D&D 5E D&D Beyond Releases 2023 Character Creation Data

D&D Beyond released the 2023 Unrolled with data on the most popular character choices for D&D. The full article includes a wide variety of statistics for the beta test of Maps, charity donations, mobile app usage, and more. However, I’m just going to recap the big numbers.

The most common species chosen by players are Human, Elf, Dragonborn, Tiefling, and Half-Elf. This contrasts with the stats from Baldur’s Gate 3 released back in August 2023 where Half-Elves were the most popular with the rest of the top five also shuffling around.

Also, keep an eye on the scale of these charts as they’re not exactly even. It starts with just over 700,000 for Humans and 500,000 for Elf, but the next line down is 200,000 with the other three species taking up space in that range. This means the difference separating the highest line on the graph and the second highest is 200,000, then 300,000 between the next two, 100,000 between the next, and finally 10,000 separating all the others.

Top classes start off with the Fighter then move onto the Rogue, Barbarian, Wizard, and Paladin. The scale on this chart is just as uneven as the last, but the numbers are much closer with what appears to be about 350,000 Fighters at the top to just over 100,000 Monks in next-to-last with under 80,000 Artificers. This contrasts far more from the Baldur’s Gate 3 first weekend data as the top five classes for the game were Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, Rogue, and Bard.

And the most important choices for new characters, the names. Bob is still the top choice for names with Link, Saraphina, and Lyra seeing the most growth and Bruno, Eddie, and Rando seeing the biggest declines from last year.

Putting that together, it means the most commonly created character on D&D Beyond is Bob the Human Fighter. A joke going as far back as I can remember in RPGs is, in fact, reality proven by hard statistics.

 

[Hussar]

One Tasha's Hideous Laughter failed save and troll dies. It's prone (granting advantage to attacks), and can't take any actions. It's got a Wis save of -1, meaning that it needs probably about a 14 or better to save. Pretty good odds that it's not only going to be incapacitated, but, it's going to stay there for a while. Vicious Mockery means it's got disadvantage on attacks. Fire Bolt removes regeneration. Or a Create Bonfire spell, nice ongoing damage there. Oh, and let's back things up with Dissonnant Whispers to force it to move away, drawing opportunity attacks, and, of course, forcing it to spend another round not attacking as it makes its way back to the party.

See, I absolutely KNOW you don't have these problems. Why would you? You don't face groups like this. And, since you've talked about how your groups are never caster heavy, you have no real experience with this. But, see, this baffles me. You don't have any direct experience with this sort of thing, by your own admissions. You don't have caster heavy groups. So, when people who DO have caster heavy groups tell you their experiences, why do you simply get to tell me that I couldn't possibly have this experience? Why not actually believe what people are telling you?

People who actually DO have caster heavy groups aren't lying to you. They really aren't. They are reporting their experience. They have actually DONE this. They have actually played this sort of thing out.

But, of course, the experience doesn't line up with what yours, so, it must never have happened right?

 

[CleverNickName]

You think a group of five level 1 casters is going to cake walk over a troll?

You guys are playing a very different version of D&D than we are! Unless I specifically designed the encounter to give significant advantages to the party, they would be annihilated in a couple rounds. Two would likely be KOed, possibly insta-gibbed, in the first round.

Hey, it can totally happen! If the troll rolls the absolute minimum hit points (48), and rolls last on initiative, and all five casters score critical hits with their firebolt cantrips...that troll is a gonner without even getting a turn! See? Completely broken!

 

[Oofta]

Hey, it can totally happen! If the troll rolls the absolute minimum hit points (48), and rolls last on initiative, and all five casters score critical hits with their firebolt cantrips...that troll is a gonner without even getting a turn! See? Completely broken!

Also ignore that it gets a save with advantage every time it takes damage. Assumes it lost initiative and didn't already KO a couple of PCs, since it will take a 1st level caster out with 1 swipe and likely hits 75% of the time (again, assuming they didn't spend their 1 of 2 spell slots to cast mage armor or shield). But hey, everybody is gathered around next to it so when it does inevitably make the save it gets to KO a couple more.

I mean, if you can keep it from acting for 4 rounds or so I guess it could work. Good luck.

