Making the Phantom Thieves in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

 I recently finished my play-through of Persona 5 Royal – an epic game with a play time in the hundreds of hours. Although I'd have to caution any Christian readers that it goes VERY hard on the 'treating figures from the Bible as fantasy bestiary material' trope, I'd otherwise unreservedly recommend it to anyone able to ration out that much gaming time over the next year or so. One of the main strengths of the game is the cast of characters, most of whom are real pleasure to spend time with in the slice of life sections before using their support to hammer through dungeons too slickly presented for the grind to get dull.

Articles describing how to make a particular character from fiction in D&D 5e seem to be a very common thing at the moment. Although I strongly support the notion that players should try other systems rather than attempting to bash every square peg into that particular round hole (I recently saw an article for making David from Edgerunners in 5e when Cyberpunk Red is right there) I found myself mentally deciding how each of the Phantom Thieves should best be translated. Listing them in this way naturally constitutes a spoiler of sorts as they are gained throughout the game, but I've tried to keep things a little cagey.

It should be noted that the status of the characters as young people is very important to the themes of the game and that the school life sections are a vital counterpoint to the action. The Thieves would therefore work really well in a campaign using the Strixhaven supplement. The Jobs, Extracurriculars and Relationship systems will bring that element to life whilst the Initiate Feat granted by the Strixhaven Backgrounds will ensure that everyone can cast spells just like in the game. I've therefore included a most likely College for each character.

Joker – Rogue, Warlock or Cleric

Given the amount of screen time and extra abilities that come with being the protagonist, it isn't surprising that Joker can be represented in multiple ways. My own favoured way would be to play him as a Rogue. By their very occupation every party member has touch of this class to them, but Joker is the model almost all of them follow after on their heists. He personally emphasises mobility and light weapons but hits very hard when he gets the right opportunity. Unsurprisingly the Phantom Archetype is a good fit – allowing him to suddenly gain new skills by communing with beings no one else can see. At higher levels you can snatch a mystical reward at the moment of an enemy's death and use it later as a power up. Sound familiar? You'll never experience the late game arcane might of the character this way, but you will be able to ape his demeanour and slip in a good few nods. Starting out as a Variant Human with Crossbow Expert will allow you to use a hand crossbow in much the same way as his prominently featured pistol.

If you prefer to focus on the mystical element of the character, Warlock is a good way to represent the Velvet Room and the importance of 'deals' to the protagonist. Igor could be argued to be any one of several different types of Patron and he frequently keeps in touch and assigns tasks. The several different types of 'Sight' Invocation allow you to play a PC who appears to have a veritable Third Eye. The pain of limited spell slots will be familiar to those who have struggled with the SP gauge of the one guy you can't switch out of the party... but you can always count on Mona to advocate for more rests.

The third way is just to run a Trickery Domain Cleric. All Clerics can select from the entire Cleric Spell List every time they prepare spells, allowing them to manifest wildly different magical abilities every day whilst also possessing adequate martial prowess. This has long made them a 'top tier' class. Whilst you will eventually possess the highest level of spell slots, you will always be beholden to an external beneficiary for your powers. Although less tightly themed than the other options, this is probably the best way to experience the overpowered nature of the main character.

Whatever your class, consider the Chef Feat and bug your GM to let you learn how to craft the Bottle of Boundless Coffee from the Strixhaven book.

College: Silverquill. His carefully measured social interactions bring out the best in others.

Mona – Druid

Although he insists that he is a polymorphed human rather than an actual cat, Mona is not averse to using his feline shape to help the Thieves' activities in the real world. In the mystical world of the Metaverse he has access to far grander shapeshifting abilities that are vital to the team. He also knows a huge amount about the mystical underpinnings of this strange landscape and acts as a guide for the others. All of this makes him a good candidate for the Druid class (most likely Circle of the Moon, although his meme-inspiring advocacy for sleep could be referenced with the Circle of Dreams). He even uses a slingshot like the Druid in the upcoming film!

