Now, several years on, I find myself playing in two campaigns, running one for my family (a miracle in and of itself), and contemplating starting another. That might not seem like much to people who have five, six or more campaigns running concurrently. But for everything else going on in my life, I’d say I’m pretty invested at this point.

When I first started thinking about Dungeon Mastering, I figured I’d ease myself in. I’d read through some of the handbooks and figure out exactly what to do. But then I was given the D&D Essentials Kit as a gift, and that plunged me straight down the rabbit hole. My group still hasn’t finished the campaign that makes up the Essential Kit’s adventure. But we’ve made our way through enough of it to tell it’s a rather helpful place to start for anyone wanting to learn how to run the game.

A Brief D&D Essentials Kit Review

What Does It Come With?

On the front of the Essentials Kit itself, it reads, “Everything you need to create characters and play new adventures in this introduction to the world’s greatest roleplaying game.” And that’s not an overstatement. Of course, players and DM alike could benefit from having the respective handbooks available. But the Essentials Kit ensures they aren’t necessary for first-time players who want to learn the basics of D&D. This set includes:

• A fundamental D&D rulebook
• An introductory adventure for levels 1-6, called Dragon of Icespire Peak
• A double-sided poster map depicting the adventure region
• A Dungeon Master’s screen with helpful information printed on the inside
• Enough blank character sheets for 6 players
• 11 polyhedral dice
• Over 80 cards that describe magic items, potential sidekicks and more

Really, it seems like the only things missing are a few pencils and a box of pizza. Because apart from those “necessary” components, the Essentials Kit provides everything new players could want when starting on their first RPG adventure.

But that doesn’t even begin to touch on the quality of the materials themselves. All of the printed material, from the handbook and adventure guide to the glossy cardstock used for the magic item cards, is sturdy and durable. And the fact that the kit includes item descriptions at all saves both DM and players quality adventuring time. This way, newfound items can simply be passed around the table instead of looked up and written down. In that sense, the provided material contributes well to the expediency of play and helps keep the adventurers in-game.

Initial Character Setup

One of the best parts of starting a new D&D campaign is character creation. There’s something intrinsically fun about getting to choose your race and class, then come up with a fitting background. In comparison with a full adventure, the Essentials Kit rulebook includes a limited number of options for race and class:

And for anyone just starting out, this truncated list helps narrow down the options and avoid undue confusion. But that doesn’t mean the adventure must be limited to the races and classes listed in the rulebook. It’s entirely possible for adventurers who want to use different races or classes to look them up on sites like D&D Beyond. So, while this information isn’t included in the Essentials Kit, it’s a free option for expanding possibilities when creating the ideal character.

The Adventure

The Essentials Kit explicitly markets itself as an introductory campaign for levels 1-6. But the length of the adventure itself depends solely on the group playing. Because like with anything in Fifth Edition, the players may take the expedition to completely unexpected ends. The published adventure, primarily set around the town of Phandalin, carries enough content to give new players a good taste for D&D. But it isn’t difficult for new DMs to start adding additional sidquests, mosters and backstory once they get a handle on the basics.

Another selling point for the adventure is the inclusion of rules for sidekicks. Typically, D&D campaigns require a group of people to come together in order to play. However, those starting out for the first time might be unnerved by playing with a crowd. To combat that, the sidekick rule system allows the DM to take a single player through the campaign. Instead of extra adventurers, they are aided by different characters they meet throughout their journey. So, it is perfect for anyone who’s nervous about their first time playing. Because it allows a small group to try it out and get the basics down before adding additional players to the next campaign.

The DM Experience

The Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure guide makes leading this short campaign as easy as possible for new Dungeon Masters. Throughout the book, there are numerous tips, maps, tables and explanations for how to run a sequential adventure. Here, players make choices and certain consequences follow based on those actions. So, from the magical caves of Gnomengarde to the frigid mountaintop hold on Icespire Peak, DMs will always have the info they need to run a successful and entertaining game.

Price

The D&D Essentials Kit is currently available on Amazon for only $16.00, an almost unbeatable price for everything the kit includes. Typically, at it’s highest, the set runs about $20.00-$25.000 in stores, still an amazing bargain for the adventure. So, for anyone who wants to try out D&D but isn’t sure whether they’ll like it or not, this set is the perfect option for a low-price but high-quality test run.

