HOW TO MAKE A CHARACTER

Hello friends!

Ok, so I had some pretty big talk about a video... Well, I made the damn thing, but it didn't at all turn out right.  I blame my cheap-ass computer.  I think I don't have enough memory and/or the proper drives and/or video card to make videos.  I'm using the same program I used to use on my old computer, but for some reason I could only save the video as a wmv.  It wouldn't even let me download whatever I needed to try and save as an mPeg or a MP4.

So I have the video, but it's so damn blurry and pixelated that you can't really see what's on the screen anyway.

However, I'm posting it here along with a paraphrased transcript so you can listen as I explain what to do.  It's just that it would be more useful to scroll down as see the pics here on the blog, cuz the video is visually useless.

First I explain character classes:

Fighters fight.  They can use any weapons and armor.  They start at Level 1 with 8 Hit Points, when they level up they roll the 8-sided die and at that number to their total Hit Points.  If the Fighter's Strength Score is high enough, the Fighter can get a bonus to the Experience Points he/she has earned.

Clerics are sort of like fighters who devote their lives to their religion.  They can wear any type of Armor, but can only use weapons that do NOT had sharp edges.  Clerics serve their Gods, and so their Gods give them special powers.  Clerics can pray for the Spells and Spell Points, they can repel Undead Monsters and possibly cleanse evil Alters to prevent rival Clerics from communing with their Evil Gods.  But they MUST observe Holy Days, Holidays, and the Tenets of their Religion, or risk losing these abilities.  Clerics start at 1st level with 6 Hit Points, and when they Level Up they can roll a 6-sided die and add that to their total.  If the Cleric's Wisdom score is high enough, the Cleric can receive a bonus to all Experience Points earned.

Magic-Users study magic and can cast an assortment of Magic Spells.  They have a potential understanding of Magical Devices.  Magic-Users canNOT wear any armor, only Normal Robes/Clothes.  They can only use Staves, Daggers, and Darts because physical confrontations just aren't their thing.  Magic-Users start at 1st Level with 4 Hit Points, when they Level Up they roll a 4-sided die and add that to their Hit Point Total.  If the Magic-User's Intelligence is high enough, the Magic-User earns a Bonus to their Experience Points.

Thieves have a myriad of skills:  pick pockets, climb walls, find traps, remove traps, etc.  They can use any weapons, but can only wear Padded Armor, Leather Armor, or Studded Leather because metal armor makes it impossible to Move Silently.  A Thief begins with 4 Hit Points, when they Level Up they roll a 4-sided die to increase their Maximum Hit Points.  If a Thief's Dexterity is high enough, they get a Bonus to all Experience Points earned.

Dwarves MUST have a Constitution Score of 9 or Higher.  They are like Fighter with some Special Abilities.  They can Detect Sloping Tunnels and New Constructions, and can "Smell" Gold that is nearby.  Dwarves can wear any Armor, they can use any weapon EXCEPT 2-handed weapons or Longbows due to their height.  Like Fighters, they start with 8 Hit Points and use the 8-sided die to increase their maximum Hit Points when they Level Up.  They canNOT advance higher than 12th Level.  If the Dwarf's Strength score is high enough, they can receive a Bonus to the Experience Points they earn. 

Elves MUST have an Intelligence Score of 9 or Higher.  They are like a combo of Fighters and Magic-Users.  They can use any Armor and any Weapon, they also have Spell Points and cast Spells.  They have Infravision, have a bonus on Finding Secret Doors, and are immune to the paralyzing attack of Ghouls.  Elves begin with 6 Hit Points and roll a 6-sided die to increase their Maximum Hit Points when they Level Up.  If the Elf's Strength AND Intelligence score are high enough, the Elf can receive a Bonus to Experience Points earned.  Elves canNOT advance beyond 10th Level.

Halflings MUST have a Dexterity AND a Constitution of 9 or Higher!  Halflings are sort of a cross between Fighters and Thieves.  They can wear ay type of Armor, but can only use 1-handed weapons and Short Bows.  Halflings have special skills similar to Thieves.  Halflings start with 6 Hit Points and use a 6-sided die to increase their Maximum Hit Points when they Level Up.  If Halflings have a high enough score in Strength AND Dexterity, they can receive a Bonus to the Experience Points they earn.  But they can NOT advance beyond 8th Level.

Then I explain a little about ability scores:

Finally, I talk about making a character!  First, you need a Character Sheet, which you can get from this Blog.   Just save the pic and print it out, OR just write up all this important info on some notebook paper.  Then you need some dice OR some dice simulators OR some random number generators.  Our game will typically use: d4 (4-sided dice), d6 (6-sided dice), d8 (8-sided), d10 (10-sided), d12 (12-sided), d20 (you guessed it, 20-sided) and d100 (usually 2 10-sided dice, one for the tens place and one for the ones place).  So, for example, if I say "roll 3d6" I mean I want you to roll 3 6-sided dice.  

