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S1 Ep. 7 - Building your First Character · Bards and Barrels

0:02
SPEAKER_04: Welcome to Bars and Perils, the podcast for Dungeons and Dragons players, new and old.
0:06
SPEAKER_04: We're just a few 30-something dads who play DD on the regular.
0:10
SPEAKER_04: I'm Ross Drugs, and I'm joined by my friends and co-hosts Brett Miller and Phil Boone.
0:14
SPEAKER_04: We'll be exploring the world of Dungeons and Dragons in each episode, sharing our experiences, offering tips and advice for those who play and run this classic game.
0:23
SPEAKER_04: Don't miss out on us discussing everything from character creation to combat mechanics and even delving into some of the lore behind the game.
0:29
SPEAKER_04: We'll also be sharing some of our funniest and most memorable moments from our own DD campaigns.
0:34
SPEAKER_04: So whether you're a new player just starting out, or a seasoned veteran looking to reminisce about your own adventures, or just get a new perspective on things, Bards and Barrels has something for everyone.
0:44
SPEAKER_04: So sit back, grab a drink, and join us as we roll for initiative and embark on this epic adventure.
0:58
unknown: Yes.
0:59
SPEAKER_04: Perfect.
1:00
SPEAKER_04: Good job, boys.
1:03
SPEAKER_03: It's time for another episode of Bars and Barrels.
1:06
SPEAKER_04: We got the barrels flowing.
1:08
SPEAKER_04: We're feeling good right now.
1:09
SPEAKER_04: It's great.
1:10
SPEAKER_04: Uh today we're gonna talk about building your first character.
1:16
SPEAKER_04: Uh as you know, in previous episodes, we've been talking about um how we got into DD and then we've started into our class reviews.
1:23
SPEAKER_04: Uh, but now it's time to uh talk about how to build that character.
1:27
SPEAKER_04: So I I think a good way to start off on this episode, guys.
1:31
SPEAKER_04: Do you remember your first character?
1:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh barely?
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's kind of like a character I kind of want to forget at this point.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: I definitely don't remember like my very first character.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: I remember the very first character I cared about.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Zachal?
1:48
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
1:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: Who was it?
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh Jeremiah Brewmaster.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Oh, good name.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: Monk.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
1:54
SPEAKER_04: I feel like he might need to be the Bards and Bertels unofficial mascot.
1:57
SPEAKER_04: Or official mascot.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah Brewmaster.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Like Way of the Drunken Master or something like that.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good one.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what we're doing.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: We haven't got to that class yet, but that's what he was.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: It fit, right?
2:07
SPEAKER_04: Uh my first character was a wizard, and it was uh it was interesting playing.
2:15
SPEAKER_04: His name was Magnus, can't remember his last name, but uh yeah, that was interesting.
2:18
SPEAKER_04: So so maybe a better question is yeah, maybe we don't remember our first characters, but do you remember creating your first couple characters?
2:25
SPEAKER_04: Like the whole process.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: Oh god, it was kind of miserable.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: And why?
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Because I did it on paper.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the things to know though, too, is so we're all fifth edition DD players, the newest edition as of today's date.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, people that had to build characters before fifth edition had a totally different experience that I think was a lot more difficult from what I've read and things I've listened to.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: And I'm soon to create a second edition character for another thing I'm doing, so I'll let you know once I find that out.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: But uh, I actually think we have it even easier now than it was before.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: Well, I find it hard that uh there'd be a harder way to create a character on it.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Wasn't there a lot of math and stuff that you had to calculate everything?
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think like live time, you had to do a lot of different calculations to figure out if you hit and see we can never do that.
3:16
SPEAKER_04: We like to drink too much while we play, build, even podcast.
3:20
SPEAKER_04: Uh, so that might be uh, you know, that's calculations are not good.
3:24
SPEAKER_04: You guys drink while we do this?
3:25
SPEAKER_04: What?
3:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, what have you been doing?
3:28
SPEAKER_01: There's just there's just too many choices to have to make, too many things you have to reference in the books, in uh different books, especially if you have more than just the player's handbook.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: It's just a lot to have to skim through and find on the fly as you're trying to build a character for the first time.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think especially too, you know, you're talking multiple books.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: So sure, if you just want to use the basic rules, first-time player, you know, everything's kind of there for you.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: But if you really want to start branching out into, oh, well, so what are some of the you know, kind of more unique classes or what are some of the races that aren't in the standard player's handbook or the basic rules, then you're talking about flipping through multiple books and reading some of this section, reading some of that section.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want a custom background.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that gets tough to stay on top of.
