Interest Check: D&D 5E, Random Character Generation

[Little_Rudo]

Hey folks! This is an idea I've discussed in various game OOCs and even the old Game Planning sub-forum, so if you're a feeling a sense of déjà vu... hey yeah sorry 'bout that. But as time marches on it's an idea I keep revisiting, and I just wanted to gauge people's thoughts and whether it'd be viable.

One of my favorite game ideas for over a decade is a game where players randomly generate significant aspects of their character, then create a character concept that brings all the elements together into a cohesive character to be played in adventures. I love it, generally there's at least enough people who love it to muster a game, but given this is the Weave and game survival rates are what they are they often don't last. But I love the concept and want to keep visiting it, so I just wanted to gauge if there's interest from people either looking to run or looking to play, or just chat about how this would work.

 

What would be randomized?

I generally recommend level three as a starting level for such a game, to allow everyone to have a subclass. The DM (or myself, I'd be happy) should create tables that allow people to roll for the following:

• Race (and sub-race, if applicable)
• Class and sub-class
• Background
• Bonus feat at level 1 (usually from a curated list that removes feats that require prerequisites and/or particularly powerful feats)
  • This may (or may not, DM's choice) make the Variant Human unallowed
• Random Magic Item
  • The DMG has a lot of tables for magic items. It could be fun for players to get either a random consumable, or select a +1 magic weapon and determine special features for the weapon from the Special Features tables.
• Trinket

The following things are things that fall in a gray area of if I feel it helps or hurts the player for these elements to be randomized. Some of these, like a character's sex/gender or alignment, may be something the player feels strongly about. I personally would leave this at the discretion of the player.

• Character Name (XGE has tables for both human and nonhuman random names)
• Gender/Sex
• Personality Traits, Ideal, Bond and Flaw (based on the tables for the background)
• Alignment
• Skill/Tool/Language Proficiencies granted by race, class, background, etc.

The following are things I would very much advise against making random.

• Ability Scores. I strongly believe you can make a playable and fun character with any combination of mechanics... but if you roll an 8 in a Wizard's INT, for example, it's going to be very hard to have fun. I'd encourage Standard Array and acknowledge Point Buy would probably be desired for most.
• Custom Lineage/Ability Scores. I really appreciate these rules in Tasha's, but they do lean a bit against what I like about randomizing. That said, depending on what sources are allowed (see below), there may be plenty of races that allow for custom ability scores simply because they were published after these became the norm.

What source books will be used?

Obviously, people are going to be limited by what books we have, and we can't expect everyone to have access to everything. If a DM or a player has access to most/all of the material on D&D Beyond, they could make a campaign where people can make their characters and use that person's material, which may be easiest. Otherwise, the following options are possible:

• Basic Rules and/or PHB
  • This is definitely the most limiting, but it's a fair bet anyone playing has these.
• PHB plus SCAG, Xanathar's, Tasha's, Volo's
  • These are very common sourcebooks and have the most 'bang for the buck' in terms of character options.
  • I strongly recommend requiring people to use the most recently published version of any given mechanic.
• Everything!

If a player doesn't have a source book or a legal way to obtain the mechanics, a rule could be implemented allowing them to reroll until they roll for something they do have, using an honor system.

What about setting?

This would be entirely DM dependent. The one game like this that took off well, the DM did an excellent setting inspired by the TV show Quantum Leap and the comic series Exiles, wherein characters were drawn from different timelines and realities to work together. I rolled a Tiefling Bard with a Hermit background, and made her a Satyr from a Greco-Roman based realm. It worked really well, but I could also see it being fun trying to fit all character combinations in a more specific setting.

What if players don't like what they roll?

The biggest problem with people in the past was a) people rolling, not liking one or two things and just not applying, or b) only liking the character creation process and not being interested in actually playing the character. I'm not entirely sure how to best handle these. For the former, I recommend a Mulligan system - people can reroll 1 or a few aspects, but if they get to the end of creation and don't reroll anything, they are rewarded with something like a minor magical item. For the latter, it might be best to forego traditional applicants, and instead accept people who express interest in the game itself before they start rolling. I'm genuinely not sure what is best.

