Dungeons & Dragons (or D&D for short) is a super fun tabletop roleplaying game that's been around since the 1970s but has recently gained a fair bit of popularity. I've been playing the game for around eight years at time of writing, and I strongly recommend you give it a try if you ever get the chance. It's really an absolute blast! D&D has always been one of my favorite hobbies, but within the last two years it's become an even bigger part of my life. Since I've been having so much fun with it recently, I decided it was finally time to try something I'd always wanted to do: turning the Disney Princesses into D&D characters.
Over the last year I've been slowly creating D&D characters based off of the DPs, and I spent so much time on them that I really wanted to share them here. I'll be posting a series of articles, one for each DP, in which I explain why I chose the classes, subclasses, etc. for each princess, and share the backstory I wrote for each. I'll also be crossposting these articles to the D&D club. All the characters will be level 3 to ensure that they all have a chosen subclass. Sourcebooks used to build these characters include the Player's Handbook, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
Since I expect many of you here don't play D&D or maybe even haven't heard of it, I'll begin with the backstory I wrote since you might find that the most interesting. Below the backstory you'll find the more nitty gritty stats of the characters. Anything written in italics is an author's note explaining my reasoning behind certain character choices.
Other Articles in This Series
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Raya
Human Monk - Way of the Kensei / Background - Noble
I know Raya is also technically not an official DP, but I like her so I'm including her in this series. There were multiple DPs that I had trouble deciding what class to give them because I didn't feel like any fit, but Raya was the only one where I had trouble deciding because I felt like too many fit. Initially I wanted to make her a rogue because her story is literally all about stealing things, and I also considered fighter because of her excellent combat skills, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that all of her training was conducted in a temple with the intention that she would use her skills to guard a sacred relic. That's a monk if I ever heard of one. I struggled with which subclass to pick as well. I think there were multiple that could've worked well, but I ultimately went with the Way of the Kensei because they focus specifically on training with certain weapons, and Raya states in the movie that she prefers blades over fists. I gave her the noble background since she was born and raised a princess.
Backstory
Backstories have been created with a combination of the stories from the films and rolling randomly on the random tables in the "This Is Your Life" section of Xanathar's Guide to Everything, which is why some of these backstories have some wild things that really come out of left field lol.
I was born to Chief Benja of Heart and his wife Nur. My mother abandoned us when I was still too young to remember her, and my father never liked to speak of her. We lived an aristocratic life in our palace, but I was destined from birth to be the next protector of the Dragon Gem, and as a result others saw me as being different from them, and so I had few companions when I was young.
I trained hard until I mastered the teachings of my father, but disaster struck when my father invited our rival tribes to a feast. I befriended a girl from Fang, Namaari. We became fast friends, and I chose to show her the Dragon Gem. She betrayed me though, and in the ensuing fight the gem was shattered and each tribe stole a piece for themselves. The monstrous Druun returned and my father was turned to stone.
I spent the ensuing six years searching the rivers of the land for the legendary last dragon, Sisu. I found her, and together we traveled the land restoring the Dragon Gem. We were successful, and because she empowered me to trust Namaari again we were able to vanquish the Druun and restore dragons to the world.
Since then, Namaari and I have rekindled our friendship, though I hope there is a spark of something more between us.
Recently, Sisu has disappeared. She was last seen in the temple in Heart, but all that was left behind was a few blood spatters and two vials containing blood I believe to be hers. Namaari and I have ventured out together to determine what has happened.
We were initially being helped by a halfling rogue who called herself Blossom, but she double crossed us and stole one of the vials. We're not sure where she's gone.
Raya and Namaari are gay and in love and you cannot convince me otherwise.
Character Stats
Level 3
STR +1 (13) DEX +3 (16) CON +2 (14) INT 0 (11) WIS +2 (15) CHA -1 (9)
I used the standard array to generate stats. I tried to assign them in a way that would allow for a strong D&D character while still remaining mostly true to the attributes of the character in the film.
HP 24
AC 15
Initiative +3
Speed 40 ft.
Saving throws: Str +3, Dex +5
Skills: Acrobatics +5, History +2, Investigation +2, Persuasion +1 (For her class skills I gave her Acrobatics and History. She's clearly very acrobatic given her monk training, and being a "dragon nerd" essentially means she's a history buff in her world. Persuasion was granted by her background, and then I got to choose one more. I picked Investigation since she spent so many years searching for Sisu.)
Languages: Common, Draconic, Undercommon (Since she's friends with a dragon Draconic is a no-brainer. I also gave her Undercommon because I can imagine she might need it when navigating the seedy underbellies of the various kingdoms of Kumandra.)
Tools: Calligrapher's Supplies, Cartographer's Tools, Three-Dragon Ante Set
Features and Traits
Unarmored Defense: While not wearing armor and not using a shield, your AC equals 10 + DEX modifier + WIS modifier.
