An icon of a franchise that people either hate or love, it's time to build Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill franchise. Originating in Silent Hill 2, Pyramid Head has become to the Silent Hill franchise what Nemesis is to Resident Evil. Whether you like it or not, he keeps popping up in the games even to the point of showing up in Dead By Daylight. Now, he pops up in D&D.
Let's start with the Standard Point Array from the Player's Handbook. Read this warning like a letter from your dead wife: roll for stats and use this as a guide.
Constitution: 15
He's a beefy boi and you can't actually kill him at any point in Silent Hill 2. He just is and you have to live with that fact.
Charisma: 14
He's an Intimidating fella. It's clear to see why he keeps popping up all over the franchise beyond his initial appearance.
Strength: 13
You gotta be strong enough to lift that sword, after all.
Wisdom: 12
He's a manifestation of [Silent Hill 2 spoiler], so clearly there's some insight into the human heart there. I mean beyond ripping it out and impaling the owner's heart on spikes.
Dexterity: 10
Kind of completely unnecessary for this build. Pyramid Head does not dodge attacks, he bodies them.
Intelligence: 8
It's honestly just not necessary for this build.
Race & Background -
While Pryamid Head is a spiritual manifestation of [Silent Hill 2 spoiler] as previously stated, you can't really call him a Human. Revenant doesn't really work either, seeing as he's... not actually dead. So what to do, what to do, right? So we'll be going with Orc.
Orcs start off with an Ability Score Improvement of +2 to Strength (15) and +1 to Constitution (16). They get Darkvision out to 60 feet. They're Aggressive, which lets them move toward an enemy as a bonus action (and that movement must end closer to their enemy than further away). They receive Primal Intuition which nets them two free skills proficiencies from a list of Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, and Survival. Go with Intimidation and Perception.
Orcs also have a Powerful Build, which means that they count as one size larger than they are for the purposes of carrying capacity, and how much they can push, drag, or lift.
For background, we'll be taking the Investigator variation of the City Watch background from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Pick up Athletics and Insight from there. The Watcher's Eye feature allows old Triangle Face to be able to pick out lawbreakers and lawmakers alike. Fight them all, why not?
...wait, sorry. Wrong build.
1st Level: Paladin (1)
We'll start things off as a Paladin. Yes, you read that correctly.
Pick up Medicine and Religion, although neither of them is particularly in-character, we just appear to have taken every other skill we really need already.
First level Paladins receive the power of Divine Sense, allowing them to reach out and sense the presences of any fiend, fey, or undead within 60 feet of them. They can also detect any options within that radius that have been consecrated or desecrated as if he'd cast the Hallow spell.
Lay on Hands lets the paladin touch a target (including themselves) and heal a number of points equal to 5 times their paladin left up to their maximum.
They can also expend five of their own health points to remove a disease or neutralize a poison affecting a target.
2nd Level: Paladin (2)
Second level Paladins pick up a Fighting Style. Great Weapon Fighting allows Pyramid Head to re-roll any 1s or 2s on damage dice when he makes a damage roll.
They also pick up Spellcasting with 2 spell slots for 1st level spells from the Paladin spell list. You can select a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier and 1/2 of your Paladin level (rounded down). So, in this case, we have 3.
1st Level (3):
- command
- compelled duel
- wrathful smite
3rd Level: Paladin (3)
At third level, Paladins are blessed with Divine Health, which means they are immune to disease. They also must select a Sacred Oath and we'll be going with the Oath of Vengeance. This grants the Paladin the power of Channel Divinity and gives two lovely options for it:
- Abjure Enemy. As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer of denunciation, using your Channel Divinity. Choose one creature within 60 feet of you that you can see. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw, unless it is immune to being frightened. Fiends and undead have disadvantage on this saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is frightened for 1 minute or until it takes any damage. While frightened, the creature's speed is 0, and it can't benefit from any bonus to its speed. On a successful save, the creature's speed is halved for 1 minute or until the creature takes any damage.
- Vow of Enmity. As a bonus action, you can utter a vow of enmity against a creature you can see within 10 feet of you, using your Channel Divinity. You gain advantage on attack rolls against the creature for 1 minute or until it drops to 0 hit points or falls unconscious.
4th Level: Paladin (4)
We get our first Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Push Strength (16) and Charisma (15) up.
Hopping up another level also gets us a new spell to play around with, and at the 2nd level to boot!
2nd Level (1):
- branding smite
At fifth level, Paladins get an Extra Attack, allowing them to attack twice instead of once when they use the Attack action.
6th Level: Paladin (6)
At 6th level, a paladin radiates an Aura of Protection, which gives PH and any friendly party within 10 feet of him a bonus to their saving throws equal to his Charisma modifier.
Also, after rounding up two more levels in Paladin, we have another spell to play with.
1st Level (1):
- shield of faith
7th Level: Warlock (1)
We're switching over to Warlock, having the capacity to do so with our higher Charisma score. Very nice indeed. At first level, a Warlock must choose an Otherworldly Patron. In the case of Pyramid Head, serving as judge, jury, and executioner within Silent Hill, we'll be taking the Hexblade.
At first level, a Hexblade warlock gets the Hexblade's Curse, which gives PH some new toys to play with such as:
- You gain a bonus to damage rolls against the cursed target. The bonus equals your proficiency bonus.
- Any attack roll you make against the cursed target is a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20 on the d20.
- If the cursed target dies, you regain hit points equal to your warlock level + your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 hit point).
These all last for up to 1 minute or when the target dies and can't be called upon again until after a short or long rest.
