Character Creation - Part 4

This week we are going to finish off the first page of the Character Sheet. We have about five boxes left to fill in and they are going to be the last few pieces of our character. Below is what your character sheet should look like.

We are going to start with the box on the very far left. This says Other Proficiencies and Languages. For these parts you will be flipping back and forth between your class and your race so marking those pages to make them easier to find may help. First we will write languages. Your race determines what languages you know. We picked a Half-Elf so our languages are Common (which mostly everyone speaks), Elvish, and another language of our choosing. You can pick any other language you want, however keep your character's background in mind. How did they come to learn this language or why. You can pick any Standard Language or with permission from your DM you can choose an Exotic Language. If you can justify why your character would know this language the GM should okay it. Since we are just doing an example here, we picked Undercommon since it has Elvish Script in common with the other language we know. (Languages are available on page 123 in the Player's Handbook.)

Other proficiencies you will find in your class features. These proficiencies will be Armor, Weapons and Tools. As a Cleric our character is proficient in Light Armor, Medium Armer, and Shields, we are also proficient in simple weapons. (Cleric's aren't proficient in any tools.)

Here is what our example looks like. As you play your game, your DM can give you other proficiencies as your character evolves. For example, if you travel with a Dragonborn (and put the time into it), your DM may allow you to add Draconic to your list of languages.

Next we are going to tackle the two boxes in the middle. These are for equipment and the stats that go with them. Under Class Features, there is an Equipment section. For a Cleric they offer us: a mace or a warhammer (if proficient), scale mail, leather armor or chain mail (if proficient), a light crossbow and 20 bolts or any simple weapon, a priest's pack or an explorer's pack, a shield and a holy symbol.

We are going to use the above box to help us make our choices. When you are proficient in a weapon it means it will be easier for you to use that weapon and is usually what you want to go for. Since we are proficient in Simple Weapons we are choosing the mace (Warhammer is a Martial Melee Weapon and not something we are proficient in). We're going to skip armor for now and keep going with the weapons while we have that page open. We also picked the Light Crossbow. You will want to add these to the Attacks and Spells boxes. The same page with the weapons (page 149) will tell you what damage they do. Example a mace is 1d6 bludgeoning damage. You will write in the damage/type section this information (because it is so small of a box we just type the dice here and write the damage type below). You will want to do this with all the weapons you have. If you are proficient in the weapons you add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll. (In this case we are to both, so each of our weapons gets a +2 to attack.)

Next we are going to talk about armor (page 145). As a Cleric we are offered Scale Mail, Leather Armor, or Chain Mail if we are proficient in it (which we are not). Scale Mail added 4 to our AC (it is 14 + dex), so we choose that one. Keep in mind we already wrote 10 + dex in our AC section, now we will be adding 4 to that. Write this information where your equipment is. (You will want to keep in mind the numbers because if you take this armor off your AC will decrease by 4). Since we also have a shield, we looked up the stats for the shield while we were on the armor page (a shield gives you +2 to your AC). All together this brought our AC from 10 to 16.

We are also given the choice of a priest's pack or an explorer's pack. If you are playing in a group, it doesn't really matter which you choose, chances are someone will have the explorer pack also. If you are playing alone, or with a few people that didn't choose the explorer's pack you may need what it offers. (You may also want to keep a lined piece of paper of what you have with you, this will come in handy when you collect more items You can also write more detailed notes for the items that way.)

This is our example all filled out. As you can see we left the small boxes in the Equipment box empty. Those boxes keep track of how much money you have (Copper Pieces, Silver Pieces, Electrum Pieces, Gold Pieces, Platinum Pieces). On page 143 of the Player's Handbook, there is a table to tell you just how much gold you start off with. We recommend adding that number in with pencil since it will change often.

Finally Features and Traits, this area is for everything else you know about your character. This will be part of your race Traits. For a Half-Elf it is important to write That you have dark vision in dim light within 60 feet, and that you are Fey Ancestry, which gives you advantage on saving throws against being charmed and magic can't put you to sleep. (You would also write any other advantages like this you may get as you play along.) Anything else that gives you advantages would go in this section.

This is what our finished page looks like. There are two other pages also that can be filled in but for the most part, this is the important page for your character.

Next week we are going to talk about the other two pages and fill them in as best we can.