Well, we are finally down to our final build for Horror Month 2023 - Axel Palmer from the classic slasher 1981 slasher film My Bloody Valentine - which I probably need to get around to reviewing for a Horror Month at some point in the near future. Born in the town of Valentine Bluffs... somewhere on the East Coast of Canada?... Axel was the son of a miner who was killed after an accident in the minds had made him resort to cannibalism. Who killed him? The Miner, of course... A warning was left that, if the town were to celebrate Valentine's Day (the day of the accident), then the Miner would return.
As such, the town of Valentine Bluffs hasn't celebrated the holiday that they're named after... until 1981, when the town tried to reinstate the holiday... and the Miner did return as promised, killing again. Axel picked up the ol' pick axe and sought vengeance...
So, we're gonna make him a D&D character!
Goals for this build? We really just have one - stabbing and stabbing good. Almost all of Axel's murders in the film are done by stabbing via the pick axe, so we're going to make sure that we can stab the absolute best that we can no matter what! While Axel is a pretty durable dude, he's nowhere near the level of killers like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, but he's strong enough to cut out people's hearts and we can definitely do a lot with that.
For stats, we'll be using the Standard Point Array from the Player's Handbook. Roll for stats if you like and use these numbers as a guide to where to put your stats.
Strength: 15
Axel shows remarkable strength as the Miner, able to tear people's hearts from their chest "like a butcher" (according to one coroner) on the regular as though it's nothing.
Dexterity: 14
Despite the clunky equipment he wears, Axel can move pretty fast when the need arises.
Constitution: 13
Axel isn't as durable as Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, but he can deal with quite a bit of abuse and does so pretty well in the film for an average guy with a chip on his shoulder. In fact, the most damage done to him in the film is self-inflicted.
Intelligence: 12
Axel was able to outfox the Valentine Bluffs PD. He also left taunting notes at several of the murders for the police to find, all of them with flowery language.
Charisma: 10
Axel is able to pass as a normal human normally and can be quite intimidating with his mining gear on and that pick axe a-swingin'.
Wisdom: 8
Maybe cutting your own arm off wasn't the best idea...
For background, we'll be going with Haunted One from Van Richten's. Axel can choose two skills from Arcana, Investigation, Religion, and Survival. We'll be going with Investigation and Survival.
For race, Axel is a human and thus we'll be using Variant Human.
We get a +1 to two different attributes (Strength and Constitution), a free skill (Intimidation), and a free feat. Athlete increases Axel's Strength or Dexterity by 1 (go with Strength), he uses only 5 feet of movement while getting up from being prone, climbing doesn't cost extra movement, and he can make a running long jump or running high jump after moving only five feet on foot, rather than ten feet. All things that would be very useful in navigating through the mines.
For class, we're going to go into Fighter (1). Fighter gets two skills from the class list, we'll be going with Athletics and Perception. Fighters also have to pick a Fighting Style and we'll be going with Dueling - meaning that Axel gets a +2 to damage rolls when he's wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons. Fighters also get Second Wind, allowing them to heal 1d10 + their fighter level per long or short rest.
Second level Fighters (2) get their first use of Action Surge, allowing them to take an additional action on top of any regular action and possible bonus actions in a round.
At third level Fighters (3) pick a Martial Archetype. We'll be going with Samurai, more for the abilities than for how fitting it is as we'll soon see.
At third level, Samurai fighters receive a free proficiency bonus in History, Insight, Performance, or Persuasion. We'll pick up History, seeing as Axel knows the story of his father's murder as he lived them, his mind cracking from that. They also get a Fighting Spirit. As a bonus action on his turn, Axel can give himself advantage on all attack rolls until the end of his turn and gain 5 temporary hit points when he does. The hit points increase by 5 at 10th and then again at 15th level. Axel can do this three times per long rest.
At fourth level, Fighters (4) get an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. We'll be taking Piercer from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Axel bumps up his Strength or Dexterity by one (go for Strength again) and one per turn when he hits a creature with a piercing attack, he can reroll one of the attack's damage dice, using that instead of the previous. When he scores a critical hit that deals piercing damage, he can roll one additional damage die when determining the extra damage.