First, roll 3 normal six-sided dice.  Add these three numbers together and write it down on some scratch paper.  Now, do that 5 more times so you have 6 numbers.  Assign these numbers to whichever Ability Score you want, to create the Class you want to play.  I rolled up the numbers:  9, 9, 13, 13, 5, 16.  I decided to play an Elf so I assigned my scores and made notes of what bonuses/detriments they will give my rolls throughout the game.

Since I decided to be an Elf, I wrote that in as my Character Class, wrote that I was Level 1, and copied my Savings Throws from the Elf page here on the blog.

As an Elf, I can use the 6-sided die (1d6) for Hit Points.  At 1st Level, I am allowed the maximum Hit Points possible.  That means 6 plus my Constitution Bonus of +1 for a total of 7 Maximum Hit Points.  So I write 7 in the little circle, and the box is free to keep track of as I lose and gain Hit Points throughout the adventure.

Then, as an Elf, I get Magic Points to cast spells with.  I start with 1 Magic Point for 1st Level plus my Intelligence Bonus of +2 for a total of 3 Magic Points.  So I write 3 in the little circle.                                                                                      When I reach 2nd Level, I get more Hit Points (HP) and Magic Points (MP) to add to my total.  So I have to keep track of my Experience Points (XP) so I know when I Level Up.  So I write down that I currently of 0 XP, and need 3000 to reach Level 2.  Also, because I have a Strength that is 13 or higher AND an Intelligence that is 16 or higher, I am allowed to receive an extra 10% on all the XP I earn by playing.

Then I make note of all the Special Skills and Abilities available to my chosen Class (Elf) so I can use them during play.  I turn the little chart into a Spellcasting Chart.  So I see to cast a Spell (of) Level 1, 2, 3, etc; to Cast (I) Roll a 15, 16, 17, etc.  This will change as I level up.

Now if I was a Cleric, I might make this a Turn Undead Chart.  One Row could be the Level of the Undead Monster and the other Row could be the number I have to roll to Turn them away.  If I was a Thief or a Halfling I could turn this into a Skill Chart.  One Row could have initials for my skills like PP for Pick Pockets, CW for Climb Walls, FT for Find Traps, etc, and the other Row for the number I need to Roll to perform the skill.

As a 1st Level Character, our Attack Value is +0, this will improve as Level Up, and depends on what Class you are playing.  Next is our Inventory Sheet.  To determine the number of slots we have available, we take our Constitution Score (13) plus our Strength Bonus (+1) for a total of 14 Slots in the large section.  In the smaller sections you have 1 slot plus (Pick ONE) your Constitution Bonus OR your Strength Bonus--whichever is BETTER!  In this example, our Bonus is the same for both scores, so we have a total of 2 slots in each of these smaller section.  Cross out all the slots that you canNOT use.

The more stuff you carry, the slower you can move.  This is easily displayed by these inventory slots.                                                                                               So what is our Elf carrying?  You are allowed to roll 3d8 (3 8-sided dice), then multiply by 10 to determine the amount of Gold Pieces you have to buy starting equipment with.  This is the only money you have to buy Armor, Weapons, and Equipment until you go adventuring, so choose wisely!  But for this example, we're going to use the Elf Starter Pack listed at the bottom of the Elf page here on the Blog.  That means that we get one Hand Weapon.  Elves can use any weapon, so I will choose a Scimitar.  I also write down the amount of damage it can inflict on the monsters I fight.  I also get 1 ranged weapon, so I choose a Short Bow and 20 Arrows, and write down the damage they can do.  I also write down that I have Leather Armor, which increases my Armor Class from 10 to 12.

Then I write down the rest of my adventuring gear.  I try to group things together to take up the fewest slots possible, according to the charts on the Encumbrance Page here on the Blog.                                                                           Except for certain types of Clerics, all 1st Level Characters start at 0 on the Morality Tracker.                                                                                                        I have found the Characters Age can be important in games, so we will find out how old our Elf is by using the Starting Age Chart on the Personality and Background Page of the Blog.  An Elf starts at 125 + 5d8.  So I rolled my 8-sided die 5 times for a total of 20.  125 +20 = 145, so I write that down as the age of our Elf.

As this is a Sample Character, I will leave the Name and Sex blank for a Player to use.  So...you think you're ready to go slay some dragons?  Well, you're WRONG!  We're NOT done yet!  We need more info, and the back has lots of room!

