So, I figured I'd try something new for the blog. The inspiration admittedly comes from the YouTuber Tulok the Barbarian (check him out, he's got a lot of really awesome builds), and I would be remiss if I didn't mention him. So, on the off-chance that you ever actually read this - thanks for the inspiration, Tulok!
I'm following the Tulok formula of picking a fictional character and making them in 5E, I have chosen one of the greatest heroes of the 1980's. Played by the fantastic Kurt Russell in the movie Big Trouble in Little China (which definitely deserves a review in Reel Thoughts...give me time), he is the driver of the Pork Chop Express, knows what he'd say at a time like this, and knows well that that son of a bitch must pay...it's Jack Burton.
Also, there are obvious spoilers for the film below the cut. So, if you wish to avoid them - come back after you see the movie. If you have, then press on...
So for Jack, we're gonna start with the standard attribute scores from the Player's Handbook (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8). If you're rolling for stats, make sure that your Dexterity is your highest followed by Charisma and then Constitution. I shall endeavor to explain why.
Jack showcases almost superhuman reflexes during Big Trouble in Little China, performing feats such as catching a bottle after Wang Chi fails to chop it in half. If he were an Old West cowboy (Kurt Russell is your Huckleberry, after all), Jack would be among the fastest gun hands to be found. After all, even Jack himself says "it's all in the reflexes.", and he's right.
Charisma: 14
Jack's played by Kurt Russell. Let's be honest, his Charisma should be a bit higher. Even in the movie, despite being incredibly coarse and a loud-mouth, he's incredibly charming and likeable. He's basically impossible to hate. He's also incredibly snide and quotable, which I think justifies giving Charisma the spot.
Constitution: 13
Jack was able to down a shot from the Six-Demon Bag, survive underwater long enough to get out of a death trap (and while being shot at), and survive torture by soft balls.
. . .no, that last one doesn't make more sense in context. Point is, Jack is the man who likes the feel of nature on his face.
Strength: 12
For all of his skills, Jack isn't so much a hand to hand fighter as he is skilled with guns and knives. At one point, a man (admittedly in armor) collapses on him and he has some difficulty pushing him off of him.
Intelligence: 10
Jack's a reasonable guy, he's just being expected to believe a lot of unreasonable things.
Wisdom: 8
Jack is not the wise man who knows when to get out of the rain.
For race, we're going to go with a Variant Human. That'll net you two Ability Score improvements of your choice, I'd say go with Dexterity and Wisdom to both buff your best stat and to maybe counteract how bad your Wisdom score is to begin with, seeing as a lot of saves are related to Wisdom.
It also nets you two free Skill Proficiencies and a Feat. Go for Deception and Athletics as your skills of choice.
For your feat, pick Gunner from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything if your DM allows firearms in your campaign. You increase your Dexterity by 1 to a maximum of 20 (which, if you're following this build, will have you at a Dexterity of 18 right off the bat), you gain proficiency with firearms and ignore the reloading properties of them as well as being able to attack enemies within five feet of you without imposing disadvantage on your roll. What, you think this is Jack's first time plugging a guy? Of course not!
If your DM does not allow firearms in your campaign, take the Crossbow Expert feat. It doesn't increase your Dexterity but it does over the rest as well as giving you a bonus attack action with the hand crossbow! Very neat!
Another choice if you want to lean more into the Charisma side of Jack would be the Actor feat, which bumps up your Charisma by 1, gives you advantage on Deception and Performance rolls to pass yourself off as someone else, and you can mimic the voice of another person or sounds made by other creatures so long as you have heard the sound for 1 minute. Keep in mind, this can be contested with an Insight check against your Deception roll.
You also get Common and one other language of your choice. Chinese isn't an option in vanilla D&D, but it probably would have helped Jack a great deal.
