Another October Thursday, another October D&D build. I've seen a lot of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger builds, but you know what I haven't seen a lot of? Michael Myers builds, and that's a shame. After all, Halloween is what popularized the slasher film genre and allowed either one of those two to exist, and yet for some reason Michael is always living in their shadow...which is where he likes to lurk and occasionally stab somebody from.
Michael Myers was first brought to us in Halloween (1978) by filmmakers John Carpenter and Debra Hill as a boy who murdered his sister Judith at the age of six, spent fifteen years in Smith's Grove Sanitarium, and he's made his way through ten movies (as of this post) and two abominations that for some reason didn't get a legal ban on Rob Zombie ever making movies again since. So, today, we're going to be building a better slasher with applied D&D! So here we go!
What are the things we're gonna need for Michael? Let's have a look.
- Knives. Or, rather, a way to maximize our usage of knives. While Michael has used other killing implements such as a wheat thrasher, a medical therapy hot tub, and even the dreaded Halloween 5 Death Car, Michael is most in his element with a simple kitchen knife.
- Michael likes to stalk and is very nearly the progenitor of the slasher film villain teleportation trick. So some mobility options are definitely in the cards.
- Tracking. Michael has an astounding ability to track down anyone he needs to.
Now that we have that settled, let's look at Michael's stat spread.
Dexterity: 15
Michael is not only quick, but is able to move without being seen in spite of the fact that he's often in blood-covered overalls and wearing a William Shatner mask.
Constitution: 14
Wisdom: 13
Michael is observant and very skilled at the fine details, usually to the folly of anyone who gets in his way or finds themselves in his crosshairs.
Strength: 12
Michael is actually insanely strong in many of the films, we just need other things more.
Intelligence: 10
Intelligence is a little low, Michael is actually not dumb as a lot of people would believe. However, again, we just need other things more.
Charisma: 8
We're dumping Charisma. Michael is a mute psychopath who stabs people. He's not really someone who's trying to speed date.
For race, Michael is a Human. Or a Shape of a Human. Or a Celtic Rune-possessed abomination of the natural order, depending on who you ask. For this reason, we're going with a Reborn Human, using the Reborn lineage from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. You're Medium or Small (your choice), you have a 30 foot walking speed, and gain an Ancestral Legacy in which you can keep the racial bonuses from your previous race or you can gain two skill proficiencies (you also do the latter if you make the character at character creation).
As a Reborn, Michael has a Deathless Nature. With it, he has advantage on saving throws against disease and being poisoned, and has resistance to poison damage. He has advantage on Death saving throws, does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, and can't be put to sleep magically. A long rest can be finished in four hours, meaning Michael will have more time to stalk his prey.
Pick up Insight and Perception for your two skills.
For background, we're going to go with Outlander. I had considered Hermit, due to Michael's long period in the asylum, but it doesn't really fit his aesthetic. Outlander's get Athletics and Survival as free skills as well as a musical instrument proficiency and a language of their choice. Michael may not speak or sing in the movies, but he has a habit of hunting down his careless sister.
For class, we're going to start off with Rogue (1). First-level Rogues pick up four skills from a list of several given on page 95 in the Player's Handbook. Acrobatics, Investigation, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.
Michael gains Expertise in two skills of your choice or one skill and his proficiency with Thieves' Tools (go for Stealth and your thieves' tools this time), a Sneak Attack of 1d6, and Thieves' Cant (yet another language he won't be using). He also has proficiency with all simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, and shortswords as well as thieves' tools.
Second level Rogue (2) sees Michael able to take a Cunning Action, allowing him to take a bonus action on each turn of combat, but only to Dash, Disengage, or Hide.
Third level Rogue (3) sees their Sneak Attack bumped up to a 2d6 as well as having to pick a Roguish Archetype. I wrestled with this for a bit, but decided to go with Assassin. It's the closest fit to what Michael does. The other choice was going to be Phantom from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, but collecting the souls of his victims is more of a Freddy Krueger thing, so Assassin it is.
Rogue (4) gives us our first Ability Score Improvement or feat. In this case, we'll be dipping back into Tasha's and getting the Slasher feat. Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1 to a maximum of 20. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with slashing damage, you can reduce their speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. When you score a critical hit that deals slashing damage, you can grievously wound the target, meaning that they have disadvantage on all attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
At Rogue (5), Michael's Sneak Attack is now 3d6 and he gains Uncanny Dodge. When you are attacked and can see both the attack and the attacker, you can halve the damage against you from that attack.
Rogue (6) sees Michael gain Expertise in two new skills, let's go with Athletics and Investigation this time.
At Rogue (7), Michael's sneak attack is 4d6 and he gains Evasion. Whenever you make a saving throw and would take damage even on a success, you don't. If you fail the roll, you take half damage instead of all of it. Neat!
Rogue (8) will see Michael get another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. Once again, we're looking at Piercer from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. It's very similar to the Slasher feat, increasing your Strength or Dexterity by 1 to a maximum of 20, but gives a different benefit in that hitting a creature with a piercing attack and succeeding means that the player can reroll the damage dice, but must use the new roll.
Now that we have the stabbing, slashing, and sneaking down pat, let's take a look at getting the tracking down.
Ranger (1) is gone into easily enough, since we have the minimum Dexterity and Wisdom scores. A first level Ranger gives Michael one skill from the class list as well as proficiency with martial weapons to cap off his weapon choices.
