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nerdythebard · 3 years ago

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#33: Futaba Sana [Magia Record]

This one comes to us as requested by @ruby4111. I'm sorry to everyone who believed this is going to be Mash Kyrielight from the Fate franchise (for that, go and take a look at what @fateandphantasms has to offer; they're great!).

Today we're making our first Magical Girl. Futaba Sana is a pessimistic, shy shield-wielder with powers of invisibility and a GIANT F@CK YOU TORTURE APPARATUS! ...Wow, um... okay. Beware of the quiet ones, I guess?

Next Time: Play your cards right, cher, and laissez les bon temps rouler...

Now then, what do we need to get some friends?

Now You See Me: Futaba's signature trait (and her wish) is that she's complete invisible and imperceptible to anyone who is not a magical girl. We need to double down on her Stealth in both skill and spells.

Shield Maiden: Despite being the pinnacle of stealth, Futaba carries a shield as big as herself, and what looks like medium armour. This means she definitely has some fighting skills.

Chief Torturer: Do I even need to continue? She can produce various lethal items from her shield, and her Doppel takes a form of a torturer's chair.

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At first, I wanted to make Futaba a gnome or a halfling, for the comically large shield purposes... but she is canonically 5'0" so that would be stretching it (Hah!). Instead, we're gonna look at the Custom Lineage option from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. This gives us a +2 bonus to one ability of our choice (Dexterity), a choice of Small or Medium size, ability to speak Common and one other language of our choice, a choice between 60 ft of darkvision or a proficiency in one skill of our choice (let's get Stealth), and one feat of our choice: with Shadow Touched, we gain some facsimile of Futaba's condition. It gives us a +1 to one of the three mental abilities (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma) and lets us cast the Invisibility spell once per long rest without expending a spell slot. We also a 1st-level illusion or necromancy spell: False Life grants us [1d4 + 4] Temporary Hit Points for 1 hour.

For Futaba's background, I feel like Hermit fits her pretty well. We get proficiencies in Medicine and Religion skills to better support our friends, proficiency with herbalism kit and one language of our choice. Additionally, we get the Discovery feature. Work this one out with your DM, but if disappearance was Futaba's greatest wish, perhaps the Endless Solitude and how to get there is her discovery?

ABILITY SCORES

We start with Dexterity, as it's going to determine our Stealth and our AC to avoid damage (missed attacks could be flavoured as enemies failing to see us). Constitution will be next, we need to tank some serious damage even if we don't have our trusty shield. Charisma follows, it's gonna act as our casting ability, and from what I've gathered Futaba is charming enough to be fan favourite.

Strength is next, carrying that shield everywhere will make us develop some serious biceps. Intelligence will be on the lower end, the whole reason for Futaba's depression is she wasn't as athletic or as smart as the rest of the family. Finally, we're dropping Wisdom; accepting Kyubey's deal was a really bad decision.

CLASS

Level 1 - Fighter: We're gonna start with some combat presence first. Fighters get d10 for their Hit Dice, [10 + Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, proficiency in light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. From the art card above, Futaba seems to be wearing a half-plate. Then, of course, we have to get a shield. If you want to use shield as your main weapon, either treat it as an improvised weapon (1d4 damage) or work the details with your DM. Back to Fighter, our saving throw is Strength and Constitution, and we get to pick two class skills from the list (Athletics and Survival).

Fighters start by picking their Fighting Style. For this build, we're going to go with the Protection style. Whenever a creature other than us is attacked within 5 feet of us, we can use our reaction to impose a disadvantage on that attack. We also get Second Wind, which lets us restore [1d10 + our Fighter level] Hit Points once per short or long rest.

Level 2 - Fighter: With Action Surge, we can now use one additional Action once per short or long rest.

Level 3 - Fighter: We get to choose our subclass, our Martial Archetype. For Futaba's support skills such as damage reduction and nullification, we're going with Battle Master. As the Student of War, we gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tools, and with Combat Superiority we can learn various manoeuvres fuelled by our new resource - Superiority Dice. We start with four d8 SDs and three manoeuvres:

Parry: When a creature damages us with a melee weapon attack, we can spend 1 Superiority Die and reduce the damage by [SD result + our Dexterity modifier].

Pushing Attack: When we hit a creature with a weapon attack, we can spend 1 Superiority Die to attempt to push it away. We add the SD result to our damage roll, and the target is forced to make a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 15 feet away.

