Creating a Character

The Basics

1. Choose a class.
   • If you start at level 3 or above, make sure to pick the subclass as well.
2. Create or pick a background.
   • Creating your own is recommended.
3. Choose a species.
   • Also pick an ethnicity or lineage for your character.
4. Decide Ability Scores. Assign the standard array to any ability score of your choice
   • Standard Array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
   • Ability Scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma
5. Buy starting gear.
   • Total starting gold is determined by your class starting gold + 50 GP from your background.
6. Fill out Details.
   • Make sure you have chosen all proficiencies from class, background and species (if applicable).
   • Choose 2 languages - these are in addition to common language of the region you are playing in.
   • Create a description of Appearance, Personality, Goals, Backstory and Backstory.

Goals

Goals are essential for good Player Characters. You can choose to create the goals first, and then create a backstory and description of the character, or vise versa. Of course, the goals become far more interesting if they tie into the backstory, but the order in which you create them is up to each player. Here are some general guidelines for creating good goals for Player Characters in TTRPG's

• Multiple Goals. A character should have multiple goals that they are trying to pursue. A good number of goals is typically somewhere between 3-5 goals. These goals can be connected, granular, or independent of each other.
• Varying Time-Frames. The goals should encompass varying timeframes, like short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. Short-term goals are completed in a few session, typically within 5 sessions. Mid-term goals are any goals that surpass 6 sessions, but do not remain for the majority of the campaign. Long-term goals span the length of the campaign, or at least the characters involvement in the campaign. If you create 3 goals for your character, make a short, mid and long-term goal. If you want to create additional goals, try to not make more than 2 of each type.
• Achievable Goals. Goals should have clear terms for how they are completed and failed. Being achievable does not mean that goals have to be realistic or that they cannot be lofty. Simply put, it means that the goals should be measurable, and have fail states. If a goal doesn't have a clear fail state, you can always put on a time limit, either in the form of a specific day, or before some other event occurs.
• Consequences for Failure. When goals fail, there needs to be some sort of meaningful consequence. The consequence does not need to be a total failure and abandonment of the original goals pursuit, but rather a transformed version of that goal.
• Fun to pursue. Goals should be something that excites you as a player to pursue. Some goals can make sense from a character perspective, but be boring for you as a player or your party as a whole. Finding the right amount of difficulty for the goal is also important, as goals that are either too easy or difficult can become un-fun to pursue.

Backstory

A backstory provides the character with motivations and roots for storytelling. The backstory is often intertwined with the goals the character later seeks in the adventure. It also provides the Game Master with characters to draw from. It is difficult to make a character with no friends, relations, parents, or previous jobs feel like they fit into the world as a whole. A character who used to work for a given faction, hails from another city, has a brother with a specific profession, all of a sudden has multiple points of connections which may come into play during the adventure. Here are some general guidelines to consider when creating your backstory

• Traits. Your character should have at least 3 distinct traits. Among these, two of them should be admirable / positive traits: Like brave, clever, honorable. And one of them should be a vice / negative trait: Impatient, addicted, anti-social.
• Multiple Connections. Your character should have multiple "touchstones" from which it is possible to draw on. For example (but not limited to); family, friends, enemies, factions, or patrons.
• Positive Relations. Aim for around 3 core, positive relations which grounds your character.
• Negative Relations. Aim for at least 1 negative relation, but no more negative relations than positive ones.
• Varying Degrees. Some relations can be minor acquaintances, while others can be mortal enemies. You can also vary the intensity by making larger factions your negative relation, or perhaps just the current faction leader - leaving some room for part of the faction to tolerate or like you.
• Locations. Try to not just be anchored to a single location - especially for longer campaigns. Previous deeper knowledge about 2-3 locations is ideal. Having too much knowledge of other locations prior to adventure start is not ideal either, leave room for your character to explore and interact with new settlements and landmarks.
• Length. Try to aim for about 1 page (500 words) in terms of length. Sometimes, it is tempting to create intricately detailed backstories, and if you enjoy that go for it. However, over explaining your backstory makes it difficult to improvise using the hooks that were left initially. Likewise, under-explaining your backstory makes any attempt to draw from it seem forced, as there is little to connect it to the current story.

Secrets

You can choose to have a secret or two for your character. Typically the secret will be something the character wouldn't tell anyone if it wasn't necessary. Or it could be the type of secret they only tell their closest friends. Secrets should also be somewhat impactful, so that when they are revealed it changes either the story, or the way other people view your character. Optionally, you can choose to have one secret you create yourself, and one secret the GM creates. The GM created secret will be revealed later on, and is therefore a secret not known to your character.