Bits and Pieces [Archive] - Wizards Community

Bits and Pieces [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dragons Breath
03-19-04, 09:40 AM O.K. as I said in my last thread I don't know anything about D&D. I currently don't have access to a "rulebook" or whatever it's called in D&D but I want to know "Bits and Pieces" of the basic rules that are more important. The main thing I want to know is, like sorcerer and wizards, what else can you be and how do you create your own person. What guidelines do you go by and what is the limit. And how do you prove all your players "Strengths" if that's what you call it.
Give me a little line I walk on and I dont me a line like the one below! Thanks in advance!

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Eltheynn
03-19-04, 12:13 PM Originally posted by Dragons Breath
O.K. as I said in my last thread I don't know anything about D&D. I currently don't have access to a "rulebook" or whatever it's called in D&D but I want to know "Bits and Pieces" of the basic rules that are more important. The main thing I want to know is, like sorcerer and wizards, what else can you be and how do you create your own person. What guidelines do you go by and what is the limit. And how do you prove all your players "Strengths" if that's what you call it.
Give me a little line I walk on and I dont me a line like the one below! Thanks in advance!

In my signature you'll find a link that says "D&D 3.5 SRD". Click on it, it will lead you to a page where you can download .rtf files that may prove useful...

But to answer your questions, there are 11 classes. I'll give you a basic rundown of what they usually are:

Barbarian: A though, wild brute, all inner rage and fury. Weild your weapon and go crazy... More or less ;)

Bard: Jack of all trades, master of none. The bard can fight (though not as well as well built fighter), heal (though not as well as a dedicated cleric or druid) and do many other things... With his skill at performing (whether it's music or poetry or whatever), he can boost his allies. And he casts spells as well.

Cleric: Your standard worshipper of a deity, though going strictly by the rules, you are not required to worship a deity. Can fight and cast spells, heal, and is good when dealing with undead.

Druid: A servant of nature, can fight pretty well and heal, and change its shape to adopt that of certain animals.

Fighter: Don your armor, get your weapon, hack and slash, repeat till you're tired. Good for beginners, though the selection of feats might be difficult if only 'cause there are lots of choices...

Monk: A mystical martial artist. Gets a lot of special abilities, but is not as good at fighting (mainly because it requires 2-3 high ability scores to get good Armor Class, deal damage and last for a long time in combat). But the good saves and the rest of abilities help...

Paladin: the standard goodie-two-shoes. Decent fighting abilities, is good when dealing against Evil creatures.

Rogue: This character can be anything from an assassin to a spy, or a diplomat, or a robber, a thug... Gets some abilities that help to get out of danger, and can deal good amounts of damage given the proper conditions.

Ranger: A wilderness guy. Your standard scout, tracks well, and gains bonuses when dealing with certain creatures.

Wizard & Sorcerer: You seem to already know those. Pretty standard magic users.

To create your own "person" (btw, in D&D you usually talk about "characters" not "persons" ;)), you can use various methods. But it's ultimately the DM's decision how do you create and asssign stats and whether you can play certain classes or races. The two most commonly used methods are the point buy (you start with all your stats at 8 and can spend a certain amount of points to increase them) or the dice-rolling (usually rollling 4 six-sided dice, dropping the lowest roll and adding the other three to obtain a stat. Repeat 6 times).

The "guidelines" are set by the DM. What the DM says, goes. But the Core Rulebooks provide the basis.

What do you mean by character strenghts? I think I didn't get it (or better yet, I think I did, but I wanna be sure of what you are talking about)...

Well, I think that's it. If you still have questions (and you'll, we all had lots of questions when we started), keep asking. I'll chime in here later if I can think of something else you should know.

If I were you, however, I'd consider buying the Player's Handbook. It helps...
SmiloDan
03-19-04, 01:17 PM Well, to make a character, you have to make a few decisions.

First, you have to choose a race, such as human, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, or halfling.

Next, you have to choose a class, or basic job description, such as barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, or wizard.

Once you've decided what race and class you have, you can choose your character's basic moral and ethical outlook, like Lawful Neutral or Chaotic Good.

D&D also has things called feats and skills. Feats are special abilities you learn as you get more powerful. You generally know one at first level, and gain additional ones every 3 levels. Feats let you do things like write magical scrolls, hit harder in combat, jump out of the way of fireballs better, make fireballs bigger, track a creature through the woods or be better at skills.

