Peacemaker as a D&D Character (The Suicide Squad D&D Party Part 6)

This post was updated after its original publication.

Spoiler Warning: This article discusses characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021).

The first section of this article outlines the series of articles that present characters from the movie The Suicide Squad (2021) as D&D character builds. If you have read this part in a previous article, skip ahead to the build here.

Building popular fiction characters in D&D

Movies are great inspiration for our Dungeons & Dragons games. We can steal plots, scenes, villains, items and characters directly from our favorite movies. The movie The Suicide Squad (2021) has a cast of anti-heroes that are great fodder for creative D&D character builds. So let’s see how we can go about building the whole party. The characters we are going to try to emulate are:

Bloodsport – a sharpshooter in a suit of hi-tech body armor
Harley Quinn – a chaotic assassin in a court jester outfit
Ratcatcher – an orphan with a special affinity to rats
Nanaue – a shark who will eat anyone except for his friends
Polka-Dot Man – a man infected with a interdimensional virus by his mother
Peacemaker – a ruthless marksman

The goal in making these characters in D&D is to create a D&D player’s rendition of each character. We will not be able to capture each unique feature of the fictional characters in the mechanics of D&D. But, not everything needs a mechanic. We will try to create mechanically effective characters that are designed to evoke the feeling of the characters of The Suicide Squad in play. As we will see, this is easier for some characters than it is for others.

All of the following characters are designed to reach level 17. The core abilities that define them come online much earlier though. All of them use the Optional Class Features and the Customize Your Origin rules from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

Peacemaker: Human (Variant) Fighter 3 / Cleric 6 / Paladin 8

Concept

Peacemaker is a ruthless marksman, uncompromising in his advancement of “peace.” His understanding of “peace,” however, is that of a fanatic. Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, takes no prisoners on his path to pacifying the world.

As many characters in this series of articles, the movie character Peacemaker shoots guns. This reimagination of Peacemaker as a D&D, however, relies on an often overlooked weapon in D&D: darts. Its meager d4 damage die scares off most players looking for combat effectiveness. But the combination of the dart being a ranged weapon with the thrown, and finesse property, opens up some interesting combinations. We will explore these in this dart-slinging version of Peacemaker as a D&D character.

Level 1: Human (Variant) Fighter 1

Peacemaker is a human. For our feat which we gain thanks to the Human (Variant) as our race, we choose Sharpshooter. Darts are the only ranged weapon that has the finesse property. Therefore, we can use Strength to make attacks with them. Hence, darts are the only weapon that uses strength, and qualify for all of the benefits of Sharpshooter. We can imagine Peacemaker strutting through the battlefield throwing darts with deadly precision to take out the enemies of peace.

Sharpshooter lets us throw our darts at their maximum range of 60 ft. without disadvantage. If we are facing enemies with a low enough AC, we can also benefit from the -5 penalty to hit, and the +10 bonus to damage. In combination with the Archery fighting style, we should be able to use Sharpshooter on almost every attack.

We can describe Peacemaker’s sharpshooter attacks as exploding compression darts. We might not be using a pistol but an extra 10 damage can turn these darts into exploding bullets.

If there was a “fanatic” background, that’s the one we would go for. But Acolyte will do well enough to represent Peacemaker as a deadly crusader who strikes with unerring purpose.

For our starting Ability Scores, we go with a 16 Strength (+1 from Human) and 14 Constitution (+1 from Human). We also take a 14 Wisdom, and 13 Charisma for upcoming multiclassing requirements. With our remaining point, we get a 9 Dexterity.

We will be wearing heavy armor, and a shield, eventually getting us to an AC of 20. Peacemaker is a hardy marksman. Take some time to customize the appearance of this character. The toilet-bowl-shaped helmet is a given, but what about the darts? Maybe they are formed like silver doves, delivering deadly peace to its targets?

Level 2: Cleric 1 (Peace Domain)

Taking levels as a Peace Cleric seemed too thematically fitting to forego. As a first level cleric, we choose the Peace Domain as our subclass, which lets us form an Emboldening Bond among us and our fellow seekers of peace. This lets us and our emboldened allies add a d4 to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. We can combine this with the d4 bonus from casting bless. So now we add 2d4 onto our dart attack, giving us an extremely high chance to hit, even with the Sharpshooter penalty. The fantasy of the infallible marksman that is Peacemaker is coming together.

But we are also leaning into the supportive aspects of being a peace-bringer character. As a cleric, we improve the effectiveness of our party as a whole. And we will continue to build on this combination of peace-loving support, and uncompromising deadly weapon as Peacemaker grows and improves.

Level 3-10: Paladin 8 (Oath of Conquest)

Level 3-4: Paladin 2

The zealous fervor of Peacemaker is solidified, when he swears an oath to bring peace to the world and to strike down any who will oppose him in this crusade. As a Paladin, we gain another fighting style. Here we should pick up

At second level we get the signature Paladin ability, Divine Smite. Unfortunately, we cannot use smites on our dart attacks since those are ranged. If we really wanted to we could switch to a Strength-based melee weapon. But either way, we get enough from Paladin that we can simply ignore Divine Smite. Most importantly, taking levels in Paladin represents the fanatical devotion of Peacemaker to his cause of bloody peace.

Level 5: Paladin 3 (Oath of Conquest)

At third level, we choose our Sacred Oath. The Oath of Conquest fits nicely for Peacemaker. He takes no prisoners on his path to peace. Those who oppose him will shutter with fear, and his attacks are guided by the fervor of a crusader. Especially the Guided Strike feature can be useful for us. Getting another +10 bonus on top of an attack can offset the Sharpshooter penalty completely. Along with the 2d4 bonus from bless and Emboldening bond, Peacemaker basically never misses.

