Based on the votes, Reinhardt is the first FBF to get remastered! There were some big changes made visiting this build that make me very happy with how it turned out. 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.
You can check out the video for the character over here on YouTube - and if you check out the community page, the next vote is up!
Let's get into the build for Reinhardt from Overwatch!
REINHARDT
CHARACTER Reinhardt Wilhelm
SOURCE Overwatch
BUILD GOALS
o Reinhardt is a towering tank, meaning he reduces knockbacks and damage from critical hits
o His main weapon is the Rocket Hammer, a melee weapon that deals damage in a wide arc
o He can deploy a Barrier Field that slows him down but creates a wall that absorbs damage, preventing attacks from passing through it
o He can Charge at enemies, grabbing hold of those that come in his path and bringing them along. If he slams them into a wall, he damages them
o Fire Strike launches a flaming projectile from his rocket hammer, damaging enemies struck by it
o His final ability is Earthshatter, which has him slam down his hammer while knocking down and damaging all enemies in front of him
o He went into the army after school and joined the Crusaders, a unit of power-armored soldiers, before eventually taking up his mentor’s place in Overwatch where he served with distinction
o He was eventually forced to retire and spent time as a wandering hero before the recall of heroes
Summary of Goals: Reinhardt lives for the frontlines and keeping enemies off of his allies as seen by his shield to guard them and his charge to pull enemies away. His blows are powerful enough shake the earth and drive his foes to the ground.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Versatile Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Constitution
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Skill
o General Feat: Adopted Ancestry – Dwarf
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (trained), Performance (trained)
Background: Martial Disciple
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained), Warfare Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Jump
Class & Subclass: Fighter
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Crafting (trained), Medicine (trained), Society (trained)
o Class Feat: Sudden Charge
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +2)
We’re taking the opportunity to revisit a build for Wilhelm Reinhardt and we’ve got some nice changes thanks to the remaster and just some other additions to the game. We’re going for a bit of a funky start – while Reinhardt remains human, he’s going to use his Adopted Ancestry and choose dwarf for this option. This might reflect his friendship with Torbjorn (the man is clearly styled after a dwarf) and his closeness with the man’s family. Rather than dipping straight into it, he’s gonna be a little lacking in skills to start out but he can shore that up a bit with Natural Skill to become trained in Diplomacy and Performance, which represent his genial and friendly nature as well as his love for telling stories. Not to overuse the background, but martial disciple serves to reflect his service in the armed forces as well as his time with the Crusaders, which really wasn’t all that different. He’s a bigger guy who largely relies on his Strength, and as such leans towards the Athletics training and Quick Jump that offers. There was some discussion on going champion for him, but the fighter offers a number of options that better fit the character – even if I hate using fighter for the second week in a row. Things are looking pretty standard here with a Sudden Charge that is somewhat reflective of his Charge though the Shove action also gives him a way to push enemies around and comes with movement, which is why this build will be exploring that more as we get into it.
One immediate change that has come up is itemization. The original build for Reinhardt used a warhammer and a maul so that he could switch between shield and two-handing his hammer, which was never efficient, but now he can simply take up an earthbreaker. This sacrifices some damage, but will allow Reinhardt to release his shield, put both hands on his earthbreaker, and go to town.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Brutish Shove
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: +1 earthbreaker, psychopomp mask, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Powerful Shove
o Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Folktale Lore
o Skill Increase: Folktale Lore (expert)
o Gear: glasses of sociability, +1 earthbreaker, fortress plate, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +1, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +3)
o Ancestry Feat: Unburdened Iron
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (expert)
o Weapon Mastery: Hammer
o Gear: +1 striking earthbreaker, glasses of sociability, golden legion epaulet, fortress plate, psychopomp mask, cloak of feline rest
As promised, we’re exploring Shove options to cover Reinhardt’s Charge as we see with this block’s Brutish Shove and Powerful Shove. The first of these two fighter feats will allow Reinhardt to Shove with his earthbreaker while wielding it two-handed. His weapon’s shove trait will come in handy here though regrettably, Brutish Shove does have the press trait, which means he must have an attack penalty. Powerful Shove will supply the damage of Reinhardt’s Charge, allowing him to deal Strength damage whenever he Shoves an enemy into an obstacle. It will also allow him to Shove larger creatures while Titan Wrestler will allow him to perform combat maneuvers against other large foes – such as the omnics he’s faced. Given his love, some may say obsession, with stories, Additional Lore for Folktale Lore felt like a must-have on this character and if this build wasn’t already archetype-hungry, a Storyteller Dedication might not be out of place. Fleet comes in as his general feat at third level, which might seem a bit strange but it helps offset the penalty from heavy armor and the tower shield though his Unburdened Iron ancestry feat, taken from his Adopted Ancestry, is even better for the former of those burdens. This will serve to make him deceptively swift, which works nicely for his Charge. Naturally, he’ll become a master of his hammer for his weapon mastery group.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Swipe