Skills are tasks or abilities you learn and improve on, based on your ability scores. Common skills are Climb, Knowledge (arcana), Perform, Heal, Jump, Ride, or Survival.

Speaking of abilities, each character has 6: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

[edit]

By strengths, do you mean do you mean a tough combatant, a sneaky thief, an accurate archer, a powerful spellcaster, a great healer?
Dragons Breath
03-19-04, 01:30 PM What I've heard about in D&D you get to make your character up from scratch. So how do you make your "Feats & Skills" and how do you detemine what level your character is at.

How do you determine your characters statistics with a dice roll.

By strength I meant abilities and statistics and how you keep record of your characters statistics to show to opponents.

IS it a must to have to buy figures for your character.
Dragons Breath
03-19-04, 01:58 PM Right now my character would be an Elf-Monk!

Monks seem pretty cool and elves ovverun all forces with high numbers and great ability
SmiloDan
03-19-04, 01:59 PM The easiest method for rolling up stats is to add 3 six-sided dice together 6 times, and then assign them to Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha. If you want to be a strong warrior, put your best score in Str and choose a class like barbarian, fighter, monk, paladin, or ranger. If you want to blast your enemies with magic, play a druid, sorcerer, or wizard. If you want to be really sneaky, play a bard, monk, ranger, or rogue.

Feats and skills just help a class be better at what it does in lots of different ways.

A wizard can choose to be really good at making magical stuff, or he can be really good at casting spells, or he can choose to have really quick reflexes, or he can learn how to do archery or he can learn how to wield weapons, but he can't really do them all, and some things he's just not going to be great at anyways.

Feats and Skills are used to customize your character.
Eltheynn
03-19-04, 02:59 PM Hey, Dragons... I got sometihng you might find interesting:

The Absolute Beginner's Guide to D&D and the D&D Boards (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131545)
Loopy
03-19-04, 04:40 PM Originally posted by SmiloDan
The easiest method for rolling up stats is to add 3 six-sided dice together 6 times, and then assign them to Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha.

:rolleyes:

