D&D 5E Epic Monsters: Odin

Alright folks we’re doing it. We’re going there. It’s happening. Epic Monsters is finally tackling a subject you’ve been asking for since the column started. It’s time for old one-eye, the half-blinded god, master of the Norse pantheon and the Allfather: Odin!

Alright folks we’re doing it. We’re going there. It’s happening. Epic Monsters is finally tackling a subject you’ve been asking for since the column started. It’s time for old one-eye, the half-blinded god, master of the Norse pantheon and the Allfather: Odin!

Odin DnD5e BANNER.jpg


Or maybe you call him Woden aka why we have Wednesday! I foolishly thought that Nymue, with her more than two dozen names, would hold the title of Entry With the Most Names but again I was wrong, wrong, wrong. This all powerful bastard’s got more than 9 PAGES of over 170 names. His lore is much the same way but we all know the big stuff: father of Baldr and Thor and Loki (or maybe not as the trickster god’s history is very messy), master of the Norse gods, has only one eye, digs on ravens (Huginn and Muninn sit on his shoulders, flying off at sunrise to travel the world then return to tell him all they see and hear), oversees Valhalla, keeps two wolf buddies but is to be eaten by Fenrir during Ragnarök, rides the flying eight-legged horse Sleipnir (a subject for another day), he’s got the best magic, he has a killer beard, and many different cultures lay claim to him.

Normally I’d get into it but somehow his Wikipedia page is longer than the page with just his names—and we’ve all got things to do so let’s just dive into the good part shall we? I know that there are some proper Norse scholars out there on ENWorld so please by all means drop a reply and hit us with some knowledge about Alföðr, and of course how you think his statblock might be improved. 🧙🧙🧙

Design Notes: Since Morrus had me blow the proverbial regulator cap off with the statblock for Lucifer’s final form I feel confident that this is another entry in the series worthy of the same treatment. He may not have all the power of Hell at his command, but he is a user of magic of the highest order capable of unleashing 4 spells each round, and on top of that with the help of his roc–er, his ravens, he can simultaneously maintain concentration on as many as 3 spells at a time. The only real limitation sitting on his magic is that he’s got only (lol only) 13 spell slots above 5th level. To really emphasize the magic bits—in addition to knowing nearly all the arcane spells—I’ve also loaded him up with Sorcery Points and every Metamagic feature so handling all that arcana won’t get boring. With judicious use of his Legendary Actions (looking at you, Judgment and Punish!) he’s got staying power. Should that not be enough he’s also got all those spell slots to burn through and should be able to do more than just a little obfuscation. Worth noting he can smack somebody around pretty good too if he feels a desire to do so. Given his absurd access to magic, major hit points total, and insane action economy I’m inclined to simply call this one at CR 35.

Odin
Medium humanoid, neutral
Armor Class 22 (natural armor)
Hit Points 375 (30d8+240)
Speed 30 ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
23 (+6)​
20 (+5)​
27 (+8)​
30 (+10)​
29 (+9)​
28 (+9)​
Skills Arcana +19, History +19, Insight +18, Nature +19, Perception +18, Performance +19, Persuasion +19, Religion +19, Sleight of Hand +14, Survival +18
Damage Resistances cold, fire, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from magical weapons
Damage Immunities bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, stunned
Senses truesight 120 ft.; passive Perception 28
Languages all
Challenge 35 (255,000 XP)

Brute. A melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage when Odin hits with it (included in the attack).

Deific Strikes. Whenever Odin hits a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 13 (2d12) force damage (included below).

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Odin fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance. Odin has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. Odin's weapon attacks are magical.

Mimir. Odin can use an action to pull out the head of Mimir and ask it something he does not know. Roll 1d10, and on a result of 2 or higher it tells Odin the knowledge he desires. Mimir cannot answer the same question twice.

Monocular Perception. When attacking a target more than 120 feet away, Odin has disadvantage on his attack roll.

Raven Familiars. Huginn and Muninn are Odin’s familiars (as the find familiar spell but there are two, each are Tiny-sized, have an Intelligence score of 13, and they otherwise use the statistics of rocs). As long as his ravens are on his shoulder or within 100 feet, when Odin casts a spell that requires concentration he can choose to have a raven concentrate on the spell instead. As long as the raven is not already concentrating on a spell, it can do so for the spell’s duration or until it loses concentration.

