I'm really new to dnd, played 2 campaigns neither of which lasted long. I'd really like to get more into it, but especially with character creation, I get choice paralysis. Is this something a lot of people experience? Are there any solutions you'd suggest?
There is a lot of helpful people on here for all kinds of advise, troubleshooting, inspiration, and general help.
I understand where you are coming from, and have felt the same a few times before.
When I came back to D&D after 30 years, I was very overwhelmed at the options in the Character Creation process, although Character creation for me now is great fun and excitment.
For me the number one thing that helped me out was research. I did a LOT of reading, on all things related to the different character Species (Races), Classes and Subclasses. I also watched a lot of different videos that explain the differences between the three categories mentioned above. This gave me a much better grasp on the designed uses and limitations of each, so I felt much less overwhelmed.
Being new, I assume you do not own a lot of the books on DDB yet. Are you looking mainly at the options that are contained in the Free Rules?
If you have specific questions, I'd be more than happy to try and help.
Let me know...
Cheers!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
I'm really new to dnd, played 2 campaigns neither of which lasted long. I'd really like to get more into it, but especially with character creation, I get choice paralysis. Is this something a lot of people experience? Are there any solutions you'd suggest?
It depends. Are you:
Worried you'll build your character wrong? If so, there's not much to worry about. While it's possible to make bad choices, they're typically really obvious ones, like giving your character low values in their primary stats. D&D is a very forgiving game, and most of the character creation choices are viable in normal play. They may not be the "best", but they're good enough, and the rules let you tune your character as you go, and your DM will likely be willing to let you make bigger changes if your character isn't working for you.
(There's a whole ecosystem of people talking about the "best" character builds. They may safely be ignored. What matters is what you have fun with, not whether you're doing more damage per round under specific combat conditions.)
Or are there just too many choices that look like fun? Yes, unfortunately, you can only play one character at a time, but you'll have more chances in the future. If you really can't decide, roll a die. (And if you look at the result and want to roll again, you've just eliminated an option.)
That sounds silly, but it's solid advice. The shortest path between two points is always the Barbarian. The Barbarian is naturally good at everything a Barbarian needs to be good at. Need to cleave some guys in twain, straight down the middle like slicing a bun? Barbarians are great at that. Need to leap high or far, scale stuff, lift stuff, throw stuff? Barbarians are great at that too. Need to wear nothing but a loin cloth yet shrug of the blows of an ogre with a laugh and a shrug? Hey, guess what - Barbarians are great at that as well.
And the Bard is kind of the polar opposite: The bard is great at playing the game while being objectively kinda crap at everything in the game. You can buff, and heal, and fight, and cast spells, and manipulate feelings and get better prices at the shop (propably), but you're never really a powerhouse of anything. But no other class is as fun to play as the Bard, because the Bard literally has something for everything.
Also, there a Bard Tax Exemption: No one really expects anything in particular from the Bard, and for that reason, everything you do looks better than it really is. I played a Bard in Dragon of Ice Spire Keep (or whatever it's called) and way at the end, in the final battle, I finally got my rapier out, and attacked with it, and hit! For 8 points of damage. And the entire group was cheering me on, 'YAY' and 'GOOD JOB'.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
It can be easy to get overwhelmed at character creation - IME especially with spellcasters who have hundreds of spells to choose from. My suggestions are:
(1) Start with a single class martial character - Barbarian, Rogue, or Paladin are all really good choices that it is almost impossible to go wrong with.
(2) Start with an idea of what you want before looking at the options - I've often based my DND characters on fictional characters I like, for instance I did a Robin Hood-like character, a Legolas-like character, an Artemis-Fowl-like character.
(3) Do not look at "build" documents or Youtube channels, instead look for "guides" which will have general advice on what different character choices are good at. Use those to narrow down options to those at least moderately good at the kind of character you want based on #2.
