DnD Player Guide

A place for rules, characters and materials related to Dungeons & Dragons.
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Shivor
Posts: 62
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:46 pm
Location: Bucharest, Romania

This is my personal opinion and shouldn't by any means be taken as a must do it like this thing, feedback and personal opinions and tips are greatly appreciated.

1. Get the rules from your DM:
- What classes/ races are allowed
- What alignments are allowed
- What the vague campaign setting
- What system you will use to make the character ( stat distribution, etc.)
- There can be disallowed feats / skills , extra ones as well.
- What level you start at and all that.

2. Initial steps:
- Think about how your character is from an outside perspective ( Not class or stats but how you would see it visually and what his personality is. Lets say you meet the character you want to create, how would you see them. Write this down. )
- Flesh out your characters personality and backstory.
- Pick a class and distribute your stats and skills while keeping in mind how it fits into your backstory. (If you're the son of a farmer you probably won't have knowledge arcana or use magic device unless you got thought by lets say a wizard in the town that took you under his wing and you became some sort of disciple).
- Don't overextend, if you don't know the game well try making a simple character in your first game.
- Keep in mind your level 1 character isn't an superhero or a person that's well established in the world. Level 1 means untried untested , not much reputation beyond your village. Let your characters become cool , the best prize is the one earned. It's a bit ridiculous to start at 20 STR , you're level one you're not the strongest person in the world. Don't be awesome from the start, you'll get bored fast.
- Character Naming is important. If you name your character Balls McGee, you will play it like that and ruin the game for the rest of the players. Take your character seriously or you'll ruin the experience for everyone. Put heart into your characters. If you like being silly and absurd you'll probably have more fun playing a video game.

3. The Character:
- Start expanding the backstory and details, descriptions about your character
- After you have a fair description of your character work with your DM to iron it out, maybe choose gear and all that. ( Your DM may reward you with extra stuff for a well made character )
- Immersion is in the details. The more details you have the better.
- Try to think of how your character will react in certain situations.
- Maybe you can build relations before or during the first session with the other characters, for example 2 brothers or 3 old friends and so on.

4. Play :
- When you play get into the character.
- Be careful not to metagame, you may know that trolls require fire to stop their regeneration but your character may not, stay into character.
- If you use an accent it's nice to talk to the DM in your normal voice while using that accent only for what your character actually says.
- Roleplay your Rolls. Instead of i attack the ogre maybe i take a roll and do a slashing strike towards his feet , then make your roll and roleplay what happens, maybe you get a 1 and that would be something like I stumble and my hit doesn't even graze the ogre. Even small things like I do an overhead swing with my hammer towards the goblin, helps make it more fun for yourself and for the other players.
- Develop your character during the sessions, RP with people provide more details about your character.
- Reflect about your previous sessions and put out more details about your character.
- Consistency, keep your character fairly consistent. Don't just make a bunch of random decisions.
- Be careful not to overshadow the other players from a combat and RP perspective. If your a guy that's good at RP try to encourage it in the other players and involve them as well.
- Don't be afraid of character arguments with the other characters, as long as it's in character it's all good.
- Don't plan your character up to lvl 10-20 you can have a vague idea but the story should influence the way your character develops.
Shivor
Posts: 62
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:46 pm
Location: Bucharest, Romania

This is all in my view of the core books. The DM has absolute power over these stuff, if the DM decides that killing people in his world isn't evil then it's not evil.

Religion:

It's usually a good idea to select a deity.

In DnD/Pathfinder unless the DM says otherwise gods exist, they manifest they interact with the world it's not a matter of belief. They have a very big impact on the world and at least in the Pathfinder/DnD core setting there is no overgod. Atheism is very rare in this setting.

All the gods are very clear in what they represent and what they're concerned with, they usually have a physical manifestation and are very specific. You're not gonna find a lot of people arguing about what's the best way to worship a certain god.

You're gonna find a lot of conflict between the worshipers of different gods. This is the usual conflict you will encounter in terms of Religion. Even though they worshipers may not actively hunt each other down and kill them but it will create conflicts and arguments.
Think of greek pantheon mythology when you think about the gods in DnD.

You're gonna usually utilize worshiping gods in a few ways :
- Morally. Following the deity or multiple ones. How you view the world.
- Gain boons and blessings through different sacrifices/offerings/deeds.
- Associate yourself with a church/temple/grove etc.
- Your deity also goes hand in hand with your alignment.

For DM: If you're not gonna devote time and try to represent the gods, it would be a better idea to just have divine spells just come from a vague overgod.

Alignments:

Good: If you are good you'll try to promote harmony and generally not try to kill. Working towards preservation of life. Good character will typically not try to kill other inteligent creatures ( except undead or self defence without problem). Good is willing to sacrifice themselves for others. Do stuff for their betterment of everyone.

Evil: Care less and less about the preservation of life other than your own life. People that are usually gonna do whatever it takes to reach their own goal.

Lawful: Utilize order. Use a structure/tradition/code either something created by themselves or the law of the land or something passed down.

Chaos: They are very flexible. They prefer freedom.They don't like plans, their very emotional. But don't mistake chaotic with stupid. A very reactive alignment.

Neutrality: A good representation is nature, keeping a balance.

Examples :
Lawful Good
Batman would be lawful good because he follows his own code , do not kill people, don't use guns, even though there are exceptions generally talking batman is lawful good.

Lawful Neutral
Javer from les miserables he follows the law but he doesn't really care that much about life. They follow the law or their code whatever no matter what consequences it has.

Lawful Evil
Mafia. Kingpin. Stuff like that.

Neutral Good
He's not random but tries to follow a path of goodness.

Neutral
He doesn't really want to get involved. He wants to preserve the status quo. If he would get involved it would be to keep the balance.

Neutral Evil
They will do anything the only care about themselves nothing more. It represents pure evil without honor without variations.

Chaotic Good
Jean Valjean. Tries to do the best he can, but he will not follow the law. Or Robin Hood.

Chaotic Neutral
Usually chosen by immature players that want to do whatever they like. Chaotic Neutral characters are pretty selfish. A good example though of chaotic neutral is a totally free spirit.
Han Solo starts chaotic neutral and turns chaotic good by the end.

Chaotic Evil
The destroyer. The Jocker if you assume he doesn't plan the things he does. A chaotic evil is a cartoony representation of evil, if a chaotic evil character would plan more they would accomplish more. As with Chaotic Neutral they're people that usually do whatever they want. They have a goal but not a plan.

The story should influence how your character develops, this also applies to alignments.

Now a little rant:
Paladins are in no way detrimental to the party! They can even break their alignment( as described above ) the main thing about the paladin is that if he breaks his alignment he will regret it and repent, maybe even turn themselves in. They strive to be like their god compared to clerics who strive to serve their god. The goal of a paladin of Iomedae strives to be the embodiment of Iomedae. And again lawful doesn't necessarily mean following the kingdoms laws, it can mean following your own laws or code or the laws of your god.
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