You and Your Character
Who Do You Want to Be?
It’s time to put your creative cap on and make a whole new person. The point of playing an RPG is to create a fictional character, and we’ll cover how to do that in Dungeon Realms in this section.
Because the character creation in Dungeon Realms is automated, the process itself is very easy. The most important task you have to do first is figure out who you want to play.
Character Creation
On the Dungeon Realms home page, you’ll see a section called “Characters”. This is where all the characters you create will be displayed. To get started, tap on the button “Build New” with the icon of the character under construction. That will take you to the character creator. You’ll be taken through the process step-by-step, choosing race, appearance, name, class, and more. If you want a more detailed breakdown of how to create a Dungeon Realms character and what each aspect means, keep reading.
Races
What makes fantasy worlds so fun to role-play in is that you can be almost any kind of character, from a fey-blooded elf to a tusked half-orc. Races in Dungeon Realms are all different, exciting, and come with their own unique traits that affect how you may play the game. Choosing a gnome, for example, automatically gives you +2 to your Intelligence score. Read all about the traits and benefits of races down below.
Racial Traits
The description of each race includes racial traits that are common to members of that race. The following entries appear among the traits of most races.
Ability Score Increase
Every race increases one or more of a character’s ability scores.
Age
The age entry notes the age when a member of the race is considered an adult, as well as the race’s expected lifespan. This information can help you decide how old your character is at the start of the game. You can choose any age for your character, which could provide an explanation for some of your ability scores. For example, if you play a young or very old character, your age could explain a particularly low Strength or Constitution score, while advanced age could account for a high Intelligence or Wisdom. If you want to define your character’s age and have it available for other players to see, you can note it in your public description, which we’ll show you later.
Alignment
Most races have tendencies toward certain alignments, which are described in detail in their own section. These are not binding for player characters, but considering why your dwarf is chaotic, for example, in defiance of lawful dwarf society can help you better define your character.
Size
Characters of most races are Medium, a size category including creatures that are roughly 4 to 8 feet tall. Members of a few races are Small (between 2 and 4 feet tall), which means that certain rules of the game affect them differently. The most important of these rules is that Small characters have trouble wielding heavy weapons, as explained in “Equipment.”
Speed
Your speed determines how far you can move when traveling ( “Adventuring”) and fighting (“Combat”).
Language
By virtue of your race, your character can speak, read, and write certain languages.
Subraces
Some races have subraces. Members of a subrace have the traits of the parent race in addition to the traits specified for their subrace. Relationships among subraces vary significantly from race to race and world to world.
Classes
What type of adventurer your character is depends on something called their “class”. A class specifies lots of different features that your character will have, from spellcasting to melee abilities, as well as what you gain from leveling up your character. For example, if your character is a rogue, they’ll enjoy a talent for stealth, sneak attacks, and subterfuge, and Dexterity will become an important ability score for them to gain, since it affects how well they use their skills. A wizard, on the other hand, relies on their spellbook to cast magic and it takes time for them to prepare which spells they want to use. During character creation, you’ll be able to take a peek at each class before choosing one—tap on their starting ability icons to read more about what skills you’ll have and what you can look forward to as that class. You can also read the descriptions of each class below.
Backgrounds
Every story has a beginning. Your character’s background reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world. Your fighter might have been a courageous knight or a grizzled soldier. Your wizard could have been a sage or an artisan. Your rogue might have gotten by as a guild thief or commanded audiences as a jester.
Choosing a background provides you with important story cues about your character’s identity. The most important question to ask about your background is what changed? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes and start adventuring? Where did you get the money to purchase your starting gear, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why don’t you have more money? How did you learn the skills of your class? What sets you apart from ordinary people who share your background?
You can find six backgrounds (Disciple, Mercenary, Outlaw, Savant, Wayfarer, and Occultist) and their specific traits in the Character or NPC creation.
Proficiencies
Each background gives a character proficiency in two skills (described in “Using Ability Scores”). In addition, most backgrounds give a character proficiency with one or more tools (detailed in “Equipment”).
