CREATING A BEGINNING CHARACTER

    In order to join the world of Dungeons and Dragons you must first learn what is in a character and what you need to do to go about making your own persona for the world. There are several differences between a role playing game, and just simple role playing. If you role play on say, aol in the chat rooms, you are not following any set rules or a system, you may fallow a basic idea or guidelines, but as such you are not actually in a RPG. In role playing games the runner of the game, also called dungeon master, game master or story teller, is the person who makes the world your characters exist in and he determines and controls what happens to them. So the main differences between role playing and a role playing game is that in one there is a definite person who makes the rules, and there is a system to regulate growth and power. Do not let this confuse you though as many free formers on aol have made guilds with simple rules. These in a sense are rpgs, but they tend to lack either balance or role playing, saying that all people roll 1d2 and the people who roll a 1 win...is not a role playing game, even if you post 800 words of description. Simply because rules exist this does not make a sterile environment, done correctly it can make it far more satisfying and rewarding then any free form rp. Please consider if you are just learning dungeons and dragons or a rpg for the first time, that this is a FULL rpg, not a little role playing site for Buffy online or Dragon Ball Z. Dungeons and Dragons has been around since the early 70's and as such has a LOT of information, though it has been tuned down in complexity and difficulty in understanding. As with most things you have to learn something new in order to be apart of the game. Please have fun, or at least find something interesting and new.

NOTE-The links witch direct you to .txt documents are best viewed on font 8, i would advise downloading them (since they are very small) and viewing them with notepad at the above listed font size, if there are still problems email me at Trentep@aol.com. Also look at the bottom links for a blank character sheet witch will help you keep track of, and go along with, creating your character.

    Step 1, Class & Race-The first thing you will need to do is pick your race and class, this will determine where you are likely to begin physically in the world, how different races are likely to react to you, your beginning capabilities, and will need to be in tune with the life your character has grown up with, for example a elven wizard would not have grown up with a group of trolls and fought all his life, elves are rarely out of the presence of other elves and warrior like trolls would have no possible way of teaching magic. So go ahead and go to the  Classes  and the  Races  link and look over them, then pick what you want.

    Step 2, Description, Alignment & Deity-The next thing you will need to do is determine several of the physical and mental aspects of your character. This helps flesh out who and what they are, giving them a realistic persona and belief structure, as well as a unique look. Remember that though your person should be unique, try straying away from the clichés such as rugged human warrior or dumb half orc barbarian, you should also not stray to far from the norm. People, especially in the world of The Gods Fallen, react suspiciously and sometimes even hostile to differences. So while it would be all right to have a short haired tan and strong high elf, it would not be realistic or intelligent to pick a power house hafling with 2ft long spiked green hair and silver skin, try to stay at least modestly close to the suggested racial descriptions. As far as classes, that is much more acceptable, often being vastly different from the cliché in a class can be humorous, such as Joxer the mighty in Xena, a bumbling weak klutz of a warrior who has delusions of grandeur. So determine your characters Name (first and last), Age, Sex, Height, Weight, eye color, hair color and the style of their hair, skin tone and any possibly defining marks on them such as scars, tattoos or deformities. Also now is when you will need to determine your characters Alignment and what Deity they worship.

