How to build Superman in Dungeons and Dragons

[@2_Nerd]

This build was unexpected, but a surprisingly accurate Superman! Good work

[@dndbuilds]

It was definitely a challenge to get all of Superman's abilities, while still staying true to the character, but I think we managed to pull it off! Although I definitely had to go a different route than I expected...

[@Cyrix0220]

You could have just done human variant and way of the dragon monk that lets you fly and breathe elemental breathing in a cone or line witch could be laser eyes and ice breath

[@woodrobin]

There's a kind of built in Patron for the Warlock multi-class: Rao, the Sun God of Krypton. He's the God of a dead world (as well as its sun itself), and there's a canonical darkness and arguable evil to his patronage of Krypton. In the DC graphic novel "Sandman: Endless Nights" there is a convocation portrayed that occurs early in the history of the DC universe. Many powerful beings attend, including all seven of the Endless except for Destiny (Death, Desire, Destruction, Dream, Delight (who later becomes Delirium), and Despair). Our sun, Sol, is personified as a young teenager carrying drinks (not old enough to attend the actual debates about how the universe should develop) and Rao is a solemn, older giant of a personification. Despair is seen sitting with Rao and concluding a discussion about her artistic masterpiece she suggests he help create: allowing sentient life to develop on his sole, and inherently geologically unstable, planet. He had intended to leave it barren because any life it hosted would be doomed to destruction when it exploded. She convinced him it would be a beautiful tragedy if sentient life did develop and face its doom with all the valor, striving, futility, etc. that would entail. "It would only be truly perfect," she concluded, "if one survives, to remember and despair." In other words, the cosmic entity Despair convinced the Kryptonians' patron God to create them purely in order for the sole survivor to be a powerful living testimony to herself (Despair) with his enduring grief. She failed completely, since he's a symbol of hope, but even if Rao wasn't evil before, agreeing to Despair's plan was certainly a horribly evil act in itself. Rao would make both a good distant celestial ancestor (informing the Aasimar element of the build) and a good Dark Patron as a fallen, evil God of a dead world once full of life that he created in order to have them despair at the fate he'd doomed them to suffer. And Superman does canonically invoke him fairly often.

[@mynkir-sol2150]

*THIS Should Be the most UpVoted Comment for ALL THE REASONS!!!*

[@SinAhmen]

4:56 in and you sir have my respect so many people misunderstand superman but his heart is what makes him who he is not his powers

[@Hakar17]

That's right he's fundamentally Clark Kent a dorky farm kid from Kansas. Who's doing what John and Martha taught him was right and good.

[@noahspadgenske9875]

This is full of great ideas. Bards make great Daily Planet reporters; making a deal with a fiend to not destroy the world is very creative; and you did a pretty good job of developing Superman’s powers slowly, Smallville style - it’s a game about heroes growing from nobodies to god-tier warriors, after all. Nicely done

[@heresthadude1080]

Metro Man, a character inspired by Superman, is a musician so bard fits

[@Cyrix0220]

You could have just done human variant and way of the dragon monk that lets you fly and breathe elemental breathing in a cone or line witch could be laser eyes and ice breath

[@CyclopsWasRight]

I made the X-Men's Cyclops with Bard. Started lock for eldritch blast and some Invocations, then went bard.

[@richardmiddaugh9749]

Lmao I definitely was not expecting bard for Superman. But honestly the inspiration part is really convincing. As strong and powerful as he is, his greatest impact is that he inspires everyone to be better.

[@ryanatkinson9622]

I like this different take. You can build some superheroes 20 different ways and never get everything. I personally build Superman as a Paladin because you can get magic items to replicate his abilities and mechanics because I feel it’s closer to his theme and anti-magic can replicate his weakness to kryptonite etc ; but I’ve seen Monk, Sorcerer, Fighter work too

[@dealinginfiction]

What would the Dnd comparison to Darkseid be? Bane, the Strife Empteror?

[@Kardur_Wrath_of_the_Abyss]

Would love to see the final avenger Black Widow who you don't seem to have done. I would do human variant, 17 levels in rogue (assassin) and 3 levels monk (way of shadow)

[@michaelmuirhead910]

You can build almost anything from the bard class, adding on a fiend warlock was not something I saw coming. Unique build for an iconic superhero. Well done.

[@Mrikeepgettinmoneyagain]

I came up with an entire character biography based on an aasimar Superman like character, one who is son of Lathander “Isaac the DawnBringer” sired by a human women by the name of Evelyn, he would possess the ability to absorb solar radiation and fly with no wings, he’d have flowing shoulder length white hair and piercing crystalline eyes reflecting the stars of the cosmos.