Evasive Footwork lets us spend 1 Superiority Dice when we've moving and add the result to our AC until we stop.

Level 4 - Fighter: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. We're actually going to go pretty heavy on the feats in the beginning instead of raising our stats. With the Medium Armour Master feat, we now don't have a disadvantage on Stealth while wearing medium armour, and we can add +3 rather than +2 to our AC while wearing medium armour.

Level 5 - Warlock:

AAAAAAAAA!!! GET THEE AWAY FROM ME, SATAN!

But yes... every magical girl in this series is a textbook Warlock by D&D standards. Now, dipping into Warlock gives us the Pact Magic feature, which basically lets us cast spells albeit in a slightly different manner. Warlocks don't get different levels of spell slots, they always cast their spells at the highest possible level they can. Charisma is our spellcasting ability, and we start with one 1st-level spell slot and two cantrips:

Eldritch Blast... I mean, it was obvious. It's pretty much the strongest cantrip in the game. On a successful hit, one target within 120 feet suffers 1d10 force damage (as we level up, the number of blasts increase)

Sword Burst creates a circle of spectral blades (or weapons in general) around us. Every creature within 5 feet of us must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or suffer 1d6 force damage (damage increases as we level up).

We also know two 1st-level spells:

Hex places a curse on one target within 90 feet of us for 1 hour (concentration). Until the spell ends, the target receives extra 1d6 necrotic damage from our attacks, and we can choose one of their abilities to be weakened (they have a disadvantage on all ability checks made with that ability).

Charm Person lets us attempt to charm one creature within 30 feet of us for 1 hour. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed. They regard us as friends and cannot attack us or cause us harm with magical effects. We also get an advantage on any social interactions with them. When the spell ends, the target realizes they were charmed by us.

Warlocks also pick their subclass at first level, they pledge to an Otherworldly Patron. Now, I wanted to make Kyubey an Archfey, a Celestial, or even a Great Old One, for the pure avatar of evil he is... but I've decided to go with the 2016 Seeker Patron, as the evil lil' floofball is... well, the Seeker of magical girl candidates. Warlocks get some spells they can choose at certain levels, and Seeker Warlocks start with a feature known as Shielding Aurora. As a bonus action, once per short rest, we are surrounded with a brilliant energy; until the end of our next turn, we gain resistance to all damage, and whenever a hostile creature ends their turn within 10 feet of us, they take [our Warlock level + our Charisma modifier] radiant damage.

Level 6 - Warlock: We unlock Eldritch Invocations. Those are little mini-feats we can take to give us some additional abilities, very often spells that we can cast without expending precious spell slots. We start with two Invocations from the list:

Agonizing Blast lets us add our Charisma modifier to our Eldritch Blast damage roll.

Path of the Seeker is an Invocation specifically for the Seeker Warlocks. We can now ignore the difficult terrain, and have an advantage on all checks related to escaping bindings as well as to being paralysed.

We also gain another 1st-level spell slot and we learn one more 1st-level spell: Hellish Rebuke is a reaction to whenever we're hit by a creature that we can see within 60 feet of us. Immediately after we take damage, our attacker must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d10 fire damage (half damage on a successful save).

Level 7 - Warlock: We get to pick a Pact Boon. With Futaba, I was hesitating between two, but finally decided to settle on the Pact of the Blade, which lets us create (or assimilate) weapons. This finally gives us some much-desired offensive capabilities.

Our magic also improves; we can now cast spells at 2nd-level, and we learn a new spell: Flock of Familiars summons three small familiar spirits for 1 hour (concentration), which we can use as surveillance or as attack force.

Level 8 - Warlock: Another ASI, and we're once again picking a feat this time (last one, I promise... for now). With Shield Master we gain several benefits while wielding our shield. If we Attack, we can use a bonus action to shield bash the target afterwards. If we aren't incapacitated, we can add the shield's AC bonus to every Dexterity saving throw we make to avoid a spell or a harmful effect targeting us. Finally, if we succeed on the aforementioned Dexterity saving throw and that would make us take half damage, we instead take no damage.

We also learn one more cantrip: Poison Spray creates a puff of gas within 10 feet of us. Creatures in range must make a Constitution saving throw or take 1d12 poison damage.

Finally, we learn another spell: Darkness creates a 15-foot-radius sphere of concentrated shadows for 10 minutes (concentration). Non-magical light doesn't work inside it, and even creatures with Darkvision cannot see while inside the sphere.