If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead.
Languages
Some backgrounds also allow characters to learn additional languages beyond those given by race. See “Languages.”
Equipment
Each background provides a package of starting equipment. If you use the optional rule to spend coin on gear, you do not receive the starting equipment from your background.
Personality
After picking your background, you’ll see a screen with four types of areas that better refine your character’s personality: a trait, an ideal, a bond, and a flaw. A trait is what you default to when describing someone, such as secretive, carefree, or wicked. An ideal is what your character believes in and tries to live by, such as equality, free will, or knowledge. A bond is something that motivates or burdens your character, such as a need for vengeance or finding a long-lost parent. Finally, a flaw gives your character what every living being has—they may be arrogant, emotionally stifled, or overly suspicious. Each background offers three unique traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws to choose from that reflect the theme of the background in some way.
Customizing a Backstory
In Dungeon Realms, you can customize your backstory and add a public description that other players will be able to see. This can include notes about your appearance, your outfit, your smell, or even your gait. Details that aren’t on your character miniature would be good to add in the public description, if they’re important, such as any tattoos or significant scars you have. To customize your backstory and public description, go to your character sheet and tap on the “story” icon. You’ll see sections at the bottom of the screen called “Backstory” and “Public Description”. Simply tap the “edit” button to the right of them to add or change any text.
Alignment
A typical creature in the game world has an alignment, which broadly describes its moral and personal attitudes. Alignment is a combination of two factors: one identifies morality (good, evil, or neutral), and the other describes attitudes toward society and order (lawful, chaotic, or neutral). Thus, nine distinct alignments define the possible combinations. Individuals might vary significantly from that typical behavior, and few people are perfectly and consistently faithful to the precepts of their alignment. During character creation, you’ll need to choose your character’s alignment, which are described in more detail in the app or here below.
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Lawful good (LG): Rules and societal expectations are of utmost importance to lawful good creatures. They’re reliable, careful, and will usually be the first to apologize—even if it’s on someone else’s behalf.
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Neutral good (NG): Averting a few laws to help a friend out of a tough situation is no problem for a neutral good creature, but don’t expect a selfless grand gesture—no martyrs were ever made from this type.
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Chaotic good (CG): Chaotic good creatures will claim they don’t mean to cause any harm. They simply follow their own whims and don’t believe in curbing themselves to fit inside a designated box.
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Lawful neutral (LN): Tradition and self-made codes, no matter how good or bad, hold lawful neutral creatures on a binding path. They find it hard to accept others’ ideals and tend to never change.
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Neutral (N): Neutral creatures decide which steps to take based on the evidence at hand. They don’t turn to long-held values or societal rules for guidance, preferring to live in an unbound fashion.
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Chaotic neutral (CN): Like hot peppers added to a cup of pudding, chaotic neutral creatures defy expectations. They care little for others’ opinions and tend to do what they want most at any given time.
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Lawful evil (LE): It’s not purely evil if tradition permits it—so thinks a lawful evil creature. They’re very loyal and usually carry out the unsavory tasks of their tribe rather than pursue individual glory.
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Neutral evil (NE): Neutral evil creatures enjoy committing crimes they can get away with, especially without paying a high price. However, it’s unlikely that a smear campaign, plea, or guilt trip will affect them.
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Chaotic evil (CE): A thirst for destruction fuels chaotic evil creatures. They relish nightmares, thrive on others’ suffering, and view everything as a game of cat-and-mouse—one they must win at all costs.
Alignment in the Multiverse
For many thinking creatures, alignment is a moral choice. Humans, dwarves, elves, and other humanoid races can choose whether to follow the paths of good or evil, law or chaos. Their alignment is fluent, constantly in flux and dependent on their beliefs and more importantly, actions.
