This thread will be for comments and questions regarding character creation: I will probably keep editing this as I construct the site!
We have a Campaign ID: 1083
To start with, I am using the AD&D 1st ed Players Handbook. It covers all the current playable races and classes. Sorry but ... no Assassin's; (YOU are meant to be the heroes!) no Barbarians, Acrobats, Cavaliers, I am not using Unearthed Arcana at this point though I may introduce spells from that book as future resources. No bards, but a character may eventually multi-class into such iconic levels, no Evil characters the Slavers have enough of those, and no Psionics just too much headache for me.
Please can everyone use a character sheet from the Unseen Servant: Dice Roller forum.
The method I favour is the standard: Roll [4d6c1] six times and you may assign the statistics in any order of preference. You may also racially adjust your ability scores if you are playing a non-human character. I will allow a single two-point Ability deduction to raise another Ability by one point but no Ability starts above 18.
Ideally the Dice Roller rolls in your favour and you adopt the first set rolled. But if the scores produce a totally unplayable character with no outstanding ability, you may re-roll again.
I am going to start the game with pitching all the characters with +5999xp. This should put everyone at 3rd level apart from Thieves who start at 4th level. If you wish to dual class a demi-human, then share the above to be +2998xp in each class. Going forward, when I award xp, I will include any prime requisite bonus percentage.
After you have assigned ability stats, choose a race and class that fits your generated dice rolls and choose your age, gender, height, weight to suit. I am not using the DMG age modifications.
Create a little backstory for your character. You don't need to go overboard. I will produce a rogues gallery thread for sheets and pictures.
Roll [3d6] x10 to generate your starting gold piece allowance. A frugal amount, hence signing your life away to go adventuring in an effort to make your fame and fortune or die trying.
Equip your character. You may each have a standard set of normal clothes, backpack & bedroll for free. Every mage starts with their own initial spell-books and a pouch of spell components, clerics each have a basic holy symbol, prayer book and a free Vial of Holy Water, rogues receive a set of basic Thieves Tools. Please do list your inventory including weapons!. Remember if you do not have it recorded then you do not have it!
All characters may start the game with maximum hit points plus or minus any constitution modifiers for their 1st level only. Players such as rangers or monks who start play with two hit dice only receive max hp for one dice and must randomly roll for the second dice. Con bonus is applied to both. Also you may re-roll any score of 1hp but only once.
Multi-class characters may take max hp for the first level of each class, whatever HD is appropriate but then every subsequent advance is rolled and hp divided by half (for dual classes).
All characters speak Common, plus their racial language. Additional languages may be taken subject to Intelligence language bonus or time invested in learning.
Choose an alignment. Apart from no evil, I am not to strict on setting dynamics to frame your roleplay.
Hope that is enough to get folk rolling. Do ask any questions.
Character Creation:
Re: Character Creation:
Notes on Character Races:
I will edit necessary pointers here.
Elves
May gain a +1 to hit, when employing one of the following as an Elven specialist weapon. Shortbow, Longbow, Shortsword or Longsword. only one, not all four! Single-class Elven mages may switch this to become a dagger instead to compensate for this racial ability, though this would be rare since dual classing offers a better option.
Notes on Character Classes:
I will edit any notes here.
Fighters
I am using the variable THAC0 from the DMG so that your 'to hit' probability increases with each new level.
Fighters alone may use a Shield Bash manoeuvre. If bearing a shield, you may roll an additional melee attack, modified by any Strength bonus. A hit will penalise an opponent's AC by -1 to their Dexterity score as a result of being pushed back or unbalanced.
Clerics
I am not detailing a wide pantheon at this point. Players of Good or Law worship 'a god of light, love, duty, honour, service', typical virtues. Neutral or Chaotic clerics might worship a 'mother earth', druidic god of the sun, moon & stars, a Loki type trickster god, new age deity. There are no evil characters in play.
You may list each spell from the 1st and 2nd levels of castable spells as known spells, detailed in the PHB. Knowledge of these has been given to you by your deity. You may cast a number of spells daily according to your experience level plus any bonus spells from high wisdom. Each cleric may also receive a single Detect Evil spell as a free daily divine gift.
Knowledge of 3rd level spells and above are given by religious mentors, divine interventions, dreams and visions, scripture study and sacrificial offerings. Piety is important and as such, godly acts may gain divine favour such as bonus daily spells, increased healing virtue, greater Turn Undead rebuking.
Clerics may gain proficiency in any blunt weapon type, including morningstars, slings.
Multi-class Cleric/Thieves are still prohibited from using a bladed weapon but may 'backstab' with any proficient cleric weapon, effectively a head-cosh instead.