(4) Once you've got it down to 2-3 options just go with your gut of based on what seems like it would be useful for your character to be able to do
Beware the "coolness" trap, lots of things seem like they could be really cool in some particular circumstance and then that circumstance just never materializes in game - I always recommend thinking about a few different situations and what you want your character to be able to do in them. E.g. in a negotiation with NPCs, in a fight against a horde of zombies, in a fight against a dragon, when exploring a dungeon, or in a heist or ambush situation. Note that your character doesn't need to be good in all of these cases, you should just have considered them and make sure you are happy with what your character can/can't do. For instance, I don't enjoy RPing a lot with NPCs but I do like figuring stuff out, so I prefer my characters to have good Insight (tell if the NPCs is lying) or Perception (notice if the NPCs is doing something fishy) rather than high Charisma.
A shortcut I often suggest is to think of some of your favorite characters in fiction, or historical people. Now try to figure out how to build a character around that.
Admiral Yi? Noble or soldier background fighter with Battle Master.
Ang from Avitar? Monk, Elemental Fist.
Sailor Jupitor? A few levels in Warlock, fay patron, and the rest monk.
Doom Slayer? Berzerker Barbarian or Zealot Barbarian. Dress him in the Prator Suit you can unlock.
The struggle is real with choice paralysis in D&D because the character design process does push you into specializing in just 1 or 2 things when there are SO many interesting things to choose from. For me, it helps to look at what the rest of the players are doing, and avoid duplicating their choices. While a themed party can be fun (all casters, or everybody's got a tragic backstory, or whatever), a character is usually more fun to play when they have a unique role in the party.
One of the things I've found is that characters don't always play the way that you might expect. It's also very true that how a character plays depends on the campaign and the table and the party. I've found guides like RPGBOT helpful in broadening my understanding, but also they don't always apply well to my table. A game where there's a combat every session and then a long rest is going to interact differently with your character than one where the adventuring day is long and twisty and full of RP and puzzles.
But the truth is - it's okay! As your character levels up, you'll be able to change the choices you expected to make. Worst comes to worst, ask your DM for help changing.
The questions I'd ask are:
Do you like smashing or do you like digging into the nuance of spells and features?
How do you feel about being hit? Is a high armor class important?
Do you like to act at range (like an archer) or in melee (toe to toe)
What kind of weapon do you want to wield?
Do you want to help your friends with their damage and healing or do you want to do damage?
What kind of failures make you sad (for example, I hate failing stealth rolls)
Make your big choices like this, and then use that to guide the choice of class and develop your character.
It can be great to do this with a knowledgeable friend, or your DM. Character creation can be a fun shared event.
And don't worry! You can always make another!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Oh boy I hope I'm doing this right.
I'm really new to dnd, played 2 campaigns neither of which lasted long. I'd really like to get more into it, but especially with character creation, I get choice paralysis. Is this something a lot of people experience? Are there any solutions you'd suggest?
Thank you, and have a lovely day :)
Greetings StowawayMacaw,
Welcome to the D&D Beyond Forums :)
There is a lot of helpful people on here for all kinds of advise, troubleshooting, inspiration, and general help.
I understand where you are coming from, and have felt the same a few times before.
When I came back to D&D after 30 years, I was very overwhelmed at the options in the Character Creation process, although Character creation for me now is great fun and excitment.
For me the number one thing that helped me out was research.
I did a LOT of reading, on all things related to the different character Species (Races), Classes and Subclasses.
I also watched a lot of different videos that explain the differences between the three categories mentioned above.
This gave me a much better grasp on the designed uses and limitations of each, so I felt much less overwhelmed.
Being new, I assume you do not own a lot of the books on DDB yet.
Are you looking mainly at the options that are contained in the Free Rules?
If you have specific questions, I'd be more than happy to try and help.
Let me know...
Cheers!
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
It depends. Are you:
Worried you'll build your character wrong? If so, there's not much to worry about. While it's possible to make bad choices, they're typically really obvious ones, like giving your character low values in their primary stats. D&D is a very forgiving game, and most of the character creation choices are viable in normal play. They may not be the "best", but they're good enough, and the rules let you tune your character as you go, and your DM will likely be willing to let you make bigger changes if your character isn't working for you.
(There's a whole ecosystem of people talking about the "best" character builds. They may safely be ignored. What matters is what you have fun with, not whether you're doing more damage per round under specific combat conditions.)
Or are there just too many choices that look like fun? Yes, unfortunately, you can only play one character at a time, but you'll have more chances in the future. If you really can't decide, roll a die. (And if you look at the result and want to roll again, you've just eliminated an option.)
