Character Creation Guide & Facilitator Lesson Plan

The Five Stages of Character Creation

Building a 5e character follows five clear stages, whether you are filling out a sheet in a group workshop or stepping through the Guided Character Builder:

1. Choose a Class — Your adventurer's archetype, combat role, and core features
2. Determine Your Origin — Your Background (past occupation & Origin Feat) and Species (ancestral traits)
3. Determine Ability Scores — Your six core statistics and their modifiers
4. Choose Alignment & Personality — Your moral compass, ideals, bonds, and flaws
5. Fill In the Details — Saving throws, skills, Hit Points, Armor Class, equipment, and spells

Stage 1: Choose a Class

Your class defines what your character excels at on an adventure. New characters begin at Level 1 with a +2 Proficiency Bonus.

Facilitator Tip: Give first-time players a quick summary of four classic roles — Fighter (frontline martial), Rogue (skill expert & striker), Cleric (divine support & armored caster), and Wizard (arcane spellcaster) — before diving into the full class list.

Stage 2: Determine Your Origin (Background & Species)

Together, your Background and Species answer: Where did your character come from, and who were they before becoming an adventurer?

Part A: Background

• Grants two Skill Proficiencies, one Tool Proficiency, and an Origin Feat at Level 1.
• Provides Ability Score Increases: increase one listed ability score by +2 and another by +1, or increase all three listed scores by +1 (up to a maximum of 20).
• Grants a starting gear package (or 50 GP) plus prompts for your Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws.

Part B: Species

• Grants innate Species Traits (such as Darkvision, damage resistances, or innate cantrips), base Speed (typically 30 ft.), Size (Medium or Small), and known Languages.

Stage 3: Determine Ability Scores & Modifiers

Every action your character takes relies on six core abilities:

Three Generation Methods

1. Standard Array (Recommended for Beginners): Assign 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 across your six abilities, then apply your Background boosts.
2. Point Buy: Spend a 27-point budget to customize scores between 8 and 15 before Background boosts.
3. Roll 4d6 Drop Lowest: Roll four six-sided dice, drop the lowest die, and sum the highest three — six times.

Ability Modifiers

Almost every roll in play uses your Ability Modifier, calculated as floor((Score - 10) / 2):

Stage 4: Choose Alignment & Backstory

Alignment combines two axes — Lawful / Neutral / Chaotic and Good / Neutral / Evil — as a roleplay compass.

• Cooperative Party Rule: Most starter tables (including War of Flowers & Smoke) recommend Good-aligned or cooperative Neutral characters so every hero has a reason to work together and answer the call to adventure.
• Backstory Prompts: Jot down one goal your character wants to achieve, one person or place they care about, and one flaw that complicates their life.

Stage 5: Fill In the Mechanical Details

The Character Builder computes these automatically, or you can verify them by hand:

• Saving Throws: Each class grants proficiency in two saving throws (Ability Modifier + Proficiency Bonus).
• Skills: Proficient skills use Ability Modifier + Proficiency Bonus (+2 at Level 1).
• Passive Perception: 10 + Wisdom (Perception) modifier.
• Level 1 Hit Points: Maximum Hit Die value + CON modifier (e.g., a Fighter with d10 and +2 CON starts with 12 HP).
• Initiative: Equal to your DEX modifier (plus any feat bonuses such as Alert).
• Armor Class (AC): Unarmored AC is 10 + DEX modifier; wearing armor uses the armor's base AC formula from the Equipment Compendium (+2 if wielding a Shield).
• Spells & Cantrips (Spellcasters Only): Select your starting cantrips (at-will, no slots required) and Level 1 prepared/known spells from the Spell Compendium. Once your character is saved, you can print a complete Character Sheet PDF and Printable Spell & Item Cards directly from your character page!