So I Wanna Do Homebrew Content But I Fundamentally Don't Understand How To Hand Make A Character Sheet???

So i wanna do homebrew content but i fundamentally don't understand how to hand make a character sheet??? Like how do i make it w/o using dnd beyond???

So I figure i’ll use this opportunity to explain character making/character sheets in general.This will be more in depth than you need but i’ll call it a resource and add it to my blog in a link.

Buckle up guys this is going to be a LONG one we’ll call this

DUNGEONS AND KOBOLDS’S LONG GUIDE TO MAKING CHARACTER SHEETS

1. Character Sheet

First step is getting the character sheet itself. Below is a link to where you can download them on Wizards of the Coast’s website:

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets

This should download a file – the sheet that people use most often is called CharacterSheet_3Pgs_Complete.pdf

It’s well laid out and easily editable on your computer.

2. Class/Race/Background Combination

Second, choose your class/race/background combination. It’s also important to understand a basic idea of where these appear/what they effect

Race: Ability Scores, Skills, Proficiencies, Features & Traits

Background: Skills, Proficiencies, Features & Traits, Equipment

Class: Basically everything but Ability Scores – although it does determine how you’ll want to arrange your Scores.

3. Ability Scores

Ability Scores are on the far left hand side of the sheet. These determine your base Strength, Dexterity, etc. bonuses (ie. What you add to your rolls).

There are 3 basic ways of determining these scores: rolling, point buy, and standard array.

https://thekindgm.wordpress.com/2017/12/16/determining-ability-scores/

Above is a link to a post that explains these better than I could which I refer to often. (consult your DM as to which way you are using for your campaign)

For every 2 points your Ability Score goes up/down by, your bonus will go/down by 1. Ie. A Strength of 10 will give me 0 or no bonus a 12 +1, a 14 +2, etc. Whereas an 8 will give me -1, a 6 -2.

Arrange these scores as you wish – a good rule of thumb is you want your primary attacking ability to be your highest (normally the Quick Build section of your class will have good suggestions on how to arrange these statistics). I’ll go through what each of these scores effects in my explanation which should give you some options on how to arrange them.

To these base scores you’ve figured out, you then add the bonuses given to you by your Race.

For example, if I have a 14 Dexterity (+2) but I’m playing a Kobold (which has an increase of 2 for Dexterity as one of its traits) my Dexterity is then brought up to 16 (+3)

4. Proficiency Bonus/Saving Throws

Proficiency bonus has a separate column in the levelling table of your class. At level 1 it is generally +2. This means that if you are proficient in a Saving Throw, Skill, Attack, or Tool you add your Proficiency Bonus and the bonus from your associated Ability Score to the Roll.

For example, if my Kobold is a barbarian, they have proficiency in Strength and Constitution Saving Throws. This means if my Kobold has a Strength of 14 (+2) and I am rolling a Saving Throw, I add another +2 to the roll (bringing it up to a total of +4). On the left hand side of the Saving Throws (and skills) there are little circles, fill in the circles of the Saving Throws you are proficient in to remind yourself why you have that score (but write next to them what you’ll actually be adding, ie. +4 Strength Saving Throw for my Kobold).

5. Skills

This sheet actually makes skills relatively easy to fill out. Again fill in the circles of the skills you are proficient in (these can come from your class, race, and background so be sure to check all three). On the right hand side of each skill is the associated Ability – if you are not proficient you write down your base Ability Score bonus. If you are proficient be sure to add the +2 (at first level)

6. Other Proficiencies

In Other Proficiencies and Languages write down the languages, tools, weapons, and armour you are proficient in – this is more to remind yourself of what you can and can’t easily use.

7. Armour

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Armor#content

Here is a link to all of the armour scores you’ll need. Generally, armour is a base score (say 11 for leather armour) plus your Dexterity (just the base Ability Score bonus). Some armour gives you just a base score that you don’t add anything to. Some will have a strength requirement for you to be able to use it. The link divides the amour into light, medium and heavy amour – whether or not you can use them is determined by your proficiencies (found in your other proficiencies section)

If you’re wielding a shield you add another 2 to your armour score.

Unlike weapons your generally can’t use armour that you are not proficient in.

8. Initiative

Unless you have a Feat or a special class based bonus your Initiative is your Dexterity Ability Score Bonus

9. Weapon Attacks

https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Weapons#content

This link again divides the weapon up neatly into the proficiencies (simple and martial weapons).