4:14
SPEAKER_04: So uh I I think uh just for every for clarification for everybody, we are going to stick to the core rule book, player's handbook style of building a character.
4:24
SPEAKER_04: We're not gonna talk about things out in supplemental books.
4:27
SPEAKER_04: We'll get into that later, but but for the sake, we're we're doing this from the perspective of somebody jumping in for the very first time.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: And I will say there are some easier ways than how we did it.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: You don't necessarily have to do it on paper.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: We'll touch on that here in a little bit.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but let's run through first.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, in the player's handbook and the basic rules, they have the same set of information on building your first character.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, and they walk you through that process.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, and first up is the the kind of oddly, the first two up there are picking your race first and then your class.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Well, what do you guys think about that?
5:02
SPEAKER_04: Well, I think it's for us, it's weird that race is there first.
5:07
SPEAKER_04: Because we we were kind of talking before this episode that we all know what class we want to do going into a build.
5:14
SPEAKER_04: So I think I think just that order is a little weird right off the bat.
5:17
SPEAKER_04: And and and Phil, do what thoughts do you have?
5:19
SPEAKER_00: I agree with you.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: So uh when I go into building a character, I already know what class I want to play.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't always know the race I want to play.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: And usually what I end up doing is saying, hey, I'm gonna play this class, and then I go look up the races and figure out which one's best at playing that class.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Where do I get the most bonuses?
5:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's a min-max type character, and not everyone likes to play that style.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: So the other way that I approach it occasionally is you know what?
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I've never played this race.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: I want to try that one this time.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but if you haven't looked up in the player's handbook yet, the race is your type of person, your race.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: So are you gonna be a human?
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna be an elf, a mountain dwarf, a dragonborn, a half orc, those type of features?
6:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, the class is getting into some of those class features that we've had different episodes about.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, so like the barbarian, the cleric, the warlock, um, druid, sorcerer, those are your classes that you had to pick from.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: So you pick a race and a class as your kind of core to your character.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: And I will say that I I do think that the race plays less of an important role.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: So you would want to make sure that you're picking the class you want to play, because that's going to be your style of play.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: The race truly is just a complement to your class.
6:34
SPEAKER_04: And I think it's important to know that that while it is secondary to a lot of things, in if you if you're rolling with a player's handbook on page 12, there's an ability score summary.
6:43
SPEAKER_04: There are benefits to choosing a race, and it kind of lists those out based on ability scores, like where certain races would give you a plus two or a plus one or something like that.
6:53
SPEAKER_04: So there's so there is some mild benefits, but basically, at least from our perspective, we like to go into it knowing what class which has a greater impact on your character versus the race.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: So if you're trying to pick your first class, um then you have a few decisions to make.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: Are you going to be a magic wielder?
7:15
SPEAKER_01: Are you going to be a fighter or some sort of like melee combatant?
7:20
SPEAKER_01: Or um are you going to be more of like a utility character?
7:23
SPEAKER_01: Um, and there's a lot of different flexibility in in and amongst all the different classes to be able to pick which style of play you're feeling, like going after.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think one of the things that we've hit on even in our class builds, right?
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Are you we've looked at a you know the cleric, we've looked at a barbarian.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: Some of those are on your easier side to play too.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: So we're trying to find things that maybe aren't too difficult for a first-time player to look at.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of that comes down to, as Brett said, do you want to play magic?
7:50
SPEAKER_00: That's a big one, right?
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Because some of your classes have no magic.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: So that's an important question to take into consideration at the top.
7:58
SPEAKER_04: I I I think another thing is you're not ever really gonna be building a character in a vacuum.
8:03
SPEAKER_04: It's very rare that you're gonna be out there just build a character that you're gonna build a table.
8:07
SPEAKER_04: You're probably gonna have a group and you're gonna be talking about party build too.
8:11
SPEAKER_04: So you're gonna have an idea of what class you need to go with based on what other people in your party are doing.
