Make a D&D character without knowing D&D

The character builder always assumed you had already done the hard part on paper: it asked for finished ability scores, and it asked you to know which skills your class gets. There is a walk now. Pick a race, a class, a background, roll or buy your scores, tick your skills, and the sheet is worked out at the end.

- A step by step character creator at /dnd, alongside the blank sheet.
- Racial bonuses, hit points, saving throws and skills are all added up for you.
- It never saves anything: the last step is the ordinary builder, filled in, for you to check.
- Rogues get their expertise picks, and only the skills they can actually take.

**The walk**

Sign in and press New character on /dnd.

Six questions instead of a blank form: Race and subrace, class and level, background, how you are rolling your scores, and your skills. Every option says what it does, so you can pick a class off the card rather than looking it up: the hit die, the two saving throws and how many skills it gives are all on it.

Nothing is saved until you say so: The last step hands you the ordinary builder with everything filled in and a summary of what was chosen. Change anything you like, then press Create character. Back works at every step and never loses what you typed after it.

Standard array, point buy, or your own rolls: Point buy counts your 27 points as you type and says how many are left. The standard array is checked as a set, so using 15 twice is caught rather than quietly allowed. Rolled scores go in as they are.

**What it works out**

Your race is applied on top: A Hill Dwarf gets its +2 Constitution and its +1 Wisdom, and the Half-Elf gets to choose which two abilities go up. Hit points use your class die and your Constitution, including Dwarven Toughness for the levels you have.

Skills you already have are not offered twice: An Elf Ranger already has Perception, so it is off the class list: 5e says pick another one, and a builder that lets you waste a choice is worse than one that does not offer it.

Expertise comes last, for the classes that get it: A Rogue is asked after its skills are chosen, over everything it is proficient in, including the two from its background.

**The small print**

SRD races and classes: The nine races and twelve classes in the SRD are the ones on offer, and Acolyte is the one background it carries. A custom background is there for everything else: pick two skills and settle the rest with your table.

The blank sheet is still there: If you are copying in a character you already have, Blank sheet on /dnd goes straight to the form, and the D&D Beyond import is unchanged.

Full version: https://ravensaqw.com/updates/2026-08-character-creation