How to build Batman in Dungeons and Dragons

[@MrCyrablak]

I just did 6 lvls o shadow monk for slow falling, shadow step(grapple hook), and unarmed strikes. I continued with Arcane Trickster to get all of his gadgets message(walkie-talkie), fogcloud, shield(uses his cape), web (freeze bomb or entangling shot), locate object (small trackers)

[@dndbuilds]

That sounds like a much more straight forward way to go that might have saved me 20 minutes of recording and a heck of a lot of editing... solid idea

[@TheRaven_Purple]

I’m not sure that would work cause you can only have Illusion or Enchantment spells with arcane trickster. In total you would get three non-arcane trickster spells, so you could do most of this at level 20 but not all. Maybe with magic initiate for more spells it could work.

[@rocksnrolls]

@@TheRaven_Purpleyou can pick up other spells as well, but only a very limited number of anything other than Enchantment or illusion

[@Alex_the_Partypooper]

Shadow Monk will already be OP (because of the teleporting) like Batman is OP

[@Alex_the_Partypooper]

​@@dndbuildsShadow Monk has a teleporting ability which would have made Batman more OP, plus it's a subclass

[@johnnywebb4144]

I feel like the Faceless background would be much more fitting for the fact of being a masked vigilante

[@dndbuilds]

I completely overlooked that one, that would have been a possible great fit.

[@TheEndKing]

@@dndbuilds That's the beauty of this character, though. You can build him any way you want.

[@captaindesperado13]

Unsure if someone has mentioned this before, but an interesting class combination that happens is that you can use Sneak Attack with Lightning Launcher since it's a ranged weapon attack. And with the level 15 upgrade, you get advantage on your second attack, meaning you have accessible sneak attack damage every turn.

[@dndbuilds]

Yeah, this was my first ever vid, and wished I had honed in on that idea more

[@dndbuilds]

I've been obsessing about this build for a while now, so I'm super happy to get it out of my head so I can stop annoying non-DnD players with this build idea

[@Astartes-6969]

Can you do a video on a D&D take on Roland Deschain from the Dark Tower? (I plan on role playing as the literal Deschain since he is literally in a constant cycle going back in time in multiple realities, so I'll play him and he somehow gets transported to the D&D World and makes a new Ka-Tet) Add the Excalibur Revolvers and all that & add the stats that might work for him. He also has the Horn Of Eld.

[@dndbuilds]

@@Astartes-6969 Sure thing, might take me a bit to do some research but I'll definitely do a build for it 😁

[@thetreeboy.]

Just clicked on your ad

[@dndbuilds]

@@thetreeboy. Well thanks for clicking :D

[@aisnota5192]

Hi. Cane here after Tulock quit. Been running a campaign that crosses over with Dark Knights of Steel which basically "what if DC and DND had a baby". If you ever need inspiration (ba dum tss) I highly recommend you read the comic. Tom Taylor is a fantastic Character Writer and he reinterprets all these characters in really cool ways.

[@koala5390]

Something fun about artificer's is that their magic is supposed to be flavored as gadgets anyway so it works incredibly!

[@HLGJammer]

Science is magic / magic is science. But there's magic magic too

[@stoephil]

I made a Batman inspired build as a Rogue (swashbuckler) Paladin (vengeance) with a splash of 2 levels of Hexblade (to become SAD, for Darkvision and some illusion spells). At level 1 variant human feat medium armor master for +1 AC and ignoring disadvantage to stealth. High dexterity and charisma : my build is focused on terrorizing the enemies with intimidation and illusion magic. My character disguises as a vampire instead of a bat during her vigilante moments. Background entertainer (she was raised by the theater troupe she and her parents went to see just before their death by a random mugger in an adjacent dark alley) for the proficiencies with disguise kit, performance and acrobatics. Then later she gets Silent image at will (invocation) and minor illusion (cantrip) to panic the criminals she pursues. Shadow touched feat also provides her with invisibility and disguise self once a day. One of the warlock spells picked is Cause fear, that she uses when she does not use her spell slots to smite.

[@Darkcur]

I like this build, it evokes Batman Well, but you can squeeze some more Rogue by Picking Inquisitive as the subclass. Also Sneak Attack works with Darts and daggers so they work as the mini batarangs.

