Tevish's Character Worksheet and Expository Storyhour
IT is my personal opinion that the creation of a new D&D character always ought to begin with the rolling of statistics. While newer editions have brought poin-buy and arrays, which are more 'fair' and more controllable, I feel that such mechanisms have lost some of the beauty of randomness, both positive and negative, and tend to smooth over the nuance that a naturally rolled stat block can add to a character by trying to think flavorfully about what an unexpectedly high score beyond the primary for your class means. Beyond this philosophical argument, Zinger, as our DM, has opened the option for a relatively standard (best 3 of 4d6, 6 times, rearrange as you see fit) rolling mechanism to generate our characters. Whatever my philosophical stand, what the DM says goes. I did that up page, and recieved the following statistics block, which assuredly does not hit any potential criteria for the DM to say "Ditch that and roll again"
THIS is pretty good. In fact, if you compare it to the "standard array" Mown posted, it's strictly superior, so I kind of lucked out this time. With stats like these, I know that I have the allowances to be effective at almost any class in the PHB -- which isn't as much a concern in 5th edition, I'm just wired to look for it from playing a ton of THIRD
Technical Sidebar: MAD or SAD?
Let's talk about classes. Not all classes are created equal in all ways -- if they were, they wouldn't be different classes. What class you pick is possibly the most impactful decision you will make in your character's career, seeing as it defines what your character does. But not every stat block is equally suited to every class. Some classes are SAD, while others get MAD
SAD in this case stands for "Single Attribute Dependent". Wizards and Finesse or Archery focused fighters are good examples of SAD design. A fighter who uses bows or finesse weapons, for instance, uses his or her Dexterity score for Attack rolls, damage rolls, Armor Class, and Initiative. That's a lot! Strength, and the character's "mental" ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) are quite underutilized, mechanically speaking. An archer might not even care about Constitution (used for Hit Points) since they're unlikely to become the target of attacks! Wizards, on the other hand, use Intelligence for their spellcasting, and due to being on the back line and unlikely to bear any heavy gear, don't really value their physical stats, nor their other mental stats. It's not that SAD classes can't benefit from secondary stats, but they'd really rather have the one -- an archer with a 20 dexterity and 10s in her other stats is more effective as an archer than the one with 14's across the board, despite the sum of bonuses being a mere +5 to the straight 14's +12!
MAD, on the other hand, is "Multiple Attribute Dependent". The opposite of SAD, MAD values having a lot of statistics at positive (but not necessarily astronomical) values. A paladin with a non-finesse weapon is perhaps the most pointed example: he needs strength for his attacks, a little dexterity for armor class and initiative, a non-anemic constitution to survive standing on the front lines, and Charisma for spell-casting and divine abilities. A cleric who wishes to wade in the battle is much the same, but utilizes wisdom for spells. These characters could benefit from a single very high score, but much as a SAD character could benefit from many competent scores but would prefer one better score, the MAD character would rather have several abilities all with a +2 bonus than one with a high bonus like +5 alongside several +0 or penalty stats.
WHICH brings us, of course, to picking Race and Class. This is something I prefer to do at the same time, because having a good idea of where you want to go with one can inform your decision for the other. For instance, if you want to play a Tiefling, you KNOW your Charisma score will be significantly better than average and your Intelligence score will also be better than what you slot in it, though maybe not enough to kick it up to a new bonus. So perhaps you'll consider classes that value Charisma, like Paladin or Warlock. By the same token, if you know you want to play a Paladin, you might consider races that improve one of the statistics that Paladins value, such as Dragonborn (Strength), Tiefling (Charisma), or Dwarf (Constitution).
"BUT I want to play a dwarven wizard!" I hear from the gallery. "He'll be a cool sage that uses norse-type runes to cast magic and it's awesome!". And since we're playing 5e, Go For It. If you have a clear concept of WHO you want your character to be, that trumps WHAT your character might be somewhat more effective as. If we were playing 3e I might suggest you carefully review your options before committing to a non-synergistic choice, and if we were playing 4e... well, I wouldn't be here, but if I were somehow here for 4e I'd be very insistent that you reconsider. But 5e is very fluid and forgiving of less than optimal choices. Play what you love first. Play what gets you the most plusses second.