As a ranger, Michael can choose a Favored Enemy. In this case, he can select two races of humanoids. Obviously, human is where you want to go, though that may depend on your campaign setting. Michael has advantage on Survival rolls to track down his enemies as well as Intelligence rolls to recall information about them. You also gain one language of your choice that is spoken by your Favored Enemy, if they speak at all. They likely won't after you've knifed them in the throat.
Michael also becomes a Natural Explorer. He chooses a favorite terrain that he's familiar with (maybe go for the town of Haddonfield?) and gains several benefits: difficult terrain doesn't slow down his group's travel, his group can't become lost except by magical means, even when engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, hunting, or tracking) he remains alert to danger, if traveling alone Michael can move stealthy at normal pace, when he forages he'll find twice as much food as normal, and he can learn the exact number, sizes, and how long ago creatures he's tracking have passed through an area.
Second level Ranger (2) much choose a Fighting Style. We're going to go with Dueling, which gives a +2 to damage rolls when you're wielding a melee weapon and no other weapons in your hand. We're also avoiding Spellcasting, unfortunately. Michael's just not the type to cast spells. You can use it if you want but, for the build, I'm ignoring it to stay true to the character a bit more than I have in other builds.
Third level Ranger (3) gains a Ranger Archetype. In this case, we'll be taking the Gloom Stalker from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. In addition to some new spells (which, again, we aren't using), Michael becomes a Dread Ambusher, meaning that he gets a bonus to his initiative rolls equal to his Wisdom modifier. At the start of his first turn in combat, Michael's walking speed increases by 10 feet and stays there until the beginning of the next round. If he takes the Attack action on that turn, he can make one additional weapon attack as part of the action and do an extra 1d8 damage if he hits.
Michael also gains Umbral Sight, giving him Darkvision out to 60 feet. He is also skilled at avoiding creatures that use darkvision and invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see him in the darkness. So, even when they see him coming, they aren't going to see him coming.
Ranger (4) sees Michael get an Ability Score Improvement or Feat. This time, bump up your Wisdom for better bonuses to Initiative with Dread Ambusher as well as Dexterity for more stabby stabby.
Ranger (5) gets Michael an Extra Attack, which...I mean, I don't know how to make that any more obvious what that does.
Ranger (6) will see Michael gain improvements to his Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer abilities. Check out page 91 of the PHB for further details if you're interested, as they aren't really necessary to this build.
Ranger (7) unlocks Iron Mind from the Gloom Stalker conclave. Michael gains proficiency in Wisdom saving throws or proficiency in Charisma or Intelligence rolls (not both) if he already has it in Wisdom.
Ranger (8) gets another Ability Score Improvement or feat, go ahead and put into your Wisdom and Dexterity or get the Tough feat, which gives you two hit points for every level you have and every level you get. I've said before and will again, it's just a good feat to have your hands on.
Eighth level Rangers also get Land's Stride, meaning that non-magical terrain no longer costs extra movement and moving through non-magical plants no longer slows or damages you. In addition, Michael has advantage on saving throws against magically created or manipulated plants to impede movement, such as the entangle spell.
Ranger (9) gets no new features. Moving on.
Ranger (10) sees an improvement to the Natural Explorer ability as well as Hide in Plain Sight, which allows you to spend 1 minute making camouflage for yourself. The book says you need to use natural elements, although I'm sure they could be convinced to let you choke out a paramedic and switch outfits just the same. If you stay perfectly still, your character gains a +10 bonus to Stealth checks. Once you move, take an action, or a reaction, you have to spend another minute to regain the benefit.
Ranger (11) gets us Stalker's Flurry from the Gloom Stalker list. When Michael makes an attack and misses, he can make another weapon attack as part of the same action.
Our capstone for this build is gonna be Ranger (12), which gives us one last Ability Score Improvement. Once more going in your Dexterity and Wisdom.
Now that we're at level twenty, let's see how good this build is.
Pros:
- You have the potential to do a lot of damage. With a finesse weapon in your hand and your Dexterity pumped up high and you pop off a Sneak Attack, you're dealing your weapon's damage + 4d6 + 2 + 1d8, with an ability to reroll the damage dice, and any hit you get on a surprised opponent is an autocrit. Not bad. And that's just on one attack, you have at least two and the ability to roll for a third one thanks to Stalker's Flurry.
- Your Stealth is nearly unparalleled. With a full +6 Proficiency bonus and Ability Score bonuses, you have mastered how not to be seen, which is bad news for anyone you're trying to stalk and kill.
- Michael can indeed track just about anything he needs to through very types of terrain, in particular any missing relatives.
Cons:
- While you can do a lot of damage, you don't have a lot of damage variety. This entire build is built around piercing or slashing damage, which many things have resistances against and you don't really have anything to overcome those resistances. You also have no real magic attacks and your build doesn't give you anything for that, it'll all have to come from items.
- While your damage output is great, it's way less than it could be if you had just gone straight Rogue. The 10d6 sneak attack damage is something I've talked about before, and is honestly one of the best perks from 20th level Rogue.
- Finally, you're not really a meatshield. Despite Michael's durability in the films, your hit points are looking pretty low by the end of this build. Only about 120 without adding in your Constitution modifiers.
But hey, you're Michael Myers. The Shape. The Man With the Blackest Eyes, the Devil's Eyes. Break out of Smith's Grove (in a car that you somehow learned how to drive), pick up a William Shatner mask and a couple of knives, and go hunt down that pesky missing sister of yours. Just make sure if you run into Rob Zombie at any point, you turn and walk the other way.
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