(Art Credit: SimArtWorks)
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Now, this… THIS is going to be entertaining! Not only we’re building a so-powerful-he’s-broken anime character, we’re also building the immortal king of all vampires. Unless you’re Vatican Section XIII, it won’t take you long to figure out that Alucard from Hellsing is none other than Dracula! From my dearest friend, my brother from different parents, the man who baited me into building the Doctor from Doctor Who… Enjoy!
Next Time: Embrace the Chaos… and become the Witch.
What do we need to do for this one? Besides a steady supply of blood, of course:
- Bitches Love Cannons: Yes, be prepared to hear quotes from Hellsing: Ultimate Abridged at every possible moment. But we do need guns, and we need to use them well.
- Can’t Touch This: This is anime we’re talking about, so we need to be super strong, super nimble, pretty much invulnerable, etc.
- Let the Dogs Out: Shadows and hell-hounds and souls of the damned… these are only but a few things Alucard likes.
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Since Alucard started his life as Vlad Tepes of Wallachia, naturally we’re gonna go with Variant Hu– Nah, even I’m not that vanilla. Obviously, we’re a Dhampir from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. We get a +2 and a +1 bonus to two abilities of our choice (Constitution and Strength respectively), 35 feet of ground speed (and matching climbing speed), proficiency in two skills of our choice (Intimidation and History), 60 feet of Darkvision, the ability to speak and read Common and one other language of our choice, and the Vampiric Bite feature: our fangs count as natural melee weapons that deal [1d4 + our Constitution modifier] piercing damage. If we’re missing half of our Hit Points and decide to attack with our fangs, we have an advantage on those bite attacks. When attacking a creature that isn’t a construct or an undead, we can additionally empower our bite in one of two ways:
- We regain Hit Points equal to the damage dealt by the bite.
- We gain a bonus to the next ability check or attack roll we make; the bonus is equal to the damage dealt by the bite.
We can use that empowered bite a number of times equal to our proficiency bonus, and we regain all uses after a long rest.
Alucard is the trump card of the Hellsing Organisation, so we’re in a pretty good position to make him a Faction Agent. However, instead of the provided background, ask your DM if you could take the Hollow One character option from Critical Role’s Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. We gain the benefits of no ageing (and being immune to effects that would forcefully age us), we register as undead when under detection spells, and whenever we roll a Death Saving Throw and roll 16 or higher, we can regain 1 Hit Point. Additionally, we gain the Unsettling Presence feature: as an action, we can unsettle a creature within 15 feet of us, granting it a disadvantage at the next saving throw it makes within the next minute.
ABILITY SCORES
Constitution will be our primary ability; Alucard’s whole shtick is that he can’t be killed by a random shmuck. Dexterity will be next, our primary weapons are ranged, and that’s the corresponding ability. Strength follows that. Sometimes weapons are not enough, and you just have to dish out some knuckle sandwiches.
Charisma will be next, we’re pretty intimidating on a daily basis and even more so when we try. With the last two abilities, as it usually goes with anime characters, it’s not the case of what we’re bad at but what we need more; in this case it’s Wisdom and dumping Intelligence.
CLASS
Level 1 - Sorcerer: We start right away with some Dark Powers. Sorcerers get d6 as their Hit Dice, [6 + our Constitution modifier] initial Hit Points, no armour proficiencies, proficiencies with daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, and light crossbows. We don’t need armour for now, and before we can get our guns (if ever) we can get a crossbow as our primary weapon. Our saving throws are Constitution and Charisma, and we get to pick two class skills (Insight and Religion).
Sorcerers start with Spellcasting right away: Charisma is our casting ability, and we know only cantrips and regular spells. Sorcerers know a fixed number of spells: we start with four cantrips (Blade Ward, Gust, Message, and Sword Burst) and two 1st-level spells (Fog Cloud and Sleep).
