How a Poll Created a D&D Character – #NerdyProject
The #NerdyProject was a series of 11 polls. Each one narrowed down the field of possibilities for each of the three D&D character aspects. Creating and administering the polls was a lot of fun. Based on the video content and comments the fun continued for the Nerdarchists and community, too.
Now that the polls and D&D character build are complete, I thought it might be interesting to peel the curtain aside and give people a peek at how each poll was put together. The polls were blind – answer choices were purposely vague – and the reasoning behind answer options might be of interest to those who participated or anyone who watched the video.
#NerdyProject D&D character polls
Phase One polls – background
Help us on a #NerdyProject over the next few days building a #DnD5e character with blind polls. Go with you gut, starting with early life…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) June 26, 2017
The very first poll cut the field of background choices clear in half. The idea at this stage was to eliminate as many options as possible to narrow the field. On a spreadsheet, 26 D&D character backgrounds were categorized as ones that included an element of public life and those more isolated or private in nature.
The public category
- Folk hero
- Urchin
- Entertainer
- Sailor
- Soldier
- Charlatan
- Noble
- City watch
- Urban bounty hunter
- Courtier
- Mercenary veteran
- Knight of the sword
- Faction agent
The private category
- Guild artisan
- Outlander
- Acolyte
- Haunted one
- Hermit
- Sage
- Criminal
- Inheiritor
- Cloistered scholar
- Waterdhavian noble
- Clan crafter
- Uthgardt tribe member
- Far traveler
The #NerdyProject continues! Vote in these blind polls to drill down on a #DnD5e character. Is our mystery adventurers more likely to…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) June 28, 2017
The second poll experienced a stumbling block I realized after sending it out – who wants their D&D adventurer to stay put? In a reply to the tweet I clarified this poll refers to our mystery adventurer’s early life. Whether the clarification had an effect I can’t say; 33 of 44 people voted for travel. That being said along with the public results in poll No. 1 it seems voters wanted this D&D character out and on the move.
The travel category
- Entertainer
- Sailor
- Soldier
- Charlatan
- Mercenary veteran
- Knight of the sword
- Faction agent
The stay put category
- Folk hero
- Urchin
- Noble
- City watch
- Urban bounty hunter
- Courtier
Step 3 of #NerdyProject getting close to phase 2. This time we ask if our mystery #DnD5e character spent their early days in pursuit of…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) June 30, 2017
Poll No. 3 took a look at what motivates our emerging D&D character. At least in their early life before becoming a full-fledged adventurer, what drove this character? Remaining choices from the travel category felt like their pursuits stemmed either from passion for an ideal or lifestyle, or straight-up money.
The coin category
- Entertainer
- Charlatan
- Mercenary veteran
The cause category
- Sailor
- Soldier
- Knight of the sword
- Faction agent
Last step of #NerdyProject #DnD5e mystery character phase 1 blind poll! B4 embarking on the road to adventure did the character rely on…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 1, 2017
Finishing up Phase One with three choices left I designated each as relying on one of three aspects in pursuit of their passion. Physical prowess, shrewd cunning or artistic talent were the final determinants to give us a result.
Body category
- Mercenary veteran
Mind category
- Charlatan
Spirit category
- Entertainer
Phase Two polls – race
Phase 2, step 1 of #NerdyProject creating #DnD5e character w blind polls. When it comes to our mystery adventurer's race are we talking…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 3, 2017
Phase Two was very tricky to construct polls for without tipping voters off to the options. Initially the first step was based on relative height with short, tall and in-between. That felt too on the nose. Swapping out small, medium and large would have been confusing, too, since there are no large playable races. After staring at the list for a while I went with animal, mineral and vegetable. Animal was easy – all the anthropomorphic-style playable races. Vegetable were the ones sorta linked to the natural world. Mineral had dwarves, deep gnomes and earth-based races. It also wound up as a catchall category since, like in the classic game of questions anything not animal or vegetable is considered mineral.
Animal category
- Triton
- Orc (they’re kinda feral and animalistic, no?)
- Yuan-ti
- Half-orc
- Aarakocra
- Lizardfolk
- Goblin
- Hobgoblin
- Dragonborn
- Kenku
- Minotaur
- Tabaxi
Mineral category
- Halfling
- Dwarf
- Deep gnome
- Human
- Aasimar
- Genasi
- Goliath
- Tiefling
- Kobold
- Revenant
Vegetable category
- Half-elf
- Elf
- Gnome
- Firbolg
Phase 2, Step 2 – #NerdyProject continues! Creating a #DnD5e character via blind polls. In terms of racial genetics is our adventurer…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 4, 2017
In this step the notion of height-based categories was revisited with high, mid and low. A few notable exceptions were made however. The celestial and infernal races were high and low respectively (one from “on high” and the other from the Lower Planes). And one straddled the line between life and death, placing it firmly in the middle.
