Full Build Friday - Rillaboom

I'm finishing up Ape-ril with a build that might prove a bit controversial. I've built Pokemon before, but usually for Monster Monday, so this is a little odd. But I had some friends suggest it and the people on the Discord seemed to be open to it, so I tried to give it a shot. 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.

I've got a fun little video that you can check out on the rillaboom if that's more your speed.

Let's get into the build for Rillaboom from the Pokemon franchise!

RILLABOOM

SOURCE Pokémon Franchise

BUILD GOALS

o    This is a grass-type Pokémon known as the ‘Drummer Pokémon’

o    Carries a drum made from a stump on its back and drumsticks in its cuffs. Beating the drum can control the roots extending from it

o    The Overgrow ability powers up its grass moves when its health is low and the Grassy Surge ability creates grassy terrain whenever Rillaboom enters the battlefield

o    Is able to enter a Gigantamax form, growing to immense proportions

o    The signature move of Rillaboom is Drum Beating, which summons roots that thrash enemies and lower their speed

o    He can unleash Razor Leaves or summon a Wood Hammer to deal heavy damage while also taking some damage himself

o    Aside from heavy physical attacks, he also has a number of sound-based moves that can damage or debilitate enemies, such as Boomburst and Screech

Summary of Goals: Rillaboom is a powerful combatant with a focus on the physical side of things while still being able to control plant life and foliage. It is also a capable performer, using its music to harm or weaken foes. It can become a gigantic version of itself, turning its single drum into a full kit.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Ardande Awakened Animal

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

o    Ancestry Feat: Springsoul

Background: Musical Prodigy

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Strength

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

o    Background Feat: Virtuosic Performer – Percussion

Class & Subclass: Wood Element Instinct Barbarian

o    Class Ability Boost: +Strength

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Athletics (T), Intimidation (T), Nature (T)

o    Class Feat: Raging Intimidation

o    Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare

Details

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

We start off with the awakened animal ancestry to represent Rillaboom’s ape-like form but dip into the ardande heritage based on the grass typing of the Pokémon. This leads to it gaining the Springsoul ancestry feat, which will allow it to cast tangle vine on foes and reduce their Speed – which is inspired by the slowing effect of Drum Beating. On the topic of its drums, it uses the musical prodigy background and obviously picks percussion for the Virtuosic Performer to get a bonus when its banging on its drums. Despite the music this manic monkey manages, it’s going to use the barbarian class. From this, it gains the element instinct and settles on the wood element, which further represents its attachment to nature and the grass-typing. With abilities such as Screech in its movelist, it’ll want to use Raging Intimidation so that it can Demoralize while Raging and cause enemies’ defense to drop. Also, it's coming in a little early, but I have the Rillaboom wielding an earthbreaker to reference the Wood Hammer move.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Wild Mimic Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Combat Climber

o    Skill Increase: Wild Mimic Lore (T)

o    Gear: rhythm bone

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Ancestral Paragon – Grove-Harbored

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (E)

o    Gear: +1 earthbreaker, rhythm bone, mudlily

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Gorilla Stance

o    Skill Feat: Fascinating Performance

o    Gear: cloak of gnawing leaves, +1 earthbreaker, purifying spoon (ladle), rhythm bone

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +2, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +1)

o    Ancestry Feat: Late Awakener – Climbing Animal

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (E)

o    Gear: +1 striking earthbreaker, cloak of gnawing leaves, captivating rosebud, purifying spoon (ladle), rhythm bone, mudlily

By dipping into the Wild Mimic Dedication, we can slip Gorilla Stance into the build, which will represent moves such as Slam or Endeavor. Combat Climber is meant to reference the simian shape of this Pokémon, allowing it to climb with greater ease whereas Fascinating Performance is just a nod towards its drum playing and trying to expand on that – though it’s worth noting that it can’t use the Perform action while it’s Raging so it has the concentrate trait. It gains two ancestry feats thanks to the use of the Ancestral Paragon feat, which grants a bonus on wood-based effects to reference the fact that Grass-type creatures are resistant to other Grass moves. Its other pick-up is Late Awakener, an ancestry feat that lets it reclaim the full benefit of a heritage it didn’t gain due to taking a versatile heritage instead. Naturally, our apiary ape will be a Climbing Animal and add that climb Speed to its arsenal.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Primal Proportions

o    Skill Feat: Lead Climber

o    Gear: +1 wooden breastplate, +1 striking earthbreaker, lifting belt, cloak of gnawing leaves, purifying spoon (ladle), flask of fellowship

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Gear: warcaller’s chime of blasting, +1 wooden breastplate, guiding cajon drum, +1 striking earthbreaker, cloak of gnawing leaves, captivating rosebud

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Kineticist Dedication – Wood Element

o    Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess

o    Skill Increase: Survival (T)

o    Gear: cloak of thirsty fronds, ring of the ram, warcaller’s chime of blasting, +1 wooden breastplate, +1 striking earthbreaker, lifting belt

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Kizidhar Magic

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (M)

o    Gear: +1 resilient wooden breastplate, cloak of thirsty fronds, boots of bounding, warcaller’s chime of blasting, guiding cajon drum, +1 striking earthbreaker

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +2, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +2)

o    Class Feat: Through the Gate – Hail of Splinters

o    Skill Feat: Battle Cry

o    Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient wooden breastplate, thundering weapon rune, cloak of thirsty fronds, warcaller’s chime of blasting, +1 striking earthbreaker