For background, go with the Folk Hero background from the Player's Handbook. Jack isn't your typical Robin Hood-type (after all, he just wants his truck back and the money that Wang owes him), but he does have a lot of help from the people of San Francisco's Chinatown in his quest to defeat Lo Pan and save Mao Ying and Gracie Law, which is fitting with the Rustic Hospitality feature. Folk Hero gets you two skill proficiencies - Animal Handling and Survival. Jack doesn't do any animal handling in the movie, admittedly, but that's a product of the game mechanics more than it being fitting. What we're here for is the proficiency with Land-Based vehicles you get.
Boom! You can now drive the Pork Chop Express...just as soon as you find it again.
You also get a proficiency in a set of artisan's tools of your choice. Maybe Smith's Tools, being that that's the closest thing to a Mechanic that there is in D&D, and Jack needs to keep his truck in good shape. Or, if your DM is okay with it, proficiency with the playing card set, seeing as Jack and Wang were playing poker in the beginning. Again, if you want to lean more into the Charisma.
We'll start off as a Rogue and here's a pro-tip for anyone who wants to multiclass - if rogue is anywhere in your build, do that first. 5E rules mean that you'll only be getting the one skill if you multiclass into Rogue later as opposed to the four you can get as a first level Rogue starting out.
So, Jack starts as a Rogue (1).
Take Intimidation, Performance, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth for your skills. Jack is shown in the film to be able to intimidate security guards (to an extent), put on the persona of "Henry Swanson" to infiltrate the White Tiger, is incredibly dexterous as has been previously mentioned, and is somewhat adept at sneaking around the Wing Kong Imports/Exports...for a while, anyway.
You gain Expertise in two trained skills of your choice: For this build, take it for Deception and Survival. Jack is an adept liar as well as a born survivor in the face of harsh adversity, so doubling his proficiency bonus with those skills is a no-brainer. You get proficiency with Thieves' Tools (even though that's more Wang's thing), Sneak Attack at +1d6, and Thieves' Cant.
A second level Rogue (2) receives the Cunning Action ability, allowing them a bonus action during their turn in combat, but only to Dash, Disengage, or Hide. Jack has shown quite the ability to charge recklessly into danger...hopefully this time, he can do it without bringing a ceiling down on his head.
A third level Rogue (3) has their Sneak Attack bumped up to +2d6 and must select a Roguish archetype. Go for the Thief archetype, which grants you the Fast Hands ability, allowing you expand on your Cunning Action ability. With this, you can use your Cunning action to: make a Sleight of Hand check, use your thieves' tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the Use an Object action.
You also receive the ability of Second-Story Work, where climbing no longer costs you extra movement and you can make a running jump to increase your distance by a number of feet equal to your Dexterity modifier. In Jack's case, it would be an extra five feet if you're playing with the stat spread given to you in this build. Surely with that, he'll be able to climb that steel elevator cable covered in grease.
A fourth level Rogue (4) gets an Ability Score Improvement or (optionally) a feat. If you're going for Ability Score Improvement, keep pumping into your Dexterity and Charisma. If you're going for a feat, I'd recommend Sharpshooter from the Player's Handbook. Sharpshooter makes no attack give you disadvantage due to long distances, range weapons ignore opponents' half and three-quarters cover, and you can take a -5 penalty to an attack in order to add +10 to the damage.
For the fifth level, we dip into Fighter (1) with the minimum prerequisite 13 in Dexterity. For multiclassing, a player receives proficiency in light and medium armors, martial and simple weapons, and shields...all of these being things that Jack either already has or doesn't use. At first level Fighter, you choose a Fighting Style. We're going to go with the Thrown Weapon Fighting style from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Thrown Weapon Fighting grants the player the ability to have the drawing of their weapon as part of their attack with it so long as it's a thrown weapon.
For the sixth level, we move on into Fighter (2), giving Jack an Action Surge. This allows you to, once per short or long rest, take an additional action on top of your action and bonus action.