Druids, since you are starting at 3rd level, you may gain access to a single 3rd level druid spells. You may pick a preferred spell from the PHB list. If you have high enough Wisdom, you also gain any extra daily spells casting bonuses, just as clerics do and may choose additional preferred 3rd level spells if your Wisdom bonus grants ability to cast them.
Mages start the game with a free daily Detect Magic and Read Magic spell. Then choose from the list of 1st & 2nd level Mage spells a number of spells equal to the 'minimum number of known spells' that your Intelligence score sets. You know these spells in your book. However you can only cast daily the number of spells given according to experience rank, plus the two free daily spells and, in a like manner to clerics and their Wisdom ability requisite; Mages may cast additional daily spells according to their Intelligence attribute score. Mages only know what spells are in their books, so must adventure to gain extra spell knowledge.
as much as I really do like the spell-memory check used in other games, we won't yet institute it here.
Mages may also start the game with a Familiar if the take Find Familiar as a spell of choice. I will determine the Familiar found by random roll.
Illusionists may gain free daily arcane spells as mages do, Detect Magic (as a freebie not as a 2nd level spells) & Read Magic. Again, as Mages do, Illusionists initially acquire spells via the Intelligence min/max parameters and gain extra daily spells according to bonus grants for higher intelligence.
Thieves, during a melee, this class may roll vs their Move Silently ability and a success means they succeed in manoeuvring around an opponent to gain a +2 rear attack bonus if they are not already positioned for that advantage.
Thief class players: please roll your own skill checks in any action post and then you can narrate what any known success or failure looks like; fail a climb walls and script falling, move noisily and you creak a floorboard. Find Traps will be a bit different of course, but a success could be scripted as "if a trap is there, I would be confident to locate one", which could then lead you to a Remove Traps roll.
Thieves: a bane of my own playing days is that Robin Hood: prince of Thieves and bow expert was not equal to a D&D thief! So I am allowing bows or crossbows as a Thief weapon of Proficiency.
Monks I will allow high Dexterity to affect your Armour Class. otherwise whether you have 18 Dex or 3 Dex, it makes no difference and I will allow Strength bonus for extra damage when using melee weapons or Open Hand combat.
During melee, Monks may also roll vs their Move Silently ability percentage and if successful, this gains them another attack of opportunity bonus for an Open Hands attack.
Monks may also be unaffected in the usage of their Open Hands combat vs creatures like Ghouls that have a paralyzing touch. Hitting such a creature in combat does not reciprocate that creatures Touch-attack effect.
At 4th level, Monks gain a bonus to their Open Hands combat in such order like monsters do versus creatures struck only by magic weapons. So a 4th level Monk's hands may be considered "enchanted' for purposes of breaching resistances, +1 at 4th level, +2 at 6th level. This is not a bonus to hit, just a consideration regarding normal weapon resistances.
any more I will edit in here.
I will edit necessary pointers here.
Elves
May gain a +1 to hit, when employing one of the following as an Elven specialist weapon. Shortbow, Longbow, Shortsword or Longsword. only one, not all four! Single-class Elven mages may switch this to become a dagger instead to compensate for this racial ability, though this would be rare since dual classing offers a better option.
Notes on Character Classes:
I will edit any notes here.
Fighters
I am using the variable THAC0 from the DMG so that your 'to hit' probability increases with each new level.
Fighters alone may use a Shield Bash manoeuvre. If bearing a shield, you may roll an additional melee attack, modified by any Strength bonus. A hit will penalise an opponent's AC by -1 to their Dexterity score as a result of being pushed back or unbalanced.
Clerics
I am not detailing a wide pantheon at this point. Players of Good or Law worship 'a god of light, love, duty, honour, service', typical virtues. Neutral or Chaotic clerics might worship a 'mother earth', druidic god of the sun, moon & stars, a Loki type trickster god, new age deity. There are no evil characters in play.
You may list each spell from the 1st and 2nd levels of castable spells as known spells, detailed in the PHB. Knowledge of these has been given to you by your deity. You may cast a number of spells daily according to your experience level plus any bonus spells from high wisdom. Each cleric may also receive a single Detect Evil spell as a free daily divine gift.
Knowledge of 3rd level spells and above are given by religious mentors, divine interventions, dreams and visions, scripture study and sacrificial offerings. Piety is important and as such, godly acts may gain divine favour such as bonus daily spells, increased healing virtue, greater Turn Undead rebuking.
Clerics may gain proficiency in any blunt weapon type, including morningstars, slings.
Multi-class Cleric/Thieves are still prohibited from using a bladed weapon but may 'backstab' with any proficient cleric weapon, effectively a head-cosh instead.
