Running a Fifth Edition Character Funnel

This past Tuesday I ran part one of two part D&D 5E 0-level Dungeon Crawl Classic inspired character funnel adventure (i.e. many enter far fewer leave). I’m not going to go into a session recap, but I will go through the character creation.

Character Creation

Each player created 4 characters by rolling the following:

  • Random Stats
  • Random Race
  • Random Background
  • Random Extra Languages (Optional)
  • Random Hit Points (1d4+CON)

Random Stats

Players could choose one of two methods for each character they created:

Method #1

Roll twelve (12) sets of 3d6 straight down keeping order (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha). This method is by far my most favorite method for D&D stat creation.

Method #2

Roll 4d6 straight down keeping order and optionally replace one stat with an 8.

Here is the Ruby script used to generate the simulation data.

Random Race

Based on the results of a group poll, we wanted a plurality of races. The following tables generated that.

Table 41: Random Race
1d20 Race Source
1 - 9 Human Player's Handbook
9 - 18 Common non-human Roll on "Common non-human races" table
19 - 20 Uncommon non-human Roll on "Uncommon non-human races" table
Table 42: Common non-human races
1d20 Race Source
1 - 2 Dwarf, Hill Player's Handbook
3 - 4 Dwarf, Mountain Player's Handbook
5 - 6 Elf, High Player's Handbook
7 - 8 Elf, Wood Player's Handbook
9 - 10 Half-Elf Player's Handbook
11 - 12 Half-Orc Player's Handbook
13 - 14 Halfling, Lightfoot Player's Handbook
15 - 16 Halfling, Stout Player's Handbook
17 Dragonborn Player's Handbook
18 Gnome, Forest Player's Handbook
19 Gnome, Rock Player's Handbook
20 Goblin (Eberron) goo.gl/eYjUk9
Table 43: Uncommon non-human races
1d20 Race Source
1 - 5 Aasmir Dungeon Master's Guide
6 - 10 Tiefling Player's Handbook
11 Changeling Unearthed Arcana: Eberron
12 Elf, Eladrin Dungeon Master's Guide
13 - 14 Elf, Drow Player's Handbook
15 Genasi (1d4 for element) Elemental Evil Player's Companion
16 - 17 Gnome, Deep Elemental Evil Player's Companion
18 Goliath Elemental Evil Player's Companion
19 Shifter Unearthed Arcana: Eberron
20 Warforged Unearthed Arcana: Eberron

Random Background

My 0-level adventure is set by the sea in a small community. So the table reflects that distribution.

Table 44: Random Background Generator
1d20 Background
1 - 3 Guild Artisan
4 - 5 Sailor
6 Acolyte
7 Sage
8 - 9 Criminal
10 Entertainer
11 Folk Hero
12 Hermit
13 Noble
14 Charlatan
15 Soldier
16 - 17 Urchin
18 - 20 Outlander

Random Extra Languages

Some of the players wanted help choosing their language. So we referenced the following.

Table 45: Random Starting Language
1d8 Language
1 Dwarvish
2 Elvish
3 Giant
4 Gnomish
5 Goblin
6 Halfing
7 Orc
8 Exotic – Roll on "Random Exotic Starting Language" table
Table 46: Random Exotic Starting Language
1d10 Language
1 Abyssal
2 Celestial
3 Draconic
4 Deep Speech
5 Infernal
6 Primordial
7 Sylvan
8 - 10 Undercommon