We take a break from your regularly scheduled Full Build Friday to bring you another redhead with a wolf companion, something I decided on a whim because I was surprised by the number of them that I found. I think I'm done exploring this rabbit hole, but if you know of any others, I may just check them out. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in an attempt to fit the character. These choices might not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Let's get into the build for Giovanna from Guilty Gear!
GIOVANNA
CHARACTER Giovanna
SOURCE Guilty Gear
BUILD GOALS
o An officer in a US special operations unit that originally hails from Brazil, she fights alongside Rei, a spiritual canine that empowers her
o While highly skilled and capable, she comes across as lazy and irreverent
o Rei is able to possess Giovanna to enhance her speed and strength. Uniquely, as Gio’s Tension Gauge fills, she increases both her damage and resistance
o Fights utilizing acrobatics skills and incredible speed to rush down opponents, delivering powerful kicks
o Sepultura is a roundhouse kick that she performs while moving forward
o Trovao has her perform a lunging attack that cancels projectiles
o Sol Nascente is a cartwheel kick that starts low and then is able to strike down opponents in the air
o On the other hand, Sol Poente is an aerial kick that she can use to evade low attacks
o With Ventania, Gio performs a handstand as she spins, kicking out with both her legs like a top
o Finally, Tempestrade is a fast divekick where Gio descends from midair and can be used to launch foes skyward
o Her hobby is moongazing, possibly in reference to the werewolf-like traits that she possesses
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Versatile Human – Fleet
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition
Background: Guard
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (trained), Legal Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Coercion
Class & Subclass: Monk
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Religion (trained), Society (trained)
o Class Feat: Ki Strike, Wolf Stance
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12)
This first block is fairly simple but provides a solid base for the rest of Giovanna’s build. The guard background to serves as a stand-in for her work as a special operations officer and she is generally built as a Dex-based monk to focus on her more acrobatic style. Wolf Stance fits her own primal sort of stance and is going to serve as an initial reference to Rei. Meanwhile, Ki Strike from her Natural Ambition feat allows her to power up her attacks, leaning into the increased power that her Tension Gauge grants her. Fitting her role as a rush-down character who makes use of inhuman speed, Giovanna picks up Fleet from her heritage and will further expound upon that concept with the movement capabilities of the monk.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Undead Master Dedication – Ghost
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Gear: everburning torch
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Adopted Ancestry – Lizardfolk
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), everburning torch, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Mature Beastmaster Companion
o Skill Feat: Steady Balance
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), wondrous figurine (onyx dog), everburning torch
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str 16, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14)
o Ancestry Feat: Guided by the Stars
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, broken tusk pendant (wolf), wondrous figurine (onyx dog), everburning torch, cloak of feline rest
The conceit of building Giovanna is that she’s yet another redhead with a wolf companion, but as Rei is a spirit, she will be represented as a ghost companion gained through the Undead Master Dedication. Typically this archetype requires the evil alignment, but that’s dumb. As such, I’m ignoring it. She will be taking feats throughout this build to continually enhance Rei’s combat ability, such as Mature Beastmaster Companion, and to aid her in fighting. As an unarmed combatant from a fighting game with a focus on grace and dexterous fighting, Gio is going to mainly focus on Acrobatics and Athletics for both her skill increases and her skill feats. Taking the Adopted Ancestry feat for lizardfolk makes no sense from a flavor standpoint, but there are mechanical reasons that she takes it, which is first explored through Guided by the Stars. This feat, and others like it, are entirely based on the flavor of Gio’s hobby being moongazing.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Deflect Arrows
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), ghost touch weapon rune, bracelet of dashing, Jack’s tattered cape, wondrous figurine (onyx dog)
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o First Path to Perfection: Reflex (master)
o Gear: ring of the ram, +1 explorer’s clothing, boots of elvenkind, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, broken tusk pendant (wolf)
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Incredible Beastmaster’s Companion – Nimble
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: boots of bounding, spiritsight ring, ring of the ram, +1 explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), ghost touch weapon rune
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Consult the Stars
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, cloak of elvenkind, bag of holding (type II), ring of the ram, boots of elvenkind, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str 18, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o Class Feat: Guardian Ghosts
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, flaming weapon rune, boots of bounding, ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
Gio’s Trovao is able to cancel out projectiles launched by her opponents and that ability translates over to the Deflect Arrows feat, allowing her to potentially negate ranged attacks. Matching her master, Rei will focus on her Dexterity over her Strength with the ability increase from this block. Guardian Ghosts grants her an additional reaction to reduce damage, representing the increased defense provided by her filling Tension Gauge. She continues to focus on Acrobatics and Athletics skill feat, including the always-useful Kip Up feat. Incredible Initiative further builds into her style as a rush-down fighter, hopefully letting her get a drop on her adversaries. Consult the Stars further plays into her moongazing hobby.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Second Path to Perfection: Fortitude (master)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), armbands of athleticism, collar of empathy, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of bounding, bag of holding (type II)
