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.

 

[Oofta]

Thank you. That is so disingenuous to make the scale the original post had. It greatly skews the visual representation.

I assume they did it for presentation to keep the labels in the grid lines. Totally skews the visual comparison though.

 

[el-remmen]

She uses sanctuary on the Barbarian (or herself) if either of them successfully grapple the Troll

Personally, I'd rule that maintaining a grapple counts an "attack" for the purposes of sanctuary - holding someone against their will is an aggressive action. I think it falls into the spirit of not only attack but the much broader "spell that effects an enemy creature." It may not be a spell, but it is an aggressive action that effects an enemy creature. But that is neither here nor there.

 

[ECMO3]

Personally, I'd rule that maintaining a grapple counts an "attack" for the purposes of sanctuary - holding someone against their will is an aggressive action. I think it falls into the spirit of not only attack but the much broader "spell that effects an enemy creature." It may not be a spell, but it is an aggressive action that effects an enemy creature. But that is neither here nor there.

Sanctuary is not canceled by holding someone against their will or by aggressive action. It is specifically canceled by casting a spell that effects an enemy, damaging another creature or attacking.

The "damaging another creature" is debatable, but since it is a spell, if the Barbarian is not specifically moving the creature into the fire then I would say he is not the one damaging him (the Wizard who is concentrating is). This is also why I don't have him move him out and back in to get more damage.

 

[ECMO3]

This photo of a horse is about 30' away, the horse is in front of the tree that has no leaves and there's essentially zero cover.

It STILL isn't very obvious. Think about how much less obvious it would be if it was 8' further away behind the tree.

I think that particular horse is part Wood Elf, and as such it can hide when only lightly obscured by natural phenomina.

 

[TheSword]

Ok I went ahead and Monte Carloed this. I used fixed initiative (Rogue, Wizard, Barbarian, Troll, Cleric) I varied all the other d20 rolls and all the damage through 1,000,000 iterations. I did this twice to ensure this was a large enough sample for consistent results. I included crits.

Party:
Elf Rogue - 8 Strength, 16 Dex, Longbow, AC14, 8hps, athletics +3, always gets sneak attack (unless grappling),
Elf Barbarian - 16 Strength, 14 dex, 16 Con, AC15, 15hps, athletics +5
Elf Cleric - 16 Strength, 16 Wisdom, AC18, 8hps, athletics +3, Sanctuary, Shield of Faith, Toll The Dead
Elf Wizard - 16 Dex, 16 Intelligence, 6hps, Create Bonfire, Firebolt, Catapult spell with 2 vials of oil

Ruleset:
Characters started 20 foot apart and Barbarian moved into melee on first turn. The PC strategy was to grapple the Troll and hold him on the campfire cast by Wizard. The Barbarian would start the grapple, if he died the Cleric would move up and grapple, if she died the Rogue would move up and grapple. If Rogue died the Wizard would just keep Firebolting. While the Cleric was alive, I put sanctuary on grappler if the Troll was grappled and Shield of Faith on grappler if target was not yet grappled (subject to spell slot availability).

Rogue: Rogue gets sneak attack with Longbow every turn (readying an action until Barb closed on the first turn) until Barbarian and Cleric went down, then tries to grapple.

Wizard: Wizard cast create Bonfire under Troll (save for damage) on first turn. On second and third round she catapulted a flask of oil. She uses Firebolt after 3rd round.

Barbarian: Barbarian goes into Rage on first turn and grapples (with advantage), once the grapple is in place Barbarian dodges on subsequent turns. When he is not sanctuaried he moves the Troll off and back on the fire for extra 1d8 damage on the Barbarian's turn. Once sanctuary is up he does not move Troll back and forth. When Rage goes down he restarts it once on the next turn

Troll: Troll is pretty stupid. He attacks the person trying to grapple him. If that person goes down he moves to the next person in line. He keeps attacking after successfully grappled until the grappler goes down and does not use an action to break the grapple. If he is in the grappled state at the end of his turn he takes campfire damage. If he is not in the grappled state he moves off of the fire.

