Add to that three more skill proficiencies through the College of Lore, and you’re set up to be a true jack of all trades.īeyond this, look to increase your Cha, or pick some flavoursome feats, if the campaign is increasingly descending into creative roleplay. Opt for skills such as Acrobatics, Perception, and Insight if you’ll be more actively adventuring or Persuasion, Intimidation, Deception, and Performance, if the roleplaying side of the character is a better fit. You’ll gain proficiency in a whopping five skills of your choice at first level, so think hard about your role in the party.

At level three, the College of Lore allows you to use Bardic Inspiration on yourself, letting you redo an attack roll, ability check, or damage roll that didn’t go your way – especially useful for this low-AC, low-HP class.īut Bards really excel for their expansive applicability. Pick a mix of damage-dealing and immobilising cantrips and spells, such as Vicious Mockery and Hideous Laughter, and throw Detect Magic into your spell list if no one else in the party bothers. Half-Elves’ +2 Cha feeds nicely into Bardic spellcasting, and their other two +1 ability score improvements should be spent on Str and Con. You’re set up to be a true jack of all trades Keep its central focus in mind, though, and you’ll be rewarded with a character that’s well-adjusted to a party dynamic, and can hold their own throughout a campaign. Pick a build that takes your fancy, and mess around with it, if it pleases you.

You won’t drop off the party radar, or become obsolete.īut we aren’t the tabletop roleplaying police, and there’s no need to stick entirely within our guidelines. They all have a central focus, and will ensure you’re character is consistently effective as they level up. Rather than focussing on specific roleplaying or martial builds, we’ve opted for a more important factor in these builds: fun. To save you the hassle of disappointment, we’ve constructed some ready-made D&D character builds that can provide the template to your next, or first, 5E character. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by choice during character creation, and end up with something that looks mightily powerful, but turns out to be confused and directionless when taken for a spin. They’ve got to be enjoyable to roleplay, adept at combat, compatible with a party, appropriate to your DM’s campaign, and, above all, internally consistent. There’s a lot at stake when creating D&D character builds.

How to make a 5e character