Let’s Play D&D With Kirby
He may be cute, but don’t let that fool you. Kirby will take your favorite ability and use it against you when we invite him to play D&D.
Kirby is one of those Nintendo characters who’s almost impossible not to like. They’re a funny, cute, a little weird, and has some fun games. Kirby was always my go-to in college floor-wide Super Smash Brothers games. Even if I was terrible, stealing every body else’s powers made the very few minutes I was on the platform a little more interesting. I adore Kirby, so naturally I had to add him to our next D&D session. As a monster.
Monster Kirby
Kirby has a pretty base set of abilities that make him immediately recognizable to just about anyone. And they would just so happen to be terrible to fight in a D&D encounter.
For starters, Kirby is just a rubbery little guy. This probably gives him a little bit of a boost to his natural armor, given that he can just absorb a hit or two. This also makes him very cute, and likely pretty unassuming to most player characters who want to make pets even of not-cute monsters. I gave Kirby a high Constitution and Charisma to reflect both of those things. Maybe he’ll get on an adventurer’s good side and be a helpful friend. Or maybe he’ll trick a party into a very annoying fight.
His elasticity is also good for flying, or in his case more of a float around. I’ve never known Kirby to be a particularly fast floater, so I made his flying speed slightly lower than his speed on foot. And Kirby is a part-time punch-guy. Is it his most interesting attack? No. Is it his most powerful? Also probably not. But he has a melee attack and I’d be remiss to leave it out, especially when he can use Slam followed by something a little wackier.
I’m talking, of course, about Kirby’s ability to vacuum suck enemies into his body and spit them out or steal their powers. It’s an ability that’s equal parts disturbing, hilarious, and annoyingly effective. This version of Kirby has to both succeed in sucking a potential victim up and then succeed again to swallow them. But I thought that once somebody is in Kirby’s mouth they would have a harder time resisting so I made the check more difficult to pass.
From there, I thought it would be the most interesting and most fun to leave what power gets taken up to the Dungeon Master’s discretion. It would be easy enough to make a chart of what powers Kirby would pull from various kinds of players. Fighters could always give him a weapon or strength while a wizard could always give him access to a spell or two. But this leaves it more open to your specific table’s game.
Maybe a character has a signature weapon or move that has nothing to do with their class or their best stat. That would obviously be the best choice and most fun option for Kirby to mimic. Does this give the DM an opportunity to be a little mean? Yeah. But hopefully yours is more fun than punishing.
When Kirby is done with a player’s powers, he can use them as a projectile. Both the target of the spit and the spittee have to attempt Dexterity rolls to avoid getting hurt here. Either both dodge the attack and roll into a graceful landing, or both end up a tangled heap. And in a D&D encounter, they could both be pretty funny.
How would you make Kirby for D&D? What’s your favorite game Kirby’s playable in? Would you prefer Kirby be a monster in a D&D setting or a playable character? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
