How to Build Yuna from Final Fantasy X in DnD
Along with Tidus, Summoner Yuna is one of the main characters from Final Fantasy X. She gets a lot of flack for being unsure of herself in the game, but her character development in overcoming that insecurity is one of the high points for the game. Summoners don’t really have an equivalent in Dungeons and Dragons, but Yuna’s other abilities as a white mage tie nicely into her story as someone who guides the spirits of the dead into a peaceful afterlife. Read on to find out how to recreate her in DnD!
Picking a Class and Subclass
Yuna has a lot of abilities, but she is, first and foremost, a healer. Yes, Rikku can do some great healing with her alchemical abilities, but Yuna is focused on healing. That’s not to say that she’s without offensive capabilities. As a summoner, she has great damage potential, and summoning is also a great defensive tactic, taking the fire off of the party for a few rounds. And once Yuna gets access to the Holy spell, she’s also a pretty powerful offensive mage in her own right. So Yuna is a healer with good offensive and defensive capabilities. That’s a pretty tall order.
Thankfully, Clerics fit that description extremely well while also holding to the holy theme. Of the full casters, Clerics are the most tanky, their healing capabilities are best in class, and they also do excellent damage at all levels.
Yuna’s exceptional healing ability and role as a caretaker for wayward spirits puts her naturally in the Grave Domain subclass. I often see Grave Clerics portrayed as creepy and obsessed with death, but the description and role in the party seems much more like a funeral director: someone who gives closure to death and consoles those left behind. That’s exactly what Yuna does in the game. The Grave Domain grants Potent Spellcasting, allowing Clerics to add their Wisdom modifier to cantrip damage, making this a very magic-focused character.
If the Grave Domain doesn’t seem right to you, the Life Domain could be a good fit as well. This domain is more tanky than the Grave Domain (due to getting heavy armor proficiency) and probably has the best healing capability of all subclasses, but still gets decent damage from Divine Strike, which adds damage to weapon strikes. This can make this character a pretty good striker when needed, if you’re looking for a subclass with some martial capabilities.
The Grave Domain is a better fit thematically, and can almost match the Life Domain’s healing ability. That said, if you want a character with better weapon damage and armor proficiencies, the Life Domain can be a good fit as well.
Yuna is a graceful character, performing rituals using dance, so a clunky suit of armor might not be what you want for this character. If you want to go armor-less, you can multiclass into Monk for a single level to get Unarmored Defense, but this locks you into having a high Dexterity along with Wisdom. Another option is presented in the DMs Guide to simply give Clerics the Unarmored Defense feature. There's no real unbalance with this, as Unarmored Defense tends to have lower actual defense than armor, so you might ask your DM about this if you want an unarmored character.
Picking a Race
This is a difficult one, because for a character based on Yuna, race will not be a defining factor in who they are—age is much more important. Yuna is thrust into massive responsibilities before she’s truly ready for them, and that can happen for any race. Yuna is viewed cautiously but generally accepted by society, leaning more toward the more populous races such as those in the Player’s Handbook, but monstrous races can also work with a little finessing.
Yuna’s personality seems most like that of a Halfling, but even that can be offset with a young age. Just go with what feels best.
Background, Alignment, and Personality
Yuna was essentially raised to be a part of her religion, so the Acolyte background seems to be a perfect fit. This grants proficiency with Insight and Religion, and comes with a feature that allows this character to seek shelter in churches. Those are all spot-on with Yuna’s character, and nothing else comes close thematically.
Yuna’s alignment changes with her character progression. She starts out as a Lawful Good: good because that’s where her heart leads her, but lawful because it’s all she’s ever known. As she grows and changes throughout the story, she moves to a Neutral Good, realizing that lawfulness is not necessarily good. She never becomes chaotic, but she does reject lawfulness, slowly at first, and then suddenly after her encounter with Lady Yunalesca.
Throughout the story, Yuna knows what is good and what is bad, but she struggles to find her place in it. Initially, good is something she tries to follow, almost chasing it because she just wants to be where good things are happening. The biggest piece of character growth for Yuna is realizing that she doesn’t have to wait for good to happen somewhere and then run to it; she can enact good on her own, and once she realizes that, she works hard to make it happen.
While Yuna can work as a Life Domain Cleric, if you’re trying to match her personality and role in society, she’s clearly a Grave Domain Cleric—not just a Grave Domain Cleric, though, but probably the best example I can think of one in pop culture. Connecting Yuna to the Grave Domain in my head was what finally made the subclass click and make sense to me. She’s empathetic to a fault, and uses that to guide both people and spirits through the process of death with kindness and strength. That can make for an interesting addition to any party.
Yuna Character Sheet
Level 3 Lightfoot Halfling Cleric - Grave Domain
Stats (Standard Array)
| Initial | Boosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Str | 10 | 10 |
| Dex | 14 | 16 |
| Con | 13 | 13 |
| Int | 12 | 12 |
| Wis | 15 | 16 |
| Cha | 8 | 8 |
Background: Acolyte
Skill Proficiencies
- History
- Insight
- Medicine
- Religion
Spells
Cantrip
- Light
- Sacred Flame
- Spare the Dying
- Thaumaturgy
Level 1
- Bane
- Bless
- Cure Wounds
- False Life
- Guiding Bolt
- Protection from Evil and Good
Level 2
- Enhance Ability
- Gentle Repose
- Lesser Restoration
- Ray of Enfeeblement
About the Author
Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a web developer and writer in the Kansas City area. He's been playing TTRPGs since 2020 and is involved in the disability-related TTRPG podcast Tales from the Crips. He's into classic movies, mental health, and, of course, DnD. Also, he's in a band. One time, they rocked so hard it killed a man.