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Character Creation discussion

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D&D Character
Ben

Dungeon Master
Ben
ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
(shortkut) Kutshort Yes said:
I’m going to need help with where to put my stats and my alignment
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Just to note, there are some classes that MUST take a certain alignment. Like, Druids need to be true neutral, and Paladins have to be some flavor of lawful or else they lose their powers (if I recall right), so that'll affect what you either pick as a role or what you end up having to follow for alignment.
 
D&D Character
A Baby Maker

Short Order
A Baby Maker
puppy haver
(Ben) Dungeon Master said:
Just to note, there are some classes that MUST take a certain alignment. Like, Druids need to be true neutral, and Paladins have to be some flavor of lawful or else they lose their powers (if I recall right), so that'll affect what you either pick as a role or what you end up having to follow for alignment.
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But can you help me out with the shapeshifter/animal form shit? I know it's possible but don't know much about it.
 
D&D Character
Ben

Dungeon Master
Ben
ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
(A Suck Liaison) Short Order said:
But can you help me out with the shapeshifter/animal form shit? I know it's possible but don't know much about it.
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I'm not an expert at it, but I can cheat and ask ChatGPT to summarize for me.

In Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the Druid is a versatile spellcasting class that is closely connected to nature and the natural world. Druids are often seen as protectors of the environment, and they draw their magical powers from the forces of nature, allowing them to control and manipulate elements such as plants, animals, and weather. They are known for their ability to shape-shift into animals, commune with animals, and cast spells that involve the elements and the environment.

Here's an overview of the key aspects of the Druid class in D&D 5th Edition, including their abilities, statistics, alignment, and requirements:

**1. Abilities and Features:**
- **Spellcasting:** Druids are spellcasters, and they have a unique spell list that includes spells related to nature, animals, and elemental forces. They can prepare a limited number of spells each day.
- **Wild Shape:** At 2nd level, Druids gain the ability to transform into animals. This feature allows them to take on the physical characteristics and abilities of a variety of beasts, granting them increased versatility in combat and exploration.
- **Druidic:** Druids have a secret language and knowledge that they share only with other Druids.
- **Circle:** At 2nd level, Druids choose a Druidic Circle, which represents their specific focus within the Druid class. The two most common circles are the Circle of the Land and the Circle of the Moon. Each circle provides unique abilities and spells.
- **Timeless Body:** At higher levels, Druids become immune to aging and cannot be magically aged.

**2. Alignment:**
Druids in D&D are typically associated with a neutral alignment, emphasizing their dedication to the balance of nature. However, Druids can come from a variety of alignments, and not all Druids are neutral. Their alignment may depend on their specific beliefs and the circumstances of their character.

**3. Ability Scores:**
In D&D 5th Edition, the ability scores that are most important for a Druid are Wisdom and Constitution. Wisdom is crucial because it affects their spellcasting abilities and their ability to communicate with animals, while Constitution helps them with hit points and concentration checks. Strength and Dexterity can also be important for combat-oriented Druids.

**4. Proficiencies:**
Druids are proficient in light and medium armor, shields, and a variety of weapons. They are also proficient in herbalism kits and can use their Druidic abilities to identify plants and creatures.

**5. Role in a Party:**
Druids can fill various roles in a D&D party. They can be primary spellcasters, healers, controllers, or front-line combatants depending on their chosen spells and playstyle. Their ability to shape-shift into animals allows them to serve as tanks or scouts when needed.

Overall, Druids are a unique and versatile class in D&D, offering a range of playstyle options and thematic role-playing opportunities, making them a popular choice for players who want to connect with the natural world and its magic. Keep in mind that specific details may vary between different editions of D&D, so it's essential to refer to the rulebooks for the edition you're playing to get the most accurate information.
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So I guess to answer your main question, you wouldn't be a chipmunk ALL the time. But you can probably turn into one. Unless Vash wants to allow a homebrew reverse Druid, where your wild shape is a human.
 
VashTheStampede

VashTheStampede

Dumdum McGee
(Ben) Dungeon Master said:
Just to note, there are some classes that MUST take a certain alignment. Like, Druids need to be true neutral, and Paladins have to be some flavor of lawful or else they lose their powers (if I recall right), so that'll affect what you either pick as a role or what you end up having to follow for alignment.
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5e gives a lot more leeway with that kind of thing. They lean a lot more into Rule of Cool now, which is perfect for me because I've always preferred that. Druid isn't restricted to any alignment. Paladins just have to abide by their chosen Oath...and if they break it they just get to become an Oathbreaker Paladin which is pretty rad.
 
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D&D Character
Christina

Cookie Sweetmead
Christina
Vampire
So you pick a race and a class. Looking at the basic of D&D Beyond without paying any money or home brewing anything too much, your race could be I would say Rock Gnome or Stout Halfling. Rock Gnomes have a tinker mechanic that could be used for your hammer. You can than pick a class, so you can be a rock gnome druid if you want. Races all come with spell abilities and classes come with special abilities too.
1000001083.jpg1000001082.jpg
 
VashTheStampede

VashTheStampede

Dumdum McGee
(A Suck Liaison) Short Order said:
Could I do that and still be a druid that can take the form of a human as my wild shape?
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Wild Shape has specific restrictions on it based on level. When you first get the Wild Shape ability at level 2, you can transform into any beast you've previously seen, but they have to be at a "Challenge Level" of 1/4. Challenge Level is a rating that is used by DMs to balance combat.