Some intelligent creatures were imbued with an alignment by their creators, be it gods or something else, and their moral compass is a part of their nature. As such, alignment is an essential part of the nature of celestials, fiends, and other creatures. A devil does not choose to be lawful evil, and it doesn’t tend toward lawful evil, but rather it’s lawful evil in its essence. If it somehow ceased to be lawful evil, it would cease to be a devil. That does not mean this aspect can’t be used as a storytelling device and you’re free to explore what a corrupted celestial or a green dragon fighting their nature would be like.
Most creatures that lack the capacity for rational thought do not have alignments—they are unaligned. Such a creature is incapable of making a moral or ethical choice and acts according to its bestial nature. Sharks are dangerous predators, for example, but they are not evil; they have no alignment.
Languages
Your race indicates the languages your character can speak by default, and your background might give you access to one or more additional languages of your choice. During the “Finish Character” section of Dungeon Realms character creation, you can select an extra language proficiency awarded by your specific background and your race. Think about why your character might know a certain language and choose what best fits.
The following tables describe the common and more exotic languages. You’re free to create regional dialects if they fit in you story.
Common Languages
Common, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Gnomish, Goblin, Halfling, Orc
Exotic Languages
Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Deep Speech, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, Undercommon
Leveling
As your character goes on adventures and overcomes challenges, they gain experience, represented by Experience Points. A character who reaches a specified experience point total advances in capability. This advancement is called gaining a level.
When your character gains a level, their class often grants additional Features, as detailed in the class description. Some of these Features allow you to increase your Ability Scores, either increasing two scores by 1 each or increasing one score by 2. You can’t increase an ability score above 20. In addition, every character’s Proficiency bonus increases at certain levels.
In Dungeon Realms, the GM needs to manually level up your character—it doesn’t happen spontaneously. You’ll know you can level up and choose your new abilities when a red dot appears above your character miniature that’s active in a campaign. Tap on your character to open your character sheet. Then tap on the level button in the top right corner. Unlock the next level of your class, which will automatically calculate your new hit point maximum, new proficiency bonus (if applicable), and give you new class features for that level. If the class features or spells require you to choose between multiple, you’ll be able to do so. After leveling up, you’ll see your new stats, abilities, and spells on your character sheet.
Each time you gain a level, you gain 1 additional Hit Die which increases your maximum HP when leveling up automatically and you can use it when resting.
When your Constitution modifier increases by 1, your hit point maximum increases by 1 for each level you have attained. For example, if your 7th-level Fighter has a Constitution score of 17, when he reaches 8th level, he increases his Constitution score from 17 to 18, thus increasing his Constitution modifier from +3 to +4. His hit point maximum then increases by 8. All these calculations are done automatically in Dungeon Realms so you don’t have to worry about them, but it can be useful to know how it all works.
The Character Advancement table summarizes the XP you need to advance in levels from level 1 through level 20, and the Proficiency bonus for a character of that level. Consult the information in your character’s class description to see what other improvements you gain at each level.
Character Advanceent
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Level 1, XP 0, Proficiency Bonus +2
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Level 2, XP 300, Proficiency Bonus +2
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Level 3, XP 900, Proficiency Bonus +2
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Level 4, XP 2700, Proficiency Bonus +2
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Level 5, XP 6500, Proficiency Bonus +3
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Level 6, XP 14000, Proficiency Bonus +3
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Level 7, XP 23000, Proficiency Bonus +3
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Level 8, XP 34000, Proficiency Bonus +3
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Level 9, XP 48000, Proficiency Bonus +4
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Level 10, XP 64000, Proficiency Bonus +4
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Level 11, XP 85000, Proficiency Bonus +4
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Level 12, XP 100000, Proficiency Bonus +4
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Level 13, XP 120000, Proficiency Bonus +5
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Level 14, XP 1400000, Proficiency Bonus +5
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Level 15, XP 165000, Proficiency Bonus +5
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Level 16, XP 195000, Proficiency Bonus +5
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Level 17, XP 225000, Proficiency Bonus +6
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Level 18, XP 265000, Proficiency Bonus +6
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Level 19, XP 305000, Proficiency Bonus +6
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Level 20, XP 355000, Proficiency Bonus +6