Full Build Friday - Detective Chimp

Last month was the March of the Machines over on the Monster Monday side of the channel, and I've got a theme for Full Build Friday this month! Welcome to the first Friday of Ape-ril, where I'll be posting primate characters for the entirety of the month. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

There weren't a ton of clips to use for the character, but I still hope you'll check out the video over on YouTube.

Let's get into the build Detective Chimp from DC Comics!

DETECTIVE CHIMP

CHARACTER Bobo T. Chimpanzee

SOURCE DC Comics

BUILD GOALS

o    Bobo was a circus monkey, trained to play music and play at being a detective until his kindly caretaker was murdered

o    He drank from the Fountain of Youth, becoming immortal as well as a genius

o    Drinking from the Fountain gave him the ability to converse with all creatures

o    He is a highly capable investigator who stands among the likes of Batman and Elongated Man

o    He is a martial artist as well as a skilled swordsman armed with the Sword of Night, which can compel the truth, negate illusions, and sense danger

o    Among his other skills, Detective Chimp is well-versed in occultism and has served as a member of Shadowpact and Justice League Dark

Summary of Goals: For this build, we’re looking to make an uplifted animal that has become a highly capable detective. He’s can handle himself in a fight, whether unarmed or wielding the Sword of Night, and is also well-informed when it comes to magic. A drink from the Fountain of Youth made him intelligent and capable of speech with all animals.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Climbing Awakened Animal

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Intelligence, -Intelligence

o    Ancestry Feat: Fascinated by Society

o    Skill Increase: Society (T)

Background: Circus Born

o    Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Performance (T), Circus Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Experienced Professional

Class & Subclass: Empiricism Investigator

o    Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Athletics (T), Crafting (T), Diplomacy (T), Medicine (T), Nature (T), Occultism (T), Stealth (T), Thievery (T)

o    Class Feat: Eliminate Red Herrings, That’s Odd

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +1, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +3, Wis +2, Cha +0)

Obviously, a build for Detective Chimp will use the awakened animal ancestry with the climbing heritage to better represent him as a chimp. Fascinated by Society is a great way to tie him into Society and may even help him in his duties as a detective. However, before we get to that, he hasn’t entirely escaped his past as a circus chimp as we see with his circus born background. That allows him to fall back on Circus Lore with Experienced Professional when the situation calls for it, but he’ll be doing most of his work as an investigator, which really nails him down as a detective. The empiricism methodology is basic, but fits him far better than any of the other options. This grants him That’s Odd whereas his actual class feat will be spent to take Eliminate Red Herrings, which turns critical failures to Recall Knowledge into failures and might have a chance of intersecting with his Fascinated by Society to still get some information out of it.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Detective Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Combat Climber, Experienced Tracker

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (T), Occultism (E)

o    Gear: stalk goggles

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skillful Lesson: Streetwise

o    Skill Increase: Society (E)

o    Gear: +1 rapier, psychopomp mask, stalk goggles

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Strategic Assessment

o    Skill Feat: Trick Magic Item

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (E)

o    Gear: pendant of the occult, +1 rapier, necklace of knives, stalk goggles

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +2, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +3, Cha +0)

o    Ancestry Feat: Urban Jungle

o    Skillful Lesson: Forensic Acumen

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E), Religion (T)

o    Gear: +1 striking rapier, pendant of the occult, golden legion epaulet, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask, stalk goggles

We delve deeper with the Edgewatch Detective Dedication. This feat is particularly nice as it will allow him to Track using Perception, which will automatically get up to legendary due to him being an investigator. He picks up Strategic Assessment as using this to ferret out the weaknesses and such of his foes could be useful to his teammates and he has been a member on an umber of teams. As an investigator he gets a ton of skill feats, just like a rogue, so we’ll cover them quick. Streetwise and Forensic Acumen are intended to aid him in his investigations with the former letting him use an Intelligence-based skill rather than a Charisma-based skill. Combat Climber is more reflective of his nature as a chimpanzee as it feels like something he should innately have. Finally, given his membership among magic-based teams, he uses Trick Magic Item. He takes up Fleet as his general feat since being an awakened animal starts him off with a Speed of 20 feet and he needs the juice to at least keep up with his companions. While he gained Experienced Tracker from his archetype, he still takes up Urban Jungle so that he can Track at full speed in the urban environment all while using the Society skill.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Arcane Sensitivity

o    Skill Feat: Juggle

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (E)

o    Gear: +1 studded leather, +1 striking rapier, lifting belt, pendant of the occult, necklace of knives, dweomerweave robe

