Character Creation

Discuss character ideas here along with creation process itself.

- Characters will begin at level 1.

- I'm leaning towards point buy variant to ensure balance but I'm open to the usual 4d6 drop lowest method if preferred by the majority of players. Players can choose whether to use point buy or roll 4d6 drop lowest method for ability scores. If choosing the latter, all rolls should be made here publicly.

- If you'd like you can choose to belong to a faction: see here for more info on factions.

- The campaign will be starting in the Dessarin Valley area, a lightly settled region of caravan towns, isolated homesteads, and uninhabited wilderness, near the Sword Coast as hired hands to a small caravan en route to small hamlet of Red Larch on its way back from business in Waterdeep along the Long Road. You may want to work in how you ended up in this area in your character's background story.

- Ket has gave us access to great online character generation tool via DND Beyond (see below for link - you'll need to create an account). You may use this to aid in character creation. Just make sure you don't use any disallowed resources.

List of allowed resource: PHB, Sword Coast Adv. Guide, Elemental Evil Player's Companion, Volo's Guide to Monsters (except monstrous races). Xanathar's Guide to Everything.

Hi all,

I'm assuming everyone would prefer to talk about character creation before committing to a particular class. I usually play either a thief or a caster, but can be flexible if the group needs other roles filled.

Does anyone else have any preferences or thoughts about character/group composition?

As for point buy vs rolling; I've done both. I prefer rolling (I like the idea of truly heroic characters) but am happy with whatever. I personally enjoy rolling and if you don't like the roll you can opt to do point buy as a back up. Just some thoughts. Happy to do point-buy if that's what the game calls for..

Looking forward to it!

Greets all,

I, too, am open to dice rolling, though I have never been a fan of online dice rollers for doing so. So, in a setting like this I am more inclined to go with a point buy or standard array. But I agree with Tsavo that however the DM chooses is fine.

If you would like, Tonka, I can create a campaign under my DnD Beyond account, and then share content for everyone. This would allow everyone to use the PC generator with whatever source books you want to use (I own them all, except the new upcoming Waterdeep books). That is where I create all of my PC's, which I then copy over here.

I love playing clerics, though for this game I was looking to do something different, like an Air Genasi Warlock. Personally I am pretty clueless about Faerun, as I have gamed almost exclusively in the Greyhawk setting since the early 1980's. I thought that my PC would work well with a backstory that has him somehow getting thrown from his own elemental plane and into Faerun, where he has zero clue as to where anything is. I literally would not have to pretend i don't know where I am or where to go, because I really do NOT know much about the setting.

And for the record, while I have been DMing for years, I am REALLY looking forward to getting a chance to play.

Sean~ alias Ket Onwall, the Bumbling DM

Hi all,

How about this. I will leave it up to individual players to decide whether to point buy or roll.

Ket, that sounds like a great solution if everyone is able to use your tools you have access to. Another solution can be if you all have Roll20 account, I actually have this campaign partly made there from previous attempt at play through (real time). Roll20 has a built in character sheet and rules compendium of sorts (although not complete only SRD stuff). I can give everyone access to it. Maybe we can use it for battle map purposes if you'd like. Although, I'm not sure what the best solution is for battles in a PbP setting. Do people usually just stick to purely theater of the mind or make use of battle maps and tokens during battles?

Also, Ket, if you're familiar with old Greyhawk modules, this module is techincally a "reworking" of Temple of Elemental Evil, although it really is completely different. And no familiarity of Faerun is techically necessary. I'm not really all that familiar with the lores myself. I will be treating effectively as a generic setting. If you have Sword Coast Adv. Guide that should give you enough lores to work with I think. Or what you suggest would work also.

All I have to do is create a new campaign and give everyone the link. You can then create a PC. Of course, you will need an account there, but it is free if you don't already. A few setup items are standard for my games, like turning off Homebrew, Critical Role and stuff. That way you only create a PC using 'official' sources.

I've never used Roll20, though I have tinkered with Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 both. I have been running PbP since 1999, at other sites as well as email. I normally post a map of the area so players can describe their actions. Other DMs I know have added grid coordinates on the map so people can say 'I move to D4 and attack the goblin' or something similar. A lot of things are theater of the mind, even in PbP.

I will create the new campaign and post the link in here so everyone can check it out.

Sean~ alias Ket Onwall, the Bumbling DM

As promised:

DND Beyond Campaign Link

Sean~ alias Ket Onwall, the Bumbling DM

I just tested it out the character generation tool. That's a great tool. Thanks Ket! Just make sure you don't use any content outside what is allowed without approval.