What will the game be like?

Again, this is very DM dependent. The above DM I referenced rolled randomly in the DMG to create a dungeon, then created an adventure around that. I love the idea but I'm not sure I (or another DM) could pull it off so well. Otherwise, I've recently gotten into Adventurer's League, and those modules are very simple - meaning they could easily be built upon to match the party if needed. Something to consider for whoever runs this.

So whose going to run it...?

🤷‍♀️

I've traditionally not wanted to run this, simply because I wanted to play this concept so bad. But in a pinch, if enough people are interested and I can find a good module to accompany it, I could see giving it a go! That said, I'd definitely love for someone else to run it too, and would be more than happy to help write up the tables, etc.

 

Just wanted to get these thoughts out of my brain and into the open. :) Thanks for reading and feel free to give input!

[Malkavian Grin]

I love rolling on tables, and I love a good randomized roguelike. The whole idea behind Mythic GM Emulator and stuff like Ironsworn is to use random things and turn them into a good story. It's like a writer's exercise. The idea to do it to the PCs is great too; I get Traveller vibes from it (with less dying during creation).

My only real question is: Does it have to be D&D 5e?

My suggestions would be:

• Do allow some kind of mulligan if someone's just so unhappy they refuse to play what they create
• Give an incentive bonus to stick with random stuff (a great technique from Warhammer)
• Don't allow just anyone to apply because as you say: a lot of people just wanna roll dice.
• Also, I definitely say the personality and flaws/traits kind of thing should be randomized only if the player agrees; I recently had a similar situation with Mörk Borg where some characters were untenable due to the personality stuff.

[Neopopulas]

I really like Lifepaths - a lot of games have them - and this feels very similar, only a little.. MORE so, because everything is rolled for. This isn't bad, and i think it'd be fun, but i also think you might get a lot of people who submit interest, roll, and immediately ghost because what they got was bad, so you might struggle a little with character creation in that regard.

As above, i've seen things in warhammer and others where you essentially get a bonus if you keep your rolled thing, and if you roll and then decide you don't like it and pick something instead you lose it. It could be anything really, gold, magic items, stat bonuses, etc.

You CAN roll stats, in fact i would much more heavily suggest you roll stats, than class. If you roll for class but not stats, you might get a class you hate - or a class/subclass combo that sucks - and sure you can then create the stats you want to fix that, but you're still stuck with the class that is either not good, or not what you want to play. However, if you roll for stats, and allow someone to PICK a class (or roll/then pick) then at least you can match a class to your stats, which gives you move leeway and more options and prevents you getting stuck in a class. Bad stats are more easily handled than a bad class is.

The only other thing i'll say is that rolling for Name, Gender/sex, personality and alignment is probably fine (though i wouldn't roll for the various personality traits) however it can be done. Cyberpunk does it, but instead of naming traits, they name life events that you then get to interpret into traits. Rolling for traits just means you have to do it backwards which is fine. The only one i think that doesn't work is alignment because games usually prefer to have an alignment range and if you roll chaotic evil then you're kinda screwed.

[Little_Rudo]

15 hours ago, Malkavian Grin said:

My only real question is: Does it have to be D&D 5e?

It certainly doesn't have to, but that's what would get me to participate. I just don't play other systems these days, and I feel like this wouldn't be an awesome exposure to a new system. But you totally have my blessing to run this concept in another system if you wish! Your comment did help me draw the line between this idea and my love of rogue-likes. 😄

[Malkavian Grin]

2 hours ago, Little_Rudo said:

It certainly doesn't have to, but that's what would get me to participate. I just don't play other systems these days, and I feel like this wouldn't be an awesome exposure to a new system. But you totally have my blessing to run this concept in another system if you wish! Your comment did help me draw the line between this idea and my love of rogue-likes. 😄

That's fair; I don't play 5e or Pathfinder if I can help it.

I've been toying with an idea like this, using Mythic GM for prompts... I.E. a completely random game. Mostly just to see if it can go anywhere good.