D&D 5E What Would You Do?

[Zardnaar]

Few weeks ago I had a new player join. Well the gamestore owner asked if I had room and I was willing to go to 6 players (my max).

I asked him if he could make a new character vin half an hour. He said yes, went to McDonald's and came back 25 minutes later.

Hmmmnn.

Time to rush him. Basically asked him what he wanted to play settled on a light cleric. I pulled out a character shee and he was futzing around with some app.

Basically I wrote up his character. He made all the decisions (background, name etc) and rolled the dice but I've memorized a lot of things.

Completed it in under 10 minutes. I told him he can transfer that to his app and change anything he likes for week two.

Time was short hence why I did it. Option B would have been cone back next week with your character.

Awesome guy great addition to the party and by week 3 or 4 he was looking at changing some spells as I just wrote down good ones and some out of combat utility type spells (light, guidance, enhance ability).

So good find fun all round just wondering what others would do in this situation? Ten minutes to make a character go!!

 

[Argyle King]

It sounds as though everything worked out well. He has a character which he appears to be happy with, and it sounds as though you have a player which is a good addition to the table.

 

[Flamestrike]

Thread title confuses me.

Did I miss something in the OP?

 

[Shiroiken]

From the DM perspective, I would have told him to come back when he's ready to play, but I'll admit I'm easily aggravated by people who don't take my game seriously. If they can't put in the minimal effort, that's not my problem.

If you're asking for a quick PC I'd play, I'd probably go with a soldier Fighter/Battlemaster. Depending on level, probably only takes about 5-10 minutes to put together.

 

[TerraDave]

humblebrag maybe?

Light cleric is fun. And it is easier in 5e, just a few big choices and you are there.

 

[Oofta]

A whole ten minutes? Slacker. I would just grab one of the half dozen PCs I already have written up that I will probably never get a chance to play, adjust ability scores if you don't use point buy and off we'd go.

Assuming first level of course. Higher levels get a bit trickier, but even then I don't care if my PC is perfectly optimal so I'd just grab the first path that looked interesting.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If I personally was running a game in a game store and my players consisted of people who come into the store to play, I probably would have a supply of pre-gens printed up and in my bag for just these occasions. Not that a DM should have pre-gens with them... only that I myself would feel more comfortable having them on my person just in case. I tend to be an over-preparer of gaming supplies when I DM out of my own home (like at cons and such) so I always have a half-dozen sets of dice, pencils, pre-gen characters, tokens, scrap paper etc. so that any person who shows up can get up and running and feel like they have everything they might need in front of them in a minute or two.

 

[ccs]

I'd grab a handful of d6 & roll my stats while you told me any restrictions/details I need to know about.

 

[Larnievc]

Can’t help thinking when you asked him if he could make a character in 30 mins he took that as ‘30 mins from now’.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Time to rush him. Basically asked him what he wanted to play settled on a light cleric. I pulled out a character shee and he was futzing around with some app.

Welcome to System Mastery?

Yeah, it's easy once you have memorized all the important stuff...and much of the unimportant stuff. At my 'peak' back in the mid-eighties, I could make any PC (F, MU, C, T, Halfling, Elf, Dwarf), in under 5 minutes....without looking at the book. At all. All the stuff was in my brain; XP needed, Saving Throws, Spells, Special Abilities, even Equipment WITH Encumberance/Weight!

There is a 'complex' game called Powers & Perils that I play frequently. The first time I tried to make a Character it took my two days. DAYS! Lots of confusion. Now? I can make a Character for P&P in about 20 minutes. Maybe less. Typically it takes about 2 hours or so I'd guess, for someone who knows the rules to a normal degree.

With 5e, yup. I can totally see creating a PC in under 10 minutes. Probably in under 5 minutes if you don't do the time consuming stuff and just 'fill that in as you play' (re: spell list and equipment mostly, but also specific class/race stuff. As long as you have a PHB to use immediately, it's no different that looking it up on your character sheet, tbh.

^_^

Paul L. Ming