Let’s Play D&D With Leatherface
A chainsaw noise? Nah, I don’t hear anything. On a completely unrelated note, today we’re playing D&D with Leatherface.
Tropey games that take place in a genre you already love can be some of the most fun to play. And conveniently, classic movie monsters are some of the most fun sheets to make.
No matter what the time, year, or season, slasher movies will always popular escapism. So why not mix some of that into your next D&D session?
Have your players encounter Leatherface. It’ll be fun. They’ll have fun.
Oh, hey guys.
Sheet created with The Homebrewery.
I’m not gunna lie, I had a lot of fun with this one. Figuring out how to make established movie monsters into something that could exist within a D&D setting is its own challenge.
But add to that the fact that Leatherface is more or less just some dude. He’s not super strong, he doesn’t have magic, he’s not a murder mastermind. He’s just a guy with a chainsaw and a weird mask collection.
So I’m sure you noticed that I did sort of give him magic. Even non-magical monsters in pop culture have a few movie magic abilities that can’t be explained using science.
How are monsters able to get from place to place and be exactly where the hip teens are about to hide? How are they able to make all of the characters into the stupidest versions of themselves right away? I don’t know, so we’re calling it magic!
Leatherface isn’t going to have studied magic or know to use it consciously. But like all movie monsters, he can appear at the least opportune times and places. I borrowed an ability from the Monk and gave him Shadow Step so he’s sure to come out of the shadows when your players least want him to.
In addition to Shadow Step, I thought that Leatherface needed multiple ways to strike fear into player characters. Both an innate spellcasting ability and the rev of his chainsaw will render players unable to do anything productive.
Which makes sense because stupid characters are the highest cause of death in horror movies. Your players may not be stupid, but they likely won’t be making the best decisions if their character can’t move for a turn or two because they failed the fear-saving throw.
Leatherface’s AC is a little high, but that’s just because he’s generally a tough dude and in a D&D setting, he’d be even tougher. Aside from that, he shouldn’t be that hard to kill for a band of your average adventurers.
He isn’t particularly fast, he won’t be shadow stepping away if you’re watching him (that’s meant for surprise appearances), and in he grand scheme of D&D 100 hit points it’s a whole ton. Instead I had to make him scary with a pretty terrible weapon and freezing party members from time to time.
Speaking of that weapon…
I spent a little time considering how to make a chainsaw for D&D. Leatherface isn’t Leatherface without the chainsaw, but it’s not a tool synonymous with the dungeons nor dragons.
For a moment I thought about treating a chainsaw like a bunch of daggers. But then I looked up how many teeth a chainsaw has and didn’t want to be responsible for a DM rolling a gigantic handful of D4s.
I also considered calling it the “round saw” or something vaguely not-modern. But c’mon. It’s a chainsaw. It’s a fantasy chainsaw if you want to get fancy with it.
Would you play D&D with Leatherface as the monster? What’s your favorite slasher movie or horror monster? What movie, show, book, or game should I make sheets from next time? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
