Let’s Play D&D With Bowser
Mario may be the title character, but by now we all know the star of the show and the internet is the chart-topping villainous dragon-turtle.
The Mario movie is still doing numbers and getting people into movie theaters to watch some of our favorite video game characters take the big screen. But if we’re being honest, neither the title character nor his voice actor are the ones taking the internet by storm. For that, we’ll have to look at Jack Black’s take on Bowser. Which has been absolutely wonderful. A few weeks ago we invited Mario to play some D&D with us. I think it’s time we tell the cartoon plumber to step aside so we can instead play with…
Bowser
This sheet was a lot of fun to make and was one of those times where I could have gone in a few different directions.
Right off the top, Bowser is definitely somewhere between a turtle and a dragon without really committing to either. I could have made him a Dragonborn, but I decided to go with Tortle instead because while there are ways to add dragon influence to a Tortle, there aren’t really any ways to add a little turtle to a Dragonborn. Plus he’s got that shell and he may as well get the AC boost from it, right?
To make sure he had some of those dragon features and powers though, I opted for a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer. Got some added resilience, and as a red dragon, he’s got some fire powers. Sure, Bowser is mostly greenish, but he’s got that red hair and green dragons deal in poison.
After that, I went with a College of Glamour bard because… Well, you know.
If I was making a Bowser based solely on what we’ve seen in the video games, he would be a fighter instead. But now Jack Black’s Bowser has entered the chat and his bardlieness simply cannot be ignored.
Of course, Bowser is still decidedly a fearsome fighter to take on. His Tortle claws do a decent amount of damage, but I also gave him the Tavern Brawler feat to make sure that it was a little more, plus anything around can be a weapon. And I gave him a few in-book weapons that are as close to what we’ve seen him wield as we’re going to find in the D&D sourcebooks.
Both Sorcerer and Bard are spellcasting classes, so we had to take a look at a few spell lists. I made sure Bowser had plenty of fire spells for that extra dragony feel. But he also just has a few that seemed helpful or delightfully video-game-esque. Like catapult.
All in all, this was a very fun sheet to make, and I think it would be even more fun to play than Mario. Sure, he’s technically evil and I could have made a monster sheet. But this version of Bowser is pretty darn fun and deserves a chance to join the adventure from time to time.
How would you make Bowser for D&D? What was your favorite part of the Mario movie? What movie, show, book, game, or comic should I make sheets from next time? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