Munchkin's Corner: To Human or Not To Human?
Most races in 5th edition follow a similar pattern: in addition to getting a smattering of special racial abilities, they get +2 to one stat based on their overall race and +1 to another stat that may vary if there are multiple sub-races available. Since your bonus to die rolls from ability scores increments every other point of score you have, this means they recieve a +1 bonus to rolls relating to their primary stat, and MAY reap the same benefit to the secondary stat if it started at an odd value, since bonus improves on even values.
Human, however, grants you a +1 to all six basic ability scores. This can be amazingly powerful if you have a lot of odd ability scores, but if all six of your scores are even, it might be useless! It also won't do you much good if your class of choice is SAD (see above) and your single highest ability score is even, since you won't reap the benefits where it really matters. Naturally, MAD classes will often prefer Humans, since with 3 or more odd scores going in, they reap a higher overall benefit than any other race to your die rolls.
As one may have noticed, my statistics block has 4 odd ability scores. Since I didn't go into the character creation process with a specific idea in mind for my character, and my highest ability score is odd, it's in my best interest to be a Human
BECAUSE class is such an impactful decision, and because it ultimately didn't end up skewing my preference, I picked Human as my race. Like any race, this will adjust my starting statistics and grant me some racial abilities. Humans in D&D are stereotyped as versitile, so I receive a +1 to every ability score and know an extra language of my choice on top of Common. Technically, the PHB does present Subraces for human -- most races will have to select a subrace, which has statistical effect, but the human subraces are purely cosmetic references to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. I'd probably pick Illuskan if it mattered, but it doesn't.
Tevish's Character Human ??? 18, 16, 14, 13, 11, 10 (Order undecided) Languages: Common, ???
NOW I come to the decision of what class to take. To this point, both because I didn't have a clear picture of a character coming in and because it makes for a better expository time, I've been designing my character bottom-up rather than top-down, to use M:tG design jargon -- I've started with the statistics, and I'm kind of working out the flavor as I go along. But Class is, for the most part, going to be tightly connected with your character's flavor. Background, which I'll get to later, might end up eclipsing class, but class is still pretty huge since it determines what you do, and a character that wears heavy armor and swings a sword is going to be very different than one with cure magic and a song.
SO at this point, I could walk you through what to do (mostly just make your choice and apply what the book tells you to apply -- it's pretty simple) but continuing to go singularly through my own design will be of limited use. Still, if you're interested in seeing how my thought process goes forward, feel free to read on as I debate between a few character options! After I pick one (I'm doing this live!) I'll go on to fleshing out the character, so you may want to join me there.
The Princess
There once was a King of a tiny kingdom in the far north. The king, when he was young, loved a lady of his court, a knightly woman sworn to his service. But politics demanded that the world could not know of this -- the king had to marry a royal from foreign lands, who he had never met. Though the marriage of the king was, in the end, happy, one vestige of his former love, and their indescretion together, remained: the Lady Knight had a daughter, and no one could know who the father was, unless the worst should happen to the King's legitimate line. Since it hurt them both for the lady and her daughter to be near the king, he gave his loyal servant, his former love, lands and a title towards the edge of his domain, to ensure that their daughter would be raised in comfort and safety. Only four people would, if peace reigned and a crisis of succession did not emerge, ever know that the king had another child of noble blood: The king, her mother, the king's trusted majordomo, and the child herself.
Now the king's daughter -- his eldest, bastard child has come of age, and is ready to make her own way in the world. Magic courses through her veins, longing to be released, the same power her sire and other ancestors have mastered for generations: A royal birthright, a dangerous gift. Not willing to remain at home studying, she seeks to distinct herself through deeds as her mother once did...
