Let’s Play D&D With He-Man
This week we all Have The Power as we figure out how to bring He-Man and the masters of the Universe to our next D&D session.
He-Man came to Netflix a few days ago in all of it’s 80s glory to turn some tropes on their ears, make sure everyone had the muscles they deserved, and give us the most perfect voice casting for Skeletor possible. It’s a weird, fun, nostalgic romp that would honestly feel right at home within the setting of any D&D adventure, so let’s figure out to bring the Masters of the Universe to a tabletop near you.
He-Man
There’s a surprising amount to think about when it comes to He-Man. He’s a prince with a transformation sequence that turns him into the most ripped dude in the universe, with a talking cat familiar and a specialty weapon. Going the Sailor Moon route with him wouldn’t be wrong, and I’d toyed with the idea for a few moments, but It wouldn’t be right either. In the end, I decided on mostly Barbarian with a touch of Eldritch Knight Fighter because it’s He-Man, and sometimes simpler is better. Nobody is playing a He-Man inspired character because they want a technically complex character to play, it’s because they want a big strong guy.
I focused as much as possible on making him strong, beefy, and hard to kill with feats like Brawny and Tough as well as his ton of hit points. Eldritch Knight gave me justification to give him an enhanced weapon that he has a special connection to and a few magic spells. But while He-Man has some magic his bread and butter has always been his physical strength, so I used the very limited spells I could take to do things like find his tiger familiar and protect people from evil.
Teela
Teela, on the other hand, is very straightforward. She’s a fighter through and through, and as a former Captain of the Guards, Champion with a Knight background is perfect for her. Teela is the sort of character that may as well have been a D&D character that somebody animated. She’s not quite as strong as He-Man because – let’s be real, he’s practically a god – but she is still very strong, wears armor for an AC boost, and has a more well-rounded stat block.
This isn’t a character who does magic or even has much interest in it herself, but she does likely knows ways to hurt you that you don’t even know you don’t know. I gave her the Tavern Brawler feat, not because we see her brawling in any taverns, but because her time on the road in He-Man Revelation has probably made her scrappy and forced her to take on fighting styles that she wouldn’t have learned in knight training. Plus the boost to unarmed attack is nice.
Have you seen Masters of the Universe: Revelation yet? How do you think it compares to older incarnations of He-Man? How would you have made these characters for D&D? What shows, games, or movies would you like to see characters sheets from next? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
