#⊰ ` i. study: skills / / pen or sword‚ the shield is mightiest. ´ ⊱

[rahorak]

IV. HEADCANON : SOLAR POWER.

𝕾olar power is what Leona uses to enhance her attacks or her defense, and it is provided by the Aspect within her.

Leona has psychoactive powers  —  meaning her powers are connected to her emotions. Whenever she uses her solar energy, her body and her eyes glow a little brighter. This is also true for when she is feeling intense emotion, like anger or love. Naturally, over the years, she has learned to dim her own light at will as well. She does so by quelling her emotions, something she’s grown quite good at.

[rahorak-a]

tag dump 01 : portrayal.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Tianhuo the Fire of Huoshan build (Them’s Fightin’ Herds)

(Artwork by Mane 6)

看最長的龍馬！

In my attempt to branch out from making nothing but League of Legends builds here’s a character from Them’s Fightin’ Herds! The Fighting is Magic project is something I followed for quite awhile and I was quite happy to back their IndieGoGo. (You can find my name in the credits!) While I’m personally not that great at fighting games TFH is a lot of fun and is rather welcoming to newcomers with several features to move it away from the traditional elite crowd that fighting games draw in.

Personally I’m a garbage Tian spammer who has no idea how to combo or do anything. (Occasionally play Papi and do want to learn Oli someday. Warlock Unicorn uwu) Tian has a fun rushdown style and focuses on aerial combos which as a garbage Bella / Beo spammer in Skullgirls really tickles my fancy.

GOALS

拳頭格鬥遊戲 - Them’s Fightin’ Herds is a game of hoof-to-hoof combat. Tianhou needs to punch, kick, and flip with the best of them.

龍的火焰 - The longmas of Huoshan channel the dragon’s fire magic into every strike. I mean, how else could you tolerate living on a volcano?

龍的飛行 - With wings of flame we’ll need to be able to take off in combat.

RACE

There are two directions we can go for the race: Centaur or Dragonborn.

Centaurs are interesting if you want to channel more of the horse aspect of Tian. You get a plus two to Strength and a plus one to Wisdom, but notably you start with 40 feet of movement putting you 10 feet ahead of everyone else. You also count as a Fey instead of Humanoid which does have some interesting interactions with spells like Hold Person. But as a Centaur you get the Charge feature which lets you make an unarmed strike with your hooves after making a weapon attack, and your Hooves do damage equal to a d4 plus your strength modifier. However full disclosure we won’t need that extra attack for this build, and your Equine Build affecting your climbing speed isn’t that useful either. You do get extra skills from Survivor however but seeing as we won’t be using Centaur I’ll talk about our other option:

Dragonborn! Dragonborn are much easier to summarize than Centaurs and are going to be our race of choice. You get a +2 increase to Strength and a +1 to Charisma along with a choice of Draconic Ancestry. Your ancestry of choice will determine your Damage Resistance as well as the damage type and shape of your Breath Weapon. For maximum fire damage choose either Brass, Red, or Gold depending on what size of breath weapon you want. I personally opted for Gold as gold is good luck in Chinese mythology. But most importantly Dragonborn won’t immediately label you as the guy playing their MLP OC at the table... it’s not an OC dammit!

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You move so fast your hair is literally on fire!

14; WISDOM - “The wise are like a river; they go forward and upward, never backward or downward.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

13; CHARISMA - You need an intimidating face to bring your soldiers in line. Charisma is also a requirement to multiclass.

12; CONSTITUTION - To fight with an ice-slinging diva, occultist unicorn, or crazy love-bug alpaca you need to be able to take a hit.

10; INTELLIGENCE - To study the art of war you need to be smart. As a general you follow the orders but you need to know why.

8; STRENGTH - While I wish this could be higher it’s unfortunately not too necessary for this build, but thankfully our racial bonus will increase this to a flat 10.

BACKGROUND

Your background is very straight forward for Tianhuo: you’re a Soldier. You get proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation as well as land vehicles and a gaming set: I’d opt for Three-Dragon Ante as it makes sense for a dragon soldier.