    Step 3, Attributes-Having fleshed out your character you will need to determine there actual attributes now, you will more then likely need to do this with me, the Dungeon Master, as i am fairly specific and worry that unless i watch people will cheat. But as a over view i will explain what you will do. You will need to go to a room in aol (or make a room with aim) and invite me in there, once i arrive you will need to roll 4d6 6 times, and reroll ALL 1's until they are no longer ones. Then you will take the 3 highest dice rolls out of each of the 6 sets and determine your scores. A example of a single roll would be 4, 5, 2 and 1. as you rolled a 1 you would need to roll 1d6 to replace it, rerolling if a 1 pops up again, lets presume you roll a 3. so your results are 4, 5,2 and 3. You would take the 4, 5 and 3 and add them together, getting 12. You would then do this 5 more times (making a total of 4d6 6 times) and have your scores, perhaps, 12, 9, 14, 16, 15, 13. The next part is important. You should then ADD all of those scores up, if the total is LESS then 84, then you get 84 points and ONLY 84 points to put within your 6 attributes, go to the Attributes  to see the effects of the various scores a attribute possesses. If the total is MORE then 84, then you get that many points and ONLY those points to put within your 6 attributes. you MUST put at least 3 points into each attribute and you can put no more then 18 into any one. Once you have done this go to the  Races section and see what modifiers your race applies to your stats. With the racial modifiers your scores might be increased above 18, but if your racial modifiers lowers a score below 3, ignore that and leave it at 3. A score of 10-11 is average for a attribute. The attributes include strength, constitution (how tough and resistant you are), dexterity (how agile and deft you are), intelligence, wisdom (how intuitive you are), and charisma (a mix of how much social charm and physical charm you radiate). Every 4 levels you get a point witch you can permanently add to any attribute, any new bonuses, such as went from +2 to +3, are instantly applied. Some examples would be if you raise constitution from 13 to 14, and you were now level 4, then you would instantly gain 4 extra hit points, since the new value, +2, instead of +1, would give you 1 extra hit point per level. The only thing this does NOT apply to are bonus starting spells for wizards, also getting a higher bonus from intelligence gives you a number of extra skill points equal to you level, it does NOT take into account the X4 modifier starting characters begin with. There is no limit to how high a attribute can be raised through this manner

    Step 4, Class Abilities-In step 4 you take a closer look at your class, its capabilities and the powers it gains over time and levels. Your class as stated before is part job and part outlook on life, and as such the class abilities, powers and magic they control is all related to their concept. You should now go ahead and look up the specific things your Class Abilities allow you to do and will allow you to do in the future. Also, beginning spell casters, witch includes druids, clerics, bards, sorcerers and wizards should look at the page on Spells And Spell Casters, as well as going to their specific Class page and looking up the spells they can learn. For simplicity i have kept the spells listed for each class at levels 0 and 1, once you have played at least a while i will show you more of the spells, no reason to waste effort...yet at least. For those classes witch eventually gain the capacity to cast spells, druids and paladins, as well as any class, it would be a good idea to at least skim over the spells and spell casters page.

    Step 5, Hit Points, Natural Armor Class, Initiative, Base, Melee & Ranged Attack Bonuses, & Saving Throws -In this step we determine some more of your base statistics, mainly  Hit Points, Natural Armor Class, Initiative, Base, Melee and Ranged Attack Bonuses as well as Saving Throws. The Explanation of these can all be found here ----. Your Hit Points will equal the max your class gets (so a fighter gets 10 while a wizard gets 4) and then you will add the bonus your constitution gives you. Your Natural Armor Class will equal 10+ your dexterity bonus, monks will also add their wisdom bonus as long as they are wearing no armor. Initiative is equal to your dexterity bonus. The Base Attack Bonus for barbarians, fighters, paladins and rangers is 1, for all others it is 0. The Base Melee Attack Bonus is equal to your strength bonus, while the Base Ranged Attack Bonus is equal to your dexterity bonus. Go to the Classes  link to find out your saving throws, what ever their Base save is starts with 2 in it, all others start with 0. You also add your constitution bonus to your fortitude save, your dexterity bonus to your reflexive save and your wisdom bonus to your willpower save. Your  Race  may also have modifiers you receive. The bonuses your attributes provide you with (applicable to determining all of the things we go over in step 4) can be found on the Attributes page.

