When it comes to Dungeons & Dragons builds, Tomb Raider's Lara Croft seems like an obvious choice. After all, she's a legend when it comes to dungeon delving. Not only is Lara incredibly athletic and handy with a bow and pistols, but she can easily skirt around deadly traps and pick open troublesome locks standing between her and her quarry.
Despite her modern portrayal of the dungeon-delving archaeologist, Lara Croft has plenty of skills that can be carefully melded into a high fantasy D&D setting without breaking too many barriers. In fact, just about everything she is capable of can be found among the many resources available to players if they know where to look.
Lara Croft Build Summary
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Race |
Variant Human (Mark of Passage) |
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Class |
Rogue (Thief), Ranger (Hunter) |
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Background |
Archeologist |
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Ability Scores (in order of importance) |
Dexterity, Intelligence, Constitution, Wisdom, Strength, Charisma |
The Best D&D Race for Lara Croft
Lara Croft is obviously human, and, fortunately, that means she'll start off any D&D campaign with some great tools. D&D's humans are incredibly malleable, capable of taking on just about any class. At the start of the game, all of their ability scores are increased by +1, giving them a jump start when it comes to all six core stats.
There are also a number of Human Variants players can choose from that offer more specific ability increases. The best one for Lara Croft is the Mark of Passage, which grants a +2 Dexterity boost, as well as +1 to another stat of the player's choice. It also increases movement speed to 35 and gives the player and extra d4 roll on Acrobatics DEX checks for maintaining and operating land vehicles.
Additionally, Mark of Passage Humans have access to some incredibly useful spells that go hand in hand with Lara's work. Expeditious Retreat aids her in those quick escapes from danger she's famous for, while Pass Without a Trace helps keep her hidden. She also gains spells like Jump, Misty Step, Blink, Teleportation Circle and Dimension Door -- all of which are designed to get her into difficult places she wants to explore or out of dangerous situations she needs to escape.
The Best D&D Class for Lara Croft
Lara Croft will benefit from a Rogue/Ranger multiclass build. Many of the abilities her most iconic abilities will come from a mixture of benefits acquired from both classes. Taking at least three levels in Rogue and choosing the Thief Roguish Archetype will give the player access to two important features: Fast Hands and Second Story Work. Fast Hands allows the player to use a bonus action to make a DEX check to disarm traps or pick a lock standing between them and their prize or even safety.
Second Story Work makes climbing second nature, no longer requiring the player to use extra movement to scrabble up a cliff or wall. It also increases the number of feet a player can run and jump (one of Lara's special abilities) by adding a number of feet to the distance equal to the player's DEX modifier. Eventually acquiring nine levels in the Rogue class grants the player Supreme Sneak, which allows the Rogue to make Stealth checks with advantage so long as they move less than half their speed on each turn.
Taking at least three levels in Ranger and choosing the Hunter Archetype provides access to skills like Horde Breaker, which allows the player to make an additional attack with the same weapon on a creature within five feet of the first target. Adding in another four levels of Ranger grants access to Escape the Horde, a feature that allows the player to dash through enemies and forcing them to take their opportunity attacks at a disadvantage.
Lara Croft's Ability Scores
Because this build focuses heavily on stealth, agility and ranged attacks, it's important to prioritize Dexterity. This will allow Lara to hone her most important skills, like Acrobatics, Stealth and Sleight of Hand. A high DEX score will also improve finesse weapon attacks and provide significantly boosts her armor class and initiative bonus, allowing her to get as close as possible to making the first move in combat situations.
Lara is also incredibly crafty, which is means players should pour resources into Intelligence. INT will bolster skills like History, Investigation, Nature and Religion, all of which are incredibly important for an archaeologist. It also wouldn't hurt to boost Constitution, which will allow Lara to take damage and still stay in the game.
The Best D&D Background for Lara Croft
Lara Croft is an archaeologist, and luckily for players, the Tomb of Annihilation module added an Archaeologist background. This grants proficiency with History and Survival skills, both of which are essential to Lara's work. It also offers proficiency with either the Cartographer's or Navigator's tools and access to an additional language.
Even better, the Archaeologist background grants the player Historical Knowledge when it comes to dungeon diving and ruins exploration. This allows them to accurately identify the nature of the ruin's origins, including who build it. This feature also allows accurate identification of any object's monetary value, so long as the object is more than 100 years old.
Best D&D Feats for Lara Croft
Taking feats in D&D is often a gamble because getting those core stats to 20 takes time, but in the event that a player can take a feat, there are several that prove incredibly valuable to a Lara Croft-based character. Dungeon Delver, for example, grants awareness for hidden traps and doors by giving advantage on Perception and Investigation Checks. Players are also resistant to trap damage and don't sacrifice their Passive Perception when moving at a quick pace.
Sharp Shooter is another powerful feat that comes in handy for a Lara Croft build. It allows the player to take a -5 penalty to ranged-weapon shots in order to add an additional +10 damage on a successful hit. Ranged shots also ignore half and three-quarters cover, and there's no disadvantage on long-ranged shots. Finally, Skill Expert allows the player to boost one core stat by +1 and grants expertise with one skill of their choice, allowing them to double the proficiency bonus for checks made using that skill.