Dungeons & Dragons: Character Creation

Tonight for the first time in nearly twenty years, I’m going to play Dungeons & Dragons. As I’ve mentioned here before, the 5th edition of D&D was recently released. A free version of the rules were published online for anyone to use, and a low-budget starter set was also released as well. This week, the first core rulebook appeared on store shelves.

I decided a while back that I really wanted to get back into this hobby and the release of the 5th edition was the perfect opportunity to do so. Recently, I joined a local group on Meetup.com and the first officially sanctioned game is tonight. This morning, I went to my local hobby store and picked up a copy of the Player’s Handbook. I plan to fully review this book in the coming weeks once I’ve had a chance to really sink my teeth into it.

As for tonight’s game, I’ll also post my thoughts on the experience. This is first time I’ve ever sat down to play a game like this with total strangers, so I’m not really sure what to expect. We shall see how it goes.

Now, I have to sit down and actually prepare a character for tonight’s event. A quick glance at the book shows a lot of changes from what I’m used to. Back in the old days of 1e and 2e, things seemed quite simple. From what I’ve seen so far, there are some rather exotic options (half-dragons, half-demons). Also the classes seem to include areas of specialty that you can choose. This is also something I’ll need to wrap my head around.

My working knowledge of D&D pretty much ends with the first and second edition. I’ve heard bits and pieces of 3E and 4E,  and I have a very rough concept of how the D20 system worked. The word on the street is that this current version is truly the best of the old and new. So, with an open mind and no real expectations I’m about to roll the dice and see what happens. Stay tuned in the coming days for updates.