At seventh level, we move on into Fighter (3). Jack gets a Martial Archetype and we're going with Battle Master from the Player's Handbook. Jack is no stranger to a scrape and is more than able to get himself out of (and into!) trouble. You gain access to four Superiority die (d8s) and to three maneuvers of your choice. We're going to go with Riposte (When a creature misses you with a melee attack, use your reaction and expend a superiority die to make a melee attack against a creature and add the superiority die to the damage if you hit), Quick Toss (as a bonus action, expend a Superiority die to make a ranged attack with a weapon with the Thrown property and add the Superiority die to the damage if you hit), and Distracting Strike (when you hit an opponent with an attack, expend a Superiority die to distract the creature so that the next attack on it by someone else gets advantage).
Your maneuvers have a saving throw equal to 8 + Your Proficiency Bonus + Your Strength or Dexterity modifier, obviously we'll be using Dexterity for this build.
Third level Fighter also grants Student of War, which allows you to pick up one artisan's tools proficiency of your choice. In the spirit of Tulok, go with Calligrapher's tools and become a man powerful enough to take on the Godfather of Little China and anyone else who might stand in your way. You'll be more than a man! You'll be a god!
Eighth level Jack means Fighter (4) and yet another Ability Score Improvement. Again, pump things into Dexterity and Charisma or maybe Constitution to help make up for the gap between your hit points from Rogue Levels and your hit points from Fighter levels. If you can go for a feat, pick Magic Initiate, which will net you two cantrips and one 1st-level spell off of any list for a spellcaster class other than Paladin or Ranger. In this case, we'll be dipping into the Bard class list to get vicious mockery, mage hand, and disguise self. These will aid in Jack laying a verbal smackdown on his opponents, picking up any daggers of his that just might miss their mark, and in impersonating his Matches Malone-esque alter ego Henry Swanson.
And...honestly, we could just stop the build there. Four levels of Rogue and Fighter in this mix will pretty much get you an exact replica of Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China, serving as a good capstone to everything he did in the film as well as going a little outside the lines. However, like Tulok, I'll keep this build going all the way to Level 20, just for the Hell of it.
Ninth level Jack means Fighter (5), giving Jack an Extra Attack which allows Jack to attack twice instead of just once during his turn.
Tenth level Jack means Fighter (6) and another Ability Score Improvement. Once more, either pump into your Dexterity and Charisma or take the Fighting Initiate feat. With the Fighting Initiate feat, you can pick a new Fighting Style just so long as it's different from any other style you've selected. Choose the Archery fighting style, giving you a +2 to attacks with ranged weapons - and yes, that includes thrown weapons.
Eleventh level Jack means bouncing back to Rogue (5) and Jack's sneak attack increasing to +3d6 as well as the ability of Uncanny Dodge, allowing Jack to halve the damage of any attack he makes so long as he can see it coming. After all, again, it's all in the reflexes.
Twelfth level Jack has us sticking with Rogue (6) in order to get Expertise on two new skills. Let's go with Sleight of Hand and Performance in order to help with anything underhanded and in getting yourself out of trouble for doing anything underhanded.
Thirteenth level Jack keeps going on with Rogue (7) once again. This time, Jack picks up Evasion. With this skill, when Jack makes a successful Dexterity check to avoid an Area Effect attack he takes half damage on a failure and none on a success. His sneak attack also increases to +4d6.
Fourteenth level Jack goes on into Rogue (8) and, surprise surprise, an Ability Score Improvement. You know the drill by this point as to what you should pump up with your two points. If you want to go for a feat, go for Lucky. This allows you three luck points that can be used to re-roll a d20 after the roll is made, but before the outcome is revealed. However, you have to accept the new roll even if it is worse.
You can also use this ability to weaken your opponents' attacks in the same manner, with the same caveat. You regain all three of your luck points when you finish a long rest.
Fifteenth level Jack continues with Rogue (9) Jack's sneak attack is now +5d6 and Jack gains the ability of Supreme Sneak from the Thief archetype, giving him an advantage on Stealth rolls so long as he doesn't move more than half of his speed within a turn.
Sixteenth level Jack means Rogue (10). once more. And, look! Another Ability Score improvement! I think you know what to do here...