[@dndbuilds]

Yeah, those are great to use with sneak attack, and I know I could have gone with more rogue, but I like the idea of being in training to become an assassin and not going through with it. Plus I really wanted to focus on the gadgets 😁

[@Darkcur]

I'm more Martial non magic oriented for my Batman, like Battle Master Fighter Inquisitive Rogue Kensei or Shadow Monk multiclass Combo, but I ended up just homebrewing a Monk subclass that combine that aspects that I want portrayed 😅

[@dndbuilds]

@@Darkcur I'm all for home brewing for getting just the right fit. I just try to avoid home brews on the channel to make sure you can pull off something that's accepted at most DnD tables

[@miguelangelus959]

I think Mastermind is another fitting rogue subclass

[@ianedmonds9191]

I'm doing a batmanesque build in waterdeep right now. I've taken a gloomstalker ranger and two weapon fighting. Backstory is I lost my family to denizens of the Underdark so I'm after revenge on the whole Underdark. Damaged character with the whole Haunted vibe. Rolled an alabaster mask on the trinket table. I'm gonna be Mask the Alabastard. Scourge of the underworld. Vigilante and Champion of the oppressed. The party already made contact with Xanathar but we're hoping to steer clear. We almost had a TPK last week when we came up against one of his employees while saving a captive. A goddamn Mind Flayer. 2 people survived out of 6 and we were saved by good berries. Scary stuff. Now 2nd level and feeling hard as nails. 🙂 Gotta love D&D. Luv and Peace.

[@LordKristivas]

As a DM, I would allow unarmed attacks to be counted as finesse if someone took the Unarmed Fighting style. In this case, it's hardly game-breaking, doing the same damage as the most common rogue weapon of all time, the short sword. The investment is an entire feat and it matches the theme. Sneak attack is only once per turn and Batman can strike with devastating effect.

[@dndbuilds]

I totally agree, I always make the videos for rules as written, but as a DM I would totally do the same thing. I like to follow the rule of cool as long as it's not game breaking as well.

[@gmaster634]

So how does this character work in combat considering you use strength to unarmed strike but strength is at 10 and there is a chance to run out of spell slots and you may not be with the guardian armor all the time. Sooo can i get an idea how this class works in a long wind resource heavy combat, cause i love this build.

[@dndbuilds]

Yeah that's definitely a downside of the build, you're not going to get a ton of damage output with the punches while in infiltrator armor. Although if you're in your infiltrator armor you still have your lightning launcher, your lightning launcher will depend on your Intelligence to attack, and since the lightning launcher is considered a simple Ranged weapon, it does get the benefits of Sneak Attack from the couple Rogue levels. This was my first video, so still working on highlighting some of the important details, hopefully I can make sure I cover everything a bit more efficiently in the future. Thanks and I'm glad you enjoy the build :D I'll be adding all the character sheets for all of my builds to my patreon soon if that makes things easier :D

[@gmaster634]

@@dndbuilds love the idea and id say maybe 1 lvl of monk to just get that unarmed damage to scale with dex and then id say its golden but im also not very good with multiclassing so youd know better than i lol considereing you wouldnt have enough wis to multiclass im gonna tweak it and see what i can get from it regarding physical sustain damage output

[@remyheart27]

"we are playing as Batman not as Bruce Wayne." Ever wonder why you don't see them at the same place at the same time? I just feel you gotta increase batman's charisma to match Bruce waynes

[@slimnfade]

Did u not see batman dance in the video or were we watching too differente builds.

[@dndbuilds]

I think the reason that you never see them at the same time is that maybe Bruce Wayne is scared of Batman. That's the only logical reason.

[@chrimedina]

What do you think about Shadows Monk 6/Artíficer Armorer X? Unarmed strikes, utility belt, alternative Combat Suit, teleport into shadows, slow falling

[@dndbuilds]

I think that's a great option, and would work pretty well, while being a bit more straight forward. I just really liked the idea of him working towards becoming part of the league of assassins and then stopping right before he officially became an assassin. So I really wanted to run with that idea. Plus with Shadow Monk I would need at least 13 dex and 13 wisdom to be able to multiclass. Which would leave me with a lot of ability scores to worry about, so I didn't want him to be underpowered on the ability points, but that's probably just my inner optimization builder at work.

