D&D 5E Meet Achilles, Greatest Warrior of the Trojan War!

Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters, coming soon to Kickstarter, compiles Mike Myler's fantastic column here on EN World, with brand new art in a gorgeous full-colour book. Here's a quick look at a preliminary version of Achilles' entry.

Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters

Achilles. Lancelot. Robin Hood. Thor. Heroes, all.

The world is full of myths and legends which inspired those in our modern fiction and games. Iconic warriors and wizards, vampires and things from the deep, these legends are universally known.

Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters delves into these paragons of literature, fable, and folklore. From Ancient Greece to the Outer Realms, deepest Transylvania to the High Seas, you’ll meet champions and thieves, pirates and knights, demigods and fey queens, ancient evils and urban legends. Archetypal heroes meet exemplars of villainy like Blackbeard, Rasputin, Dracula, and Baba Yaga.

From Mike Myler’s popular column, this epic compilation of over 100 legendary heroes, villains, and monsters brings these characters to life for the 5th Edition of the world’s oldest roleplaying game.

 

[Hurin70]

I know the design is based on the idea of a player character, but Achilles is a demigod, and I think it depends on whether you want to be faithful to PC rules or to Greek mythology. If the latter, I would think that an alternate rule for demigods would be something like +2 to all ability scores, with a higher maximum of 22, along with some other power(s) specific to the figure. For Achilles it would be Damage Resistance...I mean, he was supposed to be invulnerable to all attacks, except his heel.

Or imagine some kind of "Legendary" optional rule that allows for demigods and similar PCs being created. +2 to all ability scores (or possibly +10 to be allocated as desired, up to a maximum of 22), plus a Divine Feature of some kind (in this case, invulernability).

Yes, this is exactly what I was getting at when I brought up the Rolemaster Mythic Greece supplement. Since that is a pretty obscure reference, I will explain:

The highest stat characters could normally get in Rolemaster was 101 or 102 (since it was a percentile system).* But Mythic Greece recognized that the Greek Gods and Heroes had abilities beyond those of normal mortals, so they allowed them to have stats that went up to 120. They balanced this by giving characters with higher stats an enemy, normally a god or goddess, who was stronger the higher the character's stats were. So a Greater Hero for example might have a minor god as an enemy, while a Demigod would have a greater god as an enemy.

This is an example of an accommodation made to ensure that the system is more faithful to Greek myth. If that is not the goal here, and the series wants to be more faithful to the PC rules instead of the myths, then I understand that. But the Achilles of myth would not imho have such poor stats; that just isn't very faithful to the level of power he enjoys in the Iliad. He really is depicted as the greatest of a vast assembly of legendary heroes.


* Yes, it probably should have been a flat 100, as it will be in the new edition of Rolemaster hopefully coming out this year, but the old version of Rolemaster had a quirk that you could actually go up to 101 or 102 by using background points.

 

[delph]

A bit more. It is hard to give a clear ranking of the heroes of the Trojan war in terms of combat prowess, except that Achilles stood above everyone else. The runners-up include Diomedes, Ajax the Great, Hector, Odysseus, and Memnon, with a third tier including Sarpedon, Penthesilea, Ajax the Lesser, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Aeneas, and Patroclus.

If I had to pick #2, I'd go with Diomedes, who was an absolute terror and considering Achilles' Divine Pout, was probably the most death-dealing Greek hero of the war. After him, Ajax the Great was probably the most physically powerful, but Hector had heart, Odysseus had wits, and Memnon was very skilled.

Ajax the Great could be Barbarian lvl 20 - than he can have STR 24... Odysseus have some levels of Bard (college of sword?)

 

[Tonguez]

I know the design is based on the idea of a player character, but Achilles is a demigod, and I think it depends on whether you want to be faithful to PC rules or to Greek mythology. If the latter, I would think that an alternate rule for demigods would be something like +2 to all ability scores, with a higher maximum of 22, along with some other power(s) specific to the figure. For Achilles it would be Damage Resistance...I mean, he was supposed to be invulnerable to all attacks, except his heel.

Or imagine some kind of "Legendary" optional rule that allows for demigods and similar PCs being created. +2 to all ability scores (or possibly +10 to be allocated as desired, up to a maximum of 22), plus a Divine Feature of some kind (in this case, invulernability).

That said, I'd probably give him a 19 STR. If 20 is the strongest a mortal could possibly be, and Ajax was the strongest hero in the war and possibly the world, he'd be at 20, so Achilles a bit below that, meaning 18-19, with a higher DEX.

All that said, a nice build. I just think you need to stretch/alter the rules a bit to be faithful to Greek mythology.

So would you apply the same legendary rule to the likes of Paul Bunyan or Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes?

interestingly enough Beowulf was given Str 24 (via Barbarian 20)

 

[Mike Myler]

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[Todd Roybark]

Achilles is a player character in a Greek setting.

A PC Fighter starting with an always on Damage Resistance, equivalent to a Barbarian.
I’m not trying to be rude, but once your starting point is that, is a 27 point buy truly a necessary restraint?

