Let’s Play D&D With ‘Stranger Things’ Eleven
This week we’re escaping from the Upside Down all over again. But it’ll be okay, we’re playing D&D with Eleven.
The fourth season of Stranger Things is all up on Netflix to make us feel nostalgic and traumatized at the same time. The show has come a long way since classic kids-on-bikes show of the first season while still managing to relatability bring us all back to our most awkward teenage year. And if we’re being honest, we’ve all fantasized about having El’s powers. Whether your fascination with weaponized psychic powers started with Matilda, Professor X, or something else, we’d all have a few key uses for a telekenetic push/pull power. So let’s all borrow El’s powers for a our next came night when we play D&D with…
Eleven
El’s powers are pretty straightforward in the grand scheme of TV character magic. For the most part, they’re powers we’ve been before. El is spicy Matilda with a somehow even worse childhood. And if we’re talking about that power set and where it fits into D&D, we’re talking about Psionics.
Unfortunately, Psionics doesn’t exist in 5E to the same robust extent we’ve seen it in previous editions, so we’re a little limited in exactly what we can chose from. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has a few options for sprinkling some Psionics back into your D&D campaign, notably in the form of the Psi Warrior Fighter. There is also a Sorcerer subclass that utilizes Psionics, but I thought that El’s rage powered psychic attacks played better with the strikes and force fields of the Psi Warrior Fighter.
Unfortunately for the fighter core class, El is a pretty standardly not-strong tween. Her skills come from her mental powers, which is luckily what the Psionics abilities will draw from. Does this mean that Eleven is one of those characters who doesn’t have the minimum abilities necessary to multi-class? Yeah, I think it does.
In addition to her class powers, I gave her the Telekinetic feat. This probably feels superfluous, but my line of thinking is that the Psi powers require Psionic Energy Dice. El could conceivably run out of these. The Telekinetic feat gives a character access to the Mage Hang Cantrip as well as a once-per-Bonus-Action Shove. Since neither of these are tied to any energy dice or a similarly depletable resource, it means that El will always be able to use those parts of her powers- even if not to the same powerful degree – in a last ditch effort if necessary.
I didn’t give Eleven any weapons because, with the exception of an expertly wielded roller skate, she doesn’t generally use weapons. The character does come with quite a few proficiencies though. So please feel free to give your character an actual weapon. Or don’t. Roller skates are heavier than you think and make fine improvised weapons.
How would you make the Stranger Things characters for a D&D setting? Which song would save you from Vecna? What show, movie, comic, or game should I make sheets from next time? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
