Tips/Help With Creating First D&D Character

[BladeTyler_Reborn]

Hello, I've been roleplaying for over 10 years(though I've never actually played D&D) and I am looking for some more experienced players to help me create a new character. I'm asking because I am going to be joining a club at my college that mostly plays D&D in about two weeks and I wanted to have some people who play the game a bit to help me so I know some more about the whole situation. I kinda know what class and what race I want, I'm mostly curious about how the rest of the profile is made. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. 3nodding  

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

Question; Do you know the edition? I have to ask as there are major differences between; 3rd, 4th, 5th, Ad&d and the original.

And do you have access to a site like Myth Weavers(I can't think of their technical name)? They do alot of the calulations for you, minus the die rolling and fun having parts.

May your die bless you with many crits. xd  

[BladeTyler_Reborn]

SCN_ Grey_fox

I'm not sure though I think it's the 5th Edition. I believe it is the most recent edition  

[Rain Yupa]

It's probably fifth 3nodding

I think the next question to broach: Do they want you to make a character before game, or do they want you to do it at your first session? Some DM's like to see what character is made and what they can do; others like the surprise.

Part of making a character is getting your ability scores. There are six abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. There are different ways to generate these stats, but generally rolling or a point-buy system are used. If your DM wants you roll stats, they may want you to do it in front of them. Typically, an average stat is around 12 (out of a range of 3-1 cool , so when you show up with a bunch of 17s and 18s, they may doubt you rolled those, and you wouldn't be able to keep them.

Slightly off-topic: What is your tabletop rpg experience? What systems/games have you played? It might help us guide you if we have a basis to compare certain game mechanics to other games if you need it smile  

[XVIIChronos]

Hey! If your still willing to assist with character building, I would appreciate it immensely. I have a players handbook.. but having someone experienced to help me build my character would help alot. I want it to be a character I can use for all my d&d roleplaying.  

[Rain Yupa]

XVIIChronos

Hey! If your still willing to assist with character building, I would appreciate it immensely. I have a players handbook.. but having someone experienced to help me build my character would help alot. I want it to be a character I can use for all my d&d roleplaying.

Hello! Same question as earlier in the thread: Do you know what edition you're building for?  

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

K.I.S method then... Hoping the book looks like this.


You could just read pages 13 though 18. My keyboard is messing up, but I will try so here we go...

I normally start by asking what does the group need, other people go with what they want, or what sound cool. Being this a training character.
We will make Kyne, a 1st level human fighter.

Quote:

Kyne is a simple man with simple needs. He previously worked as a town guard in the village Twinstone, where he raised six children with his loving wife, Cara.

Races start on pg. 18 with the Dwarf and end with the Tiefling on pg.42. Each have their own flavor, and give cool abilities. Highly suggest going through and reading them all. Kyne is a human, we want the section of their racial bios titled ¨Human Traits¨ which tells us all about humans stats. Ignore the part about Variant human Traits, that is another race all together.

Classes start on pg. 46 with the Barbarian and end on 121 with the Wizard. The simplest to play are Barbarian, Fighter, and Rogue. The other classes vary greatly with , with these three your only need to worry about hitting the enemy in combat, and evade getting hit. The other classes have to keep track of Spell slots, or other things of annoyance to keep track of. That said, Kyne is a Fighter.

We got our concept down, now to the meat and bones of Kyne.... For stats we go to page 13. For the sake of argument we will use the standard array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10,8. In our mind's eye we see Kyne as a strong and tough man, so we put our two strongest stats in Strength and Constitution. He isn't the brightest candle in the room, but is studied in the art of heavy armor, so Dexterity and Intelligence are low scores, we will put our two lowest stats in those. Leaving... Wisdom and Charisma for the two mids. Don't forget your human, and humans get an increase by 1 to all stats. So Kyne would look like

Str: 16
Dex: 11
Con: 15
Int: 9
Wis: 14
Chr: 13

Now Kyne is a fighter, and we turn the page find Fighters(pg. 71), and look Class Features. Here we see, Starting at level 1, Kyne has 10 plus Con mod worth of HP. He also gets Proficiency with all Armors and shields, simple and martial weapons, but doesn't get any tools... cool sauce. Saving throws to Strength and Con, not bad...