8:16
SPEAKER_04: Um so you know, if you if you need a healer, you're gonna go cleric like we've talked about before, things like that.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: If that discussion's not happening already in your party, make it happen because it's important.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: You don't always want to have an entire party playing the same class unless it's intentional.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're all trying to be bards just to you know, F around, fine.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Like I get it.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: But make sure that you're intentional about that.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: If not, talk about it, because you want a balanced party.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: The weird thing is in the player's handbook, that's step six is getting together with your party and discussing who you want to play.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: I would say that needs to come a lot earlier.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Even just some very rough, like, uh, I'm thinking about doing like a barbarian or um a warlock.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: What are you guys thinking?
8:58
SPEAKER_01: That's all you have to say.
9:00
SPEAKER_04: Okay, but before we move on, ability scores are next.
9:02
SPEAKER_04: And before we move on to that, you made me think it's like it would be hilarious to play like a troop of four bards who are like touring half-ling.
9:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we just found an idea for one shot in the future.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: Subscribe for that one coming soon.
9:20
SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, that would be hilarious.
9:22
SPEAKER_04: Okay, uh, so moving on to ability scores.
9:24
SPEAKER_04: So once you've chosen your race and your class, the next thing is to find out your your points that you're going to play with.
9:31
SPEAKER_04: And these affect like role bonuses and things that you're going to get throughout the game.
9:35
SPEAKER_04: And there are things that will increase these, so on and so forth, but there's there's three specific ways you can come up with your ability score numbers.
9:43
SPEAKER_04: One is the standard array, which we'll talk about in a second.
9:47
SPEAKER_04: The second is YOLO, you're just gonna roll numbers and see how it comes out, and then third is the point buy.
9:52
SPEAKER_04: So so thoughts on that before we get into each of those guys.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: You're playing a dice-based game that has some ups and downs.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: You you're gonna need to accept it.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: I I would heavily suggest rolling for your ability scores.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: I like to roll for my scores, and typically if I'm DMing, I'll give my players the option to roll, and if they really roll like crap, then I'll let them take the standard array.
10:21
SPEAKER_04: I was actually gonna mention exactly what you said because I I that's how I've done it in the past, too, is like roll it, if it's great, sure.
10:28
SPEAKER_04: If not, there's a fallback.
10:29
SPEAKER_04: So it's always worth it to YOLO first, and then we'll figure out things from there.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: I would say though, if if you have some really crappy roles and you only have maybe one decent number, that can also make for a really interesting character.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: I would agree.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: And I've never forced anyone into that, but if they want to keep it, that's fine because I do think it prevented like can present some really fun, playable moments as a character, having some terrible scores.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: And you know, every class has the ability to increase some ability scores.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: So you always can recover a little bit, right?
11:04
SPEAKER_00: I think that's important to notate as well.
11:06
SPEAKER_04: And I think that that boils down to a theory on the individual player, right?
11:11
SPEAKER_04: So it's like you're either you're either the type of player that's gonna min-max and and set up so you have a fairly even point-based character, or you roll and you take what you what you get and you end up with a character that's probably gonna be more fun to roleplay than actually mechanically play with.
11:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: So if you haven't looked at what your ability scores actually go into, um, there are six main ability scores that a lot of your character sheet is gonna be based off of these six main scores.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: As you level up, they'll increase um and they kind of cascade throughout your character sheet, but you have strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, and those are really what helps shape your character.
11:57
SPEAKER_04: And then it's the once you have your class, it when you're looking at the your individual classes, either in the core rule book or in the player's handbook, the quick build is gonna help you allocate those numbers.
12:10
SPEAKER_04: And so it's not like you're just doing this and guessing where you need to keep these numbers, like it will tell you or at least give you a general idea of how you should build a character that's that's specifically what you want.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so I think jumping back over to the three types, right?
12:24
SPEAKER_00: So the standard array, if we take a look at that, what that does is it will allow you to take six scores, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And then you have to pick which one of those categories, which one of the six scores we just talked about, you're gonna place those in.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: So what is the difference between a 15 and an eight?
12:44
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
12:47
SPEAKER_01: It really depends on your character.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: If you're taking a like if we just talked about barbier barbar barbarian a few weeks ago, uh if you take strength as an eight, you're gonna be a really weak barbarian, versus if you take a 15 in strength, you really want um your your highest number number to fit your class.
13:09
SPEAKER_04: It also the difference between those two numbers is the modifier that it gives you, and that's what it boils down to.
