Full Build Friday - Hellboy

I want to round out the season of slayers with one of the real GOATs of the genre, one that doesn't limit himself to hunting only a single type of creature. 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.

Be sure to check out my video on Hellboy if that's more your speed!

Dive into the depths to check out our hellacious hero and hunter of horrors, Hellboy from, well, Hellboy!

HELLBOY

CHARACTER Anung Un Rama

SOURCE Hellboy

BUILD GOALS

o    The result of a union between a human witch and a demonic father, his right hand was replaced with a heavy, stone forearm called the Right Hand of Doom

o    He was summoned to Earth, where he was adopted by paranormal researcher Trevor Bruttenholm

o    His father taught him about a wide variety of supernatural and paranormal subjects, which aided him when he became an agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense

o    He’s fought everything from werewolves to nazis to mythological creatures and even minor deities

o    Typically armed with a heavy handgun though he also quite capably wields his fists. He also carries a vast array of charms, trinkets, and even some mundane items such as grenades

o    Also briefly wielded Excalibur

o    Has demonstrated resistance if not outright immunity to fire and can manipulate hellfire in some capacity

Summary of Goals: Hellboy appears to be a big brawler but he wields a wide arsenal of supersized fist, firearm, esoteric trinkets, grenades, and even the occasional sword. He applies these to the most effect by drawing upon his vast knowledge of occult and paranormal subjects, combining know-how with brute force. I also want to mix all of that in with his demonic nature and powers even if he constantly defies the expectations of his heritage.

LEVEL 1 

Ancestry & Heritage: Nephilim Orc

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Charisma

o    Ancestry Feat: Faultspawn

Background: Cursed

o    Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (T), Curse Lore (T)

o    Background Feature: Warding Sign

Class & Subclass: Weapon Implement Thaumaturge

o    Class Ability Boost: +Charisma

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Arcana (T), Athletics (T), Intimidation (T), Esoteric Lore (T), Nature (T), Religion (T), Society (T)

o    Class Feat: Ammunition Thaumaturgy

o    Gear: air repeater, longsword, studded leather armor

Details

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

To start with, I want to use the orc ancestry to represent some of the innate toughness and brawn that Hellboy demonstrates. There’s going to be more to that later, but for the time being, he’s going to use his Nephilim heritage to take the Faultspawn feat. This gives him a nice little reaction to ward off effects from his foes, like he has a trinket prepared to counter it, but is honestly kind of another set-up pick. I feel like the cursed background fits in nicely with some of the feelings he holds towards the Right Hand of Doom he’s been saddled with. It also gives him a slightly more potent but slightly more limited reaction akin to the one that he gains from Faultspawn. That leaves us with his class and while I was originally looking at building him as a gunslinger, he notes that is actually a terrible shot and gunslingers are anything but. With that in mind, I decided to switch up and build him as a thaumaturge, which I had originally been considering for an archetype anyway. He’ll start off with a weapon implement to get his trusty handgun though to represent it, I have him taking up an air repeater. This is for mechanical purposes and I think if you actually want to better represent his heavy pistols, I’d consider a jezail or big boom gun. But the repeating and agile traits of the repeater works very well with the thaumaturge, letting him proc the weakness from his Exploit Vulnerability more frequently. To work alongside his usage of firearms, he will naturally take Ammunition Thaumaturgy.

Level 1 Helboy, Page 1

Level 1 Hellboy, Page 2

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Gunslinger Dedication – Way of the Pistolero

o    Skill Feat: Root Magic

o    Skill Increase: Deception (T)

o    Gear: psychopomp mask

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Iron Fists

o    Skill Increase: Esoteric Lore (E), Occultism (E)

o    Gear: +1 air repeater, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Basic Shooting – Munitions Crafter

o    Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting, Unmistakable Lore

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (T)

o    Gear: pendant of the occult, +1 air repeater, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), psychopomp mask

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +4.5)

o    Ancestry Feat: Towering Presence

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (E)

o    Second Implement: Fire Wand

o    Gear: +1 striking air repeater, pendant of the occult, greater stalk goggles, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), psychopomp mask, ring of discretion

