Character Creation

Character Description

Be prepared to describe your character in a couple sentences. Some characteristics to consider are:

• Height, weight, overall build (stocky, thin, etc.)
• Skin color & lineage (orc, elf, halfling, etc.)
• Equipment details like clothing color or type
• Describe the main weapon you character has visible on their person
• Is there anything unique about your character's appearance that is not a secret? If so, share it!

Example: Leovas stands around 5’9 with a loose dark purple cloak hiding his thin frame. His darting green eyes, sharp facial features, and pointed ears portray an Elvin lineage. Strapped to his sides are scarabs for two curved blades. He bares a tattoo of a flying snake on his neck that easily identifies him as a member of the local thieves guild.

Backstory

If you're drawing a blank on what your character looks like, consider their backstory. Don't go too deep down the rabbit hole for a 1-shot, however a few elements to help inspire you while writing a backstory are:

• Family Members & Friends. Consider having at least a couple living family members or friends. Give them a name, location/where you last saw them, and a vague description (gender, race, etc.) This can provide the DM with great backstory content to tie-in to the campaign.
• Professions & Hobbies. Downtime in a campaign is inevitable. Having a profession or hobby can provide an opportunity beautiful roleplay moments or even help you acquire items or important information. For example, maybe you are a skilled alchemist and can make potions in your downtime, or a skilled linguist which can allow you to study and learn new languages very quickly. Perhaps you were part of a monster hunting guild which aids you in finding information along your travels.
• Important Items & Family Heirlooms. Would your character have any belongings that are very important to them? (weapon, wondrous item, or non-magical item.
• Goals & Motives. Why is your character an adventuring hero? What are they looking to accomplish?
• Secrets. Secrets can create great backstory drama! Nothing better than having your pasting coming back to haunt you ;)

Taking it the Extra Mile...  

These adventures take place in the World of Toril on the continent of Faerun, typically within the Sword Coast(map below). Creating a backstory, along with a hometown can be a bit overwhelming. Luckily there is a plethora of content already established in the world that you can use! Sometime starting with a city or town already established on the map can help inspire details pertaining to your character. Below is a map of the Sword Coast; to learn more about the respective towns you can simply Google for instance, "dnd 5e Waterdeep"and a link to the Forgotten Realms Wiki will provide you with all the information you need to get started!

Sword Coast

Faerun