Let’s make a character… in the new 5th edition Player’s Handbook

 Anyone in the D&Dosphere knows that the new revised version of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Player’s Handbook has recently dropped. Naturally a great many D&D fans are howling that this is the worst thing to every happen, that gaming is now doomed, and that by this time next year, RPGs will be dead and no one will even remember that they ever existed.  

 I have glanced through it, and I can say, “It’s okay, I guess.” Though I have some questions as to various choices. 

 For one, there are no more half-races. No half-elves or half-orcs, though orcs have been added as a playable race. When I first noticed this, I thought perhaps there would be a starting feat you could choose that would allow some mixed blood, but no. The idea of an orc race is cool, though they seem rather watered down. The artwork shows a family of happy, frolicking orcs. I am not one of those people who loves the idea of “evil races” and screams “WOKE! WOOOOKE!” whenever this happens, I do think you can only push the description of orc so far before it’s not really an orc anymore. A heroic orc is a cool idea, there have been PC orcs since Shadowrun in the 1990s, but they should feel like orcs. 

 Anyway, I will let others discuss these things. Let’s make a character.

 Our character should be smart, strong and capable. A true hero, with the grit and toughness to face the unknowns of a D&D world.

 I present to you….

 

 Tammy, the Unicorn Princess!

Step One: Choose a Character Class.

 

 Tamara, or Tammy for short, is a Celestial Pact Warlock. As a little girl, she began receiving dreams from a kindly, mysterious figure that her young self interpreted as the “Queen of the Unicorns.” Now as an adult, this power has granted her the power of a Level 1 Warlock. This power is rather hands-off and trusts Tammy to use her power for good. Tammy does not see herself as a hero or compulsive do-gooder, more of a curious scholar. The power granting her power seems to regard the pursuit of knowledge as a good in itself. Plus, it knows that Tammy is too kind to say no to a person in true need.

Step Two: Choose an Origin

 This consists of Background and Species. Species is the new name for race. Right now people are screming “WOKE!” because of that, but my concern is that is sounds more science fictiony than fantasy. But then early editions of D&D had terms like Infravision and Polymorph.

 I looked through the Backgrounds and decided Sage suited her best. This give her bonuses to ability scores, which we haven’t determined yet. She gets bonuses in Intellgence, Wisdom and Constitution. She can get a +2 in one of them, and +1 in another, or get +1 in all three. I think I will give her +2 in Intelligence and +1 in Constitution. She also gets Skill Proficiency in Arcana and History, and Tool Proficiency with Calligrapher’s Tools. Between adventures, Tammy can make your wedding invitations for you.  She also gets the Feat of Magic Initiate (Wizard). It says I can use Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma for my spellcasting ability. I would choose Charisma since I am a Warlock and my Warlock spells use Charisma. My instinct says that the Ability should match the type of magic, i.e. Wizard magic should use Intelligence, but the rule book says I can choose. So Charisma it is.

 For Species, she is Human. I have long outgrown the “Humans are dumb! I want to play a Kewl Race!” stage of my life. I know I am not the first to complain about this, but I’ve long noticed the “humans with pointy ears” syndrome, where you get a part of adventurers who look like they stepped out of the cantina from Star Wars, but they are all played basically as humans. If I think a race (species) is interesting, I might explore it, but if not, human is a good base.

 What do humans get in the new version? Well, Species do not get Ability bonuses. That’s part of backgrounds now. 

 Okay, Creature Type is Humanoid. Speed is 30 feet. But the size is Medium (4 to 7 feet tall) or Small (2 to 4 feet tall) Is there a race of small humans we don’t know about? Like pygmies? Or are you simply given the ability to play a human with dwarfism?  Whatever. Tammy is about 5 feet tall. She’s a wee girl, but not to the point of looking like a different species. 

 Humans also get Resourceful, which means they get Heroic Inspiration every day after a long rest. That’s fairly big. You get Skillful, which gives you Proficiency in one skill of your choice. I take Investigation. She is naturally curious and a bit nosy. 

 Finally, she gets Versatile, gaining an Origin Feat of her choice. It suggests Skilled. Sounds good. I get Proficiency in three Skills or Tools of my choice. I choose Persuasion, Perception, and Insight.

Step Three: Determine Ability Scores

 In old school D&D, this was the first step. You rolled randomly and chose your class based on what stats you rolled. This lasted seven seconds after the majority of players started sobbing because their stats were low and wouldn’t let them play the class they wanted. So things like 4d6 drop the low die became the standard. As well as the idea of assigning the stats in whatever order you like. Overall, people are pleased with the greater freedom of choice. 

 In addition to the dice rolling and point buy, they have created Standard Arrays for the individual classes. 

 I will take the Warlock Standard Array, which is Str: 8, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, and Cha 15. 

 Her background bonuses raise her Int to 14 and her Con to 14. 

 Modern games do not like the idea of starting with Abilities below 8. Gamers seem to regard them as a disability. Like genuinely, like an Int of 4 or 5 was portrayed as an actual developmental disability. In my opinion, 3 to 18 originally was meant to show the functional range of an adventuring hero. But again, gamers would sob if they had a 5 in anything, especially INT, so new games make sure you are above average at most things, and we get to laugh at you if you are on the low side of average, like with an 8 in something.

Step Four: Choose an Alignment

 

 She’s Neutral Good. She’s a good person. That’s about it. She respects law and order, but will go outside the law for a good cause.

 One thing I like about 5th edition compared to older versions was that Alignment was given much less importance on the “ground level’.” You couldn’t get rid of Alignment since it was baked into D&D’s lore, what with planes of Good and Evil, Law and Chaos, but you don’t have Paladins who are forced into Lawful Good. Instead they have Oaths. Druids don’t have to be Neutral. Barbarians aren’t forced into Any-NonLawful, so you could play a guy who respected ancient laws and traditions. On the day to day level, you can kind of ignore it.

 

 The rest is filling out the numbers, though I do need to figure out Warlock spells and powers. One thing about the new book’s layout is that the spell lists are listed as part of each class, so you don’t have to go flipping. 

 She starts with Eldritch Invocations and Pact Magic.

 For Eldritch Invocations, I’ll take Pact of the Tome. Other Pacts are fun, but I imagine the idea of a magic book that provides her with spells as right up Tammy’s alley. 

 For Pact Magic, I will take the two suggested spells, Prestidigitaion and Eldritch Blast. I also get 2 first level spells prepared at the start of the game, but I can change that as need be. The book suggests Charm Person and Hex. 

 My Magic Initiate Feat gives me two Wizard Cantrips, and one 1 Level Wizard Spell. I choose the Cantrips, Minor Illusion and Mending, two useful spells. My Level 1 spell will be Detect Magic. 

I know there are details I am missing, like Hit Points and Armor Class, and maybe the spells from Pact of the Tome, but this is a decent overview. Most of the spells I have chosen have backed up my concept of a scholar/investigator. Other tankier members of the party can pick up the combat slack. 

Overall, I like the new book, though I do have some questions about the design choices.

Until later, 

Brian