How to Actually Create A Level-One D&D Character

The disappointing superhero D&D character

How do you make a first-level character that actually feels like they are first level in D&D? And why does it matter? The challenge this article addresses is that of the D&D character who turns out to be a disappointing superhero, an amateur expert, or a sports car with the handbrake on. The monk who trained for centuries at a martial arts monastery only to be killed by a lone ghoul in the first encounter. The wizard who studied magic in the great elvish libraries—and who now has two spell slots at first level. These kinds of mismatched first-level characters appear often enough. But a few tips can help us build first-level characters that actually feel like they are first level.

Five tips for creating first-level characters

Here are five tips to help us create characters that are deeply connected to their status as a beginning character:

The character is a beginner adventurer.
The character is a beginner in their class.
The character has a recent origin for their class abilities.
The character embraces the first-level abilities.
The character has room to grow.

1. The character is a beginner adventurer

Adventuring is different from “normal” fantasy life. A commoner has an average of four hit points, and no proficiencies. A first-level character is a step up from a commoner but even they only recently started adventuring. Before becoming an adventurer they had a different life—one which is described by their background. The challenges of adventuring—traversing the wilderness, surviving ancient dungeons, battling monsters—these challenges are extraordinary in most D&D settings. Becoming an expert adventurer takes experience—experience that first-level characters are just beginning to collect. By seeing the world of adventure through the eyes of a beginning adventurer allows us to embrace the fledgling skills of a level-one D&D character.

2. The character is a beginner in their class

Characters can be experts in their profession, reflected in their background. But they are novices in their class. A character might be an expert craftsperson, but not yet an experienced artificer. An experienced outlander but not an expert ranger. A knowledgeable sage yet just in the early stages of wizardry. In other words, we can lean into the background to reflect life experiences of our character, but understand them as a beginner in their class.

3. The character has a recent origin for their class abilities

To further reflect that our level-one character is just starting out in their class, we can come up with a recent origin for our newfound abilities. This can include an acquired curse, the completion of training, or divine intervention. We can connect this origin to our roleplaying and the description of our class abilities. If our sorcerer gained magical abilities after being cursed, we can describe how malevolent runes appear whenever they cast a spell. Choosing and portraying a recent origin for the class abilities of a D&D character can help us use the full potential of our tier-one character.

4. The character embraces the first-level abilities

Often, the abilities we gain at first level will be our bread and butter for much of a character’s career. Therefore, we should make them as flavorful as possible. Most often, this will be a weapon attack, a cantrip or a particular ability such as the paladin’s Lay on Hands. We can connect these to the origin of our class abilities, and describe how our warlock summons fiendish energy between their hands before releasing a smoking red eldritch blast. We can accept that a first-level warlock most likely only deals five points of damage with their cantrip but a flavorful description can make us embrace the first-level abilities of our character.

5. The character has room to grow

A level-one D&D character has room to grow. Especially because we sometimes build a character with awesome abilities in mind which only come at later levels. We might conjure up a multiclass character who takes levels in barbarian, fighter, and wizard to become a powerful guardian for the party. The full combination of class abilities will be available at character level 14. And now we are level one. But instead of despairing, and counting the sessions until we finally reach higher levels, we can find ways to foreshadow higher-tier abilities.

For example, the barbarian-fighter-wizard character starts out as a barbarian but is already haunted by an ancestral spirit who will one day become their Manifest Echo when the character reaches fighter level three. The character also carries an undecipherable book of their ancestral clan which will later become their spell book when the character takes wizard levels.

By foreshadowing higher-tier abilities we can embrace our character’s first-level abilities while showing that the character has room to grow.

Honorable mention: The amnesia trope

Sometimes it can be fun to play a character who was already a high-level adventurer before the campaign begins. A master of weapons who was hit with a feeblemind spell by an evil wizard, or a legendary bard who injected a cursed alchemical brew which took away their beautiful singing voice. These kinds of tropes can be fun to explore if we want to put a different twist on our first-level character.

Level-one D&D characters are neat

Especially for experienced players, a first-level character can seem underwhelming. Their abilities are better than those of a commoner but they are definitely not a superhero. But if we embrace the limited but potentially flavorful set of abilities, we can have fun with them from level one to twenty, and each level on the journey there. And with a few tips, we can build level-one D&D characters that actually feel like they are first level.