Questions tagged [character-creation]
For questions primarily about character creation (also: character generation or character design), the process of making a character whose role the player will assume. Character creation is about realizing the concept of the character within the options and rules of the RPG system.
1,401
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Problems with Party Formation: "You're the DM, you can figure it out."
Sort of related to Is it wrong to ask a player to justify their character's actions?
Scenario
Player 1 wants to be a male drow necromancer that reveres Kiaransalee.
Player 2 wants to be a male ...
69
votes
3
answers
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Shoe-themed race or class features
My character is really into shoes and I'm planning on taking Leadership next level. I want my cohort to be devoted to the old norse god of shoes and vengance, Víðarr. While there is a retribution ...
68
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13
answers
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How do I encourage Drow players to not make Drizzt clones?
Every once in a while, I have a player wants to create a Drow character. The problem is, virtually every one of them winds up looking suspiciously like Drizzt Do'Urden: they are some variation of Good ...
61
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12
answers
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As the Dungeon Master, how do I handle a player that insists on a specific class when I already know that choice will cause issues?
I agreed to DM the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure for a group of my friends. One of them wants to play a wizard. Based on past experience, I know that she will ignore the prepared spells and just ...
61
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13
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Is it better to take the array and be Joe Average, or to roll for the odds of getting on average better scores?
I am new to D&D. I was looking at character creation for D&D 5th edition. There were a few ways one could generate ability scores. I assumed the optional method of taking the numbers 15, 14, ...
57
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25
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How can I avoid problems that arise from rolling ability scores?
Rolling ability scores is a time-honored tradition across many editions of D&D. However, it can sometimes cause problems for players and/or the DM. For example, one player character may end up ...
56
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1
answer
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Can clerics use swords?
My DM, who hasn't played newer versions of D&D, was asking if my cleric was allowed to use sharp weapons. I double checked the descriptions and didn't see anything like this written there, but now ...
53
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8
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How can I quickly get a player back into a session after their character dies? [closed]
As a GM, what kind of techniques could I use to help a player re-join the gaming session after their character dies? I want to avoid any major interruptions to the flow of the adventure. I would also ...
51
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3
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What happens if I get the same skill from both my background and my class?
I made a trickster cleric with spy background. This caused an overlap of stealth and disguise. (Further compounded by me wanting to take hide in shadow ... which again granted me stealth.)
What ...
50
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2
answers
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What's the starting wealth for higher levels?
The PHB only gives starting wealth for Level 1 PCs. Based on my experience in other games, specifically Pathfinder, I would expect to get more at higher levels. Where can I find an appropriate table ...
46
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14
answers
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Creating the personality of a character different from myself
I am a newbie in playing role-playing games, and after several games, I've come to the conclusion that character personality creation poses a bit of a problem for me.
I mostly tend to create and ...
45
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11
answers
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I'm feeling like my character doesn't fit the campaign
My boyfriend is DMing a D&D 5e game for a good friend of mine and I. It's a pirate themed campaign, which I was excited about, and takes place in a universe where magic is not believed in by most (...
45
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12
answers
9k
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Unhate-able Villains
There are so many guides on how to make a villain your players will truly hate, but I am trying to make a villain that the characters will feel for. How can I create a "good" villain, like someone who ...
44
votes
5
answers
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How can I develop my character's background when I know nothing of the game's lore and want to avoid spoilers?
This is a tricky one, and I may be painting myself into a corner in which case please feel free to tell me so in an answer but please also provide advice on how to get out whilst disturbing as little ...
43
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6
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Do I have to worry about players making “bad” choices on level up?
When I came back to RPGs (after 20 years) I discarded pathfinder after reading about the complexities of the systems and the fact that there was a real chance of getting “bad characters” if you made ...
43
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6
answers
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Persuading players to be less attached to a pre-session 0 character concept
I am currently running a campaign that is coming to a close. This is fine, and as planned. However I would like to start another campaign after. I mentioned this to (some of) the players, who seemed ...
42
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15
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How can I help a player craft a backstory that gives me plot hooks?
