Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been one of my favorite franchises since I was kid and their current, ongoing comic is one of my favorites off my pull list. Full of a wealth of good characters, including one that I've already done in the form of Bebop, I'd love to build more of them and have even theorycrafted builds for the turtles, but don't have a good ancestry for them yet. However, I do have a good ancestry for foe-turned-friend, Alopex! It's worth noting that this build and the gear for it is picked in a vacuum without consideration for what adventure it may be in, so certain options might be better in specific situations.
With that out of the way, let's get into the build for Alopex from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
ALOPEX
CHARACTER Alopex
SOURCE Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
GOAL A mutant arctic fox, as evidenced by her name which is the genus she belonged to before reclassification, Alopex was created in a laboratory before she was brought into the Foot Clan by the Shredder and trained by him. Before her mutation, she was the predominant hunter for her family though even she lived in fear of the polar bear that dominated her home. While initially an enemy of the turtles who tried to trick Raphael into to taking her back to his home, she eventually developed a hatred for the Shredder after he burnt down her home. She was kept under control by the Foot Clan’s resident sorceress, Kitsune, until she managed to reclaim her mind from her and went rogue.
LEVEL 1 Coming as a surprise to nobody, we’ll start with our ABCs – ancestry, background, and class. As a mutant arctic fox, frozen wind kitsune seems like the best heritage and ancestry to represent Alopex. Kitsune nets us her folk-like traits though it has a slightly heavier focus on mysticism than I like for this particular build. Being a kitsune nets us an automatic boost to Charisma and then gives us a free boost that we’ll apply to Dexterity. For our ancestry feat, we’ll pick up Retractable Claws, giving us a natural attack that reflects her own fighting style somewhat.
With the hunter background, I’m look less into reflecting her time with the Foot Clan, but instead going back to her time as an unmutated fox where she was the most proficient hunter of her family. This gives us a boost to Dexterity as well as a free boost to our Strength. It will make us trained in Survival and Tanning Lore, I’m not sure why it's not just Hunting Lore, and will grant us the Survey Wildlife skill feat, so that we can make educated guesses as to what creatures dwell in an area.
I initially started this build by going into monk, however, it felt too similar to another build I’ve done before, so I went back and picked rogue as her central class, picking the thief racket as it seemed the most appropriate for her. I do need to eventually figure out a build that doesn’t use the thief racket because I feel like that’s all I pick. Our class boost automatically increases our Dexterity, and then we have four free boosts that we’ll apply to Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 14, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14). Our class and racket make us automatically trained in Stealth and Thievery. With the slew of other skills that we start trained in, we’ll pick out Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Nature, and Society. As a rogue, we get a skill feat, which will be Experienced Tracker to make Alopex a better hunter while our class feat will be Nimble Dodge, giving us some extra defensive capabilities since we want to be a melee combatant but don’t have a large pool of health to work with.
LEVEL 2 Rogue gives us a skill increase and skill feat every level, so the first of those will go towards Stealth, increasing it to expert. Our first skill feat reflects her time in the arctic as it will be Terrain Stalker – Snow, meaning she doesn’t have to even roll Stealth checks as long as she moves slowly. To represent Alopex’s training as a ninja, we’ll skip a rogue feat at this level and instead use our class feat to pick up the Monk Dedication. This gives us the powerful fist class feature and also makes us trained in Occultism since we’re already trained in Acrobatics and Athletics.
Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3 With a skill increase making us an expert in Survival, we bring Alopex closer to the hunter that she’s supposed to be. The Shadow Mark skill feat allows us to pick a target that then takes a penalty to their Perception DC when we try to Avoid Notice against them. Since Alopex was taught by humans following her mutation, we’ll grab the Adopted Ancestry – Human as her general feat.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), ring of discretion, everburning torch
LEVEL 4 Reflecting her initial attempts to trick Raphael, we’ll take a skill increase to Deception, making us an expert in that skill. Her Lengthy Diversion skill feat makes it so that she can distract people for longer periods of time, giving her a chance to get way. With our Monk Dedication, we can pick up a Basic Kata to gain Monastic Weaponry, allowing us to wield the kama, kunai, and other ninja-esque weapons that she often wields.
