I promise you all - somebody requested this. I don't know who, I can't find where, but I promise that this was not a character that I just randomly decided to build, especially since I didn't even know about this character previously. Nevertheless, I'm pretty happy with this build. 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'm pretty happy with the FBF video that I put together, so I hope you'll take the time to check it out.
Let's get into the build for The Primal Beast from DotA 2!
THE PRIMAL BEAST
SOURCE DotA 2
BUILD GOALS
o The Beast was hatched into a world of savagery and violence that he nevertheless managed to become the apex predator of
o He was considered too successful and banished from his own dimension to the world of DotA, where he was forced into a slumber but recently awoken
o The Colossal passive causes him to deal extra damage to buildings
o He can use Onslaught to perform a powerful charges that knock backs, damages, and stuns enemies on impact
o Trample disarms the Beast and periodically causes it to deal damage around it while walking over foes
o There’s two parts to Uproar. It provides PB with extra damage and stacks based on damage taken. Activating it grants even more extra damage and armor based on these stacks while also slowing enemies
o The Beast can gain Rock Throw which launches a damaging and stunning boulder into an area
o His ultimate is Pulverize, which has him grab a foe and repeatedly slam them into the ground with enough force to damage nearby targets
Summary of Goals: This is a basic but burly beast more at home fighting with his claws and jaws than any weaponry. When he does pick up a weapon, it’s usually a boulder or another enemy. He can fly into a frenzy and unleash powerful charges that shake the very earth.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Bakuwa Lizardfolk
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Wisdom, +Constitution, -Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Iruxi Armaments – Claws
Background: Feral Child
o Ability Boosts: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Nature (trained), Survival (trained)
o Background Feat: Forager
Class & Subclass: Barbarian with Tyrannosaurus Animal Instinct
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Intimidation (trained), Stealth (trained)
o Class Feat: Raging Intimidation
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +1)
Obviously, for this statuesque saurian scoundrel, we start with the lizardfolk ancestry and take the bakuwa heritage to represent his tough hide. PB’s basic attacks are made with mighty swipes of his claws, which leads to the use of Iruxi Armaments to enhance the damage of his claws. Feral child fits with his savagery, which is even further explored with the barbarian class and specifically the tyrannosaurus animal instinct. This gives him a gnarly jaws and tail unarmed Strike while raging, letting him morph into a monster. His class feat is a little unexciting, but Raging Intimidation offers some nice functionality and will eventually help with accomplishing Uproar. This build has already tapped into a bit of that passive effect with the extra damage from its rage.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Sudden Charge
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+1), psychopomp mask, candlecap
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Oversized Throw
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: crushing weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blow (+1), Jack’s tattered cape, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +2)
o Ancestry Feat: Gecko’s Grip
o Skill Feat: Combat Climber
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking), crushing weapon rune, bracelet of dashing, Jack’s tattered cape, psychopomp mask, candlecap
Sudden Charge lets him launch himself into combat, akin to Onslaught though honestly, he can use Shove to cover the knockback effects and keep charging. His Athletics investment helps with that. Oversized Throw is obviously meant to resemble his Rock Throw. Onslaught sees PB moving pretty fast and so there’s a few options here, like Quick Jump and Fleet as well as the barbarian’s Furious Footfalls. Powerful Leap lets him extend the range of his jumps, making it easier for him to spring upon prey. Gecko’s Grip further plays into PB’s ability to traverse any environment and hunt any prey, using Combat Climber to chase down fleeing foes.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Barreling Charge
o Skill Feat: Terrifying Resistance
o Gear: +1 bakuwa bony plates, handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking), lifting belt, crushing weapon rune, Jack’s tattered cape, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 bakuwa bony plates, bravery baldric (fleet), handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking), crushing weapon rune, bracelet of dashing
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Thrash
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Gear: ash gown, lesser dread armor rune, lesser grub gloves, +1 bakuwa bony plates, handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking), demon mask
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Hone Claws
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient bakuwa bony plates, ash gown, boots of bounding, lesser grub gloves, bravery baldric (fleet), handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +3, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +3)
o Class Feat: Overpowering Charge
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Gear: armbands of athletics, +1 resilient bakuwa bony plates, greater rhinoceros mask, ash gown, lesser dread armor rune, handwraps of mighty blow (+1 striking)
Barreling Charge allows PB to Trample over enemies while Overpowering Charge adds damage to these attempts to stomp over people. He also picks up Thrash to start to represent Pulverize. At this point, it will be dealing 12 bludgeoning damage with a basic saving throw and it doesn’t use the attack trait, meaning it’s not going to add to the MAP for maintaining a grapple. This block features a couple of Intimidation skill feats with Terrifying Resistance having some resemblance to the armor of Uproar and Battle Cry letting it open the fight with a roar. Also, this block features raging resistance, which feeds into Uproar as well. Titan Wrestler helps convey PB’s immensity as does Toughness though in regards to his HP rather than size. Hone Claws doesn’t particularly resemble anything, but it adds some nice usage to his claws and is a fun effect.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Survival (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+2 striking), armbands of athletics, greater crushing weapon rune, +1 resilient bakuwa bony plates, ash gown, boots of bounding
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Terrifying Howl
o Skill Feat: Terrified Retreat
o Gear: +2 resilient bakuwa bony plates, handwraps of mighty blow (+2 striking), instinct crown, armbands of athletics, flaming weapon rune, greater rhinoceros mask
