I am in the process of creating a character for a short series. The character has a child, and I want to have with me on the adventure. A real-life child will play them. As my characters child is still young and not as physically developed as an adult, they are smaller, weaker and less experienced.
In other words, a perfect sidekick character.
As the person who will be playing my characters child is young IRL and new to D&D, having something easy to play with will also be better for their first time. However, I can't figure out how to help the kid who will be my in-game kid create a sidekick. They can make a full-blown character, but that would suggest that they are the equal of an adult, which they shouldn't be. Also, having a complete character might be complicated due to their IRL age.
The sidekick rules aren't supported on D&D Beyond, at all.
Oh, that sucks. Is there a way I can use the character creator then? Or are they left with only having a full-blown character?
This reply is not entirely accurate.
You can make a sidekick by using the homebrew monster tools. You select the appropriate monster as a template, then add the various sidekick traits to the stat block. You'll also need to add the 'sidekick' tag
Once you've done that, you can then add the sidekick to your character sheet under extras, there's even a sidekick category.
D&D Beyond currently doesn't have a sidekick builder like it does for PCs, but you can still make and add sidekicks to your character sheet.
If you go to the Extras section of your character sheet there is an option to add Sidekicks to your character, but it looks a bit limited. I'm not sure how customizable it is.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
If you go to the Extras section of your character sheet there is an option to add Sidekicks to your character, but it looks a bit limited. I'm not sure how customizable it is.
It displays any creature set up with the sidekick tag
You can add any monster as a side kick in the extras section after you pull up the digital character sheet. For simplicity since the child doesn't need to learn all the details of character management, just reskin a cr 1/8th Goblin as a character. They are already small and weak, have a small weapon and bow, and can hide as a bonus action, perfect strategy for a child.
As the game progresses you can switch the stat block for a fancier Goblin, than eventually a PC Goblin Rogue or fighter. Monster stat blocks are simplified for DM operation, it's a simpler tool than a full character with stats, skills, and so on. The child can use the help action to improve others checks rather than do checks themselves.
Thanks for your responses. Instead of going through all the trouble of homebrew and stuff, I just helped the kid playing my in-game kid make a character sheet on my account (they are 9 IRL and in-game)
“When she was born, her mom ran away with her from the other Drow because she didn't want her to become a servant in the church. They tried to find somewhere else to live, but nobody would rent them a house because they were Drow, so they ended up having to live on the street. When she was five, her mom got sick and got put in the hospital, so she had to go and live in an orphanage where she got bullied and picked on every day because she was a Drow until Abiyah (my character) took pity on her and saw that she was a good kid and not bad and adopted her so she wouldn't have to live there anymore.”
She wrote her backstory herself without any help, so it is cliche and stuff, but for a kid, I think it's super awesome, and she seems to have inadvertently hit upon the essence of being a Drow without realising it.
She wanted to have some magic, so we made her an Eldritch Knight, and she picked her spells - the ones she liked the names of. She also has a Shortbow and a dagger. She is only level 6, despite the rest of us being level 10, because she is just a kid, so she has had less time to learn her skills and get stronger.
Instead of getting ASIs, I gave her Feats. She liked the sound of the Lucky feat, so she got that, and I gave her the Skulker feat to help her hide. The DM provides every character with a free feat, so she also got the “Actor” feat because she liked the idea of copying other peoples voices and stuff.
Her ability scores are not rolled for or anything. I looked up some weaker monsters and used the stats from those as a guide; I gave her some manual ability scores that I thought fit. I gave her two higher one's, so she isn't just bad at everything and can enjoy her character. I asked the DM if those were fine, considering I had just made them up, and she said yes.
She searched on Google to find a picture for her character, and this is what she picked:
I told her that the girl in the picture looked a bit younger than her character, but she wanted to look like that, so that's what she got.
She is super excited about getting to play her character.
I thought I would give you a little update about what we ended up doing.
I just wanted to say that this is totally the spirit of getting new players into D&D, and you nailed it.
Well done. I would be extremely honored to play at one of your tables if this is the type of care you take in getting people into the hobby.
Thanks for your lovely comments.
We need the younger generations or our hobby will die, so I think it’s important to help people who genuinely want to play to make the best of their first experiences with D&D so that they keep coming back, time and time again.
On a purely selfish note, however, I feel good when I see other people enjoying playing in a world I’ve created, or a game I run, or a character that I’ve helped them make.
That's partly why I like being a DM so much.
I get a rush from helping people make something awesome and then from watching them enjoy playing it. Maybe because my first experiences were with a DM who took the time and genuinely loved D&D and wanted to share that love with the people at her table.