So this would be like a wolf, a horse, a panther. Something around that level.
 
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D&D Character
Christina

Cookie Sweetmead
Christina
Vampire
There are other classes from other books that can be added that may work better, but the downfall to the D&D Beyond is that does cost money to use on the site. I do believe that 1 person can purchase "books" and share with their campaign, but I haven't used the site well enough to understand the functionality of that.
 
D&D Character
canadaguy

Gordon Howard
canadaguy
Ploop Heard
I'm thinking I'm likely Fighter. Not sure how to go with alignment.

My old crew up North were mercenaries, taking on jobs from whoever would pay. Something happened with the crew (not sure what that something is yet tbh) so I've travelled South in search of some Macguffin
 
VashTheStampede

VashTheStampede

Dumdum McGee
I'm probably going to subscribe to D&D Beyond myself, since it will likely make my life a lot easier. Especially if I end up juggling a couple campaigns at once, which is likely with the amount of people wanting to play.

If I get the subscription, then any sourcebooks I have digitally purchased can be shared with players in my campaigns...but I think it maxes at 10 players at one time. This would open up a lot more character creation options. But I have a lot of physical sourcebooks already which we can pull info from as well and kinda fudge things a little on Beyond.
 
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D&D Character
Christina

Cookie Sweetmead
Christina
Vampire
(canadaguy) Gordon Howard said:
I'm thinking I'm likely Fighter. Not sure how to go with alignment.

My old crew up North were mercenaries, taking on jobs from whoever would pay. Something happened with the crew (not sure what that something is yet tbh) so I've travelled South in search of some Macguffin
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You could just start with whatever alignment feels right for you. It's not unheard of to shift alignments as your story goes depending on choices you make. Alignment is more there to help others understand what kind of personality they are dealing with. Vash can do a wonderful breakdown that explains the deference between Chaotic, Lawful, and Neutral and how those combine with Good, Evil. And Neutral. So for example, you can be Chaotic good, Lawful good, neutral good or Lawful Evil, chaotic evil, Neutral Evil or Lawful Neutral, chaotic Neutral, True Neutral.
 
VashTheStampede

VashTheStampede

Dumdum McGee
And truthfully, alignment is more to give your fellow party members an idea of what to expect from you, a better idea of your character and how you may react in certain situations.

If your actions consistently deviate from your stated alignment, I'll request that you consider updating your alignment. Its a thing that happens. Characters can change and evolve like real people due to circumstance.

My PERSONAL preference as a DM is that we don't have parties that are all Evil characters. 1 or 2 may work out, but I'm just not good at making interesting encounters for evil parties. If another DM wants to run a Bad Guy campaign, by all means. Just not a strength of mine.
 
D&D Character
GwJumpman

Dragmire
GwJumpman
Senior Member
VashTheStampede said:
I'm probably going to subscribe to D&D Beyond myself, since it will likely make my life a lot easier. Especially if I end up juggling a couple campaigns at once, which is likely with the amount of people wanting to play.

If I get the subscription, then any sourcebooks I have digitally purchased can be shared with players in my campaigns...but I think it maxes at 10 players at one time. This would open up a lot more character creation options. But I have a lot of physical sourcebooks already which we can pull info from as well and kinda fudge things a little on Beyond.
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I can subscribe as well if we need to support >10 people
 
D&D Character
Local Hero

Lok Ahl
Local Hero
Senior Member
(Ben) Dungeon Master said:
Yeah, you're right. I'm letting my business system analyst suspicion of end user ineptitude make me want to hand hold, but after poking around that site for a few it really does seem to cover everything imaginable.

So we might be able to get away with minimal fields, perhaps even down to just the character name, and link to the stat sheet. There may be room to plug the character picture and stuff into the forum side info though, just to give it flavor without pushing EVERYTHING to an external site. It'd help to quickly glance at who's who without needing to pull up a full sheet.
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I might be that dense end user who doesn't know what is going on lol
 
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D&D Character
Christina

Cookie Sweetmead
Christina
Vampire
(Jon) Zesty Zapcrackle said:
I'll need a lot of hand holding myself in terms of the actual creation part.

But I'm very sad there is no wolf character :(
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So with wolfs! There is a class that can be purchased on D&D Beyond called Shifter. It was pretty much made for lycanthropy (however the fuck that's spelled). As far as race there is nothing I can find on D&D Beyond so it would have to be home brewed. Here is a version I have found of Wolfkind. That would be a Vash thing to figure out how to add that in.
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Wolfk...strong, fast and wise,fur of there lesser kin.
 
D&D Character
Jon

Zesty Zapcrackle
Jon
Diplomatic Immunity
(Christina) Cookie Sweetmead said:
So with wolfs! There is a class that can be purchased on D&D Beyond called Shifter. It was pretty much made for lycanthropy (however the fuck that's spelled). As far as race there is nothing I can find on D&D Beyond so it would have to be home brewed. Here is a version I have found of Wolfkind. That would be a Vash thing to figure out how to add that in.
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Wolfkind_(5e_Race)#:~:text=Big, strong, fast and wise,fur of there lesser kin.
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Oh... my... gawd... I need this.

