Let’s Play D&D With Ash from ‘Evil Dead’
Chainsaw arms for everyone! This week, we’re playing Dungeons & Dragons with Ash from the Evil Dead universe.
If you saw the recent release of Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, you may have found yourself in the mood to revisit a certain collection of camp-horror-comedy movies. I’ve had Evil Dead on the mind since the Evil Dead video game came out, and apparently I’m not the only one. Ash was a special request sheet to make. After reeling because he wasn’t on my list already, I was all too delighted to invite him to our next campaign. This week we’re playing D&D with…
Ash Williams
Ashley Joanna Williams is a simple man. He’s mainly a shoot-guy with a couple of hidden skills. But this isn’t a character who would work a lot with magic, which rules out lots of the D&D classes. Luckily, there are a few that are perfect for him.
I gave Ash a primary class of Fighter with a martial archetype of Gunslinger. He’s good at shooting zombies, but is also pretty quick, durable, and decent at hand to hand combat. Which all around describes your classic fighter. Give him the Dungeons & Dragons equivalent of a rifle and Ash is in business.
Okay, But Why Artificer?
But like I said, he’s got a few skills besides being your classic action hero. Ash is an engineer who can build stuff with a fair amount of ease. Ignoring that would overlook too much of his character, so he also took a few levels of Artificer. Artificers do have spellcasting ability, but I tried to pick a spells that made sense for Ash or could be described away by technology. Message? That’s sort of like phones. Resistance? He’s gotten pretty good at working around the undead by now.
Artificer also gave us access to one of my favorite additions to 5E, constructs. At first glance, Ash shouldn’t have a construct so the Battlesmith specialty shouldn’t work for him. Until you remember the Oldsmobile and how he turned it into the “Steam Powered Deathcoaster.” Is this a steel defender? No. But could a player-character build a construct that they could ride into battle? Absolutely. At this point we’re just working with flavor text.
But of course some of the most recognizable things about Ash are the weapons he carries. And don’t worry, he has weapons. The blunderbuss stands in for his boomstick just fine, but it may need to be modified to be used one handed. You know, because Ash has one hand and one chainsaw.
Chainsaws in D&D
This isn’t the first time chainsaws have come up in my D&D sheets, and there isn’t a good answer to them in this setting, unfortunately. You could work with your DM on a custom weapon. But I gave him an “Arm Blade” instead and gave it hand axe stats. It doesn’t have the same oomph as a chainsaw, but few things do and that would have the potential to be a little game-breaking.
Sometimes I make a sheet and forget about it. Others I am delighted by the character and want to sneak them into my own D&D sessions until my DM notices and “boos” me off of the map. This is one of the latter. Ash would be such a hilarious character to throw into a D&D setting while also, somehow, being entirely playable.
How would you make Ash for D&D? Which of the Evil Dead movies is your favorite? What movie, show, comics, or game would you like to see sheets from next time? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