You are not going to see Achilles in an AL game, that is for sure!

Arguably, one could change the Inspiring Presence feat to be a trait granted by the divinely made armor of Achilles, and take an ASI instead, or a different feat. This can help stay within the 5e rules, while allowing the breadth of Achilles’ prowess to be shown in game terms.

Achilles is reputed to have been taught by Chiron...training in the Survival and Medicine skills might be more appropriate then the Religion and Insight skills. Tool Proficiency in a Musical Instrument, would also be thematically appropriate.

Let’s face it, no mythological figure handled by so many different authors and sources, (as Achilles has), is going to be easily represented, within adherence to 5e rules.
The art is beautiful and this does a good job getting the flavor of Achilles.

 

[Mike Myler]

A PC Fighter starting with an always on Damage Resistance, equivalent to a Barbarian.
I’m not trying to be rude, but once your starting point is that, is a 27 point buy truly a necessary restraint?

You are not going to see Achilles in an AL game, that is for sure!

Arguably, one could change the Inspiring Presence feat to be a trait granted by the divinely made armor of Achilles, and take an ASI instead, or a different feat. This can help stay within the 5e rules, while allowing the breadth of Achilles’ prowess to be shown in game terms.

Achilles is reputed to have been taught by Chiron...training in the Survival and Medicine skills might be more appropriate then the Religion and Insight skills. Tool Proficiency in a Musical Instrument, would also be thematically appropriate.

Let’s face it, no mythological figure handled by so many different authors and sources, (as Achilles has), is going to be easily represented, within adherence to 5e rules.
The art is beautiful and this does a good job getting the flavor of Achilles.

Originally that was written in as a sidebar type thing ("increase Achilles' CR by +1 by adding this feature to make him as resistant as the myths claim" or something to that effect). The remainder of his build is RAW and as the column continues (Achilles was the first entry) the parameters generally tightened with characters that defy a RAW build (like Dorian Gray for example) spilling over into the Epic Monsters side (which itself wasn't spawned for a few posts).

As was astutely pointed out though, Achilles' damage resistance was going to be expected by everybody to be inside the statblock from the get-go so there it is.

(Edit: And down the line one of the less-RAW builds is Sun Wukong because he's got a bunch of magic items that don't appear in the core rules. Perseus was much easier that way. )

 

[Todd Roybark]

I agree the DR has to be there. I was pondering, if a player wanted to make a 1st level Achilles type PC, what would be a good start on how to model the invulnerability without going too far.

A Fighting Style that gave the benefits of the Heavy Armor Master feat, regardless of armor worn or not worn, wouldn’t be too much.

Achilles shouldn’t be bound by that, of course

I look forward to your Sun Wukong design. Now talk about a figure with multiple sources!

Have you thought of doing an entry for Arjuna?

 

[Mike Myler]

I agree the DR has to be there. I was pondering, if a player wanted to make a 1st level Achilles type PC, what would be a good start on how to model the invulnerability without going too far.

A Fighting Style that gave the benefits of the Heavy Armor Master feat, regardless of armor worn or not worn, wouldn’t be too much.

Achilles shouldn’t be bound by that, of course

I look forward to your Sun Wukong design. Now talk about a figure with multiple sources!

Have you thought of doing an entry for Arjuna?

Mythological Figures: Sun Wukong (5E)

Here I was thinking King Arthur was going to be hard! For every bit of popularity the lord of Camelot has in the west, the Handsome Monkey King/Great Sage, Equal of Heaven/Victorious Fighting Buddha matches him in the east. You may know him through Goku but to most of the world he’s Sun Wukong...

www.enworld.org

I have not but checks list I'll add her to the queue. There is a Drona build though. Mythological Figures: Drona (5E)

 

[Morrus]

By the way, if you’re interested in this book, please make sure you sign up to get notified when the Kickstarter launches! We’re hard at work on layout and art right now.

Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters for D&D

A beautiful D&D hardcover tome of legendary figures from Achilles to Robin Hood, Thor to Dracula, King Arthur to Baba Yaga!

www.kickstarter.com

 

[dave2008]

A bit more. It is hard to give a clear ranking of the heroes of the Trojan war in terms of combat prowess, except that Achilles stood above everyone else. The runners-up include Diomedes, Ajax the Great, Hector, Odysseus, and Memnon, with a third tier including Sarpedon, Penthesilea, Ajax the Lesser, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Aeneas, and Patroclus.

If I had to pick #2, I'd go with Diomedes, who was an absolute terror and considering Achilles' Divine Pout, was probably the most death-dealing Greek hero of the war. After him, Ajax the Great was probably the most physically powerful, but Hector had heart, Odysseus had wits, and Memnon was very skilled.

Diomedes is a clear #2, possible #1. He and Herakles are the only heroes to injure two gods (Ares and Aphrodite in Diomedes case). He is not as well know as his story is less tragic, but Diomedes was a beast on the battlefield.