My tip: Play something that begins with B.
That sounds silly, but it's solid advice. The shortest path between two points is always the Barbarian. The Barbarian is naturally good at everything a Barbarian needs to be good at. Need to cleave some guys in twain, straight down the middle like slicing a bun? Barbarians are great at that. Need to leap high or far, scale stuff, lift stuff, throw stuff? Barbarians are great at that too. Need to wear nothing but a loin cloth yet shrug of the blows of an ogre with a laugh and a shrug? Hey, guess what - Barbarians are great at that as well.
And the Bard is kind of the polar opposite: The bard is great at playing the game while being objectively kinda crap at everything in the game. You can buff, and heal, and fight, and cast spells, and manipulate feelings and get better prices at the shop (propably), but you're never really a powerhouse of anything. But no other class is as fun to play as the Bard, because the Bard literally has something for everything.
Also, there a Bard Tax Exemption: No one really expects anything in particular from the Bard, and for that reason, everything you do looks better than it really is. I played a Bard in Dragon of Ice Spire Keep (or whatever it's called) and way at the end, in the final battle, I finally got my rapier out, and attacked with it, and hit! For 8 points of damage. And the entire group was cheering me on, 'YAY' and 'GOOD JOB'.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
It can be easy to get overwhelmed at character creation - IME especially with spellcasters who have hundreds of spells to choose from. My suggestions are:
(1) Start with a single class martial character - Barbarian, Rogue, or Paladin are all really good choices that it is almost impossible to go wrong with.
(2) Start with an idea of what you want before looking at the options - I've often based my DND characters on fictional characters I like, for instance I did a Robin Hood-like character, a Legolas-like character, an Artemis-Fowl-like character.
(3) Do not look at "build" documents or Youtube channels, instead look for "guides" which will have general advice on what different character choices are good at. Use those to narrow down options to those at least moderately good at the kind of character you want based on #2.
(4) Once you've got it down to 2-3 options just go with your gut of based on what seems like it would be useful for your character to be able to do
Beware the "coolness" trap, lots of things seem like they could be really cool in some particular circumstance and then that circumstance just never materializes in game - I always recommend thinking about a few different situations and what you want your character to be able to do in them. E.g. in a negotiation with NPCs, in a fight against a horde of zombies, in a fight against a dragon, when exploring a dungeon, or in a heist or ambush situation. Note that your character doesn't need to be good in all of these cases, you should just have considered them and make sure you are happy with what your character can/can't do. For instance, I don't enjoy RPing a lot with NPCs but I do like figuring stuff out, so I prefer my characters to have good Insight (tell if the NPCs is lying) or Perception (notice if the NPCs is doing something fishy) rather than high Charisma.
A shortcut I often suggest is to think of some of your favorite characters in fiction, or historical people. Now try to figure out how to build a character around that.
Admiral Yi? Noble or soldier background fighter with Battle Master.
Ang from Avitar? Monk, Elemental Fist.
Sailor Jupitor? A few levels in Warlock, fay patron, and the rest monk.
Doom Slayer? Berzerker Barbarian or Zealot Barbarian. Dress him in the Prator Suit you can unlock.
The struggle is real with choice paralysis in D&D because the character design process does push you into specializing in just 1 or 2 things when there are SO many interesting things to choose from. For me, it helps to look at what the rest of the players are doing, and avoid duplicating their choices. While a themed party can be fun (all casters, or everybody's got a tragic backstory, or whatever), a character is usually more fun to play when they have a unique role in the party.
One of the things I've found is that characters don't always play the way that you might expect. It's also very true that how a character plays depends on the campaign and the table and the party. I've found guides like RPGBOT helpful in broadening my understanding, but also they don't always apply well to my table. A game where there's a combat every session and then a long rest is going to interact differently with your character than one where the adventuring day is long and twisty and full of RP and puzzles.
But the truth is - it's okay! As your character levels up, you'll be able to change the choices you expected to make. Worst comes to worst, ask your DM for help changing.
The questions I'd ask are:
Make your big choices like this, and then use that to guide the choice of class and develop your character.
It can be great to do this with a knowledgeable friend, or your DM. Character creation can be a fun shared event.
And don't worry! You can always make another!