Since you have DDB, I would highly recommend that you use the character creation wizard and then download a PDF copy of your character (at the end of the wizard) if you want paper.
If you are wanting to learn how to create characters from ty PHB, then I strongly recommend you read the whole book first. It might seem unnecessary but reading the book will help you learn where the information is that your sheet is asking for and will help you to.better understand the character creation process.
.That's all just general advice but without knowing what sheet you are using (they are all different and all ask for different info on the first page) it'd be difficult to give any specific help.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Use pen and paper. First thing, look at a completed character sheet so you know what it should look like. Next read the creating a character chapter in the PHB, but going against what is recommended there I'd say pick your class before your race, then background. When you know you're class wrote down your standard array of stats and work out where you want to put your highest numbers based on what your class uses. For example a fighter would want high strength, constitution and some dexterity. Then add race and background.
Look at YouTube videos for more help on particular builds.
This is not really about character sheets but I wanted to respond to @Jimbo_on_Fire regarding his suggestion about which order is best for choosing race, class and so on.
I always start off by thinking "how does my character act?"
That helps me choose a race. For example: if my character acts all haughty and looks down on others - then maybe my character would be an Elf.
They could also be a Dwarf.
So now I have two possible races. Next I try to imagine what kind of things my character might like. For example: If my character likes animals, wide open spaces and nature, then they are going to be an Elf rather than a Dwarf and I now have narrowed down the options for my characters class
Elven Druid or Elven Ranger.
So now I have to think of a little bit of backstory for my character and that will help me come up with their background.
So for this example let's say:
When Cecelia was just a young Elf of 200, her forest home was invaded by Humans. The Humans came in numbers that Cecelia had never seen before, hundreds of them - a whole army; carrying torches, war axes and great sheilds.
They had come for the riches or the forest and to get them they were intent on destroying everything in their path.
From her hiding place Cecelia watched as her parents joined the others in defense of their home. They faught bravely but were outnumber. There was no way that this tiny band of elves could defeat so many heavily armoured solders.
Terrified; Cecelia turned on her heels and ran. She ran and ran and ran until she had passed the forests boarders but still she ran, the fear of death and her pounding heart driving her on.
When she finally stopped to catch her breath she found herself on a vast open plane, the coarse grass taring at her ankles as it was whipped wildly by the biting wind. There was nothing, no trees, sparse vegetation and not even an animal in sight.
She had no idea where she was but she knew she could not go back. There was nothing left for her there - nothing but blood and death.
With a deep sigh, Cecelia wrapped her flowing robes about her the best she could and set off for the mountains she could see on the horizon.
Now that backstory will need to be fleshed out a bit but writing that has helped me to choose my characters background and gender.
She is an Outlander.
That background helps me make the final desicson about her class - Ranger fits her background better than Druid, so she is going to be an:
Elvan Ranger with the Outlander background.
It has also helped me with how she is going to feel. She hates Humans and although over the years she has learned to control that hatred, she is always willing to help those who have been downtrodden or taken advantage of by Humans and will often use her Ranger skills and Outlander knowledge to assist those people trying to escape from the tyranny of Human society.
That gives me a window into her state of mind, how she thinks, how she acts - the psychology of the character.
All this will help me roleplay a multidimensional character.
Also, I now know where I need to put my numbers - I know her most important stats, what the game says is important and what Cecilia as a person would think is important.
I find its much better to approach character creation in this way - creating a character around the person you are envisioning and the history/past of that person, rather than picking Race, Class, Background and then trying to fit your vision arround those.
You should be fitting your characters race, class, background around your vision.
Personally I'd recommend a new player start with class as it helps them build build a character that's good at whatever they do. Nothing worse than a new player realising their monk with a high intelligence doesn't actually make use of that stats. There's also the fact most groups won't want you doubling up on classes, so you'll probably be aware of what's taken and what's left. No one cares if there is two dwarves or two urchins in the group. In terms of who your character is I don't believe race really makes a huge impact on your characteristics as much as background say. You can play a dwarf or elf however you want, maybe they grew up in a cosmopolitan city not taking traits often associated with that race. If someone says your out of character call them racist.
Paraphrasing Jimbo, figure out the "what" first. What class of character, and what type... melee, caster, mystical, religious, natural, criminal... some combo of those.
Who - what race, gender, and alignment. Only critical thing there is racial benefits during ability score generation, and later on through the levels.
How - now, you dream up your background, which is your "script" for roleplay. Broad strokes details, justification... build it all, and stick to it.
Ah, if you are doing your character creation online then the DDB creation wizard is awesome. I'm on mobile right now so the screens look a bit different for me but the order remains the same.
On the very first screen, choose "standard" and then put the tick in the option to show the help. On the home screen, just leave everything as is unless your DM has told you to change something and click on next.
Next is your race but you don't have to complete everything in order. If you would rather jump back and forth you can do that.
I would recommend doing; race, then abilities. But you can do them in any order. I tend to jump about around the wizard when I am creating characters as the way I create mine is based around their past/history and the way they act, think and so on.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm not really sure what to put on first page. Can someone hep me? This is my first time making one.