Sorcery Points (30/Long Rest). As a bonus action on his turn, Odin can expend one spell slot and either gain a number of sorcery points equal to the slot’s level, or he can create a spell slot by expending sorcery points (1st-level—2 points, 2nd-level—3 points, 3rd-level—5 points, 4th-level—6 points, 5th-level—7 points, 6th-level—9 points, 7th-level—12 points).
  • Careful Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell that forces other creatures to make a saving throw, he can choose up to 9 creatures. A chosen creature automatically succeeds on its saving throw against the spell.
  • Distant Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell that has a range of 5 feet or greater, he can double the range of the spell. When he casts a spell that has a range of touch, he can make the range of the spell 30 feet.
  • Empowered Spell (1 Point). When Odin rolls damage for a spell, he can reroll up to 9 damage dice. He must use the new rolls. Odin can use Empowered Spell even if he has already used a different Metamagic option during the casting of the spell.
  • Extended Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell that has a duration of 1 minute or longer, he can double its duration, to a maximum duration of 24 hours.
  • Heightened Spell (3 Points). When Odin casts a spell that forces a creature to make a saving throw to resist its effects, he can give one target of the spell disadvantage on its first saving throw made against the spell.
  • Quickened Spell (2 Points). When Odin casts a spell that has a casting time of 1 action, he can change the casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting.
  • Subtle Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell, he can cast it without any somatic or verbal components.
  • Twinned Spell (Varies). When Odin casts a spell that targets only one creature and doesn’t have a range of self, he can spend a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level to target a second creature in range with the same spell (1 sorcery point if the spell is a cantrip). To be eligible for Twinned Spell, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell’s current level.
Spellcasting. Odin is a 30th level spellcaster that uses Intelligence as his spellcasting ability (spell save DC 27; +19 to hit with spell attacks). Odin knows all spells from the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard spell lists:
Cantrips: all wizard cantrips
1st-level (5 slots)​
2nd-level (5 slots)​
3rd-level (5 slots)​
4th-level (4 slots)​
5th-level (4 slots)​
6th-level (4 slots)​
7th-level (3 slots)​
8th-level (3 slots)​
9th-level (3 slots)​

War Magic. Odin has advantage when he is concentrating on a spell and has to make a Constitution saving throw from taking damage, he can wield weapons or a shield in both hands and still make somatic components for spellcasting, and can use his reaction to cast a spell (maximum casting time: 1 action) at a creature that provokes an opportunity attack from him.

Wolf Companions. Odin is accompanied by two wolves, Geri and Freki. Although they are Medium-sized, have Intelligence scores of 13, and can understand Common, they otherwise use the statistics of guardian wolves.


ACTIONS
Multiattack. Odin attacks five times with Gungnir, casts one spell with a casting time of 1 action and makes two attacks with Gungnir, or casts two spells with a casting time of 1 action.

Gungnir (+4 Spear). Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 40/120 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d6+10) piercing damage, or 19 (2d8+10) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack. In addition, the target takes 13 (2d12) force damage. Immediately after he hits or misses the target of a ranged attack, Gungnir reappears in Odin’s hand.


LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Odin can take 4 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Odin regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.
  • Impossible Power (Costs 2 Actions). Odin casts a spell of 5th-level or lower.
  • Judgment (Costs 2 Actions). Odin redistributes up to 100 hit points among creatures he can see. This cannot reduce a creature below 1 hit point or increase a creature's hit point total beyond its maximum. A creature can make a Charisma saving throw against his spell save DC to resist this effect.
  • Planar Phase (Costs 4 Actions). Odin transports himself and any creatures and objects within 1,000 feet to the plane of his choice (no save). If the plane has no gravity or otherwise cannot support the weight of the creatures and objects transported there, they fall, disperse, or otherwise move accordingly (for instance in the Plane of Water things sink, in the Plane of Air they fall, etc.). This otherwise operates as the plane shift spell.
  • Punish. Odin deals 20 points of damage to up to 9 creatures he can see within 100 feet, and he gains 10 temporary hit points for each creature damaged in this way. A creature can make a Charisma saving throw against his spell save DC to resist this effect.
  • Revenge. Odin chooses one creature that damaged him with an attack or spell since his last turn. The creature makes a Charisma saving throw against his spell save DC or takes an amount of damage equal to the damage it dealt.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Mike Myler

Mike Myler

Alright folks we’re doing it. We’re going there. It’s happening. Epic Monsters is finally tackling a subject you’ve been asking for since the column started. It’s time for old one-eye, the half-blinded god, master of the Norse pantheon and the Allfather: Odin!