While I shied away from using it as his base class, I do think a Gunslinger Dedication suits Hellboy nicely and will provide him with Munitions Crafter, so that he can make the grenades (bombs) and ammunition that he makes plentiful use of. He’s going to be focusing on his knowledge skills to start with, taking Root Magic first so that he can use his trinkets and charms to protect his companions and then picking up Unmistakable Lore so that he doesn’t critically fail Lore checks. He’ll get two ancestry feats this block by using Ancestral Paragon to take Iron Fists, which I honestly wanted to take at first level, but the lineage feat had to come first. This was one of the feats that sold me on using the orc ancestry and is an early step towards representing his Right Hand of Doom. He also gets Towering Presence. Per my research, Hellboy is actually able to increase his size, such as when he faced off against behemoth and leviathan in the comics where he grew in size to better battled them. For his second implement, he’ll take a wand that comes with the ability to Fling Magic, launching flames at his foes to resemble his ability to manipulate and conjure hellfire.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Esoteric Warden

o    Skill Feat: Cognitive Crossover – Esoteric Lore and Occultism

o    Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking air repeater, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), pendant of the occult, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Fast Recovery

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (M)

o    Implement Adept: Weapon

o    Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 leather, corpseward pendant, +1 striking air repeater, pendant of the occult, handwraps of mighty blows (+1)

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Cursed Effigy

o    Skill Feat: Disturbing Knowledge

o    Gear: boots of bounding, spiritsight ring, lesser grub gloves, +1 leather, +1 striking air repeater, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Nephilim Resistance – Fire

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (E), Crafting (E)

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, ethersight ring, lesser grub gloves, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), +1 striking air repeater

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +4.5, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +5)

o    Class Feat: Divine Disharmony

o    Skill Feat: Break Curse

o    Gear: guise of the smirking devil, +1 resilient leather, flaming weapon rune, boots of bounding, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), +1 striking air repeater

While he has a number of reactions already in his arsenal to save him from ill effects conjured by his foes, I still want him to take Esoteric Warden as an additional protective option. Notably, the bonus this provides is a status bonus, which means it would stack with the circumstance bonuses of those aforementioned reactions. He switches things up a bit, going on the offensive with Cursed Effigy to afflict his enemies with a penalty on saving throws against his thaumaturge effects, such as his Fling Magic. Divine Disharmony similarly plays into that idea, making enemies more susceptible to his attacks this time while also playing into his nature as a demon-slaying demon. He picks up a slew of Occultism feats such as the ability to swap between Esoteric Lore and Occultism when one fails him. Disturbing Knowledge gives him another means of debuffing enemies while Break Curse will let him use the assortment of equipment that he’s picked up to hopefully free his friends from their curses. Fast Recovery works for the minor healing factor he demonstrates every now and again whereas Nephilim Resistance gives him some resistance to fire damage.

Level 10 Hellboy, Page 1

Level 10 Hellboy, Page 2

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Second Adept Implement: Wand

o    Gear: +2 striking air repeater, guise of the smirking devil, armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Advanced Shooting – Munitions Machinist

o    Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking air repeater, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), guise of the smirking devil, flaming weapon rune, brooch of inspiration

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Bloody Blows

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (E)

o    Gear: +2 greater striking air repeater, +2 resilient leather, greater brooch of inspiration, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), guise of the smirking devil, armbands of athleticism

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Golem Grafter Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Terrifying Resistance

o    Gear: hellfire boots, +2 greater striking air repeater, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient leather, greater demon mask, talisman cord

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +5.5)

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Occultism (L)

o    Third Implement: Regalia

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, hellfire boots, greater ring of the ram, +2 greater striking air repeater, greater brooch of inspiration, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking)

Through Munitions Machinist, Hellboy will be able to make bombs on the fly as he learns about the weaknesses of his enemies, but it has the added benefit of giving him a second gunslinger feat, which clears the way for him to take a Golem Grater Dedication. This is an odd choice and I can understand any confusion that it may cause. However, aside from providing him with some nice defenses – physical resistance and extra HP – it will let him take a more appropriate feat in a few levels. While Hellboy is a big guy, he often finds himself contending with even larger foes, which would make the likes of Titan Wrestler a handy little bonus for him. Terrifying Resistance doesn’t stack with his reactions, but it’s still handy for those times when he wants to save his reaction for Implement’s Interruption. He enhances his general physicality through the inclusion of Toughness and Fleet, and also works in Bloody Blows to make his unarmed attacks a little more potent. He doesn’t want the second elemental damage type from the adept implement of his wand, but the array of other effects that it provides are handy and plentiful. For his third implement, I’d use regalia largely based on the fiery crown of apocalypse that periodically forms over his head.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Accursed Clay Fist