Although there is no need to make all of the other characters human just because of the source material (Skull would make a good half-orc, for example) Mona should definitely be a different race. Either a Tabraxi of a small sized creature would be a good fit. You could also homebrew some sort of house-cat form to be stuck in with the GM, providing you can speak and cast and can get someone else to carry your stuff! (I once built a character like this for my wife on the concept of 'awakened cat with Wizard levels'. He was a Necromancer who used his undead servant as a porter. I went all in with the equipment list too, replacing things like the bedroll and whetstone with a cat bed and scratching post).

College: Mona never exactly has an academic or career path in the game, but in Strixhaven he could sit on top of his very own desk. His desire to probe the secrets of the depths of the Metaverse probably puts him in Quandrix.

Skull – Fighter

Skull is a track athlete who outshines the rest of the group in that department. He is loud, direct and rejects social norms in a way that fits Barbarian, but I think another character should take that class. His physicality also works well for a Fighter, most likely a Champion. Second Wind, Action Surge and Remarkable Athlete will all serve to provide the right impression. The Interception Fighting Style will also showcase his notable loyalty by protecting other characters. It's a bit basic, but so is he.

College: Whichever it is, he's skipping most of the classes.

Panther – Sorcerer

Panther mostly uses magical fire attacks, which are conspicuously strong compared to most other party members. Her choice of element also reflects her personality more directly than some others (Queen's penchant for nuke, for example). This makes her a straightforward choice for Pyromancy Sorcerer. Her frequently noted beauty and ambitions to be a professional model make a Charisma focused class logical for her too.

College: Prismari is likely to be the home of fashion and will be full of artists wanting to make her their muse.

Fox – Fighter, Monk or Bard

Fox stands at the intersection of these two fandoms as he is voiced by Matt Mercer. His combat style is overtly based upon a samurai, which exist as a fairly unremarkable Fighter Archetype. His notably ascetic lifestyle could be demonstrated by making him a Kensei Monk instead – although in his case the cause is a deprived upbringing and terrible budgeting skills. In role-playing terms his obsessive devotion to beauty and the arts produces behaviour that everyone would normally associate with a Bard. I don't really have a strong preference – there are no bad characters in the P5R main cast but I didn't gel as closely with Fox as I did with most of the others.

College: Fox spent most of his food budget on Prismari paraphernalia the day he arrived, even though you don't choose a College until your second year.

Queen – Monk or Fighter

Queen is a self-disciplined and relatively sensible person who wows the rest of the party with her martial arts skills. This makes assigning her the Monk class an easy option complete with a higher than average Wisdom score. As with most versions of D&D or Pathfinder, however, Fighters are a valid alternative when trying to create a punching expert. Queen rapidly becomes the tactician of the group and has abilities that let you assess the prowess of monsters in advance. If you play a Battle Master with the Unarmed Fighting Style and the right choice of Manoeuvrers, she can do all of this by the time she has Know Your Enemy.

College: Lorehold is probably a good fit for her book-smart approach to academic success and ambitions in the field of Law.

Oracle – Wizard or Artificer

Oracle is a slight challenge for this exercise because she is a non-combatant, assisting the party purely by remote. Unlike many other TTRPGs D&D equips all characters with some ability to mix it up with the enemy. Wizards are among the very squishiest options in terms of Hit Points and proficiencies, without being funnelled toward offensive magic in the way that Sorcerers tend to be. With the right spell choices a Divination Wizard could mimic Oracle's role as Navigator quite well. Intelligence should certainly be her primary Ability score in any case. Her extreme tech skills are an obvious match for the Intelligence-based Artificer but this class is typically much more directly combative. However the Unearthed Arcana rules contain the Archivist option which is perfect if the GM allows it.

This character's anxiety and unusual approach could be interesting to play, but it is worth making sure that the other players know your intentions in advance. Such retiring tactics could make some fights tougher.

College: Quandrix and Lorehold both intersect with her fields of interest. Whichever college she calls her own, she fully intends to amass a complete set of Cuddly Strixhaven Mascots.