To reference the Gigantamax feature, Rillaboom takes the Primal Proportions feat from its wild mimic archetype. This feat will allow the Rillaboom to grow to Large and eventually Huge sizes. With those archetype feats under its belt, Rillaboom can take a Kineticist Dedication with the wood element to delve deeper into its Grass typing. It follows that with Through the Gate for Hail of Splinters, the piercing damage bringing it closer to the concept of Razor Leaf. Intimidating Prowess and Battle Cry will help pull off those debuffing sonic-based moves such as Screech. The latter is especially handy because who has the actions to waste on non-damaging moves? Toughness helps get its HP up there whereas Kizidhar Magic features entangling flora, another slowing effect that could resemble that aspect of its Drum Beating.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Incredible Initiative

o    Skill Increase: Performance (E)

o    Gear: +2 striking earthbreaker, armbands of athleticism, greater crushing weapon rune, +1 resilient wooden breastplate, cloak of thirsty fronds, boots of bounding

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Roar Mimicry

o    Skill Feat: Talent Envy

o    Gear: +2 resilient wooden breastplate, +2 striking earthbreaker, standard of the primeval howl, armbands of athleticism, warcaller’s chime of refuge, thundering weapon rune

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Wooden Mantle

o    Skill Increase: Performance (M)

o    Gear: +2 greater striking earthbreaker, +2 resilient wooden breastplate, lacquered waist drum, standard of the primeval howl, armbands of athleticism, arboreal boots

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Expert Kinetic Control

o    Skill Feat: Quick Jump

o    Gear: 13, +2 greater striking earthbreaker, cloak of devouring thorns, +2 resilient wooden breastplate, dinosaur boots, standard of the primeval howl

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5.5, Dex +2, Con +4.5, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +3)

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (L)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient wooden breastplate, shockwave weapon rune, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking earthbreaker, lacquered waist drum, greater gate attenuator

Rillaboom dips back into the wild mimic for Roar Mimicry to get an area sonic effect inspired by the likes of Uproar and Boomburst. On the other hand, Expert Kinetic Control is just about increasing his baseline effectiveness, which is actually the reasoning behind taking Quick Jump as well. Talent Envy is a nice intersection of several of the Rillaboom’s features, such as its slight focus on Intimidation and the fact that it already has its Virtuosic Performer skill feat. The Rillaboom also features a decent speed stat, inspiring the use of Incredible Initiative and Fleet among its general feats. Wooden Mantle grants a casting of mantle of the unwavering heart, which is a fun spell. I like the mantle spells as they provide an array of potential benefits and this does that while also being on theme.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Advanced Element Control – Sanguivolent Roots

o    Skill Feat: Triumphant Boast

o    Gear: greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient wooden breastplate, fossil fragment (petrified wood), propulsive boots, +2 greater striking earthbreaker, cloak of devouring thorns

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Wood Ward

o    Skill Increase: Performance (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater striking earthbreaker, greater thundering weapon rune, major rooting weapon rune, +2 greater resilient wooden breastplate, shockwave weapon rune, propulsive boots

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Desperate Wrath

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Performer

o    Gear: bracers of strength, +3 greater striking earthbreaker, greater dinosaur boots, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient wooden breastplate, fossil fragment (petrified wood)

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Robust Health

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient wooden breastplate, bracers of strength, dread blindfold, +3 greater striking earthbreaker, greater thundering weapon rune, major rooting weapon rune

LEVEL 20

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

o    Class Feat: Quaking Stomp

o    Skill Feat: Cloud Jump

o    Gear: +3 major striking earthbreaker, +3 greater resilient wooden breastplate, greater maestro’s instrument – drum, bracers of strength, quickstrike weapon rune, greater dinosaur boots

By exploring the kineticist, this build can cover the roots summoned by Drum Beating through the Sanguivolent Roots kinetic impulse. Finally returning to the barbarian class, Rillaboom can resemble its Overgrow ability through Desperate Wrath, able to increase its attack ability when at half health or lower. The class feats end on Quaking Stomp. None of them particularly suit it, but I could envision this as the Rillaboom driving roots into the earth and using that to shake it. For skill feats, Triumphant Boast is a little akin to Talent Envy where it’s an intersection with Performance and Intimidation. Furthermore, it picks up Legendary Performer to become an unparalleled performer.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: The main benefit of going into a free archetype game is taking the barbarian feats that Rillaboom missed out on. Silencing Strike is nice for the stun it might inflict and Renewed Vigor can help it hang in the fight, but the best pick-up might be Moment of Clarity so that it can more freely use the innate spells and other concentrate features that it’s gathered. This would also help with taking a Bard Dedication, which would be wholly thematic aside from some sonic spells he might gain and maybe a few composition spells to bolster the team.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Rillaboom is an ardande awakened animal barbarian with the wooden elemental instinct and the musical prodigy background. This ancestry feels particularly apropos when it comes to representing Pokémon and his background as well as its Virtuosic Performer skill feat pairs nicely with the Drummer epithet. I managed to figure out Desperate Wrath to cover the spirit of Overgrow while entangling flora might work for Grassy Surge. This same innate spell, alongside Sanguivolent Roots, suits the effects of its Drum Beating move with the former including slowing effects but lacking the damage. While it lacks the recoil, he straight up wields an earthbreaker in place of his Wood Hammer and the barbarian ensures that he'll be landing heavy blows. Demoralizing foes through Raging Intimidation will be useful for his debuffing sonic moves while the wild mimic archetype and its Roar Mimicry is handy for its Uproar and Boomburst moves. I also managed to fit in the Gigantamax feature through the Primal Proportions feat, which eventually allows the Rillaboom to become huge in every sense of the word.

Our dear deft dendrologist doles out damage in droves, dishing out drubbings to delinquents and drumkits in a delightful but destructive display.

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. With Ape-ril completed, next week will be our first foray into Ani-May!

Have a fantastic Friday!