Dungeons and Dragons is a fantastic game, but can be challenging for new players. These are some helpful tips about the process of character creation.

Following the upcoming film Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, there are sure to be many newcomers to the tabletop role-playing game itself. Though D&D is fairly popular as of now, the detailed lore and intricate gameplay can be quite daunting to figure out at first.

Dungeons and Dragons is immersive, exciting, and creates a great sense of community, but there are many steps to take in preparation for a new campaign. These are some important things new players should know about their first task for the game: building a D&D character.

There are only a couple of materials necessary for character creation. One is a character sheet, which is where all the information vital to in-game playing is organized. If a player's Dungeons Master, or DM, doesn't already have one available, character sheets can be found online for free and either be filled out digitally or printed.

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A new player will also need to own or have access to a seven-piece set of polyhedral dice, which are used for calculating ability scores and hit-points. While those numbers can be added as pre-set averages, every player needs dice anyway for the actual game. Each dice has a name, and a set should include a d4, d6, d8, d10, a percentile dice, a d12, and the classic d20.

In order to create a D&D character, a player needs to draw information from official sources for their character's race, class, background, and more. Most new players start out with the Player's Handbook, which is a neatly organized rule book with all the base information for character creation.

The internet is also an important resource, as nearly anything needed for character creation can be looked up quickly, from all the playable races to specific magical items. For fans of the PHB, however, official sourcebooks like Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Volo's Guide To Monsters are also great resources for extra gameplay information.

In D&D, characters have six scores that measure their mental and physical abilities, and they can be found on the left-hand side of the character sheet. These numbers can be calculated via dice (roll four d6, drop the lowest number, and reroll ones) or from a standard array list. Once calculated, the numbers can be placed in each box.

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When choosing where to place ability score numbers, players should keep in mind how they will benefit their character's class. For martial fighters like barbarians, for example, a player will want to place their higher numbers in Strength and Constitution. For a mage user, their highest ability score should probably the same as their spellcasting ability.

The essence of a character comes from three sources: background, race, and class. For new players, background is a great place to start, as it is the simplest of the three. It helps define a character's position or occupation before entering the adventure of the new campaign.

A player should decide background based what skills they want for their character, along with the character's personality. For example, a rogue would pair well with the criminal background, which gives proficiencies to Stealth and Deception skills, both useful to that class. Rogues are also known to be unlawful and dastardly, so the pairing would make sense.

While most of the popular D&D races are found in the Player's Handbook, many other options have been added due to companion books like Volo's Guide to Monsters. Race is important in D&D because it defines a character's physical characteristics as well as some notable abilities for gameplay.

The playable races also give different bonuses to ability scores, which in the past have heavily influenced class decision. However, given the direction that the game is heading, the next edition might change the game so that players can choose ability scores for whatever race they play as.

Class is perhaps the most essential aspect of a D&D character. It will affect how a character will function in-game, which major traits and abilities they will gain, and how they will fight in combat. There are twelve official classes to choose from, and if a player is having trouble deciding, there are many fun ways to choose class based on a player's personality.

When choosing a class, players should think about what style of combat they want to be in. Do they want to be a magic user, a martial fighter, or a combination of both? Once chosen, each class has many subclasses to choose from, and that helps narrow down a character's specialty.

Proficiency can be a little confusing to new D&D players. Essentially, it applies to two things: skills and physical items, but its overarching goal is to add a bonus. For example, saving rolls and skills with proficiency get added numbers to a base dice roll.

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Depending on their background, race, and class, characters may also have proficiencies in instruments, armor, tools, or weapons, but this doesn't necessarily mean they automatically get those items. They should, however, only use tools, weapons, and other items that they are proficient with in order for that item to have significance in gameplay.

On the right column of the character sheet is a space for features and traits, which are derived from race and class. For example, an elf's Darkvision or a bard's Bardic Inspiration should be written in the box. As a character levels up, they will gain more traits for their subclass. These specific traits help determine the best subclasses.

It can be hard to remember all of a character's traits and abilities, especially as characters grow and gain more of them. New players might find it helpful to write descriptions of these abilities in a notebook to keep alongside them during the game.

Backstory is different from background. While most other aspects of character creation are based on statistics and rules, backstory is completely up to the player's imagination. Some players write a couple of sentences for backstory, while others write pages.

Character backstory usually includes where a character grew up, what their family life was like, or how they chose their specific class. Backstory can also be added as the game progresses, as a player might learn new things about their character long after character creation.

Character creation can be confusing at first, so it's important for players to know that their Dungeon Master is a great resource to consult. Practically all DMs are knowledgeable about the game itself, and most are even long-time players.

A great tip for DMs is to begin a campaign with a Session Zero, especially for new players. This is a great setting where players can create their characters alongside each other and the DM, so questions about navigating the character sheet or anything else can be asked freely.

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Sophia is a recent graduate with a degree in Creative Writing, along with minors in Film and Jazz Studies. She's been analyzing films with her brother since she was young and has seemed to take that hobby a little seriously. Sophia's goal is to be a screenwriter or scriptwriter, and if that doesn't work out she plans to be a street performer. When she isn't hyperfixated on a new show or movie, she's either writing for her Dungeons and Dragons campaign or reading The Witcher. She also loves making short films. Sophia's favorite show is either Normal People or Game of Thrones, and her favorite movie is About Time.