CLASS: Sorcerer (Wild Magic). The Princess's arcane birthright is best represented by sorcery, and I'd rather take the fun of wild magic than tie her to a draconic bloodline. BACKGROUND: Noble. Aside from being a king's bastard, she's been raised the daughter of a baroness and has legitimate title from that ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good. The princess is clearly headstrong, with a desire to do things personally, or she wouldn't be adventuring out of her station. This means she's probably chaotic, and she seems more the type to want the best for everyone. ABILITY SCORES: The Princess will slot my 18 into charisma. Not only is that her spellcasting ability, but it also means she'll be better at noble-things like diplomacy! She's had the best private tutors expanding her mind and exercising her body, so she'll put the 16 in intelligence, 14 in dexterity, and 13 in constitution. They weren't able to do a ton for her lifting and striking ability, so she has 11 strength, and no one can teach common sense, so her lowest stat goes into Wisdom Str 11; Dex 14; Con 13; Int 16; Wis 10; Cha 18
The Butcher
There once was a man who could not face the world, for fear of it. He was afraid of being alone, so he lived with his sister. He was afraid of people, so they lived on the edge of town. He was afraid of monsters, and that he could do nothing about. One day, bandits came to his hovel. They were merciless raiders, and killed his sister before his eyes as she tried to fight back. The man fled, but in the tiny house there was only so far to go. Cornered in the kitchen, his body had nowhere else to run, so his mind ran instead. Forced to face his fear, something snapped. Unthinking, he armed himself with a great meat cleaver, and with all the fury of a monster he began to fight. What was the left of the man turned the bandit raid into a rout, as he hewed the flesh from their bones and hacked the limbs from their bodies. The leader of the bandits escaped, but precious few others. The man had lost the safety of his home, his beloved sister, his fear, and amidst the blood and bodies lost his humanity as well. The man was no more. The Butcher now walked the earth. He masked himself with a hideous mask and donned terrifying garb so others would fear him as he had feared the world, and then he went out into it to live, and fight, and kill any who wronged him... especially the bandit lord who made him.
CLASS: Barbarian (Berserker). The Butcher is a horrifying, brutal melee combatant, and the ability of the Berserker path of Barbarian to eventually go into a mindless frenzy fits him like a glove. BACKGROUND: Custom, "Monster" -- statistically it would be identical to the "Pirate" background in the PHB, which gives you the ability to get away with crimes because everyone is too terrified to report and/or prosecute you. That's perfect for the Butcher, but it would need a rename since he's never been near a boat. ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral. The Butcher is bloody-handed and insane. He doesn't care much for morality one way or another and absolutely squat for the laws of men. ABILITY SCORES: The Butcher favors strength most, with a sizable hunk of constitution and a surprising dextertity to move that ferocious bulk fast. He's kinda scary and intimidation is based off charisma, so that's decent too. He's not terribly bright and is terribly insane, so his low scores go to intelligence and Wisdom Str 18; Dex 14; Con 16; Int 11; Wis 10; Cha 13
The Apprentice
There once was a young girl dying in the streets. Too proud to beg, she had to steal to survive, but she was very cunning and therefore very good at it. One day she tried to steal from an old wizard who lived in town. The wizard caught her, but felt pity on seeing the small, starving child. He offered her his forgiveness, some dinner, and a chance to talk. The wizard found the girl to be very bright indeed, and offered her a chance to escape her life of thievery and starvation by becoming his apprentice and learning the ways of magic. The girl accepted, and she began to learn.
Now the girl is grown, and her master has said he cannot teach her as well as the world can. The world wronged her, and pushed her down, and beat her, but the Apprentice had always been stronger. And now, with the arcane art at her fingertips, she would show the world that she would not, could not be beaten.
