Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man PF build


Conversions


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I challenge the boards to make Peter Parker a reality in PF. I imagine the web-head as a mostly monk build but I submit to you: make me a spider man!

Shadow Lodge

Ok, any guidelines for a point build? Because he's got very high Int, and all three of his physical scores should be off the chart. His +2 quite obviously goes to Dexterity...yeah, he's super-strong, but even in the absense of his Spider-Sense he's still ridiculous.

Liberty's Edge

Personally? Spidey screams Bard to me. I mean, he's clearly using Perform (Comedy) for some sort of in-combat effect.

He's also clearly got sky-high Str and Dex, as well, as good Int and Chr. His Con aqnd Wis...maybe not so good. Though not outright bad either.

What level are we talking here? And does it need to be doable as a PC?

Because it occurs to me that, say, +5 Inherent bonuses to Str and Dex from a 'magical accident' along with Permanent Spider Climb cover a lot of his powers...

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

The "Wall Climber" ninja trick gives you a climb speed, but it doesn't work on ceilings...

Some other rogue talents seem appropriate as well, such as Rogue Crawl, Stand Up, Peerless Maneuver, Expert Leaper, etc.


Well I would start with the blacksnake archetype from the super genius games guide to martial archetypes. It is whip based, and there are 3 things in particular that stick out there for me to represent spidey's webslinging.

Swingline, which lets you move freely up to the length of your whip (15ft) either up or over gaps which is very much in line with webslinging (used to good effect by a player in my current game on saturday night).

Fine control, allows you to manipulate objects at a distance using the whip, something spide does all the time.

Snatch, a really big disarm bonus with the whip.

I would probably want to come up with some kind of 'web whip' for spidey as a homebrew element, and would likely use this archetype with the monk or ninja for best effect.

Shadow Lodge

Deadmanwalking wrote:
His Con aqnd Wis...maybe not so good. Though not outright bad either.

Do you know how Peter deals with broken bones? He takes a bottle of aspirin and sleeps late.

He has a healing factor. It's not beyond the ridiculous like Wolverine's (CON = infinity - 1) or the Hulk's (CON = infinity to the "rage" power), but it does exist. And as such, his CON is pretty well beyond the D&D standard, just like his DEX or his STR.

Actually, Spidey pretty much has the equivalent of early Wolverine's healing factor. Back when it meant that he healed fast, instead of his current healing factor where he heals the first few inches of a sword cut before the blade has left his body.


Ok sorry: ground rules. Epic 25 pt buy to start. Obviously he's going to be better than your average adventurer, so not level 1, but also not Avengers material, so less than level 20; I'm guessing level 10.

One thing we should all remember about Spidey; yes his physical stats are nuts but he was once laid low by the common cold. He has over the years contracted flu's and fevers, broken SEVERAL limbs, broken and once shattered some ribs and been beaten to within inches of his life. I guess what I'm saying is his CON might be low but his HP would be near max per level. I'm guessing whatever class(es) we give him we give him 3 levels of max HP instead of just 1.

Now, we're dumbing him down (a bit) to fit him into PF so he doesn't need to ACTUALLY lift 10 tons (his max press in the comics) but obviously much higher than the average human.

Other than that go nuts. He might be templated, he might have feats not normally reserved for his race. I want you guys to go completely wild and come up w/the best we can for our friendly neighborhood spider man.

@ Deadman; I see what you're saying, but remember - bards focus their ENTIRE CAREER on entertaining. Spidey's humor is a coping mechanism borne of a teenager too immature to deal with the life-threatening fights he's been thrown into. I say bard is a stretch, though maybe rogue w/a skill point thrown into it.

Then again, let's REALLY think of what Spidey's and Peter's primary skills, talents and abilities are (bear in mind I stopped being obsessed with the comics and cartoons a few years ago).

Peter Parker was a brilliant but nerdy bio-chemist. Not a child prodigy but possible MENSA material; think Leonard from the Big Bang Theory. That might get him a level in Alchemist. Then...the spider bite. No matter WHAT origin story you use he's bitten by an altered spider that gives him super powers. Those powers are: super strength, lightning reflexes, amazing dexterity, leaping and wall crawling. Now, dependant on said origin source he either shoots webs from his own wrists or (the version I like best) shoots them from a device ON his wrists.

All of that combined sounds like some more levels in Alchemist. However, his primary fighting style (like with most marvel super heroes) is unarmed/hand-to-hand. He has shown the ability to go toe-to-toe, throw kicks, punches and flips like a martial artist and even leap in and out of melee like Spring Attack feat users do. This is where I took monk from; that and his lawful attitude (very ethical and moral, with great power comes great responsibility, and never kills.) Then again, he is often at odds with SAID law, so maybe monk is out based on a potentially chaotic alignment; we'll let you guys decide.

