Character Creation | dlsaga.com

Let’s take a look at character creation in AD&D, and find out why it is the best version of Dungeons & Dragons in this How to Play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series. Buy the AD&D Players Handbook: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17003/players-handbook-1e?affiliate_id=50797

Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro
1:36 Ability Scores
3:15 Generating Ability Scores
5:00 Choose a Race
6:04 Choose a Class
7:31 Choose an Alignment
8:43 Additional Details
11:08 Outro

Transcript

Cold Open

Let’s learn how to make a player character in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons!

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today I am going to talk about character creation in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Unearthed Arcana for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

Creating a new player character, or PC, in any tabletop roleplaying game, or TTRPG, system is a time consuming process. You have a lot to consider: what your character will be like, and how they will fit into the party and world are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. But games like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, or AD&D, help you narrow down the diverse options of race, class, and alignment, depending on your character’s ability scores. Creating a character begins with generating your PC’s ability scores, deciding on a race, then a class, the alignment, and name. You will know certain languages based on your choices, in addition to generating starting money so you can purchase equipment necessary for adventuring. Finally you will roll for your hitpoints, and you will be ready to explore a dungeon or landscape.

The reason ability scores are so important is because each race and class has minimum and maximum scores necessary for play. This is intended to be a balancing mechanic in the game, as the default race is Human, and the other races are more rare. Because the other races have special abilities that humans don’t, they generally have level caps on classes as well, but they are able to multi-class, whereas humans only get to dual class. I will go over all this when we get to the appropriate video after character creation. But first, let’s go over what the different ability scores, and the different score generation methods are, so we can begin creating our characters.

Character Abilities

In AD&D there are seven abilities, though only six are commonly used, forsaking Comeliness first presented in the Unearthed Arcana. The seven ability scores are as follows: Strength, the measure of muscle, endurance, and stamina combined. Intelligence, the intelligence quotient, in addition to mnemonic ability, reasoning, and learning outside the written word. Wisdom, a composite of enlightenment, judgment, wile, will power, and intuitiveness. Dexterity, hand-eye coordination, agility, reflexes, precision, balance, and speed of movement. Constitution, physique, fitness, health, and resilience. Charisma, the measure of your physical attractiveness, persuasiveness, and personal magnetism. And finally Comeliness reflecting your physical attractiveness, social grace, and personal beauty. It is directly influenced by your Charisma and race as well, and is used to determine initial reactions to the PC’s. With our basic understanding of the abilities, let’s generate some scores!

Generating your ability scores depends on the method used to roll them, and every player in the group or party should use the same method for fairness if at all possible. There are five methods which follow: Method I, roll 4d6 six times, discard the lowest die, and arrange as desired. Method II, roll 3d6 twelve times, discard the six lowest scores, and arrange as desired. Method III, roll 3d6 six times for each ability in order, keep the highest score, and discard the rest. Method IV, roll 3d6 six times for each ability in order, for twelve separate characters, and keep the set of scores you prefer. And finally Method V, this is only for human PC’s, roll the number of 6-sided dice noted by the desired class and keep the three best rolls for each ability score. If it is lower or greater than the minimum or maximum of your class, you instead take the minimum or maximum number.

I am planning on making a human cavalier, so I will use Method V to generate my ability scores. Now that we have our six ability scores determined, we may compare them to the various race and class combinations and determine who our PC is going to be. When you have selected them, you will finally generate your Comeliness by rolling 3d6, and adding your Charisma and possible racial modifier as noted. I will dive deeper into ability scores in a future video. For now, let’s move on to selecting a race.

Character Races

In AD&D there are fifteen racial types to choose from. All races except humans have restrictions on possible classes, and level caps in those classes, so take your time and consider the campaign your Dungeon Master, or DM, is going to run before making your choice. The primary racial stocks are dwarven, elven, gnome, half-elf, halfling, half-orc, and human. Each racial stock has advantages and disadvantages, but humans are generally seen as superior as they have few if any drawbacks or restrictions. All basic information for PC’s are applicable to them, as the different races have bonuses and adjustments based on each. I will make deeper dives into each racial stock in future videos. There are also built in racial preferences between the racial types. This is built into the game and will be applicable when NPC’s deal with you and you try to hire hirelings. I am selecting human for my race. As they are the dominant race in AD&D.