[@TheClown-0]

I've been watching your content for a while now and I'm always super intrigued by these builds. You do a phenomenal job! That being said, I've never played D&D. Friends and I have wanted to play but it's something that we aren't knowledgeable about in the slightest and wouldn't even know where to start. It doesn't hinder me from checking out all your content though haha. Please keep up the amazing work!

[@dndbuilds]

Thanks! That really means a lot to hear, if you ever do want to join in my dungeon master level patrons to get to join in and play with me and I stream the sessions, if you want to get more familiar and want to watch, you're welcome to, and if you want to join in, you're welcome to do that too if you want to join you're welcome to do that too. I always welcome new players

[@jaredlocke4300]

This hilarious 😂 I love it. New to the channel. About to start a binge on these character builds.

[@dndbuilds]

I've got plenty more, both in my past videos and upcoming, although I have learned a lot about editing in my brief amount of time being on KZbin, so don't judge too harshly on my old videos lol

[@jaredlocke4300]

@@dndbuilds HA! No worries. I have no skill in that realm at all, so not one to critique. Looking forward to the creative insight 🤘🏻🧙🏻‍♂️

[@ShadowBastion]

I'd love to see your take on a Black Adam build

[@mynkir-sol2150]

Brilliant! i doubt i'd ever think of this combo build in a million years... Well done!

[@coalkuelker3208]

My wife would love this

[@dndbuilds]

I'm glad to hear it! feel free to share :D

[@coalkuelker3208]

@@dndbuilds I make it a regular habit to share your videos with my group. Referred several other DM's I know to your channel as well

[@Lostwithquestion]

Superman is super smart and super wise. It just happens that most of his friends are super super smart. Superman would have to have 16 or higher on all stats.

[@dndbuilds]

Usually true, although he is definitely a bit too trusting, but unless I roll for stats and get SUPER lucky, this is the only way I could distribute stats that could really work

[@JoahTheThread5ive]

@@dndbuilds Then at that point, you don't play as Superman until you get super lucky.

[@HighPhoenix1754]

@@JoahTheThread5ive I.. disagree with that notion. I feel like the point of these builds is to recreate the feel of a character and you can do that without having *all high stats*.

[@usmannasir8647]

As for the moving the planet out of the way he has done it before superman doesn't care what bruce thinks is possible he doesnt have his mortal limitations

[@sketchymofo]

I love the concept of Superman making a deal with Darkseid to protect the world. It’s not totally fitting to get his powers from it but I love the reasoning for it so much that I don’t mind much. Didn’t expect Bard either but it also makes so much sense and works well. Expected a Fighter/Sorcerer build. Pleasantly surprised with the unique take.

[@TheEndKing]

I'd love to see how this character interacts with your Batman build. If they synergize well, etc.

[@bigaj6901]

Interesting video! I also love how you used footage from a whole host of different Superman movies/shows, that I know and love. Talkville is also dope 😁

[@angrytheclown801]

It occurs to me, playing with the flavor a little, you could have Darkside as a patron without making a deal. It stretches things, but this build is all about stretching things. In Deadlands, all magic derives from evil but God cleans it up for his worshipers. Who's to say your powers, clear from bard levels don't come from Darkside but the Kryptonian god Rao cleans up the icky aspects. That would give the GM a perfect excuse to use Darkside as a big bad.

[@dannymontanny3064]

Awesome! I've recently done one and thought I'd share. I built mine as a Githzerai (cosmic race destroyed by a civil war) Bear Barbarian 6 / Sun Soul Monk 4 / Stars Druid 10. Guardian of Nature or Aura of Vitality are the main concentration spells. Feats are Resilient WIS, Fighting Initiate: Unarmed, and Crusher. The 4th ASI is STR giving me 20/14/14/8/14/8. I took the Wildspacer background for the Tough Feat, giving him 197 HP at level 20 with averages. He can't fly very fast (Dragon form at Druid 10), but he can get those jumps in with Jump and Step of the Wind if needed (also hover jumping, maybe? he's got a 50 ft. speed and it'd suck to be stuck at 20 while flying). The Barb allowed me to do the Smallville feel where he's so strong and mad that he can't do anything because he might hurt someone. Sun Soul is for heat vision. Being a farm boy, Druid is an obvious choice, especially when he finds that crystal Star Map left in his pod. Druid covers the rest of the powers. With arguably the best list for spell utility and a daily prepared caster at that, it really makes for quite the potent combo of spells to use in or out of concentration.

