Is this a BAD IDEA? (Character Creation for New D&D Players)

I am from the hood. I grew up with people that never touched a game as 'complex' as D&D 5th edition. Once I walked them through it by using the tabs on the book step by step they easily picked up on it. Now if they are absolutely just don't want to or are totally confused by it I do it for them as they watch me create their character. I give session zero a whole day if needed and the players never had any complaints about it.

I generally have some premade characters ready to go for new players or characters that die suddenly. I find this is great for a new player entering an existing game and I take some time to explain the character and rules. Plus the group helps too. If they decide they want to continue then we can roll up a new character with them or they can keep the premade next session.

I just made my first High Elf Rogue character for my buddies custom campaign for V5 and I enjoyed the process. Helped me learn my character for the game.

Actually by chance your video on character creation helped me make my first character (Thurin the dwarf bard)

My first experience was a goup of friends sitting around a shared PHB and creating our characters for LMoP. It was so exiting that, it was totally what hooked me into the game. Learning the rules during character creation was a big help, as we had time to discuss with eachother.

Awesome video (as always) I love the idea of having some pre-Jen characters on standby for people who are new to the hobby, I've always found character generation to be a chaotic process at the table! Most of the groups I play in, we have the first session just solely set aside for character generation, with little to no actual gameplay, not everybody's cup of tea but it works most of the time. Also I'm just the same when I get a brand-new game system, I skip straight to the character generation system, make a couple of characters, and then start reading the rest of the rules. When you've got a couple of characters sitting next to you while you are reading rules, you can compare the rule mechanics with the character sheet you got next to you, and that helps you better understand where the game is coming from.

My first game with new players (whether new to the hobby or new to a system) is a short (one session) one shot with pre-gens. I've found it gets people into a story faster and they get to see what the numbers on the page mean and how the rules work. I generally run campaigns, so after this session, I run a session zero for character design. They then have at least some idea of why the choices in character creation matter and what the options mean.

I like the idea of the Essentials Kit and those type of beginner box when they offer character creation light with a narrow focus but I wish they just create several versions of the booklet to cover all possible characters, plus they need to clean them up even further if that makes sense: Don't need 2 pages of explanation on what's a Fighter or a Bard, just a 1 to 2 sentence description and clear, summarized "Roll this for your stats, put the highest roll here, write this for proficency, write this for equipment, write this for saving throws and choose between 1 and 2 (3 at the max) for your initial feat and initial ability. Like distill character creation down to 5 to 10 minutes and then go into 'What's a fighter?' and 'What other spells can I cast as a bard?' and so on.

I am quite new to DnD. Was interested for a long time but never really got into it. Two weeks ago I started watching Critical Role Campaign 1 and binge watched the whole The Legend of Vox Machina show on prime. Currently I am trying to understand all the rules and started creating three different characters with big backstories. This way when I will find a group I have some characters ready and at least know the basics. Can't wait to start playing. Youtube channels like yours really help me a lot.

Great video with some excellent advice. Love the breakdown on when to use one over the other. I learned some of this the hard way. I really wish I had brought some pregenerated characters to a session with new young players. I had one who created her sheet online, but it had all kinds of wacky stuff on it. Had another using a pre-gen from Lost Mine, so he kept expecting some of the backstory stuff to play into my home-brew one shot, and had another player who was there because his friends were hanging out. That last player had nothing, so we threw together a character for him (a fighter, since he did like the idea of hacking and slashing goblins with a sword). It got the game off to a rocky start and created a bit of confusion. I was able to get things moving quickly enough once we started playing, but I could have cut down a lot of that first hour and a half into making the actual session more fun. In the end two of them really wanted to play again (the two who were interested in the first place). Next time, I'm bringing some pre-gens just in case.

Love the input in this video! I generally gage how excited the person is about it. Often they want to make their own character, so I ask them what ideas they had for a character or what characters from popular media they may want to immulate. I then make the character sheet, asking more questions if they seem more invested (for example I only ask what proficiencies they want if they clearly are invested). Then I also make a notecard cheat sheet with little bits of information that will be easy for them to remember. For example: Rogue You are good at: Sneaking, picking locks, acrobatics You can fight with: A bow, a sword, daggers Special traits: Theives cant'; you can understand a special thief language. Sneak attack; you deal more damage to enemies when you have an advantage, such as being hidden.

