Last year for the month of October, I built a series of slashers but this year, I'm putting together the antithesis of those masked, malevolent murderers with builds for Mystery Incorporated from Scooby-Doo! Naturally, leading the way is the leader of the gang, Fred Jones. Now, I have to apologize a bit - I'm falling way behind on things and so this might not be quite up to snuff and is missing items at several levels. This is also the reason for the late post - I apologize. 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.
The Ready to Die YT channel features a video detailing this build if you prefer listening and watching that over reading.
With that, let’s get into the build for Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo!
FRED JONES
CHARACTER Fredrick Herman Jones
SOURCE Scooby-Doo
BUILD GOALS
o The leader of the Mystery Inc. gang, Fred Jones is an athletic young man who is typically responsible for driving the gang’s main mode of transportation – the Mystery Machine
o One of his most notable penchants is the construction of convoluted traps to catch perpetrators though these traps are often fouled up by Shaggy and Scooby
o He usually suggests splitting up to search for clues but excels at working with his friends
o Aside from working as a sleuth and investigator, he has been an author and was a producer, cameraman, and all-around everyman for Coast to Coast With Daphne Blake
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Skilled Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Nature
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained)
Background: Bounty Hunter
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Wisdom
o Skill Increase: Survival (trained), Legal Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Experienced Tracker
Class & Subclass: Outwit Ranger
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Crafting (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Nature (trained), Occultism (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Class Feat: Monster Hunter
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence (Str 18, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 10)
The build for Fred will stick with the human ancestry while making use of the skilled heritage to become trained in Athletics since Fred is the most physically capable member of the party even if he isn’t the best fighter. While Mystery Incorporated has had their ups and downs, they remain friends that are always there for each other, leading to the use of Cooperative Nature. There’s a couple different interpretations of Mystery Incorporated by I settled on bounty hunter for Fred to better capture that roaming investigator feeling, going from town to town. Finally, given Fred’s love of traps, the best class to facilitate that design, before it gets gutted by the remaster, is ranger. Since the gang is more focused on capturing criminals and less on direct combat with them, I selected the outwit hunter’s edge and the Monster Hunter class feat, which has the possibility of him helping to lead his friends.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: United Assault
o Skill Feat: Snare Crafting
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Crafting (expert)
o Gear: +1 warhammer
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Snare Specialist
o Skill Feat: Specialty Crafting - Snares
o Gear: +1 warhammer
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 19, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10)
o Ancestry Feat: General Training – Fleet
o Skill Increase: Arcana (trained), Athletics (expert), Society (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking warhammer
I wasn’t a huge fan of the options available to ranger by second level, but I could at least justify United Assault due to it being a team-focused feat. Fortunately, by taking Snare Crafting at that level, he qualifies for Snare Specialist by fourth level, netting him automatic formulas and free snares that he can put together each day. His first skill focus will be on Crafting so that he can better build his famous traps, further assisted by Specialty Crafting for snares – or woodworking if the GM vetoes that. Toughness helps Fred hang in the fight whereas General Training for Fleet fits with the number of chases that he’s been through. He’ll use Athletics to push around foes, helping to throw them into his snares, and Society to identify threats and foes.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Quick Snares
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Gear: +1 breastplate, +1 striking warhammer
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Thorough Search
o Skill Increase: Crafting (master)
o Gear: +1 breastplate, +1 striking warhammer
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Powerful Snares
o Skill Feat: Crafter’s Appraisal
o Gear: +1 breastplate, +1 striking warhammer
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Soul
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient breastplate, +1 striking warhammer
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 20, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 10)
o Class Feat: Hazard Finder
o Skill Feat: Impeccable Crafter
o Skill Increase: Religion (trained)
o Gear: tradecraft tattoo, +1 resilient breastplate, lesser clarity goggles, lesser sturdy shield, lesser grub gloves, +1 striking warhammer
