Forums » Smalltalk » Need help with making a character

I'm thinking about making a DnD character but I need help making a backstory and some other stuff for the character.

Have you seen this?

https://5ebackgrounds.com/

It's very helpful!

Thanks , by the way its my first time making a character for DnD , do you have any other tips?

Hmmm... that feels too broad to give you a usable answer. Where are you at with it now? That might make it easier to point you to helpful resources or give some tips. I'm by no means an expert, but I've created at least a couple 1st level D&D characters using the 5th edition rules. So I'll try! Plus maybe some with extra expertise can chime in too.

I don't know , is there certain editions that I need to start with or should I just start with the 5th edition since I'm guessing that's the current edition as of now?

And another question is Do certain DnD classes affect background? Like I'm thinking of making a character with an AbyssDweller background but I'm not sure what class If needed to put with that sort of background.

5th edition is the current version, so it's a reasonable starting point.

Officially, yes, class effects the available backgrounds. That AbyssDweller one you picked says 'Homebrew', so it's not part of the official rules. Which means it would be up to the Game Master to allow it or not. And I'm not sure which class(es) it was intended for.

I'd suggest starting with class and race. Everything derives from those two core decisions.

Alright , So If I wanted to use the AbyssDweller background, I would need to ask the GM before using it? Would I still be able to create a character with that sort of background just in case I would want to use that character for a game or do I need to create the character with that background before the game starts in order to use that background if I'm allowed to use it.

And If I wanted to start off with a first character , I would want to use Bard as the class and have Elf as the race for the character. How would I create stats based off those choices?

You can always make one with that background and "shop" around for a game/GM that's cool with it.

Edit: I'll try to return later to answer the bard/elf thing. But I've never written up a bard before, so hopefully someone who has can give you better advice.

Ok, but thanks for the help though! I'll try to look up some other stuff just in case I leave anything blank. Ill probably end up buying some of the fifth edition DnD books as well.

The first order of business is to generate ability scores. (sometimes called 'stats')

https://5thsrd.org/rules/abilities/ability_scores/

• Strength, measuring physical power
• Dexterity, measuring agility
• Constitution, measuring endurance
• Intelligence, measuring reasoning and memory
• Wisdom, measuring perception and insight
• Charisma, measuring force of personality

These each start somewhere in the range of 3 to 18. There are various methods used to generated these scores and which one is used is usually determined by the GM so that all the players start out with characters of roughly the same power level. But if you're generating a character before finding a GM, you're probably safest using the 'Standard' method:


Being a bard, you'd likely want to put one of your highest numbers in Charisma.