Finally there's the one power I didn't go into: that blasted spider sense. He's used that one for a lot of different things beyond its original combat intent. He's created devices that allow him to track opponents using it like a sonar/radar sense, Daredevil taught him to use it as second sight during a bout of temporary blindness, and in cartoons its even been suggested that he's pre-cognative. Does this possibly make him an oracle? Again, this is up to you.

So come on True Believers. Hit me with your best Spidey PF style. Maybe if this catches on we'll see more builds with villains in mind: The Scorpion, Doc Ock, the Green Goblin perhaps? Nuff Said!


I'm pretty sure that Spiderman has recently been in the Avengers and I know that he's been offered a place in that team. (And he could certainly beat the snot out of some of those who have been in the Avengers at one time or another).

The spider sense would prob be a combination of improved uncanny dodge, improved evasion and blind-fight. But I still can't see a rules legal strength of 48.

Dark Archive

What about the internal alchemist? He could make tanglefoot bombs with his discoveries, and he'd be able to buff up the stats of his choice with his mutagen.

It doesn't work exactly for how Spiderman got his powers, but it would certainly mimic many of them once he got buffed up. Spider climb, throwing webbing at people, punching them with his Improved Unarmed Strike discovery, and he gets Uncanny Dodge at level 6.


Why are there two threads about this? It's impossible as a rules legal PC, but if you were to try to duplicate spiderman's abilities:

Ridiculous stats, obviously.

For the spider sense - improved uncanny dodge, improved evasion, blind-fight, big deflection bonus to AC.

For the web - effectively flight, shield spell, feather fall, wall of force, hold person, probably some other stuff (though, amusingly, probably not web) all as 'at will' spell like abilities.

Fighting - probably best represented by high level monk flurry of blows (you'll frequently see Spidey subduing a number of npcs in a single combat round) but he won't get monk Ki abilities I don't think.

And permanent spider climb of course.

Plenty of skill points - knowledges, craft, acrobatics, stealth, bluff, intimidate, perception, climb, swim, disable device, escape artist, disguise (voice mostly), fly.

Might also give him a barbarian rage, there have been a number of times when he has pushed himself to extreme feats because he is angry.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Elinor Knutsdottir wrote:
For the spider sense - improved uncanny dodge, improved evasion, blind-fight, big deflection bonus to AC.

Or... a level of Foresight Wizard, to let him always act in the surprise round even if he hasn't noticed his foes.


Handy addition. A level of foresight wizard as well. Still needs improved ev, improved ud and blindfight though - if a 1st level FSW gets those I know what my next character is...


@ ek; you are right that he wouldn't be legal. Not AS WRITTEN in the comics. No hero would. Take the Hulk for example. In the secret wars he held up a mountain for just under a minute to let a gaggle of heroes escape. Let me just say that again: A MOUNTAIN. I don't anticipate a LEGAL way to represent that as a PC.

But I'm talking about what WOULD be legal. Hulk would probably have, say, an ogre's strength, as compared to a normal human. Possibly higher but this is a discussion for a different thread.

So for Spidey: Stats when first built: Str 16, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 11, Cha 13. Yes, these are still insane compared to even EPIC stats, but somewhere approaching legal. Is this EXACTLY spider man? Not even close but its the PF version.

The above numbers are just my suggestion. You guys come up with something better.

Seriously; I once saw a guy on these boards ask for witch build suggestions around having a vermin familiar and within 5 minutes real-time have a 1-20 level fleshed out build with feats and all. I'm throwing SPIDER MAN into the boards and I've gotten more questions than answers.

I love these boards and have high respect for everyone out there. Lets pull together and stat out the web head as if we were going to sit down, create him at level one and play him as a character.

Shadow Lodge

Elinor Knutsdottir wrote:


I'm pretty sure that Spiderman has recently been in the Avengers and I know that he's been offered a place in that team.

He's currently an Avenger and a member of the Future Foundation. And his strength was upped to somewhere between 15-20 tons quite a while back.

*Note* I tend to ignore anything past One More Day, and I know they have done some wonky stuff with his powers since then, so I'm mostly talking about Spidey as he existed right before that.

Sovereign Court

I'd make him a Rogue (Acrobat) 7 / Fighter (Cad) 2
/ Wizard (Foresight Wizard) 1
That allows him:

-a decent UMD for wands, which he should place in wand bracers.
-Dirty Maneuvers, from the Cad
-the Rogue talents Expert Leaper, Nimble Climber, and Ledge Walker
-the Acrobat's Expert Acrobat and Second Chance abilities
-the Foresight ability Jiggy suggested

Feats might be: Improved Unarmed strike, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Nimble Moves, Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick

Change to taste.


