This build provides the shoving and sumo slapping prowess necessary to forcefully expel (yeet) all would-be competitors from the dohyō and become the greatest Yokozuna in all Faerûn.
Concept
This Rikishi is conceptualized as a sumo wrestler and uses the mechanics of BG3 to execute that concept, but it works decently well for other grappling and wrestling concepts, such as a Greco-Roman wrestler, Pankration competitor, judoka, or mixed martial artist. BG3 lacks a proper grapple mechanic, so the build still maps onto a sumo wrestler best since it revolves largely around the Shove action.
The Rikishi utilizes a large Athletics modifier and employs a few strategies to gain advantage on Strength checks to maximize his shoving capacity. Though that’s the main idea in concept, in execution, the Rikishi is primarily a melee damage dealer using the established Tavern Brawler tactic to double-up on his Strength modifier for attack and damage rolls. The Rikishi, despite being pretty mobile, is mostly an in-the-mix build. As in sumo, the Rikishi wants to charge in and finish the fight in a flurry of rapid action. As a result, survivability is a significant consideration, though the Rikishi needs plenty of support in that domain until he gets the Amulet of Greater Health, as his health is mediocre and his AC is unimpressive before then. (Though shoving and running away is a perfectly valid tactic even if it isn’t in the spirit of sumo.)
Regarding Optimization
While this build aims primarily to execute a concept, it is also largely optimized to realize that concept while also functioning as an effective build. As such, the Rikishi is something like a mechanically optimized role-playing build. I, d20Roller, furthermore prefer not to think of the Rikishi as a 6th-level Monk/5th-level Barbarian/1st-Rogue. I prefer to think of him as a 12th-level Sumo Wrestler.
In D&D and other similar roleplaying games, I prefer to use the flavor of a given class if it suits the character, and if it doesn’t, I prefer to think of the classes as a bundle of mechanics. So while, for example, being a Rogue makes no sense flavor-wise for the Rikishi without shoehorning some detail into his backstory, I recommend just accepting that the Rogue level is there in service of the goal of getting the Rikishi’s Athletics modifier as high as possible. Surely a “real-life” Rikishi would have Expertise in Athletics, anyway, if reality followed the rules of BG3. Similarly, being a Barbarian doesn’t make much sense for the Rikishi, either, but the Barbarian levels provide many concept-appropriate class features, some of which only require slight tweaks to the original intention of the class to make work on a sumo wrestler. If you’ve ever seen a sumo tournament, you know that the sport is explosive and extremely fast paced; most matches last little longer than a few to several seconds. With those considerations in mind, Rage and Reckless Attack look like pretty appropriate class features for the Rikishi.
And yet, some build features were selected purely for optimization. Putting the Tavern Brawler feat on a Strength-based Monk is a well-traveled strategy in BG3, and the Rikishi, as an unarmed melee fighter, uses it without apology. And the Gold Dwarf race? Well, see below. (But admit that the idea of a 4 and one-half foot tall dwarf rikishi who can grow himself to 6 feet tall and send a water buffalo flying 6 meters back with a single explosive push is pretty awesome.)
Race Selection
Gold Dwarf is selected for one main reason: Dwarven Toughness. The Rikishi functions off many ability scores, and Gold Dwarf allows the build to begrudgingly accept a Constitution score of 12.
Duergar is a valid alternative, as it provides a racial source of Enlarge. Enlarge requires concentration, though, and the Rikishi will not be good at making Concentration saving throws until late game.
Human is another reasonable alternative, as it gets the Rikishi an additional skill proficiency and more carrying capacity.
Class Purposes
Way of the Open Hand Monk
Monk provides the framework for a successful unarmed and unarmored build. The Rikishi will rely upon the Monk’s Unarmoured Defence until it gets the Amulet of Greater Health late game. While the Rikishi is optimized for Shove actions, the other Monk and subclass features are useful, too, namely Stunning Strike and the Open Hand Flurry of Blows Push, Stagger, and Topple enhancements.