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Wolf Drag
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), daredevil boots, armbands of athleticism, flaming weapon rune, greater rhinoceros mask
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Hardy Traveler
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater goggles of night, daredevil boots, armbands of athleticism, collar of empathy
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Specialized Beastmaster Companion – Bully
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Gear: greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater quick runner’s shirt, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, daredevil boots, greater demon mask
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 18, Dex 21, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 18)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary), Occultism (trained)
o Third Path to Perfection: Reflex (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of speed, greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater goggles of night, bag of holding (type III)
In place of launching foes upward like Tempestrade or Sepultura, Gio will make use of the Wolf Drag feat to put foes in the dirt while also increasing the chance of her inflicting more damage on a crit. Rei specializes into bully so that she can better harass and debilitate foes, leaving them vulnerable for Gio. With Acrobatics and Athletics topped off for the moment, Gio next focuses on Intimidation and feats to enhance that so that she can lower foe’s defenses before delivering her strikes. Feather Step is probably the general feat that feels the most appropriate for this block given how nimble Gio is.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Flinging Blow
o Skill Feat: Nimble Crawl
o Gear: dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater horseshoes of speed, greater ring of the ram, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater quick runner’s shirt
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Astrology
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), dragonscale amulet, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of speed, greater ring of the ram
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Flying Kick
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), speed weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Canny Acumen – Perception
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, anklets of alacrity, greater armbands of athleticism, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), dragonscale amulet, greater flaming weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 18, Dex 22, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Enduring Quickness
o Skill Feat: Terrifying Resistance
o Skill Increase: Stealth (trained)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, mercurial mantle, greater armbands of athleticism, major slick armor rune, greater talisman cord
Flinging Blow somewhat more directly resembles attacks such as Sepultura or other special attacks that knock foes backwards while Flying Kick is meant to take the place of Sol Poente and the actual attack aspect of Trovao. It matches nicely with her investment into jumping feats, such as the Cloud Jump in this block. Finally, with her speed and rush-down capabilities, Enduring Quickness makes the most sense for her capstone feat, leaving her permanently quickened so that she can Stride, Command an Animal, Flurry of Blows, and still Stride back out of danger. Saoc Astrology further plays into her hobby of moongazing and to represent Gio’s strangely keen sense of smell, she uses Canny Acumen to get master proficiency in Perception.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: This is another one of those builds with an obvious free archetype choice – that being the Undead Master Dedication. Not too much will change from this in regards to what archetype feats she’ll pick up aside from extra Specialized Companion feats to enhance Rei. She could also use Companion’s Cry if she wants to spend additional actions on Rei, but there aren’t many other feats she could use from it. Beyond this, Giovanna might consider the Acrobat Dedication and pick up options such as Dodge Away, Tumbling Strike, and Tumbling Opportunist. With the freed up feats from these archetypes, Gio takes Flying Kick earlier and also picks up Dodging Roll, Knockback Strike, and Improved Knockback. I was hoping that the monk has a feat to knock enemies out of the air like her Sol Nascente, but couldn’t find anything of the sort in the monk’s kit. Stand Still might be the closest, but it doesn’t actually take targets out of the air.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Despite some more animalistic characteristics, Rei is a human with the guard background to represent her position as an officer in a special operations unit. She fights unarmed, represented through her monk class, with an almost primal stance achieved through her Wolf Stance. Her spectral wolf companion Rei is represented not with the wolf companion but the ghost companion from the Undead Master Dedication. Her increasing offensive and defensive abilities from her filling Tension Gauge are represented by Ki Strike and Guardian Ghosts, which respectively boost her damage and grant her resistance. Her acrobatic fighting style seems to rely heavily on her kicks, and she specializes in close-ranged combat, which she achieves by charging opponents with breakneck speed from her Fleet feat and incredible movement as a monk. Several of her attacks involving rushing enemies and then delivering strikes, which she can manage easily with her great speed in conjunction with her Flurry of Blows action. The projectile-cancelling aspect of Trovao is achieved through the use of the Deflect Arrows feat while her aerial strikes, such as Sol Poente and Tempestrade. The knockback effect of several of her moves is captured with Flinging Blow though Knockback could also work. The rapid-fire attacks of Ventania is met best simply by spending her full round attacking – up to four attacks thanks to Flurry of Blows. At level 20, she can even move and make her four attacks, which will all be agile, thanks to the traits of her wolf jaws Strikes. Finally, in regard to her moongazing hobby, Giovanna takes Astrology from her human ancestry as well as Guided by the Stars and Consult the Stars from her lizardfolk adopted ancestry.
Lemme know what you think and if there's any other particular 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 are trying to get some milestones made up for. Barring the discovery of any further redheads with wolf pets, I'm back to my regular FBF schedule next week, which means I'll be building a legendary switch hitter.
Have a fantastic Friday!
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