Talyn - From boy to man.

[KyleG]

Hi, with no experience previously building for tabletop I've been building a couple of characters to take to my first game next week. I'm not looking at the long term build just the start and wondering if i there is an angle unconsidered for any of them that might be worth consideration.

Talyn - I took the approach that he was a base line teenager (10 across all abilities) my tragic event drives him into the deep forest where he spent the next 5 years surviving and thinking of revenge. When he pops up in this first campaign he will have acquired some skills ,remaining ability pts (15 pt spend) and a class. I wanted to spend my pts/determine class based and what he did to survive. So...

Ranger (13/12/14/10/14/10) - Basically im NOT building a ranger im taking ranger as a consequence of the ability scores the environment generated.. But is that the right class? Would he actually have developed along those lines? And can/should you take the favored enemy of something you have never met let alone fought with (he wants revenge on the changeling that cause the towns destruction). Or should it be something he encountered often out in the wilds? or do i handicap him and not have a favoured enemy given the varied creatures he met?

I know there is not much of an ability focus but as I worked thru some descriptions of what the scores represent I found that below 10 they didn't gel that this was an average kid without any real tragedy or issue. The only thing that I could justify would be a loss of charisma due to his isolation. Maybe I need to flesh out some flaws but as abilities stand I don't think they would have anything below 10.

[Kadesh]

Hi, with no experience previously building for tabletop I've been building a couple of characters to take to my first game next week. I'm not looking at the long term build just the start and wondering if i there is an angle unconsidered for any of them that might be worth consideration.

Talyn - I took the approach that he was a base line teenager (10 across all abilities) my tragic event drives him into the deep forest where he spent the next 5 years surviving and thinking of revenge. When he pops up in this first campaign he will have acquired some skills ,remaining ability pts (15 pt spend) and a class. I wanted to spend my pts/determine class based and what he did to survive. So...

Ranger (13/12/14/10/14/10) - Basically im NOT building a ranger im taking ranger as a consequence of the ability scores the environment generated.. But is that the right class? Would he actually have developed along those lines? And can/should you take the favored enemy of something you have never met let alone fought with (he wants revenge on the changeling that cause the towns destruction). Or should it be something he encountered often out in the wilds? or do i handicap him and not have a favoured enemy given the varied creatures he met?

I know there is not much of an ability focus but as I worked thru some descriptions of what the scores represent I found that below 10 they didn't gel that this was an average kid without any real tragedy or issue. The only thing that I could justify would be a loss of charisma due to his isolation. Maybe I need to flesh out some flaws but as abilities stand I don't think they would have anything below 10.

Unless otherwise stated, point buys are usually 27pt.

Firstly, what is your race? It should also be recognised that as a Teenager, you are not necessarily a flat 10 in all, many people by the time they are a teenager show developmental, environmental and natural strengths. The average kid of today is also not the average kid of yesteryear/fantasy-yesteryear, and the point of an adventurer is that they are a special individual. Given that the average adult is represented by a 10, the average teenager not fully grown can be expected to have a lesser strength, for example.

You do not have to take Ranger based on your back story. You can take something like Hermit or Outlander for your Backstory. Your proficiency with skills can make up for your lack of native strength.

Isolation doesn't resolve in lacking Charisma: look at Charles Bronson as an example. An isolated individual who is still about to inspire thousands despite no mainstream media presence.

If you are this heavily invested in the Backstory, having a changeling as a FE you are unaware of being a changeling is a bit disingenuous.

[KyleG]

Unless otherwise stated, point buys are usually 27pt.

Firstly, what is your race? It should also be recognised that as a Teenager, you are not necessarily a flat 10 in all, many people by the time they are a teenager show developmental, environmental and natural strengths. The average kid of today is also not the average kid of yesteryear/fantasy-yesteryear, and the point of an adventurer is that they are a special individual. Given that the average adult is represented by a 10, the average teenager not fully grown can be expected to have a lesser strength, for example.

You do not have to take Ranger based on your back story. You can take something like Hermit or Outlander for your Backstory. Your proficiency with skills can make up for your lack of native strength.

Isolation doesn't resolve in lacking Charisma: look at Charles Bronson as an example. An isolated individual who is still about to inspire thousands despite no mainstream media presence.

If you are this heavily invested in the Backstory, having a changeling as a FE you are unaware of being a changeling is a bit disingenuous.

