First ever pen and paper character [Archive] - Wizards Community

First ever pen and paper character [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
ToddPBC
04-18-07, 02:52 PM I posted this on the classes/prestige classes board, and I think that was the wrong place. Let's try it here.

Hello! I'm creating my first ever pen and paper character. I'm pretty pumped and feel like I can fill out the character sheet on my own, but I was wanting some guidance on my choices.

Right now I'm thinking about playing a Chaotic Good Gnome Bard (pretty generic, I know). Here's what I rolled:
STR - 12
DEX - 12
CON - 13
INT - 12
WIS - 11
CHA - 16

Did I do ok? Should I redistribute or reroll?

Now, my main question is about feats and skills. Am I ok going with the core skills and feats or does the Complete Adventurer book add worthwhile feats and skills? Do I have to buy the book to find/use those?

Thanks for your help!
claypigeons
04-18-07, 03:09 PM Did I do ok? Should I redistribute or reroll?

While I know I may take flak for this, I would ask to reroll. You rolled decently, but you could do much better. Even taking a 10 or less in a couple areas in exchange for a 14 or so in dex and perhaps intelligence would be good.

Now, my main question is about feats and skills. Am I ok going with the core skills and feats or does the Complete Adventurer book add worthwhile feats and skills?

There are some nice feats in Complete Adventurer. I like Force of Personality, can be nice for a sorcerer or bard.

Do I have to buy the book to find

Yes.

/use those?

Not always. A lot of times, if someone has the book, and it is readily available, the DM will allow you to use it.
Tyraxus
04-18-07, 03:28 PM Welcome to pen/paper RPGing. Hope you have a blast!

Rerolling: It depends. What method are you using to roll stats? 4d6, drop lowest, assign where you want? If so, you did decently, not really strong and not really weak. Reroll if you want (and if your dice love you), but it's not necessary. I would, but then I like stronger characters; do what you want to (and what the DM says is okay!). Since you're playing a bard, you're not going to be fighting things directly (unless something really bad happened, in which case you're screwed anyway), so I'd swap the CON and DEX if you're keeping your rolls, and maybe see if the DM will let you move one point from WIS to DEX to give you a 14 DEX and 10 WIS. INT of 12 is fine, since bards get good skillpoints, but you won't be able to do everything. Pick 4-5 skills you REALLY need and max those out, and distribute the remaining 2-3 points per level in things that are important but not critical. If you were playing a class with fewer skillpoints per level, I'd say reroll and try to get at least a 14 in there, but I always like playing skill guys anyway.

As far as feats and books... claypigeons covered the questions you asked (except skills; most books don't add skills, and the ones that do tend to be variations on the base D&D system like the Tome of Battle or the Psionics books), but here's a bit of advice: freeload off your friends/group for a bit (the first month or more) until you decide if you like playing or not. Some people love the idea of playing p/p RPGs, but find the implementation lacking, so they move one, and at $30 per book, D&D is kind of an expensive hobby to just walk away from after a couple of sessions. If you decide you like playing (and I hope you do!), then don't double up with books your friends/group has unless they're not willing to loan books to you. For example, when I started playing, we had two PHBs and a couple of guys that were walking rulebooks, so I mooched off them for basics and bought Complete Warrior as my first book because nobody had it; since I was willing to let them borrow it, they were willing to loan their PHBs and other books to me, so I got access to several books for the price of one to carry around, and they got access to a book for the price of loaning the stuff they already had out for a week or so. Win/win for everybody.
Puca
04-18-07, 03:48 PM Your stats are fine. Kinda blah except for that 16, but still pretty good. How you arrange them depends a lot on what you want to do.

And bard is sort of wide open, being able to do a lot of things. For example, I might decide that this guy is going to focus on staying out of melee and using ranged combat. I might put that 16 in Dex, good boost to AC and nice ranged attacks. Id take Point-Blank Shot now, and Precise Shot at level 3. Id put the 13 in Cha, and bump it out later with bonuses from level increases, items, and spells. My spell selection would focus on spells that dont have save, like Cure Light Wounds (back-up healer role.)

If I wanted to rely more on spells, Id leave the 16 in Cha, and maybe take a feat like Spell Focus (Illusion.)

You can do fine with PHB feats. A lot of the feats youll want are there. Youre pretty new, so dont rush out and drop a whole bunch of money on books just yet.
ToddPBC
04-18-07, 04:01 PM Thanks everyone. I've rerolled and come up with this:
STR - 12 (10 after racial mod)
DEX - 15
CON - 14
INT - 15
WIS - 10
CHA - 17 (Woo hoo!)

What's a good first level feat?
Prator_the_Legendary
04-18-07, 04:03 PM For a bard? I'd go with "Lingering Song" because it allows you to do other stuff besides use bardic music powers constantly during combat.
Daydreamer
04-18-07, 04:46 PM Remember your characters a support class, and somewhat a jack of all trades.
Try to go where the flow of the situation requires, you can heal, you can cast spells that are more directly damaging in combat, if your group consists of more members than 4 the songs are great for supporting them.

personally, your stats for both roll ups would ahve been good by the standards of my game.
Yokomohoyo
04-19-07, 03:41 AM Dude First off let me welcome you to the wonderful worlds of DND.

Now I would advise to use a pencile instead of a pen. hehehehehehe

Your stats are fine. I guess you want to make a Sorccerer.

My latest Sorc had at the start of the game:
8 Str
16 dex
14 con
10 int
18 cha
10 wis

He just hit level 5 and for my parties XP gathering skills (no show dates of the players have lots to do with this especially mine :P) this a great thing.

