Creating a new character in Sanctuary is fairly straight-forward. Given the fact that the region is largely populated by immigrants, refugees, and travelers, adventurers of all races, classes, philosophies, and religions can be found. Feel free to draw on any of the official D&D books to create your character. Check with the DM if you’d like to use a particularly unusual or unconventional combination. If you’re interested in a race or class that comes from outside the canon books, sometimes these requests can be accommodated (we’ll try to find a balanced way to let you build what you’re imagining). As always the DM will make the final decision.
Attributes
The preferred methods for ability score generation will be Standard Point Buy and Standard Array (as described in the PHB on page 13). For in person games, if you want, you can choose to make a single attempt to roll up a character using 4d6 drop the lowest for each attribute, arrange as you like. All rolls will be done in front of the DM (during Session 0).
origins
Sanctuary is a huge metropolis filled with individuals from all over the known (and unknown) world. Rumor has it that some have even come from across planes and from different realms of existence to make their homes in Sanctuary. Your character could literally be from anywhere.
Feel free to choose any player race (origin) from the official books. The majority of the population can be expected to be a mix of human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, gnome, and halfling, with half-orc, dragonborn, and tiefling being less common presences. More exotic origins are possible, but will require some explanation in your backstory.
classes
Your character class is your adventuring profession and reflects a combination of knowledge, training, skills, and ambitions that have resulted in you taking your present course. To some degree, your class is a description of the functional role you play with a group, but it is not a rigid container, instead a class offers you a starting place for roleplay and participation. Try different classes out. See what you like.
Any class can be chosen from the official D&D books. Multi-classing is permitted, provided it makes sense given your character’s backstory and motivations.
level
New characters start at the same level (depending on the campaign). You can roll your hp per level or just take the default per level amount listed in the book.
Characters will advance at story points and milestones. (No need to get caught up in tracking xp after every encounter and challenge).
magic
When it comes to magical items, this is a low to mid-level magic campaign, which is to say that common items and low-level magic are more frequently observed, uncommon and higher level spells (level 3 and above) are unusual and will draw attention. In some cases, particularly powerful items will be deemed dangerous and could be confiscated by the city guard unless the owner has a permit or is an individual trusted by the crown
For spellcasters, feel free to choose spells from the official D&D books of an appropriate level. New spells can be obtained through scrolls and books found while adventuring, researched as part of one’s studies at the Arcane University or one of the Bard colleges, or received as a reward from a mentor or sage.
Given that Sanctuary itself is a port city and a metropolis, there will be some vendors who buy and sell arcane magic items, but even here offerings will be limited to common and uncommon items. Rarer and more powerful items may surface from time to time on the black market, but are often used instead as bargaining chips in political and diplomatic deal-making.
starting wealth & gear
By default, new characters begin with all their standard mundane adventuring gear. Alternatively, you can use the starting wealth by class table on PHB page 143 to determine how much you start with, then purchase equipment using that amount.
backstory
In addition to choosing a background, you are encouraged to develop an interesting backstory for your character. This does not need to be particularly lengthy, but it should provide a sense of what your character is motivated by, who they are and who they wish to become. Check out the backstory advice I offer here.