CLASS: Wizard. I'm not sure what school specialization I'd pick for her, none really jump out from her history BACKGROUND: Urchin. A weird one for a wizard, but she grew up a street rat. That's the point. ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good. She's very driven and individualistic -- "The Man" never did a damn thing for her. But she's also got an abiding conviction to be BETTER than the world that tried to rub her face in the dirt. ABILITY SCORES: She's clever above all else, so she favors intelligence. Dexterity is also very nice, and she has a decent supply of wisdom and not a strictly terrible charisma. All those years of malnourishment before she became a wizards apprentice have left her kinda small and weak, though: her low scores are Str and Con. Str 10; Dex 16; Con 11; Int 18; Wis 14; Cha 13
The Fool
Once there was an unexceptional man put in an exceptional position. A marauding dragon came to town and demanded the people pay him tribute. No one dared fight the dragon, and so they drew lots, many were chosen to be sacrificed to the dragon's hunger. Though the man regarded himself a coward, he went to the lair of the dragon ahead of the sacrifices. He had no plan, and did not even know what he intended, but he went anyway. Once there, the dragon spotted him very quickly, but the man was very quick to say the sacrifices were on the way presently, and claim he had been elected as a messenger to tell the dragon the same. The dragon was amused, but forbade him to leave until after supper. The sacrifices, very displeased with their treatment, arrived in foul moods consisting of both anger and fear later. One woman, whom the man who thought himself a fool regarded as a horrible shrew that he could not decide whether he loved or hated and who could never decide if she loved or hated him, saw him and began to make vicious accusations at the man for being in league with the dragon. The dragon, more interested in the show than eating humans anyway, as that part was more to strike fear into the humans, simply waited. The man, seeing an opportunity to strike back at the awful young lady without any chance of retribution, took a stone from the ground and hurled it at her head. She ducked the stone, and it struck the cave wall behind her, and ricocheted, and smote the dragon in the eye.
Now enraged, the dragon turned to attack, but the man ran screaming in circles about it, dodging its strikes by his panicked haste and remaining in its new blind spot by sheer luck. The would-be sacrifices, figuring their end would now not spare their home and so they couldn't do worse by avoiding it, fled as the dragon continued to assail the poor fool who had wounded it so accidentally. It rampaged through the halls of its lair, giving chase until, in its rage, it attempted to barrel through a door that was far too small for its bulk. The dragon slammed against the frame time and time again to get at the fool, each time only serving to crack the stone and stuff its mighty head in farther, and rattle the whole of the mountain besides. This continued, the fool cowering in a corner well out of the monster's reach, until by no action of his a massive golden statue that no doubt weighed more than the dragon itself shook from its pedistal, fell across the dragon's neck, and snapped it. The dragon was struck dead at that blow, and the fool was left to replace his soiled pants and shirt with some of the knightly finery the dragon had stolen in ages past, and creep down the mountain, hoping it was not about to wake up and come after him.
When the townsfolk learned the dragon was dead, they held the man who thought himself a fool to be the greatest of all heroes, having struck down a dread wyrm that a score of knights had failed to kill. When he muttered to no effect on questions of its hoard, saying anyone could probably get it, they took it to mean, not entirely wrongly, that he would share it with all of them, and they loved him for this act of generosity he had not thought he was making, for he did not regard the dragon's gold as his by right, seeing how in his mind he had not slain it, but simply witnessed its demise.
Now with the reputation of a legend and a dragonslayer, great things were expected of the man. Poor fool, he learned too late that to be a hero was harder than to be a coward, but to return to a coward's life from a hero was entirely impossible.
CLASS: Rogue (Arcane Trickster): The Fool is actually a clever man. Living by his wits, rogue makes sense, and neither thief nor assassin really fits, so why not pick up spells? BACKGROUND: Folk Hero. This is one of the more interesting backgrounds in the PHB, and I've loved the idea of doing an accidental hero who doesn't actually WANT the reputation and the difficult, scary duties that come with it. ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good. His heart is in the right place and he feels SOME obligation to the group, which is why he hasn't fled it, but he;s not really lawful seeing that he's able to live a half-lie. ABILITY SCORES: Dexterity, intelligence, and Charisma are most important for the so-called fool (who is actually very clever) turned local legend and celebrity, as well as for being an Arcane Trickster. Wisdom is actually something he has, but he's not strong or tough, which might explain some of the "cowardice" Str 10; Dex 18; Con 11; Int 16; Wis 13; Cha 14
AT this point, I need to pick between these characters. I'm going to post this and edit in my decision-making process and the full character design later.
