Bring Forth “The Mighty Thor!” in D&D 5th Edition!

“Do I look to be in a gaming mood!?”

Hello everybody! Welcome to this week’s edition of Building Character! This week, we travel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to study the son of Odin, Thor! Let’s dive in and find out how to bring our own version of the thunder god to the mean streets of Waterdeep.

Hailing from distant Asgard, sent to Midgard to learn humility, and rising again as one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Thor has come a long way from the pages of myth and legend. As always, we’ll be building him as faithfully to the source (in this case, the Marvel Cinematic Universe) as possible while staying in the lines for organized D&D play. 

We build these characters all the way to level 20, even if they’re not necessarily level 20 in-canon. This is so you can build these characters and use them in your own games! At the end of the builds, we’ll be suggesting a “canonical” level for these characters in the future. This is entirely our opinion, but just like Alignment, it’s always great for a lively discussion!

A quick warning: This guide will contain spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok, but not for Infinity War.  Without further delay, let’s get started!

RACE

 

Unlike the majority of heroes and villains that can be built in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Thor isn’t human! (Hooray!) Instead, he’s an Asgardian. A god with a little ‘g’. Now, there’s no Asgardian race in D&D, but there’s an excellent parallel to be found in the Aasimar.

Aasimar are celestial-blooded, descendants of the angels. This jives well with the fair-haired and perfectly-proportioned son of Odin. Divine lightning surges through his veins, and even as nerfed as he’ll have to be for AL play, he should feel… simply divine. (The puns, they never stop.) Our Thor will be a Protector Aasimar:

  • +2 to CHA and +1 to WIS: The god of thunder is a charming fellow, but this really won’t be helping too much. Our canonical Thor will be relying more on the other facets of his divine nature. The Wisdom boost will come in handy later, though.
  • Extra language: Knowing Common and Celestial is fitting for an Asgardian.
  • Celestial Resistance: Being resistant to Radiant and Necrotic damage is a cool ability that lends to the flavor of this otherworldly being.
  • Healing Hands: It comes with being an Aasimar. While our Thor isn’t exactly running around as the medic of his party, flavoring this as channeling his lightning as a defibrillator is pretty in-character.
  • Light Bearer: Light as a cantrip means that Thor can create, as the Grandmaster would put it, “sparkles” from his fingertips. Useful when you need both hands or don’t have a torch.
  • Radiant Soul: Anyone who’s seen Thor: Ragnarok can get a sense for how this ability would play out. When unleashing this, Thor’s eye(s) will glow and he will gain a fly speed of 30 ft. Let’s re-flavor the wings as just him riding the electric currents he’s channeling as he unleashes the Thor Force. Doing the extra radiant damage is a nice touch too!

CLASS

 

Mechanically, I was a little conflicted about what to make our favorite thunderer. Storm Sorcerer seemed like a decent idea, but Thor’s not much of a dedicated spellcaster. He’s a rough-and-tumble, in your face kind of warrior. Storm Herald Barbarian was also a thought, but Thor isn’t a mindless rager in the middle of battle.

In the end, I decided we should convey Thor’s progression as a character in his class progression. Thor will start his career as a Fighter 12, and end it as a Cleric 8. For his starting subclass, we’ll start him off with Champion. Thor wasn’t a particularly cunning or tactical warrior in his youth, preferring to overrun and overpower his enemies with raw strength. As for Cleric, once the god of thunder begins to learn some wisdom and embrace his better qualities, he’ll become a Tempest Cleric.

