Introduction
This is a full step by step guide for creating a D&D 5th Edition Character.
To best explain how this is done I will be creating a level 1 character using the free online Wizards of the Coast resources and explain everything as I go.
This is a D&D 5e Charater Sheet. You will be refering to this sheet through all of your adventures.
This is what you use to keep track of your character Ability Scores, Profincientcies, Equipment and more.
As we move through our steps I will be filling out this sheet and showing you exactly what each section is for.
In order to keep me from rambling for days about every little thing I will be incuding page numbers for the free offical Player's Basic Rules.
Lets get started!
Step 1: Race
The first step for many people is choosing a race. Your race determines quite a number of things for your character. Like your age, size, speed, languages, and even how some people treat you. Each race gives you some sort of ability increase, like how Dwarves are naturally stout so they get a boost in Constitution. Using the free resources we can choose between Dwarf, Elf, Hafling, and Human. For our Character we're going with Human. (Races:Page 11)
The largest population of race in the D&D universe are humans. They are much like how we are, varied from person to person. Humans are the only race to get a +1 to all of their ability scores. So when we roll for our stats we can increase each score by one. Humans walking speed is the same as most races being 30 feet. Speed is mainy used in combat, the character's movement per turn is 30 feet. Humans also know how to speak, read, and write in the language of common. Common is the most used langauge in the D&D universe, almost all intellegent walks of life know this language. Humans also get to choose another language of their choosing, but lets hold off on that for now. Lets update our character sheet with this information and put our player name on it. (Humans:Page 17)
Step 2: Class
Your class is the biggest factor for combat. This will decide what weapons, and armor your character is good at using. It also determines most of your starting equpment and spells. Each class gives you unique features depending on your level. Like Cleric's get Divine Domain at level 1, which allows them to choose a domain based off their deity. A example being Life domain allowing their healing spells to be more effective. Using the free resources you can choose between Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, or Wizard. For our character we'll be going with Fighter. (Classes:Page 20)
Fighters are the all around weapon combatants, they can do anything from swinging a sword to shooting a bow and everything inbetween. Fighters get the slightly better than average hit die being a 10 sided dice. Hit die are used when determining your total health. At level 1 you get the maximum 10 total hp plus your constitution modifier. So if we have a plus 2 modifier in our constitution our starting hp would be 12. At level 1 fighters also gain the ability Second Wind. This ability allows you to use your bonus action to heal yourself by rolling a 10 sided dice and add your level in fighter to it. Meaning the max health you can regain at level 1 is 11. Fighters also get to choose a fighting style at level 1. A example being Archery you can increase the likely hood of your attack hitting the enemy by +2. Lets go for the classic sword and board. For this character we're going with Dueling. Dueling allows you to do more damage with a one handed weapon, while you are not weilding one in the other hand.
We also get to choose our equpment. Armor is used to determine our Armor Class. The higher your armor class the less likely a attack will hit you Fighters get to make several decisions for starting equipment. First Choice is either Chain Mail or Leather armor with a longbow and 20 arrmow. Second choice is either a martial weapon and a shield or two martial weapons. Third Light crossbow with 20 bolts or 2 handaxes. Fourth a dungeoneer’s pack or an explorer’s pack. For this Character lets go with Chain Mail, Longsword and Shield, 2 handaxes, and a explorer's pack. (Armor:Page 44) (Weapons:Page 46) (Packs:Page 49)
Proficiencies are things your character excels at. Adding a bonus to everything your profiecient at. At level 1 the bonus is +2, but increases with level. Fighters get proficiency in Strength and Constitution Saving Throws. They also get to choose 2 skill proficiencies between Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival. Lets hold off on doing that for now. Instead lets add all of this information to our character sheet.
Ability Score
This is where the numbers come in. Your ability score are your stats. There are 3 systems to determining your stats. Theres Standard, Point Buy, and Rolling. Rolling is the most used because it relies 100% on RNG. So lets use that method. What you want to do is have a 6 sided dice and roll it four times dropping the lowest number. Lets say you rolled a 1 6 3 4. You would drop the one and add the rest of the rolls together leaving you with a 14. You would then take that 14 and add it to a stat. Ability Scores will give you a Modifier to your skills, attacks, and saves. 10 being a 0 and every 2 points it will go up or down. So lets say you have a 8 and a 12. The modifier for the 8 would be -1 and the 12 would be a +2. Now to roll for stats.