If anyone actually read through all that, I'm totally interested to hear what they think of the characters.
_________________
"Enjoy your screams, Sarpadia - they will soon be muffled beneath snow and ice."
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
Joined: Sep 25, 2013 Posts: 5149 Location: Toronto, Ontario
Identity: Spider-Man
Preferred Pronoun Set: Wtf is a "Jabber address"?
Very interesting characters Tevish.
Have a hard time buying the fool would go the path of the arcane trickster, though I see that all three are curiously unfitting despite him obviously being a rogue.
They are all interesting characters. I like that they all very clearly have flaws that you've outlined.
Though, keep in mind, with your lowest score being a 10, you aren't actually bad at anything. In a few descriptions you put something to the affect of "he is weak and frail so low str and con" or "no one could teach her common sense (low wis)". A 10 isn't by any means a low score in 5th edition. In fact I'd almost expect to see overconfidence become a character flaw of someone with stats as fortunate as yours, because everything comes easy to them. Just something to keep in mind.
Joined: Jun 21, 2014 Posts: 8338 Location: Singapore
It's hard to say how good each of the characters is without seeing how you roleplay the characters in question. Nearly any character can be fun if written and played well.
Tevish's Character Worksheet and Expository Storyhour Part II - The Sequel
This is where I do something I wouldn't really want a newer player worrying too much about, if at all: I'll consider the health of the game. I've created four characters around the stat blocks, I'd probably be happy playing any one of them. But that doesn't mean you would all necessarily be happy playing around them.
Take the fool, for instance. His background has a huge impact on a game where he appears. Folk Hero practically demands a sum of spotlight since, well, the character is already famous! That could be a ton of fun if everyone wanted to be that loud and everyone was prepared to work for their limelight time, but in a game for new players I think I might want to pass on it.
On the other scale is The Butcher. The Butcher doesn't really want a lot of spotlight time, that's not his problem. He rumbles menacingly and enters a frothing murder-rage on combat. Target: Closest threat in field of view, Move and attack target. That's the Butcher. On the other hand, he'd be the party psychopath, and that's not a role every party needs. Having a borderline evil character IS a role that's better to put on the experienced character, but at the same time it's not necessarily something we want AT ALL for a nice, introductory campaign. I might be willing to revisit The Butcher if everybody's on d6 hit dice and we need a frontliner. Of course, since The Princess's sorcery isn't integral to her personality or character (one of the rare cases where Background matters and class doesn't) I could probably rebuild her to be a knight like her mother rather than pulling out the Butcher (She'd probably keep the 18 CHA though, for diplomacy... and maybe Paladin things if I went that route rather than Fighter?)
So I'm really looking at the girls, it seems. The Princess may be a noble with an impressive background, but unlike the Fool, the more swingy parts of her history (or rather origin) are secret in-character. They only ever come up if Zinger WANTS to bring them up. Other than that "blueblood" is more of a quirk than anything else. The Apprentice is pretty darn inoffensive.
BUILDING a character is a step by step process. Applying Race, Class, and Background is pretty simple, but you may want to decide what all three are going to be before making any other choices within each, such as what skills you are trained in from what sources.
RACE: Modify your stats, or note the modifiers for once you've placed them in the proper order. Race is the safest to decide before poking at the others, because most races won't have you make choices that will be need to be reconsidered later.