Druids, since you are starting at 3rd level, you may gain access to a single 3rd level druid spells. You may pick a preferred spell from the PHB list. If you have high enough Wisdom, you also gain any extra daily spells casting bonuses, just as clerics do and may choose additional preferred 3rd level spells if your Wisdom bonus grants ability to cast them.
Mages start the game with a free daily Detect Magic and Read Magic spell. Then choose from the list of 1st & 2nd level Mage spells a number of spells equal to the 'minimum number of known spells' that your Intelligence score sets. You know these spells in your book. However you can only cast daily the number of spells given according to experience rank, plus the two free daily spells and, in a like manner to clerics and their Wisdom ability requisite; Mages may cast additional daily spells according to their Intelligence attribute score. Mages only know what spells are in their books, so must adventure to gain extra spell knowledge.
as much as I really do like the spell-memory check used in other games, we won't yet institute it here.
Mages may also start the game with a Familiar if the take Find Familiar as a spell of choice. I will determine the Familiar found by random roll.
Illusionists may gain free daily arcane spells as mages do, Detect Magic (as a freebie not as a 2nd level spells) & Read Magic. Again, as Mages do, Illusionists initially acquire spells via the Intelligence min/max parameters and gain extra daily spells according to bonus grants for higher intelligence.
Thieves, during a melee, this class may roll vs their Move Silently ability and a success means they succeed in manoeuvring around an opponent to gain a +2 rear attack bonus if they are not already positioned for that advantage.
Thief class players: please roll your own skill checks in any action post and then you can narrate what any known success or failure looks like; fail a climb walls and script falling, move noisily and you creak a floorboard. Find Traps will be a bit different of course, but a success could be scripted as "if a trap is there, I would be confident to locate one", which could then lead you to a Remove Traps roll.
Thieves: a bane of my own playing days is that Robin Hood: prince of Thieves and bow expert was not equal to a D&D thief! So I am allowing bows or crossbows as a Thief weapon of Proficiency.
Monks I will allow high Dexterity to affect your Armour Class. otherwise whether you have 18 Dex or 3 Dex, it makes no difference and I will allow Strength bonus for extra damage when using melee weapons or Open Hand combat.
During melee, Monks may also roll vs their Move Silently ability percentage and if successful, this gains them another attack of opportunity bonus for an Open Hands attack.
Monks may also be unaffected in the usage of their Open Hands combat vs creatures like Ghouls that have a paralyzing touch. Hitting such a creature in combat does not reciprocate that creatures Touch-attack effect.
At 4th level, Monks gain a bonus to their Open Hands combat in such order like monsters do versus creatures struck only by magic weapons. So a 4th level Monk's hands may be considered "enchanted' for purposes of breaching resistances, +1 at 4th level, +2 at 6th level. This is not a bonus to hit, just a consideration regarding normal weapon resistances.
any more I will edit in here.
Re: Character Creation:
How are proficiencies for thrown melee weapons and are/dex bonuses for same being handled?
If I am proficient with a dagger is throwing it covered by the same proficiency?
If I am proficient with a dagger is throwing it covered by the same proficiency?
Re: Character Creation:
Yes, use Dex bonus for range weapons, strength in melee.If I am proficient with a dagger is throwing it covered by the same proficiency?
Re: Character Creation:
Character Creation 'goodie bags':
To help with the challenge you face and a reward from previous adventures, I will randomise some magic items for each player.
Once Players are sorted, I will allocate a base +1 magic weapon or enchanted armour or shield +1 AC; a potion of healing each, equip spell casters with additional spell scrolls and give a class related enchanted item plus a random trinket that has a singular magic effect.
To help with the challenge you face and a reward from previous adventures, I will randomise some magic items for each player.
Once Players are sorted, I will allocate a base +1 magic weapon or enchanted armour or shield +1 AC; a potion of healing each, equip spell casters with additional spell scrolls and give a class related enchanted item plus a random trinket that has a singular magic effect.
Re: Character Creation:
PHB for Halfling refers to mixed blood and pure stoutish blood, but the only difference appears to be 30' vs 60' infravision.
Any other differences of note?
Any other differences of note?
Re: Character Creation:
not in this edition. I think the Monster Manual gives some distinctions, but just take the most advantageous traits for now.Any other differences of note?
Re: Character Creation:
Sweet!Straither wrote: ↑Sat Nov 02, 2024 3:12 pm Character Creation 'goodie bags':
To help with the challenge you face and a reward from previous adventures, I will randomise some magic items for each player.
Once Players are sorted, I will allocate a base +1 magic weapon or enchanted armour or shield +1 AC; a potion of healing each, equip spell casters with additional spell scrolls and give a class related enchanted item plus a random trinket that has a singular magic effect.
I was taking a look at the rules for Magic-Users. All are really nice additions.