 

[Clint_L]

One Tasha's Hideous Laughter failed save and troll dies. It's prone (granting advantage to attacks),

To melee attacks; you just said that the party was all spell casters. Ranged attacks are at disadvantage. And what are they going to do, firebolt it to death? They're now making firebolt attacks against AC 15 with disadvantage, and every round they don't do any fire or acid damage its regeneration kicks back in.

and can't take any actions. It's got a Wis save of -1, meaning that it needs probably about a 14 or better to save. Pretty good odds that it's not only going to be incapacitated, but, it's going to stay there for a while.

And it has that save with advantage: "The target has advantage on the saving throw if it’s triggered by damage." So, odds are you get 1-2 rounds. Of fire bolting it. With disadvantage because it's prone. For 5.5 damage per attack. Oh, and..."trolls, enraged, will attack individuals making acid and fire attacks against them above all other prey."

A level 1 spell caster is going to have 7-10 HP, so each claw attack takes one out and the bite has about a 50% chance of taking another out. Your cleric might have a good AC, other than that, most of the party is probably 15 or less. Some could pop shield spells of course but...how many level 1 spell slots do they have? And even with a shield spell and +3 dex a level 1 wizard is still getting hit 50% of the time. Basically, as soon as the troll gets anyone into melee, they are being shredded. Meanwhile, they have to blast through its 84 HP while making sure not to let it regenerate, while doing mostly cantrip attacks that average around 5 damage each, at best.

Vicious Mockery means it's got disadvantage on attacks.

Great. What's the AC on that level 1 wizard? 13 at best? So it has three attacks, at +7 to hit, with disadvantage on its next ONE attack, because that's all vicious mockery does per the spell description: "on the next attack roll it makes."

Fire Bolt removes regeneration.

And does 5.5 damage, on average.

Or a Create Bonfire spell, nice ongoing damage there.

For 4.5 damage. For as long as the troll sits in it.

Oh, and let's back things up with Dissonnant Whispers to force it to move away, drawing opportunity attacks, and, of course, forcing it to spend another round not attacking as it makes its way back to the party.

So, best case scenario, if it fails its save, you've triggered opportunity attacks from your non-existent melee characters, and bought yourself a round, doing 10 points of damage and using one of your two spell slots.

See, I absolutely KNOW you don't have these problems. Why would you? You don't face groups like this. And, since you've talked about how your groups are never caster heavy, you have no real experience with this.

I have posted the rosters for a bunch of my recent groups, which have tended to be broadly balanced, though some are more caster heavy than others - no two groups are identical. But none of them would be likely to survive a troll at level 1. Let alone "cake walk" over it like your all caster group would allegedly do.

But, see, this baffles me. You don't have any direct experience with this sort of thing, by your own admissions. You don't have caster heavy groups. So, when people who DO have caster heavy groups tell you their experiences, why do you simply get to tell me that I couldn't possibly have this experience? Why not actually believe what people are telling you?

I've been DMing for more than 40 years. I have a lot of experience with all sorts of compositions. You are making claims that are nonsensical, and don't even seem to understand the spells that you are citing. An all caster group of level 1 characters is going to cake walk a troll. OK. I'm sure you have tons of experience with that.

People who actually DO have caster heavy groups aren't lying to you. They really aren't. They are reporting their experience. They have actually DONE this. They have actually played this sort of thing out.

I don't believe you. Point blank. And your descriptions above are why.

But, of course, the experience doesn't line up with what yours, so, it must never have happened right?

It doesn't line up with basic math. So unless you've built in substantial advantages for the party, as I previously mentioned, there's no way an all caster, level 1 party cake walks over a troll. Unless there are dozens of them, I suppose.

 

[Hussar]

Yup. And there it is.

People with zero experience actually playing out this kind of thing presuming that those of us who have are simply incompetent or lying.

Why is the troll in melee range in round 1? Why is a party of 5 casters, probably with a couple of pets - after all a Fire Circle druid gets his fire spirit thing at 1st level, and I'm sure there are other caster classes who get the same - all gathering up within reach of this troll?

But, sure, the players are all completely incompetent. Have no idea what they are doing with their characters.

 

[Hussar]

I don't believe you. Point blank. And your descriptions above are why.

Well, thank you for at least being honest enough to just flat out tell me I'm lying to my face.

 

[CleverNickName]

Yup. And there it is.