If we turn the page we see he can learn two skills from a list. We are going to pick Perception and Insight to see the bad guys and tell when they are lying.

We also get a free equipment. awesome!
Chain mail, don't mind if I do... Martial weapon, of my choosing and a Shield, yes please... We suck at Dexterity so we will just take the two handaxes. And a pack... Explorers. The equipment section is chapter 5, pg. 143 and it has all the individual stats for the weapons....

We then move on to the class abilites, for which you get a healing move(Second Wind) and get to choose a Fighting style. We are going with, Dueling because we have a few one handed weapons, and shields don't affect it's style. {If you play on Gaia, I would suggest taking Two weapon fighting... trust me}

Now on to backstory part... the emperor's clothing of our naked guardsman. Chapter 4, these are hooks for the DM, something to help him and you define your character, more than just a human fighter. For it's trouble, you get free skills and tool proficiencies, and equipment. Given he is a guard, Soldier is a simple fit. And such we add the proficiencies of Athletics and Intimidation to his skills, and Vehicles(land) and a set of gambling thing of your choice[dice, cards, anything you can think of to gamble with] to your Tool Proficiency section. Also, add all the things under Equipment, to your equipment(MORE FREE STUFF!!). Finally, make note of the Background Feature. And decide two personality traits, one ideal, one bond, one flaw. Those listed under your chosen background are only examples, you can create some or choose from other backgrounds if you want.

Lastly, breath deeply, cause you are done. The rest is up to you, as to blend what you just decided for your character and write an actual backstory. Name, gender, Which god does he favor, how tall... end the end the more you put into the character the more he will be remembered, and the more fun you will have with him...

Oh and our example Kyne would look like this, if you did nothing else than what we covered here.
https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1705241  

[XVIIChronos]

Rain Yupa

XVIIChronos

Hey! If your still willing to assist with character building, I would appreciate it immensely. I have a players handbook.. but having someone experienced to help me build my character would help alot. I want it to be a character I can use for all my d&d roleplaying.

Hello! Same question as earlier in the thread: Do you know what edition you're building for?

My players handbook says its 4th edition?...  

[PupSage]

XVIIChronos

Rain Yupa

XVIIChronos

Hey! If your still willing to assist with character building, I would appreciate it immensely. I have a players handbook.. but having someone experienced to help me build my character would help alot. I want it to be a character I can use for all my d&d roleplaying.

Hello! Same question as earlier in the thread: Do you know what edition you're building for?

My players handbook says its 4th edition?...

4th edition, and really every edition, but 4th especially, is about party composition. There isn't really a "One character you can use for all D&D games," rather you usually build a character to kit the world of the game you are joining and to compliment the team you are joining.

4th Edition focuses around 4 roles:
Defenders - Big pools of HP and high defense meant for taking attacks.
Strikers - High damage output
Controllers - Move allies and enemies into the perfect positions for big combos
Leaders - Buff and heal the party

Each of those roles has several classes that get their powers from different sources.
Martial - Pure physical ability and training
Primal - The power of the Earth and Feywyld.
Psionic - Psychic powers
Arcane - Magic powers
Divine - God given power

Those two will narrow it down to a class or two and you will have to pick a race (usually one that compliments the stats needed by your class.

4th edition is the easiest to learn, as from there, everything is just picking which powers you want. Every campaign is a different level and has different requirements, so you will never have a one size fits all character, but you could do a level 1 base for each role and level it appropriately when you join a campaign.

Kowasauni has a recruitment thread for a 4e campaign right now and its at level 7. We have need of a striker if that interest you.  

