If you've ever wanted to make your own X-Men DND campain, we can help you get started!
X-Men and Dungeons & Dragons have a lot in common. Both gained popularity in the 1980s, both inspire generations of nerds, and both involve powerful misfits banding together to save the world with the power of teamwork. It feels only natural that tabletop gamers would try to bring the X-Men to their D&D tables! Such a diverse cast of characters with strange and powerful abilities would make a fine Dungeons & Dragons party indeed. So we picked 5 of our favorite X-Men to create our own X-Men Dungeons & Dragons character builds. Excelsior!
Fun fact: the Stranger-Things Dungeons & Dragons club name, “The Hellfire Club,” was a cheeky nod to the group of the same name from the 1980’s X-Men comics!
X-Men D&D Character: Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler is an easy X-Men DND character build if you choose the right spells.
First up is Nightcrawler, a powerful but kind mutant whose gentle nature contrasts with his spooky appearance. While his glowing eyes, dark-blue skin, and pointed tail seem occultish in nature, lending towards a Nightcrawler warlock D&D class, they come from mutation, not demons, which would certainly run counter to his Catholic faith. Instead, we built Nightcrawler as a D&D sorcerer, whose magic comes from within. The shadow magic subclass is a good fit for Nightcrawler, who lurks in the darkness. This subclass grants darkvision, much like his his night vision, and, at level 14, the Shadow Walk ability, which lets him teleport from shadow to shadow, like his iconic teleportation ability.
You don’t have to wait until level 14 for him to teleport if you pick the right spells, however! The second-level spell Misty Step gives him teleportation within 30 feet, the fourth-level spell Dimension Door opens this range to 500 feet and lets him take a buddy, and if you want to maximize his teleportation abilities, the full seventh-level Teleport spell will really get you places. (Be warned, this one doesn’t always go as planned!) Teleportation spells aren’t the only ones that mimic Nightcrawler’s abilities. The Spider Climb spell gives him his wall-crawling abilities so he can climb surfaces and spring from the darkness, and the Mage Hand spell mimics his prehensive tail. To get the full picture of Nightcrawler as a character, we also recommend giving him proficiency in Acrobatics, to reflect his superhuman agility and reflexes, the Wood Elf lineage to get the Mask of the Wild ability, to reflect his natural camouflage, proficiency in Religion, to reflect his Catholic devotion, and the Linguist feat to reflect his many languages (including German, if your Dungeon Master will let you)!
How to Make Jean Grey an X-Men D&D Build
Playing a powerful wizard is a great X-Men DND 5e character for Jean Grey.
Next, we had to include Jean Grey, founding X-Men member and powerful telepath with a fiery, stubborn streak. To start her off with flight abilities, we gave her the Aarakocra lineage. Even though it’s not an exact fit, reducing her flight ability to the number of spell slots she has seemed a little silly.
The only class with her level of sheer supernatural power is the wizard, which is a pretty reasonable fit for the glass-cannon Jean. We found the School of Evocation to best represent her concussive blasts (pretty much every Evocation spell could reasonably be described as a concussive blast of one sort or another). Rifling through the Wizard spell list, we picked Telekinesis for her, well, telekinesis, Fire Shield and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere for her force fields, and Message, Sending, Telepathy, and Rary’s Telepathic Bond for her telepathic abilities. When in her phoenix form, she also gains pyrokinesis: the ability to manipulate fire. This is another good one for Evocation spells. A few of our favorites are Fire Bolt, which lets you hurl motes of fire at enemies, Wall of Fire, which creates a 60-foot-long wall of pure fire, Fire Storm, which lets you summon a 100–cubic-foot storm of fire in whatever shape you’d like, and, of course, the classic Fireball - no matter how small the room is.
Gambit As An X-Men D&D Character
The X-Men DND character class for Gambit has got to be Rogue.
