MAKING A D&D CHARACTER

yes, I made a fucking powerpoint to make this go smoothly. Remember

how long it took in Afghanistan?

BARBARIAN

BARBARIAN

Beefy and strong. Smash things and ignore the idiots who try to hurt you.
They can hit you, but it wont hurt that much.

High risk/reward. Going into a Rage makes you hit hard, but makes you
easier to hit. Knowing when and how determines a good barbarian.

Specialize into Berserker (with much higher risk and much higher reward) or
get a spirit animal and channel the powers of a wolf, bear, or eagle.

BARD

BARD

Charismatic, persuasive, inspiring. Supportive character that, in combat, is a

jack of all trades and a master of none. Can cast spells, heal, fight, and solve
problems, but not anywhere near as well as a well as a wizard, cleric, fighter,
or rogue.

Can specialize into knowledge and spellcasting, or weapons and fighting.

CLERIC

CLERIC

Best supporter in the game. Healing, empowering, and channeling spiritual

might. Can choose a patron diety, but is not necessary.

Hard to kill, and is not ineffective wading through combat or hanging back
and blasting with spells. Can wear heavy armor.

Specialize in one of many domains: Knowledge, Light, Life, Nature, Tempest

Trickery, War. Everything from flying and channeling lightning through a
warhammer to making duplicates of yourself to deceive the enemy.

DRUID

DRUID

Channel the power of nature to enliven, control, or destroy.

Can shapeshift into any animal they have ever seen (limited at first, but
grows stronger over time)

Specialize into spellcasting by drawing power from a particular landscape, or

become a master of many forms and change into a giant bear just because
you need to get something off the top shelf.

FIGHTER

FIGHTER

It's in the name. Master of combat in all its forms. Very, very effective
anywhere near combat - no matter whether it's with a giant axe, whip,
crossbow, or a tea cup.
Very adaptable to play style over time. Easy to specialize into any of a
number of fighting styles.
Specialize into a champion (simple but effective for those that don't want
complexity), battle master (controlling the battle field with a number of
specialized maneuvers), or eldritch knight (mix swords and magic to fuck
things up).

MONK

MONK

Agile, hits quickly and often, hard to hit back. Fast, channels inner ki to
accomplish a variety of inhuman feats.
Hits harder with fists than most others can hit with a sword.
Very resistant to spells.
Specialize into a monk of the open hand (battlefield control), a shadow monk
(sneaky, teleports from shadow to shadow), or a monk of the four elements
(a bender like aang).

PALADIN

PALADIN

Warrior with a cause - one held so strongly that the gods have decided to
help. Hard to hurt, can heal self or others, and can smite enemies to
devastating effect.

Strong, wears heavy armor, and can support his allies when necessary. Very
resistant to spells.
Specialize into protection and healing, guarding and consecration, or
absolutely destroying anything that stands between your and your goal.
Specialization requires taking one of many codes and adhering to it, ranging
from the classic codes of chivalry to the "no mercy" code of the punisher.

RANGER

RANGER

A hunter - master of tracking, archery, and forestry.

One of the best archers in the game, but has no problem fighting up close
when needed.

Specialize in archery or become a beastmaster and work with your

companion to overwhelm enemies.

ROGUE

ROGUE

Sneaky, acrobatic, deceptive. Does massive damage through clever

backstabs at opportune times.
Weave through combat, using tactical skills to deny the enemy the chance to
attack. Easy to take down if if you manage to get to him, but a well played
rogue is often the last man standing.
Great problem solver, with a high number of skills used to do everything from
pickpocket to disarming complicated traps to lying perfectly.
Specialize into a thief, an assassin, or an arcane trickster.

SORCERER

SORCERER

A sorcerer's magic comes from their inner power. This allows them to mold
spells to alter their effects, though they don't know as many spells to begin
with.

Best at adjusting spells to changing tactical concerns.

Their specialty is determined by where they got their powers from. Dragon's
blood and being born during a wild magic surge give different sets of extra
powers.

WARLOCK

WARLOCK

Make morally questionable deals with powerful entities to gain a measure of

their power.
Knows a very, very small number of spells that they can use over and over.
Acts as something of a "magic machine gun," firing repeatedly with
devastating effect.
Specializes based upon who they made their deal with and for what.
Demons, Fey, and Eldritch horrors like Cthulu each give any of a number of
powers.

WIZARD

WIZARD

A wizard's power comes from knowledge.

