John: more on characters

Rangers are interesting. Aragorn is the classic model of a human ranger. So you’ll still be doing some butt kicking.

Gender and alignment still needed.

Human characters have 2 advantages in this campaign… Under the traditional rules, humans are the only race that can choose any class and go up to any “Level” in that class. Other races are typically penalized. This is how the game gives humans a slight advantage (to counterbalance all the cool extra skills other races have). I don’t play that way however. I prefer to think that any race can choose any class and advance in skill in that class until they die.

I give human characters an additional attribute however. They are the only race that has an “intuition” attribute (on the 3-18 scale). Occasionally I’ll ask human characters to roll an “Intuition check”. If you succeed (by rolling the 20 sided die and getting a number lower than your intuition score) you’ll be granted some kind of helpful insight.

Lastly, the world has various prejudices… and humans are the most organized, fastest growing race. The main city you’ll visit is a human city… and they don’t always think highly of other races. Having at least one human character in your party is VERY useful.

John on characters

OK, Courtney's got dibs on Female Half-Elf Cleric.
Good choice. Please also choose an alignment (like Chaotic Good.) And if
you have any particular sense of your deity (sun god, nature goddess, moon
goddess, bird-headed god of breezy summer days at the beach?)

Neds asked about the dangers of duplicating classes in the party:

It IS important to have a variety of skills in the party. Problem solving
is much more creative when you have a lot of different skills represented.
Some challenges will REQUIRE a thief. Others will require a wizard.

Since Soapy is an experienced player, he should handle one of the more
difficult classes... thief or wizard. They have the most work to do picking
out and effectively utilizing skills.

EVERY party needs a fighter or two. These characters are sometimes called
"meat shields". They can buy your spellcasters time by putting themselves
directly in harm's way. And can also become very proficient at solving
problems the old fashioned way. When a thief is unable to pick a difficult
lock, sometimes a very strong fighter can simply bash the lock to pieces
with a blunt instrument (sometimes the thief's useless and decapitated
head.)

Once I have character types (including alignment) I can work on a plausible
backstory of why you're all going to be in the same place working on the
same quest.

Soapy on Dice Rolling

Rolling dice becomes second nature in no time, my friends. It really won't get in the way. Plus, with everyone watching the outcome it's almost like a craps table, and can get somewhat exciting. There will be moments when all eyes are on your dice.

Or sometimes you'll ask a question, and the Dungeon Master will roll dice to determine the answer. And you can't see the DM's dice, so he can make his answer as useful or vague as he wants depending on the rolling. Another reason to watch a few episodes of the cartoon. :)

John: Technical advice 3

Your D&D characters are rewarded throughout their adventure. They accumulate wealth (the gold piece is the dollar of the realm… they are usually called GP’s) and collect magical items that can help them on their future quests. These items can be basic things, like an enchanted sword that offers a simple bonus to your chances of hitting an opponent, or oddities like the Drums of Panic, which (when played by a capable bard) may incite overwhelming fear in a group of low level goblins.

There are merchants in every town, but magical items are rarely available for sale. These must usually be found on your various quests. Basic items, like weapons, armor, food, backpacks, horses, blankets, matches, oil, rope, shovels, hammers, nails, etc. will be available in stores. Henchmen can also usually be found in town… especially the day laborer type for special projects. Taverns are good places to find available hire-ons. Some of them might even be able to swing a sword and serve as protection.

Beyond these tangible rewards for adventuring, characters also receive “Experience Points” (or XP) at the end of each session. These are based on how well you did overcoming challenges… slaying monsters, working cooperatively, how much “roleplaying” you did, solving puzzles, etc. When you accumulate enough “Experience Points” you go up a class level. You go from being a 1^st level Ranger to a 2^nd level ranger after you gain a couple thousand experience points.

Going up a level is about the best thing in the world. You become stronger, learn new skills (or spells if you’re a caster) and get better at just about everything you do in the world.

There are also 3 other statistics that we’ll use often. The first is “Hit Points”. (Also called HP) This is how much damage you can absorb before you die. Damage is always expressed in terms of how many Hit Points you lose… e.g. being hit with an arrow typically does 1-6 points of damage. If your character has 7 Hit Points, a single arrow cannot slay her. The most it would do is 6 points of damage, reducing your character’s health from 7 to 1. Characters are considered fully functional until they reach 0 hit points. Then they fall unconscious. They will lose blood and die if no one heals them within 10 minutes. If they sustain massive damage (let’s say a building collapses on top of your character and he takes 30 points of damage when he only had 12 Hit Points to being with) he dies instantly.

Your maximum (fully healed) number of Hit Points is determined by your class and level. Fighters get the most (1-10 per level.) Wizards get very few (1-4 per level.) Clerics and Thieves are somewhere in the middle. A high constitution score will also help you gain more Hit Points. Each time you go up a level, you roll the appropriate die and add this number of Hit Points to your maximum.

