Getting Started in D&D Beyond
D&D Beyond is one of the many digital tools you'll find that can help you with your campaign. Options are available – this is a great one to start with.
Click the button below to head to the website and follow along in this guide if you get stuck.
When you get to the website, if you haven't made an account before, click the "Free Sign Up" link in the upper right. (If you have made a character before, you can scroll down and just make sure your new character follows the guidelines in this document.)
From there, a screen will prompt you to either "Sign in with Google" or "Sign in with Apple." Pick your poison – both are fine. Just remember which account you used.
Also on this page, you may want to uncheck the "I agree to receive emails from D&D Beyond…" checkbox.
From there, find the "Create a character" button.
You'll want to chose a "Standard" character. (Feel free to turn on help text if you'd like.)
Woah! That's a lot of options! Let's walk through them.
First, your character's name. You can always change this later but maybe come up with something now! (Keep it cool-for-school!) Or click that "Randomize" button until you find something you like.
Also, you can click that shadow face with the + to add an avatar for your character.
A Note about Character Images:
D&D Beyond provides a BUNCH of images you may want to use as your avatar. All are excellent options! You may, instead, want to upload your own image – also very cool!
If you drew it yourself, fantastic! How creative! However, it is considered bad form in the D&D community to use somebody else's artwork for your character without their permission. Some folks get mad if you even ask.
An alternative (if you're not feeling terribly artsy) is to create a "Picrew." Picrew is a layer-based avatar making website. It's PERFECT for D&D characters. The website is in Japanese but you should be able to figure it out either by clicking around a bit or using your browser's "translate" function.
Click the button below for a HUGE list of good Picrew options for avatar making.
Character Preferences
Check with your DM, but generally you'll want things to look like this.
Oooh! And do be sure both of those "optional" features are clicked on. They'll be important later!
Moving down, you'll want your options to look like this (the only big change is switching "Encumbrance Type" to "No Encumbrance."
The last two options are pretty straightforward.
And that's page one! Congrats! You did it! Click the blue "Next" arrow to continue.
Next you'll choose your Race. This is one of the two BIG decisions you won't easily be able to change later, so choose wisely.
Each race will give you a description of what their vibe is and you can (and should) google for more detail.
Also, okay. So. *sigh* I need to pull out my soapbox for a second. Thanks for bearing with me:
Dungeons & Dragons has a …problematic… history with how it has historically treated "race" in the game. Wizards of the Coast (the company that makes D&D) has taken some steps in the past few years to make things better (which is great) but to understand some of those changes, we have some unpacking to do.
Historically, versions of D&D (including all versions prior to this one) have given you mechanical, status-based advantages and disadvantages based upon what race you chose.
So you'd be "better" or "worse" at something based on your race. I like to assume this was a purely mechanical choice by the game designers – but it's still kind of a bad one. Although we're talking about fictional creatures – elves and dwarves – the basic conceit that your race makes you "better" or "worse" is really just fantasy world racism. Not a good look.
So, Wizards of the Coast set out to fix this. First with their recently released book Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and later with some additional clarifications, they've given options (which we should use) to sidestep this antiquated ideology. Those options mostly exist on the next page in D&D Beyond under a tab labeled "Origin Manager." We'll talk more about that when we get there.
The most important thing to know is that the folks who manage D&D are actively trying to fix things around how their products talk about race (and it's about time!)
Here's what they had to say in a recent rule update:
Design Note: Changes to Racial Traits
In 2020, the book Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced the option to customize several of your character’s racial traits, specifically the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, and traits that give skill, armor, weapon, or tool proficiencies.
Following in that book’s footsteps, the race options in this article and in future D&D books lack the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage. Such traits include things like darkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), or innate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Such traits don’t include cultural characteristics, like language or training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits also don’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignment is a choice for each individual, not a characteristic shared by a lineage.
Finally, going forward, the term “race” in D&D refers only to the suite of game features used by player characters. Said features don’t have any bearing on monsters and NPCs who are members of the same species or lineage, since monsters and NPCs in D&D don’t rely on race or class to function. Moreover, DMs are empowered to customize the features of the creatures in their game as they wish.
