Your DM might offer additional specialties beyond the ones included there.Ī specialty grants a feat, a special ability, at 1st level and additional feats at higher levels. You can take this specialty or choose a different one from among those in the “Specialties” document. The section on each class in the “Classes” document suggests a specialty, identifying common tactics used by members of that class. Specialties are optional, and your DM might not use them in his or her campaign. A specialty further defines your character’s preferred combat tactics and investigative methods, arising from particular studies, inherent talents, or focused training. Just as your class tells you what you can do, your specialty tells you how you do it. Record all the starting character information and features granted by your class on your character sheet. Other classes might be available, at your Dungeon Master’s discretion. See the sections dealing with those classes for more about them. Clerics are champions endowed with magic from the gods, fighters are tough warriors and weapon specialists, rogues are expert in many skills and skullduggery, and wizards are masters of arcane magic. The most common classes include the cleric, the fighter, the rogue, and the wizard. Class broadly describes what your character does, what special talents he or she possesses, and the tactics he or she is most likely to employ when exploring a dungeon, fighting monsters, or navigating a tense negotiation. While high elves tend to be powerful wizards.Record all the traits granted by your race on your character sheet.Įvery character belongs to a class. For example, the racial traits granted by lightfoot halflings make them exceptional rogues, These traits sometimes point toward certain classes (see step 3). Senses, talent with certain weapons, or access to minor spells. Your character’s race grants several traits, such as adjustments to ability scores, special
Other races might be available, at your Dungeon Master’s discretion.Ĭharacter’s identity in an important way, by establishing general appearance and natural talents gained from culture and ancestry. See the “Races” document for more information.
The most common playable races in the game are dwarves, elves, halflings, and humans. The cost of raising a score from one number to a higher number is shown below.Įvery character has a race. Apply racial and class ability bonuses after spending the points. Start with an 8 in all six ability scores. This method allows building a character with exactly the ability scores you want. Optional Rule: Customizing Ability Scores Your Dungeon Master might instruct you to generate your character’s ability scores by another method.
If you would rather not roll the ability scores, you can assign the standard set of scores to your character’s abilities: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. Later, you will assign these numbers to your character’s ability scores (see step 4). Do this five more times, so that you have six numbers. Roll four 6-‐sided dice (the ordinary cube dice found in many games) and total the highest three rolls, writing down that number on a piece of scratch paper. Normally, you generate those numbers randomly by rolling dice. Each ability has a score, which is a number you record on your character sheet. Much of what your character can do in the game depend on his or her abilities (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). Or you might be more interested in an unconventional character, such as a brawny rogue who likes to mix it up in hand‐to‐hand combat, or a sharpshooter who picks off enemies from afar.įollowing these steps in order helps you create the character you want to play. You might be a courageous knight, a skulking rogue, a pious cleric, or a studious wizard. Before you start, you might find it helpful to think about the kind of character you want to play. Your Dungeon Master (DM) might have characters already prepared, or you can create your own.Ĭreating a character involves a few steps that require you to make important decisions about your character. You record your character’s information on a character sheet. Before you can play the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game, you need to create a character: the persona you play during the game.