D&D Avengers: The Hulk

The Hulk! Doing these in the order of their appearance in the cinematic universe is fun, it's helping me see how that area has evolved and how old that world is getting. Officially I could do Nick Fury right now, but he literally just shows up at the end of Ironman, so I don't feel like we've seen enough of him to make a character. At least, not yet.

But anyways...THE HULK!

Dr. Bruce Banner was hit by a blast of gamma radiation that turns his anger management issues into a superpower. Basically he is a Barbarian with a Sorcerer origin. Since that is way too complicated to work with I'm just going to make a new Barbarian archetype that allows a change in size and gets rid of the need to keep attacking, but also gets rid of some agency. That should make it a little more even and give us that nice, rampaging Hulk feel that we love so much. Would it probably be easier to do a later Hulk who has control and stuff like that? Yeah, probably, but where is the fun in easy?

Path of the Giant
Some barbarians don't control their rage, instead it consumes them. The Path of the Giant is a path of great power, but also of of great destruction. As you enter your rage, you become a mindless beast driven by anger and chaos.

Colossal Anger
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you change size when you rage. Your size doubles in all dimensions, and your weight is multiplied by eight. This growth increases your size by one category - from Medium to Large, for example - and increases your stride, doubling your walking speed. Your weapon and armor grow to match your size. While your weapons are enlarged, including unarmed strikes, your attacks with them deal 1d4 extra damage. When your rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion.

(DM Option: You can allow the rage to last until all threats are defeated if you also require a Wisdom saving throw with a difficulty of 15 to control the character each turn.)

Powerful Transformation
At 6th level, your transformation into a huge monster also toughens your skin. While raging, you have resistance to all damage except psychic. In addition, you deal double damage to objects.

Improved Metabolism
At 10th level you become immune to disease, poison damage, and the poisoned condition. In addition when you enter a rage, you heal a number of hit-points equal to your barbarian level.

Thunderclap
At 14th level you can clap your hands together with amazing force. As an action, while raging, you can clap your hands together to create wave of thunderous force that sweeps out from you. Each creature in a 30-foot cube originating from you must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 8d8 thunder damage and is pushed 40 feet away from you. One a successful save, the creature takes half damage and is pushed only 20 feet.
    In addition, unsecured objects that are completely within the area of effect are automatically pushed 40 feet away from you by the effect of the thunderclap, and the clap emits a thunderous boom audible out to 300 feet. You regain the ability to use this thunderclap after a short or long rest.

I tried to make it pretty dissimilar from the Path of the Brawler I did for Superboy and his super-strength ilk. I ended up taking away the madness, allowing it to be role-played instead, though I could see it as the downside to Colossal Anger instead of the exhaustion. This build is definitely all about a crazy strong rage. I could also see a mechanic more similar to the Druid wilshape, but that feels a little like stepping on the druid's toes. I think it's okay that this isn't min-maxed at all. In fact, I could see explaining a high strength as being residual effects, where the monster only shows up when raging. I like this explanation.

Bruce Banner
Level 1 Variant Human Barbarian
Background: Sage
Str 16 (+3), Dex 10 (+0), Con 14 (+2)
Int 14 (+2), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 10 (+0)
HP 14, AC 12, HD 1d12
Saves: Str +5, Con +4
Speed: 30 feet
Languages: Common, Gnomish, Orc, Giant
Skills: Arcana +4, History +4, Medicine +2, Nature +4, Perception +2

Unarmed Strike +5, 1d4+3 bludgeoning, on a hit use a bonus action to grapple
Longsword +5, 1d8+3 slashing, versatile 1d10+3
Dagger +5, 1d4+3 piercing, 20/60, light, finesse
Quarterstaff +5, 1d6+3 bludgeoning, versatile 1d8+3

Feat: Tavern Brawler
Rage 2/day
Unarmored Defense

Gear: A bottle of black ink, a quill, a small knife, a letter from a colleague about your "condition", a set of common clothes, a shortsword, a quarterstaff, an explorer's pack, four daggers

Leveling Bruce: As Bruce explore his hulk personality more and more, he will grow in power. Up his Str, Con, Int, and Wis. This expresses his conquering his base nature and also growing in strength as the magical radiation spreads within him. Take the Path of the Giant to grant him size, speed, and eventually destruction, healing, and thunderclap. He will be a veritable monster when raging, and still pretty useful when not. I would probably play him mostly as a skill monkey who chooses to fight only when it is necessary. He calls on his gifts (a high str, and con) when he must and maybe looks more muscled then. But when he rages, the beast is unleashed, growing in size and power.

I might do this again as a druid. We'll see. I added a DM option on Colossal Anger in the hopes of adding some fun if both the DM and player are comfortable with it.