Making an Awesome D&D Character

One of the biggest concerns I had when I was starting to get into role-playing games (RPGs) was looking like I didn’t know how to play. In scenarios where I was the newest entrant, I didn’t want to feel like I was slowing down the game to the annoyance of my group. While I can attest that was the furthest thing from truth and most groups are willing to help new players, I wanted to create a resource that would allow people to make characters you can be proud of when going into a gaming group.

In the next week, I will be publishing ways that you can elevate your role-playing game character creation from zero to hero.

To start exploring, click the link below or use our handy table to find the information you’re looking for.

Table of Contents

• • Step 0: Collect Information
  • Step 1: Classes
  • Step 2: Races
  • Step 3: Backgrounds and Backstory
  • Step 4: Ability Score Generation
  • Step 5: Skills and Proficiencies
  • Step 6: Spellcasting

 

Reference Material:

• Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheet Helper

Making an Awesome D&D Character: Step 5

Table of Contents

• Step 0: Collect Information
• Step 1: Classes
• Step 2: Races
• Step 3: Backgrounds and Backstory
• Step 4: Ability Score Generation
• Step 5: Skills and Proficiencies
• Step 6: Spellcasting

Skills & Proficiencies

Based on the total number of levels you have accumulated, your character gets more proficient with the skills and abilities they have started out with. This starts out as a +2 bonus to skills you are proficient with and goes up in tiers as you level with the highest being +6 at level 17. You can still use skills you are not proficient with though, but they will not be as powerful later in the game.

In addition to your proficiency, your skill modifier also has the associated ability modifier added with it. To determine your ability score modifier, take your score, subtract 10 and then divide by half rounding down. Alternatively, you can use this handy-dandy chart.

Ability Scores and Modifiers

Score	Modifier
1	−5
2–3	−4
4–5	−3
6–7	−2
8–9	−1
10–11	+0
12–13	+1
14–15	+2
16–17	+3
18–19	+4
20–21	+5
22–23	+6
24–25	+7
26–27	+8
28–29	+9
30	+10

Source: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Ability%20Scores#content

For example, if you are using Athletics which is typically a Strength-based ability, and your Strength is 13, your modifier would be +1. If you proficient in Athletics, this changes to +3 at level 1.

Below we will go into a brief primer about what each skill does and why you would want to pick it.

 

Skill	Primary Ability	Explanation
Acrobatics	Dexterity	The ability to escape grapples and keep your balance
Animal Handling	Wisdom	The ability to handle beasts including riding animals and change an animal’s mood
Arcana	Intelligence	Knowledge of magic resulting from arcane study
Athletics	Strength	The ability to break grapples, move heavy objects, and perform jumps
Deception	Charisma	The ability to deceive
History	Intelligence	Knowledge of historic events, places, and people
Insight	Wisdom	The ability to see through deception and sense another’s intention
Intimidation	Charisma	The ability to intimidate someone into cooperation
Investigation	Intelligence	Looking for clues or piecing together how something works
Medicine	Wisdom	First aid and ability to perform medical procedures
Nature	Intelligence	The knowledge of natural phenomenon and beasts
Perception	Wisdom	The ability to use your senses to perceive the material world
Performance	Charisma	Using instruments, your voice, or dancing to make money
Persuasion	Charisma	Using reason or emotional appeal (beyond deception and intimidation) to promote a behaviour
Religion	Intelligence	Knowledge of religious rituals and deities
Sleight of Hand	Dexterity	To use your hands delicately to steal, misdirect, or pocket an object
Stealth	Dexterity	The ability to avoid being perceived
Survival	Wisdom	The ability to forage, hunt, and track

Tool, Armour, and Weapon Proficiencies

There are other forms of proficiencies that don’t have a numerical benefit. With tools, they allow you to use your proficiency bonus when making certain checks.  With weapons, you get to add your proficiency when you’re trying to hit with the weapon, and with armour you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or Attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can’t cast Spells. (Source: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Armor#content)

Making an Awesome D&D Character: Step 4

Table of Contents

• Step 0: Collect Information
• Step 1: Classes
• Step 2: Races
• Step 3: Backgrounds and Backstory
• Step 4: Ability Score Generation
• Step 5: Skills and Proficiencies
• Step 6: Spellcasting

Ability Score Generation

Okay. So you’ve chosen your class, your background, and your race. These selections grant you with a number of choices of skills, features, and dice rolls. In this section we’ll talk a bit about how to generate ability scores and recommend some ways to assign the scores you get.