You can heal yourself in various ways after sustaining damage. You can rest. You can be healed by a cleric spell, or a potion or scroll with magical healing effects. You can be treated by a trained healer (who can accelerate your resting healing rate from 1HP per day to 3HP per day.) By third level, a fighter with a strong constitution may have over 30 HPs, while a 3^rd level Wizard may have only 10. It’s very important to KEEP YOUR WIZARDS AND THIEVES AWAY FROM THE FRONT LINE. They die quickly and aren’t very good with a sword anyways.

Next is Armor Class. This is a number that reflects how difficult to hit you are. It incorporates your size, how dexterous you are, what kind of armor you are wearing, and is often bolstered by magical items. This number starts at 10 and goes down. Wearing chainmail drops you to an AC of 6. Wearing platemail will drop you to an AC of 3. Carrying a shield will help your AC, but prevents you from using 2 handed weapons like bows and large swords/axes/hammers. (2-handed weapons often do the most potential damage in D&D.) Some magical items will allow you to have an AC of less than zero… in that case you just keep going with negative numbers. Some powerful creatures, like red dragons, have a natural AC of -2.

The last number in this post is THAC0. It stands for “to hit armor class zero”. Your THAC0 will be handy way for us to know what number you need to roll on the 20 sided die to hit someone with an armor class of zero. For a 3^rd level fighter, the number is around 14. For a 3^rd level wizard, the number is more like 18. If you’re attacking a creature with an AC of zero, your wizard will have to roll an 18 in order to “hit” (or damage) the creature. That’s a very low 15% chance. The fighter, on the other hand, has a 35% chance. Probably better for the fighter to swing a sword and the wizard to cast a spell (most spells do NOT require a “to hit” roll!)

Obviously, not every enemy will have an AC of zero. Mostly, they’ll have armor classes from 3 to 8, just like you will (until you get bad ass magic armor!) To adjust for this, you simply subtract the AC of your target from your THAC0. So if your THAC0 # is 15, and you’re attacking a centaur with an AC of 6, you only need to roll a (15-6 = 9) 9 to hit. You have a better than 50% chance of hitting! Once you score a “hit” then you roll for damage. Once you’ve reduced your enemy to zero hit points, you’ve slain the monster. When you slay the monster you collect experience points, and you get to loot the corpse for treasure.

See how it’s all perfectly related?!

BTW, our current cast is: Walaka the Dwarven Bard, Soapy the Elven Wizard, Nedrita the Human Ranger, and Otis the Half-Elven Priestess. Melvin is questionable... working hard on PhD stuff... not sure if we should invite Calvin, or stick with this 4 person party. I think you guys are probably good to go at this point.

Also: we've ruled out Tues, Wed, and Thur for various reasons. So Friday through the weekend til Monday night are all still open. How soon would you guys like to come over, roll up the basic character attributes and borrow some reading material? That way you can familiarize yourself with the rules more, and develop a greater sense of story about who your character is. Then when you come over next we can begin the actual game.

John: Technical advice 2

Well... I think we'll want to streamline the game playing process as much as
possible. We'll cut out most of the optional rules.

The first things to think about: What Race and Class and Gender do you want
to play?

Race options: Elf, Half Elf (elf/human cross), Halfling (Hobbit), Dwarf,
Human, Gnome, Half-Orc (orc/human cross)

Elves are intelligent and dexterous. They make good wizards, good thieves,
good archers. They can see in the dark. They can naturally sense the
presence of magic. They aren't very hearty or strong though.

Halflings are nimble. They make good thieves. They are generally good
natured. They are usually charming/well-liked types.

Dwarves are thick and sturdy. They are often fighters. They can also see
in the dark, and have a keen sense of engineering and understanding
craftsmanship and industry in its various forms. They can be crude and
disliked by humans and are generally despised by Elves.

Gnomes are VERY short little guys. They tend to be very intelligent, and
sneaky. They make good illusionists and good thieves.

Half-Orcs are often pariahs, but they are extremely strong and can take a
lot of punishment before they fall in combat. They are usually barbarian
type fighters.

Choosing a less than optimal race/class configuration can be a fun way to
go. Part of the enjoyment of roleplaying is having weaknesses... not just
maximizing your strengths.


Class options: Fighters, Thieves, Wizards, Clerics

Fighters far surpass every other class in terms of combat prowess. They
will be able to proficiently use all sorts of weapons and inflict terrible
damage with them. They are often de facto party leaders due to their
experience in conflict. They typically understand combat tactics better
than other classes.

Thieves are not very good at combat, but often use their high dexterity to
great effect with bows or thrown daggers. They have many useful skills
including avoiding detection (skulking in shadows and scouting), sneak
attacks (stabbing unsuspecting enemies in the back for bonus damage),
pickpocketing, picking locks, detecting and disarming traps.

Wizards are almost useless in hand-to-hand combat, preferring to unleash the
power of the arcane on their enemies. They can use spells to assist allies,
summon creatures to aid the party, shoot fire and lightning at their
enemies, etc. Arcane magic can be very destructive or very illuminating,
but is not able to heal.