Martial Arts: While you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield, you can use DEX instead of STR for the attack and damage rolls, you can roll your Martial Arts damage die in place of the normal damage, and when you use the Attack action on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
Ki: You can spend Ki Points to fuel ki features. You have 3 points per short rest and your Ki save DC is 12.
Unarmored Movement: Your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield.
Path of the Kensei: Kensei Weapons - You choose kensei weapons, gain proficiency with them if you don’t already have it, and they are treated as monk weapons.
- Longsword (Wanted to give her a longsword since the sword she uses in the movie appears to be something similar to that. Unfortunately, you'll notice she doesn't have a longsword listed under her actions. That's because it's not an option in the starting equipment for monks. But I'm sure she'll find one quickly once she begins her adventures!)
- Longbow
Actions
Dart: +5 to hit, 1d4+3 piercing damage
Shortsword: +5 to hit, 1d6+1 piercing damage
Unarmed Strike: +5 to hit, 1d4+3 bludgeoning damage
Agile Parry: If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, while the weapon is in your hand and you aren’t incapacitated.
Bonus Actions
Flurry of Blows: After you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
Kensei's Shot: You can use a bonus action on your turn to make ranged attacks with a kensei weapon deal an extra 1d4 damage of the weapon’s type until the end of the current turn.
Patient Defense: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.
Step of the Wind: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.
Unarmed Strike: When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
Reactions
Deflect Missiles: You can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 +6. If you reduce damage to 0 and have a free hand, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack (as with a monk weapon) with a range of 20/60.
That's it for Raya! I hope you enjoyed reading. If you have any questions or opinions I'd love to hear them in the comments! So glad I was finally able to post all these here. This is the last article in the series so thank you for coming along with me on this journey~
Over the last year I've been slowly creating D&D characters based off of the DPs, and I spent so much time on them that I really wanted to share them here. I'll be posting a series of articles, one for each DP, in which I explain why I chose the classes, subclasses, etc. for each princess, and share the backstory I wrote for each. I'll also be crossposting these articles to the D&D club. All the characters will be level 3 to ensure that they all have a chosen subclass. Sourcebooks used to build these characters include the Player's Handbook, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
Since I expect many of you here don't play D&D or maybe even haven't heard of it, I'll begin with the backstory I wrote since you might find that the most interesting. Below the backstory you'll find the more nitty gritty stats of the characters. Anything written in italics is an author's note explaining my reasoning behind certain character choices.
Other Articles in This Series
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
Raya
Human Monk - Way of the Kensei / Background - Noble
I know Raya is also technically not an official DP, but I like her so I'm including her in this series. There were multiple DPs that I had trouble deciding what class to give them because I didn't feel like any fit, but Raya was the only one where I had trouble deciding because I felt like too many fit. Initially I wanted to make her a rogue because her story is literally all about stealing things, and I also considered fighter because of her excellent combat skills, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that all of her training was conducted in a temple with the intention that she would use her skills to guard a sacred relic. That's a monk if I ever heard of one. I struggled with which subclass to pick as well. I think there were multiple that could've worked well, but I ultimately went with the Way of the Kensei because they focus specifically on training with certain weapons, and Raya states in the movie that she prefers blades over fists. I gave her the noble background since she was born and raised a princess.
Backstory
Backstories have been created with a combination of the stories from the films and rolling randomly on the random tables in the "This Is Your Life" section of Xanathar's Guide to Everything, which is why some of these backstories have some wild things that really come out of left field lol.
I was born to Chief Benja of Heart and his wife Nur. My mother abandoned us when I was still too young to remember her, and my father never liked to speak of her. We lived an aristocratic life in our palace, but I was destined from birth to be the next protector of the Dragon Gem, and as a result others saw me as being different from them, and so I had few companions when I was young.
I trained hard until I mastered the teachings of my father, but disaster struck when my father invited our rival tribes to a feast. I befriended a girl from Fang, Namaari. We became fast friends, and I chose to show her the Dragon Gem. She betrayed me though, and in the ensuing fight the gem was shattered and each tribe stole a piece for themselves. The monstrous Druun returned and my father was turned to stone.
I spent the ensuing six years searching the rivers of the land for the legendary last dragon, Sisu. I found her, and together we traveled the land restoring the Dragon Gem. We were successful, and because she empowered me to trust Namaari again we were able to vanquish the Druun and restore dragons to the world.
Since then, Namaari and I have rekindled our friendship, though I hope there is a spark of something more between us.
Recently, Sisu has disappeared. She was last seen in the temple in Heart, but all that was left behind was a few blood spatters and two vials containing blood I believe to be hers. Namaari and I have ventured out together to determine what has happened.
We were initially being helped by a halfling rogue who called herself Blossom, but she double crossed us and stole one of the vials. We're not sure where she's gone.