13:15
SPEAKER_04: And then there is a chart in in both the core rule book and the player's handbook that tells you.
13:20
SPEAKER_04: So the the the actual physical difference, physical number difference between a 15 and an eight is a 15 gives you a plus two, and an eight gives you a minus one on a roll.
13:30
SPEAKER_04: So if you're rolling with an ability with an eight, you roll that, and whatever number it comes out to be, you're gonna take away one, whereas with the 15, you're gonna add two to it.
13:38
SPEAKER_04: And that's that's a big difference.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: And going back to Brett's point about as a barbarian, your strength roll.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: If your strength's a 15, you're adding plus two to whatever you rolled on your d20.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: If your strength's an eight, you have to subtract one off of your roll.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: Huge difference.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: And all of those ability scores also factor into your skill, um, skill checks as well.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: So if you are um rolling a perception check, you're gonna take your wisdom modifier.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: So if that's like a plus one or a plus two, that adds on to your um d20 roll for a perception check.
14:12
SPEAKER_04: So let's let's talk a bit about how the the rolled uh points go.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: You roll four six-sided die and you write down that total of the highest three.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: You get a drop the lowest one.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: And then you do that for each of your scores.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: So before you do this, grab a piece of scratch paper.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Because these are gonna be some throwaway numbers, but you need to write them down.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you don't have to pick.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: I think that's important to know.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: At least as I've never made anyone pick.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: I let them roll all of their numbers first.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Roll your six numbers, and then you can assign them when you're done.
14:43
SPEAKER_04: Right.
14:43
SPEAKER_04: And that that's only how I've ever done it.
14:45
SPEAKER_04: I didn't know.
14:45
SPEAKER_04: I guess that people could be.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: You could really live on the edge.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: I cannot imagine that.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: No.
14:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no.
14:53
SPEAKER_04: So the so the interesting one of these three is the point buy because none of us have done it, but essentially what it's giving you is it's giving that standard array of numbers plus a few others, and it's assigning a cost to those.
15:05
SPEAKER_04: So you would start with 27 points, and then each of those numbers has a cost associated with them, and then you assign those numbers until you've used up your 27 points.
15:14
SPEAKER_04: So it's a pretty straightforward process, it's just not something we have done in the past.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: I think one of the interesting points there, if you kind of look at some of the number of points they assign to these, if you want a 15, it costs you nine points.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: If you want an eight, it costs you zero.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: So you could do a 15, 15, 15, 0, 0, 0 and create like this crazy type of character to play, super strong in three skills, and has a negative one modifier and three other skills.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that sounds awful, right?
15:42
SPEAKER_01: Not a bad character, potentially.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's another interesting way.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: I like to live life on the edge a little bit more.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: I mean, with uh with your rolling the dice, you can get a potentially a better roll off of it too.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, it's you could get higher than a standard array.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: You'll you roll three sixes and you have an eighteen, you're all of a sudden you're a total plus four modifier.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: At level one character.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Right.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: I think it's worth the risk.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you could roll a three.
16:11
SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's how Zeus ended up with Achilles was he assigned an eight to his heel, and that was not a good decision.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: At least we all know how that turned out.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, but if you're gonna roll a three, you're rolling five, six, ones, like the chances of that are pretty astronomical.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Agreed.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: So I think I think uh live life on the edge, go for the rolled dice um when picking rolled dice, or even just taking your standard.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: But I would push you to take the rolled, uh rolled ability scores.
16:42
SPEAKER_04: So next uh on the process of building a character is describing your character, which which encompasses a lot of things like picking your alignment, ideals, flaws, background.
16:53
SPEAKER_04: I a lot of this is at least from my perspective in the past, is rolling off of tables.
16:58
SPEAKER_04: I mean, alignment there there is some of how you're gonna role-play your character in there, but the rest of it is mostly hey, I'm gonna roll and see what this ends up being, kind of thing.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: And so for alignment, just for anyone who's not familiar, right?
17:09
SPEAKER_00: Like that's your moral compass, basically, right?
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Are you a good aligned character or an evil aligned character?
17:14
SPEAKER_00: Are you a chaotic character, a neutral character, a lawful character?
17:18
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a spectrum, right, that you can live in.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're talking about when we talk about alignment.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, it's it's a choice.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: If you're going to try to lean towards an evil aligned character, you need to talk to your DM.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: Because that can vastly impact the party dynamics.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: If you're the only evil aligned character and everyone else in your party is like let's say they're lawful good, that's a problem, right?