No problem. In the HOME page of the PC, you can turn off all outside content like Critical Role and Homebrew, which I have done. You should be able to view my character. If not, I can export the PC sheet and send it to you.

Hi Ket. I noticed during the character creation, even with outside contents turned off they list things like Unearth arcana and some other resources I'm not familiar with. I'd rather not use these.

Here are list of resources I'll allow - PHB, SCAG, EEPC, Volo's Guide (except monstrous races). XGTE. Outside that it would have to be special approval.

Your character looks good. I assume you used point buy. I think only thing left would be to write up and submit a backstory.

Hi all,
I usually go for casters, so actually thinking a melee class for a change of pace.
If i roll stats can I allocate them or would they be in the order rolled? (I have done both ways)
I am liking the factions idea, would probably go for Lord's Alliance, specifically Waterdeep.

Thanks to Ket for the DND Beyond access, it's a great tool.

You allocate them as you wish per PHB pg 13.

Great, thanks.

So that's 11, 13, 14, 9, 17 and 12, I can work with that.

Andrew, you rolled : 11, 14, 14, 9 ,17, 12. That second roll is a 14 not 13. Don't want to be cheated an ability point :).

So am I right in thinking we have a melee and a warlock so far?

Stat roll:

So...

13, 12, 17, 17, 10, 14 - correct?

Do you want us to roll for starting gold and purchase gear or just stick with the class and background allotments?

Looks correct to me.

EDIT: also yes. so far a fighter and warlock. You were thinking rogue correct?

I'm between that and a full caster (sorcerer or wizard). In your opinion, which fills the greater need for the group? Happy to play either.

But yes, I'd probably prefer a rogue.

Hi Tsavo,

I encourage you to try out the character creation tool at DND Beyond that Ket link above. It's well designed and also it generates a nice character sheet.

Hey guys, looking back over what we've already got, I've got a couple of ideas of what I'd like to play, and I'll alter depending on any changes that occur between now and me putting them together. I'd like to stay away from the Rogue, since it's my general go-to, and I'd like to try something different. At the moment, I'm thinking of monk or paladin, or possibly a caster class like sorcerer or cleric. I'll probably end up using point buy for my attributes.

EDIT: At the moment I'm putting together a Grave Cleric using the link provided earlier, so you can count that as my part in the party.

I prefer the starting allotments from class and background myself, but if you really want to fine tune your customization of your character by rolling for starting gold, I'll allow it. Just make sure the any rolls you make are made publicly.

Speaking of everyone should also roll a d100 for a trinket. You can use PHB trinket table or the Elemental Evil trinket table.

I'll have this character posted in a bit, then start working on a backstory for her. Rolling for trinket

"54: Flint and steel that, when used to start a faire, creates a random colored flame."

No problem.

Also, do you want backgrounds posted or PMed?

Like Bleak, I'll have my character done soon and will be ready to post/PM a backstory not long after that.

Edit: Trinket - "A fist sized rock that 'beats' like a heart."

Assuming you mean character back story, I think it'd be better to send me the background privately and RP any reveal of your background to others in game. There may also be reasons you might want to keep your background secret from others initially. (I think you can send a note if you don't want to PM it.)

Alternatively, if everyone is confident and trust that everyone will RP in game accordingly to their character's knowledge and rather share everything openly to other players, I won't stop you. :)

Nope, that works fine. I agree that RPing it is the better way to learn about each other (and yes, I meant backstory).

Happy to have what I have already put in dnd beyond shared generally. I will pm a couple of specifics.

Trinket- A single gauntlet inscribed with a fire motif and an unfamiliar name in Primordial.

With that roll, you either have:

"A dragon's bony talon hanging from a plain leather necklace" or

"A single gauntlet inscribed with a fire motif and an unfamiliar name in Primordial."

You can choose which.

Rolling for my trinket.

A pyramid of sticky black incense that smells bad.

Hi everyone. I've read through but it's a little hard to see what everyone's picked so far... fighter, warlock, rogue and cleric so far, yes? I want to fill in gaps. Are you guys okay with more casting power? A wizard would be fun.

13, 14, 13, 13, 16, 10

I'm starting to wonder why I bothered with point buy when rolling is producing so many objectively better characters. -_-

Not to be that guy but at the current rate I feel like I'm gonna spend most of my time failing saves and not hitting anything because my stats are comparatively mediocre. I mean, sure, I could roll stats, but that guarantees nothing. Either I'll have amazing stats or terrible stats and be stuck with them.