Has to learn spells through finding scrolls or reading books. Ends up with a
number of usable spells easily 10-30x the size of other arcane spellcasters,
though is only able to use a portion of them at a time (still more at any given
time then any other arcane caster). A wizard that chose the right spells for
the day is a force to be feared.

Due to his large number of spells, can solve virtually any problem through
the application of magic, if they're ready for it (and sometimes if they're not).
Best utility caster in the game, but still strong in combat when needed.

Specializes in Protection, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Blasting,

Illusion, Necromancy, or Alchemy.

BACKGROUNDS

Acolyte
Artisan

Merchant

Noble

Charlatan
Criminal
Entertainer
Folk Hero
Gladiator
Hermit

Outlander

Pirate

Sage

Sailor

Soldier

Spy

Knight

Street Urchin

(Try to choose one that gives an interesting

story.
A wizard that was once a sailor is a lot more
fun to play than a wizard that was once a
sage.)

STATS

Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma

For the rest of the time we play, if I refer to your strength verbally or you see STR
written, it means your STRENGTH MODIFIER. I will explicitly say strength score or you
will see something similar in print if I am referring to the total number. This is rare.

You have 27 Points total to spend. Get to it.

Modifiers

Ability Score Point Cost

Score

Modifier

8-9

-1

10-11

12-13

+1

Score

Cost

Score

Cost

12

13

10

14

14-15

+2

11

15

16-17

+3

18-19

+4

20

+5

RACES

Dwarf - +2 Con, +1 Wis/+2 Str

Elf - +2 Dex, +1 Int/+1 Cha/+1 Wis
Halfling - +2 Dex, +1 Cha/+1 Con
Human - +1 ALL
Dragonborn - +2 Str, +1 Cha
Gnome - +2 Int, +1 Dex/+1 Con
Half-elf - +2 Cha, +1 any two
Half-orc - +2 Str, +1 Con
Tiefling - +1 Int, +2 Cha

Choose a couple
races that interest
you and have
statistics that you
need. Well get to the
details later, but keep
track of them for now.
(To make this fit on
the page, I had to
replace strength
score with str. All
these numbers refer
to your total ability
scores.)

FEATURES AND TRAITS

Consult your race, class, and background for the benefits and perks that
they give you.

Give enough detail in the description so that you remember how the ability
works.

While youre doing this, go ahead and fill in your hit points for first level as
well. The number is listed in your class description, and is usually equal to
something like 8 + CON

SKILLS

Everyones proficiency bonus starts as a +2.

Consult your race, class, and background and add any proficiencies you
have. Youll have to make some choices. Fill in the dots when you have a
proficiency.

Your skill at a task is equal to your training + your natural ability. This
translates into your proficiency bonus + your ability modifier. Acrobatics, for
example, is Proficiency+DEX. Add these up now.

Saving throws are calculated the same way.

EQUIPMENT

Look at your class and background to determine what you get by default.
Again, youll have to make some choices.
Ill allow you to trade out items for things you might want instead of roughly
the same value (p145 armor; p149 weapons, p150 general stuff).
Were using a simple method of judging weight. You can carry a weight of
[your strength score] stones worth of weight. Going above this limit halves
your movement speed. You cannot go higher than twice this limit.
Loosely speaking, one stone is equal to the weight something would have
to be for you to notice that someone put it in your backpack without you
seeing them. It can also be defined as awkward enough to require two
hands to carry it easily like a large beach ball.
A set of full plate armor weighs 3, a bucket weighs 1, and an empty pouch
weighs 0. One dagger weighs 0, but five daggers weigh 1. This is a very
loose rule, and one that we will apply based upon feel.

FILLING IN

You now have enough information to fill in all the blocks on your character
sheet. Ill walk you through them one-by-one. It wont take long.

PERSONALITY TRAITS, IDEALS, BONDS, AND

FLAWS

Examples are listed alongside your background, but you need not use them.

Use this time to think about your back story. Come up with a reason that you
are no longer doing the job listed in your background, and are instead
freelancing as an adventurer. Build your story around these traits.

Try to end your story in such a way that you are heading towards a small
town in the middle of a common trade route. The town is called Greenest.
Maybe youre a merchant looking for contacts, a guard hired for a caravan,
or youre meeting up with an old friend. Be creative.

While theyre doing this, spellcasters, I will give you a brief overview of
spellcasting, and you can start selecting your spells.