17:41
SPEAKER_00: We gotta figure that out.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: So make sure that you talk through that if you're leaning on anything towards, I would guess, the evil alignment, unless you're playing an evil campaign.
17:51
SPEAKER_04: I I would also say to to add on to that, typically the class you pick is gonna at least give you an idea of what type of alignment that you're gonna play.
17:58
SPEAKER_04: I mean, your clerics, your paladins are gonna be good characters now.
18:02
SPEAKER_04: They can range within that because of the the neutral, the lawful, and things like that.
18:07
SPEAKER_04: Beauty choice.
18:08
SPEAKER_04: Um, but for the most part, you're gonna have an idea before you ever get to this point of what your character should be.
18:14
SPEAKER_04: And and like Phil said, you you're probably not gonna play an evil character unless there's a weird dynamic that you're trying to pull out within your party.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: Most of your background, uh, when you're trying to describe your character and pick that um section of your character sheet, um, is a lot of just flavor.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: It gives some background on like where your character is coming from and how they're coming into uh their abilities and their lifestyle.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but part of your background does lend itself to giving you additional perks onto your sheet and giving you bonuses for different things.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can pick up some additional languages.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you get like skill proficiencies or tool proficiencies.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: I would say if you flip through the backgrounds and you find one that you you know you like some of the features of, but maybe the flavor text doesn't necessarily fit your character, just try to work with your DM to see if they'll be lenient with you there to create your own custom background.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: You can still grant you the same basically bonuses or proficiencies that you might get from, you know, whatever the player's handbook version of that background is.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you can tailor it to, you know, support the character that you're actually wanting to play.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: I I feel the same way about the ideals, the bonds, the flaws.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure what you guys think.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: A lot of those are rolled tables.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: And I always roll on the table, but if I read it and it doesn't quite fit, I either try to modify it to fit the character I'm building, or I just read through the whole list then and pick one that I think matches.
19:41
SPEAKER_04: Right.
19:41
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I mean that's how I do it too.
19:43
SPEAKER_04: And kind of just to circle back a little bit, when you pick your class, it will actually have a suggested background for your character.
19:48
SPEAKER_04: So again, read through those and know what they are because you may want something specific, but it will also hold your hand a little bit and say, hey, if you want to build something that fits for this character, choose this background.
20:00
SPEAKER_04: Uh so it is really helpful in that way.
20:03
SPEAKER_04: Uh the next thing moving on would be talking about equipment.
20:09
SPEAKER_04: And classes again have equipment that your character is going to start with.
20:13
SPEAKER_04: But guys, how do we how do we pick those things?
20:20
SPEAKER_00: I think you pick on playstyle, honestly, because usually it's giving you choices of like weapons, choices of armor sometimes, choices of an equipment pack, which doesn't make that much of a difference.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go out there and say that.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: Um but a lot of times your weapon choices are between, you know, maybe a melee weapon or a ranged weapon or a simple weapon versus um a martial weapon.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: And some of those are differences based on you know what are you proficient with.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: So you have to know your proficiencies.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: And then also, you know, what kind of weapon do you want to swing?
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Like what's your flavor?
20:53
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead, Brett.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: I would say a lot of this is also stuff that you're probably not going to come across.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you're not gonna go seek out a bunch of rope necessarily.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Like this is just a bunch of that early starting stuff that is nice to have in your backpack that you're not gonna seek out.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: It's nice to just already have it be there.
21:13
SPEAKER_04: I I think it's it's important to point out that you may come into building your character thinking, boy, I I really want a pike.
21:20
SPEAKER_04: But depending on your class, it's actually gonna tell you you're gonna choose between this and this.
21:25
SPEAKER_04: You may come across those things later or buy those things later, but at the end of the day, it's gonna say you're gonna get a great axe or you're gonna get a long sword.
21:32
SPEAKER_04: And then you can go to the table and see which one causes more damage, essentially, or which one are you it's not gonna tell you something you're not proficient with already.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: But I wouldn't say any of them are necessarily bad.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: It's just kind of as long as you're familiar with how they're kind of gonna be played, or even what they are, you're pretty much there on being able to pick from them.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't know what they are, go check out the weapons table, the armor table, like read through them, figure out what kind of damage.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: They do some of them are finesse weapons that let you use some of your dexterity instead of strength to use use them as your attack rolls.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: So look into that, especially if you're paying me playing maybe a dexterity-based character.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: I will say on the equipment pack side, as a personal preference, if I have choice of a burglars pack, I'm always picking the burglars pack, so I can try to figure out how to use the thousand ball bearings.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: So many options on that one.
