“I’m the best I am at what I do. And what I do ain’t very nice.”

Hello my fellow X-Men! Today we’re on the hunt with the greatest hunter to roam the Canadian wilderness, The Wolverine! We’ll be seeing how the most famous of mutants can be brought to life with D&D 5th Edition. We’ll be primarily taking influence from the comics for his build, so let’s climb in the Blackbird and get started!

Living through not only the Civil War, but every major war to follow, James Logan Howlett was destined for a life of warfare. His primary mutation, bone claws, made him formidable in melee combat, and his secondary mutation, a healing factor, made him incredibly hard to kill. One Weapon X project later, and the late 20th century was the domain of the Wolverine.

Wolverine is incredibly powerful, so we might not be able to accurately portray him in 5th Edition the same way that a game like Mutants & Masterminds would, which is geared specifically for superhero games. However, I’ve put together a build that I believe will definitely give the feel of being the world’s most dangerous mutant. So, how does one build the perfect killer? At level 20, definitely. 27 point build will be, as usual, a bit tight, but I actually think we can get away with it. Let’s pop our claws and get to the meat of the build!

RACE

In the comic books, Wolverine is a human, much the way that Catwoman is a human too. But just like we made Catwoman a Tabaxi, we’re going to slightly alter Wolverine’s race in a way that makes waaaay more sense in a D&D universe. For Wolvie, we’re going with Mountain Dwarf.

“But why?” I hear you ask. Good question! In the comics, Wolverine is always characterized as being stocky, but short compared to his peers. He’s only 5’3″, although he weighs 300 lbs with his adamantium skeleton. He can drink for days, is covered in hair, and has quite the temper. Sound like any D&D characters you know? Here’s what being a Mountain Dwarf does for Logan:

Darkvision- Wolverine has amazing senses, enhanced by his mutations. Seeing in the dark is perfect for the perfect hunter.

Dwarven Resilience- Having advantage on saves against poisoning, plus resistance to poison damage makes sense for a man with a healing factor. The poison can affect him, just not as strongly, and he has a better-than-normal chance to purge the poison in his system faster than others.

Dwarven Armor Training- Medium armor training helps us out a bit, since our DEX won’t be as good as our STR. Wolverine relies primarily on his regenerative ability and toughness to win the day, not his ability to dodge.

Dwarven Weapon Training- Wolvie’s not exactly an iconic dwarf when it comes to weapon choice, but it’s not a bad thing to be skilled with axes and hammers off the bat.

Tool Proficiency- If you don’t go with Brewer’s Supplies, I don’t know what character you’re building, but he ain’t Wolverine.

Languages- Knowing Dwarvish is cool, I’d even call it his French equivalent. Because, ya know… Canada.

Stonecunning- I’d flavor this as Logan having been around so long, he can recognize the era of architecture and its origin because he lived through it, or heard stories about it closer to their origin.

Stat increase- +2 to STR and +2 to CON? This is amazing! I don’t know why more of my players don’t play as dwarves, but Mountain Dwarf is a treat for martial characters.

ABILITY SCORES

This build is meant to give you the toughest Wolverine that you can get right off the bat. We’re still going with a 27 point build. Now, unlike my other builds where the order of stat increases and feats you pick up is pretty flexible, I’ve got a specific 2x feats that I recommend picking up as quickly as possible.

STR: 14 (+2)Picking up a 16 in STR immediately is great. We’ll try to boost this with items (Belt of Dwarvenkind comes to mind), but even though you’ll be dishing out plenty of damage, we’ll be focusing more on CON.

DEX: 14 Just enough Dexterity to take full advantage of that Medium armor proficiency.

CON: 14 (+2) The thing that Wolverine is known for is just how much punishment he can take and keep kickin’. We’ll go into what will pass for a healing factor in a bit, but the more CON he has, the more he can get back up and surprise his enemies some more.

INT: 9 Wolverine leaves the fancy math and genetic science to Beast. He’s not dumb, but he was literally raised in the backwoods without a formal education.

WIS: 14 Logan is a perceptive and insightful man, a lifetime and a half of experience is ingrained into his instincts. He’s not supernaturally wise, but he’s more in tune with the world than the average mutant.

CHA: 8 Even when he’s thrown into a leadership position, it’s because of his experience and not his leadership ability. He’s rude, short-tempered, and a natural loner. Not exactly a cult of personality.

BACKGROUND

There are some backgrounds that work for Wolverine, such as Outlander or Soldier, even Folk Hero. But I think that the Curse of Strahd module brought with it a background that best works for our hero: The Haunted One. Logan has been through literal hell, has lost loved ones time after time, and yet he still fights for the forces of good. He’s earned his stripes.

Skill Proficiency- We get to choose 2 from a list, so we’ll be giving Wolverine proficiency in Investigation and Survival. His finely honed senses of smell and hearing will aid him greatly in both instances.

Language- Gaining a language from this background, I would go with Sylvan. Wolverine has always been in tune with the natural world.

Feature- Heart of Darkness gives Wolverine the ability to casually intimidate the weak and discourage them from messing with him, as well as press others into coming to his aid should he require assistance.

CLASS/FEATURES

As much as I want to make a Monk variant of Wolverine, that’s a project for another time. We’ll be building Wolverine as the raging monster that he is in combat, able to track down opponents relentlessly. That means we’ll be starting in Ranger, and then entering into his primary class, Barbarian. The build looks like this: Gloom Stalker Ranger 4/ Totem Warrior Barbarian 16.

Starting Proficiency- In addition to Light/Medium armors and shields, we get simple and martial weapons proficiency. Martial weapons in particular will help us very much in this build. Strength saving throws aren’t amazing, but with your eventual rage, you’ll probably never fail one. Dexterity saves, on the other hand, are a godsend, since they’re the most common save in the game. Perception, Stealth, and Nature are going to round out Logan’s skill count.