o Skill Feat: Armor Assist
o Gear: +1 fortress plate, +1 striking earthbreaker, minor reinforcing tower shield, glasses of sociability, necklace of knives, brooch of shielding
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master), Folktale Lore (master)
o Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 fortress plate, diplomat’s badge, +1 striking earthbreaker, golden legion epaulet, bracelet of dashing
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Shield Warden
o Skill Feat: Hefty Hauler
o Gear: lesser reinforcing tower shield, aim-aiding armor rune, lesser grub gloves, +1 fortress plate, +1 striking earthbreaker, lifting belt
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Multitalented – Champion Dedication (Grandeur Cause)
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (master), Intimidation (trained), Religion (trained)
o Combat Flexibility: Devoted Guardian
o Gear: +1 resilient fortress plate, lesser reinforcing tower shield, clockwork heels, lesser grub gloves, diplomat’s badge, +1 striking earthbreaker
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +4)
o Class Feat: Basic Devotion – Deity’s Domain (Fire)
o Skill Feat: Shameless Request
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient fortress plate, thundering weapon rune, lesser reinforcing tower shield, aim-aiding armor rune, +1 striking earthbreaker
In Overwatch, Reinhardt’s wide swings with his Rocket Hammer hit in an arc so while his earthbreaker doesn’t have the sweep trait, he’ll still take Swipe to make it easier for him to Strike out against grouped up enemies. Shield Warden and Devoted Guardian, from his combat flexibility class feature, cover the use of his Barrier Field to protect his allies but then he takes a slight detour. One of the reasons to stick with human for Reinhardt is the Multitalented ancestry feat, which will allow him to take up a Champion Dedication. Already having heavy armor and the like, the major benefit here is getting trained in some skills and opening up future options, such as Basic Devotion. Through this, Reinhardt can take Deity’s Domain for the fire domain, which will grant him access to fire ray. While only happening once per fight, this will let the build emulate Reinhardt’s Fire Strike, which was completely absent from the premaster build as I was still learning the system. Armor Assist helps Reinhardt get into that big ol’ armor of his while Hefty Hauler helps him carry it along with the rest of his kit. Toughness makes him even tankier, giving him a hearty pool of Hit Points that the enemies will have to work through – presuming they can make it past his armor in the first place.
As a note for gear, one of the entrench heavy armors was suggested by Time2Dice on the Monster Monday Discord (check out his YT channel!) for turns where Reinhardt can’t regrip his shield and I thought it to be a fantastic idea. Reinhardt takes up fortress plate mainly because he comes from a shooter but if you’re facing more melee enemies in your game, there’s no reason not to go for bastion plate – though its hindering trait will sneak past him Unburdened Iron to slow him down.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Robust Health
o Skill Increase: Warfare Lore (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking earthbreaker, armbands of athleticism, bravery baldric (haste), +1 resilient fortress plate, clockwork heels, lesser reinforcing tower shield
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Advanced Devotion – Devoted Guardian
o Skill Feat: Bon Mot
o Gear: +2 resilient fortress plate, +2 striking earthbreaker, moderate reinforcing tower shield, armbands of athleticism, greater rhinoceros mask, thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Heroes’ Call//Mountain Stoutness
o Skill Increase: Warfare Lore (master)
o Weapon Legend: Hammer
o Gear: +2 greater striking earthbreaker, +2 resilient fortress plate, bracers of devotion, moderate reinforcing tower shield, armbands of athleticism, bravery baldric (haste)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Mauler Dedication
o Skill Feat: Battle Planner
o Gear: greater reinforcing tower shield, +2 greater striking earthbreaker, moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient fortress plate, impactful weapon rune, dinosaur boots
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +5.5, Dex +2, Con +4.5, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +4.5)
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Improved Flexibility: Flinging Shove
o Gear: +2 greater resilient fortress plate, greater reinforcing tower shield, shockwave weapon rune, +2 greater striking earthbreaker, bracers of devotion, guardian shield
This build wants to dive into a new archetype, which means that he needs to take another feat from his champion archetype first. He can use an Advanced Devotion to get a permanent Devoted Guardian. At that point, you’ll want to start spending your combat flexibility on Dual-Handed Assault so that he can more easily switch to hit two-handed mode when the action economy gets tight. This block also gives him his improved flexibility, which will be used to pick up Flinging Shove so that he can launch his enemies further. Then he takes up his Mauler Dedication, which regrettably isn’t terribly useful to him – it will let him treat advanced 2-handed weapons as martial, but that’s kind of minor. This is mostly just set-up. Speaking of setting-up, he can use his Bon Mot, inspired by his quips such as the ingenious ‘Catchphrase!’ to set up his allies targeting the Will saves of his foes. He can also try to set up a plan of attack with Battle Planner – this is a bit of a gamble as his Perception will beat out his Warfare Lore but if he uses this and gets a fantastic roll, he can choose just to keep it. As a tank, Reinhardt can’t heal himself and must rely on others, which means Robust Health makes a bit more sense as his general feat. Diehard is his other general feat because Reinhardt is absolutely a man that refuses to go down, much less go quietly, and there was no way that this build was missing out on it. Rounding out this block, there’s two ancestry feats to consider. Mountain Stoutness is great if you want to play into Rein’s tankiness, giving him more HP and an easier recovery check, but better perhaps is Heroes’ Call. This simply allows him to cast heroism on himself once per day, but the flavor and idea of it is so perfect for this old soldier who keeps standing against all the awfulness of the world, driven simply by the desire to do good. It may also reflect his answering of Overwatch’s call.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Hammer Quake
