Character Creation - Part 5

This week is the last week of our Character Creation series. Today we are going to talk about the last two pages that come in the set to create your character (they can be found at the back of the Player's Handbook also).

This page (above) is the spell page. This is only for spell casting characters. Depending on your level (and class in some cases) you get a certain number of spells per day (a day being time between long rests or each session, depending on in game play). As a Cleric we get three Cantrips at first level (this is the top box). We also get to choose a number of Cleric spells using our Cleric level plus our wisdom modifier. In this case our wisdom modifier is +3 and our level is 1. This means we can prepare four spells. This means you can choose four but it does not mean you get to use four. The number of spells you actually get to use is dictated by a chart on your character page. For level one a Cleric gets two spell slots. So they can write four spells down but can only use two (or one twice).

Clerics are known for worshiping their specific deities. Once you have picked a God or Goddess to worship, you will be able to find the spells you have to choose from to star. In teh Cleric table it says (under features) spellcasting, Divine Domain. This means you can pick spells that your God is known for (they go on to give examples). For this example we are going to choose Apollo, god of Light, music and healing. This means our Deity's domain is Light, Knowledge or Life.

Once you know what domain your Deity has you can look up those sections in your class and see if it effect you. In our case it does and it lists the spells in that domain we can choose from. Read each spell and choose the ones that you think will be most helpful to you. (Write them in on your spell sheet, there are small dots on each line so you can tick off which you have used.)

You'll also notice on this page that there are three boxes on top. One is Spellcasting Ability, the other is Spell Save DC and finally Spell Attack Bonus. Wisdom is the spellcasting ability for clerics, so they use their wisdom modifiers in this case. A cleric's spell saving DC is 8 + proficiency bonus (which is two in our case) + the wisdom modifier. In our case it would be 13. To figure out the spell attack modifier (in the cleric case) is the proficiency bonus (+2) + the wisdom modifier (in our case it would be a total of 5).

This page is just an added bonus. The top has a place for your character's name, for his/her age, height, weight, eye colour, skin tone, and hair colour. You can fill these in on your own and the race page gives examples and ranges for you to give you a hand.

There is a box for Character Appearance you can sketch a picture of your character or use one from online. There is a section for character backstory, you may want to write a long story for your character. If so this section would be great to put notes in.

The top large section is Allies and Organizations. This is anything you are or become a part of. Example if you are a royal you can write the name of your family or your title and put a picture of the family crest in the designated area. You also write hear any groups you become part of or associated with.

The middle section is Additional Features and Traits, this is anything you think is interesting or important to your character. Or notes that keep you in character as you play (this is especially useful if you're character isn't similar to you in nature).

Finally the bottom box is for your Treasure. This is anything you have on your person (you may need a larger page for that as you go on).