Sorcerers also pick their subclass, their Sorcerous Origin at the first level. For Alucard, who is one with the shadows, we’re gonna pick the Shadow Magic subclass. With Eyes of the Dark, our darkvision increases to 120 feet. Thanks to Strength of the Grave, we get another chance at life when knocked out. When damage reduces us to 0 Hit Points, we can make a DC [5 + damage taken] Constitution saving throw and drop to 1 Hit Point on a success. We cannot use this feature if damage is radiant type or when it’s a critical hit.
Level 2 - Sorcerer: We gain Font of Magic, which lets us modify our spells by using Sorcery Points. We start with two Points, and we can convert them into spell slots and vice versa. We can also grab another 1st-level spell - Shield.
Level 3 - Sorcerer: At this level, our Eyes of the Dark feature gives us the ability to cast the Darkness spell by spending either a spell slot or 2 Sorcery Points. If we cast with the latter, we can see through the darkness.
We also gain Metamagic. By spending a certain amount of Sorcery Points, we can enhance our spells. We start by choosing two Metamagic effects:
- Quickened Spell: Spending 1 Sorcery Point lets us reduce the casting time of a spell from action to bonus action.
- Subtle Spell: Spending 1 Sorcery Point lets us cast a spell without somatic and verbal components; a good way to appear inconspicuous.
At this level, we also unlock 2nd-level spells. Let’s grab Misty Step.
Level 4 - Sorcerer: Time for our first Ability Score Improvement. Let’s put one point into Charisma and one into Constitution to get some more of that inability to die.
At this level, we can also get another cantrip (Friends) and another 2nd-level spell (Crown of Madness).
Level 5 - Warlock: Time to make a deal with some Dark Powers. Multiclassing into Warlock gives us proficiencies with light armour and simple weapons. Similarly to Sorcerers, Warlock get their casting powers right away. In this case, it’s Pact Magic: Warlocks also use Charisma as their casting ability and know both cantrips and regular spells. The difference, however, is that Warlocks get a limited number of spells slots, and they cast their spell at the highest level possible. We start by getting two cantrips (Eldritch Blast and Toll the Dead) and two 1st-level spells (Arms of Hadar and Cause Fear).
We can also choose our second subclass, pledging our Otherworldly Patron. Keeping to the stuff from Van Richten’s, we’re gonna choose the Undead Patron to become The Real F*cking Vampire™. Besides getting some more spell options, we also gain Form of Dread. As a bonus action, we can partially transform for 1 minute into a new, terrifying shape. We can do it a number of times equal to our proficiency bonus per long rest. While in our Form of Dread, we gain the following benefits:
- We gain [1d10 + our Warlock level] Temporary Hit Points
- Once during our turn, when we hit a creature with an attack roll, we can force the target to make a Wisdom saving throw; if it fails, the target is frightened of us until the end of our next turn
- We are immune to being frightened
Level 6 - Warlock: We gain access to Eldritch Invocations, special customisation options for Warlocks to make up for their poor casting capabilities. We get to pick two Invocations at the start:
- Armour of Shadows lets us cast the Mage Armour spell at will without spending any spell slots or components.
- Mask of Many Faces lets us cast the Disguise Self spell at will without spending any spell slots of components.
We also gain another 1st-level spell (Hex).
Level 7 - Sorcerer: We don’t get anything new here (unless your DM allows the optional Magical Guidance feat), but we do unlock 3rd-level Sorcerer spells. Let’s grab Summon Shadow Spirit to get some more demons from under our coat.
Level 8 - Sorcerer: We get another feature from our subclass. With Hound of Ill Omen, as a bonus action, we can summon a shadowy hound-like creature to fight for us by spending 3 Sorcery Points. The hound uses the dire wolf statistics with the following changes:
- The hound’s size is Medium (not Large) and is considered a monstrosity (not a beast)
- It appears with Temporary Hit Points equal to half of our Sorcerer level
- It can move through creatures and obstacles as if they were difficult terrain (takes 5 points of damage if it ends its turn inside a creature or an object)
- At the start of its turn, the hound immediately knows the location of the target we sic it on (if the target is hiding, it is no longer hidden from the hound).
