Wondering about how to fill out a character sheet?
Here is an easy beginner-friendly character creation walkthrough!
If you are brand new to Dungeons and Dragons then this post is for you! We put together a complete walkthrough of the new player sheet with character creation tips and tricks with one of our Game Masters, RPG With Kimberly as your guide.
How do I find the character sheet?
Great question, here is a fillable sheet from DLtheDM on Reddit,
and here is another that is printable from us:
New DnD Character Sheet – Revised (Non-Fillable Print Only)
There are also loads of customized sheets already all over the market if you have time to browse around.
How do I fill it out?
Here is the step-by-step guide to fill yours out along with Kimberly via video
Here are some useful links from the video:
Start with imagination
Close all your books and paperwork and just envision yourself playing the game, do you have ideas already about what you want to play?
- Do You want to use magic?
- Do you like to heal people?
- Is your character very squishy but does a lot of damage, or more beefy and stands in front to protect everyone else?
- What is your character great at?
- What do they like?
After you get a basic idea of what kind of player you want to be for this game, go ahead and choose your class.
Choosing Class
This is broken down from the previous questions, magic vs non magic, healer vs tank vs damage. Which class fits your character the best?
Update your class in your character sheet and then switch on over to species (previously known as race)
Choosing Species
This ties into your backstory and how you see your character growing up. Species have different effects if you are aiming to min/max your character, but we generally encourage roleplay.
The species out as of this post are:
- Aasimar (fallen angels)
- Dragonborn (dragon people who have a breath weapon)
- Dwarf (Short and stout usually blacksmith types)
- Elf (Drow from the Underdark, High elves [hoity toitey type], Wood elf [forest elves])
- Gnome (Short mechanics who live in the forest or mountains)
- Goliath (Mini giants, super strong and usually live in the mountains)
- Halfling (Essentially hobbits, re-roll critical fails one time)
- Human
- Orc (big green angry humans)
- Tiefling (Born in hell or had a fiend ancestor, cool horns and colored skin)
Choose one that feels right for you!
Choosing Background
Whether you choose one from the book or one from here, double-check with your Game Master to make sure it’s okay with their story. Sometimes game masters will allow alternative items or skills if you want to customize your character further. Keep in mind it’s not a requirement for a DM to allow these changes.
Filling in your stats
Now that you have the big three out of the way, all you need to do is plug those numbers and words into your character sheet and bada boom bada bing, presto!
To get your stat numbers use one of the following methods:
- Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest
- Standard array: 16, 14, 14, 12, 12, and 8 to your abilities in any order
- Point buy: start with 27 points and buy numbers
- 8 costs 0
- 9 costs 1
- 10 costs 2
- 11 costs 3
- 12 costs 4
- 13 costs 5
- 14 costs 7
- 15 costs 9
- Chaos Roll: roll a d20 6 times (recommended only for experienced players)
After you get your 6 main stats filled in go ahead and update the skills under them with the modifier, if it has been bubbled in from your class/species/background information then also add your proficiency bonus.
Choosing Spells
Start with your class information and update the spell part of your sheet based on the formulas you need
- Spell Modifier: explained on your class list, use the modifier
- Example, Warlocks use Charisma
- Spell Attack: Modifier + Proficiency bonus
- Example: Level 1 proficiency is +2, so a warlock with +4 in Charisma has a +6 spell attack bonus
- Spell save DC: 8 + Spell Attack modifier
- Example: Use this when your spell requires the person you are attacking to make a saving throw
Spell slots are used to cast your spells, so make sure to line up the spells you choose with the spell slots you have available to you at the time. No point in grabbing a Level 3 Fireball when you can only cast level 2 spells.
In conclusion, you should now have a fully completed character sheet and be ready to play dungeons and dragons!! We are super stoked for you and hope you comment and find our blog useful in your future games.
If you have a sweet character you just created and want to tell us about them, please comment below! We love to hear from you!