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Primal Rampage
o Skill Increase: Survival (master)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient bakuwa bony plates, gorget of the primal roar, instinct crown, armbands of athletics, greater crushing weapon rune
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Furious Bully
o Skill Feat: Planar Survival
o Gear: propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blow (+2 greater striking), moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient bakuwa bony plates, instinct crown, dinosaur boots
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +5.5, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +3)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary), Thievery (trained)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient bakuwa bony plates, greater ring of the ram, propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blow (+2 greater striking), gorget of the primal roar, bravery baldric (stoneskin)
Terrifying Howl is an area debuffing effect akin to Uproar – but it lacks any slowing ability. However, alongside it is Terrified Retreat, which can send low-leveled enemies running. These can work together because Terrifying Howl is gonna be best used against groups of enemies, which means they should all be lower-leveled. So combining these has a good chance of sending gangs running for the hills – consuming their actions and thus effectively slowing them. The other class feat here is Furious Bully, which is just going to be used to help with Grapple or other Athletics attack checks. Planar Survival covers the fact that PB does actually come from another dimension and thus enhances his ability to survive in alien environments. Diehard and Fast Recovery both play into his durability, making him harder to put down and lets him bounce back faster. Finally, he has Primal Rampage – fitting for the Primal Beast. He’ll have to use this before he Rages, but it gives him mountain resilience to gain resistance to physical damage, further resembling his Uproar.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Collateral Thrash
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient bakuwa bony plates, platinum fortune’s coin, propulsive boots, handwraps of mighty blow (+2 greater striking), moderate grub gloves
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Scion Transformation
o Skill Feat: Scare to Death
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (legendary)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient bakuwa bony plates, greater ring of the ram, propulsive boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Shattering Blows
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess
o Gear: bracers of strength, handwraps of mighty blow (+3 greater striking), greater dinosaur boots, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient bakuwa bony plates, platinum fortune’s coin
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Robust Health
o Skill Increase: Survival (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient bakuwa bony plates, bracers of strength, dread blindfold, handwraps of mighty blow (+3 greater striking), greater flaming weapon rune, greater thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +6, Dex +4 Con +4, Int +1, Wis +3, Cha +4)
o Class Feat: Quaking Stomp
o Skill Feat: Legendary Survivalist
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blow (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient bakuwa bony plates, greater dread armor rune, bracers of strength, quickstrike weapon rune, greater dinosaur boots
This block of levels opens with Collateral Thrash, which means that when PB Thrashes, he can hit another nearby enemy, just like Pulverize does. Additionally, by twentieth level, Thrash will be dealing 25 bludgeoning damage with each use, which isn’t bad for a single-action save effect that can potentially hit two creatures. We manage to work in the Colossal passive with Shattering Blows and then finish out the class feats with Quaking Stomp. This recreates the effects of earthquake once every ten minutes, which is another way to resemble Trample and bring foes and buildings low. He gets Scare to Death automatically upon increasing his Intimidation to legendary, which is always fun, and finally takes up Intimidating Prowess to enhance his ability to Demoralize others. Legendary Survivalist exhibits his place at the top of the food chain, able to survive even the harshest of environments. Finally, we get into the sheer size of the Primal Beast with Scion Transformation, making PB permanently enlarged and even burlier.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: I like the idea of Monk Dedication solely to build up to Kaiju Stance, but that doesn’t come in until sixteenth level. It might be a little more practical to take something like the Wrestler Dedication with options such as Crushing Grab or Combat Grab. He could even work his way up to Godbreaker, which is just a fun feat. Alternatively, he could go into the Wild Mimic Dedication and pick up options such as Primal Proportions (which could let him become Huge), Trample Mimicry, and Roar Mimicry. Honestly, the wild mimic archetype might be the best option in a free archetype game.
BUILD CONCLUSION
The Primal Beast is a bakuwa lizardfolk barbarian with a tyrannosaurus animal instinct and a background as a feral child, which represents his rearing in the wild world he was hatched into. We've built a true apex predator by twentieth level whose use of Athletics and Intimidation allow him to disrupt and disable foes. He covers his Colossal passive through Shattering Blows, letting him ignore a portion of Hardness and thus deal more damage to objects and structures. He has Sudden Charge and Barreling Charge for the general charge of Onslaught though he can also just Shove creatures and follow after them as part of it. Barreling Charge also helps to cover Trample, which is expanded upon with Overpowering Charge and even Quaking Stomp. The passive of Uproar can actually just come from the likes of his Rage, increasing his damage, whereas the active comes through in a couple of ways. Terrifying Howl and Terrified Retreat can combo to send foes fleeing, disrupting their action economy and effectively slowing them. However, the increased armor comes from Primal Rampage, which provides him with mountain resilience to gain resistance against physical damage. We also manage to work in Rock Throw through Oversized Throw, simply letting him heave great big objects at enemies. We close out our design with Thrash and then Collateral Thrash to recreate his Pulverize, capturing an enemy and then using that enemy to beat another enemy - as one does.
This behemoth of a beast bashes and batters baddies with boisterous brutality, its bellows breaking the bravado of belligerents. Even its borborygmus burbling is bound to banish bandits, backbiters, and betrayers.
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. Our next build strikes from the shadows with an unmatched mastery.
Have a fantastic Friday!
Comments