BUILDING CHARACTER v.0.1

A set of guides and charts to help you generate a character for 5e D&D INTRODUCTION

As this is meant to be a quick primer, so I’ll be brief. This is a quick primer for new players, and a set of randomization charts for old players. They will help you build half-decent characters to play as in the 5 th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. New players may find the summary of character creation and the elaborations on each step useful, and the charts for rolling characters should be helpful and fun for players of any experience level.

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As this is a prototype version I will be making changes to the document. Should yours be labeled “0.X” you do in fact have a prototype version. If it is past December of 2014 you are currently reading an incomplete and less useful or interesting version of Building Character. As of January 2015 look for one labeled “v.1” that is to be the final version.

As this is a prototype edition, I am open to suggestions. SUMMARY There are really only 6 steps to making a character:

STEP 1: ATTRIBUTES -most DMs will already have a method for doing this, so talk to your DM about it.

STEP 2: RACE The Race is one of the two most important decisions in making a character. Considered not only their attributes and special traits, but also their lore (the stories behind the race), and how cool you think they look in equal measure.

STEP 3: CLASS -your character’s Class determines what kinds of abilities they start with, and how they develop. Like race the lore and ascetics of the class are equally as important as what the class’s special abilities are. At this point your character’s Attribute Scores and basic abilities will be sorted out, so take them into consideration: what are they already good at? Among the options there in, which ones sound the coolest? It’s not necessary to make this selection based wholly on a Class’s Primary Attributes and functions, but at the same time it’s usually a good idea to make a character that can carry their own weight, especially when starting off.

STEP 4: BACKGROUND & HISTORY -based on where your character is from and what they do you should be able to surmise some kind of history for them, one that leads up to the beginning of the DM’s story. Backgrounds are mechanical summarizations of that history. An Urchin, for example, could be an orphan street rat, the son of a pocket picker, or the daughter of an assassin who was left on the streets by her parents to toughen her up. The Soldier does not necessarily need to be currently deployed, and the Noble may very well be a boastful partygoer or a reclusive bookworm. They’re guidelines, like most RPG rules.

STEP 5: PROFICENCIES -less a step and more something that needs some focused attention. In 5 th edition all character have a common Proficiency Bonus. This bonus goes up with your total Character Level, rather than that of any of your classes. There are 5 kinds: Skill, Tool, Save, Weapon, Armor, and Language proficiencies. They’re all pretty self-explanatory, and well explained in the PHB. Your Class and Background will have various proficiencies associated with them. What they mean is, “any time you’re rolling to use these times/skills, add your proficiency bonus to the dice roll.” Ergo it’s very important to consider what you want your character to be better at, and be sure to record all of the granted proficiencies, as you do not get many more after level 1.

STEP 6: STUFF - characters begin play owning things. All the Classes and Backgrounds will have a list of item options associated with them that you can chose from. It is recommended that new players do this, as opposed to spending coinage on individual items as detailed in chapter 5 of the PHB. STEPS 1 & 2 RACE & ATTRIBUTES

The first step is to generate your Attributes. Most DMs will already have a preferred method for this, and there is a page about it in the back of this document. Just do it however your DM instructs.

Once you’ve got your Attributes laid out it’s time to determine your character’s Race. You can either select a race based on their modifiers (maximizing your existing strengths, or strengthening your existing weaknesses), or just on how fun they look to

play. If you don’t have any idea what you want to play, ask your GM what about the races in their setting, and troll on the most appropriate of the following four charts. If they tell you it’s ‘low fantasy’ or that relative population averages and geographical distribution matter, roll the ‘Relative,’ dice. If they tell you anything goes, roll the ‘Anything Goes” dice.

Anything goes – 1d6 “Relative” – 1d12 1d6 1d12 BASE RACES ONLY 1 1-2 Mountain Dwarf 2 3-4 Hill Dwarf 3 7-8 Human 4 5-6 Halfling 5 9-10 Wood Elf 6 11-12 High Elf

Anything Goes – 1d12 “Relative” – 1d20 1d12 1d20 ALL RACES 1 1-2 Dragonborn 2 3 Dwarf, Hill 3 4 Dwarf, Mountain 4 5 Elf, High 5 6 Elf, Wood 6 7 Gnome 7 8-9 Halfling, Lightfoot 8 10 Halfling, Stout 9 11 Half-Elf 10 12 Half-Orc 11 13-18 Human 12 19-20 Tiefling

STEP 3 CLASSES

After determining your attribute scores and applying your character’s race’s modifiers to their attribute’s scores, it’s time to decide what class of character they’re going to be. The best thing to do is read over the little introductions at the beginning of each class’s section, and see which one sounds like the most fun to you and/or which one meshes with any concepts you’ve already got rolling around in your head for your character at this point. If you’re new to D&D or pen n’ paper RPGs in general, keep in mind that martial classes (fighters/barbarians/etc) are generally the less complicated classes, while the magic classes (wizards/clerics/etc). If you don’t have any idea as to what kind of class you want to play as, roll on whichever of the following charts coincides with your character’s highest attribute score. If it’s not more than one or two points lower you could even roll for their second-highest attribute, for a little variety; maybe d both and pick the one of the two that sounds the most interesting.