Gambit’s another massively popular X-Men character: a thief with a heart of gold, New-Orleans charm, and unique fighting style, which combines a bo-staff with a deck of cards, charges with his kinetic-energy-manipulation powers. For this charismatic thief, we had to pick the Rogue class (rather fitting, given his frequent paramour). Of course, he should have proficiency in both the quarterstaff weapon and the Sleight of Hand skill to reflect his natural physical abilities. And as much as we were tempted by the Thief subclass, we had to go with the Arcane Tricker, whose access to the Wizard spell list mimics hipowers over kinetic energy. If you do a little reflavoring, you could go with Fire Bolt, which lets you throw a card at a single enemy, Ice Knife, which will explode whether it hits or misses, Magic Missile, which lets you throw up to 6 homing cards that automatically hit, Burning Hands, which lets you throw a card at close range that explodes outward, and Scorching Ray, which lets you throw up to 5 cards that deal massive damage. For a bit of extra fun, we also recommend Color Spray, which blinds people in a glittery explosion of cards, Cloud of Daggers, which could so easily a storm of spinning cards, and the totally-fitting Spray of Cards, which lets you spray a 15-foot cone of cards – no reskinning required!
Play As Storm In Your X-Men D&D Campaign
Storms' X-Men DND character sheet would definitely include some powerful nature spells from the Druid list.
Storm is another force to be reckoned with on the X-Men. Her ability to manipulate the weather may seem minor at first glance until you see the raw power she wields as she controls lightning, blasts cold, and summons huge gusts of wind. We started off by giving her the Aarakocra lineage to grant her the ability to fly, high Charisma and Wisdom, and proficiency in Persuasion and Insight to reflect her abilities in leadership and diplomacy.
Choosing a class was a tough one, but we narrowed it down to Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard based on what spells were available, then chose Druid for both the higher hit points and the connection to the natural world. While any subclass would work well, we chose the Circle of the Land, specifically Arctic land, which automatically prepares the spells Sleet Storm, Ice Storm, and Cone of Cold. To fill out her powers over ice and snow, we recommend adding both Ice Knife and Investiture of Ice (the latter of which lets you turn into an epic ice goddess emanating ice and freezing wind from your very being). Reflecting her power over the sun, we also recommend Sunbeam and Sunburst, both pretty epic in their own right. To represent her power over the wind, there’s a whole list of Druid spells, including Gust, Control Winds, Investiture of Wind, Warding Wind, Wind Walk, and Wind Wall. For her power to control tropical and lightning storms we think you should add Tsunami in there, along with lightning-storm spells like Thunderclap, Call Lightning, and Thunderwave. Then you’ve got every storm under (and including) the sun!
How to Make Wolverine in D&D 5e
A Wolverine DND character sheet is incomplete without an adamantine weapon for his claws.
There are so many people out there looking for a Wolverine D&D character sheet, curious about a D&D Wolverine build, or wondering how they can make Wolverine in D&D. This one’s for you! The most popular X-Man by a long shot, Wolverine’s tragic backstory, adamantine claws, and raw fury make for an engaging character that fits perfectly in D&D.
He’s got to be a Barbarian, fierce combatants who are empowered by their rage. When Barbarians enter a rage, they become extra strong, deal extra damage, and are resistant to attacks, which could easily be reflavored as Wolverine’s healing factor. They also have Wolverine’s uncanny animalistic perception and reaction time with their Danger Sense, Feral Instinct, and Instinctive Pounce abilities. As for a subclass, we had to go with the Path of the Berserker, which lets them Frenzy with extra attacks during rage and gives them Intimidating Presence, which is only fitting for our frightening Canadian friend. If you want to go all-in with his adamantine claws, we recommend reflavoring the Adamantine Greatsword, which deals 2d6 slashing damage and has the Graze property in D&D 5.5e, a great fit for claws whipping around the battlefield.
Play Your Own X-Men D&D Campaign With Us!
Dungeons & Dragons classes come with so many different and amazing abilities - it’s no wonder that some of them imitate superpowers! You can try to create your own version of your favorite X-Men, make another of your favorite characters, or even use this knowledge as inspiration to make something entirely your own! If you’ve got a great character idea or want to play with a specific power set, why not check out our games for tweens and teens? Whether it’s a host of nature spells, an adamantine weapon, or something entirely your own, we’ll help you create the exact character you want and give you the opportunity to go on quests, save the world, and create your own hero story!