Roll 4d6 and take out the lowest die roll, then add the remaining three. Do you have a Dungeon Master? How about a local games store? There should be plenty of people there who could field the questions you have in real-time.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dragons Breath 03-19-04, 09:40 AM	O.K. as I said in my last thread I don't know anything about D&D. I currently don't have access to a "rulebook" or whatever it's called in D&D but I want to know "Bits and Pieces" of the basic rules that are more important. The main thing I want to know is, like sorcerer and wizards, what else can you be and how do you create your own person. What guidelines do you go by and what is the limit. And how do you prove all your players "Strengths" if that's what you call it. Give me a little line I walk on and I dont me a line like the one below! Thanks in advance! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eltheynn 03-19-04, 12:13 PM	Originally posted by Dragons Breath O.K. as I said in my last thread I don't know anything about D&D. I currently don't have access to a "rulebook" or whatever it's called in D&D but I want to know "Bits and Pieces" of the basic rules that are more important. The main thing I want to know is, like sorcerer and wizards, what else can you be and how do you create your own person. What guidelines do you go by and what is the limit. And how do you prove all your players "Strengths" if that's what you call it. Give me a little line I walk on and I dont me a line like the one below! Thanks in advance! In my signature you'll find a link that says "D&D 3.5 SRD". Click on it, it will lead you to a page where you can download .rtf files that may prove useful... But to answer your questions, there are 11 classes. I'll give you a basic rundown of what they usually are: Barbarian: A though, wild brute, all inner rage and fury. Weild your weapon and go crazy... More or less ;) Bard: Jack of all trades, master of none. The bard can fight (though not as well as well built fighter), heal (though not as well as a dedicated cleric or druid) and do many other things... With his skill at performing (whether it's music or poetry or whatever), he can boost his allies. And he casts spells as well. Cleric: Your standard worshipper of a deity, though going strictly by the rules, you are not required to worship a deity. Can fight and cast spells, heal, and is good when dealing with undead. Druid: A servant of nature, can fight pretty well and heal, and change its shape to adopt that of certain animals. Fighter: Don your armor, get your weapon, hack and slash, repeat till you're tired. Good for beginners, though the selection of feats might be difficult if only 'cause there are lots of choices... Monk: A mystical martial artist. Gets a lot of special abilities, but is not as good at fighting (mainly because it requires 2-3 high ability scores to get good Armor Class, deal damage and last for a long time in combat). But the good saves and the rest of abilities help... Paladin: the standard goodie-two-shoes. Decent fighting abilities, is good when dealing against Evil creatures. Rogue: This character can be anything from an assassin to a spy, or a diplomat, or a robber, a thug... Gets some abilities that help to get out of danger, and can deal good amounts of damage given the proper conditions. Ranger: A wilderness guy. Your standard scout, tracks well, and gains bonuses when dealing with certain creatures. Wizard & Sorcerer: You seem to already know those. Pretty standard magic users. To create your own "person" (btw, in D&D you usually talk about "characters" not "persons" ;)), you can use various methods. But it's ultimately the DM's decision how do you create and asssign stats and whether you can play certain classes or races. The two most commonly used methods are the point buy (you start with all your stats at 8 and can spend a certain amount of points to increase them) or the dice-rolling (usually rollling 4 six-sided dice, dropping the lowest roll and adding the other three to obtain a stat. Repeat 6 times). The "guidelines" are set by the DM. What the DM says, goes. But the Core Rulebooks provide the basis. What do you mean by character strenghts? I think I didn't get it (or better yet, I think I did, but I wanna be sure of what you are talking about)... Well, I think that's it. If you still have questions (and you'll, we all had lots of questions when we started), keep asking. I'll chime in here later if I can think of something else you should know. If I were you, however, I'd consider buying the Player's Handbook. It helps...
SmiloDan 03-19-04, 01:17 PM	Well, to make a character, you have to make a few decisions. First, you have to choose a race, such as human, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, or halfling. Next, you have to choose a class, or basic job description, such as barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, or wizard. Once you've decided what race and class you have, you can choose your character's basic moral and ethical outlook, like Lawful Neutral or Chaotic Good. D&D also has things called feats and skills. Feats are special abilities you learn as you get more powerful. You generally know one at first level, and gain additional ones every 3 levels. Feats let you do things like write magical scrolls, hit harder in combat, jump out of the way of fireballs better, make fireballs bigger, track a creature through the woods or be better at skills. Skills are tasks or abilities you learn and improve on, based on your ability scores. Common skills are Climb, Knowledge (arcana), Perform, Heal, Jump, Ride, or Survival. Speaking of abilities, each character has 6: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. [edit] By strengths, do you mean do you mean a tough combatant, a sneaky thief, an accurate archer, a powerful spellcaster, a great healer?
Dragons Breath 03-19-04, 01:30 PM	What I've heard about in D&D you get to make your character up from scratch. So how do you make your "Feats & Skills" and how do you detemine what level your character is at. How do you determine your characters statistics with a dice roll. By strength I meant abilities and statistics and how you keep record of your characters statistics to show to opponents. IS it a must to have to buy figures for your character.
Dragons Breath 03-19-04, 01:58 PM	Right now my character would be an Elf-Monk! Monks seem pretty cool and elves ovverun all forces with high numbers and great ability
SmiloDan 03-19-04, 01:59 PM	The easiest method for rolling up stats is to add 3 six-sided dice together 6 times, and then assign them to Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha. If you want to be a strong warrior, put your best score in Str and choose a class like barbarian, fighter, monk, paladin, or ranger. If you want to blast your enemies with magic, play a druid, sorcerer, or wizard. If you want to be really sneaky, play a bard, monk, ranger, or rogue. Feats and skills just help a class be better at what it does in lots of different ways. A wizard can choose to be really good at making magical stuff, or he can be really good at casting spells, or he can choose to have really quick reflexes, or he can learn how to do archery or he can learn how to wield weapons, but he can't really do them all, and some things he's just not going to be great at anyways. Feats and Skills are used to customize your character.
Eltheynn 03-19-04, 02:59 PM	Hey, Dragons... I got sometihng you might find interesting: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to D&D and the D&D Boards (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131545)
Loopy 03-19-04, 04:40 PM	Originally posted by SmiloDan The easiest method for rolling up stats is to add 3 six-sided dice together 6 times, and then assign them to Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha. :rolleyes: Roll 4d6 and take out the lowest die roll, then add the remaining three. Do you have a Dungeon Master? How about a local games store? There should be plenty of people there who could field the questions you have in real-time.