I have a new player joining my game soon who has taken the place of another player. Unfortunately, the character's backstory is lacking.
It doesn't tell me a lot about the character. Because I draw ...
41
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10
answers
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of develop in play (DIP) compared to develop at the start (DAS) character generation?
Originally, Are you really DIPpy?1
What are the advantages and disadvantages to developing your character in play (DIP) compared to developing at the start (DAS)?
What experiences have you had with ...
40
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12
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Player character wants a gun in a prehistoric campaign. What to do?
Brief description of my campaign:
Takes place ~1000 years after creation
Bronze Age for most of the world, some parts are beginning the Iron Age
Dinosaurs and Fae are still relatively common in the ...
39
votes
5
answers
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What classes are based on intelligence but not reliant on magic/supernatural power?
My knowledge of 5th edition's class options is far from exhaustive. I want to play an intelligence-based class whose class features are not centered on magic, alchemy, or psychic powers. Does such a ...
39
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16
answers
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How to: Create a good backstory for how the party got together? [closed]
I'm making a list of things to do for character creation for my first game as DM, and one things I've often heard is to have at least some reason for the players to have come together for their ...
38
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5
answers
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How can I make a character that wields only daggers as good as other characters?
I want to make a character that uses two daggers, but I know that a character using daggers would not be as good as a character using shortswords or almost any other weapon. By "good", I mean ...
37
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11
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The group I DM for insists on rolled stats, but I don't want unbalanced PCs to cause group conflicts later
I'm going to be running a new campaign for my players, with our session 0 starting tomorrow. I was leaning towards the traditional ability score method of generation (roll 4d6, drop the lowest). I ...
37
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14
answers
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How can you find a balance between effective/optimised characters and creative characters?
When creating characters, I often face a dilemma between making a character. It feels like they can either be optimized so they can "pull their own weight" or having a character I think is ...
37
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10
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How can I discourage a player from making the same character if their current one dies?
This was inspired by this question: Should I allow players to recreate the exact same character if they die?
Whilst it was closed as too subjective (because it asks whether one should want to do this)...
35
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8
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Is there a guide/reference for possible character hairstyles in D&D Forgotten Realms universe?
I was playing a D&D session as a female cleric of Qotal and, at some point, the party encountered some kind of wind monster. As I tried to cast spells requiring concentration, the DM argued that I ...
35
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8
answers
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What is the statistically superior character creation method, twelve 3d6 or six 4d6?
The D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook gives (among others) two preferred methods to roll ability scores for a new character: a) roll 3d6 twelve times and keep the preferred six results, or b) roll 4d6 and ...
35
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10
answers
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What can I include in my character's background to help the GM build a better story?
Whatever the system or the world used, what can a player add to his character background that will help the GM make the game more interesting.
Games are much more interesting with the addition of ...
34
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12
answers
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How can you make character creation simpler?
I DM for some players who aren’t that into the game. My question is this: can I somehow make Character creation less writing heavy, and quicker and simpler for my beginning players? Each player has ...
34
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6
answers
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Is giving my character amnesia about its backstory a bad idea?
During my first campaign as a player, I had a issue with my DM regarding the background I gave to my character. It was my first time creating a background for my character, and I loved doing it so ...
33
votes
14
answers
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Repercussions to DM-mandated limit on books allowable for characters?
When running a campaign, especially one with newer players mixed with optimizers, is it a fair call to limit the variety of books available for play? For feats, classes, prestige classes, magic items ...
33
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4
answers
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What build maximizes reach?
A Bugbear (Long Limbed: reach +5 feet) wielding a reach weapon (10 feet of reach) can make a melee weapon attack with a reach of 15 feet.
If said Bugbear is a Battle Master with the Lunging maneuver, ...
33
votes
7
answers
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How can you build an effective character based on thrown weapons?
I am trying to think of good ways to build an effective D&D 5e character whose strong point is with thrown weapons. The hangup seems to be drawing them fast enough. Thrown weapons seem to be ...
32
votes
9
answers
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Are there rules for creating level 0 characters?