Character Classes

There are fourteen classes and sub-classes to choose from with the Unearthed Arcana. Cavalier, Paladin, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger, Magic-User, Illusionist, Thief, Acrobat, Assassin, Monk, and Bard. The Bard is a supplemental class that only humans or half-elves may earn after dual classing through fighter and thief. I will be making a video on each. I am making a Cavalier, like my very first AD&D character. Cavaliers were first introduced in the Unearthed Arcana. They are noble, valiant, mounted knights who follow a specific code. I am basing the character on a Knight of Solamnia in the Dragonlance campaign world. Cavaliers must begin with a good alignment, and have a minimum of 15 in Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, and a 10 in Intelligence and Wisdom. Cavaliers at 1st level gain bonuses to their stats due to rigorous training. Their Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution all increase by percentiles until a new level pushes them above 100 to the next whole number. They are restricted in the armor and weapons they use as they must match their social standing. They are able to make multiple attacks per round, gain bonuses to certain weapons, and parry attacks with bonuses. They are immune to fear and radiate an aura protecting their allied creatures. Unfortunately, they cannot be controlled in battle situations, and will charge an enemy on sight.

Additional Details

Next we have to choose an alignment. Alignment describes the broad ethos of thinking, reasoning creatures. Alignment does not dictate religion but religion does dictate alignment. There are two major divisions of four opposite points of view. Law and Chaos, separating organized groups from individuals, and Good and Evil, distinguishing between creature rights and purpose. And finally Neutrality which exists as an integral, necessary function of the entire cosmos. So the possible alignments are Neutral Good, True Neutral, Neutral Evil, Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, and Chaotic Evil. There are even alignment languages, but as I will be making a video specifically on alignment, further discussion on this will have to wait. Alignments are incredibly important in AD&D. They influence the choices your PC makes throughout the campaign, separating them from you; as you are not playing yourself, but rather a fictional character with racial and class specific motivations informed by your alignment and the milieu your DM created. Because of my chosen class I am going to choose Lawful Good as my alignment.

Now we are able to roll for initial hit points, but if they are lower than the starting hit points in the Unearthed Arcana, you may choose that number instead. Each class has a hit die which is rolled to determine hit points per level, in addition to a maximum number of hit dice for the profession. Social Class and Rank is only important for Cavaliers and Paladins, but it will also inform your character throughout the DM’s milieu. As a general rule, your PC should have a social status of at least one rank below their chosen class. Since Cavaliers and Paladins are entirely based on their social standing, the DM must roll on the Social Class table for those PC’s. This is another rule in the Unearthed Arcana which may affect the PC’s desired profession.

You will need to choose your languages known based on the campaign, race, and intelligence modifier if applicable. You also need to roll for your starting money. Cavaliers and paladins’ are dependent on the social standing roll the DM made earlier, and are given beginning equipment as well. You may spend your money on additional equipment as needed. There are some more details that I like to leave up to the roll of the dice, including Psionics! The Dungeon Masters Guide showcases Secondary Skills. You may assign a skill randomly or select it according to the background of the campaign. You may also select or roll your characters age depending on the race on the appropriate character age table. There are character ability score modifiers based on age as well. For Psionics, you need an Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma of 16 or higher, then roll percentile dice. The higher the ability score the lower the roll needs to be. I will make a video on Psionics in the future.

As you can see, character creation is largely up to the roll of the dice, and you choosing what options fit those rolls. You do not end up with superhero characters who can storm through encounters. But rather, you end up with vulnerable, mortal PC, who need to rely on their skills, wits and companions for survival, forcing players to use creativity and cooperation in overcoming obstacles. But for now, we have made our first character in AD&D and I look forward to showcasing the rules for playing AD&D next before circling back for ability, race, class, alignment, and psionics deep dives. Please let me know if you would like an even more in depth method of character creation, with different race and class combinations.

Outro

But that is all the time I have to talk about character creation in AD&D. What do you think of the process? Do you feel it’s too restrictive and left up to chance? And finally, have you ever made a character in AD&D before? Leave a comment below.

I would like to take a moment and remind you to subscribe to this YouTube channel, ring the bell to get notified about upcoming videos and click the like button. This all goes to help other Dragonlance fans learn about this channel and its content. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:

The more one learns, the more one comes to understand how little he knows.