View attachment 126752

Or maybe you call him Woden aka why we have Wednesday! I foolishly thought that Nymue, with her more than two dozen names, would hold the title of Entry With the Most Names but again I was wrong, wrong, wrong. This all powerful bastard’s got more than 9 PAGES of over 170 names. His lore is much the same way but we all know the big stuff: father of Baldr and Thor and Loki (or maybe not as the trickster god’s history is very messy), master of the Norse gods, has only one eye, digs on ravens (Huginn and Muninn sit on his shoulders, flying off at sunrise to travel the world then return to tell him all they see and hear), oversees Valhalla, keeps two wolf buddies but is to be eaten by Fenrir during Ragnarök, rides the flying eight-legged horse Sleipnir (a subject for another day), he’s got the best magic, he has a killer beard, and many different cultures lay claim to him.

Normally I’d get into it but somehow his Wikipedia page is longer than the page with just his names—and we’ve all got things to do so let’s just dive into the good part shall we? I know that there are some proper Norse scholars out there on ENWorld so please by all means drop a reply and hit us with some knowledge about Alföðr, and of course how you think his statblock might be improved. 🧙🧙🧙

Design Notes: Since Morrus had me blow the proverbial regulator cap off with the statblock for Lucifer’s final form I feel confident that this is another entry in the series worthy of the same treatment. He may not have all the power of Hell at his command, but he is a user of magic of the highest order capable of unleashing 4 spells each round, and on top of that with the help of his roc–er, his ravens, he can simultaneously maintain concentration on as many as 3 spells at a time. The only real limitation sitting on his magic is that he’s got only (lol only) 13 spell slots above 5th level. To really emphasize the magic bits—in addition to knowing nearly all the arcane spells—I’ve also loaded him up with Sorcery Points and every Metamagic feature so handling all that arcana won’t get boring. With judicious use of his Legendary Actions (looking at you, Judgment and Punish!) he’s got staying power. Should that not be enough he’s also got all those spell slots to burn through and should be able to do more than just a little obfuscation. Worth noting he can smack somebody around pretty good too if he feels a desire to do so. Given his absurd access to magic, major hit points total, and insane action economy I’m inclined to simply call this one at CR 35.

Odin
Medium humanoid, lawful neutral
Armor Class 22 (natural armor)
Hit Points 375 (30d8+240)
Speed 30 ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
23 (+6)​
20 (+5)​
27 (+8)​
30 (+10)​
29 (+9)​
28 (+9)​
Skills Arcana +19, History +19, Insight +18, Nature +19, Perception +18, Performance +19, Persuasion +19, Religion +19, Sleight of Hand +14, Survival +18
Damage Resistances cold, fire, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from magical weapons
Damage Immunities bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, stunned
Senses truesight 120 ft.; passive Perception 28
Languages all
Challenge 35 (255,000 XP)

Brute. A melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage when Odin hits with it (included in the attack).

Deific Strikes. Whenever Odin hits a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 13 (2d12) force damage (included below).

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Odin fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance. Odin has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. Odin's weapon attacks are magical.

Mimir. Odin can use an action to pull out the head of Mimir and ask it something he does not know. Roll 1d10, and on a result of 2 or higher it tells Odin the knowledge he desires. Mimir cannot answer the same question twice.

Monocular Perception. When attacking a target more than 120 feet away, Odin has disadvantage on his attack roll.

Raven Familiars. Huginn and Muninn are Odin’s familiars (as the find familiar spell but there are two, each are Tiny-sized, have an Intelligence score of 13, and they otherwise use the statistics of rocs). As long as his ravens are on his shoulder or within 100 feet, when Odin casts a spell that requires concentration he can choose to have a raven concentrate on the spell instead. As long as the raven is not already concentrating on a spell, it can do so for the spell’s duration or until it loses concentration.

