Character Creation & Leveling Up!

Welcome! Let's build some characters. Then, once we've played a bit, let's level them up and make them AWESOME.

What are the character creation rules?

All 5E PHB and Unearthed Arcana allowed! You can play as any race or class, but be advised that Tieflings, Warlocks, and Necromancers are all considered tainted with black magic, and will be distrusted, persecuted, and/or plagued with opposition at every turn.

Also, Dragonborn are incredibly rare, and will invite comment. Heirwater is mostly a human city, so if you choose to play as another race, prepare to stand out.

(If there are other rules standard to Gamer's Plane or PBP that I'm not aware of, sorry—this is my first time. Let me know what you need to know and I'll expand on this!)

Array, Point Buy, or Rolling? And if you allow rolling do you offer any re-rolls or special rules for it?

Any of the above are fine with me. No special rules, except don't re-roll like a maniac to get an OP character. (Does "just be cool" work as a rule?)

Gonna try my hand at rolling *Crosses fingers*

NOT bad!!

Ouch, that's terrible (compared to what I'm used to) lol
Oh well, that's the fun of rolling!

14
13
7
9
13
13

The nice thing is, in a city like Heirwater, if you don't play your cards right, you won't have to wait too long before re-rolling a new character. :)

With all of those odd stats I'm gonna have to be human, even some of them out!

Also going Fighter,

Str: 15
Dex: 15
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 14
Cha: 8

Here goes...not bad!

I'm planning on rolling up a Rogue: Thief build. Either Charlatan or Criminal background. Anybody else have an idea what they will be rolling up?

Starting wealth: 10x10=100

Here's how they come out after removing the low d6s:
12
9
15
16
14
13

So, as this is a sandbox campaign, is there a place we can find info on the city of Heirwater? Districts, culture, layout, racial makeup, history, politics, etc? This will help me a lot in decided how to play my character and deciding where to go and what to do.

I think I'm going to be a fighter, going for battlemaster. Gonna go for the cocky youngster!

Might get me killed, but it'll be fun to see who I can make angry lol

Keep in mind that this is subject to change!

Edit: Yep, changed my mind. I'm a no nonsense fighter type

They see me rollin', they hatin'!

Results are in:
6
8
18
16
10
12

I'm planning on a Minitaur paladin. If they are as rare as dragonborn in this world I may go with the special bond for minitaurs that I'm the last of my kind, at least that I know of. I am trying to do great deeds to do right by them. I do still however see battle as a means to glory and weakness only deserves death.

Absolutely! I'll get that typed up soon and post it in a separate thread.

One thing I should mention before going any further is that Heirwater is a fairly secular city with no major temples. There are plenty of small places of worship and various pantheons are revered, but it's been a long time since any deity has been hailed as supreme. Clerics, paladins, and other workers of divine magic are generally considered to be on par with the general magic-using population. It is, however, a superstitious city, with its own legends, bogeymen, and taboos... which we'll get into when I post the backstory, or unwind throughout the campaign.

A minotaur will DEFINITELY attract a lot of attention, but it won't be unheard of. Some NPCs may be afraid/superstitious, others will regard you as a curiosity or potentially an animal, but there will be a category in their mind for your existence.

I'm thinking Ranger or Druid.

Rollin, Rollin', Rollin'

Results:
10
14
15
11
16
14

If you have any interest in an urban ranger, I'd definitely allow urban terrain as Favored Terrain (with unhindered movement through your choice of crowds or rooftops) and 1 social class (nobility/academics/merchants/tradesmen/peasants) as Favored Enemy.

Hmmmm sounds promising!

Just a quick update—I'll be writing up the backstory info on the city tonight, and posting sometime around 9 or 10pm Eastern!

Rolling starting wealth. Let's see if multiplication works on GP.

Nope. But I'm buying my starting gear. I have a picture in mind. I get 12x10 starting gold. 120. I'll post load out later.

Starting Gear Purchases (120gp):
- Shield (10gp)
- Chainmail (75gp)
- Warhammer (15gp)
- Handaxe (5gp)
- Handaxe (5gp)
- Explorer's Pack (10gp)

Also, character finished up and submitted. A minotaur paladin named Tosher. He was the sole survivor of his clan, and he feels he must achieve noble honorable deeds to honor the legacy of his clan. Honor for a minotaur means strength in combat. Weakness is a stain that only death can entirely expunge.

