Batman as a D&D character

[crazy_monkey1956]

Monk/Rogue/Artificer or Monk/Urban Ranger/Artificer (with either Ascetic Rogue or Ascetic Hunter) work equally well. Be sure to give him Cloak Dance (XPH) and Intimidating Strike (PHBII). Also, trade in Flurry of Blows for Decisive Strike (PHBII). Treat batarangs as Shuriken. Give him a spool of endless rope (CAdv).

Of course, a Cloak of the Bat is a given.

What you have to take into account is that Batman is so very badass in comics because most of the time he's fighting criminals far beneath his level of skill. He'd be about 15th level and fighting against 8th-level criminals.

With the exception, of course, of some of his rogues gallery, especially The Joker.

 

[Artoomis]

With the exception, of course, of some of his rogues gallery, especially The Joker.

Right, but note that he is often defeated. He wins in the end, of course, but loses quite a few battles along the way. One of his schticks is that he learns very well from his losses.

 

[phindar]

I've always thought Batman would make a good D&D character going back to that issue where he broke into the villain's hideout, killed the Joker and Penguin and took all their stuff. Classic Golden Age storytelling, that.

I think when interpreting characters from other sources into games, getting the feel of the character is more important than nailing the actual stats. If he's an NPC, he's going to have limited screentime, so you need things that get the character across to the players fairly quickly. Cloak of the Bat, as Klaus mentioned, is a given. I'd be tempted to go Monk (both for unarmed fighting, the skill selection, and shurikens-- probably the closest stand-in for batarangs in the PHB), as well as rogue (for the sheer number of skills required) and paladin (hey, the paladin's mount makes a good stand in for the Batcycle).

 

[Mistwell]

I would stay away from the vigilante class, the goofy Batman-esque art aside.

Why? It's the most applicable prestige class to a batman character in my opinion. And a lot of prior criticism of the class (like the claim they cannot cast in light armor) turned out to be false (they cast as bards).

I'd say an Urban Ranger/Rogue that goes into the Vigilante class is the right combo for Batman.

 

[SteelDraco]

The trouble with modeling Batman in D&D is that there isn't a really good martial arts system without the trappings of the monk class. Quite a bit of that class is more mystical than I would personally associate with Batman. If you've got a good Martial Artist type class in mind, though, he works fine as a Martial Artist/Rogue. Most of his 'devices' aren't all that mystical - you could use alchemical items for most of them, such as smoke bombs, thunderstones, and such. 'course, I'm more the Batman: Year One and Batman Begins kind of guy.

He's also a skilled investigator, so you're going to have to put quite a bit into Knowledge (Local), Disguise, Gather Info, Sense Motive, and Search. The Urban Tracking feat is also a must. He's really going to have to have a high Int, as high as possible. The Able Learner feat would also probably be a good idea. Trouble is, at one point or another, Batman's demonstrated the ability to do just about anything. I've seen this represented in super-hero games with, essentially, undefined points, meaning he can shift skill points around to whatever science knowledge is relevant at the time, but there's not really a good way to represent that in D&D.

 

[wildstarsreach]

Actually, this kind of character would be good for severe multiclassing. Ninja/Fighter/Ranger/Scout/Swashbuckler/Monk with 1 or 2 PrC's that synergize the classes. Taking some of the feats that synergize the class abilities like Swift Hunter will make him even more effective.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In straight combat he can't stand up to others of "his level" (i.e. other super heroes) but with preperation he can stand against just about anyone.

What?

If you look back at his history, he is consistently considered to be one of the top martial artists in the "present-day" DC universe. Sure, he's not as fast as the Flash, or strong as Superman- in a sense, "Epic" in their abilities- but his fighting skill is top-notch.

The only thing "Epic" about him is his mind. He's DC's "Worlds Greatest Detective" and if you followed the Dark Knight and similar storylines, he's come up with a contingency plan for defeating every super being he knows of, usually involving gadgets.

But strip guys like the Flash or Supes of their powers, and he's all over them.

My past D&D incarnations of a Batman-type PC have always been pure Rangers with martial arts skills. Some more current designs have some PrCls thrown in, but regardless of build, he always has wealth and a storehouse of gadgets & gizmos (and yes, some are of magical origin).

 

[Darklone]

Batman is IMHO a UMD dude with ranger/rogue/scout levels. Swift Hunter and similar feats are nice and a lot of skills and more money are a must have.

 

[Scratched_back]

I think at least a few levels of Ninja would be in order. Forget the background or flavour of the class, but think of the abilities. All the Ki powers seem (to me at least) to fit well with the way Batman was always mysteriously vanishing.

How many times did criminals turn to face him and he was gone, only to re-appear behind them (ghost-step).

Also, there's an item in the Complete Scoundrel, I think it's called Rod of Rope or something similar, that's pretty much perfect for him. It does everything rope-related that a fighter of crime could want.

 

[Shazman]

Maybe he's a monk/factotum/vigilante with carmadine monk and several fount of inspiration feats.