In Depth - Character Creation
This post is still for Dungeon Masters, but I imagine players can glean a thing or two about this on how to make a character.
Now I know what a lot of people are thinking: this is too basic. The Player’s Handbook does an excellent job explaining this, and-
I’m going to stop you right there, because this isn’t just about the basics. Yes, I’m going to go over the actual steps of creating a character, but I’m also going to add insights on how a DM can help walk a new player through the character creation process, as well as how a DM themselves can get the most out of a character creation process themselves. It’s also a look at why DMs and Players should make their characters together.
Here’s the bullets on what we’ll be covering:
Rolling stats, and why we do it first.
Getting to know your player, and understanding what they want.
Picking a background before a class.
Choosing a class.
Incorporating the character into the setting.
Rolling Stats, and Why We Do It First
This is a big one. I can go on and on about the virtues of this step, but the reason we insist on doing it first is to talk about something that comes even before this step right away: how stats are handled.
There are many ways to handle stats, and it’s up to the DM to discuss with the players what they’re looking for. Here’s a few ways it’s typically handled:
A point-buy system, where all players are on even footing and can tweak their character’s stats to their liking.
Absolute chaos, the other side of the spectrum. You roll 4 D6s, add up the best 3, and pray you get a couple decent rolls to make something at least usable, and accept that the struggle is part of the fun.
A hybrid approach, whereby a player rolls 4 D6s and adds up the best three, and has the ability to turn one roll into a 16 (so long as they didn’t already get two 16+ rolls to begin with). This system basically removes the ability for a character’s stat-line to be completely screwed, while preserving the randomness that some characters will naturally be more gifted than others. Some players like the chance to be extra strong, and also like a challenge, but hate the possibility of being useless, so this can be a popular option..
My personal favorite, the ‘reroll’ approach. This one is hard to explain, but the results have always been much to my liking and never left a player in a bad spot. You roll 4 D6s like normal, add up the best 3, and keep going until you have all 6 rolls. At this point, whether or not the player rerolls is based on a few simple guidelines. Here are the rules I use: Did the player get at least 2 rolls of 16+? Keep. Did the player get at least 1 14+, 1 16+, and have no rolls below 10? Keep. If neither of these happened, the player is offered a chance to reroll. I’m a fan of this system because it allows for the possibility of character weighted heavily in one direction, giving them great strengths, but also great weaknesses. Likewise, the other option is a character that’s still pretty good, at what they do, but with no grave weaknesses. Finally, you can still end up with an incredible character, but I’ve yet to see anything obscene.
Regardless of whatever method you use, make sure you’re there for the rolling of the stats if the method requires it. Do not, under any circumstances, allow a player to roll their stats without your supervision. This is a mistake, one that can give rise to a player who fudges their rolls. A DM must always be vigilant for this kind of behavior, as once someone starts cheating, it can be very, very difficult to get them to stop, and even harder to get other players to ever trust them again once they’re caught.
Getting to Know Your Player, and Understanding What They Want
Now, while rolling/picking stats, it’s time for you to discuss with your player what they’re after. Not everyone plays D&D for the same reasons, after all. Some people are looking for a way to hang out with or make new friends, some want to escape reality into a place where they can be a great hero or villain of their own making, and yet more want a sprawling, somewhat theatrical experience for them to lose themselves in.
The biggest lie a person can tell you at this point is that getting this information out of your player will be easy. It’s not. It’s Hell. Expect that this is a process of you whittling them down, and start with a basic list of questions to find the angle that will get some answers you can work with:
What do you want to play? This is an underestimated question, but some players really are that easy. The ones who want to be powerful wizards or sorcerers (but don’t actually know the difference) should be introduced to the concepts of wizards, sorcerers, and warlocks. People looking to brawl should be shown Barbarians, Fighters, Paladins, Monks, and maybe Rangers. Players that want to be able to do a wide range of things should be shown Druids, Clerics, Paladins, and Bards. Players that want to play ambushing assassins should be shown Rogues, Rangers, and Monks. Giving them details of what each class brings to the table after narrowing things down usually results in a confident choice.
What do you want to get out of Dungeons and Dragons? This is a tough question with a low success rate. It usually hits well with players who are just there to have fun, though. When that happens, and you can’t find something the player wants to play, suggest suspending the character creation until the others have gone. Then, you can recommend a class that will be unique and useful in the group. This usually satisfies the player in this category. If it doesn’t, you’ll just have to keep working at it.
