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Probably the activity the we all do together the most often, Dungeons and Dragons has been a game that's given people a creative outlet since the 70s. The late Gary Gygax is one of the men responsible for this hobby we all know and love. A game of imagination and fantasy, you take up the role of a character that you create. You could play a brutish warrior, an eruditic wizard, a pious cleric, a crafty rogue or anything in between. The game is truly limitless with what you can do with it.
one 20-sided die (d20), one 12-sided die (d12), two 10-sided dice (d10), one 8-sided die (d8), four 6-sided dice (d6), and one 4-sided die (d4). A notebook and pencil are recommended as well. If you can get ahold of a copy of the Player's Handbook, that will help you out a lot, but any good dungeon master (DM) will provide access to one along with character sheets.
Most of us that will be reading this page already know how the process works, but I'll try to be as brief as possible with the creation of a character. You start by choosing a race for your character to be, which can be anything from a mere human to some of the more fantastical races of elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, half orcs or half elves. There are a lot more choices depending on what books you're using and what your DM will allow you to be. After that you pick a class for your character to be, which will determine what role your character will play within the scope of the adventuring party. The classes can easily be broken down into four basic archetypes: The Tank, which is a character with high hit points, heavy armor and weapons to match to stand toe-to-toe with whatever nasty creatures you may come across on your journeys. The Divine Caster is easily described as the guy that makes sure the party stays alive at the end of the day, whether it's providing healing magic at the end of a fight or in the middle of one. Many divine classes can provide a secondary role of either tank or caster, but that's only when they don't have to keep party members alive. The Arcane Caster typically refers to a class like a wizard or a sorcerer. They cast spells that can either do a lot of damage to a single target, decent damage to a lot of targets, or kill enemies outright. They tend toward being rather fragile, typically having no armor proficiencies since any sort of armor can interfere with their spellcasting. The Skills guy is someone who has a lot of skill points and has access to abilities like lockpicking, disarming traps and even stealing items from monsters or other players. Combat-wise they tend toward a subtle approach, many of them having abilties that deal what is typically called "precision damage" since it's based on carefully aiming an attack at a particular spot for maximum damage. They tend to be even more fragile than most divine classes, but they typically have enough tricks up their sleeves to avoid getting hit altogether. Once race and class have been selected, you now take four 6-sided dice and roll them six times. You remove the lowest roll on the die and add the three numbers you have left and record them on a scrap piece of paper or on the side of your character sheet. Once you have your stats, you then allocate them to the abiltiy scores, which are: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Once they're allocated, you then allocate your skill points, which represents certain proficiency with things such as looking for traps, picking someone's pocket, noticing an ambush, hiding yourself, your knowledge of herbs and plants and so on. Each class as a certain amount of skill points, skilled classes getting a lot more than others, but you never get fewer than 4 skill points at level 1. Once skill points are set into place it's time to select a feat. Feats are different from skills since they let you do amazing things. Some merely enhance what your character's already good at, such as improving a saving throw, skill, spellcasting or weapon ability. Others allow special options for your character they wouldn't be able to do otherwise, like trading away some accuracy of a melee strike to inflict more damage upon impact, allowing you to fight with two weapons at once, or letting you fire off two or more arrows at once with a single shot. I'll get into specific feats later. Once feats are selected, you now get to purchase equipment for your charcter, from a pool of starting gold pieces (gp). After that, pick a name and gender, decide what your charcter sounds and looks like, maybe toss in a little backstory and you're ready to go!
I know that's a lot of information, so I'll try and break down the individual stats so you have an idea of how they work. An average score is a 10 to 11, which gives you no advantage or disadvantage to performing actions associated with that particular stat. A 12 to 13 is above average, which gives your character a +1 "modifier" meaning that actions that involve say, strength for instance, you would add an extra point to the outcome of your roll. Notice how with each two points to a stat, your modifier goes up by one. Remembering that one thing will make calculations on your sheet very simple, especially when you start increasing those stats or get magical boosts from spells or items.
Measures your characters physical prowess. It affects how much your character can carry, it affects how good you are at melee combat and it affects melee damage. Good for anyone who wants to get in the thick of things and hack away at a monster, and a must for any Tank.
Measures your agility, both in hand and foot. It has an impact on your armor class and reflex saves, which are things I'll cover later, it affects how good your character is at ranged combat, and it affects a lot of skills. A skilled character typically wants a high Dexterity, but arcane casters like to have a good score as well for the defense it provides.
Measures your physical toughness. It gives you a boost to your maximum hit points, fortitude saves, and it affects certain class abilities. It's also the cornerstone for the Concentration skill, a very important ability for casters. I'll go into individual skills later.
