D&D 5E Meet Robin Hood, Outlaw of Sherwood Forest

Robin Hood, master bowman and infamous outlaw! 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. Sign up now to be notified when the Kickstarter launches!

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

 

[Horwath]

One problem with the Ranger in 5e.. No real spell-less option

There was one UA with battlemasters maneuvars and some other gimmicks instead of spells.

 

[Morrus]

I feel like given he has 12 total levels, we could have gone with 20 DEX, I mean come on, any PC archer would and now they'll be bagging on Robin Hood for not being as agile/precise as they are.

Sure, but then he loses the Superb Aim and Stealther. The former in particular definitely makes him a better archer than +1 Dex would have. It’s just how 5E works — you get the feats or the ability increases.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

So is he like, rules-legal and built with point-buy/standard array, just with two non-standard Feats? Because if he's not point-buy/standard array, I don't see why one wouldn't just bump his DEX.

 

[Morrus]

So is he like, rules-legal and built with point-buy/standard array, just with two non-standard Feats? Because if he's not point-buy/standard array, I don't see why one wouldn't just bump his DEX.

That's the rules of the column, yep. Legendary figures built as characters.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Fair play then! He's certainly a good build and will more than do the job!

Reminds me of the old books of heroes from the Forgotten Realms and stuff, except these are rules-legal instead of cheesy monstrosities

 

[Horwath]

Fair play then! He's certainly a good build and will more than do the job!

Reminds me of the old books of heroes from the Forgotten Realms and stuff, except these are rules-legal instead of cheesy monstrosities

In 3.0 Forgotten Realms campaign settings, 95% of NPC are "GMO ubermensch" when it comes to their starting ability scores

 

[Ruin Explorer]

In 3.0 Forgotten Realms campaign settings, 95% of NPC are "GMO ubermensch" when it comes to their starting ability scores

Oh no just 3.0 buddy, back in 2E, they put out a couple of books of like "heroes of the realms", and it was an absolute horror show of characters with outrageous stats (that didn't match up with their background or how they were described at all), characters who just outright rules-illegal in various wild ways (again, not matching up with their backgrounds in may cases or having any kind of explanation), and characters who had really grotesquely overpowered abilities or magic items (some of which matched up with their backstories, but most of which were just ridiculous), and the odd randomly wimpy guy thrown in there "for balance" or something I guess.

Some characters it was fine - Alias and the other clones having straight-17s always worked, because they're created beings and were designed to be good at everything (they are literally GMO!). Or the spellfire lady having spellfire (which PCs could get via some book or another, possibly one of these). But a lot of them? It was just like "Why?".

At least it always made you feel good about the PCs in your campaign. We had this terrifying Fighter/Speciality Priest of Clangeddin, which was both RAW legal and clearly intended to be legal RAI, but was built on a giant pile of exceptions* (sadly all definitely intentional exceptions...), and I always thought he was an outrage, but compared to even the moderate offenders in these books, he was a pussycat.

* = Speciality Priests can't multi-class. Except Clangeddin ones can, with Fighter. Speciality Priests can't take kits (and MC characters sorta can't either), except Clangeddin ones specifically can, and they can specifically take Fighter/Cleric ones even though they're Fighter/SP. MC characters can't have weapon specialization, except there's a Fighter/Cleric kit in the Complete Book of Dwarves which allows them to. SP of Clangeddin can also specifically take NWP and fighting-style specialization proficiencies from Combat & Tactics. It's really clearly laid out in the SP of Clangeddin section in Demihuman Deities 2E, but good god...

 

[Mike Myler]

View attachment 121522

Right!? That's why everyone knows Robin Hood for taking from the rich and giving to the being the greatest archer in history (hint: he wasn't—read a book, mate).

Curious.. which rendition of Sharpshooter did you use for this?

I'm a little surprised that you didn't go with a Ranger build for Robin Hood. If there's one historical character that screams "Ranger", it's Robin Hood! Even as a fighter, I notice he doesn't have the Archery fighting style; or did I miss something?

Whichever version was current in checks September 2018. The Archery fighting style is in there (+10 to hit with the longbow vs. +8 to hit with finesse weapons).

So is he like, rules-legal and built with point-buy/standard array, just with two non-standard Feats? Because if he's not point-buy/standard array, I don't see why one wouldn't just bump his DEX.

The feats are standard, but they have been renamed and reworded because although they are in the core 5E books, they are not part of the 5ESRD and Open Gaming License (so using them in any way other than at the table or on DMsGuild means shuffling the words around a bit).
Also yeah you could drop one of those for a bump to Dexterity but I think he's getting more out of Skulker than he would an extra +1 to Stealth, attack, and damage. I know that there's this cult of maximum ability scores roving through the column, but sometimes there's more power outside the numbers.

EDIT: Somewhere in the replies above somebody asked about trick shots. I don't remember those being essential to the character so I went with Skulker, but you could also use that feat slot for Lucky or to pick up some maneuvers (all but 3 of which work with ranged weapons). Next fighter level is also an ABI level if you tweak him up a bit (to snag that another feat or, for the 20-ites, the points of Dexterity).

 

[Hurin70]

Right!? That's why everyone knows Robin Hood for taking from the rich and giving to the being the greatest archer in history (hint: he wasn't—read a book, mate).

I'm actually a professor of medieval history, so yes, I've read the books... in the original Latin.

How many medieval Latin manuscripts have you consulted for your work, mate? From the fact that you characterize him as giving to the poor -- which the earliest ballads do not -- I am guessing very few.

Gutta cavat lapidem non bis, sed saepe cadendo; sic homo fit sapiens non bis, sed saepe legendo.

 

[Mike Myler]

I'm actually a professor of medieval history, so yes, I've read the books... in the original Latin.

How many medieval Latin manuscripts have you consulted for your work, mate?

Gutta cavat lapidem non bis, sed saepe cadendo; sic homo fit sapiens non bis, sed saepe legendo.

Several but never in Latin because I don't know it! Since you've brought it up, what excerpts do you have about Robin Hood being the world's greatest archer drawn out of these manuscripts? Hit us with some usable data! You must have many such handy references available given your confidence that Robin Hood was the greatest archer ever so don't be coy and tell us about them.