[@Ubermensch9240]

At Level 3.... "Why can't you just punch it?" "BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE UNARMED FIGHTING!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[@DasGreenCow]

I'm interested in seeing Superman as a monk build

[@dndbuilds]

I really wanted to focus on the strength aspect, but I did see another build by tulok where he essentially mixed a sun soul monk and played off the blast from being a sun soul as heat vision, and mixed it with some sorcerer and went draconic bloodline.

[@ericpeterson8732]

The problem with monk is the progression. Starts at 1d4? Super punches would start at level 11. Then there is the training aspect. Clark has been Super-strong most of his life. He wouldn't have to learn how to fight, just control his strength to not kill someone. Any grappling or other fighting technique would have been developed over the years. He doesn't use forms or moves. There's a big difference between Batman (probably a monk multiclass) and Superman. But hey, that's just one man's opinion. If you can make a decent monk Superman build, go right ahead. But I think a Fighter (EK or BM) chaise is a better thematic fit. Then include some other spellcasting class for the other abilities.

[@Hakar17]

​@@ericpeterson8732In the comics he's a master of two separate Kryptonian arts. As well as having substantial training from both Bruce and Diana. In fact in a few continuities Batman actually has a red sun room in the Cave. Specifically so he and Clark can train on an equal level,so that's something to consider.

[@ericpeterson8732]

It's not what I would do, especially the Fiend pact, but it was very creative. I'm going to see if I can tweek it a bit more.

[@dndbuilds]

Yeah, I think honestly, if I was going to play it personally, I would have chosen a different pact rather than talisman, maybe tome to get firebolt and gust, but I really wanted to use that clip

[@TheEndKing]

@@dndbuilds You could have had an imp familiar, and say it's a representative of Mr. Mxylpick(or however his name is spelled.)

[@ericpeterson8732]

No warlock needed. There's an easier way to see through walls and inside chests (treasure chests, not people chests). It's a third level bard spell (or wizard or sorcerer or cleric): clairvoyance!! According to the description, you can see up to a mile away (telescopic vision) to a place you know or an obvious place unknown to you. The example is behind a door, but inside a wall or a treasure chest or a vault would work, too. The problem with ghost gaze is it's only within 30 ft, lasts for a minute and you have to take at least a short rest to recharge. Clairvoyance is 10 min, up to a mile and only costs a spell slot.

[@chrisjohnson6118]

I went with the Solar Avatar and human kryptonian as race

[@kevincassidy187]

I'd love to see you build Dr. Fate from DC comics

[@dndbuilds]

Especially with him appearing in the new Black Adam, I've really been putting some thought into him

[@hasthehighground8560]

I’m thinking Arcana Cleric

[@kevincassidy187]

@@hasthehighground8560 arcane cleric works but I think a few levels in sorcerer or wizard does as well. Dr.Fate has some intense powers. Energy blasts, teleportation, reality altering skills, elemental manipulation. Really you can use most spellcasting classes to gain his skills. He's an archeologist for back round and a human so it's very open ended.

[@gabrielmarques5257]

Very creative going the valor bard route. Who's next? Spider-Man or Wolverine? Lol

[@gw1357]

I think this was a good build for the concept, but Superman simply doesn't lend itself to a character build. In DnD terms, he's probably more like a demigod.

[@danieljohnson9917]

This about the exact opposite of how I built Superman, but I really enjoy the creative take on him. I made him a Brute Fighter (or Champion if you don't like UA) multiclassed with Divine Soul Sorcerer. Missed out on the X-ray vision, but his martial abilities are slightly better. Your build definitely got his variety down and I think that's important.

[@dndbuilds]

When I saw "this is the exact opposite" I immediately thought this was going to be one of the hate comments I get sometimes. But I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong so thank you for that, and I love that two people can build the same character in completely different ways and they both fit! That's one of the many great things about DnD

[@danieljohnson9917]

@@dndbuilds Hate comments are a waste of both my time and yours, and there isn't really a way to be objective about any of this. I'm glad I found you in my recommended recently and I love your content.

[@dndbuilds]

@@danieljohnson9917 I like that attitude 😁

[@ericpeterson8732]

With Divine Soul, you could take Clairvoyance for the telescopic and x-ray visions. 3rd level sorcerer spell. Can see vast distances and behind doors or inside chests.

[@brandonhughes179]

Yeah I'd make Superman a Brute fighter and basically have to homebrew a Kryptonian race that gives him a lot of stuff as racial abilities: flight, vision, and breath. Superman is not magical and isn't resistant to magic, so a caster class (or Barbarian) really don't fit him

[@harley3211]

i like the unique perspective on it, but i just don't think one would Feel like superman when playing this build. it's cool to have a new perspective though!

