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Writer's picturebjacobt1

Full Build Friday - Robin Hood

We're going back to a much more classic character for this continuation of Disneycember. I watched this movie a ton as a kid and gave it another look to get notes for this build - it was still a fun flick. 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.


Check out the video on YouTube or share it with someone who would rather hear/watch the build over read it.


Let's get into the build for Robin Hood from Disney's Robin Hood!

ROBIN HOOD

SOURCE Disney’s Robin Hood

 

BUILD GOALS

o    Inspired by the stories of Reynard, Robin Hood is depicted as a fox in the Disney classic

o    He is a well-meaning scoundrel who robs the rich who have unjustly overtaxed the poor and gives back to those less fortunate

o    Robin Hood is reliant upon trickery and deception and wears a vast array of disguises throughout the film – whether it by as a fortune teller, a blind beggar, or even a stork

o    His skill as a thief is so adept that he can steal the rings off of Prince John’s very fingers

o    Additionally, he is able to disappear into the forest with ease while being pursued and leap safely from incredible heights

o    When these tricks aren’t enough, Robin Hood is a skilled swordsman and an even better archer

o    He is capable of ricocheting arrows, pin people in place, and even shoot his own arrow midflight to adjust its aim

 

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Earthly Wilds Kitsune

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Charisma, +Dexterity

o    Ancestry Feat: Kitsune Lore

o    Skill Increase: Deception (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Kitsune Lore (trained)

 

Background: Outlaw

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Charisma

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (trained), Underworld Lore (trained)

o    Background Feat: Subtle Theft

 

Class & Subclass: Ranger with Outwit Hunter’s Edge

o    Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Nature (trained), Performance (trained), Society (trained), Survival (trained)

o    Class Feat: Hunted Shot

 

Details

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

Given Robin’s vulpine nature, he’ll use the kitsune ancestry, but doesn’t want any of the heritages that make him a different type of humanoid. Instead, he takes the earthly wilds heritage, which gives him a jaws Strike and allows him to Change Shape into a fox. Kitsune Lore is mainly handy for netting him training in the Deception skill, which he needs to disguise himself as the various roles that he takes on throughout the movie. Naturally, he will take the outlaw background, which happens to come with the Subtle Theft skill feat, which he’ll want to use for snatching rings off of the fingers of his victims. Despite roguish tendencies, Robin uses the ranger class given his mastery over the bow. However, being a Disney character, he tends to use less than lethal methods and thus takes the outwit hunter’s edge so that he can use tricks to overcome his adversaries. With all that said, he is still an incredible archer and he demonstrates that a bit with Hunted Shot, shooting his arrows so fast that they blend together. He has a scene during the archery tournament where, after one of his shots is knocked off course, he fires another arrow to hit the first and send it back on course and the speed of those shots made me think of this.



LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Hunter’s Aim

o    Skill Feat: Pickpocket

o    Gear: ring of discretion

 

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Deception (expert)

o    Gear: +1 weapon, ring of discretion, cloak of feline rest

 

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Rogue Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Cat Fall, Dirty Trick

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (trained), Initimidation (trained)

o    Gear: charlatan’s gloves, +1 composite shortbow, +1 shortsword, ring of discretion

 

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +4)

o    Ancestry Feat: Seven Changes Performance

o    Skill Feat: Quick Disguise

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (expert)

o    Gear: +1 striking composite shortbow, charlatan’s gloves, bracelet of dashing, +1 shortsword, ring of discretion, cloak of feline rest

While Hunted Shot covers his speed shooting, he has Hunter’s Aim to cover his precision, letting him get up to fighter accuracy and ignoring simple setbacks such as concealment or lesser cover. He takes Rogue Dedication as his other class feat, exploring more skills and even slipping in an extra skill feat, which he does get quite a few of during this block. Pickpocket works with Subtle Theft so that he can Steal from others with ease, Cat Fall calls to mind his death-defying leap from the castle in the movie’s climactic scene, and Quick Disguise lets him swiftly shift between the plentiful disguises that he puts on throughout it. He also gets Dirty Trick to gain a more nonlethal means of befuddling and tripling up foes when he’s pressed into melee. Fleet helps make Robin Hood quick as a fox, and his ancestry feat, Seven Changes Performance, is what provides him with the aforementioned Quick Disguise.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Basic Trickery – Nimble Dodge

o    Skill Feat: Quick Jump

o    Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking composite shortbow, hunter’s arrowhead, charlatan’s gloves, masquerade scarf, +1 shortsword

 

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Feather Step

o    Skill Increase: Deception (master)

o    Gear: clandestine cloak, +1 leather, shadow armor rune, +1 striking composite shortbow, charlatan’s gloves, +1 shortsword

 

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Skill Mastery

o    Skill Feat: Confabulator, Escape

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (expert), Thievery (master)

o    Gear: boots of bounding, clandestine cloak, stag’s helm, +1 leather, +1 striking composite shortbow, +1 striking shortsword

 

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Fox Trick

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (master)

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, greater masquerade scarf, clandestine cloak, +1 striking shortsword, +1 striking composite shortbow

 

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +5, Con +0, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +4.5)

o    Class Feat: Advanced Trickery – Scoundrel’s Surprise

o    Skill Feat: Swift Sneak

o    Gear: greater charlatan’s gloves, +1 resilient leather, shock weapon rune, boots of bounding, +1 striking shortsword, +1 striking composite shortbow

The class feats for this level are all about making Robin a bit more of a rogue and a rake, starting with Nimble Dodge to duck out of the way of from shots made by the shady sheriff and his sycophants. From the Basic Trickery, he can get Advanced Trickery to take Scoundrel’s Surprise so that he can discard a disguise to leave enemies off-guard. He also gains Skill Mastery to increase his Stealth and Thievery while slipping in a skill feat for Escape, covering his escape with confusion and cards. Other subterfuge sort of skills include Confabulator so that he can Lie and Create a Diversion with greater ease and Swift Sneak so that he can Sneak at his full Speed. Feather Step helps keep with that theme of speed by letting him Step into difficult terrain. Finally, there’s Fox Trick, which lets Robin Hood use a free action once per hour to pull off a Create a Diversion, Conceal an Object, or Hide. There’s little doubt that this will be highly useful for this svelte scoundrel.


LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Incredible Initiative

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)

o    Gear: +2 striking composite shortbow, greater charlatan’s gloves, greater ventriloquist’s ring, +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, +1 striking shortsword

 

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Distracting Shot

o    Skill Feat: Tumbling Theft

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking composite shortbow, +2 striking shortsword, greater charlatan’s gloves, shock weapon rune, lover’s gloves

 

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Vulpine Scamper

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)

o    Gear: +2 greater striking composite shortbow, +2 resilient leather, moderate boots of free running, +2 striking shortsword, greater charlatan’s gloves, greater ventriloquist’s ring

 

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Sneak Attacker

o    Skill Feat: Kip Up

o    Gear: propulsive boots, +2 greater striking composite shortbow, 12, +2 resilient leather, charlatan’s cape, +2 striking shortsword

 

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +5.5, Con +1, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +5)

o    General Feat: Incredible Scout

o    Skill Increase: Religion (trained), Thievery (legendary)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, eye of fortune, +2 greater striking composite shortbow, hopeful weapon rune, +2 striking shortsword

Distracting Shot provides another way for Robin Hood to make enemies off-guard – in addition to other effects such as surprise attack, Scoundrel’s Surprise, and more. Given all those effects, he gets some solid use out of Sneak Attacker, which will also help add to the lower damage that ranged characters often have to contend with. Tumbling Theft enhances his ability to Steal from others, filching their funds for the less fortunate. He keeps with the speed he’s built by taking Kip Up, giving him another free action that he can use to swiftly get back on his feet. Incredible Initiative increases his own initiative, letting him get more use out of his surprise attack, whereas Incredible Scout lets him enhance the initiative of his compatriots. Vulpine Scamper enhances his vulpine alternate form with a greater Speed and will even let him run up surfaces, disappearing trees as he did when fleeing in the opening of the movie.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Greater Distracting Shot

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Thief

o    Gear: greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, eye of fortune, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking composite shortbow, +2 greater striking shortsword

 

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Shapechanger’s Intuition

o    Skill Increase: Deception (legendary)

o    Gear: +3 greater striking composite shortbow, greater shock weapon rune, greater thundering weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking shortsword

 

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

o    Skill Feat: Reveal Machinations

o    Gear: pilferer’s gloves, +3 greater striking composite shortbow, quickstrike weapon rune, greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, +2 greater striking shortsword

 

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: True Perception

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, pilferer’s gloves, greater daredevil boots, +3 greater striking composite shortbow, greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater striking shortsword

 

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +6, Con +2, Int +2, Wis +3, Cha +5)

o    Class Feat: Time Dilation Cascade

o    Skill Feat: Rolling Landing

o    Gear: +3 major striking composite shortbow, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, greater daredevil boots, quickstrike weapon rune, +3 greater striking shortsword

He improves with Greater Distracting Shot making it super easy to put enemies off-guard at range, needing only a single shot to do so now or leaving them off-guard for his next turn if he can land two hits. Given that he is a fox who donned the disguise of a stork to enter the tournament, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing feels appropriate for this build that he rounds out, at least when it comes to class feats, with Time Dilation Cascade so that he can launch six arrows in as many seconds. I don’t think there’s anything that quite matches his mastery of archery, especially among the capstone feats. Legendary Thief is a great get and Reveal Machinations lets him tease and taunt his adversaries. Rolling Landing rounds out his skill feats, letting him use a reaction to keep on the run after falling without taking damage.


FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: There’s quite a few options that Robin Hood could use in a free archetype game. Going deeper into the rogue archetype could lead to him getting options such as Inspired Stratagem to work out plans with Little John, Sidestep to confound foes, and Uncanny Dodge. And while he can’t use the precise strike or finishers of it with his bow, a Swashbuckler Dedication could be fun with options such as Charmed Life and Dastardly Dodge. If you want to focus more on archery and some of the fighter-type feats for it, there is the of course Archer Dedication and just the scaling skill increase from the Acrobat Dedication makes it highly valuable.

 

BUILD CONCLUSION

Robin Hood is an earthly wilds kitsune ranger with the outwit hunter's edge. He's an outlaw who uses feats such as Subtle Theft, Pickpocket, and eventually Legendary Theft to snag the goods gained by greedy nobles. His investment in Deception and feats such as Quick Disguise and Scoundrel's Surprise let him swiftly adopt then drop disguises to keep foes flummoxed. He also uses Stealth to disappear from pursuers and Cat Fall resembles his ability to survive the great tumble from the tower into the water below at the end of the film. The ranger class comes with a host of feats to demonstrate his incredible ability as an archer, with Hunted Shot letting him fire off a pair of arrows in rapid succession, Hunter's Aim increasing his accuracy, and Distracting Shot - as well as the crit specialization of the bow - giving him a way to put foes off-guard or pin them in place.

 

This foxy felon foils fiends who ferociously funnel the funds of the farmers and their fellows, filching these furnishings with flair and fine firing.

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. Coming up for next week is a build that might just get a little hairy.


Have a fantastic Friday!

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