How to Play Davy Jones in Dungeons & Dragons (Pirates of the Caribbean Build for D&D 5e)

Today we're building Davy Jones in Dungeons & Dragons! If you want to master the ocean and take out all the Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest in D&D 5e, this is the build for you!
Twitter: / tulokthe
Patreon: / tulok

[@mason-.]

Man surf shark really missed a great opportunity not sponsoring this video

[@ultedtheclone7335]

*Somethings wrong I can feel it*

[@thomastakesatollforthedark2231]

Oh king shark I think. From dc

[@bskec2177]

@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 King Shark is a Shark

[@thomastakesatollforthedark2231]

@@bskec2177 and a man

[@camblycreeper7999]

Interesting thing: He made the water in a series of buckets leading up to the tub, furthermore they negotiated on a sand bar, thus a nonpermantent area of land that spends most of the time underwater. There was a proccess to undermine his curse for a negotiation. Enjoy this contribtuion to the Algorithm

[@ghoulfieri2773]

Fathomless is such a baller subclass. What really sucks is when you roll a 1 on your second death save and your DM says "hey, so your Tentacle of the Deep is gonna drag you underneath and now you die." Like, visually, it's really cool. But when all your healers are out of healing, well...

[@mason-.]

Yarg! Davy Jones sailed the seven seas and makes a fun build! But the key to my heart is an Anderson Cooper build! We as a community need it!

[@dex1157]

I...legit have no idea what this could be. My instinctive response was a character from the show Community, but that makes like...negative levels of sense. Key to my heart makes me think another Kingdom Hearts character, but from there how would the community thing tie into it...

[@Haelerin]

Usually I'm pretty versed in figuring out what you mean, but right now I'm not versed in deciphering it.

[@dex1157]

@@Haelerin I...don't know if this is actually meant to be a hint or not, but given what I said about Kingdom Hearts, your phrasing got me thinking of Ventus/Vanitas and the Unversed.

[@MrocnyZbik]

You say Anderson Cooper, but we will get Agent Cooper.

[@Shunthegoat]

Lore bard ofc what is a newscaster but a person who knows current lore that just happend

[@victordavila9812]

this seems perfect for a big bad guy in a sea campaing you can make up for the ac with heavy armor even if is not as flavorfull

[@miscellaneousshadow7452]

Well if it's a BBEG give him some magic items. Even something like res to all damage while on his own boat. Or if you want RAW go with something +2 or +3 or even just armour of res to the groups main kind of attack.

[@daniellins4114]

I was planning to mix an idea of a homebrew sea canpaing with Ghosts of Saltmarsh and this may be a fine addition. Also you can give him lair actions while on the ship

[@parker954]

one of my favorite minor villains in dimension20s fantasy high was essentially exactly this character

[@TheHeroOfLimes]

Tashas added armor tattoos. One of which provides the same ac as full plate.

[@Pomlithe]

I think it'd be perfectly fine to play heavy armor off as some sort of carapace. Or hell, just put a badass pirate trenchcoat over plate armor, the silhouette is what's important.

[@jibranmarsden6566]

I guess he's sort of a sea lich with his heart phylactery

[@drbonerstein8411]

I think a mummy lord makes more sense.

[@theonlymatthew.l]

Ironically the Symic Hybrid could have given u 'Grappling Claws'

[@BestTroIl]

That's what I was about to say, you could definitely change the flavor of Simic Hybrid, heck even the book says you could change a halfling into a small dog person race.

[@Brabbel93]

I just started the video and thought "oh simic hybrid with sailor background...maybe fighter/eldritch knight with duelist battling style" Though I am unsure about the subclass. Like, Jones has a few supernatural abilities but not enough to make him a magic class. So either eldritch knight or something else with the Magic Initiate feet. Homebrew it a bit so he can have a nerfed version of "Blink" he can only use on ships and you're good to go! If you want to include the fact that he is actually a cursed human and not really a fishdude you can (SPOILERS FOR CRITICAL ROLE C2E47/48) do something like Sam did for Nott where your character was one race but got transformed into a Simic Hybrid Now let's see what the video actually makes and whether my thoughts were better or worse😅

[@liamfunnyman6965]

If I may, I'd like to suggest Dr. Eggman as an Artificer.