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Professional

o    Gear: greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater midday lantern, hellfire boots, +2 greater striking air repeater, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking)

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Divine Declaration

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (L), Religion (E)

o    Implement Paragon: Wand

o    Gear: +3 greater striking air repeater, greater flaming weapon rune, greater cape of illumination, +2 greater resilient leather, hellfire boots, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking)

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Intense Implement

o    Skill Feat: Consult the Spirits – Occultism

o    Gear: cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking air repeater, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater midday lantern

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Robust Health

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (M)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, cloak of swiftness, major brooch of inspiration, +3 greater striking air repeater, greater flaming weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking)

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +4, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +6)

o    Class Feat: Wonder Worker

o    Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess

o    Skill Increase: Survival (T)

o    Gear: +3 major striking air repeater, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, major brooch of inspiration, quickstrike weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking)

Thanks to our golem grafter archetype, we can kick this block off with the Accursed Clay Fist, representing his classic red right hand by giving it a powerful punch though one not quite as agile. He follows that with Intense Implement because I think that the regalia honestly has a really fantastic adept effect and lets him rally the troops. After that, he doesn’t have access to a ton of thaumaturge capstones, so you could maybe reach back for something older, but I do think that Wonder Worker functions decently enough, especially if you envision it as him calling upon the leftover magic of his relics to bring such effects into light. With this skill feats, I liked starting with Legendary Professional given the work that he does with the BPRD. Consults the Spirits can reflect the time that he called upon Ivan in the first film, and then Intimidating Prowess will help out when he finds himself faced with a foe that can’t understand him, and lets him bring his bulk to bear. He rounds out the block with Robust Health, providing him with another way to reflect that enhanced healing that he has.

Level 20 Hellboy, Page 1

Level 20 Hellboy, Page 2

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: The two archetypes that this build already uses are probably the best ones for Hellboy though gunslinger is certainly more so than golem grafter is. By exploring that initial archetype further, he could use a number of the reload-based feats, including Practiced Reloads, but could also likely take advantage of the likes of Sword and Pistol. You could perhaps justify the inclusion of Quicken Heartbeat from the golem grafter, but I’m not sure the others really suit him.

BUILD CONCLUSION

The so-called Hellboy is a nephilim orc thaumaturge who wields a weapon implement and has a cursed background. That nephilim heritage and its Faultspawn lineage calls to mind his fiendish father while the Right Hand of Doom given to him by said father is initially represented through Iron Fists before he upgrades it with Accursed Clay Fist. The thaumaturge works nicely to reflect the knowledge he gained from his adopted father as well as all the practical experience he's gained, giving him all the Esoteric Lore he could need in his profession. The Exploit Vulnerability of his class also means that he's always got the right tools on the job to handle whatever foes he faces before we expand into a Gunslinger Dedication given one of the weapons that he's best known for. Honestly, the fact that Dexterity isn't his primary ability score kind of plays in nicely with his whole not actually being a good shot thing, so I'm not too mad about that. He wields a variety of trinkets and tools to counter the evils he faces as we see with his Warding Sign, Root Magic, and Esoteric Warden. He'll end up making his own grenades and even ammunition through Munitions Crafter and Machinist and keeps up his Strength to wield a variety of weapons. Nephilim Resistance provides him some protection against fire, Towering Presence will give him the ability to increase his size, and the wand implement provides him with a way to launch hellfire at foes should they prove too unruly.

Formed from a fiendish, forebear this friendly but foreboding fellow faces foul foes and forces with fantastic flair - fielding firearms with finesse though favoring a fearsome fist.

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. With out seasons of slayers complete, next week is a remastered request that I have yet to really put to ink, but one that should certainly suit the upcoming Halloween.

Have a fantastic Friday!