Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of the long-running anime and manga franchise One Piece, is both an extremely powerful and deeply beloved character. Luffy's unique powers come from when he ate a Devil Fruit, a magical object that granted Luffy the physical properties of rubber: stretchiness and extra resilience. Dungeons & Dragons players love to design games around their favorite stories and characters, and even though One Piece has a reputation for being an intimidatingly long series, for many, it doesn't get much better than Luffy himself.
Admittedly, the power level of anime characters often tends to be far above anything that players might see even in a Level 20 Campaign, with Luffy himself capable of some unbelievable feats after some recent in-universe information about the exact nature of his Devil Fruit gave him a huge power-up. However, there are still some options to recreate some of Luffy's abilities in the world of tabletop gaming.
Monkey D. Luffy Build Summary
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Race |
Variant Human |
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Class |
Monk (Astral Self) |
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Background |
Sailor (Pirate Variant) |
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Ability Scores (in order of importance) |
Dexterity, Charisma, Constitution, Wisdom, Strength, Intelligence |
The Best D&D Race for Monkey D. Luffy
To begin with, the captain of the Straw Hat pirates was born a mostly ordinary human. He had a lot of courage and heart even as a young child, but the majority of his powers came from the Devil Fruit, and that's where D&D players looking to recreate Luffy should start as well. Therefore, for this Luffy build, players should choose the Variant Human option to signify that Luffy is still a man but that the Devil Fruit has changed him.
With Variant Human, players are given one free feat and one free skill proficiency. Choosing Tough as the feat can give Luffy a bit more health than usual at each level, which makes it a great choice both mechanically and thematically. In that same vein, Persuasion is a solid choice of Skill Proficiency, as much of Luffy's character is about making friends out of enemies and convincing others to fight by his side.
The Best D&D Background for Monkey D. Luffy
Naturally, there's no better Background in all of D&D that would better suit Monkey D. Luffy than the Pirate Background, a variation on the more common Sailor Background. Luffy's entire goal from the very beginning of the series has been to one day become the King of the Pirates, after all. Taking the Pirate Background grants Luffy proficiency in Athletics, Perception, and water vehicles, namely ships and boats, all of which would be a massive boon to any adventuring party.
The Best D&D Class for Monkey D. Luffy
Luffy doesn't typically use any weapons, preferring instead to use his fists to win a fight. This means that a D&D character built around Luffy is going to use a lot of Unarmed Strikes, and there's no class that does Unarmed Strikes better than the Monks. Further, Monks often tend to get a lot of attacks in a single turn with abilities such as Extra Attack and Flurry of Blows, which fits with Luffy's own extremely fast punching style.
Next, at Level Three, the player should choose The Way of the Astral Self as their Monastic Tradition. The third level ability, Arms of the Astral Self, grants the player a farther range on their melee attacks than normal, and later abilities, such as Body of the Astral Self and Awakened Astral Self, contribute to the player's defense, almost as if those attacks are bouncing right off like rubber.
The Best Ability Scores for Monkey D. Luffy
Like with any Monk, the primary stat of this build is Dexterity, as all of Luffy's attacks, skills, and defense are going to revolve around Dexterity in some manner. In second place should be Charisma for Luffy's "Power of Friendship" style role-play, followed by Constitution to further increase Luffy's hardiness in a fight. Then, in fourth place should be Wisdom, as some Monk abilities and aspects of Luffy's more caring nature both rely on Wisdom, so players won't want to lose too many points there.
Finally, Strength and Intelligence are both tied for last place, and it is again ultimately up to the player to decide which gets more points. Strength is not particularly needed as Luffy is powered by Dexterity in this build, and Intelligence is not particularly needed as Luffy himself has never been particularly book-smart, instead relying on help from other more learned friends.