[XVIIChronos]

PupSage

XVIIChronos

Rain Yupa

XVIIChronos

Hey! If your still willing to assist with character building, I would appreciate it immensely. I have a players handbook.. but having someone experienced to help me build my character would help alot. I want it to be a character I can use for all my d&d roleplaying.

Hello! Same question as earlier in the thread: Do you know what edition you're building for?

My players handbook says its 4th edition?...

4th edition, and really every edition, but 4th especially, is about party composition. There isn't really a "One character you can use for all D&D games," rather you usually build a character to kit the world of the game you are joining and to compliment the team you are joining.

4th Edition focuses around 4 roles:
Defenders - Big pools of HP and high defense meant for taking attacks.
Strikers - High damage output
Controllers - Move allies and enemies into the perfect positions for big combos
Leaders - Buff and heal the party

Each of those roles has several classes that get their powers from different sources.
Martial - Pure physical ability and training
Primal - The power of the Earth and Feywyld.
Psionic - Psychic powers
Arcane - Magic powers
Divine - God given power

Those two will narrow it down to a class or two and you will have to pick a race (usually one that compliments the stats needed by your class.

4th edition is the easiest to learn, as from there, everything is just picking which powers you want. Every campaign is a different level and has different requirements, so you will never have a one size fits all character, but you could do a level 1 base for each role and level it appropriately when you join a campaign.

Kowasauni has a recruitment thread for a 4e campaign right now and its at level 7. We have need of a striker if that interest you.

I would love to give it a try.. but there is the bit about me being fresh off the boat.. Striker is Ranger, rogue or warlock? I would very much like to join in..  

[PupSage]

XVIIChronos

PupSage

XVIIChronos

Rain Yupa

XVIIChronos

Hey! If your still willing to assist with character building, I would appreciate it immensely. I have a players handbook.. but having someone experienced to help me build my character would help alot. I want it to be a character I can use for all my d&d roleplaying.

Hello! Same question as earlier in the thread: Do you know what edition you're building for?

My players handbook says its 4th edition?...

4th edition, and really every edition, but 4th especially, is about party composition. There isn't really a "One character you can use for all D&D games," rather you usually build a character to kit the world of the game you are joining and to compliment the team you are joining.

4th Edition focuses around 4 roles:
Defenders - Big pools of HP and high defense meant for taking attacks.
Strikers - High damage output
Controllers - Move allies and enemies into the perfect positions for big combos
Leaders - Buff and heal the party

Each of those roles has several classes that get their powers from different sources.
Martial - Pure physical ability and training
Primal - The power of the Earth and Feywyld.
Psionic - Psychic powers
Arcane - Magic powers
Divine - God given power

Those two will narrow it down to a class or two and you will have to pick a race (usually one that compliments the stats needed by your class.

4th edition is the easiest to learn, as from there, everything is just picking which powers you want. Every campaign is a different level and has different requirements, so you will never have a one size fits all character, but you could do a level 1 base for each role and level it appropriately when you join a campaign.

Kowasauni has a recruitment thread for a 4e campaign right now and its at level 7. We have need of a striker if that interest you.

I would love to give it a try.. but there is the bit about me being fresh off the boat.. Striker is Ranger, rogue or warlock? I would very much like to join in..

Ranger
Rogue
Warlock
Avenger
Assassin
Monk

Technically Barbarian and Sorcerer too, but we have those currently.  

[XVIIChronos]

PupSage

Ranger
Rogue
Warlock
Avenger
Assassin
Monk

Technically Barbarian and Sorcerer too, but we have those currently.

I like Monk, but what would be a good fit for the current dungeon?  

[PupSage]

XVIIChronos

PupSage

Ranger
Rogue
Warlock
Avenger
Assassin
Monk

Technically Barbarian and Sorcerer too, but we have those currently.

I like Monk, but what would be a good fit for the current dungeon?

Hit me up on Discord "Remmington Baxworth'ii#4347" and we can talk through character creation.