I've built characters from fighting games before, but this is the first build I've done for a character from Mortal Kombat. Something about the Mortal Kombat character is much easier as their moves and abilities are more clearly defined. I'm continuing the Free Archetype Suggestion part, so be sure to lemme know what you think of that. 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 Sindel from Mortal Kombat!
SINDEL
CHARACTER Sindel
SOURCE Mortal Kombat
GOALS
o Sindel is a native Edenian and one of its former rulers, blessed with the long lifespan and magical powers common among her people who are believed to be descended from the gods
o While often seen levitating, one of Sindel’s most iconic powers is the manipulation of sound, often ranging from sonic bursts to skin-rending screams
o One such example is her Banshee Scream, a move that stuns an opponent, while Star Screamer launches a purple fireball, seemingly have little to do with manipulation
o Sindel also possesses prehensile hair, which she uses to perform her Hair Kut and Hair Whip
o Mane Squeeze demonstrates that she can even grapple foes with her hair
o While initially portrayed as a good character, other iterations of the game has retconned this and instead presented her as a willing accomplice to Shao Kahn who deceived others about her involvement
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Ancient Elf
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Strength, -Constitution
o Ancestry Feat: Unwavering Mien
o Multiclass Feat: Monk Dedication
Background: Royalty
o Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Society (trained)
o Background Feat: Courtly Graces
Class & Subclass: Fate Patron Witch
o Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Deception (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Intimidation (trained), Medicine (trained), Stealth (trained), Thievery (trained)
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 12)
In an effort to capture the feel of the long-lived Edenians, Sindel is built as an elf with the ancient heritage to snag an early Monk Dedication since she fights largely unarmed. As the queen of her people, she of course has a royalty background, which provides her with means of interacting amongst them. Now, some might understandably expect monk to have been her base class, but the witch class provides her access to some of her more iconic powers. The spells cover her sonic abilities whereas her hair attacks will be derived from the Living Hair line of feats, which mesh with the abilities that she gains as a monk to make her something of a switch hitter. Familiar unfortunately doesn’t exactly fit with the character, but abilities from it that might be of use are Restorative Familiar or Spell Delivery and then pick up Familiar Focus and Spell Battery down the line.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Living Hair
o Skill Feat: Charming Liar
o Gear: everburning torch
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Deception (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), everburning torch, cantrip deck (5-pack)
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Basic Kata – Ki Strike
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Gear: wig of holding, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), flask of fellowship, everburning torch
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma, +Wisdom (Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o Ancestry Feat: Elven Instincts
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracers of missile deflection, wig of holding, flask of fellowship, everburning torch, cantrip deck (5-pack)
As mentioned, Living Hair is an early grab for Sindel so that she can perform her Hair Kut and Hair Whip type moves while Ki Strike grants her a bonus to her attacks with her unarmed attacks while bolstering their damage. Ki Strike will apply to her living hair and fist strikes though initially she can only apply it to a single Strike to start with. This build features a slight focus on Deception given that more modern interpretations have had her as an ally to Shao Kahn who tricked others into believing otherwise. As such, there’s a slight investment into Deception skill feats, starting with Charming Liar, but Titan Wrestler will let her use the multitude of traits her living hair will gain as she levels. With the low health of the witch, the Toughness feats makes it slightly safer for her to wade into combat while Elven Instincts will hopefully allow her to get the jump on her foes.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Deadly Hair
o Skill Feat: Confabulator
o Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt, wig of holding, flask of fellowship, hand of the mage
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Deception (master)
o Gear: warcaller’s chime of blasting, +1 explorer’s clothing, boots of elvenkind, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracers of missile deflection, wig of holding
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Hexed Locks
o Skill Feat: Slippery Secrets
o Gear: cloak of elvenkind, ring of the ram, warcaller’s chime of blasting, +1 explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Elf Step
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, cloak of elvenkind, ethersight ring, warcaller’s chime of blasting, boots of elvenkind, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o Class Feat: Monk’s Flurry
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Skill Increase: Arcana (trained)
o Gear: wand of thundering echoes (3rd-level), +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, thundering weapon rune, cloak of elvenkind, warcaller’s chime of blasting, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
As mentioned, Sindel gains new traits to her hair as she levels, starting with Deadly Hair giving her living hair the grapple trait, allowing her to use her Mane Squeeze attack. Hexed Locks adds reach to her growing list, allowing her to fight at a slightly safer distance, but the witch focus spells she picks up don’t entirely mesh with its secondary feature. Monk’s Flurry grants her Flurry of Blows so that even on turns where she casts a standard spell, she can sneak in a pair of quicks Strikes with her hair – possibly even empowered attacks with her Ki Strike. Sindel is often seen floating in battle and while that can be represented through spells that she gains such as fly and possibly levitate, Feather Step helps convey that idea with Elf Step allowing her to slide further away when she dodges away from foes. Athletics and Deception remain the focus for her skills, allowing her to maneuver better and potentially Feint against foes to compensate for her lower attack bonus.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Hireling Manager
