Meet The Party

Choosing the composition of the party was pretty straightforward. I was guided by the 5.5E Player's Handbook:

This choice also corresponds neatly with three of the major Sword Coast factions that the party will encounter in the second half of Tyranny of Dragons: the Order of the Gauntlet, the Lord's Alliance, and the Harpers. In a multi-player campaign this could either be meta-gaming or impressive GM-work; in mine, it will simply be helpful in tying the characters to the wider world.

I decided that I wanted to go fairly straightforward in terms of species, and chose Human, Dwarf, Elf and Halfing. I like that the various 5E supplements have vastly expanded player choice over recent years, but I want to run a pretty 'classic' game. I rolled randomly to allocate each class a species, then decided on their background. I also decided I wanted an equal split between male and female characters, and also assigned these randomly.

This left me with the following party:

• Male Halfling Cleric (Guide background)
• Male Human Fighter (Soldier background)
• Female High Elf Rogue (Criminal background)
• Female Dwarf Wizard (Dragon Scholar background - additional ToD background in Appendix A of the book)

I rolled stats for all of them and there is a nice spread of abilities, although the Rogue looks particularly strong and the Wizard is a little 'meh'. I don't intend to get much into the detail of individual stats, but I'll be enjoying the Fighter's -2 to any Intelligence-based rolls!

I've begun using the roll tables in the 2024 PHB to generate some personality traits, and I will probably use Xanathar's Guide to Everything to get some backstory ideas, although I'm also a fan of these coming out during play. I will probably use the ToD Appendix A bond ideas for at least a couple of the characters, but might also lean on the 2014 PHB tables to help out there. It's going to take me a little while still!

I promised to introduce at least one character today, so here goes: meet Eddie Stoutbridge, Halfling Cleric of Chauntea, goddess of life and bounty. Eddie's personality is direct, artless and kind, and he's good with maps. I gave him the Magic Initiate: Druid feat to boost the connections to Chauntea (which would also help him connect to the Emerald Enclave faction later on). Lastly, on the d100 trinket table, I rolled a "wooden statuette of a smug halfling". I've no idea what that might be about - could be fun finding out!