Let’s Play D&D With Deadpool
Get your favorite sword and practice your snarky one-liners. You’ll need them this week when we play D&D with Deadpool.
I almost cannot believe that we got one Deadpool movie, let alone a couple and another on the way. He’s one of those characters who should have never worked on the big screen for a wide audience. But here we are. Deadpool is delightfully hinged and has a stream-of-conscious, fourth-wall-breaking way about him that’s not even a little serious, even when the stakes are very high… Just like all of our D&D characters. But Deadpool is a little too wacky with a powerset that’s a bit too overpowered. He’d never actually be playable in a D&D setting. Or would he? Let’s see and play D&D with…
Deadpool
When you get right down to it, Deadpool is a pretty straightforward character. He’s a merc, he’s got the mouth, and he bounces back from just about any injury. For D&D, the merc part is easy- as well as all of the weapons and proficiencies he may need- and the mouth is really up to the player at the table. But that healing factor is where we were getting stuck, and for a little bit, I thought about just making this character sheet as an NPC/monster. But that’s not really as much fun.
I decided to solve this problem with a little bit of a half-measure. There’s no way to make an entirely unkillable character for your tabletop game. That would take all of the stakes out of your adventure and make bad roles meaningless. But it’s definitely possible to have a sturdy character with a ton of HP and the ability to regain health regularly.
via Marvel
We opted for a Champion-Fighter to solve this problem. Deadpool doesn’t scream ‘champion’ in a general sense, but at level 18 the Survivor ability lets a character regain five HP plus their constitution modifier per turn. Added to this is the fact that Fighter is just a good class pick for Deadpool. He fights; that’s sort of his entire thing. Sometimes it’s with swords, sometimes he’s got guns, and sometimes it’s both at the same time. And he’s got proficiency in all of it.
I made sure he had two-weapon fighting as well as archery for extra skills in keeping a weapon in both hands as well as ranged weapons like firearms. And from there feats were all picks that would either give him more HP, let him get more HP, or make him a better fighter in weirder situations.
Sure, he’s got a few dump stats in the intelligence and wisdom. But in D&D he doesn’t really need those… And in the comics and on screen he doesn’t often use them either.
At the end of the day, this is a sheet that’s very useable and uncharacteristically not silly. This is a sheet you could pull up to any game with and play, and only have people know what you’re doing once you start whipping out those one-liners. And even then, they may just assume you’re snarky. Turns out, Deadpool would do fine in a D&D setting.
How would you make Deadpool for D&D? Are you excited for the upcoming film? What movie, show, comic, game, or book should I make sheets from next time? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