[@MasterRX56]

3:07 Batman casually roasting Superman 💀

[@DareMurdok]

an interesting and unique take on the character

[@dndbuilds]

Thanks, I tried to think a bit outside the box on this one

[@DareMurdok]

@@dndbuilds honestly a Darkseid as Patron Warlocked Superman sounds like a pretty cool BBEG

[@thomasshepler406]

Little late to the party here, but since you did Superman, I think it would be interesting to see if could do the Magic version of Superman - Captain Marvel/ Shazam. Do you think he would be built any differently or would they be the same, just flavor and background differences?

[@dndbuilds]

I would totally build them differently, especially with all the overall lightning powers from Shazam, and his powers are known to come from magic, plus I wouldn't have to worry about trying to figure out x-ray vision which would open up a lot of possibilities

[@thomasshepler406]

@@dndbuilds That's true I forgot that he doesn't have X-ray just speed and strength similar to Superman. I imagine trying to figure out the lightning strike from yelling "Shazam" would be difficult since the most obvious option would be call lightning, but that requires a point and any creature within range would take damage, so player would be injured. Also curious if you could make the ability change from Billy Batson to Shazam and back work

[@dndbuilds]

@@thomasshepler406 there are actually two great spells for those types of transformations either Tasha's otherworldly guise, or tensors transformation, both of them work really well to turn a spellcaster into a melee fighter

[@thomasshepler406]

@@dndbuilds Ahh ok, good to know. I'm new to DND 5e, I've only got a few years of Tabletop RPGs under my belt, and most of them are from Pathfinder 1e. Only recently started experimenting with DND 5e. Either way, love you're videos. Recently discovered them and literally going through them all right now lol

[@MathBrain82]

Awesome build!

[@DarkPaladincos]

Thank you for this video

[@dndbuilds]

Of course I was happy to do it, and I even got to use a picture of you in the video lol

[@buddyj1299]

Is it possible to make a barb who can use mage hand to hold more weapons

[@dndbuilds]

Yes but that's literally all it will do is hold the weapon, as it requires an action to do anything with it, and specifically in the spell mage hand it says that it cannot attack, so it would literally just float there holding an item waiting for you to take it.

[@irogers40]

How different would the smallville version be. A lex Luther or zod based from the series is cool

[@markmodlesky]

Would like to see master roshi from dragon ball especially how to tackle techniques such as the mafuba

[@Hakar17]

Mafuba could be a slightly modified plane shift effect. Where instead of it being a random plane of existence it's always a demi-plane. That Roshi carries around inside of a rice cooker.

[@roykirk8350]

what race would be the smallvill

[@joshuagibson6531]

Amazing videos And when is Roronoa Zoro from One Piece

[@dndbuilds]

I actually did a vote over on my Patreon and he was one of the choices for some upcoming builds. But unfortunately he didn't get quite as many votes as some of the other options, so he's going to be coming eventually, just not quite yet

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

Can we have a Ranma Saotome build?

[@ericpeterson8732]

um, Friends? because he's "super friendly"? You know that's not what friends does, right? Friends is a mind-affecting spell that brute forces people into hearing your words in the best possible way (advantage on Cha checks) but then when it fades, it swings the pendulum the other way and they hate you. "When the spell ends the creature realizes that you used magic to influence its mood and becomes hostile toward you. A creature prone to violence might attack you." That's not Clark. Blade Ward or Mending or even Prestidigitation might be better choices. (Mending could be heat vision welding)

[@dndbuilds]

I was just trying to have some fun with the super friends thing, I didn't think about using mending with heat vision. That would have been a great idea. But I did wind up using most of the other cantrips already and I didn't feel like much else would fit

[@TheHeadNinjainComics]

I'd like to see how you would do a Kenshin Himura or a Wolverine from X-Men.

[@dndbuilds]

I've got a solid plan for Wolverine, and he's on my list for sure, I actually just had a vote for some upcoming builds on my patreon, and he was one of the options Kenshin would be a cool classic swordsman

[@trancethenapper]

Could you please make a video geared for actual DnDBeyond use? Because some of the spells you say to grab at lower levels are either available at much higher levels or aren't available at all. Like Slow nd Tenser's Transformation. It's confusing for new players like me.

[@jugushes]

Can you do Sonic next? This channel is so great!