At fifth level, Fighters (5) gain their first instance of Extra Attack, which allows them to attack twice while using the attack action.
At sixth level, Fighters (6) get another Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Savage Attacker allows Axel to reroll weapon damage totals and use either roll once per turn.
At seventh level, Fighters (7) who follow the path of the Samurai receive Elegant Courtier, which lets them add their Wisdom modifier to Persuasion checks. With a Wisdom bonus of -1, we're not going to be using this much. However, he does gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws, so that's pretty good!
At eight level, Fighters (8) gain an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. Time to start beefing by Strength and Constitution again.
Ninth level Fighters (9) get one use of Indomitable, which allows Axel to re-roll a saving throw if he fails. He has to use the new roll, and he can't use the feature again until he finishes a long rest. Fighters receive a second use of this at 13th level and a third at 17th.
Tenth level Fighters (10) walking the path of the Samurai gain a Tireless Spirit. When they roll initiative and have no uses of their Fighting Spirit ability left, they gain one.
Eleventh level Fighters (11) gain the second use of Extra Attack.
Twelfth level Fighters (12) gain an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat, add a +1 to Strength and Constitution.
Thirteenth level Fighters (13) get their third use of Indomitable.
Fourteenth level Fighters (14) get yet another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. You know what to do.
Fifteenth level Fighters (15) following the path of the Samurai gain Rapid Strike. Trading advantage on an attack (if they have it), they can make an additional weapon attack as part of the same action, but only can do this once per turn.
Sixteenth level Fighters (16) once more get an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat... I mean, I think I made it clear what you're doing here, folks.
Seventeenth level Fighters (17) get their second use of Action Surge and their third use of Indomitable.
At eighteenth level, Fighters (18) who are samurai gain Strength Before Death. Whenever Axel takes damage that will reduce him to 0 hit points, he can use his reaction to immediate take another turn. Taking damage during that turn (while at 0 hit points) will cause death saving throw failures as normal, and three death saving throws can still kill Axel. When that extra turn ends, Axel still falls unconscious if he's at 0 hit points.
Once he's used this ability, he can't use it again until he's finished a long rest.
At nineteenth level, Fighters (19) get one last Ability Score Improvement or Feat. ...you know what to do.
Our capstone is the twentieth level of Fighter (20) and the third use of Extra Attack.
Now that we've hit level twenty, let's look at our pros and cons!
Pros:
- Axel can indeed do a lot of damage with the bladed weapons, particularly the piercing kind as a miner's axe would be. With a high Strength score, the Duelist fighting style, the Piercer feat, and the three Extra Attacks (technically six if set up with Rapid Strike and Action Surge), you can definitely put the hurt on your enemies with a sharp point. Add in Savage Attacker and you have the potential to be just plain unfair against anyone you cross paths with.
- Axel is pretty durable (ironically while not having the feat Durable), having a high Constitution and the Fighter Hit Dice Pool to work from. Coupling this with Strength Before Death, and even death isn't going to keep you down... for one more round, at least.
- You have proficiency in Wisdom saving throws, one of the most called for saving throws in the entire game. Even with a low Wisdom score, that's not a bad thing.
Cons:
- You can do a lot of damage, but the damage you're geared towards is very specific. While Axel can use many weapons, he's most associated with Piercing damage and enemies that are resistant or immune to that will need the use of other methods to deal with them.
- You don't have a lot of people skills, which doesn't seem like a good deal until you need those skills for something. Also, Charisma is probably the third-most called for saving throw in the game... and you not only don't have proficiency in it, but your modifier is 0. Not great...
- You have no natural magical talents, so enemies that take damage only from magical weapons or better aren't really going to be cowed by your pick axe.
But hey, you're the Miner! Pick up your pick axe, strike some fear into the hearts of people before cutting them out, and make sure that Valentine Bluffs doesn't dare put on that Valentine's Day dance. Just make sure you keep a look overhead, otherwise you might find yourself getting buried before your time...
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