We got really high rolls! Sweet.
14 15 15 16 12 11
Add the +1 to all of them for being a Human.
15 16 16 17 13 12
We gonna be op guys.
Okay now for a fighter of our style the most important Abilities are Strength and Constitution. Strength allows us to hit much harder with our Longsword and Handaxes. It also deals with the Athletic's skill boosting that up as well. Constitution deals with our Total Health. We're going to be on the frontlines we need to be able to take a hit. So lets put our 17 in Strength and one of our 16's in Constitution. We also want to be able to rush into battle quickly, having a high Dexterity allows us to have a higher initiative. So we can take our turn faster. So lets throw that other 16 into Dexterity. Now that our combat needs are settled lets wait till we figure out just who he is before deciding the other scores and do his skills. Lets fill in the sheet for now.
Character Background
Now that we have our Human Fighter's combat capabilities out of the way we can move on to Roleplay. A Character Background intels of what your character life was like before you headed off for adventure. Assuming you weren't a adventurer before hand. Just to be clear this is not your backstory. Even though this is roleplay, this is number crunch roleplay. Backgrounds can give you proficiencies with skills and tools, starting gold, and flavor items for your character. Using the Free Resources you have Acolyte, Criminal, Folk Hero, Noble, Sage, and Soldier to choose from. For this Character lets go with Soldier.
When choosing this background you get proficiencies in Athletics, Intimidation, Land Vehicles, and a gaming set. Athletics allows you to do feats of strength easier. Intimidation lets you make people crap their pants easier. Land Vehicles allows you to control horses and other land creatures used as mounts easier. Gaming set is like dice, cards, ect. It also gives you some items An insignia of rank, a trophy taken from a fallen enemy (a dagger, broken blade, or piece of a banner), a set of bone dice or deck of cards, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp.
Backgrounds also comes with an little feature you can use from time to time. This one gives you Military Rank. You have a military rank from your career as a soldier. Soldiers loyal to your former military organization still recognize your authority and influence, and they defer to you if they are of a lower rank. You can invoke your rank to exert influence over other soldiers and requisition simple equipment or horses for temporary use. You can also usually gain access to friendly military encampments and fortresses where your rank is recognized.
Characteristic's are a very nice tool to keep you in your role as your character. Characteristic's are personality traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaw. You can either come up with your own or use the Player's Basic Rules reccomended Characteristic's. I usually come up with my own, but for the purposes of this build lets use what the PBR has.
Personality Trait:I’m full of inspiring and cautionary tales from my military experience relevant to almost every combat situation.
Ideal: Independence. When people follow orders blindly, they embrace a kind of tyranny. (Chaotic)
Bond:I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.
Flaw: I’d rather eat my armor than admit when I’m wrong.
Now is the perfect time to pick our alignment. Our background and Characteristic are pointing toward Chaotic Good. Since he will not follow order he doesn't believe in and he fights for those who cannot protect themselves.
Now that we know who he is we can fill in the ability scores and choose our skills. He tells inpiring tales so his charisma needs to be a little high. Lets put that 15 in there. He's been in battle before I bet he has some wisdom to spare, Lets hand over that 13 to Widsom. That leaves intelligence to the 12. We have to pick between two skills out of the list I posted in the class section. For this guy I bet some of his stories aren't true, lets take Deception to be able to tell ghost tales. Your eyes need to be quick on a battle field lets go with Perception to be able to spot the unexspeted. Your passive perception is calculated by 10 + your perception score. So it will also make him see things out the corner of his eye easier as well! Lets fill in the rest of this sheet.
There we go! We created a Character!
For more Offical Free Information click here
If you're dedicated the full Player's Handbook has so much more to offter it's worth the buy. Just click here
If you want to learn about being a Dungeon Master instead you can buy the full Dungeon Masters Guid here
If you want to play D&D, but don't know people to play with you can go over to Roll20 and play with cool people online. You can join here
Introduction
This is a full step by step guide for creating a D&D 5th Edition Character.
