Making D&D Characters with... Character

Part 1: Personality Traits

The excitement of a new tabletop RPG player is tangible. They're finally getting to jump into this grand game, old but fresh at the same time, that they've been watching and listening to and experiencing vicariously through their friends' stories; now it's time to start making legends of their own. They read the books and DM the GM and chat about it in person and online, they whittle half a dozen interesting classes and races down to one apiece, but when they finally sit down at the table it all sort of fizzles.

One of the greatest challenges new players face is playing a game that exists in their mind, and the minds of the people with them. It's not like Skyrim or Catan. You get a few numbers on a character sheet and the rest is up to you. How do these Critical Role people do what they do? Where do the reactions, jokes and voices come from?

For starters, they filled out their bios and backgrounds.

The 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons official character sheet devotes a good deal of space to traits, ideals, bonds, flaws, backstory, appearance, and allies & organizations. Almost the entire second page is devoted to description, rather than mechanics. Of course you don't need to know how long your character's hair is, if they have a friend in town, or if they value the bonds of friendship above all else, but those are precisely the details worth pondering if you want to portray a consistent persona with even a hint of depth.

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This is a lesson that has taken me a good many years to learn. When first trying the game amid fears of the Y2K bug, I don't think there was a player among my friends who saw value in worrying about their character's background. Having family or a hometown wasn't going to make chopping goblins any more efficient, was it?

Bypassing that element of the game had repercussions. Every time we went back to town, the only thing we could think to do was fight some more. Gladiator arena? Tavern brawl? The idea of character development had not dawned on us yet, but I think we all felt its absence in long, silent stretches in the city. "Okay, now what do you want to do?" Um...

Looking back though, we shouldn't be so harsh. We didn't have professionals eager to show us the way and available in an instant online. Before D&D transmogrified into, "The World's Greatest Roleplaying Game," even the character sheets reflected a game that was much more dungeon- and dragon-oriented than personality-centric. Instead of almost a full page and then some, the header of the official 3.5e character record sheet was the only space afforded frivolities such as age and gender.

We've changed, the way we play has changed, and the game itself has changed to accommodate. Each generation of D&D has had its share of merits and blemishes, but leaning hard into the roleplaying aspect like they have in 5e has propelled the game out of the basement and into the spotlight.

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In 2022, this is not news. We can see how fertile the environment is for the old pros today, but how does a new player starting out on their journey go about fitting in and getting the most out of the experience? I suggest flowing with the stream: lean into the roleplaying aspect.

You don't need to be an actor or master of many voices to enjoy tabletop roleplaying.

Those things help entertain an audience, but for you and your friends, start simple. Take a little extra time when filling out your character sheet to consider the personality fields. Whether you write your own, befitting your vision of who and what your character will be, or select pre-generated options from tables in the books or online, making the effort to write down aspects of your character's personality will help you make decisions that that character might make.

You may hesitate to run headlong into danger, but the brash barbarian you're playing thrives in it, and just like that, you're roleplaying.

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Photo by Robert Coelho