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Prescient Planner

o    Skillful Lesson: Biographical Eye

o    Skill Increase: Society (M)

o    Gear: choker of elocution, +1 studded leather, obsidian goggles, +1 striking rapier, pendant of the occult, greater stalk goggles

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Interrogation

o    Skill Feat: Dirty Trick

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (M)

o    Gear: enigma mirror, choker of elocution, spiritsight ring, +1 studded leather, +1 striking rapier, lifting belt

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambassador

o    Skillful Lesson: Break Curse

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Gear: +1 resilient studded leather, enigma mirror, boots of bounding, choker of elocution, obsidian goggles, +1 striking rapier

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +3, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +4.5, Wis +4, Cha +0)

o    Class Feat: Connect the Dots

o    Skill Feat: Quick Climb

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)

o    Gear: greater pendant of the occult, +1 resilient leather, lesser clarity goggles, enigma mirror, choker of elocution, +1 striking rapier

One of the reasons that I was drawn to the edgewatch detective archetype is because it had some abilities innately related to magic – such as Arcane Sensitivity giving him a way to non-magically detect magic. The archetype also grants him access to Interrogation since it’s honestly the only other feat from the archetype that I actually like. Now, there is something that I have to be honest about. The awakened animal ancestry’s flaw to Intelligence means that he’s going to be slightly lagging behind other investigators that don’t have this penalty. It’s not a huge penalty, but in a game where every +1 matters, it’s not something we can just ignore. As such, I’ve tried to account for it a bit and that’s why I have him taking Connect the Dots. When it looks like his Devise a Stratagem isn’t going to hit, he can use this two-action ability to buff his allies instead, providing them with a bonus to hit. He has a very mixed bag of skill feats this time around. Juggle is entirely inspired by his time in a circus, Biographical Eye helps him do a quick read on suspects, Dirty Trick is another option for when his Devise a Stratagem doesn’t roll well, Break Curse is inspired by his relation to magic and mysticism, and finally, Quick Climb swings all the way back to him being a chimpanzee and will be minimally useful, but for times where the GM demands a Climb check, it’ll be important. Prescient Planner is meant to reflect his intellect and forethought before we finish off this block with Natural Ambassador. This will let him communicate with all manners of animals, reflecting one of the powers granted by the Fountain of Youth and one that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to figure into the build!

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Thorough Search

o    Skillful Lesson: Disturbing Knowledge

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (M)

o    Gear: +2 striking rapier, greater pendant of the occult, armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient leather, enigma mirror, boots of bounding

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Empiricist’s Eye

o    Skill Feat: Kip Up

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (E)

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking rapier, greater choker of elocution, greater pendant of the occult, lesser clarity goggles, flaming weapon rune

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Sharpened Senses

o    Skillful Lesson: Underground Network

o    Skill Increase: Diplomacy (E)

o    Gear: +2 greater striking rapier, +2 resilient leather, greater obsidian goggles, greater choker of elocution, greater pendant of the occult, armbands of athleticism

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Martial Artist Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Swift Sneak

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (E)

o    Gear: moderate clarity goggles, +2 greater striking rapier, moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient leather, greater enigma mirror, greater choker of elocution

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +4.5, Con +1, Int +5, Wis +4.5, Cha +0)

o    General Feat: Prescient Consumable

o    Skillful Lesson: Legendary Codebreaker

o    Skill Increase: Society (L), Survival (T)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, major enigma mirror, keen weapon rune, +2 greater striking rapier, greater obsidian goggles, holy weapon rune

