Over the last year I've been slowly creating D&D characters based off of the DPs, and I spent so much time on them that I really wanted to share them here. I'll be posting a series of articles, one for each DP, in which I explain why I chose the classes, subclasses, etc. for each princess, and share the backstory I wrote for each. I'll also be crossposting these articles to the Disney Princess club. All the characters will be level 3 to ensure that they all have a chosen subclass. Sourcebooks used to build these characters include the Player's Handbook, Volo's Guide to Monsters, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Anything written in italics is an author's note explaining my reasoning behind certain character choices.
Tiana
Human Ranger - Swarmkeeper / Background - Guild Artisan
I had so much trouble deciding what to make Tia. Her whole thing is that she loves cooking, and there really is no D&D class that I'm aware of that has anything to do with that. I was really reaching for something and eventually went ...well... rangers hunt... so maybe she hunts... for her food...??? So I started looking at ranger subclasses and lo and behold the perfect one was staring me right in the face! Tia has many friends among the fireflies of the bayou. She is 100% a Swarmkeeper, and her swarm is a beautiful cloud of blinking fireflies! I gave her the guild artisan background because cook was one of the options in that.
Character Stats
Level 3
STR -1 (9) DEX +3 (16) CON +2 (14) INT 0 (11) WIS +2 (15) CHA +1 (13)
I used the standard array to generate stats. I tried to assign them in a way that would allow for a strong D&D character while still remaining mostly true to the attributes of the character in the film.
HP 28
AC 14 (leather)
Initiative +3
Speed 30 ft.
Saving throws: Str +1, Dex +5
Skills: Animal Handling +4, Insight +4, Nature +2, Persuasion +3, Survival +4 (For her class skills I gave her Animal Handling, Nature, and Survival. She literally was an animal in her film so she probably knows her way around animals, and being a ranger she'd know a lot about the natural area she lives in and how to survive in it. Insight and Persuasion were granted by her background.)
Languages: Common, Elvish, Halfling, Sylvan (I gave her Elvish since swamps are often near forested areas. I gave her Halfling because they're supposed to be good cooks?? I gave her Sylvan because she's had brushes with voodoo magic. Idk man, Tia's been a conundrum to make.)
Tools: Cook's Utensils
Features and Traits
Favored Enemy: You have advantage on Survival checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on INT checks to recall information about them. You also learn one language of your choice that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at all. - Beasts: Beasts are nonhumanoid creatures that are a natural part of the fantasy ecology. Some of them have magical powers, but most are unintelligent and lack any society or language. (Since I wanted to make her a hunter I went with beasts, since that category encompasses all animals she might hunt for food.)
Natural Explorer: You have a favored terrain type. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for proficient skills when you make an INT or WIS check related to it. While traveling for an hour or more in your chosen terrain, difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel, your group can’t become lost except by magical means, you remain alert to danger even when you are engaged in another activity, you can move stealthily at a normal pace (while alone), you find twice as much food while foraging, and while tracking creatures, you learn the exact number, sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area. - Swamp (Obviously with her familiarity with the bayou her favored terrain would be swamp.)
Fighting Style: You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty.
- Thrown Weapon Fighting: You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon. In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll. (I chose Thrown Weapon Fighting for her because Naveen comments on what a great throwing arm she has lmao.)
Gathered Swarm: Once on each of your turns, you can cause the swarm to assist you in one of the following ways, immediately after you hit a creature with an attack:
- The attack’s target takes 1d6 piercing damage from the swarm.
- The attack’s target must succeed on a STR saving throw (DC:12) or be moved by the swarm up to 15 ft. horizontally in a direction of your choice.
- You are moved by the swarm 5 ft. horizontally in a direction of your choice.
Spells
Cantrips (at will): Mage Hand
1st level (3 slots): Faerie Fire, Goodberry, Hunter's Mark, Snare
I tried to give her hunter-y spells because the whole reason I picked Ranger was so she could be good at hunting. And Goodberry because... berries are food... idk lol
Actions
Dagger: +5 to hit, 1d4+3 piercing damage
Longbow: +5 to hit, 1d8+3 piercing damage
Primeval Awareness: As an action, you can expend one ranger spell slot (1 minute per level of spell slot) to sense whether any aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain). This feature doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.
Backstory
Backstories have been created with a combination of the stories from the films and rolling randomly on the random tables in the "This Is Your Life" section of Xanathar's Guide to Everything, which is why some of these backstories have some wild things that really come out of left field lol.
I was born to Eudora and James Guillory in the open field where they had just begun constructing our home. They had chosen to move away from the city to try their hand at farming the land. Unfortunately, the land turned out to be swampy and was not ideal for traditional farming. My parents were resourceful, however, and focused their efforts on crops that liked the damp environment, and supplemented what food we grew with hunting the beasts that roamed the land.
My father loved nothing more than to cook, and I inherited that passion from him. When I was young he taught me all that he knew. Sadly, he was called away to war, and he was killed in battle. The rest of my childhood I was raised by my mother. We lived a poor life in our small house, but I had a few close friends amongst the few other families who lived in our rural community.
In addition to having talent in the kitchen, I was also an accomplished hunter. Living on the edge of a swamp, the area was imperiled by land creatures as well as aquatic ones, and I enjoyed the connection I felt with my meals when I hunted them myself. As I honed my hunting skills by bringing down the dangerous animals that stalked the edges of our community, I found a deep sense of purpose, and I began to cultivate the skills of a ranger. I bear no enmity toward the beasts I slay. I stalk such creatures as a hunter tracks down a wild animal.
However, I still adored cooking, and I'd always dreamed of joining the Cooks Guild of the nearest city. I chose to leave our home for a time to pursue my dream. I found work in the kitchens of an Inn and began my apprenticeship. I had learned the essentials from my father already, but the guild polished off my training, and it was not long before I became a full-fledged member.
While spending time in the city, a chance encounter led me to meet Prince Naveen. He'd been morphed into a frog by a nefarious warlock, and my attempt to help him transferred the spell onto me! It took us quite some time to break the curse, and during that time I grew very fond of him. Though we hated each other initially, I came to realize that I loved him. During our journey to break the curse, I acquired a sheet of parchment upon which is drawn a complex mechanical contraption. I'm not sure what it is for or what it does.
Once we returned to our human forms, we announced our plans to be married to the King and Queen. Unfortunately, they were not pleased with my humble background and they forbade our union and forced Naveen to stay within the palace walls.
Knowing that adventuring is an exceptionally lucrative, though dangerous, occupation, I have set out in search of treasure and hopefully a noble title. I intend to win the hand of my prince no matter what it takes.
This one ended up... kinda weird. I don't hate it though?
