•For the basic rules you can pick a race from Human, Dwarf, Elf or Halfling. For the full 5th edition Players Handbook there are many more races to pick from.

•For the basic rules you can pick a class from Cleric, Fighter, Rogue or Wizard. There are a dozens classes between 5th edition and the books that extend the core rules.

•On your character sheet record your

• - Name e.g. Fang the Delectable.
• - Race e.g. Human.
• - Class e.g. Fighter.
• - Level 1 unless your DM decides otherwise.

We need to determine the characters Strength (Str), Dexterity (Dex), Constitution (Con), Intelligence (Int), Wisdom (Wis) and Charisma (Cha).

• • Method 1 - Roll Dice
• - Roll four six-sided dice (4d6) and pick the highest three numbers.
• - e.g. you roll 2,6,4,3 so you write down 13.
• - Repeat until you have six numbers written down.
• - Choose which number is assigned to which ability.
• • Method 2 - Standard Arrary
• - Write down the standard numbers 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.
• - Choose which number is assigned to which ability.
• • Method 3 - Point Buy.
• - You have a pool of 27 points, picking high numbers costs you more points.
• - Choosing a 15 will cost you 9 points.
• - Leaving a number at 8 will cost you 0 points.
• - Choosing a 14 costs 7 points, 13 costs 5, 12 costs 4, 11 costs 3, 10 costs 2 and 9 costs 1 point.
• - So you can have for example 15, 15, 13, 12, 8, 8.
• - Choose which number is assigned to which ability.

• Each class has a primary attribute they use to most to make attacks or cast spells.

• Typically you would put your highest number into that attribute.

• Primary and secondary attributes are as follows.

• - Fighter - Strength for melee weapons or Dexterity for finesse weapons/bows. Secondary attribute of Constitution.
• - Wizard - Intelligence. Secondary attribute of Dexterity or Constitution.
• - Cleric - Wisdom. Secondary attribute of Constitution or Strength.
• - Rogue - Dexterity. Secondary attribute is fairly open. Con is good for survival, Str to break free of a monster in combat, Int for investigation, Cha for deception, Wis to resist mind magic.

• Example for Fang the Delectable, a first level fighter.

• Download the PDF for Fang's character sheet

• • We write our name, race, class, 1 for first level.
• • At first level we get 2 as a proficiency bonus.
• • As a fighter proficiency bonus applies to Str and Con saves.
• • We choose Acrobatics and Athletics for our non-weapon proficiencies.
• • We are using the Standard Array, and as a human we get +1 to each attribute.
• • Str 16 Dex 13 Con 15 Int 9 Wis 11 Cha 14
• • We get +3 for strength skills/saves. +5 where proficient.
• • We get +2 for constitution saves. +4 since proficient.
• • We get +1 for dex saves/skills. We have chainmail so we have disadvantage on stealth skill checks
• • -1 for Int saves we complete the saving throw and skills based on the ability modified by the proficiency where applicable.
• • For attack rolls with a longsword we get +3 for Str and another +2 since proficient with the weapon.
• • Longsword damage is +3 for the Strength bonus (proficiency not used for damage).
• • Crossbow is dexterity based so just +1 for dex, another +2 for proficiency to attackj.
• • Longsword damage is just +1 for the Dexterity bonus.
• • Chain mail has a base armor class of 16. We get +2 for a shield and another +1 since we took the Fighting Style of "Defense" as a level 1 fighter.
• • Initiative is just your Dex bonus so we get +1.
• • Base speed for a human is 30 feet per round.
• • Fighters have a 10 sided dice for hit points. At level 1 you use the max so 10 plus a Con bonus of 2 = 12 hit points.