Full ReBuild Friday - Gambit [Human Sorcerer] (Patreon)

For this remaster, I thought I would actually try to replicate the version of Gambit we see in Marvel Rivals. In addition to giving us a more codified array of his abilities, it will help to make it more distinct from the Twisted Fate build that I put together recently.

As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choices may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

Play your cards right when it comes to Gambit from Marvel Comics!

GAMBIT

CHARACTER Remy Etienne LeBeau

SOURCE Marvel Rivals

BUILD GOALS

o    A smooth-talking Cajun from Louisiana, Remy grew up on the streets before finding a place among the Thieves and Assassin Guilds

o    After leaving them, he found family and friends among the X-Men and became one of their number

o    As a mutant, his power allows him to charge objects with kinetic energy

o    His primary attack is Kinetic Cards, which launches a trio of cards in an arc to hurt foes and heal allies

o    Alternatively, he can channel energy into his staff with Bayou Bash to create a shockwave that damages nearby foes while also healing his allies

o    The Cajun Charge is a simple dash that he can employ

o    He possesses a Sleight of Hand resource that some of his abilities use and that recharges over time

o    With his Healing Hearts deck, he can fire cards between allies that grant health or use Purifying Pick-Up to heal allies in an explosion and purify them of effects

o    The Breaking Spades deck comes with a damage boost. Its Explosive Trick detonates on impact and inflicts reduced healing and Bidding Barrage scatters the cards in an arc and launches enemies upwards

o    Finishing off his abilities is Ragin’ Royal Flush, which locks onto an ally with aces that heal and purify them. Gambit and his ally enter a Kinetic Transfer state that comes with increased movement speed, jump boost, and attacks empower with explosions

Summary of Goals: This take on Gambit has a bizarre focus on healing apparently based on an obscure kinetic shifting power, but he does still have his explosive cards and even a bit of a stance system as he switches between hearts and spades. We’ll be looking for ways to charge up allies, as seen with his Ragin’ Royal Flush, and also remove conditions afflicting them since he has ability to purify effects.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Skilled Human

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Charisma

o    Ancestry Feat: Natural Skill

o    Skill Increases: Deception (T), Diplomacy (T), Thievery (T)

Background: Criminal

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Charisma

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (T), Underworld Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Experienced Smuggler

Class & Subclass: Imperial Bloodline Sorcerer

o    Class Ability Boost: +Charisma

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Arcana (T), Athletics (T), Society (T)

o    Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – detect magic, gale blast, telekinetic projectile; 1st – force barrage, pummeling rubble, supercharge weapon

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +4)

It is somewhat inevitable that this build will slightly resemble that of the recently built Twisted Fate. However, in an effort to make this build slightly more distinct and differentiate it, we’ll build Gambit based off of how he appears in Marvel Rivals. In said game, he’s actually a strategist and the abilities related to that make him seem like he should be more of a caster. The fact that we will be using a caster class means that we’ll be in need of some skills, so as we start with the human ancestry, we’ll also be taking advantage of the skilled heritage and the Natural Skill feat. This provides him with a healthy array of skills, which are expanded upon by the criminal background. I think this option works particularly well for him with it providing him with Underworld Lore and the Experienced Smuggler suiting his association with cards. That just leaves Gambit’s class and to match his design in Rivals, he’ll use the sorcerer class with the imperial bloodline. This option provides him access to the arcane tradition, which will be important when it comes to selecting spells. For example, our opening hand features telekinetic projectile as a way to deal out his cards as well as gale blast as a means of generating the area of his Bayou Bash. Force barrage could also be useful for the trio cards that he throws out with his Kinetic Cards though the arc of them and Bidding Barrage can be covered by a range of cone effects, such as pummeling rubble. I think we can also pick up supercharge weapon which is honestly probably one of the best ways to represent his ability to charge weapons with kinetic energy. However, in the context of Rivals, this will be used to partially resemble his Ragin’ Royal Flush and the way that it allows him to enhance the damage of his allies.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Rogue Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Dirty Trick, Pickpocket

o    Skill Increase: Performance (T), Survival (T)

o    Gear: predictable silver piece

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (E)

o    Spell Repertoire: 2nd – dispel magic*, exploding earth

o    Gear: +1 staff, predictable silver piece, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Bespell Strikes

o    Skill Feat: Fane’s Escape

o    Gear: throwing bandolier (+1), +1 staff, necklace of knives, predictable silver piece

