#anyway. plot of dream is that a magic surge of some kind happens and strong magic users end up getting fused with things they work with

[volcanicsleep]

rottmnt/gotham dream drawings as promised lmao

[raeynbowboi]

How to Play as Joker in DnD 5e

I recently bought Persona 5 and just finished the first mind palace and my god is this game a metric fuck ton of awesome, colorful, and stylish. So, while i haven’t finished the game, I’m excited to figure out his DnD build. Normally, because Joker has a canon Persona, I would use Arsene to determine Joker’s magical abilities. But Arsene stops learning new abilities at a pitiful level 7. So, for everything else, we’ll have to look at his confidant abilities and try to make whatever connections that we can.

The Rebellious Spirit Within

Whether you address your dirty crime boy as Ren Amamiya or Akira Kusuru, it’s evident that he’s a human. However, not even other humans can do what Joker can do. So, he could absolutely be considered a Variant Human. As a Variant Human, we’ll pick up Dexterity and Charisma, along with Persuasion proficiency so you can convince your enemies to join your rag-tag group of plucky teen felons. So, what might you consider for his bonus feat as a Variant Human? Top picks would include: Dungeon Delver so you can run through mind palaces, avoid traps, and be a perceptive thief. Skulker so that you can hide in partial darkness and make ranged attacks without giving away your location. Lucky to give yourself some good old fashioned anime protagonist plot armor. Mobile so that you can outrun security and the consequences of your actions. Magic Initiate so that you can be even more of a thief by stealing from other spell lists. Inspiring Leader so that you can yell at your friends to git gud. Prodigy so you can become even more of a specialized skill monkey. And Skilled so that you can horde all the talent for yourself.

You fragrantly break the law and play the role as a Phantom Thief to take down corrupt authority figures. You are the definition of Chaotic Good.

Joker’s role as a thief of corrupt hearts lends itself to a few Background options. Urban Bounty Hunter fulfills the idea of Joker having a target that he hunts down. Criminal is an option if you want to lean into the Thief angle, plus the framing device of the story has Joker telling the story during a police interrogation, so clearly Criminal isn’t that far off the mark. Charlatan is a loose fit as it’s more of a con artist, but the Secret Identity feature works well as Joker is a second identity. The secret identity also appears for the Dimir Operative from the Guilds of Ravnica book, though while it is on DnDBeyond, that doesn’t guarantee that every DM will allow it, especially since this Background has built-in spells. The Urchin Background loosely fits as Joker’s family has given up on him and sent him off to be raised by someone who is an utter stranger, and finding your way around Shibuya and the mind palaces is kind of important. The Faceless background lets you throw your old life away and begin anew as someone else, and the Faction Agent makes you part of a secret society, such as the Phantom Thieves.

Arsene the Fool Arcana

Arsene, like all primary personas, first appears in a flash of blue flames. His only two damaging spells include Eiha which is a little bolt of dark flames that deals Curse damage, and Dream Needle, which deals psychic damage and has a chance of putting enemies to sleep. Arsene is seen with chains but doesn’t use them, and in Smash, having Arsene changes Joker’s up special from a grabbling hook to being launched by Arsene’s wings, which could allow Joker to learn Fly. Beyond that, everything else depends on Confidant abilities and the general magical damage types found in the game. 

Personas can deal Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Psychic, Nuclear, Bless, & Curse damage. Nuclear, Bless, and Curse are a little less clear, but I’d translate those to being Poison, Radiant, and Necrotic spells.

Collecting Your Jar of Hearts

BARD    Whispers: While Joker is not inherently a creative person, the bard’s ability to steal from other spell lists could be re-skinned as part of Joker’s interchangeable Personas. Whisper Bards also deal damage with psychic blades, which is fitting because all of Joker’s thievery is more metaphorical, and all the fighting happens in the minds and hearts of corrupted people. So, his blades dealing Psychic damage is rather fitting since he’s literally fighting the demons in people’s minds and hearts. Also, the Bard’s Jack of All Trades would do well to make you a Wunderkind that’s kind of great at everything. FIGHTER    Battle Master: While the Aid Spell is one of many that can do well for teamwork, there are some Maneuvers that actually focus on rallying allies to attack a single target or get into a formation, which is fitting for Joker as it’s often him who instigates the team’s ability to pull off an all-out attack. RANGER    Gloom Stalker: Change a crossbow into Joker’s toy guns that shoot placebo bullets, and take advantage of this subclass' ambush ability and you’re going to do really well copying Joker’s ability to ambush shadows in the game. Ranger also comes with a new feature option called Canny that lets you get another extra proficiency you don’t already have and turn it into an expertise. ROGUE    Assassin: Along with Gloom Stalker, these two subclasses combined will make ambushes way more effective when dealing with enemy shadows.    Inquisitive: You’re better at figuring out enemy weaknesses and then exploiting them. Provides a nice boost to Sneak Attack damage at higher levels.    Mastermind: This lets you Help an ally as a bonus action, and tells you when an enemy is too strong for you to fight.    Soul Knife:  Technically, you’re more of a thief in a metaphorical sense. You’re attacking people’s minds and hearts, so this subclass who is more focused on attacking people’s minds goes right along with that.    Thief: They’re called the Phantom THIEVES. It had to at least be considered. WARLOCK    Archfey: Since Demons are a specific kind of Persona, Archfey feels the most all-encompassing for this otherworldly pact. Whether you work it as the pact made with Igor or with Arsene himself, it’s obvious that Warlock had to be part of it, as the Phantom Thieves literally say that they make a pact with their Persona. It’s practically spelled out that Phantom Thieves are warlocks.

