Creating a D&D Character: The Basics

The first thing you do when preparing for any adventure is to plan and pack. For some of us, the planning and anticipation is almost just as fun as the adventure itself. It may just be that I’m an Enneagram 6 and planning is my jam, but I love anticipating scenarios and making sure I have what I need to handle all the things. I’ve been told I would be an excellent person to be trapped on a deserted island with. But I digress.

Unlike most other games where you can just dive right in, choose a playing piece, and start playing, D&D requires some prep work. Your DM is going to be taking you into a fantasy world with its own geography, people, creatures, monsters, pantheon, and where magic exists. It’s your job to come up with a character in that world that you will role play along with other players and the characters that they create. Always make sure you’re creating a character that will be fun for you to play, so think about the style of play you desire. It also helps quite a bit to ask your DM what kind of campaign they are planning so you don’t create something that is not well-suited.

Do you want to be a clever spell-caster? A bad-ass warrior? A stealthy information gatherer?

You will need some version of the Player’s Handbook (physical or online) or the Basic Rules book to help you make your decisions.

These are the main things you need to think about when creating your character.

RACE:

This is the species of humanoid you are going to play. The basic starting options are Human, Elf, Half-elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Dragonborn, Half-orc, and Tiefling. You may choose a race simply based on the vision of aethetic you have for what kind of character you want to play, or you can take a deeper dive into the pros and cons of each race to see what might work best with the Class you plan to choose.

CLASS:

The class you choose will dictate the majority of your character’s capabilities and the role they play in the party. There are fighting-heavy classes like Barbarians, Fighters, Monks, and Paladins, and magic users like Wizards, Warlocks, Sorcerers, Clarics, and Druids. There are also more supportive classes that can do a little of both like Bards, Rangers, and Rogues. The class you choose will also dictate your Hit Dice which is which type of dice you roll to determine your Hit Points (HP).

BACKGROUND:

The last thing you choose that will play into your characters’s skills and abilities is their background. There is a long list of Background choices in the Player’s Handbook such as Criminal, Entertainer, Hermit, Knight, Noble, Pirate, or Sage. The background you choose will often give you an additional skill or tool proficiencies, possibly an extra language, and dictates some of your starting equipment and the amount of money you have.

ABILITIES:

Once you’e selected all of the above, it’s time to allocate your Ability scores. There are a few different methods to do this, but you should abide by whichever your DM chooses. To keep things simple, you can use the Standard Array method which gives you the following scores – 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. These are then allocated to the six Abilities –

• Strength
• Dexterity
• Constitution
• Intelligence
• Wisdom
• Charisma

Your choices in race and sub-race may give you extra bonuses to your scores, so for example, if you chose a Hill Dwarf, you would get an extra +2 to Constitution, and +1 to Wisdom. Where you allocate the scores depends on the Class you chose because each class needs higher scores in different abilities to do their core functions best. So if you chose a Druid or Cleric, both of which use Wisdom for spell casting, your final scores (with the designated Modifiers) may look like this:

• Strength – 12 (+1 modifier)
• Dexterity – 13 (+1 modifier)
• Constitution – 8 (+2) = 10 (+0 modifier)
• Intelligence – 10 (+0 modifier)
• Wisdom – 14 (+1) = 15 (+2 modifier)
• Charisma – 12 (+1 modifier)

HIT POINTS:

Hit Points (HP) is the statistic for how much damage your character can take. It’s your level of health. At level 1, your HP equals the highest number of your Hit Dice plus your Constitution modifier. After level 1, you roll a Hit Die to see how many additional HP. You add your constitution for each level as well. If you choose a class that will be doing a lot of up-close melee fighting, you’ll need a lot of HP, so Constitution is an Ability where you’ll want to put one of your higher scores (along with Strength or Dexterity).

ARMOR CLASS:

AC is a defensive statistic that dictates how difficult it is for enemies to attack you. You start with a base AC of 10 plus your Dexterity modifier. Some Races offer natural armor that boosts this number even more. And you can get to higher AC levels with armor, shields, and some magical items. Similarly to HP and Constitution, if you want to make your character harder to hit, choose a higher Dexterity score.

INITIATIVE:

The last item that is affected by how you allocate your Ability scores is Initiative which is the order players go in combat. At the beginning of a combat scenario, the DM will ask players to Roll Initiative, and everyone rolls a d20. By default your Initiative modifier is Zero. You then add your Dexterity modifier. Players with high Dex tend to be able to make their move earlier in battles.

Unfortunately, between which Ability score your Class needs the most, Constitution, and Dexterity, you will have to probably make some sacrifices and be strong in one area, but weaker in others. There are opportunities to improve your Ability scores at higher levels.

Once you’ve made your selections and have your Ability Scores and proficiencies, you have all the information you need to fill out your Character Sheet which is your reference for dice roll modifiers, attack options, inventory, and more. Your DM can help you do this, as well as approve what starting inventory you have. There is a lot that goes into the character sheet and I’ll be writing more about all the ins and outs in later blog posts.

And now you’re ready to play!