How to Create a D&D Character: A Beginner’s Guide

Creating your first D&D character is where your adventure really begins. You are deciding who you will become, what you can do and how you might respond when the Dungeon Master places a difficult choice in front of you.

It can look complicated when you first see a character sheet, but you do not need to understand every number before you start. Character creation becomes much easier when you work through it one decision at a time.

There is also no single perfect D&D character. The best character is one you understand, enjoy playing and can develop alongside the rest of the party.

Speak to Your Dungeon Master First

Before choosing a class or writing an elaborate backstory, ask your Dungeon Master a few questions:

• Which version of the D&D rules is the group using?
• What level will the characters begin at?
• Which books and character options are allowed?
• What kind of setting will the adventure use?
• What is the general tone of the campaign?
• Are the other players creating their characters together?
• Will the group use printed sheets or digital characters?

This conversation prevents you from creating a character who does not fit the adventure. A cheerful travelling entertainer may suit a light-hearted journey, while a dangerous wilderness campaign could call for somebody with different skills and motivations.

If the whole group is new, the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set: Heroes of the Borderlands provides characters, adventures and guidance designed to help everyone learn through play.

Step One: Choose Your Class

Under the current rules, character creation begins with your class. Your class determines many of your principal abilities and has a major influence on how your character plays.

Think about what you would enjoy doing during an adventure.

Barbarian

Barbarians are powerful combatants who use Rage to become particularly dangerous and resilient in battle.

Bard

Bards combine magic, useful skills and abilities that can support other party members. They are a good fit if you enjoy talking, improvising and helping the group.

Cleric

Clerics use divine magic and can be adapted for combat, healing or support. They have more variety than the traditional idea of a dedicated healer.

Druid

Druids use nature-based magic and can transform using Wild Shape. They offer plenty of creative options but require a little more reading than some beginner classes.

Fighter

Fighters are adaptable weapon specialists. Their clear abilities and dependable combat skills make them approachable for new players without limiting experienced ones.

Monk

Monks are fast, mobile combatants who use martial arts and Focus Points to perform special techniques.

Paladin

Paladins combine weapons, armour, healing and divine magic. They are suitable for players who want to protect the party while remaining effective in combat.

Ranger

Rangers mix martial ability, exploration skills and nature magic. They work particularly well for players imagining an archer, tracker or wilderness adventurer.

Rogue

Rogues rely on skill, precision and clever positioning. They are useful both inside and outside combat, particularly when the party needs stealth or specialist expertise.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers possess natural magical power and can modify their spells through Metamagic.

Warlock

Warlocks gain magic through a supernatural pact. Their distinctive abilities and customisation options can support many different character ideas.

Wizard

Wizards study an extensive collection of spells. They are extremely flexible, although managing their spellbook can require more preparation from the player.

Do not feel that you must choose the easiest class. Choose the one that makes you want to sit down and play. Your Dungeon Master can help you understand its abilities.

Step Two: Choose Your Character’s Background

Your background describes the life your character led before becoming an adventurer. Perhaps they served as a soldier, studied as a sage, survived as a criminal or travelled as a merchant.

Under the current rules, your background provides:

• increases to particular ability scores;
• an Origin feat;
• two skill proficiencies;
• a tool proficiency;
• starting equipment or money.

This makes your background mechanically important, but it is also an excellent source of story ideas.

Ask yourself what your character learned from their previous life. A former soldier may remain loyal to an old commander. A sage might be searching for a lost text, while a criminal could be trying to escape an organisation they once served.

You only need one or two useful details at this stage. The rest can develop during play.

Step Three: Choose Your Species

Species describes the fantasy people to which your character belongs. The current core options include Aasimar, Dragonborn, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goliath, Halfling, Human, Orc and Tiefling.

Each species provides its own features. These might include Darkvision, a particular movement ability, resistance to a type of damage or another distinctive trait.

Current species do not determine your ability-score increases. Those increases now come from your background, so you can combine a species with any class without feeling that you have deliberately weakened your character.