Level 6-7: Paladin 5

For our Ability Score Improvement, we need the Gunner feat. Even though a bump to Strength would be nice, within a few more levels, it is important for us to stay close to our enemies. This feat will not only let Peacemaker actually use firearms now. It will also bring our Dexterity to 10, and let us make ranged attacks without disadvantage.

At level five, we can throw two darts per turn, granting Peacemaker a nice boost to his damage output. The zeal of Peacemaker empowers his ability to throw darts of peace with deadly force.

Level 8-10: Paladin 8

We take paladin to level seven. This will grant our fellow peace-crusaders within 10 ft. of us greater resilience through our Aura of Protection. At seventh level our Aura of Conquest lets Peacemaker really subdue frightened foes around him. We can use our Conquering Presence Channel Divinity option to strike fear into enemies of peace. Our aura will then reduce their speed to zero, and deal a small amount of psychic damage to them. The difficulty class for the saving throw of Conquering Presence is based on Charisma, however. So it is only a 14 at this level. Nonetheless, enemies with a low wisdom score will fail, and we will soon get another, more reliable way to fear enemies.

The image of this D&D character reimagination of Peacemaker is beautifully terrifying. He wades into battle striking down enemies with zealous dart attacks. His enemies cower in fear, regretting the decision to oppose this peace crusader’s righteous cause.

For our next Ability Score Improvement, at paladin level 8, we increase our Strength to 18. On top of respectable damage, we are supporting our allies with Aura of Protection, the Protection fighting style, bless and Emboldening bond. In addition, we are controlling the battlefield with Peacemaker’s zealous fear effects.

Level 11-12: Fighter 3 (Battlemaster)

We build on Peacemakers martial capabilities by taking two more levels of fighter. At second level, we gain Action Surge, which will greatly boost our damage output. At third level, we take the Battlemaster subclass. This will let us choose three maneuvers.

Naturally, Menacing Attack is the first choice. The saving throw DC for this is based on Strength, thankfully. Therefore, the DC is 16, giving us another, more reliable way, which doesn’t take our action, to make use of the Aura of Conquest.

Quick Toss is a great choice for our dart-slinging crusader. The maneuver lets us throw another dart as a bonus action. Finally, Precision Attack is a fine option to guarantee hits on even the most heavily armored foes. With 2d4 from bless and Emboldening bond, +2 from Archery, +10 from Guided Strike, and a d8 from Precision Attack missing is near impossible.

Peacemaker’s damage output has now increased formidably. With Action Surge, Maneuvers, such as a Quick Toss bonus action attack, and smites, Peacemaker now deals 5d4 (five darts) + 4d8 (Maneuvers) + 70 (Sharpshooter and Strength) in one round of combat. We can fear with Menacing Attacks, rooting our target in place should they still be standing after this onslaught of darts. Most likely, however, as the fog of battle lifts, we see Peacemaker standing on a pile of corpses his silver helmet gleaming in the sun, the splatters of blood clearly visible on his shining armor.

Level 13-17: Cleric 6

In his crusade to impose peace on the world, Peacemaker grows more fanatic. Portraying a peace cleric as a ruthless crusader can be an interesting roleplaying challenge. Peacemaker’s devotion is reflected in six more levels of cleric.

Spells

The most important benefit of sticking with cleric are the higher-level spell slots. Three spells are noteworthy options for our spell slots.

Spiritual weapon gives Peacemaker a bonus action ability to shoot his enemies with a spectral Magnum pistol.

Spirit guardians is a powerful option with Peacemaker’s ability to hold enemies in place with Menacing darts and an Aura of Conquest. Spirit guardians can also be effectively upcast with our higher-level spell slots. We can describe Peacemaker’s spirit guardians as white doves that pierce those who oppose peace.

Spirit Shroud empowers Peacemaker’s barrage of crusader’s darts.

If we are facing one powerful foe spirit shroud is the most effective choice. When surrounded by enemies of peace, we should subdue them with a flight of white dove spirit guardians. Whatever the situation, Peacemaker can overcome any challenge on his crusade for glorious peace.

Ability Score Improvements

With the Ability Score Improvement we cap our Strength at 20.

Level 17: Peacemaker in Action

At 17th level, in the first round of combat, Peacemaker can cast spirit shroud as a bonus action, and use Emboldening Bond as his action. In the second round, Peacemaker can throw five darts with Action Surge and Quick Toss. We activate Sharpshooter on every shot thanks to Emboldening Bond and Guided Strike. With Battlemaster Maneuvers we arrive at 5d4+10d8+4d8+75 potential damage in Peacemaker’s most awe-inspiring round of combat. For peace, of course.

The lethality of Peacemaker as a crusading marksman is impressive. But his fanatic purpose also gives him access to great options to support the party. As a 6th-level Peace Cleric, we gain the Protective Bond feature. This gives us and allies affected by Emboldening Bond a reaction option to teleport close to another ally and protect them from damage.

We also have access to the cleric’s spell list, letting us cast healing spells and buffs like aid to even further our party. Peacemaker protects those who follow the righteous path of peace. Enemies who stray from that path will be harshly punished. Peacemaker is both, a ruthless crusader for peace and a fierce protector of his troop.

Peacemaker: The Dart-Slinging Crusader

As Peacemaker we make heavy use of buff spells and features as well as battle maneuvers to improve our crusader’s darts. We are set on a fanatic path as an Oath of Conquest paladin who subdues heretics against the peace with fear. Peacemaker turns his life over to the righteous cause as a Peace Domain cleric, letting him act as “moral” backbone of his allies and deadly warrior.