Gear: bracers of missile deflection, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), +1 kama, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5 With the ability boosts from this level-up, we’ll increase Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom (Str 14, Dex 19, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 14). This increase to Intelligence grants us an extra language and makes us trained in Crafting. We also receive a skill increase to Thievery, bumping it up to expert proficiency, so that she can better infiltrate places. For our skill feat, we’ll grab Steady Balance so that she can prowl above targets through rafters and the like with ease as she waits for an opportunity to strike. Her familiarity with other mutants and figures like Kitsune makes me like the Shapechanger’s Intuition ancestry feat. We automatically receive a secret Perception check when we get close to a creature that has transformed into another creature or is impersonating a creature. I kind of like the idea that this is also her ability to smell people even when they’re changed.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracers of missile deflection, coyote cloak, +1 kama, ring of discretion, everburning torch
LEVEL 6 A skill increase to Acrobatics, raising it to expert proficiency, will make Alopex better at slipping around foes so that she can get into advantageous positions to launch her attack. Forager is a skill feat that allows her to provide additional food when she Subsists with Survival, which works real well for a forx that used to hunt for her family. With Twist the Knife, we can spend an action after dealing a sneak attack in melee to inflict bleed damage at the target, which feels appropriate for Alopex.
Gear: +1 leather armor, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), +1 striking kama, bracers of missile deflection, necklace of knives, brooch of shielding
LEVEL 7 As a ninja, our first skill to get the increase that pushed it up to master will be Stealth, which means that we can pick up Swift Sneak with our skill feat so that we don’t have to move at half speed while Sneaking. We’ll also grab Fleet with our general feat to increase that Speed I was just talking about.
Gear: clandestine cloak, +1 leather armor, boots of elvenkind, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracers of missile deflection, coyote cloak
LEVEL 8 The skill we’ll bump up to master proficiency with this level’s skill increase will be Survival so that Alopex is better at tracking and hunting. I keep thinking back to Alopex’s introduction into the comics where she ends up getting thrown off a roof but manages to catch herself with her claws, which I want to represent through the Cat Fall skill feat. With our class feat, we’re dipping back into the Monk Dedication for Advanced Kata to get Tiger Stance. Sure, this is a 1st level class feat, but you can’t take Basic Kata multiple times, so we’ll use this instead.
Gear: slippers of spider climbing, clandestine cloak, chime of opening, +1 leather armor, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), +1 striking kama
LEVEL 9 Mostly because I like the skill feat this will open up for us, we’ll use our skill increase to become master in Acrobatics, which allows us to pick up Kip Up so that we can stand from prone as a free action. The Fox Trick ancestry feat lets us Create a Diversion, Conceal an Object, or Hide as a free action once per hour, which sounds super useful for a ninja.
Gear: +1 resilient leather armor, wounding weapon rune, cloak of elvenkind, chime of opening, boots of elvenkind, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10 With this set ability boosts, we’ll buff our Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma (Str 16, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16). Our skill increase our Deception to master proficiency, which lets us pick up Slippery Secrets so that we can try to evade magical attempts to discern information about us with our Deception rather than relying on our Will. Another dip into Monk Dedication gives us Monk’s Flurry, helping us with our action economy to shred foes with our tiger claws.
Gear: greater bracers of missile deflection, +1 resilient leather armor, cold weapon rune, slippers of spider climbing, clandestine cloak, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 11 This time around, we’ll actually be increasing our Athletics skill so that it has expert proficiency and then grab Quick Jump, reducing the actions it takes to perform that action. For our general feat, we’ll grab a classic - Toughness. This helps us survive in melee combat since rogues don’t have a lot of class HP and we aren’t exactly prioritizing Constitution.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), greater bracers of missile deflection, greater coyote cloak, +1 resilient leather armor, wounding weapon rune, slippers of spider climbing
LEVEL 12 We’re actually going to increase a few of our lower proficiency skills here, following an Athletics increase with an increase to Intimidation so that it’s expert. Reflecting Alopex’s ability to scale walls and the like while still fighting foes, we’ll also pick up Combat Climber. With the Spring From the Shadows class feat, we can get a drop on a foe by using a single action to Stride and Strike an enemy we were hidden or undetected by. We remain hidden or undetected until after the Strike. This is a good gap closer and helps us get off sneak attacks when we’re hiding.
Gear: +2 resilient leather armor, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), +2 striking kama, greater bracers of missile deflection, cold weapon rune (x2)
LEVEL 13 Again, another small skill increase. This time, we’re bumping up Society so that Alopex is able to identify the different enemies of the Foot Clan. Since Alopex’s original enemies were fellow mutants, it makes sense for her to have Foil Senses, devising methods to go undetected by foes with unusual senses such as scent or tremorsense. From her adoption by humans, we’ll get the Haughty Obstinacy for her ancestry feat, making us more resilient to mind tricks like the sort that Kitsune sought to use on her.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient leather armor, greater goggles of night, +2 striking kama, greater bracers of missile deflection, greater coyote cloak
LEVEL 14 Nabbing a skill increase in Nature bumps it up to expert proficiency. Charming Liar is mostly for gameplay rather than story reasons as it gives her a means of influencing a character despite the fact that we haven’t invested in Diplomacy. From our Monk Dedication, we get Monk Resiliency, giving us 3 extra HP per feat that we get from our archetype, following the same line of thinking as when we took Toughness.
