Let’s Play D&D With ‘Street Fighter’s Chun-Li
Hope you’re ready for the Kikoken. During this week’s D&D session, we’re doing a little sparring with Street Fighter‘s Chun-Li.
Street Fighter is one of those franchises that has been relevant since its first release in 1987, and will likely remain relevant for as long as there are video games or movies. On its face it’s a pretty simple fighting gaming, making it fun and addictive in its simplicity. But once you really dive in, there’s a bunch of lore and plot between characters, making it a good source for movies as well.
I remember playing Street Fighter in my town’s mall. And even though the mall arcade has since been turned into some store or another, and I was really only any good by button-mashing standards, it’s still the source of so much nostalgia. So let’s revisit all of our mall arcade days by playing D&D with one of the Street Fighter favorites. This week we’re playing with…
Chun-Li
Chun-Li is a surprisingly perfect character to drop into a D&D setting. So often I’ll make characters while thinking, “Well this is as close as we’re going to get,” or “good enough but really D&D isn’t the right game for them.” But I was almost surprised to see how easily Chun-Li fit into Dungeons and Dragons.
To start, she has a law enforcement background, which gives her both the City Watch background and a Lawful Good alignment. From there, Chun-Li’s very specialized martial arts training makes her a perfect candidate for one of D&D’s Monks.
For a few moments, I thought I would be making her a Way of the Open Hand style Monk. This is the standard karate favorited Monk sub-class. And for a character from a series that revolves around martial arts, it seemed right. Of course, Chun-Li has a few special attacks that let her kick and punch fire as well as make blue fireballs. But I’ll just give her a feat for those few spells…
I’m joking. Way of the Sun Soul Monks get the perfect attacks for Chun-Li. At the third level, they can hurl bolts of radiant damage. At sixth, they can channel their ki into searing energy and cast the Burning Hands spell as a bonus action. And finally, at the eleventh they have the ability to create an “orb of light that erupts into a devastating explosion.”
Mixed with the fact that Monk attacks and ki points will deal a little more special damage, we’ve got a Street Fighter-worthy battle on our hands.
Chun-Li is usually a character that uses hand-to-hand combat. But from time to time she’s been known to use a spear or staff. So I was sure to include it on her sheet. It’s always good to have a weapon in D&D even if you don’t use it terribly often. And then, of course, there are her spiked gauntlets. There isn’t a good stand-in for this in D&D. So instead I gave her a dagger as her other weapon. In your own game, I always suggest describing your vision to your DM and seeing what they’ll be willing to homebrew for you.
How would you make Chun-Li for D&D? Who is your go-to Street Fighter character? What movie, show, book, comic, or game, should I make a sheet from next time? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
