A 5th-edition character is six ability scores, a class, a race, a background, and a short list of things you are good at. Everything else on the sheet is calculated from those. This guide goes through them in the order that causes the least backtracking, and says what each choice actually changes when you are playing.
Most guides start with race. Start with class instead: it decides what you do on your turn for the entire campaign, and it tells you which ability scores matter, which makes every later step easier.
If you are unsure, take the one whose description made you want to play. Optimal builds matter far less than most of the internet suggests.
Race adjusts your ability scores and grants small permanent traits — darkvision, extra speed, resistance to a damage type, a free skill. These are quiet advantages that come up constantly rather than dramatic powers.
The usual advice is to match your race's bonus to your class's key ability. That is a real but small edge: a +1 difference is 5% on a d20. Pick the one you want to play; the maths will not decide your campaign.
Six scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. Three common methods:
What matters is not the score but the modifier, which is what you add to rolls: 10–11 gives +0, and every two points above or below moves it by one. A 16 is +3; an 8 is −1.
Put your highest score in your class's key ability. Put your second highest in Constitution unless you have a reason not to — Constitution sets your hit points, and it is the one score every class uses.
Background is who you were before adventuring. Mechanically it grants two skill proficiencies, some equipment and often a small feature. Narratively it is the more useful half: it answers why you left, and it gives the Dungeon Master something to pull on.
You will also pick a personality trait, an ideal, a bond and a flaw. The flaw is the valuable one — a character who is wrong about something is far easier to play than a character who is competent at everything.
When you attempt something uncertain, you roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier. If you are proficient in the matching skill, you also add your proficiency bonus — +2 at level 1, rising as you level.
So Stealth is a Dexterity check; proficiency in Stealth means you add both. Spread your choices: a party where everyone took Perception and nobody took Persuasion discovers that gap the first time talking would have worked.
Cantrips are unlimited and always available. Levelled spells consume slots, which return after a long rest. Some classes prepare a changeable list each day; others know a fixed set permanently.
At level 1 you have very few slots. Take at least one reliable damage option, one utility spell that solves problems outside combat, and — if your class offers it — something that helps an ally rather than hurting an enemy.
Write one sentence about what your character wants. Not a backstory — a want. It is the thing that tells you what to do when the party is standing around debating, and it gives the Dungeon Master a lever to build scenes around.
MONOLITH walks the whole sequence — race, class, abilities, skills, background, traits, spells, backstory — and does the arithmetic as you go, so hit points, armour class and proficiency are already correct when you start playing. You can also describe the character you want in a sentence and adjust what it builds.
From there an Autonomous Game Master runs the session, with 5e compatible rules and your own dice rolls.
Next: how 5e combat
actually works →
Also: how to play 5e solo →