Moving Beyond the D&D Essentials Kit Review — The Best Tools for DMs

The Essentials Kit includes everything that new players need in order to get started with their first D&D campaign. However, there are additional materials which could help enhance the experience even more. So, for anyone looking for a more in-depth experience with the Essentials Kit, some helpful additional items to purchase include:

• The Player’s Handbook — The essential and comprehensive reference guide for adventurers in any D&D campaign. It includes guides for character creation and leveling, common shop and item information, as well as spell lists and other information.
• The Dungeon Master’s Guide — A core rulebook for running D&D campaigns. This handbook shows DMs how to craft the world around their campaigns to create truly memorable roleplaying experiences. It also highlights tips for treasure, magic items, monsters, and creating unforgettable NPCs (non-player characters).
• Kraken Dice — Every player needs a good set of polyhedral dice, and Kraken has hundreds of options to choose from. You can find resin, metal and stone options, then select the perfect color scheme to get a personalized set of dice for your adventure. Prices vary, but some starts even start as low as $8.00.
• Kraken Quick Mats — Helpful square grid mats with different environmental backgrounds to help visualize battles and different strategies while adventuring.
• Miniature Market — The perfect place to find miniature figures that represent player characters and monsters during battles or other adventuring scenarios.

Conclusions for the D&D Essentials Kit Review

Hopefully, this D&D Essentials Kit review has helped you determine whether you might want to give it a shot. As a new Dungeon Master, the Essentials Kit was the perfect starting place to help me get my footing. The abundance of helpful materials included as well as the easy-to-navigate adventure guide make this a great addition for anyone looking to get started in the world of D&D. And at such a low price, it’s virtually a risk-free way to test the waters and determine whether tabletop RPGs are something you might enjoy.

But first, let’s talk about why you might want to use digital character sheets in the first place.

Why Use D&D Beyond Character Creation Tools In the First Place?

Really, there’s no limit to the number of reasons we could give here. Over the past year and a half, COVID has been a complicating factor for anyone looking to play tabletop adventures. Particularly if they’re used to playing in person. Throughout the lengthy lockdown period, DMs might have shifted toward a virtual format for their campaigns. And keeping track of character information is easiest when you can access all the sheets for a given adventure online. But even apart from the pandemic, there are great reasons players and DMs alike might prefer D&D Beyond character creation. Not least of which is the ease and automation of managing the sheet.

With the D&D Beyond character creation tool, almost all of the complex calculations are completed for you. So, instead of having to sit down and remember each and every variable, the process is simplified. Whenever you switch armor, weapons or abilities, the corresponding stats automatically recalculate and display in real time. This, of course, means more time to play and less time spent pouring over the math. And while D&D essentially is a math game, it’s easy for the calculation to interrupt valuable narrative.

All this said, there are plenty of reasons why DMs and players might use the D&D Beyond character creation tool. Even for in-person campaigns, it can be a helpful asset. And for virtual adventures, it almost seems to the best option for managing characters. We haven’t even touched on the fact that there’s a mobile app yet, but we’ll discuss that later on. For now, let’s turn our attention to the reason you’re here — how to set it all up.

The Step-by-Step Guide to D&D Beyond Character Creation

1. Register an Account

Whether you’re a DM organizing a campaign or a brand new player, the first step is creating an account. But this might look different depending on your role. For example, if you’re a player joining an existing adventure, your DM can email you a link. This will prompt you to create an account, and will then automatically add your character to the campaign. However, if there is no existing adventure, go ahead and go through the registration process as you normally would.

Once you’ve logged in, you can click on your profile name, then choose the “characters” tab. This will bring you to a page which displays all your created adventurers across different campaigns. Unassigned characters will also show up in this list. Here, you’ll need to choose “Create a Character”.

2. Choose Your Character Creation Method

Here, you’ll have three options:

• Standard
• Quick Build
• Randomize

The standard character creation method is the one which affords the most control, and is what we’ll look at specifically. But if you prefer a more streamlined or random option, know you can choose either of the other two methods. Naturally, the quick build focuses on creating a 1st-level adventurer using recommended options. And this makes the D&D Beyond character creation process a little simpler for beginners. The randomize method is also a fast way to build a character. However, unlike the quick build, it allows you to include Feats and Multiclassing options.

Moving forward with the standard D&D Beyond character creation method, note that you can opt to show hints for beginners.

3. Set Your Character Preferences

The first thing you’ll want to do is give your adventurer a name. If you can’t think of a good one or want to generate something random, Codex Domina is fairly helpful. This name generator allows you to choose the race, class and gender of your character. Then the tool will create a list of randomized names to choose from.

Under sources, you have the option to include elements from different content sources. Some of these include Homebrew, Critical Role, and even Rick and Morty. Typically, I choose to allow Homebrew and Critical Role, and sometimes Eberron. However, this is up to the campaign DM to decide based on preference.

