How to Play Po in Dungeons & Dragons (Kung Fu Panda Build for D&D 5e) 

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Finally, a worthy character. This build will be legendary!

"Sometimes the tastiest food is the food that poisons you." Well over-seasoning a dish to cover up the taste of poison is a thing, so he's not wrong

Hot take: zoos are good, they just need to be done better. They aid in conservation efforts and serve as educational tools, it's just that when making a zoo you gotta set it up in such a way as to actually fulfill the needs of all the animals

Having him start as a class other than Monk makes sense since he doesn’t start as a martial artist. Nice work!

Usually, zoos are pretty good. They provide conservation efforts to protect endangered species and (as long as there is a barrier between both them and the animals) provide the public to experience animals they'd never see, both as entertainment and education. Ethical zoos have sizeable enclosures filled with enrichment provided to the animals to encourage play and natural behavior, and staff members are accredited scientists and veterinarians, and keepers have bachelor's degrees. There's even an association that governs and approves zoos and aquariums (at least in America). What I THINK most people who hate zoos are talking about are less zoos and more like roadside attractions and private pet galleries. Those are absolutely unethical and should be hated rather than zoos.

*Ping Po* A [custom lineage] druid-monk known as the legendary Dragon Warrior. He came into his role seemingly by accident -- "seemingly", because as the wise Master Oogway said, "There are no accidents." Po is a master of improvised martial arts and absorbing blows with his fa-- er, girth.

Does Chef scale well? No. Is it immensely useful for RP flavor? I think it is.

Tulok, you are braver than I. After the fiasco of a comment section for the Rey build, I’m surprised you would do another sequel trilogy character, lest the toxic elements of the fandom swarm in again. Oh, wait. Po, not Poe. You’re probably safe, then.

Gotta set you straight here Tulok. The power of friendship is not the best power in kung fu. The real best power is the power of self-actualization, which is why Po becomes more powerful the more in touch he is with himself. Pretty much the thesis of the series.

I really like this. I love the idea of reflavoring wild-shaping into, "I'm going to use tiger-style kung fu." You could even say you don't actually turn into a tiger, just get all the cool stuff they do through neat kung fu moves.

Woah... that, is, awesome! Every good protag deserves a proper mentor or mentors! Come and think of it, Iroh and Oogway in the Spirit Realm, talking... that would be golden. Inner Peace... I dig it. Uncle Iroh build, Dragon and tortoise talks are wise.

You know...I kinda half expected Open Hand Monk for the Quivering Palm but hey, if the Wushi Finger Hold is a form of permanent banishment, then I'm all for it.

So, let me get this straight... He's a panda person that turns into a panda bear to fight? Wait, is this a bearbarian build? You never fail to impress, Tulok. (Oh, that makes more sense)

Don't forget that since your a druid, you can also heal your friends with good using goodberry.

Instead of the Chef feat (which like you said, doesn't scale well at all), you could give Po the 6th level spell Heroes' Feast which is in character and makes him (and the party) even tankier and harder to kill.

I’m curious now as to what a Master Tigress build would look like. My thoughts are either Tabaxi or Leonin (reflavored to be a tiger) with barbarian/monk

If you include options that aren't really available during player creation, they could contract werebear lycanthropy, which would make them literally immune to (non magical) physical attack.

"Banish people to the Shadow Realm with the power word 'Skadoosh'." Just for that, you deserve a like.

Commenting to boost the algorithm but also to tell you zoos are generally good (as long as they’re up to code) and protect endangered species. The real threats to animal safety are roadside attraction-type enclosures.

I saw your community reference and love you even more for it

“Unkillable bear” So… Barbarian or Druid? You’ll need to be more specific weirdly enough

There's no reason to vote between Iroh and Sokka. I've never not seen Iroh win a poll. Though Sokka would actually be a more interesting build, making a viable boomerang fighter.

half a minute into the video and you've already killed me with "Tenacious P"

Prediction; Monk, and seeing as the title isn't "Po's not a monk" I trust it's in there as to style of monk? Drunken Master maybe? but that doesn't feel right I guess I'd go way of the Open Hand for the wushu finger trap? IDK, Po's a weird one.

