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]

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.

Well that would be tricky in our hypothetical situation.

And no. I'm doing the opposite of taking a single data point. I'm pointing to the MOUNTAIN of spells, abilities, class ribbons, racial abilities, etc. that caster heavy parties get that can play seriously merry hell with the notion of balance and adventure design.

 

[Clint_L]

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.

Can the troll be in a pit and unable to get out to reach the casters?

Edit: So what's a likely encounter situation? Presumably, it is some kind of wilderness or maybe lair situation. Let's assume it's wilderness, like a swamp. There's cover, since the two groups haven't spotted each other miles away. As a DM, I'm going to play the troll like the cunning predator that it is - not super smart, but certainly smarter than an animal and capable of planning. So it's not going to simply rush headlong and be kited like a brainless mob in World of Warcraft - it knows it can regenerate and will seek to take advantage of that.

The players are going to come up with some kind of plan. Do their characters even know about trolls and regeneration? Some players (most of my experienced ones) try to play their characters from the perspective of what they would realistically know. Regardless, will their plan be any good? They've got a VERY tall order in front of them (writing as someone who very nearly TPKed a level 2 party with a single shambling mound not long ago).

Once they start the fight, they'd better be able to finish it, fast. Or now they're being stalked by a completely recovered troll, and probably out of their meagre spell slots...

As a DM, I just don't create this scenario for a level 1 party (unless the obvious answer is to run away, and they have ample chance to do so). Trolls are no joke. And I completely, totally disagree with the underlying premise that spell casters break the game. I have heaps of experience of playing and watching D&D, and I haven't seen it. At very high levels you can make the case, with groups that are hardcore optimizers, but even there I will maintain that the most effective party has a mix of classes and specialities. But at level 1? Pshaw.

The original claim was that a party of level 1 spell casters cake walks over a troll. We all know that's just not the case unless the DM specifically designs the encounter to give the party a massive advantage. Like it's trapped in a deep pit.

 

[CleverNickName]

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.

Of course it's plausible; we roll dice to deliberately make things uncertain. I'm saying that it is incredibly unlikely.

At my table, though, it's literally an impossibility because I wouldn't put the party in a situation where they had to fight a troll at 1st level. If the party encounters a troll at that level, before they're even powerful enough to cast the Find Familiar spell, it's obviously a set-up for something other than combat. Maybe I expect them to pay a toll, or dupe the troll into letting them pass, or talk it into joining their mission, or something.

Now a CR 2 ogre, on the other hand...that sounds like a fun and rewarding challenge.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Can the troll be in a pit and unable to get out to reach the casters?

Sure, run any scenario you want, as long as the parameters are described in the AAR.

 

[Zubatcarteira]

I recalled Dragon Heist having a troll fight earlier on, and checking it you fight one at level 2, but it's weakned to 44 HP, and there's a CR 9 guy holding it off while you deal with some stirges, then you can just throw oil to set it on fire.

One troll I'd say is too much for a level 1 party, unless they have a lot of space to kite and faster PCs. I think by level 2 it should be doable depending on the classes they got.

 

[Maxperson]

Well that would be tricky in our hypothetical situation.

And no. I'm doing the opposite of taking a single data point. I'm pointing to the MOUNTAIN of spells, abilities, class ribbons, racial abilities, etc. that caster heavy parties get that can play seriously merry hell with the notion of balance and adventure design.

Tasha's is going to end in 1 round. That troll gets a save with advantage every time it takes damage. With 5 casters that's several rolls with advantage in the first round, unless the bard just happened to roll worse than everyone except the troll. The odds are exceptionally good that the trolls stands back up in round 1 and eats a caster or two. Round 2 if the bard rolled badly with initiative.

As for why people are assuming close combat, it's for the same reason that you are assuming range. Folks assume what is most beneficial in a hypothetical scenario. The reality is that it is 100% dependent on the game in question. The troll is as likely to come out from behind a big tree or up from under swamp water as it is to be seen from range. There's no way to really tell how far away it will be.

All we know for sure is that even if a caster happens to have Tasha's, and happens to memorize it instead of something else, and even if the troll fails the save, the spell will still end very, very quickly as the troll gets hit.

 

[Hussar]

The original claim was that a party of level 1 spell casters cake walks over a troll. We all know that's just not the case unless the DM specifically designs the encounter to give the party a massive advantage. Like it's trapped in a deep pit.

Ahh, now I see the issue. We're going to get pedantically stuck on the word "cake walk" and ignore everything else.

Fair enough. The troll fight would be a close thing but my money is on the all caster (including half caster mind you) party. Is that better? Can we now move on from over dissecting a fairly pointless thought exercise?

 

[Hussar]

All we know for sure is that even if a caster happens to have Tasha's, and happens to memorize it instead of something else, and even if the troll fails the save, the spell will still end very, very quickly as the troll gets hit.

Again, missing the point.

It's not that the party MUST HAVE Tasha's after all. There's a shopping list of spells here that can cause the Troll to lose actions. Dissonant Whispers is a good one. Command (presuming the cleric speaks Giant) also shuts to Troll down for a round. Entangle slows the Troll down, potentially, although not a great option. Animal Friendship to have a pet to bolster the party isn't unreasonable. Never minding that caster classes sometimes come with pets. Color Spray and Sleep become options in later rounds after the troll's been softened up a bit. Thunderwave to push the troll back a bit and get everyone out of reach. The list is extensive and we're only talking about FIRST LEVEL CASTERS. This is the absolute weakest this party can be.

But, notice how suggesting that the encounter starts a single movement away get's brushed away with "let's start the troll in a pit". Every example just gets twisted. Is starting an encounter 50-60 feet away really that implausible? Seriously?

 

[Oofta]

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.

So you're assuming a wide open field with combat starting from more than 30 feet away. With clear line of sight. Also assumes a 2nd level or higher wildfire druid ( a subclass I've never seen one) and ignore the saves with advantage every time it takes damage.

Have you run this scenario? Because the math doesn't add up. Could the party win? Maybe. If I were running this, there is no way it would be a cakewalk no matter what mix of classes are involved. Even a a CR 2 is likely to KO a PC or two, a lowly ogre does 11 damage on a hit which will take out most casters.

So what are the parameters? How many PCs, what class mix? I'm assuming first encounter of the day, since 1st level casters only have 2 spell slots.

 

[Ancalagon]

Just for the record, many level 1 parties would confidently handle a single CR 3 boss monster. Using them is not strange. My next campaign starts with a CR 5 Troll.

We were a level 2 party, not level one, but we destroyed a CR3 creature (a manticore). I know level 1 to 2 is a power jump, but I too feel a CR3 creature for level 1 is not that bad.

Besides, violence is just one of many solutions. And if you are being clever, diplomatic, your level isn't that important anymore.