Low category
- Halfling
- Dwarf
- Deep gnome
- Tiefling
- Kobold
Mid category
- Human
- Genasi
- Revenant (because they exist between life and death, get it?)
High category
- Aasimar
- Goliath
The last step of Phase Two was easy. Revenants are in the ground (when they’re dead). Humans are out of the ground populating kingdoms across the land. Genasi, like the elements themselves, are all about in the wide world. I was pleased with the outcome of this poll for two reasons.Phase 2, Step 3 of #NerdyProject to create a #DnD5e character with blind polls! To lock in our adventurer's race we're getting esoteric now.
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 5, 2017
First, I like genasi and it’s a nice unusual race to add distinct flavor to our mystery D&D character. Second, I realized a bit of a mistake including revenant. Looking more closely at the Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Heroes document I realized revenant is not exactly a distinct new race, but a subrace applicable to existing races. Like genasi it would’ve made for a peculiar character, but a little awkward in the delivery.
Phase Three polls – class
Phase 3 #NerdyProject begins! Step One: does our mystery #DND5e adventurer's power focus come from a source that is…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 6, 2017
The final steps to #NerdyProject would provide the D&D character class to go along with the background (charlatan) and race (genasi) established in the first two phases of polls. Step one again narrowed the field by half. Some character classes derive their power from sources such as divine forces, manipulation of energies, separate entities and the like. Others draw power from within themselves through devotion to ideals, discipline or strong sense of self.
Internal category
- Paladin
- Barbarian
- Sorcerer
- Rogue
- Mystic
- Fighter
- Monk
External category
- Warlock
- Druid
- Bard
- Artificer
- Cleric
- Wizard
- Ranger
Moving along with #NerdyProject for our #DnD5e character created by you through blind polls! Does our mystery adventurer rely more upon…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 7, 2017
Next up, step two examined whether our D&D character relied on honed talents and attributes to achieve adventuring success or simply pressed on through sheer force of personality.
Skill category
- Monk
- Rogue
- Fighter
Will category
- Paladin
- Barbarian
- Sorcerer
- Mystic
Getting close to the end of #NerdyProject creating a #DnD5e character with blind polls. Does our mystery adventurer tackle problems from…
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 9, 2017
The climax of the D&D character polls wound up being a little obscure. But with the choices remaining it made sense. One generally meets challenges head-on, particularly combat. Another typically waits for an opportune time to strike unawares. And the last can come from multiple angles at more than one target.
Front category
- Fighter
Back category
- Rogue
All directions category
- Monk
After all of these polls were complete, the mystery D&D character was…a charlatan genasi monk. That’s a pretty interesting combination.
I particularly like that genasi was the race, because that would give the Nerdarchists a bit of room to play around. Nearly all of the races have subraces, at least the ones in the Player’s Handbook. With genasi the differences feel more diverse. I was curious to see what flavor would be chosen.
But that wasn’t the end!
Every finale needs a climax. For a plot twist I decided to share one final poll to give our D&D character a second class and make it a multiclass character.
For this climactic poll the choices were limited to the classes in the external category from Phase 3 Step 1. I figured the options were different enough to make for an unusual combination. To avoid including seven possible choices, the options were lumped together in some cases. If any of these came out on top, I reserved the right to pick between the options myself.Plot twist! For the final #NerdyProject blind poll to create our mystery #DnD5e adventurer, pick one:
— Nerdarchy (@Nerdarchy) July 10, 2017
The hand category
- Artificer
- Cleric
The land category
- Druid
- Ranger
The brand category
- Warlock
- Wizard
The band category
- Bard
D&D character poll final results
With a bit of input from Nerdarchists Dave and Ted and a pinch of influence from me in the final poll, the mystery D&D character created with the #NerdyProject Twitter polls is an air genasi charlatan monk/artificer. As they say in the video, a super weird combination. But if I’m honest I was hoping the results would be very strange. Giving them odd elements to work with would be a challenge but I had confidence they’d come up with something really cool. And I was right!
Because the two classes are so different, and by the very nature would be at least a 2nd level character, part of the character build included story elements. The way background and race provided details to help flesh out how and why this character would emerge is exactly the reason I created #NerdyProject in the first place.
Based on the comments and engagement with the various tweets and the video, it seems Nerdarchy fans enjoyed the project, too. Thinking of new and different ways to interact with the Nerdarchy community and connect our social media with the YouTube channel and the website is a big priority for me. Being the web editor-in-chief is something I’m very proud of and I hope to keep growing and improving our content and expanding our awesome community.
Please comment below what you thought about #NerdyProject and the results. Did you vote in any of the polls? What do you think about this unusual D&D character? What other sorts of projects would you like to see in the future, either here on the website, on YouTube or on our social media accounts?
And as always, until next time, stay nerdy!
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