Choose the species that interests you or supports the character you imagine. You do not need to select one simply because it appears to be the traditional choice for your class.

If you would like to use an option from another book or create something completely original, speak to your Dungeon Master first.

Step Four: Determine Your Ability Scores

Every D&D character has six ability scores:

• Strength represents physical power.
• Dexterity covers agility, reflexes and coordination.
• Constitution represents health and endurance.
• Intelligence covers memory, reasoning and learned knowledge.
• Wisdom represents awareness, intuition and perception.
• Charisma covers confidence, force of personality and social influence.

Your class identifies its primary ability. This is normally where you will want to place one of your strongest scores. A Wizard generally prioritises Intelligence, while a Cleric commonly relies on Wisdom. A Rogue often favours Dexterity, and a Sorcerer uses Charisma for spellcasting.

There are three standard ways to generate your starting scores:

Standard Array

You assign the numbers 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8 among your six abilities. This is straightforward and gives every player a balanced set of scores.

Point Cost

You receive a pool of points and use them to purchase your scores. This provides more control over your character’s strengths and weaknesses.

Random Generation

You roll dice to generate the six scores. This can create exciting and unusual characters, although the results may be less predictable.

Your Dungeon Master will normally tell the group which method to use. After assigning the numbers, apply the increases supplied by your background.

Do not worry if one ability is lower than the others. Weaknesses can give other party members opportunities to contribute and often produce memorable moments.

Step Five: Add Personality and Motivation

A useful character concept does not need several pages of history. Start by answering a few simple questions:

• Why did your character become an adventurer?
• What do they want?
• What are they afraid of losing?
• Who is important to them?
• Why would they cooperate with the party?
• What might cause them to make a difficult decision?

Try to give your character a reason to take part in the adventure. A character who refuses every quest or dislikes working with anyone else may sound dramatic, but can become frustrating for the whole group.

You can still play somebody cautious, secretive or difficult. Simply give them a reason to remain with the party.

Our D&D worldbuilding guide can help if you want to connect your character to locations, organisations and events within the campaign.

Step Six: Choose an Alignment

Alignment provides a broad description of your character’s moral outlook. It combines their attitude towards good and evil with their relationship to law, order and personal freedom.

Treat alignment as a useful starting point rather than a set of instructions controlling every decision. A Lawful Good character can make mistakes, and a Chaotic character does not have to disrupt every plan.

Your motivations, loyalties and experiences will usually tell you more about how the character behaves.

If you want to play an evil character, discuss it with the group first. The concept needs to fit the campaign and remain enjoyable for the other players.

Step Seven: Select Equipment

Your class and background provide options for starting equipment. These may include weapons, armour, tools, an adventuring pack, a spellcasting focus or other useful items.

Choose from the options in the current rules rather than inventing equipment without speaking to the Dungeon Master. Remember to record:

• your weapons and their attack information;
• your armour and Armour Class;
• tools with which you are proficient;
• important adventuring equipment;
• money;
• any items supplied by the adventure.

A spellcasting character should also record their starting spells and understand which ones must be prepared.

You do not need to choose the theoretically strongest option. Select equipment that supports how you imagine the character behaving.

Step Eight: Complete the Character Sheet

Once your main choices are made, work through the remaining numbers on the character sheet.

Check that you have recorded:

• your level and class;
• background and species;
• ability scores and modifiers;
• proficiency bonus;
• saving throws;
• skill proficiencies;
• Armour Class;
• initiative;
• speed;
• Hit Points and Hit Dice;
• attacks;
• class features;
• species traits;
• background feat;
• equipment;
• spells, if applicable.

Ask your Dungeon Master to look over the finished sheet. A quick check can catch a missing proficiency or incorrect modifier before the game starts.

The current Player’s Handbook provides the complete character-creation rules, class information, backgrounds, species, equipment and spells in one place.

Choose Dice for Your Character

A standard D&D set normally contains a d4, d6, d8, two d10s, a d12 and a d20. You can share dice when learning, but having your own set makes play more convenient.

