I Cast Magic Missile (A DnD Blog): Gameplay 02

Time to finally continue that DnD Gameplay blog that I started oh so long ago!

Before diving into statistic determination, one must have a rudimentary understanding of the dice system used by DnD players. Each die is used in different situations, and DMs as well as adventurers often have their own sets that they use. Sets consist of die that range in number of faces, and each die is referred to by how many faces it has - for example, a 6-sided die would be called a D6. Required for adventurers are the D20, D12, D10, D8, D6, and D4. (DMs generally add one more die to their collection: the D%, which is similar to the D10, except that it counts in tens rather than ones, and is used for determining percentages.) In my guides, I'll be referring to dice with their abbreviated names. Oftentimes, to indicate the number of rolls with a certain die, a number precedes the D. Take, for example, an instruction to roll the D6 four times. To indicate this, I'll write 4D6, just as many DMs (and even other players) will say in gaming sessions.

Once you have your character designed - class, race, and gender decided upon - you MUST record this information where it will be readily available at all times. These three facts play a huge part in how sessions play out. When determining statistics for your character, race and class are the two most important of these data, for they determine a multitude of different things. The first and most vital thing to determine is your Ability Scores. Each race has their own Ability Modifiers, and individual DMs have different ways to determine base Ability Scores. (To provide a generalized explanation, in this blog I'll be using my house rules, which follow DnD rulebooks from series 3.5 relatively closely.) In my sessions, players roll 4D6 and remove the lowest number each time to get their scores (see example below for greater detail). They then can place the scores in any of the 6 Abilities they choose: Strength, Constitution, Intellect, Wisdom, Dexterity, and Charisma. It would be wise to assign high Ability Scores to the Abilities essential to your class, as doing so confers high bonuses to the skills available to you. From here, you must find your Ability Modifiers. Based off of your Ability Score, these numbers are critical, as they will be applied to skills, saving throws (which will be reviewed later), and many other numbers that might just make the difference between life and death. Be sure to record these in their respective areas on your character sheet.
Scores below 10 confer negative bonuses, but as these are relatively rare among adventurers, I'll begin at 10.
10-11: +0
12-13: +1
14-15: +2
16-17: +3
18-19: +4

Example:
For one Ability Score, Godmund the Fighter rolls 4D6, and the die fall in his favor - he gets 2 sixes, a 5, and a 3, which give him one score of 17 after he removes the low 3. He continues his rolls and gets a 12, two 14s, a 15, and an 18. All of these scores are unusually high - the average is 10 - but this is normal for an adventurer. Because Godmund is a Fighter, he must focus largely upon Strength and Constitution - he'll be taking the brunt of the blows from enemies he and his party faces. He places 17 into Strength, and 18 into Constitution. To hit often, he assigns 14 to Dexterity. The adventurer playing Godmund decides to put a twist on his character - he assigns his third highest score of 15 to Charisma, making Godmund more appealing to others so that he can lead his party effectively. To Intellect and Wisdom, he assigns the 10 and the 12, as these abilities are the least relevant to his class.
From here, he determines his Ability Modifiers. Strength gets +3, Constitution +4, Dexterity +2, Intellect +0, Wisdom +1, and Charisma +2.

In the next installment of I Cast Magic Missile, I'll continue my overview of DnD character statistics, covering health, Armor Class, Initiative, Grapple, and other easy-to-determine statistics.

Have fun, good gaming, and remember - don't feed the trolls.
-Toast