Phew. Okay. Soapbox put away. (But feel free to chat me up about this – it's one of my favorite things to talk about.)
Click that "next" button and head on to…
Your racial and origin traits!
How this section looks will very wildly based upon what races you've chosen. Here's my suggestions.
Click where it says "origin manager" first and select ALL the checkboxes you can.
Go back to the "racial traits" tab and read through the details there.
It may ask you about abilities. If you're not sure what those mean, read ahead a bit for a description.
One more "next" click takes you to…
Choosing your class!
Okay, these are fun!
Your "class" is kind of like your job. What walk of life has your character lived.
When you click on each class, it'll tell you what abilities you gain at each level.
Mechanically, class has the LARGEST effect on what you can do in the game – so choose wisely!
There are a billion YouTube videos explaining the different classes (these ones come to mind) so now's a good time to do a little research.
Also, you're always welcome to email me, your DM, or your party if you have questions.
Generally, a "well balanced party" makes for easier game playing – but don't let that stop you from living your dream! A party full of Bards would be hilarious.
Anyway, add a class (only add one class for now) and it'll spit you out on another page.
This page will also vary depending on what class you chose, but here are a few guidelines:
Everyone starts at level one (nice try.)
Under "Class Features" look for anything with a blue "!" in a circle – that means you have a choice to make (generally, all choices are just a personal preference).
You probably won't have any "optional features" yet.
Some of you will have a "Spells" tab (Bards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Warlocks, & Wizards). If you have that tab, click that then click "add spells." There will be some option that lists how many types of spells you can learn. (Like "Cantrips: 0/4"). Click through the spells and click "Learn" on the ones you like until those totals are full. (Spells can be one of the most complicated parts of D&D – don't be afraid to ask for help!)
Boom! Thank you, next!
Abilities!
Ability scores are what define how good or bad your character is at certain types of tasks. (Mechanically, they're also the number you add to your dice role to determine whether you succeed or hilariously beef it.)
You'll want to chose "Standard Array" from the dropdown.
From there, you get to assign points to the six major ability groups:
Strength, measuring physical power
Dexterity, measuring agility
Constitution, measuring endurance
Intelligence, measuring reasoning and memory
Wisdom, measuring Perception and Insight
Charisma, measuring force of Personality
Also, each ability has a subset of abilities (called Skills) it effects:
Strength
Athletics
Dexterity
Acrobatics
Sleight of Hand
Stealth
Constitution
(nothing 😭)
Intelligence
Arcana
History
Investigation
Nature
Religion
Wisdom
Animal Handling
Insight
Medicine
Perception
Survival
Charisma
Deception
Intimidation
Performance
Persuasion
Think about the character you want to play as: are they strong and dexterous but unwise? Do they have amazing charisma but no intelligence.
Although you're working in numbers, try to think of this narratively instead – what kind of character do you want to be playing as?
(Also, don't add anything into the "Other Modifier" or "Override Score" boxes.)
Good? Good. Pick some numbers, hit that "next."
Description
More options! Under background, pick one (their names are pretty self descriptive).
Depending upon what you pick, your options will change wildly (detailing them is beyond the scope of this guide.) Read through the options and pick what feels like your character.
Below that, you'll see four other subsets of options: Character Details, Physical Characteristics, Personal Characteristics, and Notes.
You can fill out these as much or as little as you like (some of this might flesh out as the story starts.) I only have one requirement: pick a bond that associates you with another player at your table.
…and then SMASH that next button!
Equipment
Under starting equipment, click the text "Equipment"
From there, depending upon your previous choices, it'll give you a bunch of options. Weapons, holy symbols, etc. There's no wrong choice – pick what speaks to you.
When you're done, click the red button that says "Add Starting Equipment" at the bottom.
(Also, for just starting out, please don't add any other items – that's what those other options below would do – don't be tempted.)
Cllliiick next!
And that's it! You did it!
Click "view character sheet" to see your completed character! Congrats! Now…
Let's quest!!!