Clerics (and Druids) are also spell casters, but their power isn't from
arcane knowledge, but rather through channeling their god's will. Clerics
are a conduit for divine power. Only divine power has the ability to heal
injured players. Specific spells can cure disease, cure wounds, cure
blindness, cure paralysis, remove curses, raise dead, etc. Clerics, because
they spend less time studying their arcane and preparing the reagents for
their spells, typically study combat and are second only to fighters in
combat skills. The Druid is a nature cleric... having access to different
types of spells. They also learn the ability to shapeshift into different
animals at higher levels.

Bards possess a mix of wizardry and thievery skills. They are students of
lore, often knowing more than anyone else about regional history or the
nature of renowned artifacts. They can also inspire bonuses to groups of
soldiers with their musical talents. They can often be roguish
silver-tongued diplomats as well.

Rangers are fighters that have some strong outdoor skills. They are
particularly good with bows and tracking and identifying woodland creatures.
They also have the ability to remain unseen until the right moment. Think
Fighter/Thief. Rangers learn how to cast some druid spells at higher
levels.

Paladins are Fighter/Cleric hybrids. They have some divine power thanks to
their absolute devotion to their god. They are ALWAYS lawful good, and any
behavior that betrays their alignment results in being stripped of their
divine powers. They are often very inspiring leaders because of their
righteous power, wisdom and charisma. Paladins learn to cast some priest
spells at higher levels.

If y'all could give me the basic character sketch you'd like to play...
including gender, race and class, it will make it easier for me to start
building your adventure. Also, a few notes about your backstory would be
useful.

For a humorous, easily digested idea of how an adventuring party interacts
and works together... I recommend reading The Order of the Stick. Here's a
link to the first cartoon... if you get hooked... great! Reading all 500
will surely turn you into a fine D&D campaigner.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html

John: Technical advice 1

Quick intro to D&D rules lesson:

Characters have 6 attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.

Each attribute will have a score attached to it. Scores are usually between 3-18 but certain conditions will change that occasionally.

For example, Dwarves suffer a -1 penalty to charisma, so they’re limited to a 2-17 range.

Various actions throughout the game are influenced by your scores in these attributes. For example, a person with a strength of 10-12 (average) is able to carry about 100lbs of equipment without too much trouble. A person with a strength of 17-18 (exceptional) will be able to easily carry 250lbs of stuff.

An archer receives a bonus or penalty to all of his attempts to shoot something based on his Dexterity score. An archer with an excellent (17-18) dexterity gets a hefty bonus to his chances of hitting a target when firing off an arrow.

Characters with a high wisdom may sense certain truths about a situation, and receive more spells from their gods.

Characters with higher intelligence are able to speak more languages, and are actually able to read and write (unlike most of the D&D universe.)

Different classes (occupations) have different specialty attributes. A thief needs to be very dexterous to be good at his job. A fighter needs to be strong and have a good constitution. A wizard must have a high intelligence, and a cleric must have a good amount of wisdom. Bards and Paladins both require a high charisma.

Lastly, there are events which require a “check” of one of your attributes. When you “check” your attribute, you roll a 20 sided die and hope that you roll a number lower than your score in that attribute. For example, you’ve fallen off the side of a cliff after being dive bombed by giant eagles who felt you were invading their territory. There are lots of outcroppings, vines and ledges that you might catch hold of instead of just falling to your death. To succeed, you must make a “dexterity check”. If you happen to be a nimble thief, you’re looking pretty good. Your 17 dexterity is a very good score. You roll the 20 sided dice knowing that any score of 17 or lower means you’ve managed to catch hold of a vine and saved yourself. You have an 85% chance of surviving. On the other hand, if you’re a less-than-graceful wizard, who spends all her time with her face buried in books, you might only have a 40-50% chance of saving yourself (assuming a dexterity score of 8-10). But then again, perhaps you’ve memorized a useful spell like Feather Fall that day, so you may have another method to save yourself!

Another example: You’ve found a scroll with magical properties, but it’s written in a language no one in the party can read. It does seem related to ancient elvish however, which your very intelligent wizard can read. The dungeon master tells you that your wizard can figure out the sounds, and therefore can read the scroll aloud (unleashing some sort of spell… but it’s unclear how useful that spell might be in the given moment.) The DM will then also let you make an “intelligence check” to see if you can puzzle out the meaning of the scroll based on knowing a few related words or root words. If you fail the check (by rolling a 19 or 20 when you only have an intelligence of 18) you might have to consult another wizard for help. Casting spells, whilst not knowing their effects, is a very dangerous thing to do!

More about spells and other character’s special abilities later.

If you’re totally grossed out by that much math getting in the way of your storytelling, you might want to reconsider. The dice rolling is an integral part of the D&D experience.

Hopefully that all made sense and wasn’t too intimidating though.