D&D 5E (2014) I want my players to ignore class in character creation

[aco175]

5e decision tree found, here. Says it is a quick and easy guide. I found some a bit chuckle-ish.

 

[aco175]

On a side note, this is their 3rd time playing? They might want to explore the classes and play more than 2 of them before having you be super flexible to whatever they can come up with. It seems like you are at a different point in experience than they are and to them more everything is still new.

I recall my son learning the game and playing with my group. We have out habits and style different than other tables which he never played at. Our first convention he was exposed to more styles and came home ready to copy a PC he seen play at the convention. He had fun with it and learned something along his path of gaming.

 

[Oofta]

If I were to do this I'd have them start out with basically commoners with no special abilities. The problem is that having a totally blank page while also having the ability to do more than an average person gives people both too much freedom and not enough guidance.

You can play a session or three with little or no combat, while doing any number of things like solving mysteries, exploring the town they're in, perhaps growing up as kids together. But once you get into conflicts where magic or hitting someone over the head with something sharp and pointy is needed to resolve the situation I think the idea falls apart. With no guidance, no rules, of course I'm going to ask if I can fly or shoot laser beams out of my eyes, why wouldn't I? I have no way of knowing what the limits are.

 

[GrimCo]

One. But does it matter? They are tasked with creating a concept, unlimited power not a concept.

It matters cause some concepts are not mechanically possible at lv1. You don't start with all class abilities at lv 1 and then those abilities improve as you level up, instead you gain new abilities as you level up.

Let take example. Daring swashbuckler duelist with classical setup of rapier and main gauche that uses his innate magic abilities and channels it into the weapon to make weapon flame up or can use that magic to boost his defensive or physical capabilities. Outside of combat he is scholar versed in various subjects who likes to spend his nights pursuing various paramours. This D'Artagnian rip off is hard to pull of mechanically as level 1 character.

 

[Gorck]

On a side note, this is their 3rd time playing? They might want to explore the classes and play more than 2 of them before having you be super flexible to whatever they can come up with. It seems like you are at a different point in experience than they are and to them more everything is still new.

A slight tangent, but my daughter and I introduced her friend, Iliany, to D&D and we started a campaign with the 3 of us. Iliany's first character was a sassy Noble-born Wood Elf Druid. We recently started a campaign with my daughter, Iliany, and another friend, Amber. When we were making characters, I told Iliany that this was the perfect opportunity to try playing something different. So she said she wanted to be a Noble because she wanted to be sassy (sounds vaguely familiar). I asked her if she had chosen a Race and she said she wanted to be a Half-elf (okay, a slight variation there). I asked what she wanted to play for a Class, and she said, "I don't know, I'm thinking . . . maybe . . . I want to play a Druid," (so much for trying something new).

But, back to the thread topic, I've always found the Classes chart on page 45 of the PHB to be helpful in getting new players to choose their class without getting bogged down in the mechanics. As long as they just pay attention to the Class and Description columns, and ignore the other 4 columns.

 

[Tonguez]

It matters cause some concepts are not mechanically possible at lv1. You don't start with all class abilities at lv 1 and then those abilities improve as you level up, instead you gain new abilities as you level up.

Let take example. Daring swashbuckler duelist with classical setup of rapier and main gauche that uses his innate magic abilities and channels it into the weapon to make weapon flame up or can use that magic to boost his defensive or physical capabilities. Outside of combat he is scholar versed in various subjects who likes to spend his nights pursuing various paramours. This D'Artagnian rip off is hard to pull of mechanically as level 1 character.

Tiefling Rogue (bonus int and cha) using minor illusion or presdigitation to give their rapier a flame effect?
Or the kind DM let's them have a magic rapier

 

[Clint_L]

When I'm working with beginners, I always start by asking them what fantasy archetype appeals to them - maybe a stealthy type, or a big tough warrior, a wizard, etc. Usually folks have a general idea, and then you can help them whittle it down to a D&D class: "A warrior type - great! Are you thinking a heavily armoured character, like a knight, a big tough barbarian, someone who relies more on speed? Do you want to get right up in the monsters face, or fight it from range?"

I agree with OP that you want to allow the player their creative freedom, but at the same time you have to help guide them towards the actual classes available.

Sometimes students have VERY firm ideas about what they want to play, and I do my best to work with it. One recently wanted to play a Sith. Very determined on that idea. So I guided them towards a hex blade warlock, and we interpreted their patron as The Dark Side, their blade as basically a lightsaber, and their powers and abilities s being like those in the Star Wars movies. Everyone was happy.

 

[jgsugden]

...I have players who are mostly comfortable being creative inside boundaries. So I’m looking for decision tree ideas that instead of reducing, expand, or prompts, or EASY questions that draw out their creativity to build something unique.

Ideas?

Do you have a Jenga tower? If so, look up a game called Dread. Basically, you tell a story and have players pull from the tower when they want to do something with any risk at all - and if it falls their character finds disaster. The key elements are that you don't really need to have any prework or paper characters - you can just jump right in and storytell with whatever premise you want.

I'd suggest you start a Dread game and tell the players that they're running people that live in a certain region and want to be adventurers. Tell them they can be spellcasters, sneaks, warriors, priests, super heroes, monsters or whatever they want. Whenever they want to do something you'll have them pull from the tower - even if they make the power up on the spot.

After you play a game, tell them that you're now going to turn those characters into D&D PCs - and that the game of Dread was a dream all their characters shared.

 

[Blue]

D&D is NOT the right vehicle for this.

As veteran players, we have internalized all of the channels we are directed into, all the limitations and fetters on our creativity. But I go back to when my eldest first saw me making a D&D character, back in the 3ed (or 3.5) era and wanted to make one.

I asked her what type of character she wanted to play, and she came up with this rather long list that would have fit well in a fairy tale or story or cartoon, but was bits and bobs from more than half the classes and some things still couldn't be well covered.

So I worked with her for a while on narrowing it down to the most important to her, discarding most of her ideas, and we got to "turn into a cat" and "heal people". I explained about druid, and it had a bunch of unwanted baggage she didn't want and couldn't see herself using, but there really no other class options.

Then I went on to explain ability scores. After the description of what each was, she wanted her highest to be Dexterity so she could move like Peter Parker (not like Spider-man, but like Peter Parker), and she wanted her lowest to be Wisdom, because she wanted to be impulsive and carefree. How she envisioned the character had the primary ability score for the class as a dump stat.

In the end, we never built that Druid. D&D in no way was capable of mimicing a free-form character design for someone who wasn't ready to fit it into the grooves of what D&D allows. The classes are pre-packaged bundles that are not designed for freeform building, plus can contain abilities that aren't outside what the player wants. Linking certain ability scores to class features also locks concepts out.

D&D is a bad fit for non-D&D players coming up with freeform character concepts and then trying to realize them as starting characters.

 

[GrimCo]

Choice paralysis is real thing, the more choices people have, harder it is to choose something. From experience and lots of reading on the subject, people tend to be more creative when they have constrains. There are numerous articles about psychology of limitations and why limitations are good for creativity.

Yes, thinking about concept is cool. But, i would rather suggest that people do become familiar with classes and what they can and can't do, Then, setting, give them general rundown of setting, themes, house rules etc. With that, you have made clear constrains. Then they can let their imagination flow and make cool and fun concepts.