[@chrimedina]

@@dndbuilds I also liked the Rogue for the first levels. Provides more skills, and the Expertise is great. You're right about ability scores but it's possible. Initially use unarmored defense, till artificer awesome armor with infussions. Replicate Magic Item: Goggled of Night or Rope of Climbing as the grappling hook. Can take Sentinel or Tough as initial variant human feat

[@TolenFett]

Loved this. I was just going to build him as a rogue - monk but this video got me thinking.

[@jaredlocke4300]

"Stupid Superman" 😂 That scene has become a classic go-to for Batman and Superman's relationship

[@dndbuilds]

I've used it in 2 videos now, because I love it lol

[@abedrahman4519]

I made him once with Kensei Monk, took darts as the ranged weapon (reflavored) as Batarangs and Inquisitive for the best detective. Was the closest to a Batman I could do. Also made him Vanilla human for the Plus one to everything.

[@millennial.doomer]

Just recently threw an idea together of a 10 battle master/6 inquisitive/4 gloom stalker with unarmed and thrown weapon styles. 18|14|12|14|14|8 V. Human with Investigator(VRGR) background. Feats: Skill Expert(dex), Observant(wis), Keen Mind, Crusher(Str), Piercer(Str), Mobile. Just fists and a backpack full of darts(batarangs), grappling hooks and other rogue tools to act as gadgets. Not the most minmaxed build, but the synergies between these three subclasses is NUTS.

[@couver73]

Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't go Inquisitive Rogue at all. It kinda makes sense for Batman. Good point on daggers being reflavored as Batarangs. Sneak Attack can be used to knock out unsuspecting mooks. Hell, the Lightning Launcher can benefit from Sneak Attack since it's a ranged weapon. Also, I think getting the gauntlets of Ogre Power would be fitting so even when using Infiltrator, you can still hit hard and have some damage variance. But hey, the build works. Leaning into the gadgets makes sense.

[@dndbuilds]

Call solid points, and the only reason I didn't go with an inquisitive rogue was just because the whole League of assassins thing

[@couver73]

Totally fair. Probably doesn't help that Wisdom is dumped so Insight checks would be kinda abysmal anyway. XD

[@Alex_the_Partypooper]

Shadow Monk has a teleporting ability which would have made Batman more OP, plus it's a subclass Great for the Dark Knight

[@MaJunior00]

I want to see Daredevil. I've seen some different builds, but I want to see your take.

[@kevincassidy187]

Huh I've always viewed the Armorer as Iron Man. The two level dip in Rogue is pretty good. Another Dip I'd do is 2 lvls of fighter for Healing surge to shrug off some of the hits from Bane and Action surge to get that extra few shots in. It would be Rogue 2/Fighter 2/Artificer 16. But it would delay many of the effects and gadgets coming online till mid tier.

[@dndbuilds]

Yeah I could see that being a really good mix, this was the first video I ever did, and I think it might have been good to mix it up a little extra, so that's a good call

[@kawawangkowboy9566]

rewatching this in preparation for a one shot in which all my players bring their best batman builds

[@Nellak2011]

Batman would have atleast 18 for every ability score across the board. I think the ability scores in this video are for first level or something. Strength - Can bench press 1 ton Dexterity - Can dodge bullets and move so fast to take a whole group of thugs down in a second Constitution - Stayed up for several days fighting with no breaks, goes out every night with 4 hours or less sleep probably doing uberman sleep schedule, endures mortal wounds easily and continues fighting, frequently gets thrown through brick walls and survives Intelligence - World's greatest detective, frequently outsmarts the justice league, stated to have IQ surpassing 200, polyglot, learned all martial arts, several degrees including criminology Charisma - Uses Intimidation as primary tool to combat crime, both personas are influential, most popular hero of all time Wisdom - World's greatest detective, Ninja training and focus, Can detect lying Batman is literally peak every stat with 20s in a few of them.

[@zachbahamutson5477]

I would just like to bring up that Bruce does fight crime in other ways in Gotham it's just that that's not going to work against organized crimes like the mob or like villains like the Joker.