As a Soldier you get a Military Rank, meaning that soldiers in the Huoshan army defer to you. In addition you can influence other soldiers to provide aid, access to military encampments, or horses... to ride. That’s insulting!

(Artwork by Mane 6)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - MONK 1

We’ll be starting off as Monk so we can kick as well as flip. You get proficiency in two Monk skills: Acrobatics are a must and for your second skill I’d opt for Insight so you can tell if your soldiers are lying to you. You also get proficiency in one Musical Instrument or Artisan’s Tool and of course we must go for Calligrapher's Supplies; the pen’s mightier than the sword and to master the pen makes you the mightiest of them all.

But as a Monk you get Unarmored Defense equal to 10 plus your Dexterity and Wisdom modifier. While Tian has been shown to wear armor it’s mostly for show, and she mainly fights with nothing but her scales to protect her. You also get Martial Arts which have a bunch of benefits:

You can wield Monk Weapons, including shortswords and any simple melee weapon that doesn’t have the heavy or two-handed property.

You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.

You can roll a d4 for the damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon.

When you Attack with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.

As a Huoshan warrior you’d be trained to use a spear or a sword, but at the end of the day your weapon of choice is your two hooves... hands... being a horse in D&D is weird.

LEVEL 2 - MONK 2

Second level Monks get Ki points to use on a variety of combat techniques. Flurry of Blows lets you make two attacks with your bonus action instead of one, Patient Defense lets you take the dodge action as a bonus action, and Step of the Wind doubles your jump distance and lets you take the Dash or Disengage action on your turn as a bonus action.

In addition second level Monks get Unarmored Movement to move 10 feet faster if they’re not wearing armor or using a shield. You need to rush your opponents and never let up! Stop trying to hit me and hit me!

LEVEL 3 - MONK 3

Level 3 Monks get their Monastic Tradition and there are a lot of traditions to choose from for a fire horse-dragon: Four Elements, Kensei, Sun Soul... but the fighting style of choice for fighting characters would be Way of the Open Hand. Open Hand Monks get Open Hand Technique: when you hit an enemy with Flurry of Blows you can force a variety of effects on your target. You can either force a Dexterity saving throw or knock them prone, force a Strength saving throw or push them 15 feet away, or just make it so they can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn.

You also get Deflect Missiles which lets you reduce the damage of a ranged weapon attack by a d10 plus your Dexterity modifier and your Monk level. If you reduce the weapon’s attack to 0 you can spend a Ki point to throw it back at the enemy like a dart. Most of your opponents are blasting you with magic but that’s just because they know how pointless a bow would be. Burn up any projectile before kicking it back at them!

LEVEL 4 - MONK 4

At level 4 you can spread your wings of fire with Slow Fall, reducing any falling damage you take by 5 times your Monk level.

You also get an Ability Score Improvement or Feat and the Athlete feat will let you quickly get up if a cow causes an earthquake. Standing up only uses 5 feet of movement, climbing doesn't cost you extra movement, and you can make a running jump after moving only 5 feet. You can also increase either your Strength or Dexterity and of course we’ll be going for Dexterity for nice even numbers.

LEVEL 5 - MONK 5

5th level Monks get an Extra Attack, adding up to 3 attacks total or 4 attacks when you use Flurry of Blows. Speaking of attacks your Martial Arts die increases to a d6 at this level. But most notably you get Stunning Strike to start up some combos: when you hit a target with a melee weapon you can spend 1 ki point to force a Constitution saving throw or stun the target until the end of your next turn. Keep your enemies in hit stun and get that Ultra Combo!

(Artwork by Aegann on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 6

Now that we know how to fight it’s time to get our wings and learn how to fly. There are a lot of subclasses that can get the ability to fly: Sorcerers and Wizards can learn the Flight spell but get a bit too much magic for my liking, and while Artificers can make Winged Boots that requires a lot of level investment and Tian is hardly an inventor. I want a class that can provide powerful and consistent results, all with an infernal flair to keep us in the fight.

