I recently got back into the Yakuza series of games again after getting a really good deal on the first six titles. I had dabbled a bit with Yakuza 0 in the past but for whatever reason, put it down after a few chapters and never went back to it. But after picking up both the Yakuza Origins and Yakuza Remastered bundles from a recent sale on the Playstation store, the game sunk it’s claws into me and wouldn’t let go. Eighty-nine hours later and I’ve now finally finished Yakuza 0 and understand the deep love for the series that fans of it have. And so, I decided I’m going to get a bit cheeky with this post and see if we can’t figure out a way to make an approximation of Kiryu Kazuma, the main character, in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Hardly the most serious character build I’ve ever done, but… just look at the inspiration.
For this I went with a Monk/Paladin build. Something about the Oath of Vengeance just felt… right when talking about Kiryu. And divine smites felt like a wonderfully cheeky way to allow this character to have some “Heat Actions” of his own in combat. Now, before you get after me about how divine smite technically requires a weapon to use, I’m going to stop you right there. By their own admission this restriction was a thematic decision and at the end of the day is up to the individual DM as allowing it causes no balance issues. And at my table, this flies, because it’s just plain cool.
So here we are. At 5th level, he’s hardly a “starting character” but you could easily build your way up from a lower level character by starting as a Monk and going into Paladin. His damage output may not be gigantic, but he’s got a lot of tricks up his sleeve to drop another punch in on an unsuspecting opponent. And if worse comes to worse, he possesses the ability to grab a bigger weapon and even some armor thanks to those Paladin levels. The Dueling style makes him a little bit deadlier when he’s wielding a monk weapon, letting him eke out a few extra points of damage. And Tavern Brawler? Well, if you’re familiar with the series you’ll know he’s no stranger to just simply picking up whatever’s available and using it as a weapon should he find himself in such a position. As far as advancement is concerned, I would probably advance him along in both classes, favoring Monk over Paladin where possible, just for the extra Ki points and the increasing Martial Arts damage die. And whatever Paladin levels you can get him will give him a few extra Heat Actions… I mean smite slots… I mean spell slots.
Ben Erickson