I don't know.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
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Hi,
I am in the process of creating a character for a short series. The character has a child, and I want to have with me on the adventure. A real-life child will play them. As my characters child is still young and not as physically developed as an adult, they are smaller, weaker and less experienced.
In other words, a perfect sidekick character.
As the person who will be playing my characters child is young IRL and new to D&D, having something easy to play with will also be better for their first time. However, I can't figure out how to help the kid who will be my in-game kid create a sidekick. They can make a full-blown character, but that would suggest that they are the equal of an adult, which they shouldn't be. Also, having a complete character might be complicated due to their IRL age.
We will be playing at level 10.
How can I help them create a sidekick on DDB?
Thanks
Forge
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
The sidekick rules aren't supported on D&D Beyond, at all.
Oh, that sucks. Is there a way I can use the character creator then? Or are they left with only having a full-blown character?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
This reply is not entirely accurate.
You can make a sidekick by using the homebrew monster tools. You select the appropriate monster as a template, then add the various sidekick traits to the stat block. You'll also need to add the 'sidekick' tag
Once you've done that, you can then add the sidekick to your character sheet under extras, there's even a sidekick category.
D&D Beyond currently doesn't have a sidekick builder like it does for PCs, but you can still make and add sidekicks to your character sheet.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
If you go to the Extras section of your character sheet there is an option to add Sidekicks to your character, but it looks a bit limited. I'm not sure how customizable it is.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
It displays any creature set up with the sidekick tag
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Side note: if you own Dragons of Icespire Peak on DDB you can pull up the stat blocks for the sidekicks provided there to use as a starting point.
You can add any monster as a side kick in the extras section after you pull up the digital character sheet. For simplicity since the child doesn't need to learn all the details of character management, just reskin a cr 1/8th Goblin as a character. They are already small and weak, have a small weapon and bow, and can hide as a bonus action, perfect strategy for a child.
As the game progresses you can switch the stat block for a fancier Goblin, than eventually a PC Goblin Rogue or fighter. Monster stat blocks are simplified for DM operation, it's a simpler tool than a full character with stats, skills, and so on. The child can use the help action to improve others checks rather than do checks themselves.
Hi, everyone
Thanks for your responses. Instead of going through all the trouble of homebrew and stuff, I just helped the kid playing my in-game kid make a character sheet on my account (they are 9 IRL and in-game)
Here is her character.
Ailidh Yassin - https://ddb.ac/characters/68223590/FFnZ8Q
She is a Half Drow, and her backstory is:
She wrote her backstory herself without any help, so it is cliche and stuff, but for a kid, I think it's super awesome, and she seems to have inadvertently hit upon the essence of being a Drow without realising it.
She wanted to have some magic, so we made her an Eldritch Knight, and she picked her spells - the ones she liked the names of. She also has a Shortbow and a dagger. She is only level 6, despite the rest of us being level 10, because she is just a kid, so she has had less time to learn her skills and get stronger.
Instead of getting ASIs, I gave her Feats. She liked the sound of the Lucky feat, so she got that, and I gave her the Skulker feat to help her hide. The DM provides every character with a free feat, so she also got the “Actor” feat because she liked the idea of copying other peoples voices and stuff.
Her ability scores are not rolled for or anything. I looked up some weaker monsters and used the stats from those as a guide; I gave her some manual ability scores that I thought fit. I gave her two higher one's, so she isn't just bad at everything and can enjoy her character. I asked the DM if those were fine, considering I had just made them up, and she said yes.
She searched on Google to find a picture for her character, and this is what she picked:
I told her that the girl in the picture looked a bit younger than her character, but she wanted to look like that, so that's what she got.
She is super excited about getting to play her character.
I thought I would give you a little update about what we ended up doing.
Forge XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
That. Is. ADORABLE!!!
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I just wanted to say that this is totally the spirit of getting new players into D&D, and you nailed it.
Well done. I would be extremely honored to play at one of your tables if this is the type of care you take in getting people into the hobby.
Thanks for your lovely comments.
We need the younger generations or our hobby will die, so I think it’s important to help people who genuinely want to play to make the best of their first experiences with D&D so that they keep coming back, time and time again.
On a purely selfish note, however, I feel good when I see other people enjoying playing in a world I’ve created, or a game I run, or a character that I’ve helped them make.
That's partly why I like being a DM so much.
I get a rush from helping people make something awesome and then from watching them enjoy playing it. Maybe because my first experiences were with a DM who took the time and genuinely loved D&D and wanted to share that love with the people at her table.
I don't know.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.