[@FlailSnail222]

I need a “how to play Paul Blart mall cop”

[@camblycreeper7999]

High CON Rogue?

[@peytonkennedy9987]

YESSS

[@gilbertosilva1304]

Race: Human Variant. Background: city watch. Classe: Fighter Battlemaster & Paladin oath of the watcher.

[@ghostsniper1148]

I’ve been waiting for this for ten years it feels like

[@u.s.s.chucklefucker1657]

This is an underrated comment.

[@armaanchima9195]

Same man been a long time waiting for this one

[@ShadeStarblitz00]

HOLY SHIT, IS THIS A MORHER F#$^$ING BESERK REFERENCE

[@derskalde4973]

Ten years, and now the day has come. See ya in ten years, when he does Jones the next time.

[@theorycrafters7281]

Is it bad that I watch these builds about 50% for the puns? Lol you rock tulock

[@sebastiancollins01]

Beagles are actually Pit Fiends if they can compel you to say "Who's a good boy?" If you know, you know.

[@Nykman13]

Damn, released this video just after my group did a pirate/kraken fight one shot.

[@aztecpatrick]

The oof is real

[@pantlessninja4696]

I've genuinely thought about this build before so I'm making a prediction before watching. Simic hybrid fathomless warlock with maybe some swashbuckler in it.

[@joshboulter167]

Saving the hell outta this one. I needed a good midpoint boss for my pirate campaign

[@N7P2R2]

Im here to watch Tulok and boost the algorithm. That's it, that's the tweet.

[@StevenBryceWroten]

Very nifty build! I was surprised to hear Finny Fun at the beginning and also surprised that you didn’t use any KH3 footage, but there’s plenty of good footage just from the movies.

[@shinykitsunelive]

Wonderful as always, Tuloc

[@thegneech]

Don't ever date Davy Jones, he always wants to go dutch.

[@theorycrafters7281]

😃😃

[@trashynecromancer1155]

His profile pic is completely different, he's a catfish

[@vangyang1696]

You just won the internet my friend lolol

[@trashynecromancer1155]

@@vangyang1696 just between you and me... I heard he as crabs

[@haileeraestout5567]

HAHAHAHAHA XD

[@MrDrewwills]

I'd still go with simic hybrid since the 5th level grappling claw fits so much, also you could just create a 1st level enhancement that lets you take the use object action as a bonus action or something.

[@RobertSilva-bz2tl]

Liked before it even started. I'm running a homebrew pirate module, this will be a perfect greater-scope villain! As ever, Tulok, you are the man

[@jeffreycrowder2866]

Seems awesome can't wait to see the video

[@theblockhead9870]

Could you make an “Eragon Shadeslayer” from the inheritance series?

[@DeadLight63]

Then he’d need to use the movie as background footage, which means he would need to WATCH the movie. Do we really want that?

[@Xjr555kid]

@@DeadLight63 Nah he could use the videogame. Which side note was way better than it had any right to be.

[@theblockhead9870]

@DeadLight63 I agree the movie is pretty bad if you actually read the story, but the I feel like the character build itself would be fun to see, considering how varied the inheritance series magic is, not to mention the books give a “dictionary” to the magic system, which would make it easier to find a counterpart to the DnD rules.

[@TheHornedKing]

I actually like the movie even though I have read the books. While it may have failed as an adaption, it was still fun to watch, and that's really all I care about.

[@chrischeckerslara3441]

Hell Yes! One of my Favorite Antagonist of the Sea! Thanks Again Tulok!

[@doinkus5065]

I really feel like a Simic Hybrid Hexblade would have been a lot better. It gives you the ability to breathe/swim underwater and either tentacles or claws. Plus, CHA is the atk mod, allowing you to be able to focus more on CON. Not only that but with Simic Hybrid, the overlap with "The Fathomless" makes it so that "Hexblade" fits Davy Jones way more, especially "Accursed Specter".

[@chonwarren9941]

I loved the pun at the end 100/10 would hear again

[@christopherwiley372]

This was a really fun one.

[@TheBatman104]

Thank you for all that you do!

[@chrishubbard64]

Niche build to end all niche builds! Heh, I like it. Its one of those done for fun builds because it has so much terrible stuff wrong with it, but in water campaigns its actually useable!