CLASS: You'll have to refer to the entry for your class. Look at the first three levels -- at level 1, 2, or 3, every class makes a big choice as to specialization. Even if you don't technically have to choose your specialization at character creation, you should probably have it in mind. A Monk with Way of the Four Elements (a Bender, basically) will have different stat priorities and a different worldview to consider than a monk with Way of Shadows (a Ninja, basically).
Your class will also give you some proficiencies and perhaps other special traits. Proficiencies are important: You receive some from class, some from background, and possibly some from other sources. They determine what skills you are able to apply your Proficiency Bonus to. If you don't have proficiency, it's a straight ability check!
Your class will also determine starting Hit Points and what saving throws you are proficient in. Finally, your class will grant you some starting equipment, often including your choice of a menu a or menu b option.
The Princess
Unless I decided to revise her significantly into a frontliner, the Princess is a sorcerer, meaning she must choose her sorcerous origin, which is Wild Magic, granting her a couple abilities right now. If she were one of a number of other classes, deciding on her specialization wouldn't come into play yet. She gets to choose two skills out of a list particular to Sorcerers: Arcana, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Religion. Persuasion seems like EXACTLY a skill she needs, but I look ahead and she's already going to be getting Persuasion (with no opt-outs) from being a noble. This kind of thing is what eats the most time in character creation beyond the speed-of-ideas generation of the character as a person: cross revising past choices in the light of future ones! Since her magic is inborn and not well understood I decide to pass on Arcana to take more noble skills: Deception (Great for keeping that Deep, Dark Secret a secret) and Insight (For reading other people)
The Princess Human Sorcerer (Wild Magic), Chaotic Good Str 11; Dex 14; Con 13; Int 16; Wis 10; Cha 18 Languages: Common, Elven Skills: Deception, Insight Weapons: Daggers, Darts, Slings, Quarterstaffs, Light Crossbows. Saves: Con, Cha Abilities: Spellcasting, Wild Magic Surge, Tides of Chaos
Equipment: A simple weapon (Undecided), An Arcane Focus (Undecided), a Dungeoneer's Pack, and two Daggers
BACKGROUND: Once you have selected your background, you can apply its effects and should start making choices. Usually, your background will grant you proficiency in a couple skills, provide you some starting equipment, grant you a smattering of other notes, and will give youone Feature, which often has a great effect. Background is also where Traits, Bonds, and Flaws are brought up. While not statistical and thus not strictly necessary, it can be a good way to think about who your character is. Each background comes with a set of each, in a table if you want to generate a character by random roles, that serve as suggestions for the kind of traits, bonds, and flaws a character of that background might have. Defining 1-2 traits, at least one bond, and at least one flaw goes a good way towards getting a well-rounded personality ... I was gonna write out bit by bit advice on Traits, Bonds, Flaws, and Ideals but my computer BSOD'd twice and I lost all my progress.. So I'll just do the Princess's and you can infer what these things are like from that
Later. Too much rage now.
_________________
"Enjoy your screams, Sarpadia - they will soon be muffled beneath snow and ice."
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
As a Noble, the Princess is automatically proficient in History and Persuasion, as well as with one type of gaming set. She's learned an additional language, and receives a nice set of equipment for her trouble. She also gets the feature "Position of Privilege", which entitles her to the reception due to the aristocracy. I could have taken retainers instead, but I'm trying to keep myself to moderate impact on day-to-day gameplay! Now it becomes time to work on the character's... well, character. The book has several options for Traits, Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws, but I doubt I'll be doing any truly straight from the book.
Traits - What's unique about her?
"Despite being a noble, I'm determined to take matters into my own hands whenever plausible. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."
"I will not concede when I am wrong. Disengage without conceding the point, perhaps, but never concede."
Ideal - What does she believe in?
Reputation. Being born to a title isn't worth much if I don't do something to prove I deserve it.
Bond - What holds value to her?
"I crave nothing more than my father's approval. I can't be his daughter to the world, but at least I can be worthy of some recognition."
Flaw - What weakens her or holds her back?