There are 2 main scores to worry about with weapon attacks – Dexterity and Strength.

Dexterity based weapons are Ranged or Finesse weapons. Strength is everything else. Your attack bonus will be either your Strength or Dexterity Score (depending on the weapon) plus your proficiency bonus (although you can use weapons you are not proficient in, you just lose this bonus).

Your damage is the listed damage (see link above) plus either your Strength or Dexterity (again depending on the associated score).

(I’m not going to go into dual wielding here but feel free to ask if interested)

10. Equipment

Equipment will be listed in class and background – all you have to do is write it down in this section.

11. Gold

Gold normally appears in your background and class, but have a chat to your DM to see if they have a preference for staring gold.

12. Features/Traits

In the Features/Traits column you write down basically the things you can do (though people will use this column differently).

This includes things such as Darkvision, the ability you gain from your background and general abilities granted by your class (that are not spells or attacks). For instance a Cleric’s Channel Divinity might be written in this column.

13. Spell Casting Ability

Your spell casting ability will be listed in your class – either Charisma, Intelligence or Wisdom.

14. Spell Save DC

Your Spell Save DC will be your Spell Casting Ability Score’s bonus + your proficiency + 8. Ie. If my kobold is now a bard with a Charisma of 18 (+4) and is 1st level their Spell Save DC will be 4+2+8 for a total of 14.

15. Spell Attack Bonus

Your spell attack bonus is your Spell Casting Ability Score’s bonus + your proficiency – for my previously mentioned kobold this would be 4+2 for a total of +6

16. Choosing Spells

There are 2 main ways classes determine what spells you have. The first method is, you choose new spells as you level up and those are the only spells you have (for example a Bard uses this method). The number of spells you have for classes such as this will be determined by the Spells Known column in your levelling up table. The second method is preparing spells. This means you can potentially cast any of the spells for your class, but each morning you choose certain ones for the day. The number of spells you can prepare will most likely be your Spell Casting Ability Score Bonus + your level (unless you’re a paladin).

17. The Other Stuff (alignment/personality)

The other stuff you can write or not write as your wish – this stuff is more for RP. Personally I will write my alignment and that is it – but you can plan as much or as little as you want!

As usual feel free to ask for any clarifications/more information.

Hope this was helpful! (sorry of the length)

Hi - we're on Tumblr now!

I’m sorry, who are you?

We’re @sashasienna and @jonnywaistcoat, and we make tabletop RPGs as MacGuffin & Co.!

Tabletop what-nows?

Immersive storytelling games where you and your friends can dive into weird worlds, play fascinating characters and have harrowing adventures!

What, like Dungeons & Dragons?

*sigh* Yeah. Like Dungeons & Dragons

Ok, so what have you made?

Well, we’ve got a collection of system neutral micro-settings called Odd Jobs - it’s eleven small and fascinating worlds to play games in, each with a campaign you can play through in a month. They’re not designed for any particular system, so you can play them with whatever game you like!

Oh, and it won the 2022 UK Games Expo award for Best Adventure and was nominated for Ennie Product of the Year. Just sayin’.

We’ve just released a tarot-themed magical river game called Upriver, Downriver with our dear friend Ella Watts, in which you play the crew of a ship sailing the Great River, either travelling upriver to the mythical Source with it’s magic and revelation; or downriver towards the unending Sea with it’s freedom and horizon.

We have KER-SPLAT! - a high-chaos, full nonsense cartoon RPG we wrote with Ross Barlow, where the players can’t die and the GM can’t stop them in a hilarious cascade of silly jokes. Also, not to brag, but this is the funniest RPG rulebook you’ll ever read.

We also have smaller games, such as Zero Void - a no-prep one-shot zine game, where you play a bunch of desperate space criminals trying to escape a space station before the law arrives.

Is there any way to keep up with what you do?

Well, following our Tumblr is a great start. We also have a monthly mailing list you can sign up to from our website that will keep you updated on what we do.

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But what if I want to see your faces?

Then I have great news! We stream boardgames and RPGs every Sunday at twitch.tv/macguffinandco! Jonny also streams videogames every Friday at twitch.tv/jonnywaistcoat, and Sasha steams their Jane Austen Bookclub every Monday at twitch.tv/sashasienna

Sounds cool - where can I find out more?

macguffinandcompany.com, baby!

Wait, so why are you on Tumblr?

Because social media is a nightmare hellscape and it’s weirdly the chillest one left. We are on other social sites as well - you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook - but this is our favourite.