What do you want to be? This is an important question, and one that sets up the real next step of character creation. On occasion, you’ll have a player who can imagine the story of their character. They’ll see a soldier, or an acolyte to some god, or a pirate, or a thief, or an entertainer or... whatever it is they fancy. Not every thief has to be a rogue, and not every acolyte has to be a cleric, paladin, or monk. Some players are convinced what they want to do won’t work, and in those situations you need to remind them that what they want absolutely can and will work.
What’s your favorite fantasy genre? This one is a little simple, yeah, but sometimes it gets the ball rolling. Finding out that someone loves Lord of the Rings, and asking them who their favorite character can easily result in a recommendation that gets the player’s gears turning. Likewise, a big fan of kung fu, karate, or MMA might not realize that monks are martial arts masters, and not just sagely individuals who make wine in a monastery on some remote countryside.
Explain EVERYTHING. This isn’t a question, this is what you do when nothing else works. These supremely difficult players are typically joining the game for dubious reasons, mostly because they’re guarding themselves than for anything nefarious in nature. D&D, while being a game that’s classically attributed to shut-in nerds, requires a person to be surprisingly outgoing to get the most out of it. Guarded players are going to take extra time and attention, and might do odd things like wait till you’ve explained everything before making a choice, because for one reason or another they feel less embarrassed about looking excited about what’s looked down on in some circles as ‘just a board game’.
Whew that was a lot, but character creation can be incredibly taxing when dealing with newer players. The good news is that that step is now done with, and you have a much better idea of what the player might be after (unless they’re the guarded sort, in which case may the Upper Planes have mercy on your soul).
Picking a Background BEFORE a Class
It’s amazing how much you can do before actually choosing a class. Many of your players by this step will already have something concrete in mind, and that’s fine, but it’s still best to figure out a character’s background first.
The Player’s Handbook offers several of these in detail (Pg. 125/141):
Acolyte
Charlatan
Criminal/Spy
Entertainer/Gladiator
Folk Hero
Guild Artisan/Guild Merchant
Hermit
Noble/Knight
Outlander
Sage
Sailor/Pirate
Soldier
Urchin
It’s a big, BIG list, and yet somehow there’s yet more to it than just picking one and being happy about it. The biggest mistake a DM might make is seeing these and not realize that, from the very get-go, they’re just the framework of something you offer to a player. They can be mixed, matched, and tweaked in any way that fits a specific player’s backstory. Here’s a few examples to take note of:
Mercenary - All the flavor of a soldier, right down to the same possible skill proficiencies and tool proficiencies. A mercenary, however, may have slightly more or less gold (depending on the success of their group), lack an insignia, and have a completely different kind of Feature. Mercenaries who worked on the sea might have proficiency in sea vehicles instead of land ones, and share the Ship’s Passage feature with Sailor/Pirate. They could also be tough and wise to the road, giving them the Wanderer feature from Outlander, or be well known and respected, garnering them the Rustic Hospitality feature from Folk Hero. These are all ways to flavor a basic background and turn it into something that fits a player more appropriately.
Acolyte to a Dead God - Sometimes, bad things happens in a setting. A campaign can start shortly after the fall of a god, with one of your players being the stalwart champion who refuses to give up their late deity’s sacred charge. In this scenario, you often end up with an Acolyte devoid of the Shelter of the Faithful feature. Life may have been hard since the death of their god, causing them to become proficient Wanderers, or maybe beneath their first identity of Acolyte they are also a noble. My personal favorite is to mix Acolyte with Hermit, permitting the player to know a grand secret that may have a connection to their god. This can be some truth their god entrusted them with that has great implication going forward, or even an artifact of uncertain power with the potential to resuscitate their patron from death! Such an secret can be massive enough to create an underlying long-term goal for the campaign, and pit the forces that saw the god’s death against the players from square one. It might sound like a lot of responsibility to plant on a player, but for some, the idea of such a massive task to undertake is what they’ll enjoy most.
Disgraced Noble - Blood carries power, enough to bend the ear of local lords and the like. But what if that’s all a character has? A prideful urchin, refusing to stoop to nefarious acts, may be lacking in street smarts, but by virtue of their birth still has the power to invoke their bloodline to others in power. This character starts with little, possibly because what they had was taken or squandered by immediate family, but is rife with the flavors of determination and a sincere desire to return to their station. This character is well educated, and remains skilled in History and additional language, but lacks in the means to persuade as efficiently as their non-disgraced counterparts, and starts with less coin and crummy clothes. Their ability to be persuasive and throw their bloodline’s weight around may have been replaced with the skills needed to survive on the streets, like Survival itself, or perhaps with another language found where they live, or Athletics, or Religion from their need to visit local churches and pray for the strength struggle on through the shame of their fall from grace.
