Given the complexity and freedom of Dungeons & Dragons, it can be quite easy to make some mistakes while playing the game. A lot of these mistakes happen during sessions, such as not using the correct effects of a feature or a spell, especially when you consider all the new changes with 2024 D&D, or not taking full advantage of the perks your character has – like ignoring your Oath of Vengeance Paladin’s Vow of Emnity up until level 7.

Aside from players, there are also mistakes DMs make in D&D sometimes, though these are often less related to mechanics, per se, and more about reading the party. A lot of these mistakes, from players and DMs alike, are easily resolved or compensated for as you play through sessions, but there are some mistakes that can be made during character creation that are much harder to correct in the long run.

Unreasonably Edgy Characters In D&D Are A Plague

Loners Are Hard To Justify In A Cooperative Game

One of the most common mistakes when making your first D&D character is falling too deeply into the edgy archetype. Everyone wants to make a memorable, cool character, but making one that is a loner goes against the very foundation of what makes the TTRPG what it is. It’s worth remembering that this is a cooperative storytelling game, so it’s hard to justify having a character who prefers to operate alone all the time inserted in a party.

Additionally, edgy characters can quickly fall into evil-aligned tropes. Characters who don’t care about the people they meet and the allies around them, for the sake of somewhat feeling cool, are predisposed to commit acts of evil – and this goes against the majority of the tables that tell tales of heroic deeds. If a character is evil, it’s also tough to explain why they would be helping others.

There’s nothing wrong with making an edgy character in D&D, since they can provide a different energy to the party. Furthermore, they can also have deep character development, leaving behind their lone wolf status as they get more intertwined with their party members. However, it’s all too easy to make them feel nonsensical and disconnected from the story being told. As such, I’d recommend avoiding them when possible, at least if you still have to grasp what it’s like to play the TTRPG.

Being Good In All Abilities Actually Makes You Weak

“Perfect” Characters In D&D Are Uninteresting

Another common mistake when creating a character is to make them great at everything. Surely, it can mechanically feel good to excel at everything, but this takes away from how interesting a character can actually be. Being good at everything walks alongside being a lone wolf, as I’ve discussed, and it’s hard to justify why such a fantastic character would even need allies in their journeys. This, again, goes against some of the foundational aspects of D&D.

The idea behind having a party is that each member will have complementary strengths. One character may excel at lockpicking, for example, while another may be great at checking out magical items. Being a “swiss army knife” character sounds great in theory, but it takes away from the multiplayer aspect of the TTRPG, which often sees you cheer for your fellow Dungeons & Dragons players. There is yet another detrimental aspect to this.

Being a generalist is often bad for your character in the long run. Aside from the possibility of your DM granting you game-breaking items, there is only a limited number of upgrades to Ability Scores and Skills that you can make as you progress through levels. If you’re going down the generalist route, you’ll soon see that your character is not going to actually excel at anything. The idea is that your D&D character is a specialist, fit for solving problems within their scope, rather than someone who has a medium potential of tackling everything.

Deep Multiclassing Is One Of D&D’s Weaknesses

You Can Lose Out On High-Level Benefits

This is a bit less about the first steps of character creation and more about how you plan the character for the rest of the campaign, but it’s worth noting that multiclassing can be extremely detrimental to your character. This is being resolved by Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere RPG, for example, but in D&D, multiclassing takes away from your character’s potential, especially if you invest a lot of levels in more than one class.

Multiclassing can be detrimental because while your character is still technically keeping up with the levels of pure class characters in the team, they unlock specific feats later on. For example, if you take a dip in a class at first level and then proceed with another class, you’ll only unlock a subclass and its respective benefits once you’re level 4, while all your teammates will have access to it at level 3. Additionally, you’ll lose out on benefits granted by higher levels you won’t be able to obtain because the other class took over those levels.

This is not to say you shouldn’t multiclass in D&D at all. Some of the best character builds are actually multiclassed, though they are made with small dips into other classes. For example, a Padlock multiclass works well if you take a single level into Paladin to obtain training with all types of armors and weapons, as well as access to weapon masteries, and then level up a Pact of the Blade Warlock.

Overlooking Utility Spells Can Be A Formula For Failure

D&D Isn’t Always About Combat

Overlooking utility spells is not exclusive to character creation, but it’s really easy to solely prioritize damage-dealing abilities when you’re first building your character. Seeing that there is often a nice amount of combat, it’s understandable that you’ll look at cantrips and spells that deal more damage, such as Eldritch Blast and Fireball, rather than something like Friends and Major Image.

Even though you’ll certainly be a lot more useful in battles, you’ll miss out on the chance to use spells that help you during non-hostile interactions (or even end hostile interactions without combat, per se). For example, being able to cast Charm Person on a vendor to have them sell an item at a huge discount, or use Suggestion to convince a guard to leave you and your group alone after you were caught stealing something.

Additionally, you can use a cantrip like Mage Hand to solve a contraption that would otherwise be unreachable to the party, or Detect Magic to encounter a certain magical item you’ve been looking for and that is obscured. Even within the damage-dealing category, there are some spells in Dungeons & Dragons that deal less damage, but help the party very much. Something like Faerie Fire will have less damage potential, but it will impede the enemy from becoming invisible.

CON Is The Most Important Stat For Everyone

AC Loses Its Value Over Time

When building a character, it’s very common to get caught up with your class’s damage modifier – and you must do so. However, distributing Ability Scores across your character can get complicated, especially if you neglect the Constitution stat. This is actually the most important stat for every class and build, after its damage modifier. Some classes are naturally more squishy than others, like Wizards, Bards, and Warlocks.

However, Constitution has to be a priority for them, too. In the early stages of the game, it’s common for us to focus on Dexterity to improve the character’s Armor Class, and that’s extremely valid. However, as you level up, the enemies you encounter will have better attack modifiers, and the likelihood of them landing a hit on you are bigger.

At level 10, you’ll already feel your AC isn’t worth too much, but having a higher HP pool, enhanced by a higher CON stat, makes more of a difference in the long run. If you’re a caster, you won’t need to worry about having high HP scores like a Paladin, Fighter, or Barbarian, but it will help you survive more, and therefore help your party in Dungeons & Dragons.

Original Release Date

1974

Publisher

TSR Inc., Wizards of the Coast

Designer

E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson

Player Count

2-7 Players