D&D 5E First character---need help

[Sacrosanct]

Seriously, min/maxing shouldn't be your reason to play a dragonborn monk. You should play one because it's freaking cool! Now I want to play one lol

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I prefer boosting wis and dex. Con is always good too, but a lot of monk abilities are focused on wis and dex. Keep them high and you won't have to worry much about your health, because nothing will be able to touch you.

With standard array, stats are probably 15 dex, 13 con, 14 wis. Maybe 14 Str, 10 int and 9 charisma. Maybe 10 Str, 12 Int and 11 Cha. Maybe something different.
In that case I would increase dex and con. After that dex. Then wis. 14 str is definitely not wasted, since jumping around is in your job description.

If he uses point buy, I would go for 14 dex, 14 Con, 14 Wis (costs the same as 15/14/13) and increase dexterity. IF he is ok with low Int or Cha and mediocre strength, 15 Dex, 14 Con, 15 Wis would be in order, but that only leaves 10,9,10 for his other stats. Its ok too. But depends on what you want.

An interesting choice would be 15/15/13/10/10/11. which allows increasing dex and wis first and con and cha at a later time.

 

[Miladoon]

Seriously, min/maxing shouldn't be your reason to play a dragonborn monk. You should play one because it's freaking cool! Now I want to play one lol

That is pretty cool.

If a player gets to freaky about the numbers they can make a human monk variant with Magic Initiate and the proper spell to simulate dragon breath. Then just put that cool image in the character description.

I think it is also important to find out if you are rolling stats.

 

[Fimbria]

As others have said, the Dragonborn race is not the best for the Monk class... BUT! It also doesn't suck. Place your best score in Dex and your next two best scores in Con and Wis. After that, pick whatever background inspires you. Some people insist on only taking backgrounds with Sneak and Spot. It doesn't make much difference until much later on, and you can learn new skills if you want. Pick whatever monk path you find appealing, follow the instructions in the book for building a character, and your character will come out OK.

Others have already said all that. How about some more general advice?

Don't stress out about optimizing your character. Unlike computer games, D&D has a human running the game. Every DM adjusts the difficulty of the game to account for the players. If your character comes out weak, your DM might hand out an extra magic item to bring you up to par. Likewise, if the DM feels that you aren't being challenged, they may throw in a few extra goblins or use some extra-cruel combat tactics. Once you get past the first couple of sessions, all of the optimizing you do comes to the same difficulty curve anyway. (If your DM claims that they don't curve the difficulty to make the game more enjoyable for all, consider replacing your DM with a real computer.) The bottom line is, you don't need an optimized character. Modest competence is good enough.

There is a chance that your character will die. (Or maybe not; some people prefer to play in a death-free game.) You should talk to your DM about basic expectations like character fatality rate. If death is a thing in your game, don't bother write a hundred pages of backstory for a character that probably won't live to see level five. Actually, don't write a hundred pages of backstory in any case, unless you and your friends enjoy reading each other's novels between turns. The average character has a couple of simple personality traits and a vague motivation that they can shout while skewering a goblin. If you think you can express more than that, kudos to you, and write up the story when you're done.

 

[Azurewraith]

I think everything that can be said has been covered And i hope you enjoy playing an interesting char. What i will say is on back story keep it simple my latests characters backstory was a series of around 5bullet points that quickly explained the who he is and why he is adventuring along with how he attained his class levels i have then expanded on these points through play and some Dms will throw in a personal quest or two based on your history.

 

[dmnqwk]

If you are looking to make an interesting story that's one thing, but imagine a player creating a monk with a Str 18, Dex/Wis 10 and then wondering why they were getting hit every time and facing being dead a lot? Or why their character couldn't dodge arrows in a cool manner like other Monks? Or why nobody ever gets stunned by their facepunches.

It's okay to tell people you can be whatever you want but you have to remember DnD is still a game, not just a story. The story may drive many of the features but it's still rooted heavily in numbers.

I am all for choosing interesting ideas but at the same time I don't like people picking their race and class as the basis behind their character any more than you hate them being told a dragonborn monk is a less than awesome character - If their idea is "I wanna be a dragonborn monk to be cool and awesome and run about doing high kicks" are you absolutely sure they should be a monk? Why not be a Tavern Brawler Fighter instead? Or a Wild-Shaped Druid?

I stand by my belief that if you're going to say "I want to be this and this" I will always reply "You can, but you'll have a tougher time doing the cool things you'd normally associate with the class." If you believe that's being negative that's okay, I am happy to continue helping people choose their race and class based partially on numbers, after they first describe what they want their character to do to me (You'd be surprised how often their race, or class, will change once you begin a proper character creation process like that)

 

[Herobizkit]

I'm of the camp that Race and Class and Rule of Cool > Mechanics, because Mechanics can be altered by the DM. I find that 5e is far more forgiving than previous editions of D&D.

STR 18 WIS 10 DEX 10 Monk is a pretty extreme example, but this is the very example where the DM goes, "Yeah, okay, buuuut..." because said player doesn't have the knowledge of how her stats apply to the D&D 'game' side.

Also, Dragonborn Monks rule.

 

[Azurewraith]

If you are looking to make an interesting story that's one thing, but imagine a player creating a monk with a Str 18, Dex/Wis 10 and then wondering why they were getting hit every time and facing being dead a lot? Or why their character couldn't dodge arrows in a cool manner like other Monks? Or why nobody ever gets stunned by their facepunches.

It's okay to tell people you can be whatever you want but you have to remember DnD is still a game, not just a story. The story may drive many of the features but it's still rooted heavily in numbers.

I am all for choosing interesting ideas but at the same time I don't like people picking their race and class as the basis behind their character any more than you hate them being told a dragonborn monk is a less than awesome character - If their idea is "I wanna be a dragonborn monk to be cool and awesome and run about doing high kicks" are you absolutely sure they should be a monk? Why not be a Tavern Brawler Fighter instead? Or a Wild-Shaped Druid?

I stand by my belief that if you're going to say "I want to be this and this" I will always reply "You can, but you'll have a tougher time doing the cool things you'd normally associate with the class." If you believe that's being negative that's okay, I am happy to continue helping people choose their race and class based partially on numbers, after they first describe what they want their character to do to me (You'd be surprised how often their race, or class, will change once you begin a proper character creation process like that)

Rather extreme example wich has been avoided by asking here the op knows to Max his dex n Wis even if there 16s instead of 18s its not that huge 5e is care bear edition, unless you try to kill a PC or miss read something they wont die.

I would roll stats if I was in ops boat tbh

 

[Sacrosanct]

I think everything that can be said has been covered And i hope you enjoy playing an interesting char. What i will say is on back story keep it simple my latests characters backstory was a series of around 5bullet points that quickly explained the who he is and why he is adventuring along with how he attained his class levels i have then expanded on these points through play and some Dms will throw in a personal quest or two based on your history.

This just came up the other day. Wish I could remember who said it.

"Your backstory should never be more exciting than the story you're creating while playing."

 

[Miladoon]

Extreme example agreed, but I find the philosophy is still flawed. Imagine telling a player that they should invest in 16 dex/wis because that is the best way to do it, and their first fight they take a dirt nap. THAT, is not an extreme example. It happens...a lot.

It is harder to predict the outcome in 5E. The results are way too swingy and you may not be using all your cool features every combat. I guess a DM could help a player focus on arrow deflecting if they know the players are going to fight archers.

This gives me flashbacks to 2008. Telling someone to play something based on numbers and mechanics is like someone telling my fighter to be sword and board and if you wand to be a ranged fighter, go ranger.