We also get another 3rd-level spell. Let’s take it to the skies with Fly.
Level 9 - Sorcerer: We unlock 4th-level spells. This time, let’s focus on some Area of Effect spells and grab Blight.
Level 10 - Sorcerer: Halfway through the build, and we get our second ASI. We’re gonna go ahead and grab the Gunner feat from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Our Dexterity increases by 1, we gain proficiency with firearms (and we ignore the loading property), and whenever we shoot from the melee range, we don’t have disadvantage on the attack.
For this level’s spell, we’re gonna jump back into 3rd-levels to grab Haste.
Level 11 - Sorcerer: We unlock 5th-level spells here. Let’s grab Dominate Person to make sure some of our enemies do exactly what we want them to do.
Level 12 - Sorcerer: At this level, we get to pick one more Metamagic option to enhance our spells with. Distant Spell lets us spend 1 Sorcery Point when casting a spell with a range of at least 5 feet to double that range. If the spell has a ‘touch’ range, spending 1 Sorcery Point makes the range 30 feet.
We also get the final cantrip (Message) and another 5th-level spell (Enervation).
Level 13 - Sorcerer: We unlock 6th-level spells here, and we gain a new spell every other level henceforth. We’re gonna grab Circle of Death.
Level 14 - Sorcerer: Time for another ASI and, since we really need to work on our durability, we’re going to drab the Tough feat here. Our Maximum Hit Point increase by [our level x2] and at every level-up henceforth, we get to add 2 extra Hit Points.
Level 15 - Sorcerer: We unlock 7th-level spell here. We can play around with our enemies a little with Reverse Gravity.
Level 16 - Sorcerer: Another subclass upgrade. We can now Shadow Walk; whenever we stand in dim light or complete darkness, we can use our bonus action to teleport up to 120 feet in any direction, as long as we appear in another dimly lit or dark area.
Level 17 - Sorcerer: We unlock 8th-level spells here. Let’s make it difficult to even approach us, let alone attack us, with Incendiary Cloud.
Level 18 - Sorcerer: Time for the final ASI of the build. We’re gonna round up some of the odd numbers by raising our Charisma and Dexterity.
Level 19 - Sorcerer: At this level, we get the final Metamagic option: Twinned Spell lets us spend a number of Sorcery Points equal to the level of a spell we cast, to target one additional creature in the spell’s range. We cannot target ourselves.
We also unlock the ultimate spell tier, the 9th-level spells. For us, it’s gonna be the Blade of Disaster.
Level 20 - Sorcerer: Our capstone is Sorcerer 18, which gives us the final subclass upgrade. By spending 6 Sorcery Points, we can use our bonus action to assume the Umbral Form. We gain resistance to all forms of damage except force and radiant, and (much like our hound) we can move through people and object as if they’re difficult terrain; we suffer 5 points of damage if we end our turn inside a person or an object. We remain in this form for up to 1 minute or until we’re incapacitated, dead, or we end the effect ourselves.
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And that’s another version of Alucard. This time, it’s daddy dearest from another universe. Let’s see what we got:
First of all, it’s a SorLock build, so it works together pretty well. We have a lot of damage options, both magical and conventional, we’re sturdy and equipped with flexible spellcasting. Our dominant type of damage is necrotic and we’re a… Hollow One… Undead Warlock… Shadow… Sorcerer… ARE WE LAUDNA FROM CRITICAL ROLE!?
With a free Mage Armour, our AC is 16 (21 with the Shield spell), we have a +3 to our Initiative, and the average Hit Points of 211.
Unfortunately, for the ultimate immortal king of all vampires, none of our abilities reach its capstone of 20, and we have the negative Intelligence modifier. We also don’t have a lot of skills, and the build does need some resource management.
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And that’s the superior version of Dracula (fight me, Castlevania stans!). This was a fun little thing, but I’m afraid some of you will come after me with pitchforks and torches at this next one. It’s definitely… strange.
-Nerdy out!