To best explain how this is done I will be creating a level 1 character using the free online Wizards of the Coast resources and explain everything as I go.
This is a D&D 5e Charater Sheet. You will be refering to this sheet through all of your adventures.
This is what you use to keep track of your character Ability Scores, Profincientcies, Equipment and more.
As we move through our steps I will be filling out this sheet and showing you exactly what each section is for.
In order to keep me from rambling for days about every little thing I will be incuding page numbers for the free offical Player's Basic Rules.
Lets get started!
Step 1: Race
The first step for many people is choosing a race. Your race determines quite a number of things for your character. Like your age, size, speed, languages, and even how some people treat you. Each race gives you some sort of ability increase, like how Dwarves are naturally stout so they get a boost in Constitution. Using the free resources we can choose between Dwarf, Elf, Hafling, and Human. For our Character we're going with Human. (Races:Page 11)
The largest population of race in the D&D universe are humans. They are much like how we are, varied from person to person. Humans are the only race to get a +1 to all of their ability scores. So when we roll for our stats we can increase each score by one. Humans walking speed is the same as most races being 30 feet. Speed is mainy used in combat, the character's movement per turn is 30 feet. Humans also know how to speak, read, and write in the language of common. Common is the most used langauge in the D&D universe, almost all intellegent walks of life know this language. Humans also get to choose another language of their choosing, but lets hold off on that for now. Lets update our character sheet with this information and put our player name on it. (Humans:Page 17)
Step 2: Class
Your class is the biggest factor for combat. This will decide what weapons, and armor your character is good at using. It also determines most of your starting equpment and spells. Each class gives you unique features depending on your level. Like Cleric's get Divine Domain at level 1, which allows them to choose a domain based off their deity. A example being Life domain allowing their healing spells to be more effective. Using the free resources you can choose between Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, or Wizard. For our character we'll be going with Fighter. (Classes:Page 20)
Fighters are the all around weapon combatants, they can do anything from swinging a sword to shooting a bow and everything inbetween. Fighters get the slightly better than average hit die being a 10 sided dice. Hit die are used when determining your total health. At level 1 you get the maximum 10 total hp plus your constitution modifier. So if we have a plus 2 modifier in our constitution our starting hp would be 12. At level 1 fighters also gain the ability Second Wind. This ability allows you to use your bonus action to heal yourself by rolling a 10 sided dice and add your level in fighter to it. Meaning the max health you can regain at level 1 is 11. Fighters also get to choose a fighting style at level 1. A example being Archery you can increase the likely hood of your attack hitting the enemy by +2. Lets go for the classic sword and board. For this character we're going with Dueling. Dueling allows you to do more damage with a one handed weapon, while you are not weilding one in the other hand.
We also get to choose our equpment. Armor is used to determine our Armor Class. The higher your armor class the less likely a attack will hit you Fighters get to make several decisions for starting equipment. First Choice is either Chain Mail or Leather armor with a longbow and 20 arrmow. Second choice is either a martial weapon and a shield or two martial weapons. Third Light crossbow with 20 bolts or 2 handaxes. Fourth a dungeoneer’s pack or an explorer’s pack. For this Character lets go with Chain Mail, Longsword and Shield, 2 handaxes, and a explorer's pack. (Armor:Page 44) (Weapons:Page 46) (Packs:Page 49)
Proficiencies are things your character excels at. Adding a bonus to everything your profiecient at. At level 1 the bonus is +2, but increases with level. Fighters get proficiency in Strength and Constitution Saving Throws. They also get to choose 2 skill proficiencies between Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival. Lets hold off on doing that for now. Instead lets add all of this information to our character sheet.
Ability Score
This is where the numbers come in. Your ability score are your stats. There are 3 systems to determining your stats. Theres Standard, Point Buy, and Rolling. Rolling is the most used because it relies 100% on RNG. So lets use that method. What you want to do is have a 6 sided dice and roll it four times dropping the lowest number. Lets say you rolled a 1 6 3 4. You would drop the one and add the rest of the rolls together leaving you with a 14. You would then take that 14 and add it to a stat. Ability Scores will give you a Modifier to your skills, attacks, and saves. 10 being a 0 and every 2 points it will go up or down. So lets say you have a 8 and a 12. The modifier for the 8 would be -1 and the 12 would be a +2. Now to roll for stats.