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +4.5)

o    Ancestry Feat: Confident Actualization

o    Skill Increase: Deception (E), Thievery (E)

o    Spell Repertoire: 3rd – haste, nothing up my sleeve

o    Gear: thrower’s bandolier (+1 striking weapon), trinity geode, staff of earth, +1 staff, predictable silver piece, ring of discretion

Calling back to our original build for Gambit, we’ll be using the Rogue Dedication. We will obviously be looking to take Fane’s Fourberie but while Gambit’s famous for his cards, he can supercharge and throw anything. Since that is the case, I would take Bespell Strikes first, letting him use a spell to charge up a card or whatever else he has on hand. As a note, taking the Rogue Dedication provides him with a skill feat, which means we can get a wealth of Stealth and Thievery-themed skill feats this level. Dirty Trick provides him with a means of weaponizing his skill in combat, Pickpocket gives him a way to earn some money, and Fane’s Escape gives him another way of using his cards while also covering his escape. I would use Fleet to enhance his speed so that he can Sneak 15 feet instead of just 10 feet, and I don’t think there are many X-Men who are a better fit for Confident Actualization than Gambit is. For Gambit’s sorcerer spells, our bloodline actually provides us with dispel magic, which will be an important aspect for him given his ability to purify effects as seen with his Purifying Pickup and Ragin’ Royal Flush. You could also consider exploding earth based on the way that his weapons tend to explode on impact. His bloodline further provides him with haste, which will be handy in representing his Ragin’ Royal Flush. Nothing up my sleeve is thematically appropriate but I’ll leave it up to you if you want to spend one of your spell repertoires on that.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Basic Trickery – Fane’s Fourberie

o    Skill Feat: Kiss It Better

o    Gear: +1 leather, thrower’s bandolier (+1 striking weapon), healer’s gloves, staff of earth, +1 staff, necklace of knives

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Incredible Initiative

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (M)

o    Spell Repertoire: 4th – translocate, unfettered movement, weapon storm

o    Gear: staff of elemental power, +1 leather, lesser boots of free running, thrower’s bandolier (+1 striking weapon), dancing scarf, trinity geode

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Detonating Spell

o    Skill Feat: Quiet Allies

o    Gear: cloak of illusions, phantasmal doorknob, staff of elemental power, +1 leather, thrower’s bandolier (+1 striking weapon), healer’s gloves

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Multitalented – Mystic Dedication (Healing)

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (M)

o    Spell Repertoire: 5th – blink charge, geyser, scouting eye

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, cloak of illusions, retrieval belt, staff of elemental power, lesser boots of free running, thrower’s bandolier (+1 striking weapon)

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +5)

o    Class Feat: Vitality Network

o    Skill Feat: Swift Sneak

o    Gear: greater charlatan’s gloves, +1 resilient leather, greater staff of earth, cloak of illusions, phantasmal doorknob, thrower’s bandolier (+1 striking weapon)