ABILITY SCORES

 

  • STR: 15 This is the strongest we can get Thor at level 1 by AL rules. Bear in mind, Thor should probably have above a 20 in all of his physical stats, but we’re going to play the hand we’re dealt. Thor swings his hammer with Strength, so we’re going to get him Swole AF. We want this at 20 ASAP, so look for equipment if possible. Even the original Thor had a Belt of Giant’s Strength!
  • DEX: 12 While not the nimble weasel that his brother Loki resembles, Thor isn’t slow. Faster then average, he’ll be quick enough to not automatically fail every DEX saving throw that a GM might throw his way. He won’t depend on it for offense, however, as our boy is gonna go -through- his targets, not around them.
  • CON: 15 Thor is a beefy boy, able to take hits from The Hulk and get up swingin’. Again, this is the closest we can get Thor to his godly self without going outside AL rules, but we want to pump this and STR as quick as we can.
  • INT: 8 Our favorite thunder god isn’t bringing home any awards at the quiz bowl. Even in-universe, Thor would almost always rather punch his way out of a problem than lean on his book smarts for a solution. Leave this stat to the god of mischief.
  • WIS: 11(+1 = 12) Later in his career as an adventurer, Thor will learn a bit of humility and gain some Wisdom. He’ll be relying on this stat for any abilities that channel his inner lightning, so we’ll boost this when we can. However, it should never steal the show from STR and CON.
  • CHA: 10 (+2 = 12) Thor’s a charming fellow, good with the ladies and fast with an encouraging word. ‘Nuff said.

BACKGROUND

 

The son of Odin spent his days in Asgard as a boy, learning what it is to be a king at the feet of his father. The Noble background will be the most accurate for Thor, bringing with it the sense of entitlement and arrogance that he displays in the start of his first movie.

The Noble background gives Thor the History and Persuasion skills. This works, as Thor is acutely aware of the history of his people. He knows about the Frost Giants, the Dark Elves, and other ancient enemies of Asgard. He’s also a bit of a smooth talker, not as much as his brother, but he can be persuasive if pressed.

The gaming set can be literally anything. We’ll go with dragonchess, as it sounds like something Thor would be interested in just for the word “dragon”.  The extra language is tricky, but I’m going to go with Sylvan for a throw-away line in Infinity War. No spoilers, you’ll know it when you see it!

SKILLS

 

Being a Fighter lets Thor start off with two skills in addition to his Background ones. He’ll be going with Athletics and Intimidation.

Athletics is obvious; the Thunderer can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and feats of strength are what he’s legendary for. Intimidation is a bit more rare from him, but when he threatens to bring the hammer down, the average enemy thinks twice about getting in his way.

 

EQUIPMENT

 

As quickly as possible, we want to get Odinson his gear. The original Thor depends heavily on his equipment, and our version will be no different. Sell all of your starting gear and invest in the following:

Plate Armor will be what we’re flavoring his Asgardian metal armor as. He wears a breastplate, chain sleeves, and a flowing red cape. The man’s not attempting very many Stealth checks in the near future, but he doesn’t care. Thunder is not quiet.

We’re gonna go with a one-handed hammer until we can pressure our GM into giving us the legendary weapon:

MJOLNIR– Weapon (One-Handed Hammer), Legendary: “This hammer of the Asgardians is heavily enchanted, forged in the heat of a dying star of Urdu metal. The hammer has limited sentience, and judges the worthiness of its wielder by standards known only to the god Odin. If judged unworthy, a creature may not lift the hammer. +3 Weapon, 2d8+STR Bludgeoning damage and 1d4 Lightning damage. Special properties: Thrown (100/1 Mile), Returning (make a separate attack roll when weapon returns). Grants the wielder a fly speed of 60′, wielder may not make any attacks while in flight.

 

FEATS

 

If we are given very few magic items and have to use our stat boosts for STR , CON, and WIS, so be it. If, however, we have a bit of leeway for feats, here’s some of the ones that might make Thor a little bit better!

  • Level 4: Athlete- Thor is always moving fast and hard, jumping and leaping across the battlefield.
  • Level 6: Charger- Using a legendary hammer to bowl over an opponent is an amazingly in-character thing for Thor.
  • Level 8: Durable- When he gets hit, Odinson gets up again and hits back.
  • Level 12: Mage Slayer- Smacking around his brother has given Thor a bit of practice in shutting down spellcasters.
  • Level 16: Alert- As of Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is a bit more situationally aware, and can even anticipate some of his brother’s tactics.