Between having to run from monsters and collect clues, Fred still finds time to set up his traps, the speed of which can be represented with his Quick Snares feat whereas Powerful Snares keeps even low level snares relevant by allowing him to use his class DC. As a trapmaster, it makes sense for Fred to be as good at countering traps as he is at making them. This leads to him taking Hazard Finder, which will also help him defend against them. To aid him in searching for clues, he takes up Thorough Search whereas Cooperative Soul builds out of Cooperative Nature. A Pathfinder 2e build for Fred does exist in a world where magic is assumed to exist and he’ll make use of Crafter’s Appraisal so that he can identify magic with his Crafting skill.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Shield Block
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
o Gear: +2 striking warhammer, +1 resilient breastplate
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Lightning Snares
o Skill Feat: Inventor
o Gear: +2 resilient breastplate, +2 striking warhammer
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Group Aid
o Skill Increase: Occultism (expert)
o Gear: +2 greater striking warhammer, +2 resilient breastplate
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Trick Driver Dedication
o Skill Feat: Push It
o Gear: +2 greater striking warhammer, +2 resilient breastplate
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 21, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 12)
o General Feat: Pick Up the Pace
o Skill Increase: Crafting (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient breastplate, +2 greater striking warhammer
Lightning Snares makes him even quicker at putting his snares together, potentially allowing him to build a snare, Shove a foe into it, and then perhaps make a Strike, taking advantage of Nature’s Edge if he shoved them into a trap that creates difficult terrain. It comes in a little late but as the primary driver of the Mystery Machine, who has pulled off quite a few stunts with it, he picks up the Trick Driver Dedication. He follows this up immediately with Push It to put the pedal to the metal and also has Pick Up the Place so that he can hasten his allies – to either chase down clues or flee from fearsome foes. Using Raise Shield doesn’t stack with Fred’s outwit hunter’s edge, but Shield Block may still protect him from some damage whereas Group Aid further plays into his focus on working alongside his teammates.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Ubiquitous Snare
o Skill Feat: Craft Anything
o Gear: +2 greater resilient breastplate, +2 greater striking warhammer
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Heroic Presence
o Skill Increase: Occultism (master)
o Gear: +3 greater striking warhammer, +2 greater resilient breastplate
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Warden’s Boon
o Skill Feat: Disturbing Knowledge
o Gear: belt of giant strength, +3 greater striking warhammer, +2 greater resilient breastplate
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Expeditious Search
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient breastplate, belt of giant strength, greater tradecraft tattoo, +3 greater striking warhammer
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str 22, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 14)
o Class Feat: Impossible Snares
o Skill Feat: Power Slide
o Gear: +3 major striking warhammer, +3 greater resilient breastplate, titan’s grasp, greater tradecraft tattoo, major sturdy shield, speed weapon rune
Using the Ubiquitous Snares class feat grants Fred even more snares to bring to bear that he expands upon even further with Impossible Snares, allowing him to lay out snares without having to expend his resources to do so. He’ll also use Warden’s Boon to further assist his allies. Disturbing Knowledge doesn’t exactly fit Fred, but debuffing is always handy, especially with Fred being partially reliant upon snares, which are save-based. While I’m not sure if Fred has ever Power Slid the Mystery Machine, he at least did so with a bike in the second live-action movie, and that’s good enough for me! Heroic Presence fits Fred a bit better than it did the previous build, and could be envisioned as him laying out the plan for the gang or giving them a pep talk. He’ll also use Expeditious Search for when he needs to find things quick instead of taking his time.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: The Snarecrafter Dedication likely makes the most sense for Fred though may be a little redundant. Obviously, Trick Driver Dedication is good but likely isn’t super essential outside of what I already took from it – though it could be used to get the feats earlier. Beyond either of those, I’d look at Investigator Dedication to cover his thirst for mysteries or Marshal Dedication since he is the leader of Mystery Incorporated.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Fred is a skilled human ranger with the outwit hunter's edge and the bounty hunter background. As the leader of Mystery Incorporated, a band of traveling Mystery Solvers, Fred excels at working with his team through Cooperative Soul, United Assault, and Warden's Boon. As the primary operator of the Mystery Machine, Fred makes use of the Trick Driver Dedication and its Push It and Power Slide skill feats. Titan Wrestler and his investments in Athletics help keep him physically capable and will let him hurl enemies into the snares he is known to create - which is covered by much of his ranger feats. Standouts include Powerful Snares, Lightning Snares, and Impossible Snares. Fred can search for clues with Expeditious Search and Thorough Search helping him out.
This snooping sleuth searches for sneaking suspects, spotting schemes and subterfuge while setting snares to solve the scenario.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would 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. The easiest build is out of the way - it only gets tougher on me from here on out.
Have a fantastic Friday!
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