If you're going paper, download a PDF.
Since you have DDB, I would highly recommend that you use the character creation wizard and then download a PDF copy of your character (at the end of the wizard) if you want paper.
If you are wanting to learn how to create characters from ty PHB, then I strongly recommend you read the whole book first. It might seem unnecessary but reading the book will help you learn where the information is that your sheet is asking for and will help you to.better understand the character creation process.
.That's all just general advice but without knowing what sheet you are using (they are all different and all ask for different info on the first page) it'd be difficult to give any specific help.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Use pen and paper. First thing, look at a completed character sheet so you know what it should look like. Next read the creating a character chapter in the PHB, but going against what is recommended there I'd say pick your class before your race, then background. When you know you're class wrote down your standard array of stats and work out where you want to put your highest numbers based on what your class uses. For example a fighter would want high strength, constitution and some dexterity. Then add race and background.
Look at YouTube videos for more help on particular builds.
This is not really about character sheets but I wanted to respond to @Jimbo_on_Fire regarding his suggestion about which order is best for choosing race, class and so on.
I always start off by thinking "how does my character act?"
That helps me choose a race. For example: if my character acts all haughty and looks down on others - then maybe my character would be an Elf.
They could also be a Dwarf.
So now I have two possible races. Next I try to imagine what kind of things my character might like. For example: If my character likes animals, wide open spaces and nature, then they are going to be an Elf rather than a Dwarf and I now have narrowed down the options for my characters class
Elven Druid or Elven Ranger.
So now I have to think of a little bit of backstory for my character and that will help me come up with their background.
So for this example let's say:
When Cecelia was just a young Elf of 200, her forest home was invaded by Humans. The Humans came in numbers that Cecelia had never seen before, hundreds of them - a whole army; carrying torches, war axes and great sheilds.
They had come for the riches or the forest and to get them they were intent on destroying everything in their path.
From her hiding place Cecelia watched as her parents joined the others in defense of their home. They faught bravely but were outnumber. There was no way that this tiny band of elves could defeat so many heavily armoured solders.
Terrified; Cecelia turned on her heels and ran. She ran and ran and ran until she had passed the forests boarders but still she ran, the fear of death and her pounding heart driving her on.
When she finally stopped to catch her breath she found herself on a vast open plane, the coarse grass taring at her ankles as it was whipped wildly by the biting wind. There was nothing, no trees, sparse vegetation and not even an animal in sight.
She had no idea where she was but she knew she could not go back. There was nothing left for her there - nothing but blood and death.
With a deep sigh, Cecelia wrapped her flowing robes about her the best she could and set off for the mountains she could see on the horizon.
Now that backstory will need to be fleshed out a bit but writing that has helped me to choose my characters background and gender.
She is an Outlander.
That background helps me make the final desicson about her class - Ranger fits her background better than Druid, so she is going to be an:
Elvan Ranger with the Outlander background.
It has also helped me with how she is going to feel. She hates Humans and although over the years she has learned to control that hatred, she is always willing to help those who have been downtrodden or taken advantage of by Humans and will often use her Ranger skills and Outlander knowledge to assist those people trying to escape from the tyranny of Human society.
That gives me a window into her state of mind, how she thinks, how she acts - the psychology of the character.
All this will help me roleplay a multidimensional character.
Also, I now know where I need to put my numbers - I know her most important stats, what the game says is important and what Cecilia as a person would think is important.
I find its much better to approach character creation in this way - creating a character around the person you are envisioning and the history/past of that person, rather than picking Race, Class, Background and then trying to fit your vision arround those.
You should be fitting your characters race, class, background around your vision.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Personally I'd recommend a new player start with class as it helps them build build a character that's good at whatever they do. Nothing worse than a new player realising their monk with a high intelligence doesn't actually make use of that stats. There's also the fact most groups won't want you doubling up on classes, so you'll probably be aware of what's taken and what's left. No one cares if there is two dwarves or two urchins in the group. In terms of who your character is I don't believe race really makes a huge impact on your characteristics as much as background say. You can play a dwarf or elf however you want, maybe they grew up in a cosmopolitan city not taking traits often associated with that race. If someone says your out of character call them racist.
I am doing online(not paper). It is the part where it asks for your name and stuff of character
Paraphrasing Jimbo, figure out the "what" first. What class of character, and what type... melee, caster, mystical, religious, natural, criminal... some combo of those.
Who - what race, gender, and alignment. Only critical thing there is racial benefits during ability score generation, and later on through the levels.
How - now, you dream up your background, which is your "script" for roleplay. Broad strokes details, justification... build it all, and stick to it.
Ah, if you are doing your character creation online then the DDB creation wizard is awesome. I'm on mobile right now so the screens look a bit different for me but the order remains the same.
On the very first screen, choose "standard" and then put the tick in the option to show the help. On the home screen, just leave everything as is unless your DM has told you to change something and click on next.
Next is your race but you don't have to complete everything in order. If you would rather jump back and forth you can do that.
I would recommend doing; race, then abilities. But you can do them in any order. I tend to jump about around the wizard when I am creating characters as the way I create mine is based around their past/history and the way they act, think and so on.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.