Flurry of Blows: Push functions differently from Shove in several ways. The distance it can move a target is lower than Shove by one meter, the distance is fixed and not limited by weight, the target makes a Strength saving throw versus the Rikishi’s weapon attack DC instead of an opposed Athletics check (wherein the target opposes with either Athletics or Acrobatics), and it consumes a Ki point, naturally, since it is a modification to Flurry of Blows which includes two unarmed attacks as part of the bonus action. These differences tactically differentiate Flurry of Blows: Push from both Shove and Boot of the Giants, making it potentially more useful against targets that have a large amount of remaining HP, have a high Acrobatics modifier, are too heavy to Shove, and/or are within 5 meters of a ledge or hazard.
There are, of course, two primary ways for a rikishi to win a sumo match: push an opponent out of the dohyo or onto the ground. Flurry of Blows: Topple is therefore a thematically appropriate and functionally useful tool to the Rikishi, as it provides him with a means to knock his targets prone.
The Open Hand Manifestations are not sumo-themed on any way, but they provide more damage type variety and are always-on damage buffs which trigger on every hit. The Rikishi makes many attacks, so these are very nice damage buffs.
Wholeness of Body is a fantastic once per long rest power granting two bonus actions for three turns, empowering the Rikishi to burst down priority targets. Truly the Rikishi wants Thief’s Fast Hands ability if only the build had room for it, but Wholeness of Body is a reasonable substitute that effectively grants Fast Hands when it’s needed most.
But the real reason to take the Monk all the way to 6th level is Ki-Empowered Strikes which help the Rikishi overcome damage reduction. Were it not for needing this feature, Rikishi would sacrifice two levels of Monk for two levels of Rogue to get the aforementioned Fast Hands class feature.
Giant Barbarian
The Barbarian may not look like a great multi-class at a glance due to multiple class features which do not interact with Monk class features. They both have different versions of Unarmored Defence which don’t interact, and they both get Extra Attack whose effects are not cumulative.
But the Barbarian does get the Rikishi several abilities that are worth the inefficiencies. The Unarmoured Defence becomes highly significant in the late game to boost the Rikishi’s AC. Rage damage scales best with builds that attack many times per round, so it works well on Monks. Rage also grants resistance to physical damage which is important for the Rikishi’s survivability. (A rikishi should be tough, after all.) The Rikishi doesn’t gain enough Monk levels to learn Evasion, and while Danger Sense doesn’t do the same thing Evasion does, it still enhances the Rikishi’s Dexterity saving throws. Reckless Attack is another valuable burst down tool. Thankfully, the Monk’s Unarmoured Movement and the Barbarian’s Fast Movement features are cumulative.
But the Barbarian is included for one primary reason: it and the Giant subclass enhance Shove actions in multiple ways.
Rage provides a reliable way for the Rikishi to gain advantage on Athletics checks. Eventually the Rikishi will have permanent Athletics advantage once it gets The Mighty Cloth, but the Giant Barbarian still enhances the Rikishi’s sumo abilities by granting Giant’s Rage and Boot of the Giants. Giant’s Rage increases the maximum weight the Rikishi can shove, and Boot of the Giants, effectively the Rikishi’s capstone ability, combines an unarmed strike and a Shove into one bonus action which consumes no resources (other than the bonus action). Boot of the Giants also has a larger maximum weight multiplier than Shove when the Rikishi is not enlarged. When enlarged, the maximum weight multiplier for Shove is a bit larger.
Rogue
This class is here for Athletics Expertise. Helpfully, the Rikishi also uses this one class to gain some social graces with both Persuasion proficiency and Expertise. Sneak Attack is unfortunately mostly useless, as it doesn’t work with unarmed strikes.
Level Progression
Optimized Progression
The progression shown in the build is selected with the end game in mind and aims to get the most out of the Rikishi’s classes as it can. This progression provides the most skill proficiencies, a good saving throw spread, and since the last first level it takes in a new class is Monk, it also means that the spell save DC for magic items is based off Wisdom. On the downside, if the Rikishi follows this progression from first level, he won’t feel very much like a rikishi for a while, as he will be relying upon a weapon and armor for several levels. Ki-Empowered Strikes won’t arrive until 8th level, which is particularly painful.