As promised, we will be taking Fane’s Fourberie through basic trickery so that we can equip Gambit with his classic weapons. We do swap back to the sorcerer following that so that we can take the Detonating Spell feat, letting us add some boom to the cards that he deals. Before we can speak to his next class feat, we have to note that he uses ninth level ancestry feat for Multitalented so that he can pick up a Mystic Dedication. This might seem like a strange addition, but something that I was trying to figure out was being able to get his healing in there between his spells as that does seem to be a significant aspect of his kit. I think mystic is one of the best options for this effect as it will let him gain Vitality Network and let him restore allies at range, matching the healing found in his kit even while he is making other moves. Related to this, I also took Kiss It Better. Gambit is an incorrigible flirt even if he wouldn’t do anything beyond that and I think this is a good way to represent that while also calling to mind his healing capabilities. I used Quiet Allies based on his association of working with teams, particularly the X-Men. He also uses Swift Sneak so that he can move at full Speed while he’s sneaking. Along that same vein, he can use Incredible Initiative to help him act sooner in combat, moving faster than his foes. Among the spells of note at this level, unfettered movement may be useful in representing his ability to purify his allies, but we can also find geyser, which is based on the way that his Bidding Barrage can launch foes. You could also possibly consider flame dancer as another way to enhance the damage of his allies.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Robust Health

o    Skill Increase: Deception (M)

o    Spell Repertoire: 6th – disintegrate, earth and sky

o    Gear: thrower’s bandolier (+2 striking weapon), greater charlatan’s gloves, greater ventriloquist’s ring, +1 resilient leather, cloak of illusions, retrieval belt

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Crossblooded Evolution – Psychopomp

o    Skill Feat: Foil Senses

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, thrower’s bandolier (+2 striking weapon), greater staff of elemental power, greater charlatan’s gloves, greater flaming star, fortune’s coin

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Inner Wellspring

o    Skill Increase: Medicine (E)

o    Spell Repertoire: 7th – retrocognition, telekinetic bombardment, true target

o    Gear: thrower’s bandolier (+2 greater striking weapon), +2 resilient leather, locket of love left behind, greater staff of elemental power, greater charlatan’s gloves, greater ventriloquist’s ring

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Propelling Sorcery

o    Skill Feat: Quick Unlock

o    Gear: propulsive boots, thrower’s bandolier (+2 greater striking weapon), gambler’s staff, +2 resilient leather, greater phantasmal doorknob, impactful weapon rune

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +5, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +5.5)

o    General Feat: Feather Step

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (L)

o    Spell Repertoire: 8th – quandary

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, propulsive boots, shockwave weapon rune, thrower’s bandolier (+2 greater striking weapon), ring of maniacal devices, locket of love left behind

In preparation for latter aspects of this build, I took Crossblooded Evolution to tap into the psychopomp bloodline. I chose this premaster bloodline specifically because, in the comics, Gambit did spend some time as the Horseman of Death for Apocalypse. It also gives him the ability to apply extra damage to his spells with blood magic, possibly resembling his Breaking Spades deck and the enhanced damage that comes with it. We do get another blood magic effect with Propelling Sorcery, which will let him Step as a free action when he triggers it and is meant to resemble his Cajun Charge and the dash that it grants. I added in Foil Senses for his skill feats since he often has to contend with other mutants who have their own enhanced senses that make his job difficult. Quick Unlock is just going to help him in carrying out his job. The whole idea behind Gambit being able to heal others is based on some kinetic shifting he has that enhances his own self-regeneration. He’s not quite tough enough to pull Fast Recovery, but he can at least take Robust Health to tap into that idea. There’s also Feather Step, which is included purely to enhance his mobility and it gels nicely with his Propelling Sorcery. The imperial bloodline has a pretty solid focus spell, so Inner Wellspring should be a pretty useful effect to fit into his kit. Earth and sky gives us another option to launch enemies skyward from his sixth-rank spell based on his Bidding Barrage. From the following rank of spells, I like telekinetic bombardment possibly representing him launching a full deck and true target enhances his an his allies’ ability to target a foe, calling to mind some of the enhanced power provided by Ragin’ Royal Flush.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Sneak Attacker

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Thief

o    Gear: greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, major staff of elemental power, propulsive boots, thrower’s bandolier (+2 greater striking weapon), major flaming star

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Persistent Confidence

o    Skill Increase: Stealth (L)

o    Spell Repertoire: 9th – implosion

o    Gear: thrower’s bandolier (+3 greater striking weapon), greater shock weapon rune, major phantasmal doorknob, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, propulsive boots, shockwave weapon rune