[@dndbuilds]

I actually did Sonic a while back, feel free to check out my older videos. I tried to make the fastest character possible for him

[@jugushes]

@@dndbuilds Woops, sorry XD

[@dndbuilds]

@@jugushes it's no problem. I don't expect everybody to go through my entire video library lol

[@willowwren615]

You should build the doom slayer

[@denerrickelliott5170]

Momoshiki Otsutsuki D&D build please!!!

[@lewtnoot2524]

make Tristan from King Arthur 2004

[@chrimedina]

I'd like to see John Constantine from CD

[@darrinmiles1315]

Could you do Ezio form assassins creed

[@reubenthenerd1815]

Superman doesn't gain his power from performance or some deal, he just has his powers due to being an alien Sorcerer also has much better spells than bard such as firebolt and fly

[@Kingdomkey123678]

But little melee combat ability which is Superman’s bread and butter

[@g.l4448]

Any chance you can do Megaman?

[@dndbuilds]

Absolutely, he's on my list, and I've got him lined up

[@g.l4448]

@@dndbuilds sweeeeet! Megaman is my boy!

[@Mario.1997]

INteresting

[@dndbuilds]

I'm glad you think so :)

[@jacobclark6002]

Tbh just make this character build but don't even include the extra abilities at first. Just go full Golden Age on his power set at the start of his campaign.

[@dndbuilds]

That actually would have been a cool way to do it, I wish I'd thought of that before I started recording lol

[@neosolace7567]

Day 1 of me asking for a Leon S Kennedy build from Resident Evil

[@dndbuilds]

I do have some big plans for all of October, but I might be able to sneak in a bonus build for that around Halloween time

[@neosolace7567]

@@dndbuilds no worries, take care of the priorities first! :D

[@TonberryShuffle]

Thematically I don't think Superman an be built as a playable character. Period. All of Superman's abilities are genetic; it's essentially derived from creature/monster hit die and he's at best an NPC and at worst an intelligent/sentient monster. His class levels are virtually non-existent and, at least back in 3.5, commoner or other NPC class levels were the only ones that ended up fitting the character.

[@Cosmic_Yak]

ZOMG!!!! you picked Aasimar and can FLY @ level 0ne....WAAYYYYY! OVERPOWERED man. BAHHH and resistances!!!! Makes the whole extra 2 health less MASSIVE! wouldn't you say? Just saying you get 8 whopping health by level 4 where one could pick it up regularly..cept at level 4 pick up player gets to double their max health amount. by the by this character looks fun, well done.

[@dndbuilds]

Totally forgot that Aasimar have to wait until level 3 to do it, but still, that's SUPER early. Glad you enjoyed the build!

[@bassetthound1394]

Day 1 asking for Alucard from hellsing ultimate

[@dndbuilds]

he's definitely on my list, and a definite possibility if I can manage to squeeze him into some October Halloween themed episodes

[@DivineDarco]

Could you do Gojo Satouri from Jujutsu Kaisen???

[@Żagñùţ01]

HOW TO BUILD SUPES IN MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS

[@veronwright1291]

Day 1 asking for Shinra Kusekabe And day 1 asking for spiderman I'm a new sub to your channel and I really love your content, DnD Builds^^

[@dndbuilds]

There's actually a GREAT spell for Shinra, I've been waiting for someone to request him. Spiderman is SO DAMN HARD... I've been wanting to make him for a while, but he's super strong, super dexterous, super good constitution, super smart, and decently charming... only thing he probably lacks in is Wisdom... so figuring him out has been so difficult, because he's just got SO MANY STATS, but I'm trying Thanks for subbing :D

[@veronwright1291]

@@dndbuilds for Spiderman I think try sacrificing a bit of constitution and charisma. I'm not sure if that'll work if you haven't thought about it. Or maybe since spiderman does tend to hold back a lot you can intentionally nerf his strength to a decent number As for Shinra I'm gonna assume you'll classify him as a monk/sorcerer with the soldier background. But that's just an assumption until you decide to cover him some day hopefully Also I also wanted to request Aloy from horizon zero dawn and forbidden west, Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series and Shantae from her franchise but I didn't want to overload you with a ton of requests. Otherwise I've got a ton of anime related requests for very interesting characters 😅

[@hergetsafety408]

Cable Please

[@wilfredofigueroa7970]

Do cyclops from the xmen please

[@youareacoward8459]

You should just have made He-man, there is nothing in dungeons and dragons that comes even close to Superman. Not even close, not even the gods themselves are at his level.

[@vickofspiders]

Other spider

[@dndbuilds]

My videos are becoming full of spiders...

[@denteater3498]

How to play Superman; Be the DM. Write yourself unlimited abilities. Win every time.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

Well...Darkside?

[@silk4710]

🥑