How to Play as Belle in DnD 5e
Belle is my favorite Disney Princess, and from my favorite fairytale covered by the Disney company. Which is why it’s a crying shame she hasn’t been properly built until now. I mean, I have built her before, but that was terrible, and I’ve since changed my mind on how best to build her. So, go on. Unfold your menu. Take a glance, and then you’ll, have to suffer through my cringy attempt at humor.
Belle is a perfectly ordinary person. There’s nothing too remarkable about her. As such, it’s easy to write her off as just an ordinary Standard Human. But hold on, there’s her literary version to consider. In the very first version written by Suzanne-Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740, Belle is the daughter of a king and a fairy, making Belle a half-fairy. So, you could also build her as a Variant Human with the Fey Touched feat to give her that fey analogue, or go Half-Elf for the bonus skills.
Belle’s background can lean one of two ways, and I recommend shaping her background to the subclass you pick out for her.
Guild Artisan
As a guild artisan, Belle can be a tinkerer, metalworker, or alchemist by trade. It’s also called Guild Merchant, and her father is a merchant in most versions of the fairytale, fitting as most peasant girls would likely take up her father’s trade. This puts more emphasis on Belle making things by hand, and gives her proficiency with Insight and Persuasion.
Sage
With this background, Belle is a researcher or librarian, recording and preserving knowledge in a vast library or workshop. This feeds more into Belle’s love of literature and reading, and is a good translation of Belle’s hobbies and interests into the realm of Dungeons and Dragons. The Sage background gives Belle proficiency with Arcana and History.
As tempting as a Lore Mastery or Order of the Scribes Wizard would be to make Belle a magical intellect, I find that the more scientific angle of the Artificer feels more at home with the daughter of an inventor. Granted, if Belle grew up in the setting of DnD, she may be far more fascinated with wizardry and magic, but as a pure translation of her screen counterpart, the logic-driven inventor class feels more appropriate for her. Especially since it can easily allow her spells to be reflavored as whacky inventions created either by Belle or her father. However, if you’d rather play Belle as a dedicated squishy caster with a love for magic instead of science, then either Lore Mastery Wizard or Order of the Scribes Wizard is a perfectly appropriate substitution build for Belle. And if an INT caster isn’t really doing it for you, Belle also works great as a Knowledge Domain Cleric who seeks to understand the universe, or an Arcana Domain Cleric who worships a powerful enchantress and seeks to understand the magical strings that connect all things together in the great glamorweave of magic.
If Belle chooses this subclass, have her background be a Sage. As an Archivist, Belle is a researcher who uses her technology to gather and store information. The articial mind feature dosen’t specify if the object with the mind can think or talk, however. If it can, Belle can create Lumiere and Cogsworth to store information for her. Or, if the object is just an object that can show Belle information, then have her use Beast’s enchanted mirror to show her things.
As an Artillerist, Belle will gain more from being a Guild Artisan. It’s not quite Belle’s style, but this artificer subclass comes the closest to making Belle an inventor, as she can craft laser cannons, flamethrowers, mobile forcefields, and other things. I did consider the Battle Smith, but that one seems far more focused on Belle herself fighting on the front lines, and that doesn’t really fit her style. Belle is far more at home tinkering and inventing than she is standing over a hot anvil, forging weapons.
The new sidekick mechanic introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything allows us to be joined by a simplified build PC that can be any creature type with a CR ½ or lower. I chose a gnoll as these bipedal hyena-like creatures come the closest to Beast’s aesthetic, although the Jackalwere is another great option in its hybrid form, and lets Beast play more with a werewolf type angle. As Belle’s sidekick, Beast can flank her in battle, and so long as he’s within 5 feet of her, Belle’s enemies will have disadvantage on hitting her. Though he also works as an Attacker Warrior, charging ahead to the front lines while Belle stays in the back of the team’s formation to cast her spells from a distance. Just pick his warrior style by how he approaches combat. If you want to lean more into the Artificer angle and make the Beast something she’s built, use the stats for the Stone Giant Statue and make it an Anvilwrought.
Cantrips
Firebolt
Message
Ray of Frost
Shocking Grasp
1st Level
Catapult
Grease
Tasha’s Caustic Brew
2nd Level
Arcane Lock
Heat Metal
Magic Weapon
3rd Level
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Tiny Servant
4th Level
Fabricate
Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere
Summon Construct
5th Level
Animate Objects
Bigby’s Hand
Creation
Ultimately, whether you favor Belle as a tinkerer or a mage, she’ll make great use of her keen intellect in Dungeons and Dragons, and with the sidekick feature, she can be flanked by a bestial creature without having to dip into Beast Master Ranger, or having another player agree to make Beast in order to complete the set.
