HOW TO MAKE A DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS CHARACTER YOU WILL ENJOY PLAYING

If you play Dungeons and Dragons as much as I do, then you have inevitably been in this situation. It is time to make a new DND (Dungeons and Dragons) character, but what will it be this time? There is so much pressure in making a new character. It has to be someone you’ll have fun playing, creative, and original, but honestly, that is so hard to do sometimes. Worry no longer though, for I have all the answers weary traveler.

CONCEPT

The first thing I do when making a new character is, write down some concepts. Do I want a young Dwarf who has been cast from his clan because of his innate magical abilities? Or maybe a Half-Orc warlock whose magic comes from the ancient forbidden tomb she decided to camp in. The possibilities are endless, and concepts are a dime a dozen. 

If you do find yourself struggling with a concept, there are endless resources online to help you. If I find myself struggling, I will look up a writing prompt generator and that usually gets the creative juices flowing.

Once you have a few strong concepts you can pick your favorite and give them a name! (Pro tip: save the other concepts for later.) This concept will help you flesh out the rest of your character. If you haven’t already, settle on a race and class, but everything else can be finalized in the backstory.

BACKSTORY

I always write my backstory before doing any stats or game mechanic choices. The backstory should determine these and not the other way around. I find people who tend to write their backstory after making stats always end up with very similar characters.

 Use your concept to bring your character to life. Start with some basic who, what, where, when and why questions and go from there. If your concept is a Dragonborn Rogue who was kidnapped and raised by a traveling circus, there are quite a few questions to be answered.

If you find yourself struggling again, I use writing prompts, but if you want a bit more of a personalized touch grab a friend, tell them your concept and then let them ask you different things that would like to know more about.

STATS

Now that you have the makings of a real character the next few steps are easy. Use your backstory to explain character choices and not the other way around. If you have that your character grew up in a circus doing tightrope, they are probably incredible dexterous. On the flips side, traveling circus means no higher in-depth education so their intelligence probably isn’t the best.

Once your stats are set its all about the cleanup and smaller details.

COMPLETION

The character is made now just for the smaller details, picking flaws and bonds and such should be easy once you know who your character is. After finishing up you will have a beautifully crafted DND character that not only do you know like the back of your hand but that you are invested in and will enjoy playing.

Nakoa Davis
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