o Skill Increase: Society (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), armbands of athleticism, wand of thundering echoes (3rd-level), +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of bounding, cloak of elvenkind
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Monk Resiliency
o Skill Feat: Connections
o Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), cape of the mountebank, wand of thundering echoes (3rd-level), wand of widening (3rd-level), thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Avenge Ally
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, wand of thundering echoes (4th-level), cape of the mountebank, armbands of athleticism, wand of thundering echoes (3rd-level)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Whirling Throw
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Gear: wand of thundering echoes (5th-level), handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), 12, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, cape of the mountebank, armbands of athleticism
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 16, Dex 19, Con 12, Int 21, Wis 14, Cha 16)
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Deception (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of speed, wand of thundering echoes (5th-level), handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater goggles of night, wand of thundering echoes (4th-level)
With the heavy focus on her monk archetype, Monk Resiliency bolsters her Hit Points to allow her to better hang out in the thick of combat while Whirling Throw further plays into the idea of her Mane Squeeze and the fact that throws appear in all Mortal Kombat games. With Sindel’s lower to-hit bonus than typical martials, she uses a lot of things to bolster that or increase her chances to hit, such as the true strike spell (and is the reason behind her patron choice) and her new Avenge Ally feat. A small dip into Society allows her to gain Connections, as befitting a royal, while Acrobatics allows her to move more nimbly about her arena.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Monk Moves
o Skill Feat: Reveal Machinations
o Gear: wand of thundering echoes (6th-level), +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, wand of widening (6th-level), boots of speed, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), wand of widening (5th-level)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Magic Rider
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater thundering weapon rune, wand of thundering echoes (6th-level), +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of speed, wand of thundering echoes (5th-level)
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Flying Kick
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), speed weapon rune, wand of thundering echoes (6th-level), +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, wand of widening (6th-level)
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, anklets of alacrity, wand of thundering echoes (7th-level), handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), greater thundering weapon rune, wand of thundering echoes (6th-level)
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 18, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 22, Wis 14, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Demon’s Hair
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Skill Increase: Crafting (trained)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, mercurial mantle, greater armbands of athleticism, wand of widening (7th-level), greater thundering weapon rune
Monk Moves and Flying Kick further enhance Sindel’s capability as a warrior though given her access to the fly spell, the latter may not be as essential. However, Demon’s Hair adds an extra pair of traits to her living hair, increases its damage, and makes it so that she’s always quickened to make an attack with her hair as long as her familiar is nearby. Given the interdimensional travel from Outworld to the Earth Realm, some travel capabilities of that sort wormed their way into her build, such as the Magic Rider ancestry feat.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Obviously, Monk Dedication is the way to go for somebody using free archetype rules, and I suggest in such cases that you swap out the ancient elf heritage for aasimar to capture some more of that Edenian feel. In going down that route, I would mainly suggest picking up witch feats to improve Sindel’s casting, such as Quickened Casting and Steady Spellcasting, the latter being a good fit considering that she wants to mix it up in melee. I also like looking at some other lessons so that she can possibly make more use out of her Hexed Locks. Out of the lessons, none particularly stick out to me, but the lesson of calamity with its stumbling curse or the lesson of death with its curse of death probably make the most sense for her.
CONCLUSION
With the elf ancestry, Sindel is able to capture the feel of an Edenian though I favored the ancient heritage to grab her an early Monk Dedication rather than use it to grab an aasimar heritage given the Edenians’ relation to the gods. Her sonic powers can be accomplished with spells like concordant choir, biting words, and sound burst, but apparently ear-piercing scream was removed from 2e, so to get the stun of her Banshee Scream, some mixing in of spells such as slow or even paralyze may be required. Her prehensile hair and unarmed fighting capabilities are achieved through her Monk Dedication as well as the Living Hair line of feats. Between the grapple capability of her hair and the hoard of traits that it amasses as well as Whirling Throw, she can perform her Mane Squeeze as well as her more standard attacks such as Hair Kut and Hair Whip. Her royalty background and her investment in Deception allow her to be a capable manipulator that can disguise her true intentions as she did when working alongside Shao Kahn.
Be sure to lemme know what you think of the build!
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Until then, have a fantastic Friday!
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