Essence of the Red Ranger DND edition.

Cause there's like a lot of other Sentai too
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Re: Essence of the Red Ranger DND edition.

Post by Leonite Rider »

AnthonyMonaghan wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:18 pm simple see if your DM will allow a minor homebrewed character, go here https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Masked_Warrior_(5e_Class), then come up with an amazing backstory (i find it helps DMs agree)
I could not disagree more strongly. The Masked Warrior is... well, if I'm being honest, very bland. It's dressing and it doesn't give me the same feeling of Kamen Rider and even less so Super Sentai.
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Re: Essence of the Red Ranger DND edition.

Post by JKPhage »

If you want to stick to a straightforward set of abilities/powers that will reflect the essence of a Red Warrior and leave all the inspiring speeches and such to just roleplaying, rather than being reflected in mechanics, I'd suggest a gish-focused Pyromancer Sorcerer. The Pyromancer is a little barebones in terms of a Sorcerer, not having a huge toolkit, but it basically turns you into a fire-themed supernova of damage. You deal extra fire damage to a target of your choice whenever you cast a fire spell (spread/aoe damage), at level 6 your spells ignore fire resistance, at 14 you can use a reaction to deal your level in fire damage to something that attacks you, again ignoring resistance, and at 18 you become immune to fire and *any* spells or effects you create that deal fire damage now ignore resistance and treat immunity as resistance. That's a pretty Sentai-ish thing, with a Red being so damn OP or determined that they can hurt an enemy with something they should otherwise be immune to by sheer force of will. Add in some gish-y spells like greenflame blade or booming blade and you can pair those with another spell each turn via quicken casting for some sword-slashing, fire-bursting antics. Take twincast and use it with flaming sphere and you can drop two huge honkin' balls of fire on the battlefield and use your action each turn to slam them into an enemy for damage and then quicken cast another spell as well.

This is all well and good on it's own, but now let's take it even further. The latest character options updates from Tasha's give us a metamagic option that lets you spend a point on any spell that deals acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage to swap the damage type to any other type on the list. You see where I'm going with this. Suddenly, every single elemental damage spell on the sorcerer list can be fire damage, and ignore resistance. That means that unless you come up against something outright *immune* to fire, you never have to worry about your damage being nerfed. If you come up against something immune, you can pull a similarly on-flavor move for a Red and use another element, flavored as the character using the things they've learned from a companion that might be used to call upon such powers (a stoic, calm companion might inspire him to be able to use ice elemental attacks, or a particularly quick-witted companion might inspire him to call upon lightning, etc.) so he can use his signature attacks in a new way to overcome what might seem an insurmountable enemy. Since it works both ways you can turn Flaming Sphere into ball lightning, or Lightning Lure into a fire whip, and simultaneously embody the unending determination of a Red along with their ability to synergize and learn from their teammates and push forward to win the day.

At it's core it's *incredibly* basic, and you won't be doing anything like giving bardic inspiration to your team, or serving as a tank/meatshield, but you *will* be charging forward full-force with the tenacity and insane damage output of a Red along with the flexibility to reflavor off-element attacks as various super forms inspired by your team members. If you want to add a *little* extra flavor, I'd suggest at least a 3 level dip into Warlock so you can pick up some short rest recharging level 2 spell slots that can be recycled into more sorcery points so you have a more easily replenished battery of resources to pull off your metamagic feats and change your elements to fire (or otherwise) as needed. If you go for Pact of the Chain you can work with your DM to choose an appropriate familiar and reflavor it as a team mascot kind of character, like an enchanted tome that can provide knowledge on enemies or something of the like, in the vein of Mandraboy and various cutesy helpers throughout the years. You could also choose to go Pact of the Blade and give yourself a permanent magical weapon that can take the form of any type of weapon in the game so you have a "summon super weapon from hammer space" mechanic, a weapon you can't lose or have taken from you, and a magical one at that to overcome resistance to mundane weapons, further emphasizing your ability to overcome any barrier to you utterly crushing the enemy. For added fun, Eldritch Blast comes basically free with a Warlock level, does great damage as a cantrip, and is Force damage which literally nothing resists. It could be flavored as a Sentai sidearm like the guns that every team seems to carry and use once then never again. If you run low on metamagic points or encounter something that, through some manner of crazy abilities you can't otherwise damage, you can always fall back on your "Griffon Buster" weapon.

