D&D General Character Advancement Poll

[Maxperson]

You are missing an option.

I base my character build options solely on what I believe will cause the most unhappiness in other players.

That's totally why I make Con based Bard/Paladins.

 

[the Jester]

I voted "Basic Plan". Here are some examples of my 5e pcs and the level of planning I did for each:

Friendo, gnome wizard: Didn't plan anything at all, high stat was Con, at various points considered multiclassing with monk, barbarian, etc. Never did. No plan at all, really.

Sax, dragonborn fighter: No plan for character build, but planned to carve out a LE tyrannical kingdom.

Inasaidia: Planned to be a cleric/fighter/magic-user in the classic style (except human). So far so good- clr 3/ftr 1/wiz 2. What's next? Every level is a big debate, but right now, wizard 3 looks good so I can take the spell darkvision so our party can go lightless. We're in the Underdark- I suspect we might be playing Night Below, but I am not sure (we've had some boxed text, we're in the UD, but I've never read it, so I don't really know... fingers crossed!).

 

[Li Shenron]

I voted "Outside of chargen, no plan. I make that decision when it happens in game": give me the starting character level and I'll make my PC fit with that as if it was also the ending character level. If we ever go beyond, I'll think of what's next, and if we don't then I'll have no regrets and I would not have wasted any good ideas.

 

[DeviousQuail]

I find I rarely deviate before level 8. I don't multiclass much and I like getting my most important attribute to 18 so level 4 is usually spoken for. Once I get to level 8 things start to open up. I feel free to grab most feats, if I'm a spellcaster I feel like I've got enough mojo to deviate and still be functional, and if I'm more martially inclined I've probably got all the class defining features so branching out can start to offer more.

 

[Blue]

I like to theorycraft, but I don't play those builds. I can't say I'm without plan - I'll usually get a general idea like "I want to be a more tanky/defendery paladin" and then take levels as they come.

Including things like my fearless halfling bard (and you bard haters would change your tune (heh) if you played with Jillian Briarfoot, First Herald of Pal) got saved due to our cleric successfully doing a divine intervention so I'm going opt be taking some divine-class next level even though it messes up my pure caster progression.

As a side note, I'm going to put out a hot take that may be unpopular: In 5e, party synergization is a more powerful optimization force than white-room builds, so players who pick a build and stick to it are choosing the ultimately weaker option towards total party power in pursuit of some personal power.

 

[Yaarel]

Interesting. With zero votes for total plan, the "theoretical builds" of character optimization do seem "theoretical".

 

[Sacrosanct]

Interesting. With zero votes for total plan, the "theoretical builds" of character optimization do seem "theoretical".

Or they start at high level right off the bat

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

My favorite thing about Dungeons and Dragons is watching my characters (and my worlds) take on a life of their own as they develop over time without much of a plan from me

 

[Yaarel]

My favorite thing about Dungeons and Dragons is watching my characters (and my worlds) take on a life of their own as they develop over time without much of a plan from me

Yeah, and the way that players interact with each other, in unexpected ways, the shared world takes on a life of its own, in a way that is almost like separate person at the gaming table.

 

[Oofta]

I have some general ideas where I might head but I don't really make any final decisions until about 15 minutes before the game starts and I realize the DM told us to level up before the next session. Then I just panic and choose whatever is bright and shiny or let the cat walk on my keyboard while I have DndBeyond up to see what happens.

Which might explain why I have a paladin wizard rogue.