I Cast Magic Missile (A DnD Blog): Gameplay 03

In the last edition of I Cast Magic Missile, I covered the most basic part of character development: personalization and attribute determination. Now, I'll cover health, Armor Class, Initiative, Grapple, and Saving Throws.

As always, each of these characteristics varies from DM to DM, but for demonstration, I'll describe what I normally do when creating a new character.
Health is relatively easy to determine. I use Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook, edition 3.5 as a reference for classes, and simply look up their hit die, and add the Constitution ability modifier. Armor Class might be a little more complex. This statistic is used in combat almost every round to determine whether a melee or ranged attack hits a character, and maintaining a good Armor Class can be the difference between life and death for characters that take the most damage. The base Armor Class for all players is 10, with their Dexterity bonus added. When characters don armor, however, this rises with how strong the armor might be considered. Some armors might limit Dexterity bonuses, but at level 1, this is generally insignificant. Therefore, the generic formula I use to quickly determine Armor Class is 10 + Dexterity Bonus + Armor Bonus. Things might become more complicated when you take player character attributes into account, however. When players' sizes vary, their Armor Class might be augmented or diminished: smaller characters are harder to hit, while the opposite is true for larger characters. Also, if structured correctly, the Monk class gains bonuses to Armor Class when no armor is worn, which technically counts as an auxiliary bonus. When taking these factors into account, changes must be made, however small they may be, as a minor fluctuation in AC for low-health characters can mean a ton in combat.
Initiative is incredibly simple to determine. This statistic determines who goes first in combat - who has the most initiative to act. This statistic is the Dexterity modifier, plus any auxiliary bonuses that characters might have (which are rare at level 1).
Grapple is similarly easy to determine. This stat is used when players wish to grab opponents, allies, and sometimes even inanimate objects, in any situation. Add the Strength modifier to the Size modifier, and you have the Grapple stat.
The final statistic I'll be explaining tonight is the Saving Throw.
There are three different kinds of Saving Throws:
Fortitude, which is used in any situation that might require endurance of some sort;
Reflex, when characters might have to quickly respond to any event;
and Will, employed when the mind of a character might be influenced.
I use the base additions for each of these from the 3.5 Player's Handbooks for each class, and then add Constitution ability modifiers to Fortitude, Dexterity modifiers to Reflex, and Wisdom modifiers to Will.

Now that you know how to determine the most basic attributes of a character, I'll move along to the more complicated topics: skills and spells.

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