Noir – Barbarian

The daughter of a very wealthy family, Noir is a picture of social propriety and dresses like a musketeer in the Metaverse. However, she is too shy and too much of a people pleaser to operate as a social powerhouse – she has been raised to be a pawn rather than a player. When the dam inevitably breaks she enters combat with a two-handed battleaxe and a surprising amount of hidden strength. Fighting gives her a degree of pleasure that sometimes unnerves even martially-orientated characters like Skull and Queen. Although she is dutiful to her family's business interests her personal passion is learning about plants and how to make the best food from them. For these reasons I would place her as the game's best candidate for Barbarian – albeit one so non-stereotypical that I'd love to play her.

College: Witherbloom. Whether chopping wood or tending a flowerbed, Noir loves to get her hands dirty.

Crow – Paladin

Crow professes doubt that the vigilante activities of the Phantom Thieves are preferable to the law as a form of justice, but eventually finds it necessary to seek to join them. As a late game addition to the roster it is unsurprising that he is a powerful character from the moment he joins. Paladin is a hard hitting class that is traditionally viewed as a foil for rogues and chaotic characters in general, so it works to portray him as one.

Of course, 5e has dispensed with alignment restrictions and Paladins now seek their own justice from a variety of perspectives. Crow is ruthless figure to his enemies – and also to himself, driven to excel in all things and judging his worth only by success. He eventually confesses to be bitterly jealous of Joker's special abilities and becomes obsessed with proving himself superior in spite of them. This means that the Oath of Conquest suits the character well, particularly the description of the third precept: “You shall rule until a stronger one arises. Then you must grow mightier and meet the challenge, or fall to your own ruin”.

This self-destructive obsession could even lead to Crow becoming a Hexadin – the Paladin/Hexblade Warlock multi-class with an infamously high damage output served with a side of angsty internal conflict.

College: Silverquill. It is hard to imagine such a competitive character NOT learning Silvery Barbs.

Violet – Rogue or Bard

Violet is so late to the party that she is only added to the team in the expanded storyline of Royal. As such there is less to say about her relationship to combat (although she has an engaging personal arc). As an aspiring gymnast she is graceful and highly mobile, favouring a light sword. The Swashbuckler's Fancy Footwork and the College of Sword's Flourishes both demonstrate this well. I'm currently playing a mutli-class of these two in my regular game and enjoying it.

College: Prismari is the natural home of people committed to artistic excellence.

Retail Work: That NPC feeling

 There is a comedy comic by Jacob Andrews in which the main character is seen serving someone in a shop. After the customer leaves they have a sudden moment and declare in horror “I'm an NPC!”

I've been a role-player and gamer for over 20 years and I am currently reading some extremely dense deep dives into the theory and history of such play. I was also a retail employee for over 15 years until I was finally able to leave shortly before turning 40. Overall, it is hardly surprising that I'd produce an over-thought response to this concept.

The first point to make is that everyone is an NPC to everyone else. This isn't obvious at first sight when playing these games – most are designed to support multiple PCs against a backdrop of NPCs. We are told that instead of having a single 'main character' TTRPGs have a whole group of them who share the spotlight equally.

The truth is a little more complex. Every player experiences the game from from the perspective of their own character and must immerse themselves in that position to play the role well. Each player is only privy to the thoughts and intentions of the character they are responsible for, seeing only the external actions of the other PCs. Rather than writing a story with six main characters, the group is writing six versions of the same story with a different protagonist for each. In every one, the other five are simply the principal supporting cast – differentiated from the rest of the NPCs only by who is performing their part.

(I have written before about the pit-falls of playing a character whose intended arc revolves around failing to keep their own secrets. To you, the core personal plot of the main character relies upon those beats. To everyone else, it is merely an optional side quest involving one of many NPCs).

It is a well-known piece of writing and acting advice that 'everyone is the hero of their own story'. However, this is most commonly invoked when helping people to get inside the head of the actual villain. The true applications are much broader. In gaming terms, the real world sees us crafting billions of versions of the same story. Each one has a different protagonist and in every other one we are a larger or smaller member of the supporting cast. So don't worry about it – everyone is an NPC!