Re-speccing For Roleplay Purposes
With re-speccing, the Rikishi can play more closely to the build concept in the early and mid-game before switching to the more optimized progression after he hits 8th level. A more role-play friendly would involve taking the first six levels before multiclassing or multiclassing into either Rogue or Barbarian at 2nd level before going back to Monk for the next five levels. A single level of Rogue gives the Rikishi Expertise in Athletics and Persuasion, so it can be viewed as the more dialogue-friendly option which still assists Shove actions. A single level of Barbarian grants the Rikishi Rage, providing better survivability, extra damage, and advantage on Strength checks while raging, so it can be viewed as the more combat-friendly option. Forestalling the 6th level Monk class features by more than a single level is generally not recommend.
Magic Items
The Rikishi benefits from a reasonable balance between offense and defense in his magic items as melee combatants need to be both effective and sustainable in that role.
Helmet
There are several viable options here which are all very close to one another in terms of utility. The Horns of the Berserker add an additional bonus to attack rolls again any enemy at less than full health and gives the Rikishi yet another source of additional damage per hit.
Cloak
The Cloak of Displacement is an easy choice to enhance the Rikishi’s survivability against attack rolls, but the Cloak of Protection is a viable alternative.
Armor
The Mighty Cloth is one of the centerpieces of the Rikishi’s equipment, as it serves several useful and thematic functions. Firstly, it provides a +2 Strength enhancement, capped at 20, which is why the Rikishi doesn’t need to invest in Strength from feats and ASI’s beyond a score of 18. It also provides the Rikishi with three features: the Bull Rush action and the permanent buffs Bull’s Strength and Unwavering Bull. Bull Rush is a flavorful action which allows the Rikishi to attempt to all targets along a 9-meter line. Bull’s Strength provides Advantage on Strength checks (meaning the Rikishi no longer relies on Rage for this) and doubles his carrying capacity. Unwavering Bull gives the Rikishi advantage on saving throws against being restrained. Furthermore, he cannot be pushed against his will. The Rikishi is already very dangerous near ledges, and with The Mighty Cloth, he is also much safer next to those ledges. Besides, imagine a sumo tournament where one of the wrestlers no-sells all his opponents’ shoves.
The Mighty Cloth basically turns the Rikishi into a combination of The Blob and The Juggernaut from X-Men; it is an essential part of his kit.
Gloves
There are a few good options for this slot, but the Gloves of Soul Catching are selected since they enhance both damage output and survivability. The ability to gain simultaneous advantage on attack rolls and saving throws is huge, though it does reduce the utility of Reckless Attack. The healing option is nice but doesn’t otherwise compare. The extra 1d10 force damage per hit is nothing to scoff at, either, especially since force is such a good damage type. The bonus to Constitution, unfortunately, won’t matter much due to the Rikishi’s amulet.
Boots
The Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo are a standard choice for any monk, but given that the Rikishi only has 14 Wisdom, he can reasonably consider other options. The Bonespike Boots improve the Rikishi’s armor class, saving throws, jump distance, and provide another tool, Brutal Leap, to use with his bonus action which can knock targets in a 10-foot radius prone (though it is, unfortunately, based off spell save DC). There are other good options as well, but the Rikishi likely the only unarmored member of his party, so the Bonespike Boots suit him well without greedily removing a useful magic item from another party member.
Amulet
The Amulet of Greater Health is, unfortunately, a high-demand item that suits many companions, but the Rikishi needs it for staying power in a battle since it enhances his AC and his HP. This item is basically mandatory.
Rings
There is room to play around with the Rikishi’s rings. Unsurprisingly, the Ring of Protection is a great choice since it’s basically a great choice on anyone, but again, as an unarmored melee-er, the Rikishi benefits from anything that helps him stay in the fight. The Ring of Free Action is a bit more situational, but given that the Rikishi lacks any means of teleporting himself, the Ring of Free Action helps ensure that his mobility is not compromised, meaning he can reliably close distance with his targets and execute his gameplan. Furthermore, since the Rikishi is excellent and moving his targets, he synergizes well with party members who are able to lay down hazard effects, and the Ring of Free Action means that he is not impeded if he finds himself in an area effect which entangles or creates difficult terrain.
My Builds
Tags
strength based, strength-based, sumotori, wrestle, wrestling, martial arts, mma, hot chanko