CLASS FEATURES

 

  • Fighting Style- Dueling is going to maximize the amount of damage we can do with a single-handed weapon, which is what we’ll be using.
  • Second Wind- The battle instincts of a born warrior let Thor get back in the fight when he takes a big hit.
  • Action Surge- Being able to strike again and again in a whirlwind of hammer blows is all Thor, all the time.
  • Improved Critical- Getting hit by Mjolnir hurts. With a weapon like that, it -should- hit harder more often.
  • Extra Attacks- More attacks are always a good thing.
  • Remarkable Athlete- If you need to get somewhere in a hurry, Thor is your man. Even if his hammer isn’t around to let him fly at will, he can jump where he needs to.
  • Indomitable- When possessed by his divinity, the son of Odin can resist effects that would cripple a lesser man! Just don’t tell Scarlet Witch…
  • Additional Fighting Style- Great Weapon Fighting. Juuuuuust in case. 😉
  • Wrath of the Storm- You’ve been… THUNDERSTRUCK!
  • Channel Divinity (Destructive Wrath)- Dealing max damage with lightning effects is super-thematic, and effective in combat!
  • Destroy Undead- We only see Thor battling undead in Thor: Ragnarok, but he’s pretty flippin’ good at it!
  • Thunderbolt Strike- Most of Thor’s more thematic abilities involve blasting his foes away, and this is no different.
  • Divine Strike- The capstone for our Thunder boi, doing immense damage with every hammer strike is iconic. You should see every other player at the table grin, and your GM squirm, when you announce you’re going to attack.

 

SPELLCASTING

Thor’s going to be using his hammer as his holy symbol, obviously. Until he becomes a fully-realized divine being, he’ll need the hammer to focus his power. Here’s my recommendations for thematic spellcasting when you’re bringing Thor Odinson to the game table! These will exclude his Tempest domain spells, clearly those ones are pretty thematic.

Cantrips:

  • Thaumaturgy- Making storm clouds and thunder punctuate your words? Very cool.
  • Guidance- The voice of a king carries weight.
  • Spare the Dying- Like his healing hands, Thor should be able to jump-start a dying party member back to consciousness.
  • Mending- If a piece of armor or weapon is showing wear and tear, a true warrior should fix it. In the words of Kratos, “Pain we endure. Faulty equipment, we do not.”

Level 1:

  • Detect Magic- Thor is pretty good at knowing what supernatural elements look like.
  • Guiding Bolt- Light up your foes with a radiant bolt!
  • Sanctuary- Re-flavor this as a charming dialogue in the middle of a fight, where the enemy has to waste valuable time bantering instead of fighting.
  • Shield of Faith- More like Aura of Lightning, but you get the picture.

Level 2:

  • Hold Person- Lay the hammer on ’em. They’re not going anywhere.
  • Enhance Ability- Sometimes, gods gotta god. This helps Thor god better. Duh.
  • Augury- Thor often consults sources like Heimdall and Odin for guidance, usually at least once a movie.

Level 3:

  • Dispel Magic- Break enchantments with your hammer!
  • Tongues- Thor has never had problems talking to aliens, deities, monsters, and the like.
  • Beacon of Hope- When arrives on the battlefield the son of Odin, the hearts of his allies soar, and the hearts of his enemies tremble in fear!

Level 4:

  • Freedom of Movement- None shall impede the god of thunder!
  • Death Ward- Even in the face of death itself, a true warrior can stand and fight!

That’s it for this week! Tune in next week, where we’ll be building…

Severus Snape, the Half-Blood Prince! Let us know who you’d like to see us build in the future, see you next time!

2 Replies to “Bring Forth “The Mighty Thor!” in D&D 5th Edition!”

    1. Hi Isaac! Excellent idea, I’m a big Fire Emblem fan. Might do Ike in a future build, thanks for the suggestion! Stay tuned!

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