Dungeon Bats and Dragons: What Would Severus Snape Be in Dungeons and Dragons?
What would Severus Snape be as a Dungeons and Dragons character? You can choose species, background, and class/subclass, along with reasoning behind the choices.
Example: I'll be using the pre-2024 rules
Species: Half-Elf. +2 Charisma, +1 to two other Ability Scores, Darkvision of 60 ft, advantage against being charmed and immune to magical sleep, +2 skill proficiencies, +1 language
Background: Criminal (Spy Variant). Proficiency in Deception and Stealth, chessboard and thieves' tools, includes a bond involving getting a loved one killed.
Class/Subclass: Multiclass of Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard.
- Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (1 lvl): magical ancestry, psionic abilities due to the Mind Arts.
- Undying Patron Warlock (1 lvl): entered the service of an immortal entity.
- Enchanter Wizard (18 lvls): mastery of the "Mind Arts".
ALRIGHTY!
Species:
I would wager Severus as a Half-High Elf. You gotta make the half-blood prince a half-blood, in the literal sense. If we're using 2024 rule set that just came out I would really make sure he has the elven lineage ability so he gets a wizard cantrip, detect magic, and misty step. Cuz, you know wizard and also he's pretty good at magic, detecting magic should be elementary to him.
Background:
Again with the 2024 rule set, I would assume he would fall under sage or criminal. Here's a brief description of it, annotated by yours truly:
Sage - You spent your formative years traveling between manors and monstrances, performing various odd jobs and services in exchange for access for their libraries (Severus didn't really do that but I guess he probably did hop around libraries to get some knowledge from purebloods and what not). You whiled away many a long evening studying books and scrolls, learning the lore of the multiverse (he do be reading and studying)-even the rudiments of magic- and your mind yearns for more (being power hungry as a result of his personal experiences is pretty fair to say).
Sages can increase the scores of their constitution, intelligence, and wisdom stats, get the magic initiate origin feat (he was a magic initiate as a student), and get proficiency in arcana and history (he's pretty good at magic, not sure about history though)
Criminal - You eked out a living in dark alleyways (Cokeworth did kinda suck), cutting purses or burgling shops (he didn't do that). Perhaps you were part of a small gang of like-minded wrongdoers who looked out for each other (I wouldn't say death eaters looked out for one another but they were liked minded and wrongdoers). Or maybe you were a lone wolf (he was, and probably continued to be as a death eater because of his status as a halfy), fending yourself against the local thieves' guild (other pure-bloods as a boy? the marauders?) and more fearsome lawbreakers (MOLDYMORT?).
Criminals can increase the scores of their dexterity, constitution, and intelligence. They get the alert origin feat and proficiency in slight of hand and stealth.
I'm leaning more towards sage but Severus def has an argument for the criminal background.
Class/Subclass:
Gotta go to wizard for this one but the legacy artificer, alchemist, subclass fits too. For the 2024 rule set, honestly I'm leaning more towards an evoker wizard or abjurer wizard. His iconic spell is Sectumsempra, while not elemental like most evocation spells (could argue magic missile, it's not elemental but it does have a damage type), has a strong argument of being an evocation spells. However, most of his creations are not evocation spells. Levicorpus, Langlock, and Muffliato seem more like enchantment spells or abjuration. Now that I think about it, Severus isn't really depicted as an aggressive, hitty hitty smacky smacky person. He's often on the side lines, supporting by protecting others or spying. You know what, I would say he's an abjurer wizard.
For the legacy stuff, he's an alchemist artificer because he's a potion's master lol. Pretty cut and clean that one.
