D&D 

a dnd character is a mix of personality role and functionality role. so gandalf is a serious, wise old fart. but he's also a wizard and throws spells around.

the functional role - the strategic purpose u serve in the party - is tied to the personality of ur character.

barbarians must have emotional incentive to get angry and charge in. wizards must have intellectual incentive to be a bookworm and study spells. you can extrapolate from there.

dnd beyond has a quick look at all the various classes u can play. but once u pick a class, what next?

that's what this reference hopes to walk u through.

how do you like to play?

if you're new to dnd, fighters and barbarians are pretty simple - swing your weapon, deal your damage! but ultimately pick what you think sounds fun. here's a list of all the dnd classes.

once u pick that, u can begin.

choose ur ability scores.

in dnd, you have six main abilities, just like in real life. strength (your physical strength), dexterity (your reflexes), intelligence (your intellectual knowledge), wisdom (your emotional knowledge), charisma (your social skills), and constitution (your overall health).

each of these six stats has a numerical score associated with it. that number is used to determine how well you respond in those sorts of situations.

for example, a maths test would require 'intelligence', and making an important phone call would require 'charisma'.

for dnd characters, these ability numbers are determined in one of three ways:

the first way, you pick from a 'standard array' of numbers, which you assign to each of the six abilities. the standard array is 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15. so if your character is very physically strong, you would put the 15 in 'strength'.

the second way is 'point buy'. this is more complicated for some reason. here's a calculator for 'point buy'.

the third way is you roll your own numbers. first, find a d6. this is the normal six-sided dice you find everywhere. roll it four times, and write down the results. take the highest three numbers you rolled, and add them together. voila! that final number is one of your stats. you have six stats total, so repeat this process for all six. this way is also very complicated, but it can be more fun sometimes.

when you assign these scores, think about your character.

if you have a rogue, it's a good idea for them to be very 'dextrous'! but you may not need to be very social, so you would put your low numbers in 'charisma'.

you can look up online the 'best' way to assign the different ability scores for the different classes... but ultimately it's up to you. if you want to be strong, who cares if you're a spellcaster? your spells won't be as powerful, that's all. it's all up to you. you can choose to be whatever you like.

BARBARIAN: high STR, low INT.

BARD: high CHA, low STR.

CLERIC: high WIS, low CHA.

DRUID: high WIS, low DEX.

FIGHTER: high STR/DEX, low INT.

MONK: high DEX, low CHA.

PALADIN: high CHA/STR, low INT.

RANGER: high DEX, low CHA.

ROGUE: high DEX, low STR.

SORCERER: high CHA, low STR.

WARLOCK: high CHA, low INT.

WIZARD: high INT, low STR.

pick your race.

various races get various bonuses to ability scores. in dnd, ur scores govern the rest of your skills.

certain races are better at various things. for example, gnomes are very intelligent, and wizards use intelligence to power their spells. so choosing to be a gnome wizard would be a stronger combination.

but wizards are also very weak. so maybe you want to be a half-orc, because they are harder to kill.

there's a lot of ways to make fun and useful combinations when picking a race for your character.

to make things easy, i've put the main racial score bonuses below.

DRAGONBORN: +2 STR, +1 CHA

DWARF: +2 CON

ELF: +2 DEX

GNOME: +2 INT

HALF-ELF: +2 CHA, +1 to two other ability scores

HALFLING: +2 DEX

HALF-ORC: +2 STR, +1 CON

HUMAN: +1 all ability scores

TIEFLING: +2 CHA, +1 INT

calculate your skills.

your skills are governed by your ability scores.

these skills encompass every possible situation you could be in, so there's a lot of them. for example, if you try to ride a strange horse, you may have to make an 'animal handling check'. these kinds of 'skill checks' are fundamental to playing dnd.

to make a skill check, you roll a d20 - the 20 sided die - and add your 'modifier' number.

this number is calculated using the 'ability score' associated with that skill. for example, a strong character might have a '+3' to strength-related skills, like athletics. so if they rolled an 'athletics check' they would add a '+3' to the number they rolled on the d20 dice.

calculating your ability modifier is very complicated for some reason. here's how you do it:

first, take the ability score. then minus ten. then divide by two. that is the modifier. it is possible for this to be a negative number.

if it is a decimal, round down to the closest whole number. that will be your modifier for all skills related to that ability.

for example, your 'dexterity' modifier would apply to your acrobatics, sleight of hand, and stealth skills, because those all require good reflexes.

keep an eye on your skills, they'll be important!

(DEX) acrobatics: +DEXTERITY MODIFIER

(WIS) animal handling: +WISDOM MODIFIER

(INT) arcana: +INTELLIGENCE MODIFIER

(STR) athletics: +STRENGTH MODIFIER

(CHA) deception: +CHARISMA MODIFIER

(INT) history: +INTELLIGENCE MODIFIER

(WIS) insight: +WISDOM MODIFIER

(CHA) intimidation: +CHARISMA MODIFIER

(INT) investigation: +INTELLIGENCE MODIFIER

(WIS) medicine: +WISDOM MODIFIER

(INT) nature: +INTELLIGENCE MODIFIER

(WIS) perception: +WISDOM MODIFIER

(CHA) performance: +CHARISMA MODIFIER

(CHA) persuasion: +CHARISMA MODIFIER

(INT) religion: +INTELLIGENCE MODIFIER

(DEX) sleight of hand: +DEXTERITY MODIFIER

(DEX) stealth: +DEXTERITY MODIFIER

(WIS) survival: +WISDOM MODIFIER

you might notice there's no 'constitution' related skills. that's because constitution helps calculate your overall health. u will still need ur constitution modifier to work out how many 'hit points' u have, and also if you roll a 'CON' save. for now, don't worry about it.

