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

 

[Hurin70]

The earliest ballads, such as Robin Hood and the Monk, generally don't depict Robin as the 'rob from the rich, give to the poor' social justice warrior. He is more of a hard-edged hood, sometimes comically so. If you can read Middle English (it's not very hard for someone who likes books, like you, I'm sure), you can access it here: The Child Ballads: 119. Robin Hood and the Monk

By contrast, several of the early ballads, such as Robin Hood and the Potter, do depict him as an excellent archer, however. You can access it here: Robin Hood and the Potter | Robbins Library Digital Projects

"To a quequer Roben went,
A god bolt owthe he toke;
So ney on to the marke he went,
He fayled not a fothe.

All they schot a bowthe agen,
The screffes men and he;
Off the marke he welde not fayle,
He cleffed the preke on thre.

The screffes men thowt gret schame
The potter the mastry wan;
The screffe lowe and made god game,
And seyde, "Potter, thow art a man.
Thow art worthey to bere a bowe
Yn what plas that thow goe."

"Yn mey cart Y haffe a bow,
For soyt," he seyde, "and that a godde;
Yn mey cart ys the bow
That gaffe me Robyn Hode."

"Knowest thow Robyn Hode?" seyde the screffe,
"Potter, Y prey the tell thow me."
"A hundred torne Y haffe schot with hem,
Under hes tortyll-tre."
"Y had lever nar a hundred ponde," seyde the screffe,
And sware be the Trinity,
"That the fals outelawe stod be me."

"And ye well do afftyr mey red," seyde the potter,
"And boldeley go with me,
And to morow, or we het bred,
Roben Hode well we se."

Already, then, you can clearly see that not only is Robin a great archer, but he has become famous for his archery.

Is that handy enough for you, mate?

 

[Mike Myler]

The earliest ballads, such as Robin Hood and the Monk, generally don't depict Robin as the 'rob from the rich, give to the poor' social justice warrior. He is more of a hard-edged hood, sometimes comically so. If you can read Middle English (it's not very hard for someone who likes books, like you, I'm sure), you can access it here: The Child Ballads: 119. Robin Hood and the Monk

By contrast, several of the early ballads, such as Robin Hood and the Potter, do depict him as an excellent archer, however. You can access it here: Robin Hood and the Potter | Robbins Library Digital Projects

Is that handy enough for you, mate?

Those are great and I've read about them before but if "not missing by a foot" and "splitting one arrow" is the measure for "world's greatest archer" then we're going to have quite a few world's greatest archers!
What other historical texts point to his superlative skill with a bow? I looked around when the article first went up and didn't see anything I wasn't already familiar with—which is to say great archery, but no feats of skill that screamed best in the world.

 

[ScuroNotte]

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

That version was not very appealing as it was a weaker version of the fighter in addition to not what we envisioned. We created our own spell-less ranger with modified subclasses.

 

[Hurin70]

You seem to be fixating on 'greatest archer', so let's clear that up right now.

Whether Robin Hood's reputation as the absolute greatest archer in history grew up in the 15th century or a little later I'm not entirely sure; and certainly there is no way to compare Robin Hood to archers in other cultural traditions, because no one can definitively say whether one mythical figure from one mythos could beat another from a different one.

What is clear is that from the earliest ballads, Robin was depicted as a great archer. Many of his earliest stories involve him winning archery contests. Since you asked, another such is 'A Gest of Robyn Hode', printed between 1492 and 1534. You can access it here: A Gest of Robyn Hode | Robbins Library Digital Projects

He is also the most famous archer in English literature. Can you name me another English archer who is more iconic than Robin Hood?

The current stats you give for Robin Hood do not reflect the earliest traditions of popular balladry, nor the long historical evolution of the Robin Hood legends, nor even the basic rules of 5e D&D. An archer in 5e who is level 12 and does not yet have a 20 dex is not only not the 'greatest archer in history'; he's not even great. Most archer builds will have maxxed dex well before that.

So was Robin Hood the 'greatest archer in history? No one has any way of proving that definitively of course. But we can say that Robin Hood has from the earliest ballads been depicted as a great archer. He is also the most iconic archer in English literature, and modern books and movies, basing their accounts on the early modern legends, most certainly do depict him as the greatest archer in history. Modern websites do the same: if you do a google search for 'greatest archer in history', you will find Robin Hood usually at the top of the list of fictional characters listed by modern writers. This is because, as one web site put it, Robin Hood is commonly reckoned the 'greatest archer in history'.

Edited to sound less snarky.

 

[Mike Myler]

You seem to be fixating on 'greatest archer', so let's clear that up right now.

Whether Robin Hood's reputation as the absolute greatest archer in history grew up in the 15th century or a little later I'm not entirely sure; and certainly there is no way to compare Robin Hood to archers in other cultural traditions, because no one can definitively say whether one mythical figure from one mythos could beat another from a different one.

