Session Zero

Here's where we can discuss the game and everyone's characters before we start play.

character creation questions:
point buy or rolled stats here?
Gear: How much gold to shop with?
Gear: Magical starting gear. How is that done? (In my vignette I gave my level 15 players 10 rolls on treasure tables A-G. If they wanted to pick a specific item from the table it would cost them 2 of their rolls. The second picked item would cost 3 rolls and so on. It would give them some random stuff, but also allow them to pick key items)
I assume all published optional rules like tashas character customisation, custom lineage, variant human, feats ect are included
What is the setting? Forgotten realms?
Backgrounds: I assume that Strixhaven backgrounds are off the table as they essentially provide a free feat
Multiclassing: Yes or no?

Jeesh. That Strixhaven stuff is bad. Clearly intended for its own adventure and not the wild since it absolutely blows away normal backgrounds.

Yep - but some of the spells are interesting.

As a first thought I’m interested in with playing a cleric. I usually rely on warrior/fighter types, not leaning too much on spellcasters.

I have been wistfully looking at everything on offer without making up my mind just yet. On the one end I want to be a in-your-face kind of character, on the other end I haven't had a chance to play with higher-level spells yet... choices, choices.

So I'm thinking about playing a human cleric from a humble background. He was living in a small village when he found out gods has chosen him. He was a kinder person before but after he started to explore his divine powers he became more arrogant and angry (thus I choose tempest domain). His main goal in this life is to put order where there isn't and put the fear of god in his enemies' heads. I'll put more details when I read the setting more and learn more about other characters. These are my initial thoughts.

I'm awaiting answers to character creation questions before making up my mind. We have been warned that this could be unbalanced, and thus I have been looking and some of the more unbalanced builds like the Moon Druid and the Palandin/Sorceror.
I never really had a chance to get the warlock class to work so that is also on my mind

Oh the agony of choice :)

Let's not make this into an arms race. I hate min/maxing and I won't bring an optimized build.

I'm looking into being a barbarian of sorts.

Point buy for stats, milestone for advancement, max out your hp, and I'll be using encumbrance. Coin does not count against encumbrance except in ridiculous cases. Starting gear, 750 gp for shopping, and one uncommon magic item. There are magic items aplenty from the word go in these adventures, and I'll tailor some of them to fit your characters. I don't own Strixhaven so I'm going to say no to the material there but everything else published is on the table. And I'll be using the optional hero points rule.

This is how I handle critical hits. Max out the damage of the first die, roll the second die, add your modifier.

I'm already really excited for this and can't wait to see what you all come up with.

Oh, and I'm setting the adventures in the Forgotten Realms.

As far as optimizing your build, I say min/max away. These fights might get rough, and I want you guys to have your best chance of survival. Also, don't be afraid to retreat when you're getting slammed.

That said there will be some RP here, it won't all be combat.

Mmmmmaybe a Rune Knight fighter, they have a thematic tie-in with the giants that might make for an interesting background.

Let me see if I got that right. Will we use 750 gp to shop instead of our standart starting equipment or in addition to it? I realize the second option sounds a bit silly but I just wanted to make sure :D Other than that I'm about to finalize and submit my character to D&D Beyond. I'm leaving some details untouched as we will probably able to edit our characters later in the process.

It may sound silly, but the second option is what I meant. Starting equipment plus 750 gold.

Make sure you all are maxing out your hp on D&D beyond, not using the average.

Oh okay. I didn't mean to be offensive, I just played some really non-player friendly games which didn't allow such things. That's why I made that comment. I'm really sorry if it sounded rude.

No offense taken. And I’m sorry to hear you’ve had some less than friendly games.

I'm kind of up in the air on character thoughts:

1) Human Noble Barbarian - a concept I had in a different game ages ago. Basically the son of a baron that holds sway over a lumber supply. Character has a wicked temper and a penchant for drink. Gets sent out on his own to "mature up" before being able to take over his father's barony.

2) A monk of some flavor. Possibly way of mercy as a wandering healer that has bounced all over the forgotten realms helping those that need help. Kind of a twisted play on speaker for the dead sort of.

3) A necromancer or evoker wizard. not a pure evil kind of guy, but rather someone dedicated to studying the cycles of life and death as a scholar rather than druidic focus OR an old warmage looking to find purpose after leaving military service.

4) A rogue of some flavor.

Really just have an overabundance of characters in my head, so whichever fits best into our little crew. Would be equally happy to play any of them.

I drew up a human rune knight fighter to see what it's like. A +13 athletics roll with advantage makes for fun grappling. I might stick with this.