WARLOCK 1

Here’s a shocker huhn! You can rule the Warlock multiclass as a variety of things: the strength of your dragon mother, your allegiance to Huoshan... regardless you’re going to have to explain why you have a Fiend as your Otherworldly Patron. I have to remind everyone that the names of the classes are suggestions only! Feel free to roleplay them however you want.

Regardless: Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Blessing, granting them temporary hit points whenever they slay an enemy equal to their Charisma modifier plus their Warlock level.

You also get Pact Magic allowing you to cast some dragonfire! Prestidigitation will let you do a variety of small tricks including heating food and drinks with your fire breath or lightning candles with a puff of flame. And since this is a Warlock build you may as well take Eldritch Blast to fight at range - it’s more of Oleander’s thing yes but it’s not like you have much else to choose from.

You also get two spells of your choice at this level: Burning Hands from the Fiend list is a more potent dragonfire, and Hellish Rebuke will let you burn anyone that strikes you.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations: Devil’s Sight will let you fight in the dark because Dragonborn don’t have Darkvision for some reason.  Fiendish Vigor will give you a bit of added vitality to block some attacks during a fight. These are the choices I’d personally go for but there are a few other suggestions I can make:

Armor of Shadows will increase your AC by 1 at the moment since you only have +2 in your Wisdom.

Beguiling Influence will make you a master of social affairs, though Deception isn’t very in-character for you.

Agonizing Blast, Eldritch Sight, and Eyes of the Rune Keeper are all just generally useful.

You also learn another spell at this level and Hex will let you do an extra d6 of damage with every hit in your combo. Considering that as a Monk you can attack a total of 4 times per turn that’s a lot of damage!

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get access to their Pact Boon, and seeing as Tian doesn’t use weapons or have a familiar we’ll of course be going for Pact of the Tome. You get three cantrips from any class’ spell list: Control Flames will allow you to channel your dragon lineage to do some funky fire magic, and while there are other fire spells (Firebolt / Produce Flame) they’re not nearly as useful for us so take Guidance to assist your soldiers and Thaumaturgy for the voice of a general. (As well as some more fire shenanigans.)

You also get access to second level spells and Scorching Ray will let you spread your wings to scorch three enemies within 120 feet of you.

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement and you’re going to want to further increase your Dexterity for stronger strikes and tougher scales.

You also get another spell at this level but I’d hold off on it for now since we get some pretty good stuff at our next level. You do get another cantrip but truthfully you can grab just about anything and still remain in-flavor. I personally opted for Create Bonfire because it’s a fire.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 5

First and foremost 5th level Warlocks get access to 3rd level spells and there’s two in particular we want: Fly gives a creature you touch (ideally yourself) a flying speed of 60 feet. Secondly Fireball... you know what this is. It’s Fireball. In D&D. Use Fireball and only Fireball; nothing but Fireball. Just Fireball. Just Fireball. Just Fireball. Jokes you can now fly and use your super! 闷烧踢 燃烧风！ (Thanks to the TFH devs on their official Discord for giving me the kanji for Tian’s super.)

5th level Warlocks also get another Invocation. Cloak of Flies can be good for an immolation aura or if you want to straighten up your soldiers but feel free to take other options from earlier levels if you so desire. If your DM allows Unearthed Arcana the Class Feature Variants UA has a few options: Eldritch Mind can help compensate for your low Constitution so you don’t stop flying, and Far Scribe can be nice to keep in touch with your soldiers over long distances.

LEVEL 11 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Own Luck, letting them add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw. It’s called “luck” but you can contribute it to raw skill. You also get your last spell at this level and while I personally opted for Counterspell you can take just about anything. Truthfully all we’ll really be using is Fly and Fireball.

(Artwork by unousaya on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 12 - MONK 6

Straight through Monk now. Level 6 Monks get Ki-Empowered Strikes making their fists magical for the sake of overcoming resistances. Paprika’s wool might be able to absorb regular blows but they can’t absorb the flames of Huoshan! Your Unarmored Movement also increases to 15 feet, giving you 45 feet of movement total.

Open Hand Monks meanwhile get Wholeness of Body. You can take an action once per Long Rest to regain an amount of hitpoints equal to three times your Monk level. They can knock you down but they aren’t ready for Round 2!