What is clear is that from the earliest ballads, Robin was depicted as a great archer. Many of his earliest stories involve him winning archery contests. Since you asked, another such is 'A Gest of Robyn Hode', printed between 1492 and 1534. You can access it here: A Gest of Robyn Hode | Robbins Library Digital Projects

He is also the most famous archer in English literature. Can you name me another English archer who is more iconic than Robin Hood?

The current stats you give for Robin Hood do not reflect the earliest traditions of popular balladry, nor the long historical evolution of the Robin Hood legends, nor even the basic rules of 5e D&D. An archer in 5e who is level 12 and does not yet have a 20 dex is not only not the 'greatest archer in history'; he's not even great. Most archer builds will have maxxed dex well before that.

So was Robin Hood the 'greatest archer in history? No one has any way of proving that definitively of course. But we can say that Robin Hood has from the earliest ballads been depicted as a great archer. He is also the most iconic archer in English literature, and modern books and movies, basing their accounts on the early modern legends, most certainly do depict him as the greatest archer in history. Modern websites do the same: if you do a google search for 'greatest archer in history', you will find Robin Hood usually at the top of the list of fictional characters listed by modern writers. This is because, as one web site put it, Robin Hood is commonly reckoned the 'greatest archer in history'.

Edited to sound less snarky.

This column relies on a barometer of general strength that runs the gamut from the very meek (Sage Douban is 5th level) right on up to gods like Gilgamesh or divine entities like Sun Wukong. So when you are reading any entry in Mythological Figures there is definitely a comparison between the various statblocks. That's the purpose of having a column for it. We have one set of rules from which all of the creations stem, and because of that shared system they can be comparative.

Anybody can slap together a 20th level fighter with maximum ability scores and a few feats that make them good with ranged attack rolls—there's nothing special about that. What makes this build and the entire endeavor worthwhile is the context they are given and that shared system, and with respect to the latter there's little sense in jamming up ability scores for this character more than any other, or giving them many more levels or a (greater) focus in Dexterity.

To achieve the kind of thing you're driving for with his superlative marksmanship, statistically the answer is not more emphasis in an ability score, it's to take a feat that allows them to ignore the most difficult of circumstances (which is the Lucky feat, meaning that when doing things like splitting an arrow in twain—obviously a shot with disadvantage—he chooses whichever of the dice he wants). Which is why there's a feats section; when you use him, you can emphasize that archery skill by dropping whichever of those feats you feel would better be served to further amplify his accuracy with Lucky or another Dexterity bump.

 

[Minigiant]

Fighter/Rogue sounds right

The D&D Ranger is magical. At least mystical. Robin Hood isn't magical.

Robin Hood's enemies are civilized humans. Not the savages, beasts, and monsters of the wild.

 

[paladinn]

This from the AD&D2e Players Handbook:

"The ranger is a hunter and woodsman who lives by not only his sword, but also his wits. Robin Hood, Orion, Jack the Giant Killer and the huntresses of Diana are examples of rangers from history and legend."

Fighter/Rogue sounds right

The D&D Ranger is magical. At least mystical. Robin Hood isn't magical.

Robin Hood's enemies are civilized humans. Not the savages, beasts, and monsters of the wild.

 

[Minigiant]

This from the AD&D2e Players Handbook:

"The ranger is a hunter and woodsman who lives by not only his sword, but also his wits. Robin Hood, Orion, Jack the Giant Killer and the huntresses of Diana are examples of rangers from history and legend."

And?
Nothing in the AD&D 2e class features match Robin Hood's exploits, skills, and abilities.
Nor 1e
Nor 3e
Nor 5e

Robin Hood is only a ranger in 4e. Because they ripped "archer" off fighters and called it ranger.

 

[paladinn]

Just quoting what the game says. Like it or not, Robin Hood was one of the inspirations for the ranger class. The fact that the class has spells is a (misguided) attempt to duplicate Aragorn, who Also didn't have spells. IMHO, rangers should be spell-less, with a few class features to justify having a separate class. Or it can be a fighter subclass, as the scout started out.

And?
Nothing in the AD&D 2e class features match Robin Hood's exploits, skills, and abilities.
Nor 1e
Nor 3e
Nor 5e

Robin Hood is only a ranger in 4e. Because they ripped "archer" off fighters and called it ranger.

 

[Minigiant]

Just quoting what the game says. Like it or not, Robin Hood was one of the inspirations for the ranger class. The fact that the class has spells is a (misguided) attempt to duplicate Aragorn, who Also didn't have spells. IMHO, rangers should be spell-less, with a few class features to justify having a separate class. Or it can be a fighter subclass, as the scout started out.

D&D says a lot of things it doesn't do.
This thread is about emulated the legendary Robin Hood

Robin Hood doesn't track, two weapon fight, handle animals via skils not magic, handle plants with skills nor magic, has no animal pets nor companions, or have a favored enemy that he specially trained to defeat.

I don't what he inspired in the D&D ranger outside 4e.

Heck, he's barely a D&D scout. He is a classic fighter/thief archer.