Better-than-book Character Creation guide

Ok, let me open that up a bit.

Currently, the 5th edition "guidelines" to creating characters is relatively vague. It lists the things to do, no question there, but there's no clear "common thread" to follow, especially in regards to (official) character sheet.

I remember seeing in at least one or maybe two earlier editions/spin-offs (IIRC, at least in 4th edition and pathfinder 1st edition) that there were these snip-shots from character sheet with numbered step-by-step snips and corresponding written instructions on what information goes where, where to look for the information, and in what order (at least ideally) you should do it. The 5th edition only describes features, and sometimes neglects to point out where exactly certain information for a feature progression is tracked on the class table, or the format that it is in feature description or class table isn't immediately obvious for various reasons.

For a veteran player who learned their ropes in 3rd edition era or earlier, the 5th edition style is definitely easy to follow, but mostly because the format is already familiar.

For a complete newbie in D&D or RPG's in general, or someone with whatever problems to remember things (and that's okay, were all individuals here), especially if there's been a long (really long) pause between games, and they're struggling to return to the hobby, the current state of things is admittedly poor, to say the least.

So, what I'm looking for is either a pre-existing guide to more effective character creation progression to follow, or, to attempt to create one.


PS. I really hope they have realised this issue and improve it for the upcoming update this year.

Character creation in both D&D Beyond and Roll20 are solid so you could use either as a reference and make your own doc. During creation IRL, I work directly with players as-needed. Similar for VTTs, I set aside time for creation at the end of Session 0. Anyone who wants to go off on their own is free to do so, but I validate characters before the first session because there's always a chance that something was forgotten. (I once had a player who chose starting money and then forgot to buy armor.)

My only issue with 5e character creation is that you select class skill proficiencies before you select a background. Often, you end up going back to the class section to pick new ones because the background gave you the same thing.

Problem: There's no one single format for character sheets. You can't print a guide that points out locations on the character sheet, unless you're distributing it along with the sheets that go with it.

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Originally Posted by Chronos

Problem: There's no one single format for character sheets. You can't print a guide that points out locations on the character sheet, unless you're distributing it along with the sheets that go with it.

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That's not an issue. Just go with the official one that's also in the book. Anything else is your "own problem" so to speak.

With that said, even though there are various formats for character sheets, they should all be more or less equivalent in their contents, so if you have a guide for the one that is always available, you probably can relay that information to the others.

Have you run into folk having issues building 5E characters?
I personally have not, but I mostly play with people who are at least somewhat TTRPG experienced.

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Originally Posted by JNAProductions

Have you run into folk having issues building 5E characters?
I personally have not, but I mostly play with people who are at least somewhat TTRPG experienced.

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Yes, I have. Especially with people who have never before played any TTRPG's. I have many acquaintances who I have lured to the hobby, and the only contact with the hobby they may have is relatively sporadic games with different rule sets each time (Pathfinder 1st edition, 4th edition D&D, 5th edition D&D), and since they are still new to the hobby, it's understandable that they're not as invested in the process as veteran players such as myself, and quite easily forget what they might have barely learned once "half a year ago" (more or less figuratively speaking).

As a consequence, I'd like to (find the time to) create something simple and easy enough for anyone to follow, and fall back to, if or whenever a player might feel they forgot something. Like some sort of leaflet with basic guidelines and actual examples, rather than vague hints to here or there.