Are there rules for creating level 0 characters in 5e? I've been running a campaign where the players begin sub-standard and 1st Level characters are generated in-game as the story unfolds. I just ...
32
votes
7
answers
8k
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I keep switching characters, how do I stop?
I have been playing in a couple of campaigns recently as a player rather than a DM, and I have noticed a trend. I build characters that are flavorful in one way or another, memorable, fun characters. ...
32
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7
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What is the most DPR possible at level 1?
My question is fairly straightforward: What is the combination of feats/race/class/etc that gives the most damage per round at level 1? I'd also be interested to see the maximum possible damage, but ...
31
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7
answers
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How should I as a GM handle a player character who has a bad memory?
There is a player in my campaign who's characters defining trait is that they have a bad memory.
I like creating mechanical representations of character traits if it makes sense to do so.
I've given ...
31
votes
9
answers
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What are the mechanical and role-playing advantages of playing a human?
I'm a DM for a bunch of new players who are going through the Lost Mines of Phandelver starter set with the pre-generated characters. This campaign will be over fairly soon and I need to get the group ...
31
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8
answers
7k
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How do I avoid micromanaging character creation?
What aspects of character generation should the DM limit?
I'm a new DM starting a new campaign with 6 players that have no previous Dungeons and Dragons experience. I've played before; they haven't. ...
31
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11
answers
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A player rolled very bad stats, how to make sure they still enjoy the game?
Question
How to make sure that a player that rolled awful stats will still have an awesome time at the table? What possibilities are available for the DM? Would it feel cheap to find stat-boosting ...
31
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3
answers
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Would it hurt racial balance if every PC gets a bonus feat at level 1?
I am thinking of giving the PCs of my new campaign a bonus feat at level 1, to allow some more customization and to reflect the fact that they are graduating from a very stellar college of... ...
30
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2
answers
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How do favored classes work in Pathfinder?
I'm working on creating a half-elf paladin character for a Pathfinder game. Full disclosure: this is the first time I've tried creating a character; I've used ones other people created before. In ...
30
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6
answers
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Preventing character skill from impeding player enjoyment
Let's consider a player, whom we shall call Bob. Bob loves exciting gunfights and is a big John Woo fan. So he makes up "Shooty McShootenstein," who is a master with a gun. One thing that Bob is not ...
30
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2
answers
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How to make your players hate your villain, but not your game
How does one build the character of a villain such that the players (playing heroic characters) hate the villain as much as possible without detracting too much from the quality of the game?
What ...
30
votes
1
answer
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What reason has been given for the "standard array" being lower than the expected average from the rolled method? [closed]
When one levels up and gets an increase in maximum hit points, one can either roll or take the average roll rounded up. Statistically, you're better off with the non-random method.
For ability scores,...
29
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5
answers
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How can I play a serial killer in a party of good PCs?
A character of mine has died in a game - the "do no harm, break no law" type of paladin - and I wanted to switch it up. I want to play a serial killer type, who believes what he's doing is not wrong, ...
29
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9
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7k
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How to justify my thematic spell selections to other players saying they're underpowered?
I'm fairly new to D&D and tabletop RPGs in general, but recently I started an extremely charismatic and hardy (high constitution) Tiefling Sorcerer. I took primarily fighting cantrips, but all my ...
29
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5
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Is "1d10 rerolling 1&2" equivalent to "1d8+2"?
Good old Cyberpunk 2020, 2nd edition, 2nd printing, offers two versions of rolling for statistics to players because point-Buy without rolling is for referees only. They read:
Random: Roll 9d10 and ...
29
votes
4
answers
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Is Goliath weight range reasonable?
While this may be opinion-based, this question is specific enough to produce well-argued and specific answers.
The weight range for Goliaths is 280-340 lbs, or 127-154kg. Their height is between 7 ...
29
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5
answers
5k
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How can I optimize Chicken Infested?
I'm soon going to be a guest player in a Pathfinder game where silliness is the theme. (The party has been drawn into the Demiplane of Dinosaurs, which is reportedly a lot like Ravenloft, except with ...