Started D&D little while ago, so I don't know much about how to balance a character. I would just like some help on how to have a strong, but not broken character with decent stats.
I agree... as long as you don't roll exceptionally well or exceptionally poorly on your stats, it's kind of hard to make a really "unbalanced" character without really getting into the weeds of all the little things you can exploit.
For a new player, I would at least recommend sticking with a single class... I've seen a lot of new players who can't quite accomplish what they're picturing in their head with just one class so they try to build a multiclass character, but until you're decently familiar with the game it usually ends up just being kind of a mess that's less fun to play than just sticking with a single class the whole time.
Simply not multiclassing, and not picking a flying race or a race that gives a Feat at L1 will eliminate nearly all of the overpowered builds. If you stick to those limitations, optimize to your heart's content, and it won't be OP.
Put your best ability score in your class's primary stat, and your second highest in Constitution (with standard array, you can reliably start with a 16 after racial modifiers in both). This makes you good at your class's primary features, and gives you enough hit points to have some survivability.
If you aren't an Int-based spellcaster, or focusing on Intelligence-based skills, you can use that as your dump-stat (8 Int isn't dumb, it's just not academically inclined). The same goes for Charisma.
Dexterity and Wisdom are your most important saves, so you don't typically want to dump them if you can help it, though heavy armor builds often dump Dexterity in the name of Min-Maxing..
Talk to your DM. What might approach broken in one setting might be perfectly fine in another. All other considerations should come down to A) What will be the most fun and B) The conversation with the DM.
Talk to your DM. What might approach broken in one setting might be perfectly fine in another. All other considerations should come down to A) What will be the most fun and B) The conversation with the DM.
Good luck.
This. I’d add that many DMs have house rules about character generation, so you may make something that seems reasonable, but isn’t allowed at a certain table. Better to know the table rules before you start.
Talk to your DM. What might approach broken in one setting might be perfectly fine in another. All other considerations should come down to A) What will be the most fun and B) The conversation with the DM.
Good luck.
This. I’d add that many DMs have house rules about character generation, so you may make something that seems reasonable, but isn’t allowed at a certain table. Better to know the table rules before you start.
Very true. On the flip side, you might suggest something, the DM might suggest something that works better, and now everyone is happy.
Simply not multiclassing, and not picking a flying race or a race that gives a Feat at L1 will eliminate nearly all of the overpowered builds. If you stick to those limitations, optimize to your heart's content, and it won't be OP.
While that is generally true there are only a few feats that can lead to overpowered builds and having a feat can really help with a character concept so that is somethig to discuss with your DM.
There are also a couple of subclasses that can cause issues, by themselves the main ones being:
Moon Druids are insanely powerful at level 2 from level 4 or 5 onwards there are many more powerful options and in my opinion at many levels are one of the weakest druid sub classes.
Twilight clerics are extremely powerful across the board, many of the features help the whole party such as the ability to give everyone 300 foot dark vision so the rest of the party might not complain but others might still see it that you are a more powerful character (you have 300ft darkvision all the time) and the DM might have to adapt challenges that were based on limited darkvision. The biggest issue I see with this subclass is twilight sanctuary which provides far more temporary hitpoints than other features which can make other players choices null and void. For example if I was wanting to play a bard that could encourage people to endure more than normal I might choose a race that grants a feat at level 1 and choose inspiring leader, this is a fairly decent but not overpowered feat, which provides the whole party with temporary hit points once per short rest. At level 2 the twilight cleric can give a similar (usually more) temporary hit point to the whole party and top them up at the end of everyone's turn, at level 6 the twilight cleric can do it twice per short rest. The bard's inspiring leader is this a waste.
Being overpowered or weak is relative. As a new player is the rest of the party are experianced players trying to optimise their character it will be hard for you to keep up with them, even if you take someones advice to gat an exceptionally optimised character you just wont have the experiance to knw what to use when and how you can use features creatively. If you are playing with other new players that think it would be cool to have a inverted character such as a wizard who ddumps intelligence or a clumsy rogue whatever you do will be overpowered compared to the rest of the party (hopefully the DM would steer the new players away from the later option the novalty wears off VERY quickly)
As others have stated, pick a class, then a race, and look into them both, to se what they offer, to help make the character YOU want. The class will tell you what your prime stats are, so put your highest score in the stat that means most for your class (Int for a Wizard, Cha for Bards, Sorcerers, Paladins and Warlocks, Dex for Rogues, Monks and some Fighter builds, and so on. Second highest score MAY Con, for the hit points, or may be something different, as it BETTER helps the build (thinking Wis for a Monk, specifically, but other examples are out there)
Single class all the way for your first character, for sure. It simplifies things a bit and lets you learn the mechanics and such of play and character skills and abilities without throwing TOO much at you at once. Some subclasses get a bit more complicated with more options, but none are too overbearing to be able to learn. Deciding your class and subclass, think of what you want to bring to the party, melee damage, in the face of the enemy? Slinging spells or arrows, perhaps, from a safe distance? Slipping in and out of the fight, striking and retreating? Skill monkey, who opens doors, scales buildings and walls, or breaks in to or out of places? Most class/subclass combinations are able to fill a couple roles, in and out of combat, so there's a LOT of fluidity and flexibility possible.