Strahd: Finally! A worthy opponent, our battle will be LEGENDARY!

I don’t agree with the wildshape: he doesn’t turn into a panda, he IS a panda. But for the life of me, I can’t think of a better multiclass combo. Overall, good work.

I feel like this build focused a little too much on the Fingerhold being accessible soon as possible, and not enough on the rest of Po's abilities. He does learn martial arts before the finger hold, which he uses rarely- I think the monk levels might be better placed after level 7 or 8, then go back for the capstone to be the hold.

Love it! Makes me want to suggest a whole Kung Fu Panda one-shot to my group.

I assumed 17 levels in open hand monk for Quivering Palm to be Skadoosh, but Plane Shift definitely works better with the whole spirit world thing

This is not the greatest build in the world... This is just a tribute (to poison ivy obviously)

Great build, and scary in a way. Imagine a polar bear, who is unstoppable and unkillable, just running at you and then Skadooshing you out of existance. Horrifying, and hilarious.

I'd like to see Sauron the way he was portrayed in Silmarillion, a cunning, shapeshifting dark lord who can trick you, fight you as a giant wolf, or sing you into submission with his bard powers.

WOW that community reference was a deep cut. this man has TASTE.

I see a lot of similarity between your build of Poe and mine... There is a lot of compliments I could say about your build but personally, my most important pet pieve... I would have picked the Circle of Stars to represent the fact he is the Dragon warrior, with the wise Dragon starry form! Feels like a wasted opportunity to give him the dragon scroll and a way to call him the Dragon Warrior!

I was genuinely wondering when you would get to Po! Great work!

The skat bit was worth the whole video. Great build, dude!

I didn't expect a Community reference, but I'm all for it. That episode is one of my favorites in the series.

Less than a fourth of the viewers recognized the dexterity score reference. If you got it, congratulations! You are part of an exclusive club

1) This is a great and flavorful build and accomplishes the concept. 2) As DM, I'd just let a monk replace the Quivering Palm feature with Plane Shift or whatever

I've never played League of Legends, but the Arcane series was incredible! Can you do a LoL character in DnD? My guess is that most Piltover/Zaun characters are artificers

Actually zoos are the best way to protect and learn about animals

I would absolutely listen to you talk about noodles or do recipes / cooking in your voice and with your sense of humor :) But please don't stop the builds!

Just to clarify so something for people unsure about the Wildshape/Martial Arts combo, while Wildshaped, you can use an unarmed strike (such as a headbut), this would allow you to use the bonus action unarmed strike and flurry of blows. HOWEVER the Polar Bear multiattack with bite and claws are not unarmed attacks but are natural weapons so using them wouldn't trigger the ability to use marital arts. This is because natural weapons don't qualify as unarmed attacks or monk weapons. Jeremy Crawford clarified this a few years back. Tldr... It works so long as you don't use multiattack

...i...i love this. I probably would stop at level 6 of druid because the skedoosh move isn't important to me, but i love that detail anyway. An awakened bear from a chef druid goes on an adventure.

I definitely saw Drunken Master coming, IIRC, it's whole thing is like..evasion and attack redirection, while also seeming completely silly and unassuming, which...that's just Po. Druid was a cool pick though. I was thinking Bear Totem Barbarian, but man...druid's a really cool pick as well. I like the reasoning for it, honestly.

LEONIN AS BEAR RACE! they're big, fluffy, have natural murder mittens, plus bonus darkvision. sounds like a bear too me

I had expected a generic bear totem open hand bonk, this is a much more interesting way of doing things

I'm legitimately so happy that you're able to not just make subclasses but also show such different and exciting builds, and I'm always so excited to see how you make whatever you're designing.

