
In the meantime, we've laid out races and how they work in D&D's basic rules below. In short, don't feel beholden to the increases listed in the Player's Handbook - there are alternatives. With that in mind, you could run with an academic orc professor or a surly elven barbarian who just wants to smack stuff with their axe. It's also worth noting that Tasha's Cauldron introduces rules that allow you to put ability bonuses wherever you like instead of having to stick with an elf's increased dexterity or an orc's boosted strength, you could change their stats entirely.

However, you’re truly free to create whatever combination you like. For example, a Wizard uses the Intelligence ability to cast spells, while gnomes get to add two extra points to their Intelligence modifier, making them well suited for each other.

You can use Wizard's official digital dice roller (opens in new tab), or if you’re on DND Beyond, then the service has a digital dice roller built into the website.Įven though a lot will hinge on what you like the look of, be aware that your choice can have an impact on gameplay too - it’s possible to pick race and class options that are optimized to work together. You’ll also have a D4, D8, D10, D12, and a D100 to play with, but there's no need to panic if you don’t have physical ones to hand. There are seven different dice used in D&D, with the most common being a D6 (a six-sided dice) and a D20 (a 20-sided dice). Just remember to have a quick chat with your Dungeon Master first as some rules can vary depending on who's running the campaign.

Whichever you pick, the method to ‘rolling’ your first character will be largely the same. And, given that this is 2022, you have the option of creating your first character either traditionally with a printed sheet and a pencil, or digitally via services like DnD Beyond (opens in new tab). So, where should you start? The fifth edition of D&D is the most recently released version, so this is the one we'll run through the character creation process for (keep in mind that the steps in this guide may vary if you want to play older editions). Dungeons and Dragons books have shot up in popularity recently thanks to the additional publicity this long-running tabletop game has had in the media, such as its mentions throughout Stranger Things and in livestreamed campaigns such as Critical Role. This means that the iconic RPG is now even more accessible than ever, with free online resources that can help you jump into playing your first session without having to spend any money on things like the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set or Player's Handbook. And seriously, we can't recommend doing so enough.
