A Hero in Ten Minutes

A first character can eat a whole evening. The book is long, every page offers a choice, and nobody at the table wants to wait. It does not have to go that way. Five decisions make a hero; everything else follows from them.

This guide walks through those five with the free character creator on this site open beside you. Where a rule is quoted, it comes from the System Reference Document 5.2.1.

Before you start: one question

Ask the table what the game is. A dungeon crawl rewards a tough fighter; a court intrigue rewards a talker. You need one sentence, not a campaign brief. "We are clearing goblins out of an old mine" is plenty.

Step 1: Origin (about one minute)

The creator opens on Where you come from: eight peoples, from the High Elf to the Dragonborn. Each card shows what it gives you: a nudge to two ability scores, how far you see in the dark, your speed, a few traits and your languages.

Pick the one you can picture. Elves see in the dark and keep their wits against charms; dwarves are hard to kill; humans are good at a bit of everything. None of these locks you out of any class.

Step 2: Calling (about two minutes)

What you were made for is your class, and it is the biggest choice of the five. It decides what you do on your turn. A quick guide:

• Hit things up close: Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin.
• Hit things from afar or unseen: Ranger, Rogue.
• Cast spells: Wizard, Cleric, Bard.

Each card says whether the class casts spells. Choosing a class also re-sorts your ability scores so the ones it needs come first. You can change this later in the step.

The SRD puts class first for the same reason: "Step 1: Choose Class." Everything after it bends around that choice.

Step 3: Past (about two minutes)

The life before this one is your background: Soldier, Sage, Criminal, Acolyte and four more. It writes your personality, ideals, bonds, flaws and the first lines of your story. If you freeze here, pick the one that explains why your hero carries a weapon.

Two small choices sit below it. Alignment is a two-word compass for how your hero behaves. Level starts at 1. Leave it there unless your table says otherwise.

Step 4: Gifts (about two minutes)

Your six ability scores. The creator gives you three ways to fill them:

1. Take the suggested spread. This is the SRD's fixed set, "15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8", already placed where your class wants it.
2. Roll for them. The button rolls the SRD's random method: "Roll four d6s and record the total of the highest three dice. Do this five more times."
3. Nudge any number yourself, for when the table uses its own house rule.

Your origin's bonus is added on top. One honest note: this creator gives that bonus from your origin, the way the older rules did. The 2024 SRD moves it to your background: "Your background lists three abilities," and you raise one of them by 2 and another by 1, or all three by 1. If your table plays strictly by 2024, nudge the numbers to match your background.

If you are new, take the suggested spread. Rolled heroes are fun; suggested heroes are ready.

Step 5: Name (about one minute)

Speak your name. Pick one of the suggestions your origin offers or write your own. Then forge the hero.

What you get

The creator writes the whole sheet for you: ability modifiers, saving throws, skills, Armor Class, Hit Points, your weapons with their attack bonus and damage dice, and your class features. The sheet you land on is a living one: click a bonus and it rolls the d20 and adds it, so you never need the arithmetic at the table.

Nothing leaves your browser. Half-made choices survive a reload, and the finished hero stays saved on your device until you clear it.

Two more things are worth the next minute:

• A face. The avatar forge gives your hero a portrait.
• A printed copy. The four-page character sheet prints to A4, or take the fillable PDF.

The ten-minute rule

If a choice takes longer than its time above, pick the first option that sounds fun and move on. Every choice except your class is small, and the first session tells you more about your hero than an hour of reading. The dice will do the rest: what each die is for covers which one to throw when the game starts.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.