Fair points.Im not commited to anything...im learning at this stage what could work...but the sense of betrayal and knowing what they are maybe more a desire than a favoured creature i guess. Race was intended to be half elf or human. With teenage being 16-18 for baseline adult stats with the final stats representing the starting character with the 27 pt buy. He was (maybe i need to change that) living a comfortable educated lifestyle (like officer cadet type training is how i envisaged it)
So maybe a fighter outlander. Id respec wis and dex into str and tweak the background to more fringe isolation than total having spent the last few years trying to get his revenge.

[MThurston]

Here is the thing. Look at all classes and subclasses. A rogue scout would fit this build. Fight, Druid, and Ranger also fit.

You just have to pick one.

I can tell you one thing. Putting 10 hours in your backstory doesn't mean much if your DM never uses any hooks for you.

That guy you want revenge on, may never show its face. Also the rest of the group might not want to go down your back ground hook.

[KyleG]

Here is the thing. Look at all classes and subclasses. A rogue scout would fit this build. Fight, Druid, and Ranger also fit.

You just have to pick one.

I can tell you one thing. Putting 10 hours in your backstory doesn't mean much if your DM never uses any hooks for you.

That guy you want revenge on, may never show its face. Also the rest of the group might not want to go down your back ground hook.

All worth noting considering ive never played. I just wanted to present a couple of well thought out characters that i thought i could play to the DM.
MY nature is to over think things. And then to over think my over thinking. Is it any wonder im still doing this **** at 2 oclock in the morning. lol

[MThurston]

I normally flavor my powers. So pick a class you like and flavor it.

For example my hexblade has a magic flail. When I cast attack spells, they come from the flail. So EB is a skull thrown from the flail.

[Keravath]

Although the stats you list might work, they might be a problem when it comes to the actual game depending on who else is playing and how their stats are allocated.

For example, you currently have 13 in str and 12 in dex. This means a +1 to hit for either a strength or dexterity based character and only +1 to AC and initiative from dexterity.

Another character might allocate points to have a 16 in dexterity with just as interesting a backstory. Whatever your story, it doesn't require you to have lower stats across the board.

Anyway, if you then compare yourself to the character with 16 dexterity, they will have +2 greater AC in light armor and +1 in medium. They will have +2 more that you for initiative rolls and will have +2 greater to hit than you with ranged or finesse melee weapons. +2 means that they will hit significantly more often than you do ... they will also do +2 more damage on every hit.

Basically, the character with a 16 in their starting combat stat or casting stat (whatever it may be) has a significant advantage over a character who starts with a 12 and a smaller but still noticeable advantage over a character that starts with a 14. What this could mean, after you start playing, is that you feel your character isn't doing or contributing as much as the other characters in the party. This is particularly true for a martial character with lower stats.

This doesn't make the character unplayable by any means. Bounded accuracy in 5e means that every character will be able to contribute something. I know lots of folks who wanted to have several 14's rather than focus on having their one attack stat at 16. However, one of the longer term goals is often to get your primary stat to 20 to improve to hit/damage/spell DC and starting that stat at 14 (or 13 or 12) can make this goal more challenging.

I really like the thought you are putting into the character back story but since you haven't played before, I suspect that there are aspects of the mechanics that you aren't considering when putting your characters together. Ideally, you want to make a character with a cool back story, as well as one that is effective at what they do best since that is likely the character that you will enjoy most over the longer term.

In your present case, I don't know if you will be using feats (special abilities) that can be taken when you level up. A Variant Human is allowed to add +1 to two stats and take a feat at level 1. If you are a regular human you would add +1 to all your stats.

Your backstory described here does look like it would fit with an Outlander background and would work well with a Ranger character class (though as mentioned there are a number of other options). If you are starting human then you might want to consider the Gloom Stalker ranger since that is one way to obtain darkvision as a human (though druids also have Darkvision as a spell).

[KyleG]

Thanks for the support everyone. Ill step back and try not to over think things so much.

The main thing i wanted to do was not create a path for the character i wanted his stats to reflect what had happened to him thus far and im not looking at the future either. Ill go back to the backgrounds and then tweak for flavour and tone down my own story. I dont want to create a defined path for them this is their life and maybe ill just play what happens.

Cheers

[Talyn]

...I would like to note that I am a Paladin, thank you very much.

:D