@Christina, you're the best.

@VashTheStampede ? Make this happen, please?!

And @Ben? That image in the link Christina gave? I NEED one like that!
 
D&D Character
shortkut

Kutshort Yes
shortkut
idea man
VashTheStampede said:
How'd you feel about it?

I'd love insight from someone who's never messed with D&D before
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I did the regular character creation method, not random or quick build. It was fairly straight forward, but I needed to keep additional tabs open so I can read about the abilities so I knew which rolls to assign to which attributes and to figure out what proficiencies I wanted. I’m still not sure if I made a character where his skills complement each other
 
VashTheStampede

VashTheStampede

Dumdum McGee
(shortkut) Kutshort Yes said:
I did the regular character creation method, not random or quick build. It was fairly straight forward, but I needed to keep additional tabs open so I can read about the abilities so I knew which rolls to assign to which attributes and to figure out what proficiencies I wanted. I’m still not sure if I made a character where his skills complement each other
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From the quick glance I took earlier...a 17 in Dex is VERY high for a level 1 character, basically super-hero level. The +5 DEX modifier is massive so it would be hard to fail a lot of checks that would be important for your class.

Your 9 HP and 13 AC means you may not live long enough for it to matter. But early D&D is a meat grinder anyway. I recommend not getting too attached to a character until they've gotten a couple rounds of combat under their belt.

I treat my characters like XCOM characters. Keep em at arm's length until they prove they can handle this world.
 
D&D Character
shortkut

Kutshort Yes
shortkut
idea man
VashTheStampede said:
From the quick glance I took earlier...a 17 in Dex is VERY high for a level 1 character, basically super-hero level. The +5 DEX modifier is massive so it would be hard to fail a lot of checks that would be important for your class.
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The class guide said I want Dex to be my highest, so when I rolled a 17 I knew where to put it
VashTheStampede said:
Your 9 HP and 13 AC means you may not live long enough for it to matter. But early D&D is a meat grinder anyway. I recommend not getting too attached to a character until they've gotten a couple rounds of combat under their belt.
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I’ll just hide behind @canadaguy ’s character… but if I die, my magic wood will get me up again in the morning so I’ll be fine :wink2
 
OP
D&D Character
Christina

Cookie Sweetmead
Christina
Vampire
VashTheStampede said:
From the quick glance I took earlier...a 17 in Dex is VERY high for a level 1 character, basically super-hero level. The +5 DEX modifier is massive so it would be hard to fail a lot of checks that would be important for your class.

Your 9 HP and 13 AC means you may not live long enough for it to matter. But early D&D is a meat grinder anyway. I recommend not getting too attached to a character until they've gotten a couple rounds of combat under their belt.

I treat my characters like XCOM characters. Keep em at arm's length until they prove they can handle this world.
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I've always thought about it like those cultures that didn't name their children until they were like 3 years old do to the high infant mortality rates. Just saying, there's a good chance some of you are not making it to level 3.
Grim Reaper Halloween GIF
 
D&D Character
GwJumpman

Dragmire
GwJumpman
Senior Member
(Local Hero) Lok Ahl said:
I've never done any DND type character creation stuff. Turns out illiterate spell casters are quite the contradiction and don't really exist
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I think if you're a Wizard specifically you need to have some scholarliness to yourself because Wizards need to actually discover and learn the spell for their spellbook. For a class like a Warlock, I view the way they learn their magic a little differently, because they haven't actually learned anything or done any kind of personal development; they're basically borrowing their magic from their Patron who's doing the hard work of actually DOING the magic
 
VashTheStampede

VashTheStampede

Dumdum McGee
(GwJumpman) Dragmire said:
I think if you're a Wizard specifically you need to have some scholarliness to yourself because Wizards need to actually discover and learn the spell for their spellbook. For a class like a Warlock, I view the way they learn their magic a little differently, because they haven't actually learned anything or done any kind of personal development; they're basically borrowing their magic from their Patron who's doing the hard work of actually DOING the magic
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I prefer sorcerers

Basically just born with the ability to do magic

No silly reading necessary
 
OP
D&D Character
Christina

Cookie Sweetmead
Christina
Vampire
(Local Hero) Lok Ahl said:
I've never done any DND type character creation stuff. Turns out illiterate spell casters are quite the contradiction and don't really exist
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So there are wizards and there are sorcerers. Wizards read books to learn spells and sorcerers are born with their abilities. Wizards can kind of learn everything. Sorcerers have a specialty, like fire or something like that. Spells will need different things depending on the spell for any class. So you may need to verbally say something, or do a hand motion, or need certain items. Or a combination of all 3. The needing of items can be up to the DM, but most times the higher level stuff, like needing a diamond for rezing another player is not negotiable because you have to make it not something people can just do a lot and easily. Sometimes spell casters can turn into the biggest theives because they just need a lot of insence or parchment.
 
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