hi all,

Brand new to this DnD Beyond thing.  And first time DM (as an adult, at least).  I'm going to be playing with a bunch of newbies to RPGs, and would love a 'cheat sheet' to speed up character generation.  Something that explains each characteristic, the bonuses and elf gets, why it's cool to be a rogue, what darkvision is, etc.  Very high level, but with enough info to help COMPLETELY new players. Customizable would be great, so I can edit out weird stuff like birdcatmen and such. Aside from just typing up what's in my players handbook, I'd be most grateful if someone could point me to resources I could print out and hand to each player, to help them sort through the myriad choices they're presented with when they get started.

Thanks in advance!

Have you created a character via our tool here?

https://www.dndbeyond.com/my-characters

I find it meets most of your requirements regarding explaining features and walking the user through step-by-step with their required options.  As for 'why it's cool to be ____', I would suggest visiting the class or race pages, as they do a good job explaining the characteristics and lore behind them.

For example, Rogue:  https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/classes#Rogue

These pages can be printed as needed.

Best I can think of is to point them toward the basic rules, but it is quite a bit more than a "cheat sheet."

The character creator has help text, and features like darkvision are already links which can be clicked to learn more. There's the steps in Basic Rules, there's the pages with information about the race and class.

There's also this : https://www.dndbeyond.com/essentials/creating-a-character

You merely need to help guide them through the steps and they'll be fine. 

If they need help with creating a level 1 character using the Character Build, I have a guide I link to in my signature below that might be helpful. 

Thanks all.  Very helpful.  These set me on the right path.

Cheers!