I will finish up my character tomorrow and submit him

I'm on vacation without my phb but I'll start putting together what I can!

Rolling for stats

I'm excited about that 5 I got!

I think I'm going to go sorcerer with wild magic.

You got some decent stats with the exception of that 5!

I love it!!

Okay, big ol' context dump about Heirwater is up in this forum. Check it out, if you want it as you build your characters!

I submitted my character:

Charles Mithalvarin is a Half Elf Sorcerer, born to a human father and elvish mother. The Elves on his Mother's side have always been able to control and use magic as they please, however, the mixing of human and elvish in his blood has made his magic wild and unpredictable. He trained with the Elvish masters, trying to learn control of the power he wields, but at the age of 20, he left his Elvish home to travel to Heirwater seeking entry to The College of Magic at the Academy of Heir. There he hoped he would be able to learn to control his magic so he can return to the elves without shame. He left home with just essentials and only 1 valuable - a family heirloom with which he has some luck using as a focus for his magic - he keeps it out of sight at all times.

OOC: I'm not sure what would be required to gain entry to the Academy, but depending on how things start I picture him as either just arriving in the city with goals of joining the Academy or having been in the city and unsuccessful at gaining entry so far.

Approved! Looks fantastic. He's not admitted to the Academy just yet... I'll PM you with some backstory on all that, which you can spool at at your leisure during the campaign.

Also, I uploaded a map so you can get your lay of the land. Check it out ... it'll be updated with labels as you all explore.

Would you allow a variant human?

Almost definitely—what are you thinking?

I'm deciding between the alert, observant, or sharpshooter feats. The latter two probably make the most sense. I was thinking I'd go with a spy background but I can wait to see what the rogue build is first so I don't step on toes.

That sounds great! I'm completely fine with you taking any feat.

No worries, build what you like!

My build is going to be a cat burglar thief build with high charisma and dex. Lots of daggers, shortbow, and shortsword action. Leaning toward Charlatan background to give some interesting social flavor.

I may do the variant as well. Haven't played around with the feats much.

I'm attempting to decide if I want to do variant human and go with a feat (Heavy Armor Master, Polearm Master, Shield Master, or Dual Wielder) and just accept the negatives to my stats that come with it

Haven't played with feats either! Should be fun.

I'm thinking spy-turned assassin, mostly attacking from afar who then disappears into the crowd.

All of these sound fantastic, and very appropriate for the city.

MAN I can't wait to get this party started.

Fantastic, you've got a backstory note coming your way in that thread!

Starting gold!

Is the starting gold roll the same for everyone?

Starting gold is only rolled if you don't take the equipment options from your class and background.

Starting wealth is given either through your class and background, along with your starting equipment. Or you can buy all your starting gear with money through rolling on a chart from the PHB.

By class. The way I run it when I'm GM is that if you choose starter equipment, you don't roll starting gold and just have gold amount from your background. If you choose to roll starting gold, you have to custom purchase your equipment.

Not sure how smrvl runs that though.

Barbarian 2d4 x 10 gp
Bard 5d4 x 10 gp
Cleric 5d4 x 10 gp
Druid 2d4 x 10 gp
Fighter 5d4 x 10 gp
Monk 5d4 gp
Paladin 5d4 x 10 gp
Ranger 5d4 x 10 gp
Rogue 4d4 x 10 gp
Sorcerer 3d4 x 10 gp
Warlock 4d4 x 10 gp
Wizard 4d4 x 10 gp

Agree with all of the above! Eldrick is a Fortesqueue guard, who starts out with extra gold, so his roll will be added to his starting equipment. But otherwise, it's as stated by the group above!

So I have a concern about going battle master... I will have the ability to do things like knock people prone and whatnot, which will affect my actions for the remainder of my round. How should we deal with stuff like this? Because most of it requires saving throws on the part of my opponents.

I'm fine to roll saving throws in "real time" ... I know we're talking a lot about turn order right now, but I don't see any reason to hold up strategic thinking by immediately rolling reactions.

If you're doing PvP combat, it may slow things down, depending on who you're fighting against... but if that becomes a focus of our game, we can deal with it then.

Ok, that's fine with me :)
I will post a note such as [WAITING ON DM SAVES] to indicate to others that my turn is not over in those situations, if that's ok

Yup, sounds perfect to me!