STENGTH 1d8 CLASS 1-3 Barbarian 4-6 Fighter 7-8 Paladin DEXTERITY 1d8 CLASS 1-2 Fighter 3-4 Monk 5-6 Ranger 7-8 Rogue INTELLIGENCE 1d6 CLASS 1-2 Rogue 4-6 Wizard WISDOM 1d12 CLASS 1-4 Cleric 5-8 Druid 9-10 Monk 11-12 Ranger CHARISMA 1d8 CLASS 1-2 Bard 3-4 Paladin 5-6 Sorcerer 7-8 Warlock STEP 4 BACKGROUNDS

Backgrounds are mechanical summaries of the kind of upbringing your character has. If you’ve any inclinations as to your character’s past simply select the most appropriate Background. If you do not, roll for one under your Character’s Class and build a story based on that and their character traits.

1d6 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barbarian Criminal Folk Hero Guild Artisan Hermit Outlander Soldier Bard Charlatan Criminal Entertainer Folk Hero Sage Urchin Cleric Acolyte Folk Hero Guild Artisan Hermit Noble Sage Druid Acolyte Folk hero Hermit Outlander Sage Urchin Fighter Criminal Folk hero Noble Outlander Sailor Soldier Monk Acolyte Folk hero Hermit Noble Outlander Sage Paladin Acolyte Folk hero Hermit Noble Sage Soldier Ranger Folk hero Hermit Outlander Sage Soldier Urchin Rogue Charlatan Criminal Entertainer Outlander Sailor Urchin Sorcerer Charlatan Criminal Folk Hero Hermit Outlander Sage Warlock Acolyte Criminal Hermit Outlander Sage Urchin Wizard Sage Acolyte Guild Artisan Hermit Outlander Sage

All the backgrounds have various examples of what a Trait, Flaw, Ideal, and Bond are. These should help you build a good character concept. However, it’s honestly better to do it the other way around: if you’ve already got a good character idea disregard the PHB’s suggestions and fill in what would be appropriate for the character. The examples are just there to help with writer’s block. FINAL TOUCHES

SKILLS All Classes have starting Skills. It will have a list for you to chose a set amount from for your character to have as Proficient Skills. You may earn more skill proficiencies later through feats, or the grace of your DM, but do not bank on it. To this end the best method is to just select the skills that best coincide with what you want your character to be good at doing. Consider what you imagine they did the most before the story began, and about what you see them doing a lot of once the story has started. Those are the Skills to make them Proficient in.

EQUIPMENT The PHB comes with two options for starting equipment, those being to chose from the starting options in the class’s description, or buy items free-form with income in the back. Both are valid options, and the first is highly recommended, especially for new players. Another thing to note is that a character’s capacity/lfit/drag-shove is ludicrously high in 5 th edition. See the last page, under the section on Attributes, for alternative calculations regarding a character’s physical strength.

HEIGHT & WEIGHT The method in the PHB considers little except for race they are. It is a valid method, but consider the following for determining the size and shape of your character: HEIGHT Base Height + Strength Score + 1d4 in inches.

WEIGHT Base Weight + Strength Score + Constitution Score – ½ Dexterity Score + 2d6 lbs.

RACE: DragB Dwarf Elf Gnome H-Elf H-Orc Halfling Human Tiefling Base Height 58in 38n 52in 28in 55in 58in 33in 54in 53in Base 140lbs 120lbs 100lbs 40lbs 110lbs 140lbs 45lbs 130lbs 125lbs Weight Example: Steve is a Human. He has a STR of 14, a CON of 12, and a DEX of 13. Ego, Steve’s a fairly big guy. Steve’s height is 71in (14+54+1d4), or 5’11”, and he weights 149lbs (110+14+12-13+2d6).

OTHER PHYSICAL TRAITS On the following page you will find a number of tables for randomizing your character’s appearance and quirks. Feel free to fill in any desire traits instead of rolling for them; just use the charts for things you can’t decide on.