Sokka: Battle Master Fighter with Thrown Weapon & Dueling fighting styles (Dueling from Fighting Initiate; he learns to fight with a sword in book 3); at least 2 levels in Artificer for Returning (boomerang) & Enhanced (meteor sword) Weapon. Iroh: Ascendant Dragon Monk, possible multiclass into Draconic/Pyromancy/Phoenix Sorcerer.

That intro was flawless Tulok. Superb.

Watching the background footage made me remember how devastating the peacock was as an antagonist. I've hardly watch the 2nd kung fu panda, but he looks like the more effective bad guy rather than the most powerful one.

the Community reference makes me so happy. I love you Tulok.

Now I just want to see Po and Iroh chilling, drinking tea, and talking… you can also replace Po with damn near any character and I would still be happy

Huh. I was close with this one. 13 lvl Storm domain cleric for Plane shift and for boosting the "skadoosh" thunder damage of the 7 lvls in dragon monk. Fun build tho. I know you say not to multiclass druids, but druid-monks are just so fun

I finally get to play as my favorite character. This is going to be fun

Tulok with the solid Community reference. I love it

Yeah, I saw that transition at 8:20 Tulok.

My first build was Po. He was a Firbolg Monk. I used the Panda mini from Bushido.

Why Po should be a Bard: 1. He’s a hyped fan. Inspiration comes easy. 2. What he should be bad at, he’s decent at. And what he’s good at, he gets Expertise. 3. He finished off all three movie baddies (or tried to) with a Seduuce.

I thought of a Po build a long time ago but it was only 2 levels of Moon Druid with the rest in Monk. Just turns into a Brown Bear. My build was for a low level campaign though so I had to make it simpler.

9:07 Oh, wow! I wasn't expecting you to ùse this class!

Not me about to spend the day watching these movies again. Fun build!

Oh my god I just started Community... What a reference, Mr. The Barbarian!

As a DM, I totally would allow players to make buffed version of the job feats. Like Healer/Medic, Actor, etc. . Or if they came up to me with a crazy cook idea I’d totally expand on the cooking feat.

I'm gonna be honest I don't have anything creative this time I just want Vin diesel

While you might not be using you’re homebrew, I’d love a short series that uses your homebrew. Like a “How to rekindle {Character}” series.

Man I've used so many of your builds in some one shot games and you've made some legendary moments of pure fun. I wish i could return the favor. Im actually trying to make a kai chisaki or a tomura shigaraki build because of your work

NGL. That Jack Black Scat was on point.

"your belly is full of the love of your friends" is not something i expected to hear about homemade noodles

When can we get some Gargoyles builds? Goliath, Lexington, Demons and Hudson all would be great unique builds.

While I get the reasoning to Druid... I dunno, the Wu-Xi Finger Hold has always seemed like THE big example of Quivering Palm. But hey, that's just me, this is also a good way to build Po and Planeshift does represent the KFP3 Fingerhold.

His videos are the only time I like hearing sponsorships

Ooh! Also Sokka gets calligraphy.

I like your shirt Tulok! On another note a great build again!

Interesting homebrew I use for jumping beyond movement speed. Because I feel it's a stupid rule to stop in midair when you can jump further than your movement even allows. I have anyone jumping beyond their movement limit roll both a DEX and STR save. DC is the distance you moved beyond your limit. So the farther you try to abuse it. The harder it is to do. Allows for a little bit of extra movement through jumping but not enough to break anything really. Anyway on a success on either, nothing happens. You already got the extra movement. That's your win. Lol. On a failed STR save, you've jumped beyond what your legs could handle, so the overage on your movement is deducted from your next turn. If you fail a DEX save, you weren't graceful enough to land properly because it was more than you could handle jumping beyond your means, so you fall prone. Mainly I give an option to have something extra, but have negatives if you push too hard and fail. Just something I do. Thought I'd share. Use it or don't. Doesn't hurt me. I allow it at my table. Lol. It's optional. You can still short your jump and avoid having to roll the two extra saves. But it is two saves with consequences on both

Hey Tulok, this is a great build, even though I’m commenting this 40 seconds after it’s uploaded. But I say it because I trust you. You should build Soldier or the Engineer from Team Fortress 2! Or don’t, it’s your channel, I just watch

i was sure it was going to be an astral monk for that cool scene in the 3rd movie with the dragon

I can see that you are making a build for an awesome member of the animated animal kingdom! Becoming the chosen one is no accident affair, the cosmos itself must be in your favour, so i hope one day the time for the upcoming Tangle the lemur build, when Master Tulok unlock the full potential of the lemur in the DnD world, to become legend of awesomeness.

