Let's Play D&D With Cyclops from the X-Men

How would eye lasers work in a fantasy setting? Let’s figure it out together when we invite play Cyclops to play D&D.

X-Men ’97 is here this week, and for nerds of a certain age, this is just pure nostalgia. It’s not that I can still remember the ’90s X-Men theme song, I can still feel it. There was a specific and immediate dopamine hit that came from just the first few chords of that tune. Can I remember all of the episode? Not at all. Does that opening song still have the power to turn me into a feral Abten-year-old for half a second? Absolutely it does.

So let’s all time travel back nearly thirty years together with one of the most popular unpopular members of the X-Men and see if we can’t go on our next D&D adventure with…

I broke a couple of my own rules making a Cyclops sheet… because Cyclops is a character who wouldn’t fit easily into D&D. Bits and pieces of him work, but to get some of the most important and recognizable things, you’ll need a DM who understands your vision and isn’t uncomfortable with a bit of homebrewing. So I tried to lay out a few options.

Instead of starting with his powers, I decided to start with Cyclops’ personality and say that he is a total Paladin. He has his moral code, he’s a staunch defender of others, and he naturally takes on a leadership role because most of the rest of the team is too chaotic to do it. Sometimes the disaster crew needs the one parent friend to keep them on track, and that’s his role more often than he’d probably like. In fact, I think if he cared a little less, he’d have a better time. But that’s not where we are.

So circling back to his powers, if Cyclops is a Paladin, his eye lasers are smites. And that’s where we hit our first issue. Smites are traditionally attached to melee attacks, an the laser eyes are a ranged attack. To overcome this I have two proposals. The first, is going total homebrew on this, getting an artificer to make some goggles of night a little extra oomph as spellcasting weapons. Sort of like an arcane focus with more steps.

Does this sound like something your DM wouldn’t go for? Mine neither, I agree. That’s when we offer up the much more reasonable option of a regular ranged weapon- like a hand crossbow- that can do the damage necessary for those smites instead. Of course, we’re keeping the goggles regardless. For the aesthetic.

And if none of that works, you know what looks a lot like an explosive laser beam of death? Some Eldritch Blast. Give him a few levels in Warlock and never run out of ways to blast enemies into oblivion. It’s not perfect, but it’s endless and has the right sort of destructive power.

How would you make Cyclops for D&D? Are you excited for X-Men 97? What movie, show, game, book, or comic should we make sheets from next? Let us know in the comments!

Happy adventuring!