D&D 5E How complex do you like your character creation process?

How complex do you like your character creation process?

  • 1. Super simple. Even 5E's streamlined process is too much.

    Votes: 11 11.5%
  • 2. Simple. 5E's streamlined process fits me well and I use it.

    Votes: 8 8.3%
  • 3. Standard. 5E's typical process, with choices I can think about, is enough.

    Votes: 31 32.3%
  • 4. More. I like 5E's process, but I think we could have some more choices.

    Votes: 28 29.2%
  • 5. Mega-More. I find 5E's process unsatisfying and I want a lot more choices!

    Votes: 11 11.5%
  • 6. Other. Please explain in your post.

    Votes: 7 7.3%

Charlaquin

Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
Good. So the examples I mentioned, such as a Hunter Ranger's Hunter's Prey, would be meaningful to you since your choice determines your path (so to say)?

View attachment 148984
Yes, I would just like to see more choices like this one for characters of all classes. Making one choice like this at every level would be pretty perfect in my opinion. No change needed at levels where you already get to make such a choice, such as ASI levels.
 

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EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way
Poll is a bit frustrating because it treats 5e as the perfect baseline and everything else as a contrast to it.

For me, 5e is already near rock-bottom simplicity. I have played games with simpler character creation...but not much simpler, and I found those games extremely confining. (Fortunately, in one case, it was a one-shot anyway, so I wasn't required to linger long-term, and in the other, I was able to work with the very excellent DM to make things fit my tastes better. It was still not ideal, but it worked.)

I prefer a game where you do make a lot of choices...but you don't make a lot of choices all at once. You pick a class and a focus within that class (subclass, "build," Optional Class Feature, whatever), a few starting actions, a feat or two. Each level thereafter, you make 1-3 new choices, with some levels allowed to be a bit beefier (e.g. choosing an advanced class).

It's why 4e almost always worked very very well for me. Of course, I'm a nerd, so I go look for advice online (because why not? It's free and usually very good for the price!) that helps streamline the process a bit. But I'm still usually left with 1-3 choices, each of which is about picking among two to four Definitely Quite Good things.

But by treating 5e as the hard-coded median, I'm basically forced to say "Mega-More," even though I consider that a grossly inaccurate depiction of my position. For example, I generally really DO NOT like absolute free-form games (like Werewolf or Savage Worlds) because having 87,000 things to choose from and ALL of them are POTENTIALLY useful leaves me with crippling analysis paralysis. Paradoxically, by being more free to choose whatever I want, I become less able to actually make any choices at all.

I don't want the "barely ever make choices" that 5e offers. Nor do I want the "CONSTANTLY MAKE A ZILLION CHOICES" that pure freeform games offer. I want a rich and diverse field of choices, doled out at a steady pace. To use a weeklong vacation as an analogy: I don't want "choose from 3 full-day meal plans that repeat every day all week," nor "assemble your favorite options from our list of over 7000 entres, 3000 appetizers, and 2500 desserts! Plan each and every meal to your exact specifications!" I want, "Each meal, you can pick one of three options, chosen daily from our chef's list of fifteen gourmet dishes for each of breakfast, lunch, and dinner." Enough choice that every day, I've got new things to think about, but not so many that I'm lost in a sea of barely-different variations.
 

I voted 3, although it's probably closer to 3 1/4 - I think 5e could add a little more to character creation, especially for fighters and rogues.

Just looking at making a new 1st level character here, although if we were looking across all 20 levels, I'd probably say 3 and a bit for full casters and 4 and a bit for martials.
 


payn

He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
I voted Mega More because 3E/PF1 are still my favorite (although far from perfect).
 

Jacob Lewis

Ye Olde GM
Character creation in 5e is about as complex as choosing Green Elf or Red Warrior in Gauntlet. Nothing wrong with that. Don't shoot the food!
gauntlet-legends-n64-character-select.jpg
 



Vaalingrade

Legend
Voted 5. I need choices. I need to make my character who they are at level 1. Additional levels are character development, not finishing process.

And niche protection-based limitations aren't one fire enough for me.
 

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