[@BossJones]

This build was such a pleasant surprise

[@nickhishmeh6562]

Didn't know I needed this until you gave it to us.

[@saiyanape6015]

The Tulok the Barbarian build is what Im waiting for ... Also Nice content and flavorful....

[@richardkraus1305]

Really nice job! You captured the flavour of Davy really well. On Twitter you said that one un-multiclassed build this week was a strong candidate for the least powerful build on the channel - was this it?

[@thisiscoral]

I waited Ten long years for this.

[@DadMight]

Magnificent! Thank you!

[@Drocksas]

I actually love this build. Not just for Davy Jones, but a fear-mongering tank in general. I might steal this and form a Jones-inspired character around it, the synergies are actually really good overall! ...Especially when you take in the mechanic-based-advice of swapping strength and dexterity scores

[@OrangeyChocolate]

My buddy is going to be running Ghosts of Saltmarsh when I'm done running Forge of Fury. Can't wait to play a naval campaign.

[@walterkipferl6729]

Singing Brandy, famously on the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 soundtrack, where the character Adam is teased, and then segueing to the class warlock? Adam Warlock build confirmed!

[@galacticthreat1236]

Great and entertaining vid of a scary but badass villain. How about Mipha for DND?

[@jnhensley09]

Great build as always sir. I'd probably take your advice and do a level or 2 dip into fighter, but keep everything else. Davy Jones isn't a swashbuckler like Jack, so fighter would work better for Jones. You do the work of the gods. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

[@Eramiserasmus]

The challenges of Sea cursed man. This build will make an appearance in one of my campaigns as a fleet admiral.

[@AchtungFreud]

Hey Tulok! Algorithm bump here to tell ya that this is one of my favorite builds you've ever put together.

[@afortna1]

Control water is on the genie warlock list. But am really just commenting for the algorithm. Great job sir

[@jimboythomasino5545]

I would really like to see you do some characters from Dune. Be interesting to see your interpretation of them.

[@chonwarren9941]

I absolutely live this idea

[@CivilWarMan]

Before I see how Tulok did it, I feel that flavor-wise a Simic Hybrid Swashbuckler Rogue/Fathomless Warlock with Pact of the Talisman and the Pirate background would fit the flavor of Davy Jones pretty well. EDIT: At level 3 and it looks like the only parts I called were Fathomless and Sailor-based background (since Pirate is the same as Sailor, except with Bad Reputation instead of Ship's Passage)

[@salamander8736]

I know nothing of d&d and understood nothing, still was entertaining somehow

[@IdiotinGlans]

There are some good sea campaigns - ghosts of Saltmarsh, Sea King's Malice, Call from the Deep - that I will totally bring that build to if I get to play it. ESPECIALLY the last one, just for the looks on Mind Flyer's faces when they see Davy.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Awesome build Fathomless yes

[@parkersmith8711]

Would also love to see Dolflmingo from One Piece on thisseires

[@Mike-zo8hg]

Day one of asking for Handsome Jack

[@maxaurdunpow7313]

love the content bro plus’s comment 200

[@a.z.pantera5577]

I feel like you could have combined EB with Grasp of Hadar for tentacle grabs much like the Venom build.

[@TDay-uk6dq]

i’m using this for my current campaign as the second in command of a sea goddess my players are trying to destroy

[@notanotaku1101]

Is this the first time Tulok's gotten to use a custom lineage for a build? That's kind of neat. Also, great build overall, I like the tanky melee warlock that isn't a hexblade.

[@goldenegg8of100]

Sailors avoided wearing armor because they feared drowning. You can’t drown. Gear up!

[@paddymckinney9596]

One, your awesome, thanks for doing Davy Jones! I might be in a villains campaign soon so this should be really fun to play in that! Two a weird one to ask, but what about Elias Ainsworth from the ancient magus bride?

[@matthewdenz1045]

Any potc 1-3 content, is good content

[@mileonaslionclaw2525]

If you put a manatee in your game it’s going to become the party pet I’m calling it now

[@gehmli]

I like alter self, but its benefits really come from the other abilities it gives you. I always recommend more deceptive warlock replace mask of many forms with it.

[@marcusblacknell-andrews1783]

For race, I’d use Hexblood from “Van Ricthen’s Guide to Ravenloft”. That would tie perfectly into the concept of being cursed by a Sea Hag. However, if you ask me, I’d multi-class into “Swashbuckler” Rogue at Level 16 and cap it off till level 20.

