Each background includes a description of what it is along with the proficiencies and equipment.Īt this point you may run into gaining a skill proficiency that you already have. On occasion I have even forgotten about its existence. This is often the most missed aspect of a character during character creation. This is important because every background actually includes proficiencies and equipment. I was actually shocked when I found this was not found in the PHB guide. As you get some experience in the hobby there are several resources for finding non-standard playable races. I recommend for your first character is to stick to the Player’s Handbook.
I have an extensive knowledge of non-standard content for D&D 5e. I did this for other characteristics of the character later in this guide. Side note, I realize that it is not the best idea to have included a character with a race that is not standard to the game for this section of the article. Once this choice has been made make note of the traits on your sheet, keeping in mind the ability score changes because these will be important later. If your elevator pitch does not immediately give away what race you should pick then start to read through the races that are available to you in the campaign setting. For Blade-Shield I picked an Unearthed Arcana race called Warforged, which is basically D&D robots. This is a fairly simple step, when looking at your elevator pitch it’s possible that you can determine what race you pick from it. Trying to drill down to where character ideas come from is like trying to explain colors to a blind person, you know it exists but its difficult to explain. Social media is a great place to get character ideas as well.
Brainstorming with other players is another way to help come up with this. It can be difficult coming up with something new if you have zero constraints, so figuring out all the creative constraints of the setting can help reduce the possibilities. If you are struggling with creating this elevator pitch I recommend learning more about the setting you will be playing in. This elevator pitch is what you should present to your DM for approval, since you are possibly playing in their setting and they are the ones possibly planning the story. I will be using Blade-Shield as a example for several of the ways to make choices based off of this elevator pitch. It’s simple, to the point, and gives you a place to start creating the rest of the character. The elevator pitch for a recent character I made called “Blade-Shield” was “a robot taken over by nature and tasked with protecting it”. Whenever I start out making a character that I want to invest any extended period of time in, I always try to come up with the elevator pitch of a character idea.
Now if you are not concerned with making an interesting character or you already have a character you want to play feel free to skip this step. If there is one thing that is not covered in the PHB step-by-step guide its discussing the core concept of a character. If you are using this guide to create your first character I do not recommend you get into multiclassing as it increases in complexity and makes character creation just that more complicated. If there is a demand for it I can go more in depth about aspects of the standard character sheets. To keep this article from doubling in length I am going to assume that you, the reader, understand the game and character sheets enough to write down what features you gain from your choices. Use this as a starting point for that conversation. My suggestion is to talk with your DM when going over this guide. None of the steps I present are a replacement for the way your DM does their character creation. I need to start this entire article off right. I however am not everyone, and some individuals still struggle with character creation. For many this information is sufficient, this is the way that I got into creating characters. It’s not that I believe that this knowledge isn’t important, just that there is a step-by-step guide in the Player’s Handbook (PHB pg. As a new player, this task can be daunting without any knowledge of what is required.Īt first mention I had passed off the idea of creating this guide. Some individuals absolutely love character creation, others dread the work that is involved in it. One topic that always comes up at some point in a players career is character creation.