So...this little adventure seems to be blowing up into a MUCH larger campaign than I had originally intended.  That's totally my fault.  This thing could take months of in-game time, and once this campaign is over we may decide to keep playing, having adventures that forge years of in-game history.    Because of this, we should know when our Character's Birthday is.

Leauvalar has 13 months.  Each month has 28 days.  So, except for equinoxes, solstices, holidays, etc, every month basically looks like this.  So roll a 1d12 and add your Constitution Bonus.  If you go over 13, start again at 1.  This will determine which month our birthday is in.  I rolled a 2 plus the Constitution Bonus of +1 means our Elf was born in the 3rd Month.

Now roll 1d4 to determine which week of the month.  I rolled a 4, so the Elf's birthday is sometime in the last week.

Now roll a 1d8 and add your Constitution Bonus again.  Again I rolled a 2, +1 again = 3.  The 3rd day of the week is the 24th.  So our Elf was born on the 24th day of the 3rd month 145 years ago.

There is another chart about what stage of life you're in and how it affects your Ability Scores.  You do NOT have to use this chart now unless you want to.  If we go beyond this first campaign, we will bring it into play.  

IF you want to use it, here's how it would affect this sample character:  Our Wisdom Score would be lowered down to 4 and our Constitution would increase to 14.  Neither one would affect their Bonus/Penalty Adjustment.  BUT a 14 Constitition plus the Strength Bonus would give us 1 extra Inventory Slot.  

Of course, if could inflict different Bonus/Penalty adjustments on any Character you roll up.

But why is the Elf going on adventures?  To find out, I consulted the chart on the Personality and Background page.  You can pick your answer if you want, but I rolled randomly and found out that the Elf's village was destroyed by a Plague.  What kind of Plague?  I don't know.  Do you need to know?  Talk to you Dungeon Master about it.  Maybe you can make it up.  Maybe there's already an Elf-village that was decimated by Gnomish Dysentery and you're one of the few lucky ones that escaped with your health intact.

More questions!  What are you afraid of?  Who do you hate?  Who do you love?  I rolled some more dice to find out.  The Elf is afraid of Bugs.  Maybe Bugs caused the Plague back at the village?  Maybe Bugs are just icky and there's no direct connection?  The Elf hates an Abusive Relative, so I randomly picked Father.  Maybe he used to lock the Elf in the closet with the Bugs when he was mad?  Maybe the Father just felt the Elf was never Good Enough?  The Elf idolizes a Hero!  So I made up the name of Galladran the Elf-Knight!  Sounds like a noble warrior who has done Great Deeds in the name of the Elf-Queen!  No doubt our Elf strives to emulate his/her perception of this figure!  Will they meet?  Will the Hero give us the approval that Father never did?  Or will the Hero be a sloppy boorish disappointment as well?  Who can tell?

Again, for all of these questions, you can keep them vague, or you can make up some specific info.  Both can work.  I'm looking for the six-fingered man because he killed my Father.  This six-fingered man could be anybody.  I'm looking for Rugan because he killed my Father.  Rugan is probably still Rugan...unless he changed his name for some reason...or is only known as the Black Knight because he never takes his helmet off...  If you need help, talk to me about it.  Your Character's past could be really cool.  Or it could be pretty vague.  My village was destroyed by a plague, but I don't know what plague.  But that doesn't mean I wouldn't recognize it if I found another village where the same plague was starting up!  Everyone's backstory can have the potential to impact our world and we should get to experience it in the game.

One last--but vitally important--thing:  we need to know what Magic Spells we are capable of casting!

Elves are supposed to start with the same amount of Spells as Magic-Users:  Read Magic, 2 1st Level Spells, 1 2nd Level Spells, plus spells equal to our Intelligence Bonus (+2).                                                                                              I rolled randomly and got Floating Disc and Hold Portal for 1st Level Spells.  Then I rolled and got the 2nd Level Spell Web.  Our Intelligence Bonus is +2, so we can either get 2 more 1st Level Spells OR 1 more 2nd Level Spell.  We only have 3 Spell Points per day... and the 1st Level Spells we have would not be my first choice for offense or defense... So I decided to roll up 2 more 1st Level Spells.  If I rolled a spell I already had, I rolled again and eventually got Magic Missile and Shield.  We can get more spells by playing the game.

A Cleric Must make a note of what God or Pantheon he/she serves (and any special Bonuses).  This is optional for all other Characters.

NOW we're done!  Now that you have a character, you are READY TO PLAY!  ...My advice is to make a back-up Character in case this one dies.  And now... Onward, to Adventure!