D&D Info II - Building and Playing a PC

[Elanorîn]

Right. I'll go through, briefly, the core choices available to build your character, first off, races (these are taken from the Players Handbook and The Races of Destiny book.):

Races

-Human (fast learners, get extra skill points and feats)

-Elf (dexterous but frail, immune to magic sleep spells, see well in low-lit conditions with heightened senses they hear and see very well)

-Half-elf (has the elven immunity to sleep spells and resiliance and enchantment spells, see twice as far as humans in low light, has keen hearing and sight, also very good at convincing people and gathering information, for any race specifics such as elven-only magic or weapons against elves, half-elves suffers and gains as if they were elves)

-Dwarf (sturdy though uncharismatic, see very well in the pitch dark and have great knowledge of all things stone)

-Halfling (dexterous but not strong, like the gnome, their small size makes them hard to hit and attacks well, they hide well, they are natural climbers, jump well and can move silently, good at avoiding mishaps, strong morale against fear, with keen ears they hear very well.

-Gnome (sturdy but not strong, due to their small size they are also hard to hit, they hide well, and are good at attacks, they see twice as far as humans in low light, they are hard to fool with illusions and their own illusions are very convincing, excellent at dodging, keen hearing, also good knowledge of alchemy)

-Half-orc (very strong but unintelligent and uncharismatic, they have darkvision, for any race specifics such as orc-only magic or weapons against orcs, half-orcs suffers and gains as if they were orcs)

-Illumian (A race created by sorcery. They have a mystical connection to the magic runes of their alphabet and glowing sigils surround them)

As in anything in D&D, for the sake of a well-balanced game everything has both strengths and weaknesses. This is true for the races as well. I give a very brief indication to these here, (within the brackets).

[Elanorîn]

Classes

The Barbarian A ferocious warrior who uses fury and instinct to bring down foes.

The Bard A performer whose music works magic - a wanderer, a tale-teller, and a jack-of-all-trades.

The Cleric A master of divine magic and a capable warrior as well.

The Druid One who draws energy from the natural world to cast divine spells and gain strange magical powers.

The Fighter A warrior with exceptional combat capability and unequalled skill with weapons.

The Monk A martial artist whose unarmed strikes hit fast and hard - a master of exotic powers.

The Paladin A champion of justice and destroyer of evil, protected and strengthened by an array of divine powers.

The Ranger A cunning, skilled warrior of the wilderness.

The Rogue A tricky, skillful scout and spy who wins the battle by stealth rather than brute force.

The Sorcerer A spellcaster with inborn magical ability.

The Wizard A potent spellcaster schooled in the arcane arts.

I'd like to point out that the above was lifted straight from the Players Handbook, just to cover me.

Right, as I buy more books... I see more choice, here are some further classes taken from the Complete Divine and the Complete Arcane books:

Favored Soul A spontaneous wielder of Divine magic, much like the Sorcerer among the Arcanes.

Shugenja A Divine spellcaster drawing their strengths from the balance in the world around them.

Spirit Shaman Divine spellcaster who draws their power from the spirit world, they have an intimate connection with spirits everywhere.

Warlock Though Arcane does not cast spells his magic is wielded in other forms; pure force or through invocations. They are always evil or chaotic... often both.

Warmage A spontaneous Arcane spellcaster like the Sorcerer but with specific focus on abilities that will serve them well in war.

Wu Jen Arcane loners that draws their power from the five elements (earth, fire, metal, wood and water).


As usual they all have their unique thing, their strengths and weaknesses.

In addition there are Prestige Classes but these are for later on in the game after having advanced a few levels, if you're curious, again... linky...sig.
When you level up you select what class you want to take the next level in, ie you can stay in the same one and get stronger in that class or add one level of a new class, ie multiclassing.

I will update with some more information soon.

[Elanorîn]

Skills, feats, levels, equipment, money, armour and weaponry

All nicely rounded up at once. Simply put, this is all mostly tables that need to be poured over and ummed and aaahhed at for however long it takes to make up your mind. However, some notes:

Money Yes, we all want to be rich, but alas, no. Everything you wish your character to have has to be bought, no matter how they came about it (ie even if she was given her long sword by her mother you still have to purchase it from a pre-set amount of gold). Sucks? Yep. So how much gold do you get? Well there are different ways to determine that. There is a table that gives averages for the class your character is, either pick that or be brave and roll the relevant dice. That determines what you have to equip your char with, use wisely, it should cover armour, weapons and general equipment.

1st Level starting gold:

Class Barbarian Bard Cleric Druid Fighter Monk Paladin Ranger Rogue Sorcerer Wizard

Amount 4d4x10 4d4x10 5d4x10 2d4x10 6d4x10 5d4 6d4x10 6d4x10 5d4x10 3d4x10 3d4x10

Average 100gp 100gp 125gp 50gp 150gp 12gp 5sp 150gp 150gp 125gp 75gp 75gp

Levels Ah yes. All characters... ALL[/i][/u] characters start at Level 1! As the game goes on you earn XP (see under General D&D Info) and will that way advance in level depending on how your characters deal with the events around them, how true to them they are RPed etc as the game goes on.

As for the skills, feats, armour and weapons, I point you to my linky in my sig. There is no point to post it all here. Furthermore, on a general note, it is an excellent place for reference on all things in the core rulebooks.

[Elanorîn]

Character Sheets

A beast of its own. They can be very confusing to fill in but once you have figured them out they are very easy to overview and quickly turn to for whatever piece of information you need, be it Armour Class (how high a number the opponant needs to hit you), Hitpoints (how much 'life' you have left) or any number of modifiers to your skill or ability rolls.

Here is a free download of the basic D&D 3.5 character sheet (top one): www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/charactersheets

However, since this is all online this place is a really good one where the sheet is electronic (it even helps you calculate some things ) and I can have it readily available to look at so I recommend you use it, but it is up to you as long as I get a copy in some form or another. www.3eprofiler.net/

Any problems, questions, just lemme know!