or something... He'd be nearly impossibly to model.

However, I'd go with gestalt TOB Class/Other class, Swordsage sounds great.

Indon
2008-06-15, 11:48 AM
How do you gain access to that ridiculously exploitive "Dark chaos embracing" abilities or whathaveyou - the ones that would allow Kenpachi to be Fighter 20 and reassign all 11 of his fighter feats to stuff like this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#damageReduction) or this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#epicToughness)?

If there are no class requirements, I'd make him Fighter/Barbarian, get him to about 40 DR, (So 12 feats on epic DR plus his +5 from being a Barbarian for DR 41/-), and start spending feats on extra HP's. Meanwhile, pump Con and Str.

He's not a swordsage - his technique is more or less literally the stereotypical 3.5 power attacker's technique of trading full attacks until someone dies. And he doesn't at all rely on AC - he's purely about hit points and his DR.

But honestly, his stats don't matter all that much, because of how he overcomes challenges - basically, he's massively overleveled against anything he could fight. The dude has at most a 10 wisdom, and has just so much raw, D&D-style power, that he can neutralize will save attacks with high DC's. It would (and did) take massive Deus Ex Machina to defeat him.

So really, you could make him a CR 50 or so Fighter and you might be getting close. Give him a single custom epic feat like, "Hit anything" which allows him to destroy absolutely anything by dealing sufficient damage with a physical attack or strength check (including intangible things like interdimensional spaces) and you've got him made.

-And no, Captain Zaraki would not be fit to fight an equally powerful (CR-wise) opponent. The guy has zero finesse or abilities outside of Kenpachi Smash. He is the poster child of the high-level, power-attacking 3.5 Fighter or Barbarian.

Werewindlefr
2008-06-15, 03:00 PM
The dude has at most a 10 wisdom, and has just so much raw, D&D-style power, that he can neutralize will save attacks with high DC's. It would (and did) take massive Deus Ex Machina to defeat him.


Well, that's not entirely accurate in my opinion. Considering the Bleach universe, I think that he has quite high wisdom, on the contrary. A wild, disturbed wisdom, but wisdom nonetheless. It is, after all, his "seek battles" philosophy and his wisdom that prevents Ichigo from losing his battle with his inner hollow. It's a "dark-side of the force" kind of wisdom, but it is the one that works in Bleach.

Now, I do not think that the D&D system allows for a good modelling of Zaraki-ChuckNorris-Kenpachi. Their (Shinigamis') abilities have a power source that's closer to the ones of monks than fighters' (reiatsu is more like "ki" than like strenght or constitution). At least, lacking any Shikai ability, though, it stays simple to houserule from a ki-powered barbarian. I wouldn't say fighter, though, because fighters usually clad in armor, and wield the sword with techniques, while Kenpachi fights with an entirely instinct-based style. As he himself admits, he hates Kendo.

Also, he needs the feat "Super-Uber-Two-Handed-Style", which allows him to ignore any armor or save-like defense (except, maybe, dodge and reflex). Nnoitra can testify.

seedjar
2008-06-15, 03:26 PM
His character sheet is a black piece of paper. Whenever a non-essential character would roll a d20, Zaraki kills them.
~Joe

AslanCross
2008-06-15, 05:37 PM
I think I remember seeing a motivational poster with Zaraki as an epic-level Frezerker. That should be accurate enough, I guess.

Behold_the_Void
2008-06-15, 06:02 PM
As powerful as Kenpachi is, I think he's upper-to-mid-range as far as captains are concerned.That he doesn't have a bankai and is fairly straightforward in his combat style means that he's not too hard. I think I put him around level 16 when I was doing my Bleach D20.

What's best here is probably a template and some levels in basic combat classes. He should have some nice boosts to strength, damage reduction, and probably boosts to power attack damage and to-hit. Give him a nice straightforward melee class and there you go.

Rage doesn't really suit him though, he's just extremely tough and tenacious, not flying off the handle (unless you count getting more and more entertained the more damage he takes).

Xuincherguixe
2008-06-15, 08:13 PM
Kenpatchi is interesting in that while he often doesn't have much common sense, and does some kind of stupid things, he makes a number of fairly insightful remarks. Ironically, he's probably one of the calmer captains.

I would think he'd have above average wisdom, and possibly low int. (It depends on how much you count comedy relief)

As far as rage goes, Kenpatchi really doesn't get angry too much. But he does get really excited. I would refluff the Rage, since I would think it would have similar enough game mechanics.