For spell casters I would recommend to type out a spell description for each spell. It makes it easy instead of opening a book because they forgot what mage hand can do exactly.b

This was super helpfull. Im starting my first campaign with my friends next friday and im the only one with experience about d&d. They are all pretty hyped about creating characters and starting the game. I will keep your tipps in mind. Thank you very much.

For me character creation is the first step if I want to try a new system. I totally agree that you will get into the lore and the mechanics, also you will understand the concepts of the other players better.

Great video!! When I’m introducing folks to the game and character creation, I sit down and ask about types of fictional characters they like. For example, want to be a fighter type? Would that be more like Aria Stark, Breanne of Tarth, Blade, or maybe like a Jedi, with some magic powers? Magic user? Want to be more like Loki, Wanda, Wong, or Minerva McGonagall? Pulling from pop culture references that they are familiar with can really help them design their character archetype.

I recommend pre gen characters in a simple dungeon crawl. no huge backstories, quick plots and lots of encounters. This allows them to get the feel for the gameplay and let their imagination flow, without huge investments in character creation. lets make sure they enjoy and like the game 1st

I completely agree that the answer between pregen or rolling up a character is a big "It depends." But I would say there is another middle ground that I don't think I saw mentioned, and that is to simply ask the player open ended questions about what kind of character they would want to be, then you build the character for them. You kind of touched on this with ask them which race and class, then use the quick build option, but I am meaning more you ask them what they want to do in the game. Don't ask them about the race or class, don't ask them what kind of equipment they would want to use, just ask them what they want to do. How do they want to have fun? What would they enjoy playing as? Once you get an idea of what kind of fantasy they have in mind, then start asking some of those questions, and in a way, going through the character creation process with them, without doing the full sheet or opening a single book. I think you could build characters for people without them doing too much by asking them what they would want to do, who they would want to be, and how they would want to fight (when they did), and how they would like to deal with things (talk or kill)? Maybe you could ask them what kind of background they could see their character having, but I don't know that you would even really have to do much of that. Once you have some basic information, you can build their character and use some of the quick build techniques listed in the PHB, but still add in a few things that they would like to include. I like playing a rogue with a rapier, probably partially because of the Dread Pirate Roberts fantasy from The Princess Bride. And that is another point, you could ask them for ideas of characters they would want to play based on characters from movies, books, TV, etc. I think you can do a fairly easy semi-custom character with little work. It means more than a pregen, but it isn't as much work for the players as having them jump into it. Another things that I like to do with stats is to use my own standard array for everyone at my table. It is a little higher than the normal standard array, and I feel it helps lean more into the power fantasy, but everyone goes from that. I use (8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17), so you can still start with a 19 if you have a race that has a +2 to a stat, or I guess if you are using the playtest rules, any race and just build it however you want it. There is also a negative modifier, which can make things interesting as well. But I like it because there is still some variance, but it also helps keep the players around the same power level, as you don't have one person blessed by the dice, and another cursed by them. I suppose another option is to have all of the players at your table use the same dice for stat generation, but to each their own.

WAS20, thank you for this! This is possibly the most valuable help video I've seen, especially since I've been trying to get a session/campaign (undecided which yet) up and running. Also, my experience with DnD is basically watching folks playing online. That's right... I've never DM'd! I think you just helped me avoid a bunch of mine fields that I absolutely would have stepped into!

I do both. I ask my players about a clear description of the charakter (like 1. What's your charcters name, 2. What is his purpouse in this world? 3. What are his biggest Advantage and Disadventage..., 4. How does he look. 5. What Items is something he usually has). Every mechanic detail, the sheet, the stats, abilites... is something I provide. It makes the gametransition so much smoother for me.

I'm knew player to dnd, but I loved creation proces for my first character. That end up being Half-elf, Druid and Outlander. My DM change Atletic skill from my background to acrobatic skill :). Wikidot and roll20 and PHB was my starter + YouTube when I need clarification to somethings. Watching some dnd sessions on YouTube can give you some clues too especially to game mechanics and roleplaying elements.