Builds - The Punisher

This build is a blend of the old comic book The Punisher, the Netflix series (both the Punisher and his appearance in Daredevil), and a splash of his various presence in the larger Marvel universe. The late 1980’s Punisher comic was extremely violent and graphic, beyond what it is today. Hey, don’t judge; the ’80s were a strange time. The Netflix series brought the Punisher back into vogue. This incarnation made the character much more emotionally raw, which I thought added a fantastic depth to him. That said, let’s get building.

*Note - I wanted to touch on two things. I am not currently using the new option to choose where you want to put your modifier increases. It’s a neat option for players to use, but I’ve always done the builds this way, and for now, that’s what I’ll continue to do. Second, I will use the he/him pronouns, as the Punisher I am referencing is male. The Punisher character can be played by anyone.

The Punisher
Oath of Vengeance Paladin/Battle Master Fighter
Race - Half-Orc
What?!? How can the Punisher not be a human? Well, you indeed could decide that you'll want to be human, but I feel that Half-orc fits. Character race is a sensitive subject these days, so I base this decision on the description of a Half-orc found in the PHB. Being a Half-orc does not mean that you are destined to be evil. However, fury and rage, sometimes with malicious intent, simmers below the surface, and some choose to embrace it. Sound like anyone we know?
Stats - Str. 15, Dex. 13, Con. 14, Int. 10, Wis. 13, Cha. 13.
It never seems like there are never enough points to spread around, does it? I used the point buy system to pull off what we want to do now and in the future.
Skill Proficiencies - Athletics, Intimidation, Medicine, Perception, Stealth. Athletics and Intimidation are a must. I wanted to have a higher Charisma score when doing the stats due solely for Intimidation, but we've got it covered between taking proficiency and the Half-orc menacing glare trait. Medicine was the only Paladin choice that made sense, as the Punisher takes a ton of damage and always patches himself (and others) up.
Background - Soldier. Duh.
Armor/Weapons - Chain Mail, Warhammer, Heavy Crossbow, 5 Javelins, Holy Symbol Emblem, Explorer’s Pack.
Chain mail is the best we can do right now, and in fact, we may downgrade at some point. Since we aren't going to be using firearms - nothing against them, just don't want to use anything that isn't official content - a heavy crossbow gives our character a powerful long-range weapon. Think of it as the big guns that the Punisher uses. Javelins, therefore, would be the equivalent of a handgun.

I took a Warhammer because I re-watched the Netflix series and love the scene where he destroys 3 three guys with a sledgehammer. Finally, giving him a holy symbol doesn't make much sense unless you make it an emblem. The Punisher's skull logo on his shirt is iconic (and has been replaced, but that's a whole different topic), so feel free to model the emblem into something similar.

Our character sheet is filled out. Let's start leveling up our character.

Paladin 1

Divine Sense - Not much use here for our build, but then again, there is not much use for this ability in general. Sure, knowing if there is evil nearby, but 60 feet is a small radius. Most of the time, you’ll learn something evil is close and will want to save that action in case they strike.

Lay on Hands - This is an important one, and for all intents and purposes, the main reason I went to paladin class first. The Punisher spends most of his time in combat, and no matter how good he may be, he takes a beating. Even in the middle of a fight, the Punisher keeps attacking, keeps moving forward. The only way to do that is to regain those precious hit points so you can outlast the bad guy. The Punisher is a one-man destructive force, so we’ll want to rely on no one but ourselves to heal up. 

Paladin 2

Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting - I thought about taking Defense because who doesn’t want a higher AC? In the end, it’s all about the damage, and the Punisher delivers a whole of it. I’m going to be upgrading the Warhammer to a maul as quickly as I can. I’ll also be grabbing two battleaxes as I like the imagery of our character swinging them around like crazy.

Smite - Extra damage, extra damage, extra damage. Let’s not get hung up on the fact that it’s radiant damage that comes from a higher power. It’s additional damage, and that’s all that matters.

Spellcasting: Spells - Cure Wounds & Wrathful Smite. Spells will provide the Punisher the extra healing and extra damage that he needs especially long-range damage. Old Punisher used his sniper skills more than the current one. It’s an integral part of who he is and one that shouldn’t be neglected.

Paladin 3

Divine Health - There’s no time to come down with the flu when you’re constantly fighting bad guys.

Sacred Oath: Oath of Vengeance - If you have no idea who the Punisher is, then a tiny bit of lore will help you understand why this oath is absolutely purpose. His family was murdered, which started him down the road of killing. Initially, the mob murdered them in cold blood, while the Netflix series changed the killing to a deep quasi-government conspiracy. If killing to avenge the death of your family isn’t vengeance, then I don’t know what is.

Abjure Enemy is absolutely perfect, as the Punisher is one terrifying SOB. Anyone in their right mind would be frightened of him. Vow of Enmity provides an advantage to your attacks when fighting a problematic opponent. It’s always nice to find an actual use for your Channel Divinity ability.

Spells: Bane and Hunter’s Mark - I particularly like Hunter’s Mark when firing the heavy crossbow. There are several ways to deal extra damage by swinging a sword. An additional 1d6 damage with your crossbow helps improve the sniper aspect of our “hero.”

Paladin 3/Fighter 1

We take a dip into fighter now. I seriously considered going Ranger with Hunter archetype again to solve the long-range sniper issue. We are handling this through another measure, so we now need to address the Punisher's incredible skills in hand-to-hand combat. I'd love to take a dip in monk, solving those issues efficiently, but the armor and ranged weapon limitations made that a no-go. That leaves fighter, and while it is not a traditional multiclass - lots of overlap - we need to remember this is character specific, and I am trying to stay as close to the Punisher I can.

