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version 1.1.2

What is this?

This is a Character Generator for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, aimed at generating characters that will keep the player and group happily engaged for as long as possible.

There is a lot of experience with D&D embedded in the code, which results in giving the player meaningful choices and advice, rather than a nihilistic "freedom".

It is also my personal coding project. If you care about that, you can read more in the end of this document.



Further List Of Obscure Criteria



The Goal Of The Generator

The point of this generator is - as stated above - to create Inspiring, Balanced and Interesting characters for D&D 5e.

In particular, it should be a helping hand to newer or more "otherwise preoccupied" players (you've probably heard of those weirdos who can go for weeks without even opening the PHB...). Hopefully, this will ease the job of bringing new and experienced players together.
- This is NOT the prophesied Vorpal MinMaxer2000 AI.

It is Inspiring in the sense that you can't always get everything you want, but will have to adapt a bit to fit with the Ability Scores you get. Also, not starting with 20 in any Ability Score (or at least extremely rarely) gives your character something to strive for throughout the adventures.

Balanced in the sense that... Well, there are a lot of criteria for a satisfying character for this tool, as you can see. But a group with too great a power-gap between the characters can really lower the fun for some of the players whenever there's combat. Balanced characters takes away potential headaches for the DM, be the master fresh or venerable.

And finally Interesting in the sense that the Ability Scores will have a nice distribution. You will always have a weak spot - this is actually good, it is more fun to play! - and there are very few duplicate values. This gives your character... Character!



The Tradeoff

Honestly, I (Eupolemos) dislike these online character generators. I like rolling for characters. For me the 3d6 is part of the D&D magic - it seems a misunderstanding to take that away.

But the lack of balanced characters can be a real problem as a DM, and equally as much for fellow players. If somebody can't help themselves and happen to fudge the dice a little bit, they don't mean to be wangrods; they just want to live out a fantasy! And dice are fickle; perverse even. You've seen it, you know what I'm talking about!

Following the D&D communities on places like Reddit, it seems to me like there's a shift towards point-buy (PHB p. 13), to keep the basics even between players. In my opinion, that holds maladies as well, with knowledge of optimal distributions for races and classes, always getting what you want rather than let the rolls inspire etc.

Well, between pointbuy and rolling with a hundred house-rules, I thought some of you might find this to be a good third alternative.



F.A.Q.

Q: How does the generator work?

A: The generator simulates a roll of 3d6 for each Ability Score. It then matches the complete character with a set of criteria. If the character fails to meet these, it will get re-rolled without you noticing it.


Q: Can I get a character with an Ability Score of 17 or 18?

A: Yes, absolutely. They are rare, however. If the character rolled does not also have a 15 or 16 as an ability score, it will get re-rolled out of existence. If 17 and 18 counted as a positive criteria along with 16 and 15 for keeping a character, they'd be much too common. Now they are rare, balanced and precious - just like they should be!


Q: Why is the generator so infuriatingly slow?

A: Well, presentation is a part of design. The point of this generator is to make the player look at the stats and think hard about what character can be made with them - and NOT to simply obey the player's preconceived idea of a character. Point-buy or house-rules will do that quite well, and this generator would be a waste of time.

If characters could be re-rolled instantaneously, we'd be lured to click away like a slot-machine addict rather than use our brain and imagination. Also, it gives the reveal more gravitas - this will be the skin of your fantasy's avatar for the next hundreds of hours being. Give it some respect.


Q: Where's my Drow!?

A: Drizzt is... Ah, I mean Drow are of course super cool, but this tool tries to keep things simple and not suggest a race that has disadvantages in daylight. But much more importantly, since Drow have the exact same stats as Lightfoot Halflings, it would be a mess to code.
If you want a Drow, just pick the Lightfoot Halfling.


Q: How do I start over on the character creation?

A: Reload the page.


Q: Will you include more races in the future?

A: No, I don't think so - not in the foreseeable future, at least. It can be difficult to code (this is my first project using JavaScript, so it is a bit messy behind the scenes) and I do prefer keeping things classic. Maybe if I rewrite it all one day, but it is not a priority to me and there would probably be other things I'd rather attempt.



What I Might Add In The Future

Eupo's Inspiring, Balanced and Interesting Character Generator

For Dungeons & Dragons 5e!


Ability
Score
Modifier
 
STR:
DEX:
CON:
INT:
WIS:
CHA:

Ability Score Total:  

Modifier Total:  

List Of The Most Important Criteria

  • The character rolled will have at least one Ability Score of 15 or 16
  • There will be no Ability Scores under 7, but least one with a negative Modifier
  • The character will have a Stat Total (i.e. all Ability Scores added) of anything between 72 and 75
  • The Ability Scores will have a limited number of duplicates - no more than a single pair and no three alike

Plan For A Class

Now is the time to pretty much decide on which class you would like to play and probably reallocate some ability scores accordingly. You only get to swap two ability scores though, so you'll have to let what you've got here inspire your choice of class. Don't forget that you can also raise ability scores as you gain levels.

If you want to, you can look at the list of races below. Sometimes, thinking about race the same time you swap Ability Scores will be what makes a good character. For instance, a character with lots of odd Ability Scores benefits greatly from being a Human, since only even Ability Scores increases Modifiers.

Generally, you'll want your best ability score to be your class' most frequently used attack modifier; STR for Fighters, DEX for Rogues, INT for Wizards, WIS for Clerics and Druids, CHA for Warlocks and Sorcerers. Other classes (and some subclasses) can be a bit more complicated to get right - if you are curious, take a look at page 45ff in the Player's Handbook or simply talk it over with your DM.

Next step, we'll find a race that compliments your choices. If you do not want to swap any of the ability scores, just click the swap button without having any checkboxes marked to skip ahead.

Copy To Mail

Now the character is done and all there remains is to fill it into your character sheet. For ease and backup, you can copy/paste this tiny text snippet and send it to both player and DM as an e-mail.

- As simple and solid as can be.


Good luck on all of your adventures!


And if luck doesn't smile, feel free to visit again :)


				
   Race: 
   
   STR:		MOD: 
   DEX:		MOD: 	
   CON:		MOD: 	
   INT:		MOD: 	
   WIS:		MOD: 	
   CHA:		MOD: 
				

Thank you for using the Inspiring, Balanced and Interesting Character Generator!

If you want to talk about the Character Generator - stories, bugs, suggestions, questions etc. - or just say hi or thank you, I've made this thread on Reddit's dndnext subreddit.

Pick A Race

As Socucius Ergalla says; "There are a few ways we can do this, and the choice - is - yours".

Whichever may be the case, here are some tailored suggestions:

Your character's best ability scores would benefit the most from choosing to be a .
This would increase only one of your two best modifiers by +1 and place it at +.

However, there is also the "Humanity" races to consider - Human, Variant Human and Half Elf - where some ability scores are raised just enough to improve the modifiers (raising an odd ability score to an even increases the modifier by one).

Choosing to be a could increase your total modifiers by + and place your best ability at a + modifier.