There are a lot of ways to generate ability scores. We’ll go into some of the common ones and then talk about important abilities for each class. Keep in mind these are merely instructional and your DM will tell you how to generate scores.

Standard Array

The standard array in 5e is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. These basic numbers can be arranged in any order you prefer.

Roll 4 Six-sided Dice and Drop the Lowest

Also known as 4d6dl1, this style is a carryover from previous editions. Rolling this way produces generally higher rolls than it’s predecessor 3d6. It is the preferred method in the Player’s Handbook. Once you have rolled 6 times (one for each ability score), you can then assign them into whichever order is beneficial to you. In the case where you’re not happy with the score, you can replace your score with the standard array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.

Roll 3 Six-sided Dice

Also known as 3d6 generation, this rolling method generally produces a wider array than 4d6dl1. This is a carryover from the first edition of D&D and so it has a certain amount of nostalgia. It also a generally more “hardcore” ability score generation because there is less redemption from low scores.

Organic Character Creation

What if you didn’t get to choose your ability scores? What if, just like in life, you were stuck with whatever given talents and abilities you had? That’s what organic character creation is for. Instead of choosing where your abilities will go after they are rolled, you go down a predetermined method and put whatever you roll into that ability. For example, going top to bottom or bottom to top and whatever you roll is what you roll.

I use this style when I don’t know what I want to play and it’s open table because you can get such interesting combinations.

Point Buy

Using a Dungeon Master (DM) determined number of points (usually 27), you use these points to buy 6 ability scores. You can’t be left with any points at the end and the points are spent as below:

Score	Cost
8	0
9	1
10	2
11	3
12	4
13	5
14	7
15	9

Source: https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/rules/basic-rules/step-by-step-characters#3DetermineAbilityScores

Ability Scores: Defined

In this section, we’ll discuss the ability scores and what they measure.

There is a great way that I learned from the old Internet back in the day as defined by its relationship to a tomato.

Strength is the ability to crush a tomato or move a crate of tomatoes

Dexterity is the ability to dodge a thrown tomato.

Constitution is the ability to eat a bad tomato.

Intelligence is knowing that the tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is knowing that you don’t put a tomato in fruit salad.

Charisma is selling a fruit salad made from tomatoes.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1s9l2g/dd_stats_explained_with_tomatoes/

In our next section, we’ll talk about how these abilities interact with proficiencies within skills.

Resources for Ability Score Generation:

• Wizard of the Coast Modern Dice Roller
• 5e Point Buy Calculator

 

Making an Awesome D&D Character: Step 3

Table of Contents

• Step 0: Collect Information
• Step 1: Classes
• Step 2: Races
• Step 3: Backgrounds and Backstory
• Step 4: Ability Score Generation
• Step 5: Skills and Proficiencies
• Step 6: Spellcasting

Backgrounds & Backstory

A background when talking about D&D 5e is a mechanical term that describes what your character was doing before they took on their adventuring class. They are one of my favourite parts in the game because they can add so much flavour to your character with minimal effort. For example, you may be a fighter, but perhaps instead of being a soldier, you were guild artisan who is showcasing their wares. Instead of a wizard, you take the noble background and you are now a court wizard. It makes filling out a full character and their motivations so much easier.

A backstory on the other hand is the narrative account of how your character transitions from their background to their class. It also can detail any facet of your character’s life  you want to include like family, friends, enemies, romantic partners, magical events that happened, expeditions you may have gone on, etc. The only limit is your creativity and the amount of time you can put into it.

See below for some backgrounds that may suit what you have in mind.

Resource for Backgrounds:

• Backgrounds from the D&D 5e Wikia
• Player’s Handbook

Resource for Backstory:

• How to Create a Compelling Backstory from Geek & Sundry
• Twenty Questions to Help You Create a Backstory from Reddit user u/P03t35
• Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

Making An Awesome D&D Character: Step 2

Table of Contents

• Step 0: Collect Information
• Step 1: Classes
• Step 2: Races
• Step 3: Backgrounds and Backstory
• Step 4: Ability Score Generation
• Step 5: Skills and Proficiencies
• Step 6: Spellcasting

Races

There are a three schools of thought when it comes to picking a race. You can pick the one that fits the flavour of your character, one that gives you the best mechanics in-game, and or a race have that has never been done before. Each of these have their merits. It comes down to play style and what’s important to you when you play. For example if your play style needs your character to be optimized for the best playing, then you may be best choosing a race that makes the most mechanical sense. If that’s less important, and story is more important, I’d recommend choosing flavour over mechanics.