Sorcery Points (30/Long Rest). As a bonus action on his turn, Odin can expend one spell slot and either gain a number of sorcery points equal to the slot’s level, or he can create a spell slot by expending sorcery points (1st-level—2 points, 2nd-level—3 points, 3rd-level—5 points, 4th-level—6 points, 5th-level—7 points, 6th-level—9 points, 7th-level—12 points).
  • Careful Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell that forces other creatures to make a saving throw, he can choose up to 9 creatures. A chosen creature automatically succeeds on its saving throw against the spell.
  • Distant Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell that has a range of 5 feet or greater, he can double the range of the spell. When he casts a spell that has a range of touch, he can make the range of the spell 30 feet.
  • Empowered Spell (1 Point). When Odin rolls damage for a spell, he can reroll up to 9 damage dice. He must use the new rolls. Odin can use Empowered Spell even if he has already used a different Metamagic option during the casting of the spell.
  • Extended Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell that has a duration of 1 minute or longer, he can double its duration, to a maximum duration of 24 hours.
  • Heightened Spell (3 Points). When Odin casts a spell that forces a creature to make a saving throw to resist its effects, he can give one target of the spell disadvantage on its first saving throw made against the spell.
  • Quickened Spell (2 Points). When Odin casts a spell that has a casting time of 1 action, he can change the casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting.
  • Subtle Spell (1 Point). When Odin casts a spell, he can cast it without any somatic or verbal components.
  • Twinned Spell (Varies). When Odin casts a spell that targets only one creature and doesn’t have a range of self, he can spend a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level to target a second creature in range with the same spell (1 sorcery point if the spell is a cantrip). To be eligible for Twinned Spell, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell’s current level.
Spellcasting. Odin is a 30th level spellcaster that uses Intelligence as his spellcasting ability (spell save DC 27; +19 to hit with spell attacks). Odin knows all spells from the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard spell lists:
Cantrips: all wizard cantrips
1st-level (5 slots)​
2nd-level (5 slots)​
3rd-level (5 slots)​
4th-level (4 slots)​
5th-level (4 slots)​
6th-level (4 slots)​
7th-level (3 slots)​
8th-level (3 slots)​
9th-level (3 slots)​

War Magic. Odin has advantage when he is concentrating on a spell and has to make a Constitution saving throw from taking damage, he can wield weapons or a shield in both hands and still make somatic components for spellcasting, and can use his reaction to cast a spell (maximum casting time: 1 action) at a creature that provokes an opportunity attack from him.

Wolf Companions. Odin is accompanied by two wolves, Geri and Freki. Although they are Medium-sized, have Intelligence scores of 13, and can understand Common, they otherwise use the statistics of guardian wolves.


ACTIONS
Multiattack. Odin attacks five times with Gungnir, casts one spell with a casting time of 1 action and makes two attacks with Gungnir, or casts two spells with a casting time of 1 action.

Gungnir (+4 Spear). Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 40/120 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d6+10) piercing damage, or 19 (2d8+10) piercing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack. In addition, the target takes 13 (2d12) force damage. Immediately after he hits or misses the target of a ranged attack, Gungnir reappears in Odin’s hand.


LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Odin can take 4 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Odin regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.
  • Impossible Power (Costs 2 Actions). Odin casts a spell of 5th-level or lower.
  • Judgment (Costs 2 Actions). Odin redistributes up to 100 hit points among creatures he can see. This cannot reduce a creature below 1 hit point or increase a creature's hit point total beyond its maximum. A creature can make a Charisma saving throw against his spell save DC to resist this effect.
  • Planar Phase (Costs 4 Actions). Odin transports himself and any creatures and objects within 1,000 feet to the plane of his choice (no save). If the plane has no gravity or otherwise cannot support the weight of the creatures and objects transported there, they fall, disperse, or otherwise move accordingly (for instance in the Plane of Water things sink, in the Plane of Air they fall, etc.). This otherwise operates as the plane shift spell.
  • Punish. Odin deals 20 points of damage to up to 9 creatures he can see within 100 feet, and he gains 10 temporary hit points for each creature damaged in this way. A creature can make a Charisma saving throw against his spell save DC to resist this effect.
  • Revenge. Odin chooses one creature that damaged him with an attack or spell since his last turn. The creature makes a Charisma saving throw against his spell save DC or takes an amount of damage equal to the damage it dealt.
Until a DM gives him a Mythic Trait.
ef7e7eac87f665413472fed39f16b0de.jpg
1e Odin had more hp. ;)
Lol my 3 17th level fighters whooped his butt in one round.
Perhaps 1600 hp plus 3 mythic stages would truly grant him the title "King of the Norse Gods".
By the way Neutral or Lawful Good seems a better fit.
 

log in or register to remove this ad



Iry

Legend
He was certainly prone to doing some deeply shady things, both by our standards and those of his own people. But that's how you roll when you're a God.

At least he didn't use his phallus as a bridge over a river, go soft, and drown everyone crossing over it. Or crawl up an elephant's butt in the search for enlightenment. Or decapitate his own son for standing in his path. Etc. 🤓
 

He was certainly prone to doing some deeply shady things, both by our standards and those of his own people. But that's how you roll when you're a God.