Level 9 - Warlock: We don't get much from our class at this level, but we do climb that magical ladder higher. Our spells now all cast at 3rd-level and we can get another one: Summon Shadowspawn will act as our Torture Apparatus Doppel. It summons a shadow monstrosity for 1 hour (concentration) that we can control on the battlefield. The spirit is friendly towards us and our allies.

We can also pick another Eldritch Invocation: One with Shadows gives us some of that good Futaba invisibility. While we're in dim light or darkness, we can use our action to cast the Invisibility spell until we move or take an action or reaction.

Level 10 - Warlock: Halfway through the build, and this is our final Warlock level. We get our second subclass feature, Astral Refuge. As an action, we can disappear from the world entirely and enter the Astral Plane. While inside, we can take two Actions to cast spells that target only us. I would've also allowed to, for example, drink a health potion, or even wait those 12 seconds in loneliness or to hide from pursuit. After doing this, we return to the same point that we left from and our turn ends.

For our final Warlock spell, we get Vampiric Touch. We can touch a target and make a melee spell attack against it. On a success, the target suffers 3d6 necrotic damage, and we recover half of that damage as Hit Points. Until the spell ends (1 minute, concentration), we can use our action to use the effect again.

Level 11 - Fighter: Coming back to deal some damage, we get Extra Attack. We can now strike twice instead of one time during a single Attack action.

Level 12 - Fighter: Time for another ASI. This time, we can finally improve our abilities. Let's start by putting two points into Constitution for some better durability.

Level 13 - Fighter: We can some more subclass upgrades: we get another Superiority Die for the total of five. Thanks to Know Your Enemy, we can spend 1 minute observing our target and learn if they're our equal, superior, or inferior in regards to two from the following: Strength score, Dexterity score, Constitution score, AC, current Hit Points, total class levels (if any), Fighter class levels (if any).

Finally, we pick two more manoeuvres:

Lunging Attack: When making a melee weapon attack, we can spend 1 Superiority Die to extend our reach by 5 extra feet. If we succeed on the hit, we can add the SD result to our damage roll.

Trip Attack: When we hit a creature with a weapon attack, we can spend 1 Superiority Die and attempt to trip the target. We add the SD result to our damage roll, and the target has to make a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Level 14 - Fighter: Time for another ASI. Let's remove a negative Wisdom modifier, by raising it by two points.

Level 15 - Fighter: We get the Indomitable feat. Once per long rest if we fail a saving throw, we can re-roll it. We must use the new result, even if it's worse than the previous one.

Level 16 - Fighter: Our Superiority Dice turn from d8 into d10. We also learn two more manoeuvres:

Ambush: When we make a Stealth check or we roll Initiative, we can spend 1 Superiority Die and add the result to the roll.

Tactical Assessment: When we make an Investigation, a History, or an Insight check, we can spend 1 Superiority Die and add the result to the roll.

Level 17 - Fighter: Our Extra Attack changes. We can now attack three times during a single Attack action.

Level 18 - Fighter: Time for another ASI. Let's get the Constitution up once again. We do need those Hit Points.

Level 19 - Fighter: Our Indomitable improves. We can now re-roll failed saving throws twice between rests.

Level 20 - Fighter: Our capstone is Fighter 14, and we end it with the last ASI. Let's round off Dexterity to an even number, and put the remaining point into Strength. It doesn't change much, but perhaps it will come in handy in some number contest.

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And that's what I could think of for Futaba Sana. I hope I didn't disappoint. Let's see what we got:

Well, first of all, we're an absolute tanking BEAST. We've got solid AC, good pool of Hit Points, some magic capabilities, and several ways to remain invisible whenever we desire.

Our AC is 20, we have a +4 to our Initiative, and the average of 170 Hit Points (!!!)

Unfortunately, we have to manage several resources (Superiority Dice and Warlock's spell slots) and most of our spells require concentration. Also, if we decide to use only the shield as our weapon, our damage output is not great. Finally, Wisdom saving throws might be troublesome for us, but that... actually fits the character, I'd say.

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Okay, this was fun. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed yourselves. I'll see you for the next one, m'darlings!

- Nerdy out!

#puella magi madoka magica #magia record #sana futaba #pmmm #dnd #dungeons and dragons #character building #d&d 5e #dnd 5e #fighter #warlock

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