As far as levels, and strength goes, those are pretty open to interpretation. In Bleach, he's somewhere in the mid high range. But, he would totally destroy a normal human fighter. Maybe level 16 is enough for that.

wodan46
2008-06-15, 08:51 PM
Zaraki is the lord of under-optimized over-leveled characters. He doesn't even have a freakin Shikai, yet was able to best a captain with a Bankai (10 times as powerful as a Shikai, which is more powerful than non-Shikai). So ya, he'd be a ridiculously high level Barbarian with a ton of DR.

Werewindlefr
2008-06-15, 10:15 PM
Zaraki is the lord of under-optimized over-leveled characters. He doesn't even have a freakin Shikai, yet was able to best a captain with a Bankai (10 times as powerful as a Shikai, which is more powerful than non-Shikai). So ya, he'd be a ridiculously high level Barbarian with a ton of DR.
Technically, his has a Shikai, as his Zanpakutoh is always released. It's just that he doesn't know the abilities of his Shikai.

He has a bankai: He uses his second hand :p.

Behold_the_Void
2008-06-15, 10:18 PM
Zaraki is the lord of under-optimized over-leveled characters. He doesn't even have a freakin Shikai, yet was able to best a captain with a Bankai (10 times as powerful as a Shikai, which is more powerful than non-Shikai). So ya, he'd be a ridiculously high level Barbarian with a ton of DR.

Bear in mind those were two lower-end captains (although Tousen appears to have gotten quite the boost of late). Tousen is DECEPTIVELY powerful, but his Bankai is actually not that hard to deal with and I can think of any number of the cast that could. Komamura, likewise, seems fairly low end, he got felled by Aizen's level 90 kidou that was at 1/3 of the power. Aizen's own personal strength and the power of the spell nonwithstanding, Komamura's a captain, and one of the apparently tougher (higher con) ones at that. He went down shamefully easily.

nargbop
2008-06-15, 10:22 PM
Can't be done without significant DM intervention/homebrewing. Now, the way I would explain away his adamant skin would be thus : take some CHA-to-AC classes and feats , then use Unearthed Arcana. One of the rules in UA changes AC to damage reduction in a systematic manner, so you could conceivably change Kenpachi's deflection bonus to damage reduction with similar rules.

Look at this Optimized Build (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Can%27t_Touch_This_%28DnD_Optimized_Character_Buil d%29). It's completely out of character for Ken-Ken what with the significant INT and WIS scores, but it's an example.

=== Murrr, just looked at UA again. The rules are on page 111, and they simply aren't enough to compare with what Kenpachi shrugs off. Rats. I guess we're back to making Ken-Ken an epic Barbarian/Swordsage with all of his epic feats devoted to Damage Reduction.

BizzaroStormy
2008-06-15, 11:06 PM
Or like Behold said, you could just use his bleach d20 system and make kenpachi that way. All you need really is the constant release shikai feat with a zanpakuto specialization on the weapon type.

Anyr
2008-06-16, 05:28 AM
It's interesting that no post has yet touched upon one of the main problems with statting out Kenpachi: He holds back. A lot.

In most gaming systems (3.5 included) there isn't any reason to fight enemies with your abilities deliberately lowered in power. A person might hold on to their 1/day prestige powers or high level spells, but there's no mechanical advantage to intentionally missing with attacks, giving the enemy time to recuperate or fighting one handed with no use for the free hand. Feats like Robilar's Gambit and Karmic Strike give a reason to let yourself be hit a lot (although Zaraki doesn't seem to use them either), but that's about it. Wearing a magic item that actually reduces your effective power level with no return is just silly in 3.5.

While in the manga/series this sort of thing makes sense, in D&D it would be nice to find a mechanical reason for a player to act out this sort of concept without shooting themselves in the foot.

Segial
2008-06-16, 08:09 AM
There is no reason for Kenpachi to hold back in the manga either besides the fact that he is so powerfull that he actually handycaps himself to make his fights more interesting. So he is actually and deliberatly "shooting himself in the foot" and he is perfectly fine with it. In d&d terms that could be translated into wearing a removable cursed item that lowers his stats. As for classes I would go for the Thug (Fighter Variant) and the urban variant of the Barbarian from Cityscape and take powerattack and damage-reduction feats.

Segial
2008-06-16, 09:53 AM
Kenpachi Zaraki

Human Paragon CN Gestalt Thug 10 / Barbarian (Urban) 20 - Psychic Warrior 20 / Psychic Weapon Master 10

Valairn
2008-06-16, 10:32 AM
What Segial said, but make sure he has DR/plot

Eldritch_Ent
2008-06-16, 07:00 PM
Actually, how I'd do it is just making his eyepatch give him negative levels. at CR 32, I think 20 negative levels would be a good amount.