I'm a big proponent of "play what you'll enjoy", so anything you pick is going to be good. But yeah, can't go wrong with more casting power ;)

Deciding to roll some stats to see what comes of it, since it seems to be the popular choice, but I'll revert to my point but build if it goes awry.

14, 12, 11, 15, 12, 11

Pretty much exactly what I bought but with some elevens. Might as well use it.

Not that it'll change your decision, but I think your second stat is 12 not 11. Doubt that's enough to make you switch stat sets, but in case it is...

So it is, thanks for pointing it out. I'd actually punched them into the sheet for the sake of argument and all they did was drop my CHA by one and increase my INT by one. The second twelve actually does change things, since it puts me one ability increase off my CHA mod going back up, so I figured I'll go with it. If anything, just a bit put out that what I rolled was more or less exactly what I bought.

Anyhow, I'll stop being so negative about it. It's not as bad as I initially thought, and I'm sure it'll work out. That's my character ready to go.

Hi all,

Looks like everyone has got most of the the character creation done. Few notes:

- I still need back story from some of you.
- Most of you chose a background already but I noticed some of you haven't chose or at least noted: Personality trait, ideal, bonds, flaws, etc. Make sure you choose a background and choose one for each of trait, ideal, bond, flaw.. etc or if you have some custom ideas you can run that by me also. It may not seem all that important but I think it's good to have some idea about your character's personality tendencies as a role playing guide and a way for character development. Also, it's a good way to gain inspiration :).


Note: there is technically one more player that signed up for this game but I haven't heard any follow up from them so that may be a bust. But, we have 5 players now which is plenty good. I can also try to recruit a player if we want a party of six.

Hey Ket,

Since everyone decided to roll for their abilities, and if you're concerned about imbalance and wanna try your luck at rolling for your abilities instead you can. But, once you roll, you'll have to take those results instead.

I will get my background story complete by tomorrow. As far as my stats, I’m good with what I have now. The only thing that I would even consider trying to raise up is my CHA score, but as it is I think I am happy. I’m looking forward to getting started. 5 PCs is a good size party, so if you want to cap it there I’m good with it.

Sean~ alias Ket Onwall, the Bumbling Former DM 😁

I'm liking the looks of this party so far, excited to see how they all click. Given the amount of casters, I've gone and switched my cleric over to medium armor so we have an extra defensive character to stave off attacks.

Hi folks,

I've closed the recruitment. We have a party of five with a good mix of skills. We're about ready to play. I'm just waiting on one more back story. (I just received the final back story!). I'll be posting a thread sometime today on some notes on how combat will be adjudicated. Since PbP is asynchronous, I think there's some potential issues there we'll need to figure out. I'll also note some homebrewed rules in that thread.

Some final notes:
- If you haven't yet set an avatar for your character, please do so. Once, the game thread is made and gets going, You will be posting as your characters and having a character avatar will be useful here.
- If you haven't noted personality traits, ideals, bonds, flaws please do so or at least provide brief notes on how you intend to RP the character to begin with. You don't have to choose from the list in PHB you can make your own if you wish, and you're not completely beholden to them for all eternity - character development/growth is a thing.

I think that's it.

EDIT: I just received a PM requesting a sixth player. If everyone is okay with that I can invite the player in. If you guys don't mind waiting a little longer for the extra player to create a character, I'll invite the player.

LadyBrash, just noticed your trinket roll. You either have

"A large transparent gem that, when gripped tightly, whispers in Terran."

or

"A glass orb filled with water, in which swims a c1ockwork goldfish"

I am OK with waiting on a sixth.... it isn't like Breezy has anywhere to go anytime soon... :)

I, too, am fine with a 6th. Especially if they go full meat-shield ;)

Yes! Even better. A Kobold perhaps. Or a Troglodyte. :D

Okay. I'm going to assume rest of the folks will be okay with this. I'll be sending out an invite to the new player now.

Ket, reminded me of something. Your back story as written now isn't completely set in stone. It's really a way for me to start thinking about story threads to incorporate in tailored to your characters. So if in the course of play you want to change some details to better fit the emerging narrative that is perfectly fine. I may even suggest certain changes as we go along.

Right, I hate rolling stats, but everyone else did so I might as well. If these are awful, I'm point-buying.

Yep, I'm point-buying.

Hi Remus,

Technically if you rolled, you're going to have to live with your rolls. But, since I allowed others chance to roll for stats after point buying I'll make an exception.

I found this point buy calculator you might find useful.

Or use the character builder tool provided by Ket linked in the first page. That might be the easiest method to build your character.

I'm choosing the fishball.

Trinket roll!

"A small toy boat made from a walnut shell, a toothpick and a piece of cloth." That's kinda cute.