They also receive Hex Warrior, but PH already has all the armor and weapon proficiencies he needs. Also, of note, there's the ability to channel your patron's power through your weapon of choice and use Charisma rather than Strength or Dexterity... so long as the weapon is not two-handed. Whoops! This is, like my steak, not something I'd take RAW. Talk with your DM and be nice, maybe they'll help you out. All else fails, you can also completely ignore this and just use your Strength which is why it's one of the abilities we've been beefing up like it's going out of style.
Also, there's Pact Magic, but I'm gonna level with you here and say that you pretty much have anything spell-wise from your Paladin levels. Even the cantrips - yes, even eldritch blast - aren't really all that necessary considering where this build is going.
8th Level: Warlock (2)
Second level Warlocks pick up their first Eldritch Invocations.
Armor of Shadows allows PH to cast mage armor on himself at will, no spell slots required. Good to have at least until he finds his iconic headdress.
Misty Visions lets PH cast silent image at will. Maybe use it to project a [Silent Hill 2 spoiler] of your victim's [Silent Hill 2 spoiler] so you can take your huge ass sword and [Silent Hill 2 spoiler].
9th Level: Warlock (3)
At third level, Warlocks take up a Pact Boon. Pact of the Blade will be our choice, which lets PH summon his iconic oversized sword as a weapon he is proficient in. Said weapon is magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances and immunities to damage. It disappears if it is away from you for more than 5 feet away from you for more than 1 minute and you can actually make an already existing magical weapon into your pact weapon so long as it's not an artifact or a sentient weapon.
10th Level: Warlock (4)
Warlocks at fourth level receive an Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Keep the Strength (17) and the Charisma (16) going up for better modifiers!
11th Level: Warlock (5)
Fifth level Warlocks get a new Eldritch Invocation. Improved Pact Weapon bumps your attack and damage up by +1 with your Pact Weapon if you don't already have magical bonuses to said weapon. It also extends the range of weapons you can choose from, but we're good here I think.
12th Level: Warlock (6)
A sixth level, Hexblade warlocks receive the power to summon an Accursed Specter, where someone that PH kills can be summoned up to serve him in combat. It has temporary hit points equal to half of his warlock level and it gets a bonus on its attacks based on PH's Charisma modifier (so, currently, a nice +3).
13th Level: Warlock (7)
Warlocks at seventh level pick up another Eldritch Invocation. This time, Pyramid Head will take Eldritch Smite, which allows him to burn a warlock spell slot to deal an extra 1d8 points of Force damage on top of his normal weapon damage (per level of slot burned) and knock the target prone if they are Huge or smaller.
14th Level: Warlock (8)
What's that? Another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat? Don't mind if I do!
As before, Strength (18) and Charisma (17) just keep going up!
15th Level: Warlock (9)
Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation. Relentless Hex lets you teleport within 30 feet to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of a target that is cursed by your Hexblade's Curse, so long as you can see them of course.
16th Level: Warlock (10)
PH gains an Armor of Hexes, which allows him to make a roll against a target who is being affected by his Hexblade's Curse. As a reaction, he can roll a d6. If he rolls a 4 or higher, an attack made by the target misses him completely even when it would have hit.
17th Level: Warlock (11)
At 11th level, Warlocks get a Mystic Arcanum from the 6th level spells. Basically, one use only big-time spells that come back after a long rest. Go for true seeing, so that it is impossible for you to be deceived.
18th Level: Warlock (12)
Twelfth level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. Strength (19) and Charisma (18) just keep...going... up!
Another Eldritch Invocation is on the books as well. Lifedrinker now adds a bonus equal to PH's Charisma modifier to all damage done with their pact weapon.
19th Level: Warlock (13)
At thirteenth level, Warlocks get their 7th level Mystic Arcanum. Plane Shift will let you move into the Other World of Silent Hill and then, when you've rested up, lets you go back. Simple, really. Also, you can bring some friends along or send someone you don't like away and they'll have to figure out how to get back if the spell takes full hold.
20th Level: Warlock (14)
The capstone for us will be the 14th level of Warlock, where the Hexblade Warlock receives Master of Hexes. When a target under the effects of their Hexblade's Curse is slain, they can switch it to another valid target within 30 feet. However, the trade off is that you do not regain the hit points you would have from a target just dying. However, that might be worth the trade off in high-intensity combat situations.
Now that we've made it to Level 20, let's take a look at our pros and cons for this build.
Pros:
- the damage potential is absolutely insane. With a great sword pact weapon (with your full layout and level 20) you have 2d6 + 4 (Strength) +4 (Charisma) + 6 (Hexblade's Curse) damage in one swing and you can re-roll all 1s and 2s on your damage dice thanks to Great Weapon Fighting and you get two strikes per round. Even if you didn't have Great Weapon Fighting, that's a minimum of 16 damage a strike and thus 32 damage a round and that's before adding things like Divine Smite or Eldritch Smite, which can make that damage even higher. You also cover a couple of different damage types. Not everything, but enough that you'll find something that will work against anything you come across.
- Enemies trying to avoid you are going to be severely pained. You are Aggressive thanks to your Orc nature and thus can move as a bonus to your enemy. If you have them marked by your Hexblade's Curse, then Relentless Hex will bring you right to them and with your mighty sword you can slice and dice away.
- The lack of focus on spells for this build means your warlock slots are free to be fodder for your Eldritch Smite ability.
- Your Intelligence is low. The saving throw on that isn't particularly great anyway. While it's not called upon as much as Wisdom or Dexterity, this will probably kick your butt more than a few times.
- Speaking of which, your Dexterity also sucks. Enjoy eating those fireballs!
- Having an uncapped Charisma means that both your paladin and warlock abilities aren't as strong as they could be. There's a reason why I say to roll for stats, people!
But hey, you're Pyramid Head - the renowned Boogeyman and executioner of Silent Hill. Just make sure you read the fine print on any contract that Konami gives you. They're much scarier than anything in Silent Hill...
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