Stats and Proficiencies

You wouldn’t be a very good thief without a maxed out Dexterity. You’ll also need Charisma so you can manifest your feelings for magic and a decent Wisdom score so you can multi-class as a Ranger to optimize the use of your gun. Constitution will keep you from dying, Strength should be at least neutral, but if it gets left behind, pick up a proficiency with Athletics and it’ll be fine since you swing with Dexterity anyway. Even though Intelligence is a stat in Persona 5, it won’t really help you much here. So, it’s the dump stat for this build. You’re just a debonair ignorant pretty boy.

Acrobatics Athletics Insight Investigation Perception Persuasion Stealth Sleight of Hand

Name: Joker (Ren Amamiya or Akira Kusuru) Race: Variant Human Background: Urban Bounty Hunter Alignment: Chaotic Good Class: Assassin Rogue (8)             Archfey Warlock (4)             Gloomstalker Ranger (4)             Battle Master Fighter (4) Base Stats: Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 20 (+5) Constitution: 14 (+2) Intelligence: 8 (-1) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 18 (+4) Saving Throws: Strength: -1 Dexterity: +11 Constitution: +2 Intelligence:+5 Wisdom: +2 Charisma: +4 Combat Stats: HP: 151 AC: 16 Speed: 30 Initiative: +7 Proficiency Bonus: +6 Passive Perception: 24 Dark Vision: 60 feet Proficiencies and Expertise:    Acrobatics (Rogue)    Athletics (Ranger: Canny Feature)    Deception (Rogue)    Insight (Urban Bounty Hunter)    Investigation (Ranger)    Perception (Rogue)    Persuasion (Variant Human)    Sleight of Hand (Rogue)    Stealth (Urban Bounty Hunter) Skills: Acrobatics: +17                   Medicine: +2 Animal Handling: +2            Nature: -1 Arcana: -1                            Perception: +14 Athletics: +11                       Performance: +4 Deception: +4                      Persuasion: +10 History: -1                            Religion: -1 Insight: +8                           Sleight of Hand: +11 Intimidation: +4                   Stealth: +17 Investigation:+11                 Survival: +2

Spell Slots

1st (3) 2nd (2)

Joker’s Spellbook

Cantrips                          1st Level                          2ndLevel             Eldritch Blast                   Cure Wounds                 Phantasmal Force   Friends                            Detect Magic                  Shadow Blade   Mind Sliver                      Disguise Self                                           Expeditious Retreat                                           Hex                                           Hunter’s Mark                                           Sleep

Actions:

Action Surge: Take an extra action once per rest. Primeval Awareness: Spend X spell slot, find creature types within 1 mile for X minutes.

Bonus Actions:

Cunning Action: Aim, Dash, Disengage, or Hide once per turn. Second Wind: Regain 1d10 + 4 HP once per rest.

Reactions:

Uncanny Dodge: Reduce damage from enemies you can see that hit you.

Features:

Assassinate: You have advantage on slower foes, all hits are critical. Battle Maneuvers:  Commander’s Strike: Pass your turn to a friendly creature, add superiority die.  Maneuvering Attack: If you hit, an ally can move without provoking an attack.  Rally: Heal an ally by a superiority die + 4. Dread Ambusher: Make an extra attack on the first round, +1d8 damage on hit. Dungeon Delver: Add 2x your CON mod to healing, advantage on perception and investigation to find hidden doorways, advantage on saving throws against traps, resist trap damage, and search for traps at a walking pace. Ear To the Ground: You have a covert network of intelligence. Eldritch Invocations:  Agonizing Blast: +4 to Eldritch Blast damage.  Improved Pact Weapon: Your pact weapon deals +1 melee damage. Evasion: Take 0 damage on a successful DEX saving throw. Favored Enemy: Deal +2 damage to Fey, advantage on tracking Fey creatures. Fey Presence: Creatures within 10 ft are charmed or frightened for 1 turn. Fighting Style:     Archery: +2 on attack rolls with ranged weapons.     Dueling: +2 on damage rolls with one handed melee weapons. Natural Explorer:    Preferred Terrain: Underdark: Advantages in Underdark environments. Pact Boon:    Pact of the Blade: Summon a Pact Weapon. Sneak Attack: Deal 4d6 extra damage when advantaged. Thieves’ Cant: Conceal and decipher hidden meaning in casual conversation Umbral Sight: 60 feet Darkvision and hidden from creatures with Dark Vision.

This build was a ton of fun to make. How do you feel I did building Joker? Would you build him differently? Who’s your favorite Persona? And are you as upset as I am that you can’t date Ryuji? As always, I take requests, so send me your requests and I might just build yours next.

[volcanicsleep]

The turtle dreams have returned