The d20 will be used for ability checks, saving throws and attack rolls. Your class features, weapons and spells will determine when you use the other dice.

Mystery Dice Goblin sets are suitable for D&D and offer an enjoyable way to discover a new colour or design. The standard Mystery Dice, Mystery Dice & Pin, Mystery Inclusion Dice and Mystery Metal Dice all provide polyhedral options for roleplaying characters.

Our guide to D&D dice explains what every die does and how common dice notation works.

Think About the Rest of the Party

You do not need to create a perfectly balanced party, but it helps to understand what the other characters can do.

If several players have chosen similar classes, talk about how their personalities, backgrounds or specialities could make them feel different. Two Fighters might use completely different weapons and approaches, while two Wizards could prepare spells for very different situations.

More importantly, create somebody willing to share the adventure. D&D is collaborative, and every character should leave room for the other players to make decisions and enjoy their own moments.

Let the Character Develop Naturally

You do not need to decide your character’s entire future before the first session. Some of their most important friendships, fears and ambitions will emerge from events during the campaign.

Keep your initial concept clear enough to play, but flexible enough to change. A cautious character may become brave. A mercenary might discover a cause worth defending. Somebody seeking fame could learn that protecting their companions matters more.

Your character will also gain new features as they advance in level. Some campaigns use experience points, while others award levels when the party reaches important milestones. Your Dungeon Master will explain which method the campaign uses.

Multiclassing allows a character to take levels in another class if the appropriate requirements are met. It is an optional complication rather than something a new player needs to plan immediately.

Your First D&D Character Is Ready

A successful character does not need perfect statistics, an enormous backstory or a carefully planned twenty-level build. You need a character whose main abilities you understand and whose personality gives you reasons to join the adventure.

Start with the class that excites you, choose an origin that supports the idea and ask your Dungeon Master whenever you are unsure. You will learn far more about the character by playing them than you could determine before the campaign begins.

For help preparing for the first session, read our complete Dungeons & Dragons beginner guide and our guide explaining what you need to play D&D.

Continue Your First D&D Adventure

If you would like a wider introduction, read what Dungeons & Dragons is and how it works. Players ready for their first session can use our complete beginner guide, while somebody taking the Dungeon Master’s seat can follow our advice on running a first D&D campaign.

D&D Character Creation FAQs

What is the easiest D&D class for a beginner?

Fighter is an approachable choice because its principal abilities are easy to understand. However, genuine interest in a class is more important than choosing the simplest one. A new player can learn any class with help from the Dungeon Master.

Does D&D still use character races?

The current rules use the term species. Groups playing with older books may still encounter the earlier terminology, so check which rules your campaign follows.

Which ability score should be highest?

Your class description identifies its primary ability. This is normally a good place for your highest score, although your preferred playstyle may influence the final arrangement.

Can I create my own species?

Only with the Dungeon Master’s agreement. Home-made character options may need adjustment to fit the campaign and remain balanced alongside published options.

How does my character gain levels?

The Dungeon Master may award experience points or use milestone advancement. In milestone games, characters gain levels when the party reaches important points in the adventure.

Can my character change class?

Multiclassing allows a character to gain levels in an additional class if the relevant requirements are met. Speak to your Dungeon Master before making the change, particularly if you are still learning your original class.

Does my character need an extensive backstory?

No. A motivation, an important relationship and a reason to join the adventure are enough to begin. You can add more details as the campaign develops.

Can I use a character from Heroes of the Borderlands?

Yes. The starter set provides approachable characters that allow new players to begin without completing the entire creation process themselves.

Do I need my own Player’s Handbook?

Not necessarily for an introductory adventure. Having the current Player’s Handbook becomes useful when you want to create characters independently and explore more classes, backgrounds, species, equipment and spells.

What should I bring to my first session?

Bring your character sheet, a pencil, dice and any notes your Dungeon Master has requested. Our D&D game-night guide explains how the group can prepare for an organised and welcoming first session.