Valryn was abandoned on the edge of the forest by his parents who could no longer feed themselves let alone another mouth. Fate smiled on young Valryn as monkeys adopted him and lived his first five years amongst them. Eventually, a wandering monk would catch glimpses of the feral child and after some coaxing was able to convince the young boy to travel with him to his monastery. Life was hard to adjust to for Valryn. Still, he eventually grew into a young adult and trained in martial arts while incorporating his experiences from living amongst his monkey family. Upon leaving the monastery he wander the forest and began to protect his former monkey family from all dangers that would assail them. Now he is known as Monkey King Valryn, protector of his part of the forest as his monkey tribe acts as his eyes and ears throughout the trees.
Valryn
Race: Shifter +2 Dex, +1 Wis, Bestial Instincts, Darkvision, Shifting
Stats (27- point buy)
Str 13 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 8 Wis 15 Cha 10 (base stats)
Str 13 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha 10 (racial and feat adjustment)
The three things that I wanted to achieve with this build are:
- Royal Court of Monkeys.
- Monkey Style Martial Arts.
- Protector of his Forest Domain.
Race
For the Race of this build, I went with Shifter of the Swiftstride variety. With this race, he gains Bestial Instincts: Athletics, Darkvision, Shifting: Swiftstride. Swiftstride gives Valyrn an increased walking speed of 10 feet as well as the ability to move an extra 10 feet as a reaction when a creature ends it turn within 5 feet of him.
Background
For Background I chose Outlander. This gives him the skills of Survival and Perception, Tool Proficiencies: Drum, the Language of Goblin, and the Background Feature of Wanderer. Wanderer gives him the ability to recall layouts of terrains around himself as well as the ability to provide food and water for himself and his court.
Class
For the Class makeup of this build, I went with a mix of Monk 2/ Ranger 4 (Swarmkeeper). With this combination of classes, he gains the ability of a strong defense without armor, Ki usage that grants him strong maneuverability, strong tracking and detection abilities, extra aid in combat from Gathered Swarm, and crowd control from the Feat: Polearm Master.
Monk 1 is the beginning of this build with the skills of Acrobatics, Insight, Brewer’s Supplies, Unarmored Defense, and Martial Arts.
Monk 2 is where Valryn picks up the features of Ki and Unarmored Movement.
Ranger 1 grants him the Proficiency of Animal Handling, Favored Enemy Humanoids for Goblin and Human with the language of Abyssal, and Natural Explorer: Forest.
Ranger 2 is where he picks up Fighting Style: Blind Fighting and Spellcasting.
Ranger 3 is when Valryn is looked to as a leader of his monkey tribe with the Ranger Archetype: Swarmkeeper. He gains Primeval Awareness, Gathered Swarm, and Swarmkeeper Magic. Now he can sense if strange creatures exist in his favored terrain within six miles, nature spirits that support and protect Valryn, and the extra spells of faerie fire and mage hand.
Ranger 4 is the final level for this build with the feat: Polearm Master. This gives him an extra attack, a range of 10 feet for his attack of opportunity that allows him to attack a foe that enters within his range.
Spells
Ranger
Cantrip
Mage Hand
Faerie Fire
1st Level
Beast Bond
Goodberry
Speak with Animals
Equipment
Standard Monk equipment with a Quarterstaff and Dart.
Character sheet from DND Beyond
https://ddb.ac/characters/79592272/fIxEEH