LEVEL 13 - MONK 7

7th level Monks get Evasion: if you’re forced to make a Dexterity saving throw you only take half damage if you fail, and you take no damage if you succeed. Blocking is great and all but dodging is important to avoid chip damage! You also get Stillness of Mind letting you channel your inner dragon to remove an effect of Charming or Frightening on you as an action.

LEVEL 14 - MONK 8

8th level Monks get an Ability Score Improvement: cap off your Dexterity for swift strikes and expert evasion.

LEVEL 15 - MONK 9

Level 9 Monks get an Unarmored Movement Improvement letting them run across water or along walls as long as they end their turn on solid ground. Clearly this isn’t you running “across” the water or “along” the wall but rather you just gliding over them.

LEVEL 16 - MONK 10

Level 10 Monks get Purity of Body, making you as hearty as a horse and immune to Poison and Disease. Your Unarmored Movement also increases by 5 feet for +20 feet, or 50 feet total. Just a reminder that the Fly spell makes you move 60 feet per turn.

LEVEL 17 - MONK 11

Level 11 Open Hand Monks are affected by Tranquility, giving them the effects of the Sanctuary spell whenever they finish a long rest. Sanctuary does go away if you attack though, which by the way your Martial Arts die increases to a d8 at this level.

LEVEL 18 - MONK 12

12th level Monks get another Ability Score Improvement and you have a few options: Constitution will increase your health and the effectiveness of your fire breath as well as help you keep your concentration on Fly, Wisdom will increase your AC and make your Open Hand techniques / Stunning Strike harder to resist, and Charisma will let you roleplay the captain better and give you better attacks with your fire magic. And of course if none of those appeal to you feel free to take a Feat instead: this build is just a suggestion and you’re welcome to change it however you want.

LEVEL 19 - MONK 13

Level 13 Monks get Tongue of the Sun and Moon, allowing you to speak and understand all languages. I’m sure the translators have already localized you for every region: they certainly have China down!

LEVEL 20 - MONK 14

Level 14 Monks get our final Unarmored Movement increase, bringing your movement speed up to 55 total. Reminder that this is 5 under your speed if you cast Fly.

But more importantly you get Diamond Soul as your capstone, giving your proficiency in all saving throws! This is insanely useful for keeping your Concentration on Fly, and now your lowest saving throws should be a +6 while your highest saving throw (still Dexterity) is at a whopping +11! 鑽石堅不可摧！

FINAL BUILD

PROS

迅速的火焰 - You have an immense amount of mobility with 55 feet of movement that can go across water and along walls as well as the ability to quickly get on your feet and jump into the action. And if worse comes to worse you can fly!

四分之一圈 沖床 - Unlike most Monks you have quite a few good ranged options, and even though you’re best in melee you’re not above some projectile spam like Velvet.

像馬一樣健康 - You have quite a bit of sturdiness to you. Good AC, proficiency in all saving throws, 9 Temporary Hitpoints whenever you strike an enemy down, and Wholeness of Body giving you a 42 HP pickup when needed.

CONS

冰很好 - All your damage is either bludgeoning or fire. Remember that you are allowed to take spells that are less roleplay-focused if you want to do better in the mirror match.

你一定是 MAD - The Warlock dip makes an already MAD (Multi-Ability Dependent) class even MADder. This build requires Dexterity, Wisdom, Charisma, and Constitution is also good to have. See if you can grab some Ioun Stones, stat tomes, or a better initial stat array; because damn you’ll need it.

英雄不孤單 - The truth is that while the Warlock dip is nice to throw Fireballs we really don’t need flight from the Fly spell. If you have an Artificer or a cool DM you can easily get either a pair of Winged Boots or the Wings of Flying to give you the flight speed. And even then as a Monk you truthfully have more than enough mobility to not need flight on top of it.

But self-sufficiency isn’t a weakness. Of course a general is nothing without an army, and while Foenum may rule one-on-one combat the rules are different in the forgotten realms. Command your troops and take the frontline to fight the predators back! Just know when to take a loss and call it quits: no one likes a salty dragon-horse.

(Artwork by kompy on DeviantArt)