Gear: keen weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 greater striking kama, +2 resilient leather armor, cloak of the bat, daredevil boots
LEVEL 15 We’re taking these ability boosts to Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom (Str 18, Dex 21, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 16). We get another language from this increased Intelligence as well as the trained proficiency in Medicine. We can finally increase skills to legendary proficiency and, naturally, our ninja will be taking Stealth as the first skill to get that, which will allow us to pick up Legendary Sneak and hide in plain sight. We’ll pick up Incredible Initiative with our general feat so that we’re more likely to get a drop on foes and unleash some sneak attacks before they act.
Gear: +2 greater resilient leather armor, keen weapon rune, boots of speed, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater goggles of night, bag of holding (type III)
LEVEL 16 Survival is the next skill to make it to legendary thanks to this skill increase. With how much time-traveling and dimension-hopping that the trtles get into, it makes sense for Alopex to pick up Planar Survival. We’re still getting a few more things from our Monk Dedication with the Monk Moves class feat, increasing our Speed even further since Alopex is a quick fox.
Gear: greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, greater boots of bounding, keen weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 greater striking kama
LEVEL 17 Thievery makes it to master proficiency with another skill increase, which lets us pick up Quick Unlock with our skill feat. The remaining kitsune feats are far too mystical for Alopex or don’t really offer us any benefit whereas most of the human ancestry feats feel almost inconsequential at this point. But we’ll go ahead and take Advanced General Training to get Doublespeak since all skill feats are also general feats and this one lets us pass info to our allies.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater frost weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather armor, keen weapon rune, boots of speed
LEVEL 18 Building out of the investment we’ve put into Deception skill feats, we might as well use this skill increase to bump it up to legendary proficiency. Powerful Leap lets Alopex jump further, helping her clear gaps between rooftops as she traverses about New York. With how I built Alopex, her main ways of getting off sneak attacks will be through Feints or flanking with an ally, so I want to pick up Sly Striker here just to give her a bit of a boost to damage when she can’t do that.
Gear: anklets of alacrity, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), +3 greater striking kama, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19 There’s a few high level skill feats that I like for Athletics, so that will get this level’s skill increase, giving it master proficiency. The first of these Athletics feats is Water Sprint since that feels very ninja-like. While I imagine that Alopex will usually be using the Avoid Notice exploration activity, I could see her occasionally using her enhanced senses, which I really wish we could have replicated, to scout out foes. To reflect that, we’ll grab Incredible Scout, increasing the bonus that the Scout exploration activity provides.
Gear: +3 greater resilient leather armor, anklets of alacrity, major shadow armor rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater frost weapon rune, dragonscale amulet
LEVEL 20 Finally, we have four more ability boosts to distribute, which will be Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma (Str 18, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 18). For our final skill increase, we’ll go ahead and push Acrobatics up to legendary proficiency. The other Athletics skill feat I actually liked for Alopex was Wall Jump, letting her bounce off walls with her jumps, which again felt very ninja-esque. Building out of Sly Striker, we grab Impossible Striker so that we no longer have to worry about having a flat-footed foe – Alopex always finds a weakness to exploit so that she can deal sneak attack damage to anybody.
Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient leather armor, major goggles of night, anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking kama, speed weapon rune
CONCLUSION With that, we have Alopex built as a deadly killer that is able to wield ninja-esque weapons and fight unarmed. In my first pass at this build, I went with monk as her base class before going into the Rogue Dedication. However, that build ended up looking too similar to the build for Akali so I went back to the start and went with rogue as her base class. This helped make her distinct from Akali while also capturing the character of Alopex. The kitsune ancestry is a bit too mystical for Alopex, whose mutation is the result of an alien chemical, so I dipped into the human ancestry a bit, which I thought was a fun reflection of her time with the Foot Clan. Within the comics, Alopex wields a variety of weapons though she seems to favor kamas or her own claws, and unfortunately, kamas don't work with her thief racket. Since her tiger claws do, I ended up focusing more on them rather than her kama.
Be sure to let me know what you think of the build!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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