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. Many Barbarian abilities make you hit hard, but make also
you easier to hit.
• Managing a Barbarian’s Rage is sometimes tricky. Knowing when and how
to use it 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.
• 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. Some
specialties give you heavy armor and advanced weapons, others might help
you melt the enemy with spells.
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
(see below).
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 can develop into a solid melee
combatant as well.
• Specialize in personal combat 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 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 • Merchant
• Artisan • Noble
• Charlatan • Outlander
• Criminal • Pirate
• Entertainer • Sage
• Folk Hero • Sailor
(Try to choose one that gives an interesting
• Gladiator • Soldier story.
• Hermit • Spy
A wizard that was once a sailor is a lot more
• Knight • Street Urchin 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
Score Cost Score Cost
8-9 -1
8 0 12 4
10-11 0
9 1 13 5 12-13 +1
10 2 14 7 14-15 +2
11 3 15 9 16-17 +3
18-19 +4
20 +5
RACES Choose a couple
races that interest
• Dwarf - +2 Con, +1 Wis/+2 Str you and have
statistics that you
• Elf - +2 Dex, +1 Int/+1 Cha/+1 Wis need. We’ll get to the
• Halfling - +2 Dex, +1 Cha/+1 Con details later, but keep
track of them for now.
• Human - +1 ALL
• Dragonborn - +2 Str, +1 Cha (To make this fit on
• Gnome - +2 Int, +1 Dex/+1 Con the page, I had to
replace “strength
• Half-elf - +2 Cha, +1 any two score” with str. All
• Half-orc - +2 Str, +1 Con these numbers refer
to your total ability
• Tiefling - +1 Int, +2 Cha
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 you’re 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
• Everyone’s proficiency bonus starts as a +2.
• Consult your race, class, and background and add any proficiencies you
have. You’ll 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, you’ll have to make some choices.
• I’ll allow you to trade out items for things you might want instead of roughly
the same value (p145 – armor; p149 – weapons, p150 – general stuff).
• We’re 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 an item 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. I’ll 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 you’re a merchant looking for contacts, a guard hired for a caravan,
or you’re meeting up with an old friend. Be creative.

• While they’re doing this - spellcasters, I will give you a brief overview of
spellcasting, and you can start selecting your spells.