Any assistance with character building for a relatively new player?

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Lividlegends

First Post

• Mar 19, 2017

• #1

Hello! And sorry if this is in the wrong thread? I'm new to this site almost as much as I am the game.

My friend has been trying to get me into Dungeons and Dragons for quite some time and I have been making stories for characters ever since. I have played tabletop games before but nothing, I guess you could say professionally made as they were more 'do whatever and have fun, no skills or stats attatched.'

I have been rummaging through the D&D 5e handbook reading about the races, classes, spells, backgrounds, everything and have been trying to make a decent character but am struggling quite a bit. In looking up guides the more popular ones say why certain thing are good but I have trouble understanding why and they show things listed as 'EECP' and such in which I have 0 idea what they mean.

So, I was wondering if someone more experienced with D&D could help me build a level 1 character (I know what I want just not how to execute it nor the knowledge to do so), and how they would pan out up to the level 3 archtype.
What I want is, what guides say, is a less optimized route at a ranger which is a dual wielding, Dex based beast master and I want help making it work.

If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated as I'm not very well off on doing it alone.

 

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WhosAChaoticGoodBoy

Explorer

• Mar 19, 2017

• #2

Yo! Welcome.

I think others will offer plenty of advice on "THE BEST" TWF Dex Beastmaster Ranger*, but I'll just put out there no matter how mechanically accurate the character looks on paper, you'll still have a lot to learn about how they function in practice. This, to me, is part of the fun of D&D; that no matter how prepared you are to take a specific (narrative/mechanical) direction the game gives you opportunities to discover things about your character you never might've known unless challenged.

*full disclosure: I don't think there's such a thing as "the best" anything in D&D. You can certainly specialize/minmax/optimize whatever you want to call it, but that's all secondary to having a character that has realistic, compelling motivations imo. One strategy you might consider is thinking about your character's backstory and how their personality traits might translate into the choices you have to build your ranger

 

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Lividlegends

First Post

• Mar 19, 2017

• #3

Yea that's what I was trying earlier, building the character around my story for them.

Thank you for the advice! I hope I can make something immersive for my first real run, finding a game is the hardest part about that I suppose.

I just hope I can come up with something decent for what apparently is an awkward set of designs for this character I wanna build.

Sent from my VS986 using EN World mobile app

 

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WhosAChaoticGoodBoy

Explorer

• Mar 19, 2017

• #4

I should've asked earlier, what specific choices are you on the fence with at lvl 1?

 

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Lividlegends

First Post

• Mar 19, 2017

• #5

Debating race, skill proficiencies, favored enemy & Terrain (more depends on the game right?)

Been thinking Variant human for race because of the free feat so I could take Dual Wielder level 1 which would help my concept for the character I want.

Sent from my VS986 using EN World mobile app

 

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WhosAChaoticGoodBoy

Explorer

• Mar 19, 2017

• #6

Variant human is a solid choice. If it's most important that your character handle two weapons as effecitvely as possible, Dual Wielder (feat) + Two-Weapon Fighting (fighting style) are must-haves.

If you can hold off on the feat until lvl 4, a Wood Elf is another great choice (hard to say whether the racial features are necc. better)

Skill proficiencies/favored terrain/favored enemy can be whatever makes sense with their backstory. If you have a clear idea where they're from and what their normal routine was this should be straightforward

Aside from that, Perception, Stealth, and Insight are generally good choices. UA ("Ranger Revised") let's you pick humanoids as a favored enemy which seems also seems like an easy pick

 

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Lividlegends

First Post

• Mar 19, 2017

• #7

The very basic concept for my character is someone who lives alone in the forest (up until he finds great need to venture with others for the campaign of whatever game I get into) but always willing to share company here and there be it anyone comes by. Only ever hunting smaller game and leaving larger beasts in peace if possible without leaving himself in danger.

So I suppose favored terrain would be forests. As for enemy I have no idea but humanoids seems really good in general but hardly fits with the concept.

As for race, I don't assume smaller weapons like short swords or daggers are bad so being a wood elf and holding the feat til level 4 may be a better idea than Variant human.

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ppaladin123

Adventurer

• Mar 19, 2017

• #8

Humanoids: orcs, goblins is a good choice for the first "favored enemy" since orcs and goblins are pretty common enemy types at low levels. Undead works too since there are tons of those at pretty much any level.

The dual wielder feat means you can use rapiers instead of shortswords...that is d6--> d8, or an average of 1 point extra damage per hit. That plus the bonus AC are nice and you may want to pick it up eventually but it isn't crucial to have right out of the box.

You'll want to consider getting warcaster or resilient (con) since you will be in melee and possibly concentrating on spells and you don't want to lose concentration and ths the spell because you failed a constitution check.

EEPC is "the elemental evil player's companion," which is a free, official pdf with more spells/races. It includes a very useful spell for beastmaster rangers that you may want to pick up. It is here: https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/EE_PlayersCompanion.pdf

 

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Lividlegends

First Post

• Mar 19, 2017

• #9

So that's what EEPC is! Thank you. I'll check it out as Im currently working on the character. I wasnt certain if it was official or not so thank you for filling me in. As for favorite enemy suggestions I'll see which of them fits best with the background.

Sent from my VS986 using EN World mobile app

 

ppaladin123

Adventurer

• Mar 19, 2017

• #10

If you come from a forest there are lots of enemies that might make sense....like fey (evil woodland spirits), humans (destroying the forest), or beasts (wolves, bears, whatever). I am sure your DM can give you a sense of the sort of campaign it is going to be.