The Character Forge: How to Play as Rumplestiltskin in DnD 5e
For this build of the Once Upon A Time antagonist, we’re only focused on his fairytale role as Rumplestiltskin, and we’ll be ignoring his mundane counter identity as Mr. Gold. Our goal for this build is to try and balance all of his zany powers into a single compact build.
Evil Isn’t Born, It’s Made
Rumple’s race is a bit dicey. By birth, Rumple is a basic Human. Boring as can be. But after killing the previous Dark One, Rumple gained all the powers of the Dark One and became the new one. This changed his complexion and gave him powers he lacked before. So, you could call him a Human Variant, but if you want to play on his new dark coding, races such as Drow, Shadar-Kai, Tiefling, or Fallen Aasimar. Changling is another viable candidate as Rumple is one among many characters who use magic to shapeshift frequently.
When it comes to morality, Rumple screws over heroes and villains equally, but in general is viewed as an antagonist, though he has been a trusted ally of the heroes on multiple occasions. Enough to land in the Neutral alignment. However, Rumple can be unpredictable and random, making him Chaotic. But he always keeps his word and uses legally binding contracts, which could make him Lawful. So his entire morality is up in the air depending on whether you see him as a hero or a villain. Orderly or chaotic.
When it comes to Background, Rumple started life as a common peasant. But once he became the Dark One, he became a Folk Hero who led the children home from the battlefield of the Ogre Wars. But that fame quickly turned to infamy as he garnered a reputation for being cruel and vindictive, stooping to murdering a man responsible for his son scraping his knee. Although it plays only a small part in his backstory, Rumple did serve as a soldier until he broke his own foot to avoid fighting. Rumple also inherited the Dark One’s Dagger from the previous Dark One, so he could be an Inheritor. Although Rumple tends to keep his word, he also dabbles in half truths and people tend to get screwed over by his deals, making Rumple a candidate for the Charlatan background.
A seer gave Rumple perfect knowledge of the future. He often jokes about ironic play on words years before they’re relevant to the person he’s speaking to at the moment.
Rumple’s most famous ability is of course to spin straw into gold. Rumple also frequently turns other people into things, such as when he turned a man into a snail and squished him to death.
As the Dark One, Rumple’s power is directly connected to the Dark One’s Dagger, which, when held, gives the holder power over the Dark One. So, if he was made a Hexblade Warlock, the flow of control would be reversed. The blade would not be summoned to him, he would be summoned to the blade and forced to obey whoever holds it. The Dark One’s Dagger was created by the Black Fairy using Dark Magic, so even outside of Hexblade, the Dagger and the powers it provides comes from a dark source.
Rumple is a very charming man who often can cut just as deep with his insightful jabs and carefree jovial nature as he could with a sword. As someone who thinks like a lawyer, even though Rumple doesn’t lie or break his promises, he’s also not above exploiting loopholes and carefully phrasing his wording to withhold information without directly lying.
With Rumple, names hold power, and he wrote Emma’s name multiple times on a piece of parchment, which when used, broke the antimagic barrier of his prison cell.
Bard
Eloquence: Rumple is a well-spoken and put-together fellow that makes everything he says sound more convincing.
Lore: Having clairvoyance gives Rumple an exceedingly high level of knowledge and information to work with, making it easy to plant seeds of doubt in others’ minds.
Cleric
Trickery: It’s a weak connection, sure, but the Dark One’s Dagger could almost be viewed as a sacred relic that bestows madness and chaos to whoever possesses it.
Rogue
Arcane Trickster: Rumple is surely no stranger to using his magic to mess with people.
Mastermind: It’s hard to formulate a plan against a man who sees your gambit coming years in advance, which also makes him quite the devious chessmaster.
Sorcerer
Aberrant Mind: The show makes it clear that holding onto the Dark One’s power has caused Rumple’s mind to split and falter, causing him to turn mad.
Shadow: The Dark One’s powers are dark and evil by nature.
Wild Magic: Magic in the universe of Once Upon a Time can be a chaotic and unpredictable force.
Warlock
Archfey: The Dark One’s Dagger was technically created by a fairy, so his power does come from a Fey source.
Great Old One: The power of the Dark One are ancient and esoteric, making the dagger creepy and otherworldly.
Hexblade: Rumple’s powers as the Dark One are directly linked to a dagger.
*Pact of the Talisman: It’s not a Warlock subclass, but it is a new Warlock Feature, and one of the Eldritch Invocations for this new Pact allows the Warlock to be summoned to the Talisman. And there’s no rule that says the Talisman can’t be a dagger.
Wizard
Divination: A seer gave Rumple perfect knowledge of the future.
Lore Mastery: Rumple’s knowledge on magic runs so deep that he can do things with magic others couldn’t fathom, bending it to his will.
Onomancy: For Rumple, names are power, and knowing someone’s name gives him power over them.
Transmutation: Rumple famously turns straw into gold, as well as shapeshifting himself and others rather frequently.
The number one best stat for Rumple is going to be his Charisma. He’s a charming devil with a quick wit and a silver tongue. Next is going to be Intelligence and Wisdom, he needs to be ready in case he casts magic with something other than Charisma. Next is Dexterity, he’s good at avoiding being hit in a fight. Then Constitution is a bit low, but then, Rumple’s not much of a heavy fighter. And Strength gets dumped as he doesn’t do much with physical combat.
Proficiencies:
Arcana
Deception
Insight
Intimidation
Perception
Persuasion
Sleight of Hand
I won’t actually go through the process of building this one as Rumple fits into so many subclasses and can do so much with magic that there’s almost no wrong way to build him. Trust your gut, and give it your own spin, and I’ll see you guys next time in the Character Forge, where heroes and villains are made.