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Post by camanern on Apr 27, 2014 14:55:20 GMT
Can any of you give me a simple run through of character creation for DnD or 40k? I've done one session, and I dont think I did my character correctly.
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Post by ibinoth on Apr 27, 2014 16:10:23 GMT
Aight, a simple little run-through of standard D&D character creation (I'll go for 3.5 since that's the one I usually play). In this example we'll be making a stereotypical D&D 3.5 1st level human fighter.
FIRST: Primary attributes. There are several ways people do this, from point buy to rolling a set amount of dice to lots of outlandish ways to determine your basic stats. The one I use for the most part is as follows: 1. Roll 4 six-sided dice (regular ones). Reroll any 1s you get. If you get new 1s, reroll those as well. 2. Set aside the 3 dice with the highest numbers. Add these together. 3. You should now have a value between 6 and 18. Note this down. 4. Repeat this process 5 more times. 5. You should now have 6 numbers between 6 and 18 each.
For the sake of this example, let's say we get these 6 attribute numbers: 18 16 14 12 12 10
SECOND: Now you distribute these between your attributes, which are as follows; STRENGTH, DEXTERITY, CONSTITUTION, INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, CHARISMA. For our super-stereotypical fighter, who likes hitting things and taking damage, we'll give him a lot of STRENGTH and CONSTITUTION. DEXTERITY is nice enough, but not as vital for the fighter we're making as STRENGTH and CONSTITUTION will be as they determine how hard you hit things and how much damage you can take.
So we distribute it as follows: STR: 18 (Strength governs how well you hit things, how much damage you deal, how much you can carry and determines skills like swimming and jumping.) CON: 16 (Constitution is your health. More constitution means more HP, better resistance to anything that affects your health etc.) DX: 14 (Dexterity is your "speed". You act faster in combat, you are harder to hit and you're better at skills like stealth, tumbling etc. Also helps you avoid damage from AoE effects and other effects that depend on reflexes.) INT: 12 (Intelligence determines how many skill points you have. It doesn't do much else for a fighter, but for a wizard, this is the number one stat!) WIS: 12 (Wisdom is your reasoning, willpower and common sense. It determines how well you resist mental effects like mind control or sleep spells.) CHA: 10 (Charisma is a combination of looks, charm, attitude and personal magnetism. For a typical fighter this isn't important unless you want to intimidate someone, as intimidate is a charisma-based skill.)
What we have here is a strong, tough fighter with okay reflexes, who's not a complete idiot, and has perfectly average charisma. He can hit things well and hard, dodge potential danger, handle being hit, but he's not too great at talking or reasoning compared to those who put their main attributes in mental skills.
THIRD: Skill Points. Every race in D&D gets a nifty bonus to something. In a human's case, this means he gets an additional feat (which we'll talk about later), and 4 extra starting skill points. He also gets an additional skill point per level. In D&D 3.5, a fighter has a list of "class skills", which means that these are the skills most appropriate for the class. You CAN put skill points in skills that aren't class skills, but they cost double and have a lower skill cap. So it's just not economically sound. The fighter's class skills are:
Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), Swim (Str).
As you can see, these have notations behind them indicating which attribute they benefit from. This would be a good time to talk about what an "Attribute Modifier" is. Basically, a modifier is the bonus you get from having a high attribute. It works as follows: At 10, your attribute gives a bonus of zero. Every 2pts above 10 gives +1 modifier. This means that an attribute of 12 gives +1, 14 gives +2 etc etc. These modifiers will dictate a lot of things, like damage, save bonuses, skill bonuses and so on.
For now, we have 2+int modifier x 4 skill points. A modifier to an attribute means the bonus you get from having a high score in that attribute. Our bonus from intelligence is +1, so we get 3x4=12 skill points at level 1. BUT WAIT! Humans get +4 skill points, meaning we have 16 skill points to distribute.
Every skill has a cap, and that cap is 3+ character level. Meaning you can put maximum 4pts in a skill at first. For now, we'll put points in the following skills:
4pts in Climb. You also have +4 STR modifier, meaning you have a total of +8 to Climb. 4pts in Intimidate. You have +0 CHA modifier, meaning you have a total of +4 to Intimidate. 4pts in Jump. You also have +4 STR modifier, meaning you have a total of +8 to Jump. 4pts in Swim. You also have +4 STR modifier, meaning you have a total of +8 to Swim.
What we have here is a guy who can make his way to anyone he wants to beat up! He can climb up a hill, swim across a stream and jump across a ravine in order to smack things! He is also quite intimidating, despite his low charisma, so he can scare people into doing what he wants!