22:26
SPEAKER_04: Now, with that said, that's a good point though, Phil, because I mean we we centered a lot of that conversation just now around picking weapons, but there's so much other equipment.
22:34
SPEAKER_04: Certain classes are gonna have, you're gonna have for example, a cleric's gonna have vestments, which is essentially priest robes and things like that.
22:41
SPEAKER_04: Like you're gonna have certain equipment that you will just have with you, but then you're gonna get a choice between a gate a chest set or dragon bones or something like that, where you're just gonna have to decide.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: A bard's instrument, right?
22:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, totally, yeah.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Can have a huge impact, not necessarily on how your character plays, but just on your flavor.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Or the additional tools that you have available, like thieves tools.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Having those already on your character when you're starting at level one, you ha you're ready to roll, then you don't have to go seek those out or at later at a later date.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's it's important to note that sometimes it will give you a proficiency, like let's say you're proficient in brewer supplies, but you may not have something in your background or in your class that actually gives you that set of tools.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: So it is important to kind of notate the difference.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Just because you're proficient in something doesn't necessarily mean you were granted that as starting equipment.
23:37
SPEAKER_04: Totally.
23:37
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so and we've hit on this last point, we've hit on this a little bit already, but it's it's coming together with your party and discussing the campaign that you're gonna play.
23:46
SPEAKER_04: So does your character fit?
23:48
SPEAKER_04: I I think the key point in here is one we've already made, is this should be probably higher up the list.
23:53
SPEAKER_04: You need to know who else is in your party in order to create the character.
23:58
SPEAKER_04: Sure, you're gonna still create what you want, but knowing that you need to be healer or a frontline attacker or something like that, it's good to come together earlier in that process than later.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: It helps to have more of a variety amongst your different types of characters in a party.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because you all have strengths, you all have weaknesses, and figuring out how to balance those amongst a party can make a much smoother campaign.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: I think it just makes a more fun party to play too, because if you have a bunch of characters that are basically trying to play the same role, you just end up with competing almost characters at that point, right?
24:32
SPEAKER_00: You're just trying to be the same role in the party.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: And so having a good mix, I think, is important to a successful long-term campaign.
24:40
SPEAKER_04: All right, before we wrap up tonight, we we do need to talk about uh the elephant in the room.
24:46
SPEAKER_04: So create it on paper or create your character in DD Beyond.
24:51
SPEAKER_04: I know we have a preference, but let's let's start this conversation and see where it goes.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: There is no preference.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: Like you, if you're doing it on paper, you're doing it just because you want the challenge, maybe, or you're an ultranero that is familiar enough to be able to do it.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: Or your DM showed up with paper and you don't know anything different.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, true.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Or you don't have a phone or a laptop and you don't have any other choice.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Or yes, your DM shows up with paper and they want you to create it on paper.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: I will say, as a DM that has showed up with paper, I've allowed people to create it on paper, and then after they did that, I asked them to add it to be on.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: So that way I could see all of the information.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's just so much easier.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: When everything is there on the website, it pulls up all the options options that you have for that selection right there for you at the time.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: You can reference uh what does this weapon do, or what does this weapon do?
25:48
SPEAKER_01: It's one click away where you don't have to flip through a whole bunch of books, go to different books to be able to find that information.
25:55
SPEAKER_04: I I think the biggest benefit, at least for me, was when I had a paper character, it was very hard when I would level up to go back and change because I would write in, okay, this gives me one D8 of whatever or whatever.
26:09
SPEAKER_04: And then especially if I had a pencil that couldn't erase where the crab, all of a sudden my player sheet was a mess.
26:15
SPEAKER_04: And beyond, you don't have to worry about that.
26:17
SPEAKER_04: It automatically is adjusting that as you go.