Just my two cents, but I've played a blaster-style Sorcerer with a 4 level dip into Warlock and let me tell you, I was the DPS *king*. I didn't even have access to the element swapping when I played it, because it didn't exist yet, and I wasn't playing a pyromancer, so I frequently came up against things that resisted fire and only got around it by having access to radiant damage via cleric spells (divine soul sorcerer), but when the chips are down, a well-place eldritch blast with three hits of 1d10 is a crazy amount of damage for a cantrip *on top of* an actual spell. Throw in the ability to ignore resistance and you'll be sitting pretty as a mid-close range fighter that can scrap with his gish spells and nuke with his big burst damage stuff.
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Re: Essence of the Red Ranger DND edition.

Post by TG23 »

I do agree that in terms of being the Red ranger, unless you are going to emulate a specific one, it really is more determined by your alignment and how you act. Red is usually a bit of everyone on a generic level. A protector, a bit aggressive, caring, mindful, smart, athletics cautious, bold and tenacious. While it varies season to season, Red is usually multiple types who the other members can be a bit more singular in these roles. Sometimes even drifting closer to a negative aspect like bold = arrogance or caring = noisy. But Red is often all of these which allows him to match or clash with members but also the one most willing to stand in front and be a shield. Or being wise enough to know when to run. So depending on the personality you want to play, that can determine what type of Red you are. Here are some ideas on how you can capture that sentai feel in DND.

Fighter - Role-wise you are looking at Battle Master, Eldritch Knight and Samurai. For Fighter this will be more dependent on you then the role itself. The aggressive protector would fight this role well. While not the tank, you are definitely in the front drawing the attention. You'll probably want something like the Mobile feature for this role. This feat will let you rush in and out of fights. This can be important to being Red since a Red will often look out for his teammates. If he sees someone struggling it's not surprising to see him knockback or dodge an enemy only to run off to protect his friend in trouble. Those 3 jobs will allow different styles to approach. Be you battle master and you charging or knocking enemies back. Or a more magical style with the Eldritch Knight or a master weapon user with the Samurai; not technically the strongest physically but often a still powerful by mastering a certain skill.

Monk - Honestly you could probably get away with any of the roles: Four Elements, Kensei, Open Hand, Sun Soul. Even Long Death and Shadow if you play more like a Sentai Ranger and less like a grim reaper and ninja. You can do your flips and punches and kicks with this role. To emulate the tenacity of a Red, one who seems to alway get up from the worst hits or poison or a curse etc you got Purity of Body. To be fearless you got Stillness of Mind. You will also have the built in Mobile feat. Doing unnecessary flips and jumping off of high places you got Slow Fall. With the class in general you can emulate a Diaranger, Gekiranger, or one of the ninja rangers.

Barbarian - Technically there is more to raging then ripping off your shirt and yelling. Anime and Sentai have long establish that quiet rage. That explosion of power embodied in silence and a deathly stare. Raging can be your henshin moment. Some of the roles call upon ancient spirits (Ancestral Guardian) or animal totems (Totem Warrior). Or you embody the powers of the elements (Storm Herald). "You hurt my friend!" Rage and avenge them!

Paladin - Well really, this can be easy to see. Often as a warrior of justice, a paladin can easily fight the bill for a ranger. Though probably leaning more into your offensive role rather then support. Attacking, defending, and buffing over healing.

Really if you keep with that mind set of things like justice, friendship/comradery and hopefulness, you can probably get away with any job. Just that traditionally a Red is often a battle oriented over a full mage or full support. Or a hybrid.
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