One of the more noted features of NPCs in video games is the limited nature of their interactions and activities. A vendor typically says the same thing each time you talk to them and spends most of their hours standing in the same position so that the player can find them on their schedule. It is unsurprising that working in actual retail would bring on such feelings of ennui. It is literally a requirement of the job to behave in this way to provide the exact same standardisation and utility for the customer. It isn't so much that you ARE an NPC of this type, rather that you are obliged to spend a dispiriting amount of your life pretending to be one by your corpo overlords. It's enough to make anyone dream of being an edgerunner...

Of course, the difference between a PC and an NPC isn't just composed of the former having free expression and an unpredictable daily routine. The real mark of a player character is the conflict they had along the way. Without all the killing and death traps, the average PC is just a victim of the gig economy – an outsider reduced to knocking on random stranger's doors (or more accurately barging into their houses) to ask if they have any one-off jobs available whilst being low-key threatened by the cops every time one walks past. Although a fertile source of escapism and narrative drama, neither clause of the murder-hobo lifestyle is commonly considered aspirational in the real world.

Perhaps the best thing PCs have going for them is the triviality of living expenses. Most are free to pour every coin they earn into the eventual ownership of buildings with no bills or upkeep costs. Some games even allow you to marry or adopt without accruing any kind of ongoing fiscal responsibility. When game do include living expenses, they are usually minor when compared to the fortunes that pass through the character's hands as a result of selling on loot or unusually fair hazard pay. Although rarer games like Dungeon Bitches do explore the idea of adventurers as a marginalised group, for most it is a two-year fast track to either death or retirement in a gold-plated castle.

In the real world, these kind of high risk/ high reward options are harder to define even outside the law. If everyone is an NPC, then maybe the classical PC doesn't really exist. Those who claim to have followed these kind of arcs often tend to have started out with many unstated advantages (making both the risk and reward relatively lower) or to have followed a path more typical of a major world antagonist.

Sounds political? Yes it is. As Avery Alder put it brilliantly in an interview for issue 15 of the comic DIE: “I think all game mechanics are inherently political. What game mechanics do is model our reality. And since it is impossible to create a system the objectively models the universe without it being the size of the universe, you as a designer end up making choices about what enables someone to achieve their goals in the world. Is it having broad-reaching, generationally-linked coalitions of support? Is it being individually skilled and self-possessed, and having a discrete set of skills, like 'use of broadsword,' and 'animal tracking,' that you can pick up and take with you, out of a community? And usually it's the latter, in role-playing games. But even just that starting premise of, 'our skills and power and capacity grow over time, are embedded within us as individuals, are contextless, are fully meritorious, and self-deserved, and self-possessed.' There are a lot of political assumptions built into that alone.”

Viewed from a political standpoint, there are darker implications to the PC/NPC divide. At a game-mechanical level the NPCs are not 'full' characters and exist for the benefit of the PCs. Since PCs gain through conflict, the usual assumption is that they will gain exponentially by taking from at least a certain sub-set of NPCs. If players don't take care to avoid it, this can impact how the characters behave within the fiction. Indeed, some player groups deliberately embrace the idea on the quest to level up.

As a retail worker serving customers for a shareholder-owned corporation, it is easy to feel like you are on the wrong side of this line. Every customer service worker has experience of rude or demeaning treatment at the hands of people who got away with it due to the institutionalised power imbalance between them. I've certainly had smiles demanded from me by complete strangers far more than the average for a cis male. But even when customers are polite and equitable – as most are – the imbalance is still a burden. Some of my least favourite customers were not 'Karens' but friendly people who regarded me as their regular cashier. I would have to make inane chat about the weather without calling out the obvious neo-nazi symbols on their possessions, or asking them if they even remembered we once knew each other before they went to prison for terrible crimes. In exchange for this you get paid a small amount – but aside from the fleeting glorification of 'key workers' society generally makes you feel like a failure for not earning your money a different way.

I'm going to go on a slight digression here in the light of recent news. Halifax Bank recently started including pronouns on the name badges of their staff members, which produced an outraged backlash from some customers and toxic coverage in the media. There is a whole mess of transphobia and right-wing hostility behind this reaction – one that seems nonsensical if you consider name badges as purely a guide on how to address the wearer.