Amusingly, one of the generic flaws is "I hide a truly scandalous secret that could ruin my family forever.", which kinda fits. In addition, I've been getting the feeling that she's... not the most cautious individual
"As the world is, no one can be allowed to learn my father's true identity." "When you're as good as I am, there's no need to be cautious... or even particularly attentive. These things will work out in my favor."
The Princess Human Sorcerer (Wild Magic), Chaotic Good Str 11; Dex 14; Con 13; Int 16; Wis 10; Cha 18 Languages: Common, Elven, Draconic Skills: Deception, History, Insight, Persuasion Weapons: Daggers, Darts, Slings, Quarterstaffs, Light Crossbows. Saves: Con, Cha Abilities: Spellcasting, Wild Magic Surge, Tides of Chaos, Position of Privilege. Equipment: A simple weapon (Undecided), An Arcane Focus (Undecided), a Dungeoneer's Pack, and two Daggers; A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse containing 25gp.
Trait: "Despite being a noble, I'm determined to take matters into my own hands whenever plausible. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Trait: "I will not concede when I am wrong. Disengage without conceding the point, perhaps, but never concede." Ideal: Reputation. Being born to a title isn't worth much if I don't do something to prove I deserve it. Bond: "I crave nothing more than my father's approval. I can't be his daughter to the world, but at least I can be worthy of some recognition." Flaw: "As the world is, no one can be allowed to learn my father's true identity." Flaw: "When you're as good as I am, there's no need to be cautious... or even particularly attentive. These things will work out in my favor."
The Finishing Touches
Everything mechanical is pretty much finished, but I still need to apply some details: she's got the form of some of her specific items to pick, she needs a name, and since I went and made a noble she probably needs heraldry as well as a basic physical description. Since she's a caster, I also have to pick spells.
Gwendolyn Aroundight Human Sorcerer (Wild Magic), Chaotic Good Str 11; Dex 14; Con 13; Int 16; Wis 10; Cha 18 Languages: Common, Elven, Draconic Skills: Deception, History, Insight, Persuasion Tools: Gaming Set (Dragonchess) Weapons: Daggers, Darts, Slings, Quarterstaffs, Light Crossbows. Saves: Con, Cha Abilities: Spellcasting, Wild Magic Surge, Tides of Chaos, Position of Privilege. Equipment: A shortbow, An Arcane Focus (an amulet set with a pale cyan crystal), a Dungeoneer's Pack, and two Daggers; A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse containing 25gp. Cantrips Known: Ray of Frost, True Strike, Prestidigitation, Dancing Lights Spells Known: Mage Armor, Witch Bolt
A young woman with pale skin, blue eyes, and red hair. She is taller than most and has a slender face, narrow jaw, high cheekbones, and a high brow. On the road, she keeps her hair in a tight braid and prefers "sensible" clothes -- a shirt, doublet, pleated skirt past knee length and high, sturdy boots.
Heraldry: Azure, an owlbear rampant Or, crowned and holding a sword, above a trimount Argent
Trait: "Despite being a noble, I'm determined to take matters into my own hands whenever plausible. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Trait: "I will not concede when I am wrong. Disengage without conceding the point, perhaps, but never concede." Ideal: Reputation. Being born to a title isn't worth much if I don't do something to prove I deserve it. Bond: "I crave nothing more than my father's approval. I can't be his daughter to the world, but at least I can be worthy of some recognition." Flaw: "As the world is, no one can be allowed to learn my father's true identity." Flaw: "When you're as good as I am, there's no need to be cautious... or even particularly attentive. These things will work out in my favor."
_________________
"Enjoy your screams, Sarpadia - they will soon be muffled beneath snow and ice."
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
Last edited by Tevish Szat on Mon Nov 16, 2015 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 5699 Location: Inside my own head
Identity: Human
I'm going to try and get around to this by Tuesday, but at the moment I'm focusing on finishing a short story based around the Eaten by Spiders card for a story contest being run in the AF&S forum, and Tuesday's the deadline for that. With a little luck and focus, I can finish that story tomorrow and give some thought to this that night or the next day.