At least he didn't use his phallus as a bridge over a river, go soft, and drown everyone crossing over it. Or crawl up an elephant's butt in the search for enlightenment. Or decapitate his own son for standing in his path. Etc. 🤓
Uh
 

Voadam

Legend
The last one I recognize as the Hindu myth of young Ganesh's mom Parvati saying to him don't let anyone disturb me for a little bit then his dad Shiva the Destroyer comes home unexpectedly and when Ganesh bars his path in going to see his wife Shiva just cuts the kid's head off. His mom is horrified and shrieks about it so Shiva cuts the head off a nearby elephant and plops it on Ganesh's body to make things all better. So elephant-headed Ganesh. The other references I could not place off the top of my head.
 

Stalker0

Legend
I love the Mimir and Judgement abilities, those are just wicked cool flavor.

So I did a quick CR check. It is exceptionally difficult when you have this many spells flying around, but I gave it a try. Here's what I have.

Offensive CR
So in terms of attack routine here is what I am assuming

5 spear attacks (32 x 5) + 1 quickened Meteor Swarm (140 damage) + 2 judgements (200 damage) = 500 damage. While the standard chart doesn't go that high, we can extrapolate that out to a CR 41. Attack wise, a +19 is likely a bit higher than a CR 41 but the attack numbers are not so consistent that its hard to extrapolate. We could also assume things to give advantage, or something as simple as a bless spell to give +2.5 more attack. If nothing else I certainly don't think the attack bonus is bringing us down in CR, so we will leave it at 41. Using his spell DC, extrapolating to CR 41 is a spell DC of 26....so a 27 shouldn't bump it, so we seem to be roughly in the right place.

This of course doesn't account for the possibility that Odin just plane shifts everyone into a super sphere of annihilation or something and just leaves...but again we have to assume parties actually insane to fight such creatures must be prepared for all sorts of planar shanegians and have escape cards to get out of such messes, otherwise Odin's CR is basically infinite against anything that can't plane shift at will.

Defensive CR
While Odin has great stats that give him solid all around saves, he also doesn't have any saves that are "amazing". That said, it could be expected that Odin would absolutely have protective spells on.... a Globe of Invulnerability of 8th should be 100% expected, and he could just throw on the 9th level version if he is expecting company (and such a spell caster should always be expecting company). Further, invulnerability could be applied against those pesky fighters.

In such a fight, dispel magic should be completely expected, which could take out the globe but it would take another hit to potentially take out spells like invulnerability. So again....very hard to assess, but lets look at some ranges.

If we assume a pants down Odin, dispel works like a charm and he is stripped of magic right off the bat. Further, the party has come fully equipped with special force weapons or energy altering effects. In other words, Odin's resistances don't apply.

In that case, he has effective hitpoints = 375 + 600 (assuming with his judgments that he is sliding all of the hitpoints off of someone else and on to himself. I am also assuming 3 rounds of combat, which seems to be the normal for 5e). So at 975 HP that is CR 33, +1 CR for his AC so CR 34.

If we assume an Odin whose resistances are really working (so we assume everything is doing half damage to him, either through his base resistances or various spell shenanigan's/invulnerabilities.... than that's 975 x 2 = 1,950. That's a CR 55, +1 for AC so CR 56.

If we wanted to get really crazy, Odin could of course just put an antimagic field on himself (aka he just wants to kick back, relax, and have some fun in melee). So now you have a party that is attacking him with probably 1 artifact (maybe 2), no spells, and maybe someone literally throwing fire sticks at the guy. So you could probably even go with the notion that he is only taking 1/4 normal damage, and get HP as high as 3,900 .... but that is assuming a much lower offense as well (or if we are going with Odin as a god that can bypass AMF...then he gets his full spellcasting while the party is blocked... good luck to them at that point).


So my napkin math shows a CR for Odin ranging from 37 on the low end to 48 on the high. If you wanted to average those its about ~CR 42. CR math tends to go out the window when your dealing with a creature with every magic spell at there command (I didn't even start on simulacrum cheese or anything like that), but considering I haven't even tried any really hokey spell synergies and I can manage a CR 37....I think CR 35 is too low for this guy.
 
Last edited:

dave2008

Legend
5 spear attacks (32 x 5) + 1 quickened Meteor Swarm (140 damage)
Just wanted to point out that Meteor Swarm is an area attack, per the CR guidelines you should assume it hits 2 targets, so that is 280 effective damage, minimum. Meteor Swarm is one of the few spells where you could justify a higher multiplier (4 targets).
 

