Character Creation Guide

Creating a character is the first step in playing Dungeons & Dragons. Your character serves as your representative in the game, your avatar that interacts with the world. This guide will teach you how to create your own character. As a player, you invent the personality, appearance, and backstory of you character, as well as select a class and subclass. Below you will find a step-by-step guide that you can follow to help build your character.  

Character Inspiration and Ideas

The most important part of creating a character is deciding what it is exactly you are trying to build. Having an initial idea or concept for a character will help you when it comes to selecting a race or class. You might be a courageous fighter, a skulking rogue, a fervent cleric, or a flamboyant wizard. Or you might be more interested in an unconventional character, such as a brawny rogue who likes hand-to-hand combat, or a sharpshooter who picks off enemies from afar. Do you like fantasy fiction featuring dwarves or elves? Try building a character of one of those races. Do you want your character to be the toughest adventurer at the table? Consider the fighter class. If you don’t know where else to begin, take a look at characters from your favourite books or films. Don't hesitate to ask the DM for help either.  

Step 1: Choose a Race

Every character belongs to a race, one of the many intelligent humanoid species in the D&D world. The most common player character races are dwarves, elves, halflings, and humans. Some races also have subraces, such as mountain dwarf or wood elf. The Races section shows you the available races to choose from.   The race you choose contributes to your character’s identity in an important way, by establishing a general appearance and the natural talents gained from culture and ancestry. Your character’s race grants particular racial traits, such as special senses, languages, proficiency with certain weapons or tools, proficiency in one or more skills, or the ability to use minor spells. Your race also increases some of your ability scores.   Certain traits sometimes dovetail with the features of certain classes, causing some races to be better suited to certain classes or roles. You can certainly create a character with this in mind, but you are in no way limited to the kinds of character you create. Playing against type can be fun too.  

Step 2: Choose a Background

Every story has a beginning. Your character’s background reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world. Your fighter might have been a courageous knight or a grizzled soldier. Your wizard could have been a sage or an artisan. Your rogue might have gotten by as a guild thief or commanded audiences as a jester.   Choosing a background provides you with important story cues about your character’s identity. The most important question to ask about your background is what changed? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes and start adventuring? Where did you get the money to purchase your starting gear, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why don’t you have more money? How did you learn the skills of your class? What sets you apart from ordinary people who share your background?   The Backgrounds section shows you the available backgrounds to choose from. However, if you have an idea for a backstory that doesn't completely align with the available options, talk with your DM to see if you can mix and match to better fit your character.  

Step 3: Choose a Class

Every adventurer is a member of a class. Class broadly describes a character’s vocation, 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 engaging in a tense negotiation. The character classes are described in the Classes section.   Your character receives a number of benefits from your choice of class. Many of these benefits are class features — capabilities (including spellcasting) that set your character apart from members of other classes. You also gain a number of proficiencies: armour, weapons, skills, saving throws, and sometimes tools. Your proficiencies define many of the things your character can do particularly well, from using certain weapons to telling a convincing lie.