Fighting Style: Unarmed Fighting - There we go. He's no master of martial arts like the monk, but hand-to-hand combat is now a viable option at lower levels. I know that people rarely use this skill, but who knows, it might come in handy. It stays true to the character, and sometimes swinging a sword isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Second Wind - Just one more way for the Punisher to stay on his feet during combat. If you have ever seen or read anything about him, you'll know that the Punisher is one hard dude to put down.

Paladin 4/Fighter 1

I wanted to get to the fighter archetype, but taking a Feat is just too good to pass on. My opinion is that Feats are effective at the higher levels, but we're only a 5th level character, so I think it makes sense here. The more significant issue is what to take since so many feats feel right. In the end, we ended up taking…

Feat: Martial Adept - Having a total of five combat maneuvers (spoilers) next level compensates for many other feat choices. I took a long look at Durable, Grappler, Resilient, Savage Attacker, Sharpshooter, and Tavern Brawler. Sharpshooter was very hard to pass up, so maybe we'll see it soon, ignoring what I said above. 

The two combat maneuvers we take are Grappling Attack and Quick Toss. That covers not taking the Grapple feat. Quick Toss is excellent as it builds on the shorter thrown weapon attack when we use our javelins. 

Spells: While we're here, let's get caught up on our spells. We now have prepared bane, branding smite, compelled duel, heroism (because literally, nothing scares the Punisher), hunter's mark, and misty step.

Paladin 4/Fighter 2

Action Surge - Remember how we talked about the Punisher staying on his feet during a fight? This helps our character take out the bad guys quicker, which allows him to stay on his feet.

Paladin 4/Fighter 3

Fighter Archetype: Battle Master - As I alluded to earlier, Battle Master is the best way to go, as we now have five maneuvers, allowing us to round out the character and providing him with a variety of abilities that line up with the fictional character's. There are many great choices. I ruled out any maneuvers that involved another party member. He's a loner who fights alone a majority of the time. Here are the three I think you should take:

Brace: Use your reaction to hit the creature dumb enough to try and get close to you.
Feinting Attack: You're getting stronger every level, so I'm sure you'll survive till the next round, where you have Advantage on your next Attack.
Parry: Reducing damage is good. It's another reaction, which forces you to choose since you've got a single reaction per round, but at least you have options

Student of War - You gain proficiency in an artisan tool. Take whatever you please. I choose Smith's Tools.

We are going to speed this up. The following few levels are straightforward with your new abilities.

Paladin 5/Fighter 5

Ability Score Improvement - I'm torn between the Crossbow Expert Feat and increasing the Punisher's ability scores. Crossbow Expert wins out. We have to increase our ranged weapon attack just a bit more. No loading property and shooting at close range without disadvantage are fantastic if your enemy is rushing in and you need to get off a shot before switching to your melee weapon. Plus, you'll be buying a hand crossbow and using a bonus action to fire the wrong guy one more time before you drop them.  

Extra Attack (x2) - They don't stack, which is disappointing, but sometimes you have to take the hit to get where you want to be.

Spells - Prepare wrathful smite. More smite damage…and the spell's name is perfect.
Auras are nice, but again, we are focused on a Punisher character. I want to clarify for those that may disagree with this thought process. Yes, the Punisher does spend time defending people in need, especially in the Netflix series. He protects those that he can when he wants to, but most of the time, it's him alone, fighting one-on-one, or in a lot of cases, one versus many. Therefore we take the following 10 levels in fighter, rounding out our character.

Paladin 5/Fighter 15

Additional Maneuvers - We sure have a plethora to use in battle. You can take the following in any order, depending on how you want to play your character.

Ambush - Our Dexterity is still average, so every little bit helps
Disarming Attack - Do the action hero thing and fight it out with your fists.
Menacing Attack - Another chance to scare to crap out of your opponent.
Pushing Attack - Room to breathe in melee combat.
Riposte - Hitting back immediately is fair in a fight.
Sweeping Attack - Who doesn't like hitting two bad guys for the price of one.

Know Your Enemy
Ability Score Improvement - Strength and Constitution again. Feel free to take Dexterity if you want.
Indomitable
Improved Combat Superiority
Extra Attack - Three attacks in one round? Yes, please.
Relentless - Those superiority dice are limited in number, so gaining one when you have none can make a huge difference. If your dungeon diving encounters happen back to back (to back) often, you can burn your six superiority dice quite quickly.

All done. The link to the character sheet (created in D&D Beyond) is below.

One quick optional build would be taking two more paladin levels, resulting in a 7/13 split. This could satisfy those you want the aura to cover when the Punisher is defending the weak but, more importantly, give you Relentless Avenger. This Oath feature offers you the opportunity to fire your crossbow, rush in, use a second attack with a melee weapon. Then you can pivot to the next unfortunate soul and run up to them (with 15 feet). You should also feel free to make any adjustments to your Ability Score Increases based on any magic items you may possess. If you’ve got a Belt of Stone Giant Strength, dump your stats into Wisdom.

As always, please share your thoughts, opinions, and constructive criticism in the comments below.

If you like our articles, love Homebrew, and are looking for a fun and active community to talk about all things D&D, consider supporting us on Patreon. Below are some of the benefits we offer:

• Access to our Homebrew Horde with over 300 items and counting!

• Vote on upcoming Deep Deep topics

• Monthly online one-shot adventures

• Early access to Deep Dive and Rewind Articles

• Even more Homebrew in our Magic Item Monday and Monster Thursday series

• Exclusive audio from our new YouTube Deep Dive series

Art Credit - Marvel Comics