[@nedaraid3372]

A lich with these spells can be an excellent BBEG for your pirate-themed adventure.

[@ethanwhitaker9348]

Was surprised you didn't go for a 3-level dip into swashbuckler rogue after those 17 levels of fathomless warlock, but great build either way!

[@peiter795]

I am once again asking for your build for Stroheim, Mettaton or the Medic.

[@Shunthegoat]

i know next to nothing about dnd but wouldn't mettaton be a warforge bard he sings dances acts just add lightning spells for an attack

[@peiter795]

@@Shunthegoat Probably yes. But Tulok deas a great job fleshing out these ideas.

[@billygoat5944]

I will say that having eldritch blast could be flavored as shooting streams of water out from your crab claw hand because if he is a god of the sea then this could happen

[@byronlee8745]

Awesome!

[@ethanisnotsleeping]

Now I kinda wanna see a Davy Jones from the Monkees build

[@chlorarthur9638]

Finally, it was soo long

[@andrewrobinson8542]

Definitely going to be Fathomless Warlock.

[@tatsusama3192]

Still my favorite character out of all the movies

[@dorgorot]

Hahaha. Only 30sec into the vid and the KH2 atlantica music already floored me

[@cygnar2006]

Any plans to do an Eric Draven (The Crow) build? Would be great to see your take on it!

[@danielwatson2701]

Finally!

[@Drahven]

Stronger Heart also works for the Vanitas video

[@KINFIN123]

Alter Self at will is basically the ultimate disguise tool. Not in character but really useful

[@jonathancampbell5231]

Since The Stand is out, and you've done Pennywise, how about Randall Flagg? Evil wandering Bard if there ever was one.

[@cain896]

It’s just a thought but maybe you can make blackbeard but as a swarmkeeper and have him have rooes as a swarm (not sure if it’s good damage wise)

[@grantbaugh2773]

Not a build I'd want to use for a PC, but as a BBEG this could be really fun.

[@VaderViktor]

If you are making this in June 2021 or later, the Hexblood or Undying lineages are good options, and both mildly fit. Undying more so and Hexblood less so.

[@landodjango8107]

The Heavy build reminded me of the Norse Kratos one you made a year ago, are there plans to make a Greek version of it?

[@kylemarrow92]

Imagine this but with a mind flayer almost seems perfect

[@jokeaccount1683]

I think the path of the depths barbarian subclass would really fit this build

[@FanOfMostEverything]

Reasonable reasons for not making the human sharktocrab a Simic hybrid. (Well, I suppose Davy Jones doesn't actually have any shark in him, but come on. Sharktocrab.) Thanks for another great build.

[@benjamintash6032]

What other water classes are there? I don't know of any.

[@MaximumSherman]

Part of the ship, part of the crew.

[@marcobuiatti9802]

Yesss finally

[@xanderman1201]

Can you do Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakisho? The energy sword is the tricky part, but he's definately a Half-Orc Samurai Multi-class, as it provides a reason for his three defining characteristics: People making fun of his looks, surviving attacks that he really had no business surviving through raw determination (Relentless Endurance), and unwavering dedication to his personal code of manliness as a combatant (Fighter, Samurai). Plus he'll need the extra ability score improvements to go from being a middle school thug to a doctor and the most powerful non-demon fighter on the planet.

[@ninetytwo6397]

I based my character on this build for my current game. I’m gonna follow the spells pretty closely, except for alter self. I did take a level of fighter for the constitution, proficiency heavy armor and martial weapons proficiency and I’m using a great sword.

[@ultimateninjaboi]

Fair warning to people using Undying Servitude. It takes some doing to get your full four undead servants, with it being once per day. That said, its not overly difficult, or outstandingly time consuming. Might even be a good mini-quest basis for downtime. If your DM allows Warlock Invocation spells to qualify you for the relevant scrolls? Even better.