Elinor Knutsdottir wrote:


I'm pretty sure that Spiderman has recently been in the Avengers and I know that he's been offered a place in that team. (And he could certainly beat the snot out of some of those who have been in the Avengers at one time or another).

The spider sense would prob be a combination of improved uncanny dodge, improved evasion and blind-fight. But I still can't see a rules legal strength of 48.

He is an Avenger and a member of the FF.


I was under the assumption that they were super heroes and I have not seen a Pathfinder system made to do that.

Margaret Weis Productions has just released a new Marvel RPG. It is pretty interesting.

Shadow Lodge

Shalafi2412 wrote:
I was under the assumption that they were super heroes and I have not seen a Pathfinder system made to do that.

Have you ever looked at a 20th level character?

Hell, have you ever looked at a 10th level character?
They're f!*!ing superheroes.


No, they really arent. They are people who use great things but they are not superheroes in the same way that a mutant or someone that was changed in a manner that is science fiction. Why do you think that the gods are never statted?

Liberty's Edge

Shalafi2412 wrote:
No, they really arent. They are people who use great things but they are not superheroes in the same way that a mutant or someone that was changed in a manner that is science fiction. Why do you think that the gods are never statted?

You're right, they're not. The getup of the average tenth-level character looks even more ridiculous than a cape and tights.

Seriously, they have cosmic powers beyond our understanding, they can leap dimensions in a single bound, they can bend steel, have super speed, super strength and more. They adventure for a living, whatever that may mean. But it's pretty close to vigilantism/super-heroicness.

Beyond the lack of skintight spandex, I fail to see how Pathfinder characters can't easily be classified as medieval supers.

Silver Crusade

Shalafi2412 wrote:
Why do you think that the gods are never statted?

Actually the gods have been stated, at least once in every edition. Looking at Thor in the 3e Deties and Demi-Gods we see that Thor (chosen because he is one of Spider-Man's teammates on the Avengers) is 1 20th level Barbarian/20th level Ranger. Based on that I would estimate that Spider-Man should be somewhere between 5th to 10th level depending on what percentage of Thor's power level you think that Spider-Man has.


Are those really the gods or their avatars? There is a difference.


In D&DG the stats given were those of the actual gods. I know this because as a teenager I spent a very very nerdy summer with the original D&DG calculating which order our ridiculously high level PCs should fight all the evil gods in taking into account armour class, damage potential, hit points, magical abilities....

For historical reference, Hastur and Cthulhu were 1st and 2nd (tho' I can't recall which order they came in).

Silver Crusade

Shalafi2412 wrote:
Are those really the gods or their avatars? There is a difference.

According to the book they are really the gods, not avatars.

Silver Crusade

Apostle of Gygax wrote:
Looking at Thor in the 3e Deties and Demi-Gods we see that Thor (chosen because he is one of Spider-Man's teammates on the Avengers) is 1 20th level Barbarian/20th level Ranger.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that he is also a 20HD outsider.


If I remember correctly they are only the aspects of the gods. The rationale being that you should never be able to fight a god. You might be able to fight and disperse the aspect but never the actual god.


Pete is probably best represented with some variants on alchemist. Alchemist covers the gist of what he does and even has rules for some of the wackier moments of Pete's past like extra arms, turning into a spider-monster, clones, blood transfusions to Aunt May to give her a healing factor (really..).

If I were making him I'd go with the Psychonaut archetype, with his bombs representing his webs (though they should really be subdual damage base, not fire). Blinding Bomb, Fast Bomb, Precise bomb, strafe bomb, tanglefoot bomb, explosive bomb, are all appropriate given the things he does with his web shooters. An upgraded form of smoke bomb to mimic solid fog would also be appropriate to mimic those times he catches falling people or debris with his webs (I'd recommend this in exchange for "subdual damage only" bomb downgrade). Moment of Prescience and Foresight extracts from pyschonaut cover spider sense fairly well. Greater, grand, and true mutagen give a nice representation to the boost to his physical stats that the spider bite gave him, though he has very good mental stats as well despite the penalty. Spider-man has a limited healing factor which the spontaneous healing discovery would represent fairly well.

Extract wise - Caging bomb admixture (webbing up goons), Overland Flight (swinging through town), Haste, Spider Climb, All of the Attribute enhancing spells, etc. would all be good choices.

