Video Game protagonists as D&D characters (2024)

Human Ranger 1/Warblade 1/Ranger +1/ Hit and Run Fighter 1/Warblade +1/Exotic Weapon Master 1/Warblade +14
Ability Scores
32 Point Buy Spread: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 7, Cha 7
36 Point Buy Spread: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 8
54 Point Buy Spread: Str 18, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 16 Wis 10, Cha 8 (this one was arbitrarily assigned based on my own estimation of his stats based on the anime)

Levels +4 Str, +1 Dex by level 18.

Combat Style
In the anime Kirito is shown to be an extremely strong and fast combatant, using his speed and reflexes to position himself in the most advantageous position before striking with as much for as possible, this build tries to emulate that as closely as possible within the boundaries of DnD.

What are Dragonsplits?
Dragonsplits are an Exotic weapon found in MIV, the reason they are used in this particular build is that despite being classified as a one-handed weapon, they are considered as light weapon for the purposes of Two-weapon fighting and Weapon finesse. They can be used as slashing weapons with a x3 crit modifier or as piercing weapons in which case they have a 19-20 x2 crit modifier, in both cases they deal 1d6 damage for medium wielders.

Why Exotic Weapon Master?
Exotic Weapon Master is a prestige class found in Complete Warrior, which as it's name indicates is focused on learning to use exotic weapon in manners other warriors can't. What we are after in this class is the exotic weapon stunt: Uncanny Blow which allows us to treat a one-handed weapon as a two-handed weapon for the purposes of Power Attack; which means having a 1:2 ratio. That means that Kirito will have a damage output similar to a two-handed warrior as a two-weapon fighter (who usually need an extra source of bonus damage like sneak attack to keep up).

Why Warblade?
Apart from having an incredible chassis, Warblades give us access to manauvers which are in my opinion the best way to model Sword skills from SAO.

Why Ranger/Fighter?
To be blunt, I needed a source of extra feats. Hit and Run Fighter doesn't really cost us anything and it gives a nice initiative bonus while also allowing us to get a little extra from our dexterity bonus; some DM's might argue that it is only available to drow fighters, if that is the case in your table you can safetly ignore them as it isn't a must have.

What does (DCS) means?
DCS is a shorthand for Dark Chaos Shuffle, for those who don't know it is a combo of the spells Embrace the Dark Chaos and Shun the Dark Chaos (both found in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss), what they do is trade a normal feat for an [Abyssal Heritor] feat (EtDC) and then use StDC to trade the [Abyssal Heritor] feat for any other feat you qualify for. While Kirito isn't able to cast the spell himself by the level mentioned in the table he should be able to afford to pay a spellcaster to do it for him (as per the SRD it should cost 4900 GP per feat exchange). While this particular build does assume you will be able to do this, it doesn't suffer much if your DM doesn't allow the DCS, but be aware one the main combos needs those particular feats to work.

What does (I) means?
The feat marked as (I) are ones that need a specific magic item to grant them, while normally I'd avoid using items to qualify for stuff, this build is so feat starved that I needed to do so in order to get everything. The Magic items in questions are Mobility armour enhancement (+1 equivalent, MIC) and Bracers of Striking (MoF). I put them at level 6 because I believe it is a level when you can afford them comfortably.

What does (F) means?
Feats marked (F) are the ones gained through the use of flaws, this build doesn't specify which ones, but personally I would go for Frail (-1 HP/Level) and Vulnerable (-1 AC) as they are the ones with a noticeable yet small impact at all points of the game.

Dual Blade Style (Uncanny Blow+Dragonsplits)
As mentioned before thanks to Uncanny Blow you can treat your Dragonsplits as two handed weapons while one-handing them. So you get 1:2 power attacks returns. Do note that you still have the TWF penalties so don't dump all of your Attack bonus on Power attack, all the damage in the world doesn't mean anything if you can't hit your enemy.

Storm's Gambit (Stormguard Warrior+Robilar's Gambit)
Robilar's Gambit allows you to enter a special "stance" in which your enemies provoke an attack of opportunity when they attack you in melee (with a +4 bonus to attack/damage). Stormguard Warrior has a special option in which if you refrain from taking an AoO you instead gain a +4 attack/damage bonus against the enemy which you refrained from attacking. Combining the two feats every time your opponent attacks you, you get a bonus to attack and damage vs. them. This is a double bonus since you get both an attack bonus (to fuel power attack) and a damage bonus. For example by refraining to attack an enemy that provokes you get +12 damage per hit the next round (4 from Channeling the Storm +8 from dumping the +4 attack bonus into power attack). Sure it doesn't looks like a lot, but as a two-weapon fighter you have tons of attacks and that bonus applies to each an everyone of them.