Seventeenth level Jack means Rogue (11) Sneak attack goes up to +6d6 and grants the power of Reliable Talent. On any skill that Jack is trained in, he can treat any roll of 9 or lower as a 10, basically meaning the least he can do is average on all of his trained skills! That'll really shake the pillars of Heaven!
Eighteenth level Jack keeps up again in Rogue (12). Ability score improvement time once more!
Nineteenth level Jack continues into Rogue (13) Jack's sneak attack is now +7d6 and he receives Use Magical Device from the Thief archetype, meaning he can use literally any magical item without the Race or Class restrictions that go with it.
Our capstone and final resting place is Rogue (14). Jack gains Blindsense, meaning he is aware of the location of any hidden or invisible creature within ten feet of him.
So, with all of this considered, let's talk about how good this build is.
Pros:
You are fast as all get out. With high Dexterity, your natural armor class without being caught flat-footed is gonna be pretty high by the end of this build. You are going to be hard to hit.
High Dex also means higher attack bonuses with your thrown and with finesse weapons, which is pretty awesome, too.
Your sneak attack damage is at +7d6, meaning if you sneak around and manage to get the drop on opponent, you have the potential to do a lot of damage. More so with your feats involving thrown weapons.
You make for a good party face. With a high Charisma and your Expertise set in Deception and Performance in particular there's very little in the world that will be able to see through you. Remember, Jack's disguise of Henry Swanson was never actually compromised when he was in the White Tiger.
Plus, Reliable Talent will see to it that you have the best bonuses possible on the skills you do have.
The Use Magical Device ability will let you use any magic item you come across and ignore the restrictions placed upon it that come from race or class, which is handy when you have to down a shot from the Six-Demon Bag.
From Fighter, your Maneuvers are all geared toward your preferred fighting style (thrown weapons) and will can definitely help you out in a pinch.
Cons:
You are not an overly meaty boy. Even if you roll 8's on all your hit dice for your fourteen levels of Rogue, you're looking at 112 from your Rogue class at 20th level. The average for Fighter being 6 means you can add 36 to that for a grand total of 148, which is okay but still not particularly great for max level (this is before Con score is added). You can take a few hits, just be wary of spells like Power Word Kill and the like that can hit you once you're down to 99 HP and below. You might be able to counteract this by taking the Tough feat at some point, but that'll rob you of one of the feed ins to your main attacks.
Your sneak attack from Rogue isn't as good as it could be if you stuck with full Rogue, stopping off at +7d6 instead of the +10d6 a 20th Level Rogue gets.
You also stop one level shy of the Slippery Mind ability for Rogue, giving you proficiency in Wisdom saving throws, which might have helped with that lower Wisdom score, and you will definitely need the help given how low your Wisdom score is. It's one of the most frequently called upon saves in the game, and it's your dump stat for this build. Ouch.
Despite having the capacity to use all but heavy armors thanks to your dip into Fighter, you can use just about any armor in the game...but the heavier you get, the more it'll hurt your Dexterity score and thus overall armor class. Stick to the lighter ones.
If your DM doesn't allow feats, then this build will be even more underpowered. I don't know any DMs that ban feats, but it is technically an optional thing according to the book and some might take that literally. I wouldn't.
Even with said feats, it is heavily focused around just one attack strategy - thrown weapons. These do hit most of the basic damage types (slashing, piercing, etc.), but aren't exactly the cream of the crop when it comes to dealing damage - with the heftiest damage of that weapon type in the Player's Handbook being a mere 1d6. If you stay true to the movie, then you'd only be using daggers (which do 1d4 damage), but a more effective means would be the handaxe, the spear, or the trident (all of which do 1d6 damage).
Also, yes, I considered the Eldritch Knight archetype for Jack as a fighter for the Weapon Bond ability, but Jack never pulls the knife back to himself within the movie. He just catches it reflexively.
Conclusion:
But hey, you're Jack Burton. You're charming, you're quick, and with any luck you may just get through this crazy mess and get your truck back. Just remember what you say when some wild-eyed, eight foot tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head against the barroom wall, and he asks you if you've paid your dues...
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