Tag: marvel

In my last batch of Dungeons & Dragons superheroes, I included one supervillain. Here are a few more, for your roleplaying adventures.

Magneto
Race: Mountain Dwarf (Arcane-Touched)
Class: Wizard (Graviturgy or Transmutation)

• Dwarves are intrinsically tied to metal, stone, and craftsmanship.
• Graviturgy represents attraction, repulsion, and control of mass, a good mechanical translation of magnetism without modern physics.
• Transmutation reinforces his ability to reshape metal, weapons, and terrain.
• Wizardry also emphasizes Magneto’s intellect, planning, and ideological certainty rather than brute force.
• Signature ability: Metal Dominion – can disarm entire armies by wrenching steel from their hands.

Loki
Race: Changeling or Eladrin
Class: Warlock (Archfey) / Bard (College of Whispers)

• Changelings embody literal shapeshifting, while Eladrin represent emotional transformation and Fey capriciousness.
• Both races reinforce Loki’s role as someone who cannot be pinned down, physically or morally, and whose very nature is instability.
• Archfey warlocks gain power from ancient, inscrutable entities, perfect for a trickster godling bound to higher Fey courts.
• College of Whispers allows Loki to weaponize secrets, fear, and narrative manipulation rather than direct confrontation.
• Signature ability: Silver Tongue – deals psychic damage through whispered lies.

Red Skull
Race: Undead (Revenant or Lich-bound Human)
Class: Oathbreaker Paladin / Death Cleric

• Red Skull represents the death of humanity in service of ideology. Making him undead externalizes that transformation: his ideals outlived his flesh.
• A revenant fits his relentless obsession.
• A lich-bound human fits his use of forbidden relics to transcend mortality without becoming fully independent.
• Oathbreaker reflects betrayal of moral law, while Death Cleric reinforces his use of necromancy, relic worship, and cult leadership.
• Signature ability: Aura of Zealotry – allies cannot be frightened or charmed.

Green Goblin
Race: Goblin (Alchemically Altered)
Class: Artificer (Alchemist) / Rogue (Arcane Trickster)

• Goblins already embody chaos, cunning, and volatility. By enhancing one through alchemical mutation, the Green Goblin becomes a what-if brilliant goblin amplified past sanity.
• Alchemist artificers create volatile elixirs, mutagens, and bombs. Goblin magic distilled into science-adjacent fantasy.
• Rogue levels emphasize mobility, cruelty, and surprise attacks.
• Arcane Trickster adds illusion and misdirection, reinforcing his love of spectacle and psychological warfare.
• Signature ability: Mad Elixirs – explosive potions, mutagens, fear toxins.

Doctor Octopus
Race: Human
Class: Wizard (Conjuration) / Artificer (Battle Smith)

• A brilliant arcanist whose body was permanently fused with four sentient arcane constructs, originally designed to aid research in dangerous planar breaches.
• Conjuration governs control, summoning, and battlefield manipulation, ideal for autonomous arcane limbs.
• Battle Smith allows intelligent constructs and mechanical companions that blur the line between tool and partner.
• Signature ability: Arcane Limbs – autonomous grappling arms with limited sentience.

I recently played in a short Dungeons & Dragons campaign in which all the characters had to be inspired by classic superheroes, adapted to the medieval fantasy world of Faerûn. I liked the idea so much that I ended up creating a whole list of characters, and having much fun with it. Here are a few of them. The best part is that, if you don’t like my versions of these super-adventurers, you can just create your own.

Spider-Man
Race: Wood Elf
Class: Monk (Open Hand) with a 1–3 level dip in Rogue (Scout)

• Wood elves have the agility, speed, and keen senses that parallel Spider-Man’s reflexes.
• Monk gives him Quickened Movement, Unarmored Defense, and high mobility, perfect for wall-running, leaping, tumbling through enemies.
• Open Hand techniques mimic web-trip, push, and stun effects.
• Rogue (Scout) represents his urban acrobatics, ambush instincts, and mobility in the alleyways of a fantasy city.
• His webbing becomes Ki-infused silk ropes produced by magical spiders he once saved in an elven ruin.
• Signature ability: Silk Line Step – spend 1 Ki to lash a spectral silk line onto a surface and pull yourself as if casting Misty Step.

Wolverine
Race: Mountain Dwarf
Class: Barbarian (Zealot)

• Dwarves are hardy, stubborn, and famously difficult to kill, perfect for Wolverine.
• Zealot’s damage resistance and “nearly impossible to kill” nature works like a healing factor.
• His claws become black-iron dwarven claw bracers, forged as a hereditary weapon.
• Berserker rage mimics Wolverine’s ferocity.
• Signature ability: Blackclaw Frenzy – rage activates his ancestral magic, causing the claws to extend and glow with runic fire.

Captain America
Race: Variant Human
Class: Paladin (Devotion)

• Devotion Paladins embody justice, righteousness, courage.
• Shield mastery parallels Cap’s iconic combat style.
• His shield is a blessed relic of a bygone holy order, magically returning to his hand once per round.
• The super soldier serum is replaced with a divine ritual granting enhanced physical ability.
• Signature ability: Aegis Throw – throw the shield as a ranged spell attack that ricochets between enemies via divine light.

Iron Man
Race: Rock Gnome
Class: Artificer (Armorer)

• Artificers literally build magical suits of armor, exactly like Tony Stark but medieval.
• Rock gnomes have tinkering instincts and a talent for small, intricate mechanisms.
• His arc reactor becomes a bound elemental shard powering the armor.
• The suit can switch between Guardian (tank) and Infiltrator (ranged) modes.
• Signature ability: Elemental Heart Beam – a lightning spell cast through the suit’s chest-crystal.

Hulk
Race: Goliath
Class: Barbarian (Berserker) with 1–2 Druid levels

• The Hulk is a rage-fueled transformation, and Barbarians already do that.
• Goliaths are huge, muscular, and tied to elemental/giant heritage.
• The Druid twist: his rage is a giant-spirit possession, not radiation.
• His Hulk form is simply his rage pushing him into magically-enhanced size and strength (like Enlarge).
• Signature ability: Fury of the Mountain King – while raging, he grows a size category and deals extra bludgeoning damage.

Thor
Race: Protector Aasimar
Class: Cleric (Tempest)

• Tempest Clerics literally channel thunder, lightning, and divine storms.
• Aasimar fits the demigod archetype.
• His hammer is a sentient storm-spirit weapon, not a piece of technology.
• Divine retribution mimics Mjolnir’s lightning strikes.
• Signature ability: Stormcaller’s Leap – teleport short distances in a burst of lightning (mechanically: Thunder Step).

Doctor Strange
Race: Human
Class: Wizard (Order of Scribes)

• Strange is a scholar-mage first and foremost.
• Scribes Wizards manipulate spellbooks, alter spells on the fly, and conjure spectral script, very Strange-like.
• His Eye of Agamotto becomes an Ancient Glyph Key, a relic from an extinct wizard order that bends time and space.
• Signature ability: Many-Gated Mirror – cast Misty Step, Dimension Door, or Arcane Gate through floating runic portals.

I hope you enjoy these medieval superheroes (perhaps even play some of them). I may publish more characters later.