D&D 5E People of the forums I need your help to build a character

[Cruller_rodman]

Please heed my call, I am but a young noob who has had dreams of playing D&D (for about 10 years actually) and I have finally found a group at my job, my first game will be Tuesday, we're going to run a tutorial campaign with pre-made characters as only our DM is an experienced player but after that we'll start an adventure with our own creations.

I have all the rule books but I must admit I'm not very technically minded, most of the times I need some experienced to explain something rather than me read it from a book, like warhammer and 40k I know every rule off hand but only from seeing it or having it explained by someone, I'm getting side tracked now what I was hoping for is someone to give me a few tips on character creation or maybe even offer up a few good builds.

I have a basic basic backstory that I'm working on;
Sir Lancelot Justice (not his real name it's just what he tells people)
He's a variant human knight/fighter
However he holds a secret, he's not actually a knight he was peasant who came across a dead knight and he stole his armour, he has two squires that he pays to make sure they keep up the ruse

Any help you fine people can offer would be awesome, as I said I'm very new to all this so if I'm doing this completely wrong please be gentle. I apologise for any spelling mistake, I'm typing this on my phone so expect ba few "holy shots" to be thrown in. I won't be able to reply for a while either because I'm about to start work, but thank you for your help your all beautiful

 

[rgoodbb]

Seriously dude, Just pick from the quick build section of the fighter chapter with chain armour, shield and longsword. Pick any of the fighting styles that suits. Choose maybe the Charlatan background and have a little Charisma to pull off the lie. You might not have the money to have a couple of squires, but maybe you have something over them. Work with your DM and have great fun! 5e is simple and enjoyable to play. Don't worry about tactics this early, you can't really go wrong. Ps. Strength and Constitution are pretty important to you.

 

[Cruller_rodman]

Seriously dude, Just pick from the quick build section of the fighter chapter with chain armour, shield and longsword. Pick any of the fighting styles that suits. Choose maybe the Charlatan background and have a little Charisma to pull off the lie. You might not have the money to have a couple of squires, but maybe you have something over them. Work with your DM and have great fun! 5e is simple and enjoyable to play. Don't worry about tactics this early, you can't really go wrong. Ps. Strength and Constitution are pretty important to you.

Ok awesome that great advice thank you, I think I'll go with that then

 

[ccs]

Choose maybe the Charlatan background and have a little Charisma to pull off the lie. You might not have the money to have a couple of squires, but maybe you have something over them.

I was under the impression he'd chosen the variant Nobel background: Knight. It grants you 3 non-combatant npc followers.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Something that I tend to suggest to my players is that they hire a squire or generic horseboy, who can look after the horses while they go into dungeons. 1 gold a day for a chap who has Animal Handling and doesn't take any EXP; bargain.

 

[Giant2005]

I think a Valor Bard would be a much better fit for your concept, but you really don't want to have to deal with Spellcasting during your first game.

 

[Shiroiken]

I like the setup, and it's pretty easy to make mechanically.

Charletan is a good choice of background. For skills, Athletics and Deceptions seem the most important (to fake being a Knight). For the other two, Perception is always a strong choice, and I'd suggest Animal Handling for your horse.

Fighting style is up to you. I'd suggest using a shield and longsword with the Defensive Fighting style, because AC will keep you in combat longer. You could also use a greatsword with Great Weapon Fighting, which will allow you to deal huge amounts of damage.

Since you're a variant human, you'll have a feat. If you use Great Weapon Fighting, you should take Great Weapon Master, because it's an amazingly strong feat. Conversly, you could use a Halberd or Glaive and take Polearm Master, which is also very good. Other good choices: Heavy Armor Master, Lucky, and Resilient (make sure to pick Dexterity or Wisdom).

That should get you started. Once you begin play, just do what seems best at the time. Don't worry about making mistakes, because you will. It's all about having fun, and based on your character idea, you've already got the idea of what the game is about. Have fun!!!

 

[Cruller_rodman]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone your all being a huge help, I must admit I'm not expert on all the rules as we will be going through them on Tuesday, I like the idea of taking the animal handler and I chose variant human because I heard feats can be a real game changer.

Shiroken I think you have a good idea of what I'm trying convey I don't want my character to be a OP muscle tank I like a bit of comedy relief in it because I know my group will go for the serious character route and try and make them as strong as possible so I want to change things up a bit

 

[Sezarious]

If you're not worried about being as strong as possible and want EVERYTHING to revolve around your false knight-ery then I suggest you use your feat to purchase 'actor', which aside from the plus 1 to charisma, will give you advantage on all your deception rolls (roll twice pick the highest), for any roles relating to "trying to pass yourself as another person".