I love the Mimir and Judgement abilities, those are just wicked cool flavor.

So I did a quick CR check. It is exceptionally difficult when you have this many spells flying around, but I gave it a try. Here's what I have.

Offensive CR
So in terms of attack routine here is what I am assuming

5 spear attacks (32 x 5) + 1 quickened Meteor Swarm (140 damage) + 2 judgements (200 damage) = 500 damage. While the standard chart doesn't go that high, we can extrapolate that out to a CR 41. Attack wise, a +19 is likely a bit higher than a CR 41 but the attack numbers are not so consistent that its hard to extrapolate. We could also assume things to give advantage, or something as simple as a bless spell to give +2.5 more attack. If nothing else I certainly don't think the attack bonus is bringing us down in CR, so we will leave it at 41. Using his spell DC, extrapolating to CR 41 is a spell DC of 26....so a 27 shouldn't bump it, so we seem to be roughly in the right place.

This of course doesn't account for the possibility that Odin just plane shifts everyone into a super sphere of annihilation or something and just leaves...but again we have to assume parties actually insane to fight such creatures must be prepared for all sorts of planar shanegians and have escape cards to get out of such messes, otherwise Odin's CR is basically infinite against anything that can't plane shift at will.

Defensive CR
While Odin has great stats that give him solid all around saves, he also doesn't have any saves that are "amazing". That said, it could be expected that Odin would absolutely have protective spells on.... a Globe of Invulnerability of 8th should be 100% expected, and he could just throw on the 9th level version if he is expecting company (and such a spell caster should always be expecting company). Further, invulnerability could be applied against those pesky fighters.

In such a fight, dispel magic should be completely expected, which could take out the globe but it would take another hit to potentially take out spells like invulnerability. So again....very hard to assess, but lets look at some ranges.

If we assume a pants down Odin, dispel works like a charm and he is stripped of magic right off the bat. Further, the party has come fully equipped with special force weapons or energy altering effects. In other words, Odin's resistances don't apply.

In that case, he has effective hitpoints = 375 + 600 (assuming with his judgments that he is sliding all of the hitpoints off of someone else and on to himself. I am also assuming 3 rounds of combat, which seems to be the normal for 5e). So at 975 HP that is CR 33, +1 CR for his AC so CR 34.

If we assume an Odin whose resistances are really working (so we assume everything is doing half damage to him, either through his base resistances or various spell shenanigan's/invulnerabilities.... than that's 975 x 2 = 1,950. That's a CR 55, +1 for AC so CR 56.

If we wanted to get really crazy, Odin could of course just put an antimagic field on himself (aka he just wants to kick back, relax, and have some fun in melee). So now you have a party that is attacking him with probably 1 artifact (maybe 2), no spells, and maybe someone literally throwing fire sticks at the guy. So you could probably even go with the notion that he is only taking 1/4 normal damage, and get HP as high as 3,900 .... but that is assuming a much lower offense as well (or if we are going with Odin as a god that can bypass AMF...then he gets his full spellcasting while the party is blocked... good luck to them at that point).


So my napkin math shows a CR for Odin ranging from 37 on the low end to 48 on the high. If you wanted to average those its about ~CR 42. CR math tends to go out the window when your dealing with a creature with every magic spell at there command (I didn't even start on simulacrum cheese or anything like that), but considering I haven't even tried any really hokey spell synergies and I can manage a CR 37....I think CR 35 is too low for this guy.
Balance is key!
 

Odin's alignment varies so much from portrayal to portrayal, if you want to put a label on him in a game book it's probably best to just slap a "neutral" on him and be done with it.

Alignment-wise, one of my favorite Odins (or Wotans, I should say) is Wagner's. He is the codifier and enforcer of cosmic laws, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn't actually like them that much, and his struggle between what he wants to do and what is required of him is one of the central conflicts of the Ring cycle. He commits a crime, and spends the plot trying to navigate the consequences of that crime for himself and for everyone else. It's a theme you can find in the Eddic Odin as well if you look -- whether it's the slaying of Otter or the slaying of Ymir, somehow it always seems to lead to Ragnarok -- but Wagner really brings it front and center. It's an interesting example of a chaotic character finding himself in a lawful role, and one of the first characters I think about when I think about how 5e paladin alignments can potentially interact with their oaths.
 

Related Articles

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top