D&D 5E I'm *GASP* Actually Going to Be Playing 5e in a Few Weeks -- What are the Character Creation Pitfalls to Avoid?

[77IM]

DO:

• Identify your primary attack stat and try to get a 16 in it via racial mods. Usually it's obvious: Str or Dex for warriors, spellcasting ability for spellcasters. Increase it to 18 at level 4 and 20 at level 5.
• Perception is far and away the most rolled skill, and is sometimes very, very important. Consider selecting it as a proficiency. Or not; some people are very happy playing an oblivious character. But the party should probably have a few members with decent Perception, unless you really like stumbling into ambushes, missing clues, etc.

DON'T:

• Don't use Constitution as your dump stat. If you want to be a warrior-type, you'll want even more Con, at least a 12+. Hit points matter, and you will never have enough.
• Don't choose obviously suboptimal equipment or spells for "role-playing reasons." A pacifist wizard or fighter who insists on only using a quarterstaff... when an RPG has a strong class system, playing against type is complicated.
• Don't even consider feats or multi-classing until you've got some game-play experience under your belt. These can get complicated and can gimp your character in certain ways if you are not careful.

Uh, that's it from me. 5e is "balanced enough" that there's not really much more to it than that.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Intelligence is virtually worthless unless it plays heavily into your background, in which case it will give you a small bonus to knowing stuff. Similar could be said for Charisma, unless you're a paladin. .

Or, you know, they don't have a problem playing a moron who picks his boogers. Seriously, INT and CHA are more than just a modifier. They have a pretty big role playing impact.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Clearly you want to play Monk so that if you fall in a pit you won't get hurt (as badly).

 

[TwoSix]

Or, you know, they don't have a problem playing a moron who picks his boogers. Seriously, INT and CHA are more than just a modifier. They have a pretty big role playing impact.

Didn't we just have that thread?

 

[Guest 6801328]

Or, you know, they don't have a problem playing a moron who picks his boogers. Seriously, INT and CHA are more than just a modifier. They have a pretty big role playing impact.

Oh boy...

 

[Oofta]

All you need to start are the basic rules that you can find at http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

Barbarians aren't in the basic rules, but you can build a fighter that will work all the way to 20th level if you want. There is an optional feat system, but if you aren't playing a human you don't have to worry about them at first level anyway.

You don't mention how you're going to generate stats (I'm a big fan of point buy) so if you are doing point buy where you decide numbers, all I would say is that as a general rule I avoid min-maxing. Starting out with a super-high primary stat is not a requirement at all.

The basic system is designed so that it's tough to really screw up a character. There are a lot of posts about how "x" build is far superior to "y" build because average DPR is 1.5 points higher at 10th level or similar silliness.

I always start with a character vision. Warrior types can be either strength or dex based (dex based probably has minor advantages). So do you envision your character as being Errol Flynn or Conan? Either one works.

For a fighter, I'd probably make my secondary stat constitution and base the rest on what I'll have fun with.

Other than that, a lot of it just depends on your DM and what you want to do. A fighter is, as the name suggests, primarily a fighter but can also have secondary roles based on background. A dex based fighter with a Criminal background can be pretty decent at stealth for example. I allow people to make up their own backgrounds so ask your DM.

Super-high numbers in skills aren't necessary either.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Sacrosanct]

Didn't we just have that thread?

Yeah, which is why it's extra odd that he would continue to say that INT is worthless, especially to a new player to 5e.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Or, you know, they don't have a problem playing a moron who picks his boogers. Seriously, INT and CHA are more than just a modifier. They have a pretty big role playing impact.

Everything from 3 to 20 is within the normal range of functional adults. You can be on the dumb end of average, or on the anti-social end of average, but ridiculously incompetent characters simply would not be playable and thus cannot be represented in the system.

Anyone who tells you that low stats make you a moron with odious personal habits is just promoting their own interpretation above how the world actually works. For the most part, it shouldn't even come up, since the default rolling method makes it fairly unlikely that you'll have anything below a 6.

 

[innerdude]

That's good to hear, RE: "There really aren't that many pitfalls."

I suspect we'll end up starting at level 3, and maybe play until level 8 or 9. I doubt the game will last longer than 8-9 months.

As far as "legacy" preconceptions, I have virtually none. I'm equally ambivalent to all versions of D&D at this point.

 

[Mercule]

Unless you want to play a beastmaster ranger.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.