We got really high rolls! Sweet.
14 15 15 16 12 11
Add the +1 to all of them for being a Human.
15 16 16 17 13 12
We gonna be op guys.
Okay now for a fighter of our style the most important Abilities are Strength and Constitution. Strength allows us to hit much harder with our Longsword and Handaxes. It also deals with the Athletic's skill boosting that up as well. Constitution deals with our Total Health. We're going to be on the frontlines we need to be able to take a hit. So lets put our 17 in Strength and one of our 16's in Constitution. We also want to be able to rush into battle quickly, having a high Dexterity allows us to have a higher initiative. So we can take our turn faster. So lets throw that other 16 into Dexterity. Now that our combat needs are settled lets wait till we figure out just who he is before deciding the other scores and do his skills. Lets fill in the sheet for now.
Character Background
Now that we have our Human Fighter's combat capabilities out of the way we can move on to Roleplay. A Character Background intels of what your character life was like before you headed off for adventure. Assuming you weren't a adventurer before hand. Just to be clear this is not your backstory. Even though this is roleplay, this is number crunch roleplay. Backgrounds can give you proficiencies with skills and tools, starting gold, and flavor items for your character. Using the Free Resources you have Acolyte, Criminal, Folk Hero, Noble, Sage, and Soldier to choose from. For this Character lets go with Soldier.
When choosing this background you get proficiencies in Athletics, Intimidation, Land Vehicles, and a gaming set. Athletics allows you to do feats of strength easier. Intimidation lets you make people crap their pants easier. Land Vehicles allows you to control horses and other land creatures used as mounts easier. Gaming set is like dice, cards, ect. It also gives you some items An insignia of rank, a trophy taken from a fallen enemy (a dagger, broken blade, or piece of a banner), a set of bone dice or deck of cards, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp.
Backgrounds also comes with an little feature you can use from time to time. This one gives you Military Rank. You have a military rank from your career as a soldier. Soldiers loyal to your former military organization still recognize your authority and influence, and they defer to you if they are of a lower rank. You can invoke your rank to exert influence over other soldiers and requisition simple equipment or horses for temporary use. You can also usually gain access to friendly military encampments and fortresses where your rank is recognized.
Characteristic's are a very nice tool to keep you in your role as your character. Characteristic's are personality traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaw. You can either come up with your own or use the Player's Basic Rules reccomended Characteristic's. I usually come up with my own, but for the purposes of this build lets use what the PBR has.
Personality Trait:I’m full of inspiring and cautionary tales from my military experience relevant to almost every combat situation.
Ideal: Independence. When people follow orders blindly, they embrace a kind of tyranny. (Chaotic)
Bond:I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.
Flaw: I’d rather eat my armor than admit when I’m wrong.
Now is the perfect time to pick our alignment. Our background and Characteristic are pointing toward Chaotic Good. Since he will not follow order he doesn't believe in and he fights for those who cannot protect themselves.
Now that we know who he is we can fill in the ability scores and choose our skills. He tells inpiring tales so his charisma needs to be a little high. Lets put that 15 in there. He's been in battle before I bet he has some wisdom to spare, Lets hand over that 13 to Widsom. That leaves intelligence to the 12. We have to pick between two skills out of the list I posted in the class section. For this guy I bet some of his stories aren't true, lets take Deception to be able to tell ghost tales. Your eyes need to be quick on a battle field lets go with Perception to be able to spot the unexspeted. Your passive perception is calculated by 10 + your perception score. So it will also make him see things out the corner of his eye easier as well! Lets fill in the rest of this sheet.
There we go! We created a Character!
For more Offical Free Information click here
If you're dedicated the full Player's Handbook has so much more to offter it's worth the buy. Just click here
If you want to learn about being a Dungeon Master instead you can buy the full Dungeon Masters Guid here
If you want to play D&D, but don't know people to play with you can go over to Roll20 and play with cool people online. You can join here