Of course this isn't just full Monk, Po straight up casts Banishment and Protection From Energy. (Edit: Plane Shift works better-)

I came for the awesome builds... I stayed for the dad puns.

Would have used a Bugbear, but I understand - lack of darkvision and not that stealthy - still, got plenty of bear in there. At the moment, I'll soon have to deal with a Loxodon Monk that's proficient in Stealth. Seems he wants some lion companions too.... he'll have to make due with a grumpy Leonin Scout Warrior Sidekick and a chatty Tabaxi Frontline Medic Warrior Sidekick. (Party is short on a healer and long-range damage dealer. Idea is that these two are just in it for the money, and sort of act like Those Two Guys, who speak Leonin between themselves - rest of party lacks the language, so far - with the idea being they hang in the back, protecting the more vulnerable NPCs or McGuffin while the party engages the main enemy, engaging personally if it looks like the party are in trouble - with me handing the sheets for them to any downed players.)

This footage from The Little Panda Fighter looks better than I remember it.

Well, custom lineage is a bit.. controversial. I would make a flavored Loxodon(ask your DM to change the Trunk thing), using point buy to: 15 STR 10 DEX 16 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA With Natural Armor we can get 12+CON, 15 AC is pretty decent for a fat panda. Keen Smell makes sense, you can smell food miles away. Monk class, way of the open hand subclass. First ability score with should pick the Crusher feat. +1 to strenght and other nice effects for every punch and crit. Maximize you STR at lvl 8 and 12, lvl 16 increase Wisdom, then I would recommend 3 barbarian lvls, for reckless attack(works really well with Crusher, and with 15 AC you will get hit every round anyway), Totem Warrior Rage(you are a REALLY FAT PANDA, and it works really well with Wholeness of Body), danger sense will help with your low Dex. Well, open hand lvl 17 is.. basically.. Skahdoosh. Final Stats(all saving throws proficient): STR 20 DEX 10 CON 16 INT 12 WIS 16 CHA 8

My guesses for this build are as follows. Bugbear 17 open hand monk(wushi finger hold) 3 levels totem barbarian(bear) Tough feat Chef feat

I like thinking of all the out of character shiz you can do with these builds. Since you went so high into druid you can call lightning and then wildshape into an earth elemental to lay the definition of a smackdown on enemies

We need a Sokka build!!!!

This better be an ooze monk or I’m going to riot.

I kind of think Po should be a bugbear. His arms are long and he does surprise people when he hits them, hard.

Kung Fu Panda is my favorite animated movie trilogy! Love this build! Please make Twilight Sparkle!!!

I would 100% watch you talking about noodles for a while video.

Commenting for the algorithm…. But also one minor criticism, I would suggest he should have gone into Monk sooner and then come back for the higher level abilities after getting some of the kung fu that Po certainly knew *before* the Wu Shi Fingerhold for example.

This was just magnificent and thank you! Would it be possible to teach us how to be Soul King Brook from One Piece? I think he would be fun for ya.

We were just talking about this last week with my group that plays on Saturdays and were debating what race he would be. We weren't sure if he would be a Bugbear or Firbulg.

Looks like my next high level one shot character is here

Moiraine Sedai of the Blue Ajah. Nice Community reference, by the way.

A legendary build for the hearty-boned.

Hey guys, as a small change thing, if you want to play an actual custom lineage bear rather than just an actual bear, use circle of the stars to be the dragon warrior like at the end of Kung Fu panda 3

0:33 can confirm, bears are big.

Lol your jack black impersonation is spot on