Character Origins

Creating a Character

• Choose a class.
• Determine your origin: choose a background (it grants an Origin feat, two skill proficiencies, a tool proficiency, starting equipment and lists the three abilities it can raise) and a species (traits such as size, speed and Darkvision).
• Choose languages: every character knows Common plus two standard languages you choose or roll.
• Determine ability scores with the standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), 27-point buy or rolling 4d6 and dropping the lowest die. Then raise your background's abilities: +2 to one and +1 to another, or +1 to all three, to a maximum of 20.
• Choose an alignment, then fill in the details: Hit Points, Armor Class, attacks, spells and personality.

Species

• Aasimar

  Mortals touched by celestial light; healing hands and radiant power.

• Dragonborn

  Draconic folk with a breath weapon and elemental resistance.

• Dwarf

  Hardy mountain folk with poison resilience and stonecunning.

• Elf

  Long-lived and keen-sensed, with lineages of drow, high and wood elves.

• Gnome

  Clever, curious folk with a knack for magic and illusion.

• Goliath

  Towering kin of giants who can call on their ancestry.

• Halfling

  Small, nimble and famously lucky.

• Human

  Adaptable and ambitious, gaining extra skill and a bonus feat.

• Orc

  Relentless and enduring, able to rally from the brink.

• Tiefling

  Bearing a fiendish legacy with innate magic and resistances.

Backgrounds

A background describes what you did before adventuring — Acolyte, Artisan, Charlatan, Criminal, Entertainer, Farmer, Guard, Guide, Hermit, Merchant, Noble, Sage, Sailor, Scribe, Soldier or Wayfarer. Pick one that matches the story you want to tell.