Making - Hawkeye (Marvel Avengers) 5E

When you do what Mockingbird and I do -- without powers -- you can't rely on super speed or flight as your weapons. Everything around you is there to help you hit the target. ...We are the weapons!  - Clint Barton

Hawkeye the expert archer/marksman and scout for the Avengers. A capable man skilled enough to go into battle with gods, super-soldiers, and mutants! That's who we are going to be making today.

Race - Human Variant

So we are going to be staying away from magic, and try to get a lot of skills and feats for our build to make use of. So to start we are going with the Human Variant race.

Here is the stat distribution

Str: 12  Dex:15  Con: 13  Int: 10  Wis: 13  Cha: 10

we then add our +1's to Dex and Con bringing it up to

Str: 12  Dex:16  Con: 14 Int: 10  Wis: 13  Cha: 10

We ill take Perception as our skill as Hawkeye especially in the MCU is good at scouting things out and noticing small details.

For the Feat we are taking the obvious one here Sharpshooter. This feat not only has wonderful mechanics but also gives the feel that this guy is a master marksman.

Background - Soldier

So soldier you get athletics which is great for a human at peak physical condition, and Intimidation is good for interrogating the bad guys. Hawkeye also is a pilot though there will probably not be too many air vehicles in the game your playing. So vehicles land here will take the place of that, and for the game proficiency I picked cards.

Background Skills: Athletics, Intimidation

Class - Fighter: Battle Master

Okay lets get to the meat of the class here now, we get a few of the class skills available from Soldier. So here I went with Acrobatics, since again Hawkeye is quite agile and in great shape, and survival since he fits that scout role it should help with tracking and things like that.

Class Skills: Acrobatics, Survival

 Equipment most of the choices are pretty self explanatory, but for choice 2 I took a spear because at times Hawkeye fights with his bow like a short pole-arm so it might be good for melee, and he also does the same thing with a combat knife. At some point you might look into upgrading the light crossbow for a Heavy then you can use it for the higher damage and the longbow for longer distance shots.

Equipment
* Leather Armor, Longbow and 20 arrows
* Spear and Dagger
* Light crossbow and 20 bolts
* Explorers Pack 

Fighting Style: Archery

The +2 to attack is just so good here, and lets you have a shot at hitting with a sharpshooter attack at lower levels. 

Second Wind: Always useful to have a self heal don't forget you have it! 


Level 2:  Action Surge - Make it count as always but don't forget it recharges on short rest.


Level 3: Battlemaster: If we already had the meat for our Hawkeye build this would be the potatoes. The superiority die and maneuvers are going to represent your trick shots and special arrows.

My recommendations would be precision attack to help with those sharpshooter shots. For the other I would take pushing attack for position and extra damage, and disarming strike for the extra damage and to get the enemy to drop a weapon. There are many great choices here but I would pick from these 3.

Student of War: I would talk to your DM here, but If he is willing a Alchemist Supplies, or Poisoners Kit could be cool and allow you to craft some special arrows.


Level 4: Here we are going to bump the DEX up by 2, hit more often and harder


Level 5: Extra Attack, you will start putting out good damage a round now keep positioning yourself well as you will start to draw the ire of creatures. So keep your distance when you can.


Level 6: Here in stead of taking the DEX quite yet I think here would be a good spot to take the feat Observant. This bumps our WIS to a +2 , makes your Passive Perception go through the rough should be at a 20! Also being able to read lips has good role play and fictional positioning uses.


Level 7: Not only do you get another superiority, but two more maneuvers. Two i want to point out here is Distracting Strike, and Trip Attack. Both increase your damage, and allow you to set up members of your party for Advantage on their attacks. One more reliable then the other so take into account what your fighting and who is in your party. If your setting up a rogue Distracting Strike is probably plenty, but if you have another melee fighter with a lot of attacks it might be worth going for trying to knock it prone.

Know your Enemy: If you have the time to study your opponent can be good for trying to figure out what maneuvers to use.


Level 8: Here lets take the DEX score the rest of the way and get i up to the +5, again hit a little more often and a little harder.


Level 9: I really like Indomitable, in world full of magic your a guy with a bow or a sword. This is a chance for will and fortitude to overcome magics control or a stronger creatures physical dominance.


Level 10: Hey D10's for Superiority Dice, and you get another! Two more maneuvers as well still a lot of awesome ones to choose from!


Beyond 10th Level - I feel at 4-5th level this build already feels like Hawkeye but I like to do it out to level 10. Beyond that buff stats, and I would at least stick with fighter to level 11 for the next level of Extra Attack. Martial Adept is good for feat options another Superiority die and more maneuvers. If you are thinking about multi-classing Ranger is a good option the hunter abilities can buff your damage and get some spells to let you do neater things with your arrows.

Well I hope you enjoyed this one, which was suggested by the comments! So let me know if there are others you would like to see. Until next time happy gaming!

Failing Forward

Failing forward is a concept I have learned from watching more experienced DMs and from games like Apocalypse World and Dungeon World. Tell me if you have heard the following scenario before running Dungeons and Dragons...

The party encounters a door it is locked..

The Rogue/Thief steps forward and says "I pick the lock"

Lock Pick roll.... its a 4

The Rogue/Thief rolls again... its a 6

This cycle continues until the Rogue or another party member rolls high enough to meet the DC you had set. This same roll until you succeed situation, happens often for newer DMs that run a game that doesn't show you how to handle failure other than saying no or try again.

So before we even get into how this situation could look with failing forward in play. If there is something you want the players to see or to experience, then don't put it behind a skill roll. Because the above situation makes skill rolls feel like filler/time wasters. So the simple solution is to not have it there, however if you actually are wanting to present a challenge try failing forward.

Like the lock door situation there is a number of ways to handle the failed roll narrative and continue the forward momentum of the game. You might say this particular lock is too complex for you at your current skill level, this way the Rogue can longer keep rolling. Instead they need to think of a different way past the door. Breaking the door down, going through a window, searching for a key, etc. The players will then have to deal with consequences of having to take that route but it adds drama to the game.

But maybe you don't have multiple outs for this door there is one way in and its this door. A thing I like to do is the no matter the roll you succeed however if its a low roll just takes you longer. Then you let the players know that they are going to be getting random encounter rolls based on how long the lock picking is taking. Going this route creates tension of something coming around the corner to get the party. Sometimes nothing will happen, sometimes the patrol comes around the corner and sounds the alarm. It helps to encourage verisimilitude in your game, and also prevents the Rogue from being bad at lock picking :D

While this is a simple common example, always be mindful of how "failed" rolls can further the story in interesting complicating ways for your players. Some of your parties best moments might come out of it.