DnD Resources

• Guides
  • Conditions Guide
    • Grappling
  • Skills Guide
  • Weapons Guide
  • Armor Guide
  • Adventuring Gear Guide
  • Wizard Spells
• Starting Out
  • DnD Essentials
  • Official Blank Character Sheets
  • DnD Basic Rules
  • DanDWiki Rules Reference
  • DnD-Wiki Rules Reference
• Dungeon Master
  • DM Cheat Sheet
  • LootGen
  • Festival Activities
  • Monsters
    • Creature Guide
    • Ghast
    • Young Black Dragon
    • Troll
    • Earth Elemental
    • Withers
    • Ghoul
    • Stirge
    • Ash Zombie
• Other
  • DnD5e WikiDot
  • Fantasy Name Generators
  • Inkarnate
  • Dice Probability Tables

Character Creation

If you kind of know what you're doing, you can use the resources below to walk you through character creation on your own.

Otherwise, it's useful to walk through the process manually with your DM the first time.

1. Character Sheet
   • Use the online Character Builder
   • Or get a blank character sheet
2. Name
   • Generate a name to suit your character
     • (You may want to think through your Race/Class first and then name accordingly.)
     • Fantasy Name Generators
3. Races
   • Choose a Race
     • Races Guide
     • Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human are described in the Basic Rules
     • Dragonborn, Gnome, Half-Elf, and Half-Orc are available in the Player's Handbook.
     • (Consult your DM as needed...)
   • Record your stats/bonuses accordingly
4. Classes
   • Choose a Class
     • Classes Guide
     • Cleric, Fighter, Rogue and Wizard are described in the Basic Rules
     • Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, and Sorcerer, are available in the Player's Handbook.
     • (Consult your DM as needed...)
   • Adjust your stats/bonuses accordingly
   • Mark your Class Proficiency skills
     • Skills Guide
   • Select any spells that you start with
     • The Wikidot list of spells by class is invaluable here
5. Create your ability scores
   • Roll four 6-sided dice, and sum the highest 3 numbers.
   • Repeat until you have 6 scores.
   • Assign then to your ability scores, and add your Racial Bonus
   • Alternate Quickstart: Use the scores 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
6. Physical Appearance
   • Determine your character's Height and Weight, or roll for them as described in the race description
   • Choose your character's Age, Eye/Hair/Skin Color, and other traits as appropriate
7. Alignment
   • Alignment Guide
   • Place your character's personality along two axes:
     • Morality: Good <-> Neutral <-> Evil
     • Order: Lawful <-> Neutral <-> Chaotic
8. Background
   • Background Guide
   • As appropriate for your character design, select a background for your character and include some Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws.
     • These aren't strictly necessary, but help to flush out your character's personality, and bind them to the world.
     • The Basic Rules and Background Guide contain some pre-made suggestions, or consult with your DM as necessary.
   • Traits: Quirks of your character's personality that make them unique. (ie Optimistic, Walks around quoting scripture, etc)
   • Ideals: What does your character strive for in the world? (ie Justice, Relieving suffering, etc)
   • Bonds: Who or what does your character care about in the world? (ie Family, Hometown, Orphans, etc)
   • Flaws: What are your characters weaknesses? (ie Obessive tendencies, Can't resist chocolate, Orc-induced PTSD, etc)
   • Example: Acolyte Background
9. Languages
   • Your character automatically speaks a number of languages determined by their Race/Class/Background
   • Some selections will also give you language choices within a set of options.
   • (Consult your DM as necessary...)
10. Equipment
    • Equipment Guide
    • Weapons Guide
    • Armor Guide
    • Choose your character's starting equipment
      • The Class/Race/Background selections will include some default gold, equipment, and a standard pack
      • You can also buy extra equipment from your starting gold
      • Consult the Basic Rules or your DM as needed.