HAIR COLOR 1d8 1-2 3-4 5-6 7 8 Drag.B. Black Dark Brown Grey Blonde White Dwarf Brown Black Ginger Blonde Grey Elf Blonde Pale Blonde Ginger Light Brown White Gnome Light Brown Ginger Blonde Dark Brown Grey Halfling Brown Light Brown Dark Brown Ginger Blonde H-Elf Brown Blonde Black Ginger White H-Orc Black Black Brown Light Brown Grey Human Brown Blonde Ginger Black Grey Tiefling Black Ginger Blonde Brown White

SKIN COLOR 1d8 1-2 3-4 5-6 7 8 Drag.B. Rusty Copper Bronze Hereditary Base Near-Black Dwarf Pale Ginger Fair Tanned Brown Elf Pale Fair Ginger Fair Ginger Gnome Fair Ginger Tanned Pale Tan Halfling Pale Fair Ginger Tan Pale H-Elf Fair Ginger Tan Pale Brown H-Orc Grey-Green Leather-Brown Forest Green Grey Pale-Leather Human Fair Ginger Brown Pale Dark Brown Tiefling Red Purple Orange Blue Green

EYE COLOR 1d8 1-2 3-4 5-6 7 8 Drag.B. Yellow Green Red Brown Blue Dwarf Brown Blue Light-Brown Green Yellow Elf Blue Green Yellow Brown Grey Gnome Blue Brown Green Yellow Light Blue Halfling Brown Light-Blue Light-Brown Yellow Green H-Elf Blue Brown Green Yellow Grey H-Orc Black Brown Yellow Blue Light-Blue Human Brown Blue Light-Blue Green Yellow Tiefling Purple Green Red Blue Orange

HORNS 1d8 1-2 3-4 5-6 7 8 Tiefling Short Pair Curved Back Curved Wide Ram-like Strait, Up

ATTRIBUTES When it comes to generating attributes, most experienced DMs will already have settled on a personal preference. However, if you are the DM and you have not, consider the following methods:

1. Player Assigned Stats Rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest number generates slightly more consistent (and more powerful) Scores than the original 3d6. however, it is still quite random and technically ‘unfair.’ If you are going to have them ‘roll strait,’ i.e. roll the die for each attribute’s score and giving it the result, rather than rolling them all up and assigning them afterwards, then there are better methods. If you are going to allow players to assign their attribute scores, give the players a set of predetermined scores to assign, rather than having them roll up their sets or use an unnecessary point-buy system. For relatively rounded PCs the system-suggested set of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 is actually a good set of Scores.

2. By The Dice If the Scores are to be fully randomized; starting at STR and rolling down the list in order rather than rolling out 6 scores and assigning them as desired, then consider using a static modifier in place of a dice, instead of the 3d6 or 4d6&drop methods. As shown on the chart, a static modifier provides more concise results and allows the DM to decide what kid of range he wants the PCs to start in. The author recommends 2d6+5, based only on personal experience and power-level preference.

PHYSICAL STRENGTH

The rules in the PHB for determining how much weight your character is capable of manipulating are insane. According to it a base-line 10 STR ‘average human,’ can lift 300lbs and stroll about causally with 150lbs on their backs. . For those who do not know: that’s ridiculous. However, the other end of this is that a static variable to determine lifting strength often leaves those with the 16s and 20s well under the strength that should represent. So, instead of explaining and writing out a formula a simple chart has been provided for reference.

STR SCORE Light Load Capacity Lift Drag/Shove -6 10 20 30 90 7 15 30 55 150 8 20 40 80 240 9 25 50 110 330 10 35 70 130 390 11 40 80 165 480 12 45 85 200 600 13 50 100 235 690 14 55 120 260 780 15 60 140 305 900 16 65 165 345 1020 17 70 180 385 1140 18 75 205 430 1290 19 80 230 470 1410 20+ 90 245 510 1530 Light Load - excess of this induces -5ft speed, and a disadvantage on Athletics, Stealth, and Attack Rolls. Capacity – carrying more than this induces -15ft speed and you cannot attempt most Athletics Checks Lift – The most your character can get up n’ around shoulder/head height Drag/Shove – How much your character can ‘drag’ or ‘shove’ across the ground on their own.

TRULY RANDOM C H A R A C T E R S

ROLL: Race CLASS BACKGROUND 3d12 1 Dragonborn Barbarian Acolyte 2 Dwarf, Hill Bard Charlatan 3 Dwarf, Mountain Cleric Criminal 4 Elf, High Druid Folk Hero 5 Elf, Wood Fighter Guild Artisan 6 Gnome Monk Hermit 7 Halfling, Lightfoot Paladin Noble 8 Halfling, Stout Ranger Outlander 9 Half-Elf Rogue Sage 10 Half-Orc Sorcerer Sailor 11 Human Warlock Soldier 12 Tiefling Wizard Urchin

“HEAVEN OR HELL, LETS ROCK!” -famous last words.