[@chrislamarr1704]

I'd love to see a Nacho Libre build

[@BlandoGaming]

Builds I would like to see someday, in no particular order: Aisha ClanClan - Outlaw Star Gene Starwind - Outlaw Star Kiritsugu Emiya - Fate/Zero Vash the Stampede - Trigun Koro Sensei - Assassination Classroom Kakashi Hatake - Naruto

[@theredhoodlives3027]

Need to see Hagrid the Goliath wizard/ranger

[@muddyboy999]

I'd love to see your take on Goblin Slayer

[@emmanueldavis5314]

I think a build for the toa from bionicle would be really interesting

[@daggeranddoctor]

I've been working on a Martian Manhunter build, so far I've got him as a Githzerai with 16 levels in Great Old One Warlock and the Soldier background(because of that time he was a general, secretly).

[@silverkyrie4714]

Abberant Soul Sorcerer can also work. In some ways it'd be better for most of your psychic abilities, but may not be worth losing on the shapeshifting invocations Warlocks get. Circle of Moons Druid would be the best for his shapeshifting but the Druid spell list probably isn't as fitting and doesn't cover his psychic abilities much. There's a cool homebrew Monk subclass by Keith Baker in his Exploring Eberron book designed for Changelings that uses a lot of shapeshifting to amplify hand to hand combat. Elongating limbs, growing claws, etc. Called Way of the Living Weapon. Homebrew so doesn't work for the kinda stuff Tulok does but if you're looking to actually play the build and want it as Martian Manhunter as possible, may be worth looking into and asking you DM about. Inquisitive Rogue is also worth mentioning due to his skills as a detective, where the Manhunter part of his name comes from. May be hard to fit into the build tho since he has a lot of abilities to cover.

[@silverkyrie4714]

Changeling is also worth considering over Githzerai, especially if you go with Sorcerer over Warlock. Doesn't give you anything for psionics like Gith does, but you'd get most of that from your class, and it can get you consistent free shapeshifting, at least as far as humanoid disguises go.

[@daggeranddoctor]

@@silverkyrie4714 Very interesting suggestions, I went with Warlock because of the free Alter Self and Invisibility invokations and Gith because I forgot about Changeling and didn't have a book with them in it. I counted proficiency in investigation as good enough for his detective skills. I may need to look over and make some changes.

[@UntestedGaming]

ok, the Kingdom Hearts Little Mermaid song was class

[@TrampasWhiteman]

I would go for a halfling ('cause he's short, you know) bard (glamour) / fighter (cavalier). Davy was quite the equestrian and was a horse jockey when he was young. Add in the entertainer background. For his musical instrument - tambourine! Alternately, he could be a vanara from the 3e Oriental Adventures book since he's one of the Monkees. 😃 That's how I would stat Davy Jones. Not sure who you all are talking about. 😃

[@TheOblivion5]

Davy Jones. Let's do this. Race: Technically human, he started as a human in canon but was cursed into being a squid man. Squid man isn't a d&d race as far as I'm aware with the closet being Triron. Not sure which one Tulok will go with, for now I'll say probably Variant Human. Background: Sailor Stats: #1: Cha: I don't have a good justification for this, he's gonna be a Warlock so I gave him this. #2: Dex: Scimitar's are finesse weapons and I don't know if cutlasses specifically exist in 5e. #3: Con: Davy Jones' "curse" comes with him being almost completely immortal. So, he's gotta be pretty tough. #4: Wis: Sailing the seas is dangerous work, you've gotta be prepared. #5: Int: As with Wisdom, you need to have some smarts to be a sailor. #6: Str: Not that Jones is weak, the build just needs everything else more. Class(es) - Fathomless Warlock: Davy Jones is a squid man in a game without squidmen. This will help make him more tentically. Not entirely accurate to his screen counterpart but still cool. - Oathbreaker Paladin: Davy Jones was a servant to a goddess, then he screwed himself over by abandoning his duties and oath. Wow, Fathomless Warlock and Oathbreaker fit the character of Davy Jones really well. This will give the character a bit of extra power as well as letting you take the Mariner fighting style. So it all works out surprisingly well. Alrighty Tulok, bring on the Cantaur Bard!

[@snazzyfeathers]

I wish Alter Self had a way of being permanent or at the very least removed concentration as a Warlock in the same way you can cast Disguise Self at will

[@Slendysis]

Would the Path of Depths Barbarian be an acceptable substitution, out of curiosity? I don’t know anything about D&D

[@Spartakill198]

I honestly expected some rogue-swashbuckler mixed into this build