The truth is that some customers do not regard name badges this way. The involuntary presentation of one's name actually feeds the imbalance between customer and staff member, since the customer will rarely offer their own whilst wearing out yours. More importantly it allows the customer to effortlessly secure your identity information at the start of the interaction, in case they feel the need to complain about you to your boss afterward. (And yes, certain old and partially sighted customers did start a transaction by peering at my badge and then openly telling me that was why they always did so).

Adding pronouns to the badge flips this script. It places the focus on the customer's behaviour during the transaction and defines acceptable standards of etiquette from them. I suspect that some amount of the outrage directed at this 'woke' move comes from discomfort at the shift from enabling the viewer to advocating for the wearer, even if the objectionable customer doesn't consciously realise it.

The demoralising factors of retail work can end up highlighting a potentially fairer worry associated with NPC comparisons – the lack of positive change. NPCs often begin a game with an established mix of home, family and/or job that put starting PCs to shame. Once the game is on, however, they seldom experience life changes without the intervention and aid of a player character. This feeling of inertia could itself be the catalyst needed to prompt some sort of action to improve one's lot. Although the stabs-to-riches tale of a fantasy hero may be out of reach, embracing some sort of risk and reward strategy may be necessary. Self-employment or taking a shot at a better career can be worth it if one is honest about the trade-offs going in.

Of course this kind of self-help advice leans into a very narrow view of the PC and risks reinforcing some of the worst habits of the paradigm. As noted above, PCs spend a significant amount of their time not on changing their own lives but on helping others improve theirs. For me, the most satisfying element of an RPG is often the ability to make a positive impact on other characters within the world. This is especially true for video games, where the world state you leave behind is typically the most compelling variable of a play-through. Many players prefer this kind of game to one based on level grinding in a vacuum, since the power gained is meaningless without a context. Someone who has put many hours into such good works is certainly a PC – even if they haven't touched what society would call the 'main quest'.

In my article on representation I said that fiction treating particular demographics as the natural 'main characters' of life is harmful whether you are within that demographic or not. Believing that only some vocations can confer the status of 'full character' is a trap to avoid. Although it is true that each player experiences their own PC as the protagonist, you certainly shouldn't try to act like the main character in your contribution to group play. Uplifting the experience of the other people at the table is perhaps the most important TTRPG skill of all.

I've always had a personal fondness for games that allow anyone from the game world to serve as a functional PC. Although I am biased due to it being among my first RPGs, I love the way that first edition Hunter: the Reckoning allows you to play anyone who happens to get 'Imbued' with power and encourages you to play as an every-man. Chosen One narratives can feel tedious and unearned, but Hunter avoids these traps by leaving you out-gunned and feeling rather like a disposable tool in the eyes of your 'benefactors'.

Even my favourite video game Oblivion blurs the lines somewhat. Although your actions drive the story forward in the expected way, you are ultimately a replaceable ally of the true hero. Things are so dire that the destiny of the world actually lies in the survival of the character played by Sean Bean...

I bought the City expansion to Talisman for the Tavern Maid character and Red Dragon Inn 7 to play the Wench. Although alchemists are rather outside my usual wheelhouse, there is a special pleasure in having the archetypal background NPC (and thus someone marginalised in most games) step forward and beat the adventurers at their own game.

Or maybe I just want to wipe out the clientele with the Crown of Command.

From HeroQuest to HeroQuest: my Return to Board Games

 During the past two years of socially responsible withdrawal I have been fortunate enough to be part of a three person household of geeks, with others forming part of of our bubble. Unsurprisingly gaming has been the backbone of our leisure activities. Although we have been able to keep up some RPG play, board games have perhaps been the most prominent part of our schedule.