Whether you’ve picked your class or need some help with races, you’ve come to the right place. Races in D&D can be overwhelming due to sheer number of Wizards of the Coast published races. Below, I will break down the ones in the System Resource Document (SRD), but will also list others and where to find my information on them.

Race Name	Mechanics	Typical Lore	Examples
Dwarf	Darkvision +2 Constitution and +1 Wisdom Resistant to poison and poison damage Automatically knows some Dwarven weapons such as battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer Gains proficinecy with Stonecunning to recognize origin or stonework. Some varieties such as the Hill Dwarf gain extra HP every level.	Known as stout and steady people, the dwarves are generally a lawful, well-ordered society with a sense of fair play and the benefits of society being just.	Glimi from Lord of the Rings Thorin Oakenshield from The HobbitBinwin Bronzebottom from Acquisitions Incorporated
Elf	Can see in the dark 60 ft as dim light +2 Dexterity and +1 IntelligenceProficiency in PerceptionThey don’t sleep and their minds are trained against charms. Knows how to use swords, bows, and a little bit of magic.	Elves are known for their love of freedom, their long lives, and their love of freedom, and self-expression. They value others freedoms as well.	Legolas from The Lord of the Rings Keyleth from Critial Role Elves from the Elder Scrolls franchise
Halfling	Fast and friendly: +2 Dexterity and +1 Charisma. Can reroll natural 1s Harder to be frightened Can move through the space of any creature that is a size larger than theirs Can hide behind creatures larger than themselves	Halflings are about half the size of a human, but are often seen as a friendly and kind-hearted race. They are known for their honour to tradition, their enjoyment of life, and community.	Frodo, Sam, and other Hobbits from Tolkien’s fantasy books Willow from the movie with the same nameAcorn from The 13th Kingdom
Human	Generalists: they gain +1 to every ability	I believe you’re very well acquainted with this race	Think of any heroic human on Earth
Dragonborn	Strong and forceful, they gain +2 to Strength and +1 to Charisma Gain access to breath weapon and damage resistance determined by colour of dragon	Dragonborn are dragon-like humanoids who often see the world in extremes.	Similar to Argonians in the Elder Scrolls franchise
Gnome	+2 to Intelligence and +1 to Constitution Darkvision Better at resisting mind-affecting magics Can tinker to create various toys and tools	The gnomes are a fun-loving, mischievous race who value freedom as much as the elves do. They are connected with the forest or mountains they call home and often spend time tricking outsiders with fantastic illusions or working on new inventions to keep their minds active.	The Earthmen from The Chronicles of Narnia Dobby and Critter from the Harry Potter series Gnomeo from Gnomeo and Juliette
Half-Elf	+2 Charisma and +1 to another ability of your choice Darkvision Can’t be put to sleep by magic and has advantage against being charmed Gains proficiency in two additional skills	The union of an elf and a human or another half-elf, the half-elves fit in everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They are charismatic and skillful, but are not as long-lived as elves, and don’t quite fit in with humans.	Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI Tanis Half-Elven from Dragonlance Gardic from The Lady of the Lake
Half-Orc	+2 to Strength and +1 to Constitution Darkvision Proficiency in Intimidation When you’re reduced to 0 hit points, you can drop to 1 hp instead once a long rest When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you deal one dice additional damage	The progeny of an orc and a human or a half-orc and a human, half-orcs are large, imposing humanoids with features that resemble an orc: notably skin and tusks. In orc culture, they are often seen as puny and weak while in human culture they are less trusted or even feared for their bloodline. As such, they have to work harder to be trusted and are often given more dangerous tasks.	Harruq from the Weight of Blood Agronak gro-Malog from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Nicolas Jakoby in Bright
Tiefling	Intelligence +1 and Charisma +2 Darkvision Resistance to fire You know spells due to your infernal legacy	Either through the pairing of another tiefling or due to an infernal pact with a devil, Tieflings are often depicted with horns and a tail. Because they are so visibly entwined with evil, they are often avoided in social situations.	Balthazar from Constantine Crowley from Supernatural Jester from Critical Role

For more options or information, check out the following resources below:

• Player’s Handbook
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Elemental Evil Player’s Guide
• Volo’s Guide to Monsters
• Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
• Southlands Heroes
• Planeshift: Zendikar