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.

 

[dave2008]

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

Maybe that is not the goal? I see Mike's work as trying to be faithful to 5e first, and then how do you make these legendary figures within that box. Truth be told, by RAW, he could give Achilles a blessing or boon to increase stats to whatever is needed. However, anyone can do that, I personally find it more interesting to work within the box and see what sacrifices have to be made to get as close as possible to the myths. It creates a much more interesting NPC IMO. After all, it is trivially easy to add a few points to STR and DEX if I feel they are needed. All the other design work takes a lot more effort, and that is what I like / want to see from @Mike Myler

 

[dave2008]

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

Already did!

 

[Morrus]

I'll have Aladdin to show off soon! (I won't be showing them all here, but I'll share a few.)

 

[dave2008]

I'll have Aladdin to show off soon! (I won't be showing them all here, but I'll share a few.)

Not too many I hope - I like surprises!

 

[Hurin70]

Maybe that is not the goal? I see Mike's work as trying to be faithful to 5e first, and then how do you make these legendary figures within that box. Truth be told, by RAW, he could give Achilles a blessing or boon to increase stats to whatever is needed. However, anyone can do that, I personally find it more interesting to work within the box and see what sacrifices have to be made to get as close as possible to the myths.

I understand what you're saying, but you're really not getting close to the myths if you have an Achilles who really could not do the sorts of things that Achilles actually does in the Iliad.

In previous editions, it was at times just not possible to create a legendary hero like Achilles using the PC building rules. In the 3.5 edition of Deities and Demigods, for example, Ares had 86 AC and 48 Strength. A character with a 16 strength simply would not have a chance against him.

5e's bounded accuracy does help give the RAW character at least a fighting chance. Still, it is hard to see how Diomedes could even fight Ares if Diomedes is capped at 20 strength -- what would Ares be?

Might it not be better just to recognize that you can't really recreate legendary heroes' abilities in the RAW within the bounds of the 5e system, at least using the rules for creating normal PCs? Some characters are just not normal PCs.

 

[dave2008]

Might it not be better just to recognized that you can't really recreate legendary heroes' abilities in the RAW within the bounds of the 5e system?

For some, sure. However, I find this exercise much more interesting. I like to see what you come up with when you have constraints. The myths are all over the place and there are usually multiple versions of the same myth. If we take the assumption that all of the myths are false to some extent, then how do you go about creating a "real" Achilles? I think Mike's done a good job of that.

Additionally, since Mike has done the hard work, all you need to do to get what you want is add a few points of strength and dexterity and your good to go!

So my take would be: Achilles wasn't really a demigod, he was just a really good fighter. Athena, Ares, etc. didn't really participate in the battle, Diomedes was just a badass. So how do we stat these "real" heroes. I don't know that is @Mike Myler 's thought, but that is how I see most of these Mythological Figures.

EDIT: I understand what your saying as well, it is just that I am happy to see a different perspective / approach than just giving everything uber stats to satisfy an impression of a mythological figure. I did that in middle/high school (you should have seen my stats for Conan), not as interesting as a 46 year old father of teenagers!

 

[dave2008]

Str: 16

Really? He was the greatest hero of the greatest epic of the ancient world. 16 is the highest you would go?

FYI, it is 17 now!

 

[Hurin70]

FYI, it is 17 now!

Great, so his +3 bonus goes up to a... +3 bonus?

Sorry, just couldn't resist that one.

In regards to the idea that this might be the 'real life' or 'fantasy vietnam' Achilles: there is actually a word for that in Classical scholarship. It is called 'Euhemerism'. The name is taken from the Greek writer Euhemerus, who argued that the gods were just romanticized versions of real people, whose legends grew in being retold over the years.

But I think if you're doing that, you should state that clearly, because when you say 'Mythological Figures', people take that to mean the gods and heroes who are capable of superhuman feats, not the real people who were the basis for later myths. Euhemerism argues that Zeus wasn't really a god, but just a real person later mistaken for a god. He couldn't really hurl thunderbolts.

That's not exactly what this series is doing, though, I think. In this series, Achilles really was invulnerable everywhere except his heel.

 

[dave2008]

That's not exactly what this series is doing, though, I think. In this series, Achilles really was invulnerable everywhere except his heel.

I think it is essentially similar, but within the realm of the D&D "reality." In fact he explained earlier in this thread that in the original write up that feature was optional. Heck, he even stats Thor as a PC.

 

[Mike Myler]

Still so stoked with how Thor came out

D&D 5E - Mythological Figures: Thor Odinson (5E)

The Gods of EN World have spoken and demanded their brethren, the master of lightning and storm: Thor! A lot of folks have requested Thor but I was asked to move him up the Mythological Figures queue so here he is! There is a plethora of mythology on Odinson here—check out Wikipedia or the...

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