I have battled through the poor Internet connection to bring you a long overdue update. Today, we are going to dive into the process of creating a character that is strong in both development and actual playability. The process laid out in the Character Builder (online or offline versions) is a good start, but I like to jump around a little more.
Step One: Picking Your Race and Class
The Builder recommends you start by picking a class, and that’s not a bad option (especially if your party is counting on you to fill a certain role). Picking your race first can also give you a nudge towards a complete character. The key is to take a race or class that you are interested in and find a complementary other choice. It is best if your race has a bonus in your class’ primary stat. It is not essential, but it will make assigning ability scores and playing your character much less frustrating.
Questions to Ask: Who is my character? What do they do? What is my character?
Step Two: Assigning Ability Scores
Your character’s ability scores form a structure for how they interact with the world and people in it. They will excel in some areas, but fall short in others. Make sure you have an 18 in your class’ primary stat and a 16 in a secondary score. After that, the choice is all yours. If you choose to take 8 in one of your scores, consider what that means for the character. Is your character slow of speech but strong of arm? Are they good with people but terrible at taking a hit? Just remember, the stats are a good indicator of character traits, but you always have the final say.
Questions to Ask: What is my character good at? What do they suck at? What traits do they value?
Step Three: Choose Skills
Ability scores can give you an excellent sweep of your character’s traits and personality. With skills, you can tweak that overview into a more complete character. Your skill selection is limited by your class, but you should still consider the implications of those skills outside the characters’ profession. There’s a reason why your character chose to develop these talents instead of others. It is also important to consider what skill other members of your party bring to the table. If you feel strongly that your character would favor one skill over another, you should try to work with your teammates to cover all the bases.
Questions to Ask: What skills has my character cultivated? What skill do they see as being valuable? Why those skills?
Step Four: Select Feats and Powers
Feats and powers represent your character’s combat prowess and particular style. Combat should not be your only concern when building a character, but it should be your primary one. The first feats you should look at are class and racial feats. Even if you don’t want to take them right away, they can give you ideas for directions to build in. Next, consider how your character fights. Could they use extra toughness or better armor to weather the extra hits? Are they experts at their chosen weapons, guarantying accuracy when it counts? Choosing powers is simply an extension of this line of thought.
Questions to Ask: How does my character fight? What weapons do they favor? Do they especially proud of any of their techniques?
Step Five: Name and Equip Your Character
What’s in a name? Everything. This name is how everyone, friend or foe, will come to know your character. Sit and think about it, but don’t lose all of your momentum. If nothing comes, poke through your race’s entry in the appropriate Player’s Handbook. I usually hit “Random” on the builder until something I can work with comes up. Remember, the name itself doesn’t make the character memorable, you do. Equipping your character (at level 1) is really simple. Just grab the best armor you can and whatever weapon you decided on along with an adventurer’s kit. That’ll be everything you need.
Questions to Ask: Does this name work with my concept? Can I make this name memorable to friend and foe? Why wouldn’t I grab an adventurer’s kit?
Step Six: Choose Your Background
You should have a pretty good image of your character by now. If you do, choosing a background should be as easy as finding one that matches your ideas and running with it. If not, I recommend looking through your character’s skills and finding one that you believe your character is better in than the score suggests. Then, run through the backgrounds and pull out the ones that give a bonus to that skill. The smaller pool should help your decision. You can always look through the backgrounds that give more complex bonuses, but I find many of them to be a little too confusing.
Questions to Ask: What events shaped my character? Where did my character come from? How does this bonus fit my character?
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