I hope you enjoy your gamming expiriance and come to love the game ^_^

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ToddPBC 04-18-07, 02:52 PM	I posted this on the classes/prestige classes board, and I think that was the wrong place. Let's try it here. Hello! I'm creating my first ever pen and paper character. I'm pretty pumped and feel like I can fill out the character sheet on my own, but I was wanting some guidance on my choices. Right now I'm thinking about playing a Chaotic Good Gnome Bard (pretty generic, I know). Here's what I rolled: STR - 12 DEX - 12 CON - 13 INT - 12 WIS - 11 CHA - 16 Did I do ok? Should I redistribute or reroll? Now, my main question is about feats and skills. Am I ok going with the core skills and feats or does the Complete Adventurer book add worthwhile feats and skills? Do I have to buy the book to find/use those? Thanks for your help!
claypigeons 04-18-07, 03:09 PM	Did I do ok? Should I redistribute or reroll? While I know I may take flak for this, I would ask to reroll. You rolled decently, but you could do much better. Even taking a 10 or less in a couple areas in exchange for a 14 or so in dex and perhaps intelligence would be good. Now, my main question is about feats and skills. Am I ok going with the core skills and feats or does the Complete Adventurer book add worthwhile feats and skills? There are some nice feats in Complete Adventurer. I like Force of Personality, can be nice for a sorcerer or bard. Do I have to buy the book to find Yes. /use those? Not always. A lot of times, if someone has the book, and it is readily available, the DM will allow you to use it.
Tyraxus 04-18-07, 03:28 PM	Welcome to pen/paper RPGing. Hope you have a blast! Rerolling: It depends. What method are you using to roll stats? 4d6, drop lowest, assign where you want? If so, you did decently, not really strong and not really weak. Reroll if you want (and if your dice love you), but it's not necessary. I would, but then I like stronger characters; do what you want to (and what the DM says is okay!). Since you're playing a bard, you're not going to be fighting things directly (unless something really bad happened, in which case you're screwed anyway), so I'd swap the CON and DEX if you're keeping your rolls, and maybe see if the DM will let you move one point from WIS to DEX to give you a 14 DEX and 10 WIS. INT of 12 is fine, since bards get good skillpoints, but you won't be able to do everything. Pick 4-5 skills you REALLY need and max those out, and distribute the remaining 2-3 points per level in things that are important but not critical. If you were playing a class with fewer skillpoints per level, I'd say reroll and try to get at least a 14 in there, but I always like playing skill guys anyway. As far as feats and books... claypigeons covered the questions you asked (except skills; most books don't add skills, and the ones that do tend to be variations on the base D&D system like the Tome of Battle or the Psionics books), but here's a bit of advice: freeload off your friends/group for a bit (the first month or more) until you decide if you like playing or not. Some people love the idea of playing p/p RPGs, but find the implementation lacking, so they move one, and at $30 per book, D&D is kind of an expensive hobby to just walk away from after a couple of sessions. If you decide you like playing (and I hope you do!), then don't double up with books your friends/group has unless they're not willing to loan books to you. For example, when I started playing, we had two PHBs and a couple of guys that were walking rulebooks, so I mooched off them for basics and bought Complete Warrior as my first book because nobody had it; since I was willing to let them borrow it, they were willing to loan their PHBs and other books to me, so I got access to several books for the price of one to carry around, and they got access to a book for the price of loaning the stuff they already had out for a week or so. Win/win for everybody.
Puca 04-18-07, 03:48 PM	Your stats are fine. Kinda blah except for that 16, but still pretty good. How you arrange them depends a lot on what you want to do. And bard is sort of wide open, being able to do a lot of things. For example, I might decide that this guy is going to focus on staying out of melee and using ranged combat. I might put that 16 in Dex, good boost to AC and nice ranged attacks. Id take Point-Blank Shot now, and Precise Shot at level 3. Id put the 13 in Cha, and bump it out later with bonuses from level increases, items, and spells. My spell selection would focus on spells that dont have save, like Cure Light Wounds (back-up healer role.) If I wanted to rely more on spells, Id leave the 16 in Cha, and maybe take a feat like Spell Focus (Illusion.) You can do fine with PHB feats. A lot of the feats youll want are there. Youre pretty new, so dont rush out and drop a whole bunch of money on books just yet.
ToddPBC 04-18-07, 04:01 PM	Thanks everyone. I've rerolled and come up with this: STR - 12 (10 after racial mod) DEX - 15 CON - 14 INT - 15 WIS - 10 CHA - 17 (Woo hoo!) What's a good first level feat?
Prator_the_Legendary 04-18-07, 04:03 PM	For a bard? I'd go with "Lingering Song" because it allows you to do other stuff besides use bardic music powers constantly during combat.
Daydreamer 04-18-07, 04:46 PM	Remember your characters a support class, and somewhat a jack of all trades. Try to go where the flow of the situation requires, you can heal, you can cast spells that are more directly damaging in combat, if your group consists of more members than 4 the songs are great for supporting them. personally, your stats for both roll ups would ahve been good by the standards of my game.
Yokomohoyo 04-19-07, 03:41 AM	Dude First off let me welcome you to the wonderful worlds of DND. Now I would advise to use a pencile instead of a pen. hehehehehehe Your stats are fine. I guess you want to make a Sorccerer. My latest Sorc had at the start of the game: 8 Str 16 dex 14 con 10 int 18 cha 10 wis He just hit level 5 and for my parties XP gathering skills (no show dates of the players have lots to do with this especially mine :P) this a great thing. I hope you enjoy your gamming expiriance and come to love the game ^_^