    Step 6, Skills, Languages & Feats-Step 6 is for picking Skills, languages and feats. Skills are the various non class capabilities that you have, such things as swimming, blacksmithing and knowing extra languages fall into skills. To determine the number of skill points you start off with go to the Classes page, you get the listed amount plus your intelligence modifier, then times the total by 4, humans add 4 points to this total AFTER having multiplied the base class points. You get the skill points listed for your class each time you raise a level plus your intelligence modifier, humans get 1 extra point. When you start you will receive at least 4 starting skill points, 8 if human, and each level you gain will give you at least 1 skill points, 2 if human. This means even if your intelligence modifier is negative and would reduce your skill points gained to 0, you get the above listed amount.
    You will begin knowing 1 language witch will generally be the language of your race. In my campaign the language common is crude and lacks deep meaning or description, it also is SEPRIT from the human language. A note for any new players, in most dungeons and dragons game common is considered to be human, that is why i stressed it is not human in my game. You get a number of extra languages equal to your intelligence bonus as well as the ranks you possess in speak language.
    Feats are powers or capabilities, above and beyond skills, that sometimes emulate the capabilities of a class, these range from increasing the number of times you can "turn" undead, to being ambidextrous, to knowing special maneuvers with weapons or how to use armor when you normally can't. Everyone begins with 1 feat when they begin, further more all humans get to pick 1 extra feat. Certain classes, the fighter wizard and rogue, also gain extra feats at predetermined levels, for specifics look on the Classes link. Also it is important to note that the bonus feats gained for these classes are limited to a certain group of feats, different for each class. If you pick a feat witch modifies weapon damage or bonus to hit, then you may wish to put a note by your Base Attack Bonus, something like (+1 With Longsword) if you have the Feat Weapon Focus for longsword.

    Step 7, Equipment, Weapons & Armor-Few characters would survive starting bare naked and without a dime, a dagger or a set of armor to haul around. While some character classes, such as the wizard and monk, need little starting equipment, other classes, such as fighters and clerics, require a modest amount and have much of the classes power in that ability to use equipment. Each class starts with a set amount of gold, look on the Classes link to see how much you start with. You should bare in mind what your person is capable of using and what he isn't, a chain shirt would be of little use to a wizard since he doesn't know how to properly wear it, though if he had the light armor feat, then it would be. Take your time and look under the Equipment, Weapons and Armor pages. Be sure to at least skim over all the weapons and consider various circumstances your person may get into, as well as his personality. A barbarian tends to carry few ranged weapons, though only a fool would be caught out in the wild without at least something to defend himself against vrs opponents in the air. While on the opposite end, a elven range may specialize in ranged combat and expect to bring down his foes from afar, but it would be a wise decision to carry at least a simple blade on him, just in case. Once you are done you may want to go back to skills and add the bonuses you may get from any equipment you bought, such as +2 to open lock and disable devices from using masterwork thieves tools. You will also need to go back to your Armor Class rating and include any modifiers armor or shields you bought give them, such as (+3 Chain Shirt)(+2 Large Shield). Some armor or shields give you Armor Check Penalties, these you will want to note beside the effected skills, such as under move silently if you had on studded leather you would put (-1 Due To Studded Leather)

    Step 8, Advancement-As you live in the world of The Gods Fallen, and as you go through many adventures, you will become stronger and more powerful, gaining more items and fame in the world. But these are not the only ways you will better yourself, your capabilities with your skills will increase, the feats you know will improve and grow, the spells you are limited to will widen and over all you will become a more perfect self. Dungeons and dragons uses the experience and level system, go to the advancement page to learn more about how your character will become more of a powerhouse.

    Step 9, Special Rules-Many things have not been covered, as such i tried to explain them in this section, such things as taking extra time with a skill, explaining exactly what HP is, what Charging your opponent in combat does and such. Please read over this section. I have also added some changes i have made to the rules in the book at the very bottom of this links page, i will also include most of the book changed rules on my "campaign information" page.

    Step 10, Check Out The World-Even though i hope you have already done so, just to make sure here is a link to specifics about my campaign, i hope you are interested in the world and enjoy playing in it as much as i have already enjoyed running it.