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bungeonsandbagons

2 years ago

Adventure: Rebels in the Rimebough

No matter how cold the north wind blows, the pain of old injustice burns hotter.

Setup: The Frontier kingdom of Volskolt sits on the edge of a vast wilderness, the last bastion of so called civilization against the vast territories where no sovereign save winter can rule. Given that the kingdom was only established and its populace converted to the dominant faith less than two centuries ago most on the continent regard the Volskoltans to be little more than backwater heathens, feigning piety in polite company while practicing barbaric rituals while at home. This attitude is reflected by the urban Volskoltan population towards their rural neighbors, and by those rural neighbors towards the migratory tribes that live in the hinterlands.

It is this tension that sits at the heart of the kigndom’s current troubles, as the elders among their people remember that their now sedate nobles came to their land as militant holy orders seeking to crusade against their heathen neighbors, burning what villages they did not take for their own and building stout stone walls as a sign of their dominance. While the elites now consider themselves one people with the “common Volskoltan”, few who keep to the old ways have forgiven them for the bloodshed, or the merciless suppression of their ancestral rites in favor of the continental faith.

And so we come to the crossroads of fate, nearly two hundred years of injustice and resentment reaching a boiling point during the coldest winter in generations. Rebels gather their power, giants stir in the mountains, and the destiny of a kingdom may hinge on a single life.

Adventure Hooks:

After rescuing a waylaid caravan of holyfolk out in the hinterlands, the party arrives in a village just in time to interupt a group of villagers being burned alive in their home by a priest and his mob. Though there is no secular law against worshiping other gods in the kingdom, the church takes folk worshiping both the new and ancesteral ways as the greatest affront. Now the party must decide between preserving their in with the church and doing the right thing and saving the townsfolk from a mob that could just as easily turn on them.

The party is called together by noble allies who have become aware of a grim secret. The young heir to the throne of Volskolt has been kidnapped while hunting near the Rimebough forest. Some ready themselves for ransom, while others cultists are behind the dead, others are worried that political dissidents are behind these actions and expect him to be used against the royal family some time soon. All that matters now is that the boy be returned home unharmed, a deed that will require the party to brave the harshest wilderness, but will see them royally rewarded.

While everything else is happening, a normally sedate clan of giants have decided to start marauding down into civilized lands. Is this mere chance? A plot by a faction of the Rimebough rebels? or do these giants answer the call of something even more ancient?

Keep reading

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bungeonsandbagons

1 year ago

Web Spinner Conclave: Ranger

Time to become your local neighbourhood, web-swinging hero.

[G Drive Link]

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bungeonsandbagons

2 years ago

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bungeonsandbagons

2 years ago

An updated compilation of costume transformations from the popular douyin account 朱铁雄.

song: 此生过半 (DJ阿卓版)

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bungeonsandbagons

2 years ago

standing on the deck of a ship while all the dead men's eyes look down on you from the rigging. just sailing things

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bungeonsandbagons

2 years ago

My DnD headcanon is that 5e Dragonborns actually work in a similar way to TES Kahjiits.

Depending on the temperature their egg was kept in before hatching, they can be one of four things:

A standard PHB Dragonborn.

An elf-like humanoid, with minor details like colored scales near their eyes or sharp fangs.

A medium-sized, wingless, dragon.

A tiny lizard.

All of this involves no actual change to the official rules, your Dragonborn just looks weird, that's it.

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bungeonsandbagons

2 years ago

If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?

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bungeonsandbagons

2 years ago

Here is a free pdf of the players handbook

Here is a free pdf of xanathars guide to everything

Here is a free pdf to monsters manual

Here is a free pdf to tashas cauldron of everything

Here is a free pdf to dungeon master’s guide

Here is a free pdf to volo’s guide to monsters

Here is a free pdf of mordenkainen’s tomb of foes

For all your dnd purposes

Fantasy Names Bank

These are just regular human-ish girl and boy names but a bunch of them could be unisex. The lists came pre-alphabetized and girl-boy sorted from my old writing blog so that’s how they got copy/pasted here. There are about 50 names for each.

Also, I didn’t even come up with all of these. I got some from other places that I can’t remember, doctored some from names I read in book, and had my friends and family help with others (back when I was neck deep in a high fantasy world-building extravaganza)

Tell me if you use one so I can feel like 17 year-old me didn’t waste my time (I totally did) and also have new stories to follow!

Keep reading