"Sekiro - Shadows Die Twice" meets D&D

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I like to create D&D characters inspired by videogames. I think that's a good training and also makes you think differently than the usual build. Maybe this will become a series (I almost made a post about Higgs from Death Stranding some months ago), but for now I'll try my best with the player character of "Sekiro - Shadows Die Twice".
 
There is an interesting number of ways to create a shinobi in D&D. The quickest is the Way of Shadows Monk, which is directly implied in its description to be a ninja of sorts. But Rogues can fill that role too, alongside Bards (College of Whispers, I'm looking at you). To recreate Sekiro, I choose a slightly different approach. Here's the build real quick: Human Variant, Urchin, Way of the Kensei Monk, starting at level 3.

I like Monks a lot but I needed the ability to wield a katana (longsword), so the Kensei seemed the right choice (I know, Isshin is the OG Kensei, but bear with me). I could have started with a level in Rogue and go with Way of the Shadow after, but multiclass seems dangerous to me at low levels so we're going in that way later on (sneak attacks with the Assasinate feature? Yes please). Human Variant grants us the Observant feat (although I was torn between this and Skulker). I chose the Urchin background mainly for its skills and its feature.

The ideal progression would be: since this character starts at 3rd level, you should take two levels in Monk to get the ASI (full on Dexterity) and the Extra Attack and Stunning Strike features, after that you can choose between taking the next three levels as Rogue to quickly reach the Assassin subclass or alternate them with other Monk levels. Going higher than Rogue lvl 3 is not that useful for this build, since the only other interesting feature of the Assassin is too much later on. So in the end we will have a Monk17/Rogue3 character. We have three ASI left, so what should we take? I suggest Skulker or Martial Adept, another two points in Dexterity and Durable.
 
I built him with the following stats:
 
Strength 12 (+1)
Dexterity 16 (+3)
Constitution 13 (+1)
Intelligence 10 (+0)
Wisdom 16 (+3)
Charisma 8 (-1)

As for skills, I choose Acrobatics, Athletics, Perception, Sleight of Hand* and Stealth*. (*these come from the Urchin background)

But it won't be Sekiro without his prosthetic arm, would he? So I made it.
 

Prosthetic Arm

Wondrous item, very rare.

You can have up to three prosthetic tools loaded into the Arm. After a short rest, you can change them with others in your possession.

The Arm comes with a built-in grappling hook, which is long 30 feet. As an Action, you can shoot the grappling hook (make a Dexterity check and add your proficiency to hit your target) and attach it to a compatible surface (trees, rooftops, wooden beams…). If it grabs, you are immediately pulled to the target. You can’t shoot it to a creature of size Large or smaller. If the enemy is at least Huge, the hook pulls you over to it.

The arm has 15 charges, each tool consumes a different number of them (not the grappling hook). They recharge after a long rest. [here charges work as Spirit Emblems, here's a useful wiki link]

Your arm must be severed off to be able to use this item.

 

As prosthetic tools, you can reskin magic objects and weapons, like the Dagger of Venom for Sabimaru or the Wind Fan for the Divine Abduction. The hand crossbow could represent the Loaded Shuriken, while the Pipes of Haunting could be the Finger Whistle. If you do so, ignore their charges limits and attunement requirements, but in this way they should be useless if not installed in the prosthetic arm. Or, you could simply create them from scratch, especially the upgraded versions.


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Anyway, I hope this turned out good. Be kind to each other.

Daniele

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