Building Your Character

This page has some information on how to think about creating your character for D&D.

Abilities

Your character has six primary abilities: Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Wisdom (WIS), Intelligence (INT), Constitution (CON), and Charisma (CHA). The link {DML Where is link?}at right to D&D Beyond: Characters has some great information on the different abilities. They'll become second nature fairly quickly, and don't worry, everyone struggles with the difference between WIS and INT.

Creating Yourself

The bedrock of your D&D character is your Race and your Class. People navigate these questions in lots of different ways. For example

Can I do something between Arwen and Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings?
I just want to hit things. Hard.
Oooooooooooooooooh, magic. I want to go to there.
Wait, isn't there a list of these so I can read them and change my mind a whole bunch of times?

No matter how you navigate it, let's talk about it. I can help you find the right place. This document highlights some of the first things you need to think about as figure out your character.

Races

All of the approved races are available at left, under Races in the WORLD CODEX, and on the menu to the right. There are more playable races in the larger world, but we want to start with the basics. Hardcore D&D players pay a lot of attention to the races that are best suited for the class they want to play, or vice-versa. I would urge you, instead of that, to just go with what feels like the most fun: if you've always wanted to be a Dwarf who casts spells, I think you should just be a Dwarf Wizard. There had to be some, right? Also, don't underestimate Humans. They can be fun to play, too.

Classes

Now that you know what kind of creature you are, the question is what sort of character you want to be. Do you want to focus on magic? Do you want to be combat focused? A hybrid? It is really important not to be too put off by the names of the classes. Rogues include far more than thieving criminals, and Paladin are far more than honorable knights clunking around in heavy armor. To help with this, I've tried to offer some examples from film and fiction for each class. As an example, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was almost certainly a Monk.

Magic Users

Magic users are high-risk, high-reward characters. Nothing is cooler than when the massive spell you cast works; nothing sucks more than when the massive you spell fizzles out, leaving you with little to contribute to the battle. Being a good magic user means being OK as a player with either outcome. You also carry a bit more of a burden to prepare your character: fighters generally just get better and better at fighting, but magic users may develop a very wide range of offensive, defensive, and other possibilities. There are three magical classes. Briefly, Wizards learn magic by study; Sorcerers learn magic by their natural aptitude (you do not choose to be a Sorcerer, sorcery chooses you), and Warlocks are a channel for a deity of some sort. More detail is found on each page, but that overview may help. I did not include examples from popular media of the magic using classes, as they are a bit harder to differentiate. That said, Game of Throne's Melisandre was a Warlock, the Scarlet Witch from the Avengers was a Sorcerer and Hermione was a Wizard.

Fighters

There are three classes focused exclusively on battle: Fighters, Barbarians, and Monks. Much like the advice on Humans above, don't sleep on Fighters. Monks fight without weapons or armor (or with very specific weapons) and can do all sorts of cool martial arts/parkour type stuff, while Barbarians are battle tanks who have access to a special kind of frenzy, increasing their fighting effectiveness. The key to playing fighters is to enjoy being the first to rush into battle, and the focus of much of the melee. You will occasionally be knocked unconscious, and you may come close to death. But you're OK with that, because it's got to be somebody's job. Fighters are relatively simple in terms of their in-game mechanics: there can be a lot of nuance in the specifics, but HULK SMASH remains cool, no matter what.

Hybrid Classes

And then there are the hybrids. Both Druids and Clerics are magic-focused classes that do well in combat; the Paladins are a fighting class that can also use magic, while Rangers are essentially a mix of Fighters and Druids. The stories matter here: Druids are focused on using and protecting the natural world; Clerics on being a vessel for sacred energy; and Paladins must rigorously follow one of several oaths that guide their behavior.

Those Other Two

And then you have Rogues and Bards. Rogues cover any characters who use stealth and trickery as a key part of their identity. This includes thieves and assassins, but also includes Bilbo Baggins and The Black Widow. Bards are unique, using music to create magical effects that inspire and heal their allies and damage their opponents.

Many Paths, Many Options

It may be easiest to just describe to me the kinds of things you want to be able to do, and we can go from there. There are a ton of possibilities out there--as an example, there are "eco-warrior" options in Barbarians, Clerics, Monks, and Warlocks, in addition to the more obvious Druids or Rangers.