You can also choose to allow dice rolling for the character. If so, you will have the option to roll saves, hits, and other abilities on the character sheet digitally. You can do this by clicking on any of the corresponding boxes for those rolls.

Make sure to check with your DM to determine whether they will allow optional features for class and origin. Then, if they decide to allow these elements, toggle them on.

As you’ve probably noticed by now, the majority of the features on this page are decided by the dungeon master. And advancement type is no exception. Milestone advancement means characters level up whenever they’ve accomplished certain tasks or events. XP-based advancement means that adventurers level up whenever they’ve gained enough experience points.

For Hit Point Type, you will need to choose whether your character gains a fixed amount of HP per level. If they won’t, choose “Manual”, and you’ll roll for hit point gains every time you level up. Otherwise, they will automatically inherit the same amount each level.

Breezing through the next few options, you can decide whether to show level-scaled spells, as well as encumbrance type. You can also choose to ignore coin weight, how ability modifiers display, and whether your character is private.

4. Choose Your Race

If you’ve played D&D before, then this section is pretty self-explanatory. This is where you’ll choose your race, which determines some of your abilities and modifiers. If you’ve never played before, this is exactly what it sounds like. There are many options to choose from, including dragonborn, elf, human and dwarf among others. To get an idea of what each race entails, just choose one (and a subrace if applicable) and read up. Once you’ve found one that works best for you, just choose that race and move to the next section.

Here, you’ll find an overview of your racial traits, which differ from one to the next. Sometimes, there will be traits you’ll need to decide between. These will be marked with an exclamation point. You will need to click on the dropdown, and choose the option you want. If you opted to use origin features, this is also where you’ll assess those — under the “Origin Manager” tab.

5. Choose Your Class

Similar to choosing your race, your class will determine a number of things from combat style to proficiencies and abilities. And again, for more information on each one, you can click the specified options to examine them. Here, you will find their Hit Die, primary ability, and saves.

After you choose your class, you’ll be prompted to set your features, including proficiencies. The necessary boxes will be marked with a blue exclamation point.

6. Set Your Ability Scores

When setting your ability scores, you’ll need to choose a generation method. Standard array allows you to assign each stat a specific number from a set of pre-rolled scores. And when you’ve used a number, it disappears from the list. The manual/rolled method allows you to roll your character stats, be they high or low. And the point buy method means you have a number of points to spend on different ability scores. Once your points are out, they’re out. As with a number of other things, this generation method will most likely be up to the DM. Typically, I opt for manual/rolled, and use the following process.

• Roll a d6 four times, write the individual numbers in a column, then drop the lowest number
• Repeat six more times, ending up with seven columns total
• Add the numbers in each column together to get seven different totals
• Drop the lowest total
• Assign the remaining six numbers as ability scores

7. Decide Your Background

Finally, there are options primarily up to the player to determine rather than the dungeon master. Like most other decisions, your background will determine skill proficiencies languages, and abilities. So, pick one that works best for your adventurer. Next, fill in the details of your character’s alignment, faith and lifestyle. Finish this section off with the physical and personal characteristics of your adventurer, along with any necessary notes. While this is advisable, it isn’t overtly necessary for creating your character.

8. Determine Your Starting Equipment

Finally, you get to choose your starting equipment, including weapons, packs and other possessions. To begin, choose whether you want gold or adventuring equipment. If you choose gold, you can roll for your starting amount or randomize it. If you choose equipment, you will have different options to choose from. Simply click the checkboxes next to what you prefer. Click “Add Starting Equipment” once you’re done, and you’ll be set to hit the dungeons!

9. Generate Your Character Sheet

At long last, you have the option to view your character sheet or export it to a PDF. Choosing either option doesn’t negate the other. You can always come back to this point whenever you want. So, if you choose to view your character sheet online, you can always come back to save a local copy later. One of the most helpful aspects of D&D Beyond character creation is that you can print off a PDF version. So, even if you want to use pencil and paper during the campaign, you can still design a character online and use the physical sheet moving forward.

Physical, Mobile or Desktop?

Of course, we already discussed being able to print off a copy of your generated character sheet. But apart from the online, desktop version, you can also download the D&D Beyond app. This is continually being updated with newer content to help it match up to the desktop version. And in some ways, the ease of access is actually already better than the online character sheet.

• Image Credit: D&D Beyond
• Image Credit: D&D Beyond

But as with most things in D&D, it comes down to personal preference. So, go with whatever you feel helps you most. And ultimately, do whatever you need to help you enjoy D&D. If that means skipping D&D Beyond altogether, go for it. And if it means relying on it exclusively, more power to you. After all, it’s a tool to use, and whether it helps or not will differ from one person to the next.