Then on top of that I'd give him max duelist levels to shore up some of the things he does with his fighting style, improved unarmed and probably snake style feats to boot and you'd have a pretty good representation of Spidey as an Alch20/Duelist10. His damage is nowhere near optimized, but neither is Spidey's really compared to some of his peers.


templates are what makes spiderman so awesome, first and formost being Mighty and might as well get both Advanced and Resolute. Fey Touched would be a must as well, and some that I think should work just fine as well are Foo Creature, Celestial-Blessed Creature, and I think that Amalgam Creature(Spider) should be in there. I also think a reworked Arboreal would help in building good old Petey.


oh, and as far as class goes, I agree that bard works nicely, however, he doesnt really give others boosts, so the Archaeologist archetype would be a better fit


This somewhat old article talks about the equivalents of dnd stats and RL equivalents

This is relevant, as people are saying that he should have huge stats to Dex/Str/Int

using 25 pt buy we can give him

Str 14
Dex 16 (14+2 racial)
Con 14
Int 16 (15+1 for lv4)
Wis 12
Cha 12 (11+1 for lv8)

I would see him as a multiclass Wizard/Martial class. Divinnation school gives him Forewarned and Diviner's Fortune (Which fits his spidey senses). I could see him forbidding necromancy and Evocation (He doesnt shoot beams after all)

Because he also fights (Focusing on attacking unarmed), let's give him a level in Unnarmed Fighter +1 BAB, Improved Unarmed Strike, and some combat style feat, im sure we can find one tat applies to spidey)

Because we want to keep BAB up, and his spells represent his powers, let's say Fighter1/Wiz5/EKX.

Oh, and if we make him a monk, I'd suggest looking into multiclassing with a martial class and taking Monastic Legacy

Sovereign Court

I started with the Advanced Race Guide and the Race Builder, which meant I didn't need to use a class to give Spider-Man many of his basic abilities. Check it out on my blog: http://wp.me/p2gAOq-qn.

Sovereign Court

Captain Phoenix wrote:
I started with the Advanced Race Guide and the Race Builder, which meant I didn't need to use a class to give Spider-Man many of his basic abilities...

I realised I should have shared what I did here, to make it easier for folk to comment.

This is what I came up with, using the race builder from the Advanced Race Guide. My reasoning is that Spider-Man is not what he is because of any class, rather, it's his mutation that really defines his abilities, and so he needs a scratch built race:

Radioactive Spider Bite Mutation (30 RP)
Type
Humanoid (0 Race Points)
Size
Medium (0 RP)
Base Speed
Normal (0RP) We’ll make him faster with traits.
Ability Score Modifiers
Flexible (Str +2, Dex +2) (2 RP)
Languages
Standard (0 RP)
Ability Score Traits
Advanced Str (+2) (4 RP)
Advanced Dex (+2) (4 RP)
Advanced Con (+2) (4 RP)
Defence Racial Traits
Defensive Training, Greater (4 RP): +2 dodge bonus to AC, which we put up to his spider sense.
Lucky, Greater (4 RP): +2 to all saving throw, again this will be part of his spider sense.
Movement Traits
Climb (2 RP): Climb speed of 20 feet and a +8 on climb.
Jumper (2 RP): Always considered to have a running start for acrobatics checks.
Expert Climber (4 RP): another +8 to climb and can crawl on ceilings, as long as he has hand holds.

More on my blog: www.risingphoenixgames.com/blog/.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

I agree, Peter's healing if very over looked. Give him a good night's rest and he's pretty good for the next day. The healing factor may have played a roll in escaping death once (cocooning and being reborn.)


Spider's Thread.


Elinor Knutsdottir wrote:


The spider sense would prob be a combination of improved uncanny dodge, improved evasion and blind-fight. But I still can't see a rules legal strength of 48.

Thankfully with mythic rules, high lifting strength is very easily achievable now.


Since we're having fun with this, and no matter which superhero/heroine we try to emulate, there is no 1 right answer or way to do it. I had never thought about the alchemist before, but that is a very distinct fit for a simulation of Peter Parker. Spider-Man could easily be classified as LG (he has worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. on occasion and registered during the Superhuman Registration Act) so monk** is definitely a possibility.

Now for my humor... Avenger Halfling subtype (ARG p. 63), Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip), Scout or Investigator Rogue archetype (Acrobatic or Roof Runner Rogue may be better, but these archetype keeps Trap Sense which I use to emulate "Spidey-Sense"), Use Magic Device with a wand of Web.

Edit:
** Flowing Monk probably works best.


If it were up to me, I'd stat Spider-Man more like you would a monster, with Ex abilities. To my mind, it's the only way to emulate his powers without the limitations put on a normal character by trying to use feats and combinations thereof within the normal feat acquisition rules.

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