People with zero experience actually playing out this kind of thing presuming that those of use who have are simply incompetent or lying.

Why is the troll in melee range in round 1? Why is a party of 5 casters, probably with a couple of pets - after all a Fire Circle druid gets his fire spirit thing at 1st level, and I'm sure there are other caster classes who get the same - all gathering up within reach of this troll?

But, sure, the players are all completely incompetent. Have no idea what they are doing with their characters.

You shouldn't assume that people who disagree with you are doing so out of ignorance or incompetence. Sometimes we just respectfully disagree, that's all.

Why wouldn't the troll be in melee at round 1? Trolls are intelligent, and they're just as stealthy and perceptive as a 1st level caster...why wouldn't the troll have surprise? Trolls have darkvision; why didn't the troll sneak up on them in the night? More to the point: why are we assuming that the party controls the starting conditions of this battle?

These are fair questions.

 

[Hussar]

Not everyone who disagrees is being dishonest.

Why wouldn't the troll be in melee at round 1? Trolls are intelligent, and they're just as stealthy and perceptive as a 1st level caster...why wouldn't the troll have surprise? Why didn't the troll sneak up on them in the night? More to the point: why are we assuming that the party controls the starting conditions of this battle?

Yes, absolutely. A troll with surprise is going to obliterate a 1st level party. Yuppers.

How about we presume a bit more realistic set up - the two parties, neither with surprise, start a double move away from each other.

Of course, let's not forget that in our caster heavy party, they've likely got a familiar or two to back up perception and whatnot. So, starting an encounter at say, 50 feet? Seems pretty reasonable. I dunno about you, but, it's a pretty rare encounter that starts in melee range. There's typically a round of movement in there. I've got five chances to beat that troll's initiative, and most of the casters have something that's going to slow it down, if not outright stop it in its tracks.

But, this is a ludicrous example anyway. It really doesn't matter what the example is. No matter what, every single time, it never matters. Any scenario will simply get twisted and turned fifteen different ways in order to "prove" a point. The point isn't this particular example. Or this particular spell. It's the whole thing. It's the fact that it's actually plausible that a 1st level caster heavy party could beat the troll. It's the fact that when you have caster heavy parties, they simply take over the campaign to such a huge degree. They have so many options. So many choices. So many things they can do that the DM is forced to rework the campaign in order to make anything an actual challenge.

We've talked lots of times about doing exploration. This is why exploration in 5e doesn't really work for me. The casters simply bypass nearly everything. Good grief, the Order of Scribes wizard's Manifest Mind is a permanent (or well, unkillable, needs a dispel magic to be removed and can be brought back with one spell) intangible sensor. It can walk through walls. Who needs a scout anymore? I've got something that can literally walk through walls and never be killed. Out to a range of 300 feet. I can see through every door, wall, find every secret door and discover every monster. All from the front door of the dungeon.

Exploration? What's that? I might as well just hand the adventure to the player since they're going to know every inch of it before the adventure even starts.

 

[Clint_L]

If I had to design a level 1 party that was going to beat a troll, I would start with a pair of barbarian tanks, and a pair of life clerics to keep them standing as long as possible. I like the bard just for vicious mockery. A dex-based fighter, or a ranger, or a rogue, or a warlock, to actually deliver some damage from range. And a wizard or sorcerer for fire bolt. Maybe two. And it could still go sideways VERY quickly.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Yup. And there it is.

People with zero experience actually playing out this kind of thing presuming that those of us who have are simply incompetent or lying.

Why is the troll in melee range in round 1? Why is a party of 5 casters, probably with a couple of pets - after all a Fire Circle druid gets his fire spirit thing at 1st level, and I'm sure there are other caster classes who get the same - all gathering up within reach of this troll?

But, sure, the players are all completely incompetent. Have no idea what they are doing with their characters. [emoji1745]

They're disagreeing because of two things:

1. You aren't countering their objections. Perhaps you can give us, as best as you remember, a round by round breakdown of exactly what happened?

2. You're taking a single data point, and extrapolating it to be the norm, which isn't a particularly good statistical method (unless you actually send in trolls against 1st level caster parties unusually often). I'm curious what the aggregated results would be if this scenario were run in simulators, or if posters here play it out at their tables next game. In fact, I suggest people do either of these and report back to this thread with their results.