Cleric: As long as barbarian is alive Cleric uses Toll the Dead as an action. If the Barbarian dies she takes on the grappler role. Like the Barbarian, she dodges as an action if she successfully grapples (and survives through the Troll's turn). She uses sanctuary on the Barbarian (or herself) if either of them successfully grapple the Troll while the Cleric still has spell slots. She uses SOF on the Barbarian or herself if the Troll is not yet grappled and she still has spell slots or if the Troll is grappled and the grappler is already is sanctuaried and she has spell slots.

Outcome - most likely to least likely
Party wins with no losses: 72%
Troll wins, TPK: 15%
Party wins, Barbarian dies, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard survive: 10%
Party wins, Barbarian and Cleric die, Rogue and Wizard survive: 2%
Party wins, Barbarian, Cleric and Rogue die, only Wizard survives: 1%

Average combat length
Median combat length: 4 rounds
Mean combat length: 4.6 rounds

Very interesting. Not surprised that the result was overwhelmingly troll killed. Also worth noting that presumably in your outcomes dies means KOd and not perma death?

The very short duration of the fight leads me to believe that there would be alternatives to bonfire being the main method. After all it’s only 1d8 fire on a failed save. Not needing to successfully grapple the troll frees up for more defensive or aggressive actions.

I think with D&D 2024 it gets even easier for PCs with first level feats. Anyone can have those 1st level spells or extra hp etc. A Paladin or fighter can easily have shield or a barbarian have infernal rebuke.

 

[Oofta]

Sanctuary is not canceled by holding someone against their will or by aggressive action. It is specifically canceled by casting a spell that effects an enemy, damaging an enemy or attacking.

The "damaging an enemy" is debatable, but since it is a spell, if the Barbarian is not specifically moving the creature into the fire then I would say he is not the one damaging him. This is why I don't have him move him out and back in to get more damage.

Sanctuary say nothing about damaging, it says attack. A grapple is an attack and therefore ends the spell. Technically I guess you could say that you are just "maintaining" the grapple but I rule otherwise. So I agree with @el-remmen on this one.

 

[TheSword]

Considering I've never even seen a single 5e campaign gain more than two levels before it collapsed (usually as a result of a TPK due to a DM throwing excessively challenging stuff at the party), and usually not even get one, waiting for level 8 is not tenable in my experience.

When it has happened to six different campaigns (not counting the ones that TPK'd before the end of session 2) that contained zero common players beyond myself, yes, I do feel qualified to say that. And no, I am not a risk-taking player. Rather the antithesis. I am congenitally risk-averse.

Every single DM has insisted that we start at level 1 (no matter what) and ensured that the first level takes 3-4 sessions minimum. I've specifically described this problem in numerous threads at this point. The only time I've ever gotten higher than 3rd level was when I joined a game starting at 5th. It didn't last past 6th. (Can't call it specific sessions because it was a PbP game, but it only lasted about a month.)

I’ll be honest, this has blown my mind. Genuinely shocked considering the amount you post about 5e and how absolutely certain you when you do post.

That said, it sounds like a major problem with the groups you’re playing with. My gut feeling is you need to find some more stability. I’ve probably played about a dozen campaigns in 5e and only one failed to get to level 7+. (Rime of the Frostmaiden because of an unfortunate encounter with a woolly mammoth).

There’s something fundamentally wrong if your groups can never get past 2 levels. Either join a new group and do your level best to help folks learn the game. Or try and join an existing game and do your darnest to fit into their ideal. Until you get more settled. Starting at higher levels isn’t going to fix the problem of your groups not lasting. Sounds like there are structural issues there first. If you’re not playing in published campaigns I would definitely be looking for those. Simply because they are better at maintaining continuity and try hard to keep them on track and coherent. Particularly as a party.

 

[ECMO3]

Very interesting. Not surprised that the result was overwhelmingly troll killed. Also worth noting that presumably in your outcomes dies means KOd and not perma death?

Yes. If the Troll goes for the kill shot attacking until death it only changes it slightly - 13% TPK down from 15%.

Basically, regardless of how this plays out, if the Barbarian goes down you probably are going to lose the entire fight.

The very short duration of the fight leads me to believe that there would be alternatives to bonfire being the main method. After all it’s only 1d8 fire on a failed save. Not needing to successfully grapple the troll frees up for more defensive or aggressive actions.