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Greater Crossblooded Evolution

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak

o    Gear: necklace of allure, thrower’s bandolier (+3 greater striking weapon), greater staff of arcane might, greater shock weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, platinum fortune’s coin

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Canny Acumen

o    Skill Increase: Deception (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, necklace of allure, greater impactful weapon rune, thrower’s bandolier (+3 greater striking weapon), greater shock weapon rune, major phantasmal doorknob

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +6)

o    Class Feat: Bloodline Conduit

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Troll

o    Skill Increase: Intimidation (T)

o    Gear: thrower’s bandolier (+3 major striking weapon), +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, mask of allure, greater impactful weapon rune, greater staff of arcane might, quickstrike weapon rune

At his heart, Remy is a rogue and to really play into that, I want to use Sneak Attacker. There may very well be better options among his feats to consider, but this plays a bit into my original build for him. He then uses the Greater Crossblooded Evolution to tap into some of its granted spells. The big one to me is heal, which he can cast as a radial effect for the beneficial effects of his Bayou Bash. There’s some other solid spells here, but none that really stand out to me over the others. For his capstone class feat, I like Bloodline Conduit giving him a way to reliably produce decently leveled magical options without running out of spell slots since I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen him run out of his ability to charge up objects. We take a whole slew of legendary skill feats, all centered around his Thievery, Stealth, and Deception skills. I do think Legendary Troll is important to note as it can make an enemy off-guard, which would let him trigger his sneak attack. He’ll use Persistent Confidence because that rather aptly describes him and then slips in Canny Acumen into his build so that he can become a master in Reflex saves. I couldn’t fit the class feats to take Evasiveness, so he’ll have to use this instead.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: A free archetype game would likely enable us to fill in our rogue feats much sooner, taking the Evasiveness that I mentioned earlier and maybe using Advanced Trickery for the likes of Quick Draw and Magical Trickster. He could also use Skill Mastery from this to increase his Religion skill and pick up some Basic Mystic Spellcasting and other feats from it, using those options to expand on his support capabilities. I think you can probably fill his levels with those, but other than that, I might look at a Psychic Dedication and use Psi Development to enhance his telekinetic projectile as that will be one of the best ways to cover the cards that he throws.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Remy LeBeau, best known as Gambit, is a skilled human sorcerer of the imperial bloodline and a slightly less glamorous criminal background. This references his time with the Thieves Guild while team-based options such as Quiet Allies are meant to call to mind his closeness with the X-Men. Perhaps the clearest way to represent his ability to charge up items with kinetic energy is through his Bespell Weapon, but you have some other options for that, such as telekinetic projectile or Detonating Spell. In game, these Kinetic Cards are launched in an arc to hurt foes and heal allies. To use cards as a weapon, you’ll need the rogue to pick up Fane’s Fourberie while Transfer Vitality can be a single action to quickly resemble a healing card. For his alternate fire of Bayou Bash, having him wield a staff is easy enough and then just find an emanation spell, such as the gale blast cantrip. You could also consider more spells to cover his Cajun Charge, such as the similarly named blink charge, or you could just use his Propelling Sorcery blood magic to slip in some extra mobility. In regards to his Healing Hearts deck, Transfer Vitality doesn’t have the flourish trait so it can be used multiple times per turn to resemble his bouncing cards while the likes of dispel magic and unfettered movement will cover his purifying effects. The Breaking Spades deck comes with some extra damage, befitting his Bespell Weapon or Sneak Attacker while the Detonating Spell or other burst options fits for his Explosive Trick. Similarly, we can look at cones for his Bidding Barrage and launch people skywards with the likes of geyser or earth and sky. We’ve already covered the healing and purifying aspects of his Ragin’ Royal Flush but for the other aspects, we’ll look at haste and supercharge weapon to fill his friends with vim and vigor.

This captivating, kickass Cajun casts a cavalcade of cards in combustive catastrophes while this case of a classic can also complement companions with convalescence and conjured capabilities.

Have a fantastic Friday!