Empiricist’s Eye is a super solid class feat. Point Out is an oft-overlooked action but this hugely enhances it and turns it into an effect that makes a foe off-guard to his allies. As an empiricist, he can Seek as a free action once every ten minutes, but he gets better than that with Sharpened Senses, which will let him Seek as a free action once per round. This is a huge boost and sets up some interesting action options. If a creature is part of a case that Detective Chimp is investigating, he can Devise a Stratagem against them as a free action. But if this fails, he could Seek as a free action using Sharpened Senses, Point Out as a single action, and then Connect the Dots to enhance a single ally’s swing against the foe. Martial Artist Dedication is entirely based on the little bit of training that he has in martial arts though maybe it’s coming in a little too late. Disturbing Knowledge is another two-action debuffing effect for when his Devise a Stratagem doesn’t look like it will land. Kip Up and Swift Sneak give him some more action efficiency and the latter will aid him on stakeouts. Thorough Search, Underground Network, Legendary Codebreaker will likely also help in his investigations. Prescient Consumable builds out of Prescient Planner and expands on the range of items that he can pull out of his pocket.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Reconstruct the Scene

o    Skill Feat: Rapid Mantel

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (L)

o    Gear: greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, wand of teeming ghosts (6th-level), moderate clarity goggles, +2 greater striking rapier, moderate grub gloves

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Natural Senses

o    Skillful Lesson: Consult the Spirits

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater striking rapier, greater flaming weapon rune, greater cape of illumination, +2 greater resilient leather, moderate clarity goggles, major enigma mirror

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Trickster’s Ace

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (L)

o    Gear: sash of books, +3 greater striking rapier, quickstrike weapon rune, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, wand of teeming ghosts (6th-level)

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: True Perception

o    Skillful Lesson: Leverage Connections

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, sash of books, robe of eyes, +3 greater striking rapier, greater cape of illumination, greater flaming weapon rune

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +5, Wis +5, Cha +1)

o    Class Feat: Everyone’s a Suspect

o    Skill Feat: Dubious Knowledge

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (M)

o    Gear: +3 major striking rapier, +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, archivist’s gaze, robe of eyes, radiant prism, quickstrike weapon rune

Reconstruct the Scene is honestly based on Batman’s investigation in the Arkham series, but they’re both DC characters, so that’s close enough, right? Trickster’s Ace is a little more in line with the character, letting him demonstrate his preparedness beyond Prescient Consumable. I wish this was a little bit more widely applicable, but I think it could work for him. He ends on Everyone’s a Suspect simply because I think that’s the only one that really fits him out of his capstone feats. Consult the Spirits leans into his occultism a bit while Legendary Sneak and Leverage Connections should aid in his investigations – as will True Perception. Dubious Knowledge will also help him identify the weakness of foes to take advantage of.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: This build can save some space in a free archetype game, gaining his edgewatch detective alongside investigator feats before properly delving into his martial artist options. He could look for a finesse fighting style, such as Crane, Tiger, or Wolf Stance or fish for crits with Devise a Stratagem to then unleash a Grievous Blow. Otherwise, he could take an Int-based caster dedication of some sort though you might need to invest in different skills unless you want to go witch or psychic. This just plays into him being well-versed in magic and the fact that he was even Dr. Fate for a bit.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Detective Chimp is a climbing awakened animal empiricist investigator with the circus born background to call to mind his time spent as a simple performing chimpanzee in a circus. While we don't quite manage to capture the immortality that his drink from the Fountain of Youth granted him, Natural Ambassador and his nature as an investigator reflect the ability to speak to animals and the intelligence that he gained from it. Many of the investigator feats naturally fit his role as a detective and the edgewatch detective archetype only heightens that concept. When he's forced into combat, he can use Devise a Stratagem with his fists as a martial artist or some sort of finesse sword to represent his Sword of Night. He also invests heavily into the Occultism skill and has Trick Magic Item as well as Trickster's Ace giving him some mysticism based on his knowledge, association with, and use of magic in DC Comics.

This simian super sleuth snoops in spots outside the standard, sussing out suspects with supreme skill while supporting the squad with sublime smarts.

Please let me know what you think and what other builds you'd like to see!

If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and a YouTube channel filled with video formats of these blog posts. Coming up next week will be a legendary primate who is in a league of his own.

Have a fantastic Friday!