[@wafflemcmulligan9186]

Exactly. All of the people who say this either haven’t actually researched the character at all or just weren’t paying attention. Also, he doesn’t live in the real world. He lives in a setting specifically made so that he is necessary.

[@aisnota5192]

Superman: "Batman what are you doing?" Batman: "They took my utility belt. I'm useless now." Superman: "I thought you were a Martial Artist!" Batman: "I DIDNT TAKE ANY MONK LEVELS!!!!!!" Superman: "You have Unatmed Fighting and Extra Attack!" Batman: "MY STRENGTH IS A 10!!!!"

[@harrisonlinden6552]

You didn’t seem to suggest the other two infusions, what would you recommend? Personally I found the “Goggles of Night” and “Cloak of Billowing” to be the most accurate.

[@dndbuilds]

I love the cloak of billowing it's so thematically appropriate, but goggles of night are definitely more helpful

[@St1cKnGoJuGgAlO]

I dont think a few bat shaped daggers could hurt or the robe of useful items as batmans belt of infinate gadgets

[@jamal4842]

Hi, can you make this into a character sheet i can see online? sorry.

[@dndbuilds]

Surprisingly I hadn't thought to do that, I'll have to make sure to do that. I'll try to update the channel when I get them up.

[@pyron5277]

Personally I like taking Keen Mind for his starting feat. Lets you be a genius and the worlds greatest detective without needing to invest in your Int as much

[@theonlymatthew.l]

I like the build, but I have a hard time having a Batman with a 8 wisdom score. Batman has one of the most indomitable wills in literature so that just doesn't sit well with me lol. He also has insane perception skills.

[@dndbuilds]

I definitely know how you feel, but I use point buy for DnD and there's only so many points to go around

[@theonlymatthew.l]

@@dndbuilds I understand that but I would have allocated the points to give at least a 12 in wisdom. Different builds aren't 'wrong' just different. 😁

[@dndbuilds]

@@theonlymatthew.l Totally agree

[@mattgetson7746]

I dunno why they didn't take the soulknife subclass. psychic blades= endless batarang, whispers is your party's com-links, and the psychic dice so batman never misses a skill check.

[@БенедиктХристиан]

Thanks.

[@JoeXTheXJuggalo1]

Well now... Looks like later on today I'm going to have to rewatch this video And write down all these notes when I have my D&D notebook in front of me and it's not 5 in the morning.

[@dndbuilds]

Watch it as many times as you need 😜

[@JoeXTheXJuggalo1]

@@dndbuilds I just need to watch it 1 time more time with about and hour worth of time because I will most likely be pausing and rewinding 10-20 seconds at a time to make sure I got all of it written down.

[@stevenjohnson2455]

Okay so my Batman/Bruce Wayne themed D&D character has a guild artisan background due to Wayne tech. Then I thought the classes should be a Shadow Monk 6, Gloomstalker Ranger 3, Inquisitive Rogue 7, Oath of Vengeance Paladin 3, Twilight Cleric 1. Giving you a lvl 20 of classes. I used a variant human. And the rest of the details such as spells and feat to fit the character. I rolled stats but prioritized Int and Dex. My Con stat was the lowest based on the reasoning that he may be healthy he isn't superhuman healthy.

[@DR-wz4gh]

Not me watching at 3am for an upcoming dnd game

[@dndbuilds]

Glad I could help with the last minute scramble to build a character

[@qwertyweston8138]

I feel way of shadow monk would fit batman brilliantly

[@gabrielmarques5257]

Awesome awesome build but I think you could use more Intimidation and insight I dunno Batman is good at everything so its hard

[@dndbuilds]

Yeah those were definitely 2 I considered, but unfortunately without taking the skilled perk at one of the levels, or another multiclass, it was hard to pull off, so I had to make the sacrifice. But I'm glad you enjoyed the build!!!

[@gabrielmarques5257]

@@dndbuilds can't wait for the next one!

[@dndbuilds]

@@gabrielmarques5257 The plan is to get vids out weekly (fingers crossed and no crit fails rolled) most likely on Thursdays

[@HowesLifeFam]

So my question is what is the Level splitting Between Rouge and Artificer?