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 5699 Location: Inside my own head
Identity: Human
I'm still writing that short story while dealing with fencing-related issues and also trying to power through miserable weather and poor sleep. Also I was just told I need to do five more things to get my license through the Texas Medical Board, months after thinking it was being processed.
Zinger, that might prove difficult, since Elijin's current character is a 4e rogue with a homebrewed race.
Provide me the details of your character Elijin, and I will port it as best I can to 5th edition. You may have to put up with some changes, but you can basically keep who he is the same.
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 5699 Location: Inside my own head
Identity: Human
I got 13, 12, 18, 10, 11, 4 when I rolled. Still looking into character race/class, but I was reading Tevish's treatise earlier in the thread, and he said to roll first, so I did that.
Joined: Sep 25, 2013 Posts: 5149 Location: Toronto, Ontario
Identity: Spider-Man
Preferred Pronoun Set: Wtf is a "Jabber address"?
Elijin I'll need you to roll your stats anyhow because your 4th edition stats were not determined using the same method as what we are using in this game.
I can re-roll them, but Im not sure how they were done differently, this is the original set of rolls. +2 was added to Dex and Cha due to the homebrew race, and +2 diplomacy and thievery.
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 5699 Location: Inside my own head
Identity: Human
So, I spent some time today reading the basic rulebook CKY linked me to, and with the limited options I'm given there, I'm going for a Dwarf Fighter. I'm trying to get some things written down and wrap my head around all this text, but it's late right now and I'll see when I can get at this again. I may or may not be busy the next two days *shrug*
Let me see if I can make that easier/reduce the text without skewing anything via unsolicited recommendations.
What we know: Lord Luna Dwarf Fighter 18, 13, 12, 11, 10, 4 (order unassigned)
What is gotten: DWARF: +2 Constitution, 25' move speed, Darkvision, Dwarven Resilience, Dwarven Combat Training, Stonecunning, Proficency with Smith's, Brewer's, or Mason's tools, Common and Dwarvish languages, and choose Hill or Mountain
> HILL: +1 Wisdom, +1 hp/level > MOUNTAIN: +2 Strength, proficient with Light and Medium Armor regardless of class.
FIGHTER: d10 Hit Dice. Proficient with all armor, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons and in Str and Con saves Choose two skills from: Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Survival (You will receive more skills from your background.)
Start with your choice of each of the following pairs: 1) Chain Mail OR Leather armor, a longbow, and 20 arrows 2) A martial weapon of your choice and a shield OR two martial weapons of your choice. 3) A light crossbow and 20 bolts OR 2 handaxes 4) A dungeoneer's pack OR an explorer's pack
Select a fighting style: Archery (+2 to-hit with ranged weapons) Defense (+1 AC while wearing any armor) Dueling (+2 damage when using a single 1-handed melee weapon) Great Weapon (reroll results of 1 or 2 on damage dice of two-handed weapons) Protection (While weilding a shield, may make it harder for enemies to hit targets adjacent to you) Two-Weapon (When wealding two weapons, do more damage with your offhand weapon)
At 3rd level you will have to select an Archetype. This is a very important choice that you may want to plan ahead for. Champion: You get better at doing what a fighter does already. Battle Master: You get a pool of special combat maneuvers and a new resource to fuel them Eldritch Knight: You gain intelligence-based spellcasting and the ability to both attack and magic things in the same action. NOTE: In 5e, unlike older editions, you can cast any spells while armored as long as you are proficient with the armor in question.
Once you decide on what your character is like as a person, you will need to pick a background
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I can re-roll them, but Im not sure how they were done differently, this is the original set of rolls. +2 was added to Dex and Cha due to the homebrew race, and +2 diplomacy and thievery.
Oh! I didn't realize you rolled them. In that case, you can keep your rolls. The +2 to Dex and Cha might change. I'm looking into how to port Goblin to 5e now.
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