Raya and Namaari are gay and in love and you cannot convince me otherwise.
Character Stats
Level 3
STR +1 (13) DEX +3 (16) CON +2 (14) INT 0 (11) WIS +2 (15) CHA -1 (9)
I used the standard array to generate stats. I tried to assign them in a way that would allow for a strong D&D character while still remaining mostly true to the attributes of the character in the film.
HP 24
AC 15
Initiative +3
Speed 40 ft.
Saving throws: Str +3, Dex +5
Skills: Acrobatics +5, History +2, Investigation +2, Persuasion +1 (For her class skills I gave her Acrobatics and History. She's clearly very acrobatic given her monk training, and being a "dragon nerd" essentially means she's a history buff in her world. Persuasion was granted by her background, and then I got to choose one more. I picked Investigation since she spent so many years searching for Sisu.)
Languages: Common, Draconic, Undercommon (Since she's friends with a dragon Draconic is a no-brainer. I also gave her Undercommon because I can imagine she might need it when navigating the seedy underbellies of the various kingdoms of Kumandra.)
Tools: Calligrapher's Supplies, Cartographer's Tools, Three-Dragon Ante Set
Features and Traits
Unarmored Defense: While not wearing armor and not using a shield, your AC equals 10 + DEX modifier + WIS modifier.
Martial Arts: While you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield, you can use DEX instead of STR for the attack and damage rolls, you can roll your Martial Arts damage die in place of the normal damage, and when you use the Attack action on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
Ki: You can spend Ki Points to fuel ki features. You have 3 points per short rest and your Ki save DC is 12.
Unarmored Movement: Your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield.
Path of the Kensei: Kensei Weapons - You choose kensei weapons, gain proficiency with them if you don’t already have it, and they are treated as monk weapons.
- Longsword (Wanted to give her a longsword since the sword she uses in the movie appears to be something similar to that. Unfortunately, you'll notice she doesn't have a longsword listed under her actions. That's because it's not an option in the starting equipment for monks. But I'm sure she'll find one quickly once she begins her adventures!)
- Longbow
Actions
Dart: +5 to hit, 1d4+3 piercing damage
Shortsword: +5 to hit, 1d6+1 piercing damage
Unarmed Strike: +5 to hit, 1d4+3 bludgeoning damage
Agile Parry: If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, while the weapon is in your hand and you aren’t incapacitated.
Bonus Actions
Flurry of Blows: After you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
Kensei's Shot: You can use a bonus action on your turn to make ranged attacks with a kensei weapon deal an extra 1d4 damage of the weapon’s type until the end of the current turn.
Patient Defense: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.
Step of the Wind: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.
Unarmed Strike: When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
Reactions
Deflect Missiles: You can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 +6. If you reduce damage to 0 and have a free hand, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack (as with a monk weapon) with a range of 20/60.
That's it for Raya! I hope you enjoyed reading. If you have any questions or opinions I'd love to hear them in the comments! So glad I was finally able to post all these here. This is the last article in the series so thank you for coming along with me on this journey~
Here is a list of all the Disney Princesses who are feminist to MOST in their movies.
Don’t need a man to save them (feminist):
1. Pocahontas
2. Mulan
3. Belle
4. Ariel
5. Jasmine
6. Tiana
7. Rapunzel
8. Moana
9. Raya
10. Merida
11. Anna and Elsa
Don’t end up with a man (non-hetero feminist):<b>
1. Pocahontas
2. Merida
3. Raya
4. Moana
5. Elsa
<b>Don’t need sexual or romantic love (ace/aro feminist):<b>
1. Mulan
2. Pocahontas
3. Tiana
4. Rapunzel
5. Merida
6. Anna and Elsa
7. Moana
8. Raya
<b>Needed a man to save them (anti-feminist):<b>
1. Cinderella
2. Snow White
3. Aurora
<b>Needed a true love and romance (hopeless romantic anti-feminist):
1. Aurora
2. Cinderella
3. Snow White
Don’t need a man to save them (feminist):
1. Pocahontas
2. Mulan
3. Belle
4. Ariel
5. Jasmine
6. Tiana
7. Rapunzel
8. Moana
9. Raya
10. Merida
11. Anna and Elsa
Don’t end up with a man (non-hetero feminist):<b>
1. Pocahontas
2. Merida
3. Raya
4. Moana
5. Elsa
<b>Don’t need sexual or romantic love (ace/aro feminist):<b>
1. Mulan
2. Pocahontas
3. Tiana
4. Rapunzel
5. Merida
6. Anna and Elsa
7. Moana
8. Raya
<b>Needed a man to save them (anti-feminist):<b>
1. Cinderella
2. Snow White
3. Aurora
<b>Needed a true love and romance (hopeless romantic anti-feminist):
1. Aurora
2. Cinderella
3. Snow White