[@dndbuilds]

2 Levels in Rogue (for the training from the league of shadows) and the rest in artificer for all the gadgets

[@HowesLifeFam]

@@dndbuilds Sounds good. Thank you. I'm currently using the Goku build in a campaign I joined today. and I will be using this build in another campaign going on every Wednesday! So eager and excited to play them

[@EliasWolf77]

How do you be a Werewolf in D&D? Can you do a werewolf build video?

[@dndbuilds]

I think I can definitely figure that one out, while there's an easy one from Matt Mercer's homebrew Blood Hunter class which even has a Lycan form, but the class overall is a little underpowered, I think I could do something really solid diving into a werewolf build while just using the official DnD source material. Do you have a specific werewolf in mind?

[@thegod300jr]

You there? KZbinr DND asked a question

[@zackthorpe4250]

This is from forever ago but vanhelsing would be the perfect werewolf dnd build

[@jacobmcclenny1602]

I made the mistake a continuing to pester the people in my life. Now the only problem I've found with discussing with my GM is, Luscious Fox would be the artificer. Batman in d&d just has a team of artificers at his disposal

[@Groovygriffin_]

At 2:15 injustice two had something similar

[@dndbuilds]

I haven't managed to get to Injustice 2 yet, is it worth jumping into?

[@Groovygriffin_]

@@dndbuilds yes it is actually.the guest Characters like every nrs game are awesome

[@Groovygriffin_]

@@dndbuilds also you could do pladin. Because you could do a oath that doesn’t let you kill

[@thedarkjw6219]

Excuse me when making a character does this all happen before you start?

[@Rock287ownd]

Should have done cloak of protection early

[@dndbuilds]

Yeah I just wanted to wait until I could reference Batman forever lol

[@EdmundWChan]

awesome

[@thedarkjw6219]

Human (Variant) Strength 10 Dexterity 16 Constitution 14 Intelligence 16 Wisdom 8 Charisma 8 🦶: Fighting initiative Background: super haunted 10 Doom gloom I would sacrifice my soul Undercommon Monster Hunter pack Trickent Elvish Acrobatics

[@tvhead5010]

So I'm going to have to say your floor was off at least with Batman Batman is actually extra hopeful that's the reason why he does fighting crimes awesome

[@tvhead5010]

Also I think his flower would be more that he blame yourself for things that are out of his control that is a flaw

[@qualthos1]

I kind of like thinking that Batman and Bruce Wayne have different mental stats - like multiple personalities. Bruce has high Charisma and low Intelligence while Batman has low Charisma and high Intelligence.

[@sladehardy1685]

What about dc Azrael?

[@Erasmo_F_Jr]

I would particularly go from Rogue Inquisitive to being a better detective. Taking a Monk Multiclass to keep to the basics of the character would sacrifice gadgets unfortunately

[@gw1357]

On the stats, the point buy method is tough because in every version of the character Bruce Wayne is a pretty extraordinary person -- genius level intellect, Olympic level athlete, etc. On class selection -- certainly Rogue makes a lot of sense as the start point. I understand why you would go Artificer to get the gadgets, but in most variants of the Batman mythos its other people making Batman's gadgets (Lucious Fox would be an excellent Artificer and Alfred might have a level or two). I submit that you could have alternately gone Rogue (maybe with a few more levels) into Ranger in the Hunter mode...especially if you have a GM that allows you to choose "Criminal" for your Favored Enemy and "Urban" for your terrain type. I think that would put more emphasis on the psychological/tactical side of Batman over the gadgets.

[@dndbuilds]

That would be a great alternative, and gloom stalker seemed like it was made for a Batman type, it's just hard for me to have any Batman without gadgets, and you won't be guaranteed an artificer at your service ina game, so I tried to work with what I could... Plus it was my first ever video lol

[@gw1357]

@@dndbuilds I wonder if there's a Rogue 5/Artificer 5/Ranger 10 version that would be the best of all worlds. Then again, one of my general problems with most RPG systems is that they're overly harsh on characters that multiclass too much...so maybe it would end up less than the sum of its parts.

[@asorlokirunarsson9864]

Before watching I'm guessing the classes will be Oath of Vengence Paladin, Way of Shadow Monk and Artificer

[@dndbuilds]

Those were all things I considered actually... but I'm curious to know what you think at the end 😁

[@gabrielmarques5257]

You ever considered redoing this build?