Although I still I consider myself a role-player first and foremost, I probably now think of myself as a board gamer more than a wargamer. This isn't really anything new – I had largely dropped out of wargaming some time before the Old World was killed off by Games Workshop. Even so, the conscious realisation of that fact is a little strange to me. I got into 'heavier' board games like HeroQuest and Space Crusade at a young age (heavy when compared to mainstream fare like Cludo and Risk at any rate). I then 'graduated' to the wider and deeper waters of the wargaming hobby, enthralled at the superior scope and rules nuance available there. With the recent arrival of the gorgeous HeroQuest remake at my house, I naturally feel like I have come full circle in some way. So why the change?

Same game, now recommended for players 5 years older

Player Numbers

Wargames for large groups of players have a long history. As far back as the 1930's Fletcher Pratt was running a naval wargame on an 18ft by 18ft floor for up to 50 players (half of them female) who commanded a single ship each. Almost any wargame can split the control of a single force between multiple players, yet at their core most wargames are intended as a test of skill between two opponents.

This suited me fine when I was young and only needed to recruit one friend to have a proper game. It worked great when I was regularly attending a club with a whole group of possible opponents to arrange matches with. For a small friendship group, however, the two player format is much less suitable. Not only is it hard to find space for multiple games to take place simultaneously, there is only a half chance you will have an even number of players to pair off. I actually maintain a list of the player counts of every game in our collection and we usually buy any available expansion if a base game 'only' goes to 4 people.

Tactical Inertia

Although the army lists of a game like Warhammer offer a huge number of choices to every player, there isn't a lot of opportunity to 'try before you buy'. Getting a new unit for your army is a significant investment of both money and time spent assembling and (possibly) painting them. Wargaming is never cheap, but the cost difference between being able to field a decent sized army and being able to meaningfully customise your selection of troops is huge.

This unfortunately means that the odds of having a 'fair fight' with a given opponent are not actually all that great. You both bring your best army to the table and the player with the best designed force wins if they play correctly. You might learn from your mistakes and play better next time – or figure out what new regiment you need to buy in order to break their current tactics – but there is rarely much point in re-fighting the same battle with the same forces week after week.

Collectable card games like Magic: The Gathering have the same issue to an even greater extent, although most players are able to maintain multiple decks and have a large reserve of spare cards to alter their composition. Both hobbies are ultimately dependant on having a large pool of players you can switch between, fighting a different enemy each week as you try to work your way up the overall rankings through a mix of experience and expenditure.

Board games are deliberately designed to provide a balanced game between specified sides, with the best ones allowing for quite different strategic situations depending on the set up or the side you are playing. If one player proves unbeatable with a given side, you can simply ask that player not to keep playing it every time or gang up on them early. (If playing a particular side a particular way always brings victory to whoever takes it, we probably won't play that game for long). The relatively bearable cost of a complete game means that excessive repetition can be avoided by switching between different games. For a consistent group of friends, this is once again a much better situation.

Skirmish wargames do of course exist. These require few enough models that you can change up your forces more easily and offer campaign options that allow you to enjoy a persistent narrative with the same opponents. Unfortunately the resulting shoot-outs have struck me as a bit limited compared to a good board game and I haven't attempted to get into any of them lately. Most also do not offer a narrative experience to compare with the likes of Gloomhaven. I still have a huge soft spot for first edition Necromunda though, which was an absolute classic.

The Eurogame Style

'Eurogames' are a genre of boardgame defined by several key factors. They don't allow players to be eliminated before the end of the game, they have only limited direct conflict between players and they use scoring methods that are partially secret until the end of the game.

Given how lengthy some adult board games can be, not having a player knocked out hours before the conclusion is obviously a benefit. The addition of secret scoring means that no one really knows who has won until the final results are tallied, maintaining everyone's interest. With each player's focus being kept primarily on building themselves up rather than knocking down their rivals, Eurogames provide a solid basis for a relaxed social environment between the participants. Most of our favourite games are Eurogames and I think that this design philosophy has played a significant role in my current love of the board game.

I haven't completely lost interest in wargaming. When clubs are safe again and Games Workshop finally gets round to resurrecting the Old World I may well try to get my Vampire Counts back out there. For now though, I am more than happy playing the likes of Firefly, Small World and HeroQuest with my wife and friends. (If you don't know why HeroQuest is so great, you can find out here).