Twin Storms (Stormguard Warrior+ Robilar's Gambit + Improved Combat Reflexes+Double Hit)
This combo elaborates on Storm's Gambit and makes it so much deadlier. Improved Combat Reflexes is a feat from Dragon #340 which allows you to make two consecutive attacks of opportunity on a single provocation (the second at a -5 penalty). Double Hit allows you to attack with two weapons on a single attack of opportunity. These two alone get you four attacks when someone provokes you (two at -2 and two at -7), but if you combine with Channel the storm you attack an enemy twice and still get a +4 attack/damage bonus next turn, or you can refrain from attacking and get a +8 attack/damage bonus (+24 damage if you feed the attack bonus into Power Attack) because yes, the bonus from Channel the Storm explicitly stacks with itself.

Avalanche's song (Avalanche of Blades+Stormguard Warrior)
This is a fairly well known trick for anyone familiar with ToB, but I'm including it for completeness sake. Avalanche of blades is a level 8 maneuver that allows you to continue attacking an enemy until you miss (with a cumulative -4 penalty for each attack). Combat Rhythm is an option from Stormguard warrior which let's you substitute your melee attacks for touch attacks that deal no damage, but on your next turn you gain a +5 damage bonus on your next attack(s) for each touch attack you did the last round. So use AoB on round 1 and land say 4 touch attacks, next round all your attacks (including off-hand ones) get a +20 damage bonus!

Starburst Stream (Time Stands Still + Raging Mongoose)
Starburst Stream is a 16 hit sword skill from SAO, for most melee character you can only have up to 8 attacks in a single full round attack (with the full TWF line and a Haste effect, but Kirito is able to get at least 16 attacks every other round without touching magic items or spells. The full two weapon fighting line grants us 7 attacks (4 main-hand and 3 with the off-hand), Raging mongoose (TC 8) gives 2 extra attacks for each weapon we hold, bringing us to 9 attack per full attack. Time Stand Still is the capstone manouver from the Diamond Mind discipline and it allows you to do two consecutive full attacks in one round, so another 7 attacks for a total of 16 attacks.

Floating Castle's Requiem (Time Stand Still + Raging Mongoose+Stormguard Warrior)
This a very simple and devastating combo, Initiate Time Stand still alongside Raging Mongoose and use the Combat Rythm option from Stormguard warrior to make melee touch attacks on the first full attack, that gives you at least +45 damage on each of your 7 attacks.

Elusive Target
The main draw from this feat is the option to simply negate power attack damage bonus to your enemies (which at higher levels will usually be a lot bigger than you). Negate Power attack does what it says in the tin, any enemy you designate with your dodge feat looses any benefit they'd would have gained from Power attack against you, but they still take the attack penalty.

The Second option Diverting defence is also pretty nasty (for your enemies that is), if you find yourself flanked by an enemy you can make your designated dodge target automatically miss you (and it has a chance to hit his flanking companion), but the real nasty part is that you can combine it with Robilar's Gambit to start the Storm's Gambit combo at 0 risk to yourself.

Cause Overreach is another way to start Storm's Gambit reach with almost 0 risk. When you provoke an AoO by moving out of a threatened square and your enemy misses (hint, if you are flanked you can use diverting defence to make him miss) you can make a free trip attempt that can't be countered if you fail.

Snake's Style (Mobility+Robilar's Gambit)
Mobility is usually considered a really weak feat because in order for it to work you need to provoke and it is almost trivial to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity (Tumble check with DC 15), but what if you actually want to provoke them? Then that +4 AC looks very tasty isn't it? Why would you want to provoke you ask? Two words, Robilar's Gambit, when you use it you give your enemy +4 attack/damage. So if you intentionally provoke an attack of opportunity while having RG active you essentially negate the attack bonus making Storm's Gambit a lot safer to initiate and if you are flanked you can combine this with Diverting Defence.

The skill selection was based on Kirito's endgame skills as per the SAO wiki , nothing really out of the ordinary, except the single rank in K: Arcana, which is grabbed to avoid wasting skill points.

We pick the Bracer's of striking to get Improved Unarmed Strike in order to emulate his Martial Art skill set (Maneuvers and power attack help with dealing relevant damage), if you don't have access to it or don't want to buy them, simple spiked gauntlets do the trick.

PHB: Ranger, Fighter, Feats, Human
ToB: Warblade, maneuvers, feats
CWar: Exotic Weapon Master, Feats
PHII: Feats
DotU, Fighter ACF.
Dragon 340 Feats
FCI: Spells
MMIV: Dragonsplits
MIC: Mobility armour enhancment
MoF: Bracers of Striking