26:19
SPEAKER_04: You never have to worry about erasing things, it's just going to keep it current for the level that you're on.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: Even on one of the starter packs that I have, which is like a pre-built campaign, just a short little um short session.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's got a bunch of pre-made characters on there, and they're really overly filled.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: They're filled out by DD, but I would much rather go and build something on DD Beyond because it's it's streamlined, it calculates things for you automatically, and it doesn't have all that extra text that maybe a even a pre-built character would already have.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: I just feel like with a paper version of your character sheet, it's a lot to maintain because to Ross's point, every time you level up, you have to check on so many things.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: Did your proficiency bonus change?
27:06
SPEAKER_00: If it did, what other numbers do you need to change?
27:09
SPEAKER_00: Did you take an ability score increase?
27:11
SPEAKER_00: You upped your strength by two.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, now what skills or saving throws does that apply to?
27:17
SPEAKER_00: It applies to all of your weapon attacks now, too.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean, keeping that sheet maintained, the chance of you having perfect accuracy on that paper sheet.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: So small.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: So small.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: And short rest.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: If you're a spellcaster, short rest, long rest, being able to do that and beyond and automatically recover your spell slots, recover your hit dice with the click of a button.
27:39
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
27:40
SPEAKER_04: Versus filling and erasing all those dots every time.
27:43
SPEAKER_04: Oh my goodness.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Also, pro tip if you're going to fill it out on paper, use pencil with a really good eraser.
27:51
SPEAKER_04: Pen is not your friend.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: No, because you're going to be changing your sheet.
27:54
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
27:55
SPEAKER_04: Over time.
27:55
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
27:56
SPEAKER_04: Okay, guys, final thoughts on building a character.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is one, especially as you get further into DD, you're gonna be doing quite a bit, especially if you get into doing one-shots, small sessions.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're going into a full campaign, a long-term campaign, spend some time, dedicate some um research on figuring out what type of character you want to do, because you're gonna be using this one for a while.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: I love building characters, and if I go into my DD beyond, you can store characters.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: I've got more characters than I've ever played.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: Because I just kind of I enjoy the character building process and building out different combinations of ooh, what if I played this class and this race?
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, what would that look like?
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Or oh, I want to fly now.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pick a race that's not in the player's handbook.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: I think it just opens you up to so many possibilities.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: To Brett's point, if you're gonna play a long-term campaign, make sure you're gonna play a character that you enjoy playing.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: Because if not, and you get stuck in a long campaign, it may not be as enjoyable as you initially would think.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: If you get into it and you don't like your character, talk to your DM and see what you can do.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: There are options that are there.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: And I would say one other thing is don't necessarily try and optimize your character to be the best possible version of a class.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: No a lot of fun can be had from taking an oddball race and fitting it with something that it normally doesn't fit with.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you take a um a halfling barbarian, that could be really fun.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: You're a a uh halfling badass coming to break things and smash things.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: If that walks into the room, that would be a lot of fun to play.
29:36
SPEAKER_04: I think it boils down to DD allows you to do what you want.
29:41
SPEAKER_04: So if you have this idea for a character, build that character.
29:43
SPEAKER_04: It's fine.
29:44
SPEAKER_04: It have fun with it.
29:45
SPEAKER_04: That's the whole point at the end of the day.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: And if you get into playing DD, you're gonna be building a lot of characters over the course of your playing time anyway.
29:53
SPEAKER_04: So, you know, you may spend more time if you know you're gonna be spending a lot of time with a character, you're gonna spend a little more time building that one out.
29:59
SPEAKER_04: But at the end of the day, you're still gonna be building if you're doing one-shots and things like that, you're gonna build hundreds, well, not hundreds, you know, 15 to 20 characters at least.
30:08
SPEAKER_04: Dozens.
30:08
SPEAKER_04: You're gonna you're gonna dozens, thank you.
30:10
SPEAKER_04: You're gonna you're gonna be building a lot of characters.
30:12
SPEAKER_04: So so it's it's it's a quick skill to pick up.
30:15
SPEAKER_04: It's nothing that can ever really be perfected.
30:17
SPEAKER_04: So don't try to do it.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna continue leveling up the character over time if you're playing a campaign.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: So you will progress.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: It's not the end all be all of your character.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: This is the start to a character.
30:30
SPEAKER_04: Okay, that's gonna do it for this episode of Bards and Barrels.
30:32
SPEAKER_04: You can listen to past episodes of the show anywhere podcasts can be found.
30:35
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30:38
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30:42
SPEAKER_04: We'll see you soon.