Furthermore, you can study the voices of other people or the voices of creatures and after a minute, mimic them (again, you'll get advantage on it). So if you ever sat and listened to a boss talking, you could manipulate their minions out of sight.

I'm thinking you would use the variant knight background as a base for a custom background if you want free squires right? HOWEVER, if you're happy to pay them instead, I would suggest the charlatan background as mentioned by rgoodbb and shiroiken to gain access to the false ID feature, which includes paperwork AND aquaintances (the aquiantences could be your squires). This means you might have squires you pay who GENUINLY believe they're helping a knight, but you're actually no more than a con artist. Maybe they'd be really pissed off if they found out the truth. Don't EVER tell the other players if possible. Try and conceal things in and out of game for extra immersion (discuss with your DM first of course, make sure he's okay with that).

I second the suggestion of you being at least part bard. I'm thinking that you should try and deceive others into believing you are actually a paladin! You multiclass fighter+bard and you use a horn as your instrument (like boromir with his warhorn) decorated as a holy symbol and every time before you use it you 'call upon your god for aide'.

You go to a max of level 3 in bard and go with 'lore bard' if you multiclass for the ability to detract 1d6 from an enemy save or whatever (a very powerful feature, fun to use). In addition, as a lore bard youll gain sudden access to 3 more skills or tools of your choice.

You choose spells that match that of a paladin then you go up in some fighter levels and maybe go with battlemaster, which would definitely be best for your concept (trip attacks, goading your enemy, disarming them, helping your allies to move around the battlefield or out of danger etc).

Now, i can promise you, if it's a fun character you want who's a bit of a trickster, bard or at least a bard combo is for you. If you multiclass like this, you won't lose much on hitpoints compared to a pure fighter. The actor feat is also a LOT of fun, though it isn't always useful excepting the charisma bonus (crucial for bards) it becomes useful more often than you would think, WAAY more useful than you would think in suburban settings.

Finally in support of the bard role i'd say you sound suited to playing a bard. It sounds like you're hoping to play a fun character rather than min-max, so, you're all about the entertainment. So are bards!

Stats i'd go the following for point-buy:

Str: 15
Dex:10
Con:13
Int:10
Wis:12
Cha:13

Racial increases: Str +1, Con+1,
Actor Increase: Cha +1

Becomes:

Str: 16
Dex:10
Con:14
Int:10
Wis:12
Cha:14

These stats would work well for you and would also suit a Paladin. Whether you want to start as a bard or as a fighter 1st level is up to you. I'd suggest maybe bluffing your way through 1st level as a bard, then grabbing a fighter level straight away at second, but up to you. You could start as a fighter, but i'd suggest prepurchasing all the bard gear for convenience. Maybe he becomes so obsessed with his lue it kind of manifests as a bard level?

 

[ravenkith]

Please heed my call, I am but a young noob who has had dreams of playing D&D (for about 10 years actually) and I have finally found a group at my job, my first game will be Tuesday, we're going to run a tutorial campaign with pre-made characters as only our DM is an experienced player but after that we'll start an adventure with our own creations.

I have all the rule books but I must admit I'm not very technically minded, most of the times I need some experienced to explain something rather than me read it from a book, like warhammer and 40k I know every rule off hand but only from seeing it or having it explained by someone, I'm getting side tracked now what I was hoping for is someone to give me a few tips on character creation or maybe even offer up a few good builds.

I have a basic basic backstory that I'm working on;
Sir Lancelot Justice (not his real name it's just what he tells people)
He's a variant human knight/fighter
However he holds a secret, he's not actually a knight he was peasant who came across a dead knight and he stole his armour, he has two squires that he pays to make sure they keep up the ruse

Any help you fine people can offer would be awesome, as I said I'm very new to all this so if I'm doing this completely wrong please be gentle. I apologise for any spelling mistake, I'm typing this on my phone so expect ba few "holy shots" to be thrown in. I won't be able to reply for a while either because I'm about to start work, but thank you for your help your all beautiful

Sooooo......

Basically you want to play as William Thatcher from 'A Knight's Tale'?

I'm guessing his theme song will be an acoustic version of 'We Will Rock You' by Queen.

That said, the Charlatan background will be a must for you, as it has the 'False Identity' feature, and if you want to keep things simple, either Fighter or Paladin would be recommended.

Paladin does come with find steed as an available spell at later levels, and a paladin with shield mastery can be excellent.