z
CHAPTER 1: CHARACTER CREATION
HE PLAYER'S HANDBOOK DESCRIBES A STEP·
by-step process of character creation. When
you create a character for a Ravnica cam-
paign, you'll go through the same steps, with
the added step of choosing a guild.
Creating a character begins with imagining the per-
son you want to play. The ten guilds of Ravnica provide a
way to jump-start your imagination and steer you toward
certain character archetypes that can guide the rest of
the decisions you make for your character.CHOOSING A GUILD
Chapter 2 describes the ten guilds of Ravnica in detail.
How do you decide what guild you want your character
to belong to? You can choose one of these approaches:- Look at the questionnaire, "What's Important to Me?",
in this chapter. Let its questions and your choice of an-
swers direct you to a guild that appeals to you or that
sounds like a fun character to play. - Read the guild descriptions in chapter 2 and choose
one that appeals to you. - Read the descriptions of races and classes in this
c hapter. Guild members hip recommendations
a re provided for each race and class, s hould one
catch your eye. - If you have access to MAGIC: THE GATHERING cards
from a Ravnica set, find a card that appeals to you and
build that character. - If you're a MAGIC player and you already have a favor-
ite guild, c reate a character from that guild.
To reflect your character's membership in a guild,
you can choose the background included in the guild's
description instead of a background from the Player's
Handbook or some other source. Also make a note of
your contacts.
GUlLDLESS CHARACTERS
You can play a character who isn't a member of a guild.
Choose one of the character backgrounds in the Player's
Handbook or another source instead of one of the guild
backgrounds in chapter 2. Your guildless character can
be of any class, race, and alignment. At the DM's option,
you might have contacts within guilds, or the DM can
inve nt contacts for you that aren't associated with the
guilds of Ravnica in any way.
ff you want your character to join a guild at a later
time, the same guidelines apply as if the person we re
changing guilds, as described in chapte r 2.RACE AND CLASS
Each guild description in chapte r 2 provides suggested
races and classes for characters belonging to that guild.
Some races have strong traditions that direct them to-ward cer tain guilds, but exceptions exist. If you choose a
class or a race that's not typical for your guild, you might
have trouble finding a role in the guild- or, more accu-
rately, your superiors might have trouble figuring out
what to do with you-but that challenge can be an inte r-
esting facet of your character's development. An atypical
choice can also motivate your character to adventure
independently from the guild.
This chapter describes new races you can choose
from: centaurs, goblins, loxodons, minotaurs, Simic hy-
brids, and vedalken. It also presents two new subclass
options: the cleric's Order Domain and the druid's Circle
of Spores. Every subclass in the Player's Handbook also
receives a mention in this chapter, indicating the guilds
where characters of those s ubclasses might find a home.
Once you've chosen your race and class and recorded
the benefits you get from them, you can proceed with the
remaining steps of character creation as described in
the Player's Handbook.BUILDING A PARTY
It's possible to put together a diverse party of D&D
characters drawn from a single guild. The guild de-
scriptions in chapter 2 offer s uggestions for what s uch a
party might look like. Conversely, your party can include
members of different guilds united by alliances or com-
mon principles. Or they could be childhood friends who
ended up in different guilds, or just a haphazard collec-
tion of individuals thrown together by unforeseen cir-
cumstances. The Party Makeup table in this section of-
fers suggestions for how you might compose your party.
The tables of contacts in chapter 2 can also help you
create connections among the characters in your party.
Those tables describe family relationships, current and
former romantic connections, random acquainta nces,
past rivals, and many other ties that form among peo-
ple in different guilds. Let these tables inspire you as
you think about the circumstances that bring your
party together.
Although conflicts among the guilds drive much of
the action in a Ravnica campaign, it's important not to
let that tension cause too much friction in a party of ad-
venturers. The D&D game relies on cooperation a mong
the players, so it's helpful for the player characters to
find common ground that unites them despite their dif-
ferences in guild affiliation, ideals, and agendas. Even
though some guild leade rs (especially the villainous
ones) might talk about exterminating or dominating
other guilds, many guild members have family, lov-
ers, friends, and acquaintances among other guilds.
Those positive associations can bind an adventuring
party together.
The DM can also use the Common Cause table in this
section to find a way to bring together characters who
don't know or trust each other.CllAl'llRI CHIRICfERCRl\!ION II