Most important is to try and create a character YOU will have fun with. As others have said. the mechanics of 5E are forgiving enough that only extremes of optimizing and spoofing really stand out and hurt the overall game. Usually things work out that everyone contributes and does their thing.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Simply not multiclassing, and not picking a flying race or a race that gives a Feat at L1 will eliminate nearly all of the overpowered builds. If you stick to those limitations, optimize to your heart's content, and it won't be OP.
While that is generally true there are only a few feats that can lead to overpowered builds and having a feat can really help with a character concept so that is somethig to discuss with your DM.
Being overpowered or weak is relative. As a new player is the rest of the party are experianced players trying to optimise their character it will be hard for you to keep up with them, even if you take someones advice to gat an exceptionally optimised character you just wont have the experiance to knw what to use when and how you can use features creatively. If you are playing with other new players that think it would be cool to have a inverted character such as a wizard who ddumps intelligence or a clumsy rogue whatever you do will be overpowered compared to the rest of the party (hopefully the DM would steer the new players away from the later option the novalty wears off VERY quickly)
So much this. If the rest of the players are experienced and trying to optimize, then you'd have to really try to overshadow them.
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Started D&D little while ago, so I don't know much about how to balance a character. I would just like some help on how to have a strong, but not broken character with decent stats.
That is a very wide-ranging question.
It all depends on whether you are front-line melee, round-the-back melee (e.g. rogue), or a spell caster dealing either damage or healing.
There aren't many broken builds in D&D, other than stacking up on healing abilities and then trying to be the major damage dealer.
I agree... as long as you don't roll exceptionally well or exceptionally poorly on your stats, it's kind of hard to make a really "unbalanced" character without really getting into the weeds of all the little things you can exploit.
For a new player, I would at least recommend sticking with a single class... I've seen a lot of new players who can't quite accomplish what they're picturing in their head with just one class so they try to build a multiclass character, but until you're decently familiar with the game it usually ends up just being kind of a mess that's less fun to play than just sticking with a single class the whole time.
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Simply not multiclassing, and not picking a flying race or a race that gives a Feat at L1 will eliminate nearly all of the overpowered builds. If you stick to those limitations, optimize to your heart's content, and it won't be OP.
Put your best ability score in your class's primary stat, and your second highest in Constitution (with standard array, you can reliably start with a 16 after racial modifiers in both). This makes you good at your class's primary features, and gives you enough hit points to have some survivability.
If you aren't an Int-based spellcaster, or focusing on Intelligence-based skills, you can use that as your dump-stat (8 Int isn't dumb, it's just not academically inclined). The same goes for Charisma.
Dexterity and Wisdom are your most important saves, so you don't typically want to dump them if you can help it, though heavy armor builds often dump Dexterity in the name of Min-Maxing..
Talk to your DM. What might approach broken in one setting might be perfectly fine in another. All other considerations should come down to A) What will be the most fun and B) The conversation with the DM.
Good luck.
This.
I’d add that many DMs have house rules about character generation, so you may make something that seems reasonable, but isn’t allowed at a certain table. Better to know the table rules before you start.
Very true. On the flip side, you might suggest something, the DM might suggest something that works better, and now everyone is happy.
While that is generally true there are only a few feats that can lead to overpowered builds and having a feat can really help with a character concept so that is somethig to discuss with your DM.
There are also a couple of subclasses that can cause issues, by themselves the main ones being:
Being overpowered or weak is relative. As a new player is the rest of the party are experianced players trying to optimise their character it will be hard for you to keep up with them, even if you take someones advice to gat an exceptionally optimised character you just wont have the experiance to knw what to use when and how you can use features creatively. If you are playing with other new players that think it would be cool to have a inverted character such as a wizard who ddumps intelligence or a clumsy rogue whatever you do will be overpowered compared to the rest of the party (hopefully the DM would steer the new players away from the later option the novalty wears off VERY quickly)
As others have stated, pick a class, then a race, and look into them both, to se what they offer, to help make the character YOU want. The class will tell you what your prime stats are, so put your highest score in the stat that means most for your class (Int for a Wizard, Cha for Bards, Sorcerers, Paladins and Warlocks, Dex for Rogues, Monks and some Fighter builds, and so on. Second highest score MAY Con, for the hit points, or may be something different, as it BETTER helps the build (thinking Wis for a Monk, specifically, but other examples are out there)
Single class all the way for your first character, for sure. It simplifies things a bit and lets you learn the mechanics and such of play and character skills and abilities without throwing TOO much at you at once. Some subclasses get a bit more complicated with more options, but none are too overbearing to be able to learn. Deciding your class and subclass, think of what you want to bring to the party, melee damage, in the face of the enemy? Slinging spells or arrows, perhaps, from a safe distance? Slipping in and out of the fight, striking and retreating? Skill monkey, who opens doors, scales buildings and walls, or breaks in to or out of places? Most class/subclass combinations are able to fill a couple roles, in and out of combat, so there's a LOT of fluidity and flexibility possible.
Most important is to try and create a character YOU will have fun with. As others have said. the mechanics of 5E are forgiving enough that only extremes of optimizing and spoofing really stand out and hurt the overall game. Usually things work out that everyone contributes and does their thing.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
So much this. If the rest of the players are experienced and trying to optimize, then you'd have to really try to overshadow them.