o Skill Feat: No Cause for Alarm
o Gear: greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient fortress plate, greater boots of bounding, greater reinforcing tower shield, +2 greater striking earthbreaker, moderate grub gloves
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Heroic Presence
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking earthbreaker, greater flaming weapon rune, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient fortress plate, shockwave weapon rune, greater reinforcing tower shield
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Dual-Handed Assault
o Skill Feat: Legendary Negotiation
o Gear: avalanche boots, +3 greater striking earthbreaker, major reinforcing tower shield, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient fortress plate, greater ring of the ram
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Improvised Repair
o Skill Increase: Warfare Lore (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient fortress plate, avalanche boots, greater impactful weapon rune, +3 greater striking earthbreaker, greater flaming weapon rune, greater thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +6, Dex +2, Con +5, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +5)
o Class Feat: Boundless Reprisals
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: +3 major striking earthbreaker, +3 greater resilient fortress plate, greater fortification armor rune, avalanche boots, major reinforcing tower shield, quickstrike weapon rune
From the mauler archetype, Reinhardt can take Hammer Quake, which will grant him the area knockdown effect of his Earthshatter, though admittedly not quite as expansive of an area. It comes with a Strike so that he can lay down some damage while he does it. Again, he picks up another feat that he was using for combat flexibility, this time taking Dual-Handed Assault for the same reasons that he would take it for combat flexibility. He can start swapping choices such as Quick Shield Block there though that becomes less necessary as he takes Boundless Reprisals for his capstone feat, ensuring that he’ll have plentiful reactions for Reactive Strikes or Shield Blocks – and with Shield Warden, he can use those blocks for his team. From his skill feat, he demonstrates his heroism with No Cause for Alarm to calm down frightened civilians – or his own greenhorn teammates. Alternatively, he can try to calm down enemies with Legendary Negotiation, brokering for peace and encouraging them to seek a better path. His ancestry feats gets into as well with Heroic Presence allowing him to bolster himself and his allies while Improvised Repair lets him patch up his shield to take one last hit.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: For this character, a free archetype game is a substantial increase in power for our burly brawler, letting him take either of his archetypes sooner as well as reducing his need to choose between Heroes’ Call and Mountain Stoutness. From mauler, he can grab options like Vicious Swing or even Slam Down and Crashing Slam to target a single enemy with his Earthshatter. Some other champion feats include Defensive Advance as well as Devout Blessing to cause his shield to scale without needing to get the equipment for it.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Reinhardt is a versatile human fighter with the martial disciple background – which sounds a little too similar to the last character I built but has a host of differences. This background covers his time spent in the army as well as the Crusaders before he joined Overwatch. He is a tank of a character, which he demonstrates with feats such as Toughness and Diehard though fighter also provides him with heavy armor and its specialization to reflect his Crusader armor and the protection that it grants. His association with dwarves, such as Torbjorn, grants him Unburdened Iron so that he can more easily maneuver in this shroud of steel. He wields an earthbreaker to represent his Rocket Hammer and uses Swipe to cover its wide, sweeping blows. Taking up a shield is a step in representing his Barrier Field, but Shield Warden and Devoted Guardian allow him to properly protect his allies with his it, an effort that is further enhanced by Boundless Reprisals ensuring that he has the reactions to keep them safe. While he starts with a Sudden Charge, his Charge ability is actually best represented through the simple Shove action, which he enhances with Brutish Shove, Powerful Shove, and his investment in Athletics. As well as a Flinging Shove if you take that up with combat flexibility. By delving into a Champion Dedication, he can to take up Deity’s Domain to gain fire ray, giving him a ranged spell that resembles his Fire Strike. Rounding out his abilities is Hammer Quake, which allows him to knock down enemies in an area to set them up for his allies, as per his Earthshatter.
With no signs of ceasing or slowing his service, this spirited soldier serves as a staunch and sturdy safeguard, supporting his squad with sundering strikes that shatter the stances of scoundrels.
Let me know what you think and what other builds you would like to see - in particular, head over to the YT or Discord to vote on which build should be remastered next!
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. I'm fulfilling another request next week that's sure to rattle you
Have a fantastic Friday!
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