FOURTH: Saves. These are basically your ability to resist hostile effects. A Save is a combination between a class-based bonus and the modifiers of three of your primary attributes. CON gives you a bonus equal to your modifier to FORTITUDE saves. DEX gives you a bonus equal to your modifier to REFLEX saves. WIS gives you a bonus equal to your modiier to WILL saves.
A fighter has a good Fortitude save, and bad Will and Reflex saves. At level 1 this basically means that you get +2 FORT, but zero to both the others. But you have a +3 CON modifier, a +2 DEX modifier and a +1 WIS modifier, meaning your saves look like this: FORTITUDE: +5 REFLEX: +2 WILL: +1
This means our fighter is very tough, sorta nimble but weak of will, meaning he's susceptible to hypnosis, charm spells, domination and other effects that tamper with his mind.
FIFTH: HIT POINTS.
At level 1, HP is a simple affair. Whenever you level, as a fighter, you roll a dice called a Hit Dice. This varies from class to class. In the fighter's case, this is a 10-sided die. However, at level 1, you AUTOMATICALLY get a 10, so you start with 10HP. But! You also add your CON modifier to this result every time you roll for HP, meaning you get 10+3HP at level 1, meaning that you have 13HP at first level. Not bad!
SIXTH: FEATS.
Feats are tricky, as these will determine which way your character is progressing. Will you be a big strong greatsword brute? A dual wielder? A clever tactical expert? A shield-wielding tank? An archer? Since we're making the most stereotypical fighter ever we'll go with a big strong guy with a greatsword. Basically, feats vary greatly in nature, think of them as "talent points" in an MMO. At level 1, you will have a total of 3 feats, which is a LOT! Why so many? Let me tell you: Everyone gets a feat at level 1. Everyone. Also, everyone gets a feat every 3rd level. Feats are a fighter's specialty. They get BONUS feats at level 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 etc etc. Every even-numbered level after 1, basically. Humans get a bonus feat at level 1, reflecting their versatility! So a human fighter gets 3 feats at level 1.
We will give him three feats called Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Greatsword and Cleave. These are very useful for a fighter who simply wants to deal as much damage as possible with his greatsword. Let's explain what each of these do:
Power Attack: Power Attack allows you to trade accuracy for power, dealing more damage at the risk of missing your opponent more easily. Normally, you get -1 to hit for every +1 to damage. However, two-handed weapons like our greatsword get +2 for every -1! So a good tradeoff if you ask me! HOWEVER! You may never trade more hit than you have base attack. We'll talk about base attack in step 7.
Weapon Focus: This gives a flat +1 to hit with the chosen weapon. More accuracy, which you can trade off if you want for even more damage!
Cleave: This feat gives you the opportunity to IMMEDIATELY strike a new foe within range if you down a foe in combat. Basically, you run your sword through a guy and into the next guy! May only be used once per attack though.
SEVENTH: Bored yet? We're almost done! We'll talk about base attack, hitting things, avoiding getting hit and damage, and after that we're basically finished!
Your base attack is your general ability to hit things. It reflects how skilled you are, pretty much. Fighters get +1 base attack per level. This means you have +1 to hit things. In addition to your base attack, you add your STR modifier to hit with melee weapons. This means your total to hit is +5. Remember that whenever you're using a Greatsword, you get an additional +1 on top of that! So a total of +6 to hit with a Greatsword.
If you ever equip a ranged weapon, you still get +1 from base attack, but you add DEX instead of STR to hit. So a hypothetical ranged weapon has +3 to hit.
Next, damage! A Greatsword has a base damage of 2D6. This means you roll 2 six-sided dice to deal damage with it. In addition, you add STR modifier to damage with melee weapons. But two-handed weapons have even more goodness in that regard! When wielding a two-handed weapon, you add 1.5x your STR modifier instead of just your flat STR mod. This means you deal 2D6+6 damage with your greatsword.
And last, but not least: AC. AC is short for Armor Class. This is how hard it is to hit you. It is a combination between dodging, armor and wielding shields, as well as other factors like magical items etc etc. Every character has 10 base AC. This represents the fact that you're moving about in combat. Every character adds their DEX modifier to their AC, to represent the character actively dodging. This means our fighter has +2 to his AC from DEX. Every character with armor gets a bonus from that. Let's say our fighter starts play with a simple leather armor. Leather armor gives a +2 bonus to AC. Note that if you wear very heavy armor it may restrict the bonus you get from DEX, but for now let's not think about that. Shields, magic rings, enchanted armor and so on will further enhance your AC.
Adding together our fighter's base AC of 10, DEX bonus of 2 and Armor bonus of 2 means he has 14AC. This means that a character must roll 1D20, add their hit and get 14 or more to hit you.
That should be everything! I hope that was understandable, it's as simple as I could think of making it. If you have any questions I'll be happy to help out!
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