Measures your logic and reasoning skills. It provides additional skill points at each level, as well as being the paramount stat for the wizard, representing how powerful his spells are, and how many they can cast in a day. Many skills use intelligence as their key stat, not exactly one I would ignore with most any character.
Measures your insight and willpower. It provides a bonus to your will saves as well as being key to many important skills, such as spot and listen. Divine casters require wisdom to represent the power of their spells as well at the amount of spells they can cast.
Measures your character's strength of personality and physical appearance. Useful for some skills and class abilties, but many characters can ignore it unless they want to be the party faceman. It is however, paramount to the Socerer and Bard, since their spellcasting is tied to the stat.
In the core book of 3.5 D&D, there are seven races to choose from, each with advantages and disadvantages. Here's a rundown of each race.
Humans are generally the most common race in most campaign worlds of D&D. They are versatile, able to learn the abilities of pretty much any class with ease. They get a bonus feat at first level in addition to extra skill points; 4 at first level, then another point every level thereafter. They can choose any class as a favored class. (more on that later)
Elves are long-lived being that live in tandem with nature. Their capricious nature makes them flit from one thing to another, but few match them in arcane might. All elves know how to use a sword and bow, regardless of class. They have a +2 to dexterity because of their natural agility, but receive a -2 penalty to constiution for they tend to be rather frail compared to most races. They have automatic proficiency with the longsword, the shortsword, the short and longbow along with their composite versions. They get a +2 bonus to spot and listen with their keen eyes and ears, they also have the innate ability to notice secret doors, and are allowed an automatic search check as if they were actively searching for the door. They have low-light vision, letting them see twice as far in moonlight and torchlight than someone without it. Their favored class is the wizard.
Short and stocky, dwarves are industrious people of the mountains that place a high value on disicpline and tradition. They get a +2 bonus to Constitution for their stout, tough bodies, but a -2 penalty to Charisma for their gruff and dour nature. They have a martial tradition that spans many generations and are famous for their works with stone and metal. They treat the Dwarven Waraxe and Urgrosh as martial weapons instead of exotic weapons. They have an ability called stonecunning, which allows them a +2 to appraise and craft check involving stonework. They have a +2 bonus to fortitude saves versus poison, for they are naturally resistant to toxins of all kinds in addition to a +1 bonus to saves versus magic of any kind. They have darkvision, which lets them see in total darkness up to 60 feet away, but they are unable to discern colors of any kind. Their favored class is the fighter.
A small, but industrious race, gnomes are known for their practical jokes and their knack for technology. They are a small race, so as a result, they get a +1 size bonus to armor class and to attack rolls, but they can only carry 3/4 the weight of someone of medium size, and they must use weaponry and armor sized for them. They have a +4 bonus to hide checks because of their small size. They get a +2 bonus to constitution because like their dwarven cousins, they have a hardy immune system, but their small size gives them a -2 penalty to strength. They can treat the gnome-hooked hammer as a martial weapon as opposed to an exotic weapon. They get a +2 bonus to saves versus illusion spells, as well as a +1 to caster level when casting spells of the illusion school. They get a +2 bonus to craft checks involving alchemy because of their sensitive nose. They have a +2 bonus to listen checks because like elves, they have very keen ears. They have low-light vision, letting them see twice as far in moonlight and torchlight than someone without it. Their favored class is the bard.
A small race known for their nomadic ways and their sneaky nature, halflings are the epitome of someone who can mesh with any race under the sun. They are a small race, so as a result, they get a +1 size bonus to armor class and to attack rolls, but they can only carry 3/4 the weight of someone of medium size, and they must use weaponry and armor sized for them. They have a +4 bonus to hide checks because of their small size. They get a +1 to all attack rolls with thrown weaponry, and have a +2 to listen checks because of their keen ears. They get a +1 luck bonus to all saving throws because, well, they're intrinsicly lucky I guess. Their favored class is the rogue.
As the name suggests, they're a race of elves that have interbred with humans, creating a race that breeds true. They tend to be outcasts in a manner of speaking because they don't really belong in either society that they came from. They have a +1 bonus to spot and listen because their elven half gives them sharper senses, but of a lesser sort. They have a +2 bonus to diplomacy and gather information for they have natural mediation skills being of two different worlds and know how to talk to a lot of different people. Like Humans, they can choose any class as their favored class.
A mixture of orc and human, they can possess the savage brutality of an orc or the more refined (I use the term loosely here) human traits. Even moreso than half elves, they are outcasts, especially in a human society. They have a +2 bonus to strength for their raw muscle power, but they're not the smartest or the best natured, so they get a -2 to intelligence and charisma. They also have darkvision out to 60 feet. Their favored class is the barbarian.
In the core book of 3.5, there are 11 base classes for starting characters to be. Each are described in greater detail below.