Favored Enemy- I’d like to think that because humanity did the experiments on Logan, humans would be amongst his favored enemies. So, we went with Humanoids, Humans & Elves. Because what dwarf worth his salt doesn’t hate elves?

Natural Explorer- Logan does his best work in the woods, so we’ll give him the Forest as his favored terrain.

Fighting Style- A man who fights with two claws has gotta go with Two Weapon Fighting. This will be the foundation of Wolverine’s fighting style, allowing him to add his STR score to his off-hand attack. We’ll be putting that bonus action to good use every round we attack.

Spellcasting: We’re going to flavor these as mutant abilities and go over them in the Spellcasting section.

Ranger Archetype- For one who stalks men in the dead of night, in foggy woods and badly lit alleyways, the Gloom Stalker archetype seems ideal.

Dread Ambusher- This ability makes Logan a terror to face in an ambush. He’s faster, adds his Wisdom modifier to initiative rolls, and his opening volley of attacks will do extra damage.

Umbral Sight- More dark vision distance is nice, but what really makes this stick out is the invisibility to creatures who rely on darkvision. Makes going up against subterranean and nocturnal foes a breeze.

Primeval Awareness- Logan can spend a spell slot to put those famous senses to good use, estimating whether enemy creatures have passed through his favored terrain.

Rage- The bread and butter of the Wolverine, now he can enter his rage to truly become fearsome. Extra damage, advantage on STR checks & saving throws, damage reduction from weapon attacks, it’s all there, baby.

Unarmored Defense- Not really what we’re going for here, since we’re flavoring Logan’s heavily padded and armor-woven costume as medium armor, but if the Wolverine were ever without his armor, he wouldn’t necessarily be defenseless.

Reckless Attack- When you have a healing factor, you care more about hitting the other guy than him hitting you.

Danger Sense- Wolverine’s animal instinct comes into play again with another way to prevent damage.

Barbarian Path- You expected Berserker, right? Well here’s why we didn’t go with that. Berserker would give him an extra attack with his bonus action, but Logan is using that anyway with Two Weapon Fighting. It’d be pointless. So we’ll be having him tap into his spiritual side, to access the totem of the Wolverine!

Spirit Seeker- In the comics, Logan has been shown to be able to commune with animals in a limited fashion. Being able to sense and speak to creatures enhances this flavor.

Totem Spirit- We’ll be going with the re-skinned Bear, in this case a Wolverine. This will mimic the initial part of Logan’s healing factor, where his wounds close so fast it’s like he’s taking half damage. He’ll be incredibly hard to kill while raging.

Extra Attack- Slash, slash, extra slash!

Fast Movement- Important to compensate for his height, Wolverine is now faster than the average medium creature.

Aspect of the Beast- We’ll be re-flavoring the Tiger spirit type to a Wolverine as well. This will give us proficiency in the Athletics and Acrobatics skills, making Logan’s agility even better, as well as making his grappling game competitive.

Feral Instincts- Advantage on initiative rolls that you’re already adding a bonus to? You’ll be striking first nearly every combat with this ability. A must-have.

Brutal Critical- Improving throughout this build, every time Logan scores a nasty hit, he knows just how to twist his claws and make the most of the damage.

Spirit Walker- More communing with nature, play up the flavor of the totem warrior with a Wolverine spirit animal. Logan is a consummate hunter, one that is in touch with his place in the world as a predator.

Relentless Rage- More pseudo regeneration, it’s super thematic for Wolverine to take an otherwise-lethal blow and come back to kill his enemy when they think they’ve won.

Totemic Attunement- We’re going to re-skin the Bear again for its ability: Making yourself the preferred target of any attack within 5′ by giving disadvantage on attacks to your allies is the turning point for Logan. It’s where he becomes a heroic figure, taking hits in combat for his allies that they’d be unable to withstand.

Persistent Rage- “Never Be Game Over”.

FEATS

Here’s the strategy for making Wolverine come to life on the game table, and it all has to do with a few key feats:

First, at Ranger 4, take Dual Wielder. This will let you use full size weapons as dual-wielding ones. Re-flavor twin longswords as claws. After all, it’s the length of a longsword spread across 3 separate claws, should do about as much damage. You may even want to see if your DM will let you trade the Versatile property of the swords for advantage on Sleight of Hand checks to keep the claws hidden. It’s also a good +1 to AC.

Next, at Barbarian 4, take Dwarven Fortitude, the dwarves’ racial feat. This is your true healing factor, and while it’s not unlimited like Logan’s, it’s formidable. Whenever Wolverine takes the Dodge action in combat, you get to heal for 1 Hit Die + CON. Let your enemies watch as your wounds knit on their own!

After that, fill up on ASI’s to CON, then STR if you have leftovers. I recommend that if you can take extra feats, look at Mage Slayer, Savage Attacker, or Tough. All good options!

SPELLS

Again, we’ll be re-flavoring Wolverine’s spells as his mutant abilities, and we don’t even have that many to go through. Here’s what we’ll finish his build with:

Disguise Self- Part of the Gloom Stalker kit, Wolverine doesn’t disguise himself often, and he’s not an infiltrator type like Mystique due to his low Charisma. However, this can give him the ability to disappear in a crowd with ease.

Cure Wounds- When focused on himself, a concentrated burst of his healing factor.

Hunter’s Mark- His instincts give him extra damage against his targeted quarry.

Jump- Make your own Fastball Special!

That’ll wrap things up for Logan! Click Here for the D&D Beyond character sheet. Tune in next time where we’ll be building…

The Batman. No introduction needed.

Seeya next time!