One question though - Magic-Users still need to memorize spells at the start of the day as normal, right?
Re: Character Creation:
yes.One question though - Magic-Users still need to memorize spells at the start of the day as normal, right?
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OGRE MAGE
- First Gentleman
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Re: Character Creation:
[4d6c1]=7 [4d6c1]=14 [4d6c1]=11 [4d6c1]=12 [4d6c1]=17 [4d6c1]=10
Let's see what we can come up with for these.....
I was hoping for Monk, but they won't work for that.
Maybe I will look into the Illusionist class a bit......
Let's see what we can come up with for these.....
I was hoping for Monk, but they won't work for that.
Maybe I will look into the Illusionist class a bit......
Re: Character Creation:
[4d6c1]=13 [4d6c1]=7 [4d6c1]=16 [4d6c1]=5 [4d6c1]=11 [4d6c1]=13
No monk or ranger for me either.
No dual classing, even with an adjustment of 1 point.
Because of my 5 I have to be one of the following classes, no multi-classing allowed either.
Magic-User (5 Str), Fighter (5 Int), Thief (5 Wisdom), or Cleric (5 Dex).
If I put the 5 on Con I can only run an Illusionist which I don't qualify for and a 5 Chr means an Assassin only, which isn't allowed.
We are already set on Clerics and Thieves. I am running a Fighter with a 5 Int already in another game and I almost never run Magic-Users. Hmm...
Tough call, but looking at his numbers I am thinking a Half-Orc Fighter and going all in on Str.
No monk or ranger for me either.
No dual classing, even with an adjustment of 1 point.
Because of my 5 I have to be one of the following classes, no multi-classing allowed either.
Magic-User (5 Str), Fighter (5 Int), Thief (5 Wisdom), or Cleric (5 Dex).
If I put the 5 on Con I can only run an Illusionist which I don't qualify for and a 5 Chr means an Assassin only, which isn't allowed.
We are already set on Clerics and Thieves. I am running a Fighter with a 5 Int already in another game and I almost never run Magic-Users. Hmm...
Tough call, but looking at his numbers I am thinking a Half-Orc Fighter and going all in on Str.
Re: Character Creation:
Happy to have another fighter on board and what a strength roll!!!
Re: Character Creation:
Yeah, I saw the roll and thought the two-for-one swap could get an 18, then the choice would be going Strength for extra to hit & damage or Constitution for extra hp and survivability.
Orgoth seems to have done well in another game. Perhaps his twin adventures here.
Orgoth seems to have done well in another game. Perhaps his twin adventures here.
Re: Character Creation:
Not as solid all around as Orgoth, but should at least be a damage dealer. Maybe I will see if OM needs a body guard type, with a 5 Int and 7 Wis he will need someone to ask for advice, LOL.
2nd & 3rd level hp [_2d10]=(5+3)=8
18 hp.
2nd & 3rd level hp [_2d10]=(5+3)=8
18 hp.
Re: Character Creation:
Starting gp [3d6]=12
I will wait to find out what I get for a magic item before buying stuff. Magic armor would be great from a cost saving perspective.
I will wait to find out what I get for a magic item before buying stuff. Magic armor would be great from a cost saving perspective.
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OGRE MAGE
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Re: Character Creation:
This is the way!!!
Your idea helped me decide on a few final details for my PC as well.
I will have this put together soon.
Sorry if I am holding things up.
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OGRE MAGE
- First Gentleman
- Posts: 39189
- Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 3:16 pm
- Location: The Birthplace of RPG's
Re: Character Creation:
WIP
I give you the second half of the Brick and Mortar Adventuring Duo.
Hit Die [1d4]=4
Hit Die [1d4]=2
Money [3d6]=3
Broke as a Joke!
I give you the second half of the Brick and Mortar Adventuring Duo.
Hit Die [1d4]=4
Hit Die [1d4]=2
Money [3d6]=3
Broke as a Joke! Re: Character Creation:
Awesome, I love Brick and Mortar!
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Scott308
- Guy Who Gamed With The Famous People
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- Location: Oregon, WI
Re: Character Creation:
Oof! I may not even be able to carry my spell book! [4d6c1]=10; [4d6c1]=3; [4d6c1]=11; [4d6c1]=9; [4d6c1]=15; [4d6c1]=15
On November 2nd I will be participating in another 24 hour game of Dungeons & Dragons as part of Extra Life. This organization uses gaming to help raise money to donate to children's hospitals. I'm raising money for Marshfield Children's Hospital in Marshfield, WI, and all money I raise will go to that hospital. All donations are tax-deductible. Please take a moment to check out my donation page below. Thank you.
https://www.extra-life.org/participant/Scott Peterson
https://www.extra-life.org/participant/Scott Peterson