What I hope is understood most by these examples is that a player should be pushed to go into detail, not just so they themselves get more engrossed and invested in the events of the game, but so that the DM has more to use to that end.
Choosing a Class.
With a background selected, picking a class can now have more weight behind it. It’s the culmination of a character, not the start of it, and that too attaches yet more weight to the decision.
The flavor of a chosen class becomes more apparent now that we have a background chosen. Let’s look at how the decisions made in one of the backstories from before can affect the class outcome.
For this, we’ll use Disgraced Noble:
Barbarian - A Disgraced Noble forced to survive on the streets (Survival variant) can quickly become stripped of their more refined attributes. Their life is difficult, and it seems often like their anger alone is what gives them the strength to go on. In this way, a Disgraced Noble makes an excellent barbarian, combining the duality of their need to be proper and respectful with the ability to fly off the handle and wreak absolute havoc when pushed too far or disrespected too severely.
Fighter - A Disgraced Noble that’s especially devoted to the task of not succumbing to life on the streets acts the part of the knight even if they lack the resources to really be one. It’s a bullheaded strategy in life, one that’s forced them to toughen up (Athletics variant). Contrary to what would happen with most nobles, this seems to have emboldened the Disgraced Noble, and made him a paragon of discipline and strength that a locale can come to rally behind. In many ways, this Disgraced Noble can be more Noble than any other. They can also be cruel though, and don the mantle of a warlord looking to reclaim their birthright by force. Whatever the choice, the player and DM have a lot to work with.
Paladin - Faith can lead to salvation, something the Disgraced Noble who turns to the local church might quickly learn. The assumption by nobles that they are born to lead meshes well with the Paladin class, as they themselves are also natural leaders. This Disgraced Noble refuses to let what happened to them shape their life, and forges on for whatever cause they adopt as if becoming Disgraced never happened. Unlike the Fighter or Barbarian, this Disgraced Noble’s goals may not have to do with reclaiming their birthright, reacquiring it anyway will probably be in their future if they’re successful anyway.
In the instance of a player already knowing what class they want, you help them mold the background onto that choice in reverse. In some cases, you can have their choice of class come from a relatively recent event, such as a thief signing a pact with some patron who suckered them into a bad deal with a heavy, ironic personal cost.
Whatever the outcome, understand that your creative license (and the player’s) is endless! This is Dungeons and Dragons! You can play a Paladin Kobold Noble adopted by a well-off dwarven family who worships Moradin and supplements their paladin levels with sorcerer levels from their kobold heritage to create a spell-slot packed, divine smiting machine!
Incorporating the Character Into the Setting
Here we are, the part where it all comes full circle and you do your DM you to make a player’s character feel like a part of the world and not just tacked on.
For some characters, this is very easy. The Disgraced Noble, or the Acolyte to a Dead God carries heavy integration right into their backstory. You need only add the places and people in the world to highlight these things, and you’re all set.
For other characters, this can be more difficult. Consider pairing characters with compatible backstories to give their existence more weight and to speed up the formation of the party when you finally play. For instance, the Mercenary might remain friends with the Disgraced Noble after they can no longer be paid, and a Criminal and Pirate might bond after being forced to share a jail cell for a while. Likewise; clerics, paladins, and monks might all recognize one another of worshippers to a similar diety, or a gladiator fighter may have heard of an acolyte monk whose temple encourages dueling as a means to perfect their martial arts.
Not all character backstories are going to have grand outcomes. When you see one like this, ask the player if their character should have any special motivation behind them. What do they desire, or what grudges do they hold? What event pushes them out from their comfortable life? Did a family member die, and leave them seeking revenge? Is there something they find themselves needing to do, possibly because a dying, elder loved one wished it?
Whatever the case, look for a way to create a motivation in your player’s backstory. Why? Because some of your players absolutely will not go for this. Having content that the players feel invested in completing does a lot for their engagement in the game, and one player being energized about something is usually enough to set fire to the whole group.
With all of that said, this brings me to my last point of this post. Some players just don’t give a shit. Don’t feel bad, it’s the way of the world. They want to hang out, kill some enemies, get some cool loot, and then do it all again next week. They feed off the energy of other players, relying on them to give the campaign substance, and will oftentimes make you feel like everything you’ve done went unappreciated.
When you encounter this player, understand something very important and beneficial about them: they’re there to have fun. They keep things light, and do things unexpectedly in character as a gag that cracks the whole table up and makes the hours of play fly by. This player is a headache and a half, but every group would benefit from having one, so tolerate their nonsense when you have to.