choose your proficiencies.

proficiency is something your character is particularly good at. each class gets to choose at least two skills to be proficient in.

when you choose to be proficient in a skill, you add 'proficiency' to all checks related to that skill. so if your barbarian is proficient at intimidating people, you would add both the charisma modifier AND the profiency modifier to a skill check (roll a d20 dice).

the proficiency modifier changes depending on your level. at lvl 1, it's just '+2'. but as you get more experience, it gets better.

you can also get more proficiencies from your character's background, which i'll explain in a moment. you only add proficiency once, however, so make sure to choose different skills for your character, vs from your background.

you do get both, though - which means you'll add 'proficiency' to at least four skills, if you've done it right.

BARBARIAN: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(light + med armour. shields. simple + martial weapons.)

BARD: choose 3 skill proficiencies. +(3 instruments. light armour. simple weapons.)

CLERIC: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(light + med armour. shields. simple weapons.)

DRUID: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(light + med armour. shields. simple weapons. no metal.)

FIGHTER: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(all armour. shields. simple + martial weapons.)

MONK: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(simple weapons. artisan/musical.)

PALADIN: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(all armour. shields. simple + martial weapons.)

RANGER: choose 3 skill proficiencies. +(light + med armour. shields. simple + martial weapons.)

ROGUE: choose 4 skill proficiencies. +(light armour. simple weapons.)

SORCERER: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(simple weapons.)

WARLOCK: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(light armour. simple weapons.)

WIZARD: choose 2 skill proficiencies. +(simple weapons.)

you probably noticed i have listed weapons and armor here as well. you also have proficiency with these types of equipment. this will be more relevant when it's time to work out ur armor and weapons. for now, don't worry about it.

choose your background.

your background is what your character used to do before they became an adventurer.

depending on your background, u have different 'proficiency' in certain skills, and start with different equipment. there's a list of all available backgrounds somewhere, and i'll link it when i have time.

basically, you're allowed to choose what you used to be, and this gives you various skills in the present. it's pretty cool. maybe you were a city guard, or a nobleman. it's up to you.

you also start with some different equipment, which i'll explain in a moment.

(note: you are proficient in the listed skills)

ACOLYTE: insight + religion

CRIMINAL/SPY: deception + stealth

ENTERTAINER: acrobatics + performance

FOLK HERO: animal handling + survival

GLADIATOR: acrobatics + performance

GUILD MEMBER: insight + persuasion

HERMIT: medicine + religion

KNIGHT: history + persuasion

NOBLE: history + persuasion

OUTLANDER: athletics + survival

PIRATE: athletics + perception

SAGE: arcana + history

SAILOR: athletics + perception

SOLDIER: athletics + intimidation

URCHIN: sleight of hand + stealth

calculate your starting equipment and armour.

every class starts with some basic equipment and weapons, which you will use to attack and protect yourself.

depending on your background, u can also get some different equipment and tool kits - these will be listed in your background, and you can add these to your classes basic starting gear too.

basically, barbarians get different stuff to wizards, just starting out, but as you get into a campaign, you can ask to buy different stuff. it's kind of confusing so don't worry about it too much until you've got everything else sorted. just write it all down to keep track.

right now you want to pay attention to two things: your starting weapons, and your starting armour.

if you're a spellcaster you're mainly going to be focused on the armour, but it's still useful to know how to use the weapons you've got. and that's what we're going to look at next.

choose your weapons.

every class starts with some basic weapons. for spellcasters, this is less relevant, but still worth knowing.

have a look at the weapons your character starts with. if you're a fighter or a barbarian, this will be a sword or an axe of some kind. if you're a wizard, it will probably just be a dagger or two.

this weapon will have a dice associated with it. that die is what you roll to see how much damage the weapon will do. so a greataxe, which is very big and powerful, is a d12. so if you hit someone with the greataxe, you would roll the twelve-sided die.

here is where it gets tricky.

you only roll damage if you hit. so before you roll your weapon die, you would first roll a d20 - the twenty-sided die. if it's a melee attack, you add your strength modifier. if it's a ranged attack, you add your dexterity. (there are other factors, but that's the general rule). and remember, if you're proficient in the weapon, this is when you add that as well.

in the end, if the final number is more than the targets armour class, you hit it! and that's when you roll the damage. if you don't hit, nothing happens, and that's okay.

when rolling your weapon damage, you just add either STR or DEX - no proficiency.

it's like this: if u want to punch someone, you swing your fist. first, you might miss, or they might duck. that's the d20 roll. then if you do hit, you might not hit them very hard. that's the damage roll. hope that makes sense.

choose your spells.

every spellcaster starts with some basic spells. for weapons classes, this is less relevant, but still worth knowing.

your character starts with some basic 'spellslots'. these are like batteries to power your spells. a 1st level spellslot can't power a second-level spell. and if you run out of batteries, you can't cast any spells at all.

luckily, there are some spells that don't need batteries. these are called 'cantrips', and you can cast them as many times as you like, without expending any spellslots.

when making your character, you will need to choose some spells. there are lists of spells for all the different spellcaster types. there are lots, so you will need to look it up. try 'best x-level spells for x-class'.

i'll put links to all that here later. i'm tired right now, and am going to bed.