I don't think so, for two reasons.

1. Catapult with oil is the highest damage thing they are using (3d8+5) and the Troll will move off the bonfire if you are not holding him there. If the Troll is not on the fire you lose 4.5 fire damage from the bonfire plus the 5 fire damage form the oil that turn. Additionally he will regen 10 on his turn in round 2 and 3 regardless of what anyone else does, because the Wizard is the only one who can stop that. Considering the saving throws for Catapult; the bonfire + catapult + oil causes a combined net 30.45 damage on average in rounds 2 and 3. Without being on the fire and able to regen this changes to a net -6 damage from Catapult alone (including the regen), or a 36 point swing in favor of the Troll over 2 rounds. Additionally, he will regen any time after that when the Wizard misses with Firebolt in future rounds. You could replace Catapult with Burning Hands, that would eliminate the regen, but it would still be about 13 damage down over those two rounds compared to using Catapult+oil+bonfire. You could make this up with attacks by the Barbarian, but you are talking 3 or 4 points more on average over 2 rounds, not a lot more and your Barbarian would be MUCH more vulnerable.

2. If the Barbarian is attacking he won't be Dodging and Sanctuary won't work. The Barbarian is basically a bag of hit points that delays the Troll from doing anything else. Rage+Dodge+Sanctuary+Shield Of Faith makes his 15hp play like they are 70. The Barbarian survived 72% of the time, with that being over 4 rounds on average. If he is attacking in Rage without Sanctuary and Dodge starting in round 2, there is only a 22% chance he will survive round 2 (29% if he gets Shield of Faith) and a 3% chance he will survive round 3 (8% with SOF).

The party is way overmatched here in general using traditional "default" tactics (not counting a running ranged fight). The only way to really win this is to find the corners and push against the limits of bounded accuracy and specific weaknesses. Rage+Dodge+Sanctuary+SOF does this. It is specific to this enemy and this party. Put a CR5 with a higher wisdom in there, or an enemy with an AOE and this particular tactic would not work. Maybe another tactic would.

 

[ECMO3]

Sanctuary say nothing about damaging, it says attack. A grapple is an attack and therefore ends the spell

They issued an errata that changed Sanctuary. Damage is not in the original paper PHB printing, but it is in the digital versions and I believe in newer paper printings as well where it states "lf the warded creature makes an attack, casts a spell that affects an enemy, or deals damage to another creature, this spell ends."

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The fact that grapple is an attack is why I only cast Sanctuary after the Troll was already grappled (as explained in the setup) at which point the Barbarian would not be attacking it any more.

IF the grapple did not succeed the Cleric did not cast Sanctuary, in this case she cast SOF instead on round 1, since the Barbarian would be "attacking" again next turn.

.Technically I guess you could say that you are just "maintaining" the grapple but I rule otherwise.

There is no action required to maintain a grapple. It is not attacking, it is not affecting an enemy with a spell and it is not damaging another creature, so RAW it does not break Sanctuary. You can rule otherwise at your table, but that is not RAW.

With the Grapple in place the Barbarian Dodged, which is none of these things.

 

[Oofta]

They issued an errata that changed Sanctuary. Damage is not in the original paper PHB printing, but it is in the digital versions and I believe in newer paper printings as well where it states "lf the warded creature makes an attack, casts a spell that affects an enemy, or deals damage to another creature, this spell ends."

Player's Handbook

Everything a player needs to create heroic characters for Dungeons & Dragons the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

www.dndbeyond.com

The fact that grapple is an attack is why I only cast the spell after the Troll was already grappled (as explained in the setup) at which point the Barbarian would not be attacking it any more.

IF the grapple did not succeed the Cleric did not cast Sanctuary, in this case she cast SOF instead on round 1, since the Barbarian would be "attacking" next turn.



There is no action required to maintain a grapple. It is not attacking, it is not affecting an enemy with a spell and it is not damaging another creature, so RAW it does not break Sanctuary. You can rule otherwise at your table, but that is not RAW.

With the Grapple in place the Barbarian Dodged.

I disagree and rule differently.