How to Build Yang from Final Fantasy IV in DnD
Yang Fang Leiden, king of Fabul and master Monk, ended up being one of the strongest playable characters in Final Fantasy IV, and he fills a role that’s a difficult build in DnD: a Monk Tank. He had a few other tricks up his sleeves too, like an attack that hit all opponents and the ability to change his damage type based on which claws he equipped. There are a few build possibilities that fit these criteria, so if you’re interested in building Final Fantasy IV’s classic monk, read on!
Picking a Class and Subclass
In Final Fantasy IV, Yang was a pretty simple character to play. He had a lot of hit points and he hit things really hard. If those are the only things you’re trying to capture in a DnD character… play a Barbarian. Seriously, Barbarians are great at that. Monks in DnD are highly mobile skirmishers who excel at taking down ranged attackers, but don’t necessarily hold up on the front lines with the Barbarians, Fighters, and Paladins. If you’re reading this guide, though, I’m assuming you do want to build a Monk who does well on the front lines. Well, in that case, we’ve got a few options.
The Way of the Long Death subclass for Monks adds a lot of survivability by giving Monks frequent temporary hit points and eventually a method of using ki points to just shrug off death. They get a frighten ability to give you a bit of the versatility that Yang had with his status-inducing claws, and their capstone ability at level 17 is an ability to add a lot of damage to your attacks. For the muscle-heavy tank Yang, that’s about as close as you can get with a DnD Monk.
But what if you want to lean more into Yang’s ability to change his damage type using elemental claws? Yang isn’t in your party a long time, but having all of his attack power come from his fists meant that his old weapons never became irrelevent, so you could hang on to those fire claws in case you met an ice enemy. In that case, the Way of the Ascendent Dragon is your best bet. It allows you to swap your regular unarmed damage for any elemental damage type (acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison), and also gives you a dragon breath attack to hit multiple opponents—something the original Yang does with his Kick ability, and something most Monks don’t do well.
I think the Way of the Long Death subclass captures Yang’s character a little better, but the Way of the Ascendent Dragon is a pretty solid subclass with great roleplay potential as well.
Picking a Race
Like most of the playable characters in Final Fantasy IV, Yang has ties to nobility; in fact, he’s the king of Fabul. With that aspect, Human makes a good fit, with many of the larger cities and kingdoms being human. Monks are notoriously dependent on multiple attribute scores (Dexterity, Wisdom, and Constitution), so getting a +1 to all attributes with the Standard Human works well. If you go Variant Human, you can put the bonuses in Dexterity and Wisdom and pick a feat at level 1 to increase your hardiness, like Tough.
If you don’t care much about the nobility aspect of Yang’s character and instead want to focus on his natural toughness, Hill Dwarf can be a fantastic fit because it gets an additional hit point per level. Their base stat bonuses are +2 to Constitution and +1 to Wisdom, which isn’t bad for a Monk, but you can easily adjust that to put the bonuses anywhere.
Background, Alignment, and Personality
If you’re playing into Yang’s noble roots, picking Noble is a no-brainer. The History and Persuasion skill proficiencies honestly aren’t all that useful for a Monk, since you’ll probably have lower Intelligence and Charisma scores, but the roleplaying potential is great if that’s what you’re going for.
If you don’t care about the noble background, things get a little more murky. There’s not a background for someone who has devoted their life to training. The Athlete or Far Traveler backgrounds might make sense from a story perspective, and both get you some useful skills for a Monk. Honestly, if you’re not going for a noble Monk, there are many backgrounds that can fit, so take a look through your options and pick one you’re excited about.
With Yang’s devotion to training and stubborn politeness, he has a strong Lawful bent. His sacrifices for other characters throughout the story place him firmly in the Good camp as well, making him a pretty clear-cut Lawful Good.
Throughout Final Fantasy IV, Yang shows himself to be a protector—something that translates well to roleplaying, and can make for a fun character to play. Having a frontline character with the mobility to get to the enemy’s backline on a whim makes for a pretty versatile martial character as well. Beyond that, though, Yang is a pretty standard Monk—which isn’t a bad thing at all. Having a character who’s trained their whole life for the skills they have now can be a pretty cool plot point, especially if the world doesn’t fit neatly into the boxes that their regimented life has provided for them. You might have a character who’s initially Lawful Good simply because it’s all they know, and when they discover that the world isn’t so black and white, they have a choice to either change themselves or commit to being a force of goodness and lawfulness in the world. Either can make for a fantastic story.
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.