[@dndbuilds]

I'm planning to as soon as the new players hand book comes out 😁

[@styx5293]

My family is sick of my constant barrage of dnd ideas . Thank you for this

[@dndbuilds]

Glad I could help! I'll be doing a build every week.

[@DimiLeventis]

Batman Is such a Mary Sue (like most mainstream superheroes, TBH), that we would require 18 or even 20 in all ability scores, and a bunch of multiclassing (not only Rogue and Artificer, but also probably Fighter, Monk, maybe even Ranger and Paladin) in order to cover and be faithful to everything he can do in all different media(s) he's been on

[@absolutleynotanalien8096]

Technikly zatana tought batman a few spels so batman dose have limited spellcasting.

[@dndbuilds]

True but you could say that about a lot of stuff for him, he also wound up having a lantern ring for a while, so I kind of chose more of the core idea of Batman

[@lucasryder3930]

To make dark Knights of steel batman just give Him a sword and change his race to aceimar.

[@miguelangelus959]

I mean, unarmed fighting is fitting, but it is also completely useless since this build went with a low str score, plus there's the thunder gauntlets to use instead after a couple of levels. Even in the start of the game, I can't imagine a player ever making use of it... I would pick superior techique or blind fighting instead right from the start, instead. He can afford to learn how to punch later

[@Ubermensch9240]

This works well for Earth 63 Batman..... who died.

[@ukedition9405]

Never been more confused in my life after watching this video

[@dndbuilds]

Lol, what can I clarify? It was my first ever video on the channel, so definitely had (and still continue to have) lots of room for improvement.

[@DahniDabeetohe]

Now do 60's Batman

[@aisnota5192]

Well.... he didnt dump Constitution.

[@davidsimon3122]

I get the idea is to make Batman from what he was. Every build I see tries to make him very skilled at everything and make him a bruce wayne noble. Why not instead make a batman with some medieval Flair? Batman had lot of skills sure but at the end of the day he still couldn't do everything on his own, he needed support. If I were to make Batman I'd do it as making him into a dhampir and monk way of death. Some people hadn't notice how Batman rarely gets defeated in his fights so why not represent that as making him harder to kill with way of the long death monk? I know he wouldn't have much skills but hey not everyone can do everything on their own. Background faceless for sure.

[@slimnfade]

Teammates say maybe teamwork can make the dream work. I thought everyone hated Madara Uchiha

[@dndbuilds]

Teamwork does make the dream work, which is why a couple of my builds lately have been full parties, but damn it's hard... Especially if someone's trying to go full Uchiha style character

[@thestorylord296]

AYYE ELEVENTH SUBSCRIBER!!!

[@dndbuilds]

Awesome thanks!!!

[@weirdestpro]

top 10 nerdiest people on the planet #1 will shock you

[@dndbuilds]

I would be so honored... 😂😂😂

[@ethanheard9208]

8 for wisdom and charisma???

[@dndbuilds]

Only so many points to go around, and the only thing he would use Charisma for is most likely intimidation, so I couldn't sacrifice the ability points.

[@jordan321able]

I love all your work, but the greatest detective in the world with a negative wisdom modifier bothers the hell out of me.

[@janmarcovasquez7755]

12:13

[@emperorpalpatine5559]

When it comes to humans Batman’s an 18-20 in strength...

[@dndbuilds]

I totally agree, and if there were a scale to change up what strength happened on different races that's totally the way I would go. But there's only so many stat point to go around, so had to focus on where to utilize them best, and if someone like Superman is that insanely high strength, or even Aquaman with his pretty intense strength being in the same world, it's hard to say they could both be at those max levels. So I had to make a tough choice, and go with someone who has the intelligence to go in with the right tools for the job, rather than just pure punching power.

[@silk4710]

🥑

[@dndbuilds]

Avocado - 1 hp, randomly has either 16 AC or 8 AC depending on Ripeness. But it's impossible to tell whether or not it's ripe until an attack roll has been made on it.

[@leonardozeballosvalda3254]

XD

[@jonathanhaynes9914]

:)

[@dndbuilds]

This was my first ever vid, so don't judge too harsh lol

[@thegreattoaster]

I am batman