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General Character Creation Tips

Some of the tips will be very obvious to experienced players, but for those who are new to DnD these character creation tips may save you some frustration down the road.

• Be Strong:
  When assigning ability scores, a good strength score can help everyone, including the mage. Consider a minimum of 14, especially if you wear armor. There are a few of reasons why:
  1. The stuff you carry can save your life, but if it's too heavy, it can kill you. Everything that you carry has an effect on you, and wizards have to carry those darn spellbooks. Armor can really weigh you down, as can treasure and dead or wounded companions.
  2. Sooner or later, even the most passive of adventurers gets into combat, and when things get too close, strength is what you will depend on. It affects your ability to hit and to do damage with melee weapons, which can save even a mage's life in those tense situations.
  3. Think strength isn't important? The half-orc is the only race that gets a bonus to strength, at the cost of intelligence and charisma. According to these game mechanics, each point of strength is worth two points points of either intelligence or charisma, keep that in mind when you are assigning rolls and/or purchase points.
• Be Quick:
  Unless you plan on wearing heavy armor, a good dexterity can help just about everyone, especially the mage. Consider again, a minimum of 14, especially if you can't wear armor. Here are a couple of reasons why:
  1. A good dexterity score can improve your armor class. For characters that can't wear medium or heavy armor, you need all the additional protection that you can get. Conversely, if you plan on wearing heavy armor, it can limit the maximum dexterity bonus that you can have, so you could spend those points some place else.
  2. Dexterity is what determines your effectiveness at ranged combat. This is important for anyone who wants to use a bow, crossbow, or cast a spell that requires a ranged attack roll.
  3. Reflex saves are also helped by dexterity. Characters that get poor reflex bonuses need a good dexterity to keep them out of trouble from certain traps and spells.
• Be Well Armed:
  Weapons are like tools of the adventuring trade, and you need to have the right tools in order to get the job done. When you are purchasing weapons, consider the following in addition to price:
  1. You should have at least one weapon for the following situations:
     • ranged combat: consider a good long ranged weapon such as the bow or crossbow, and a good short ranged one such as the half spear, dagger, or throwing axe
     • undead: undead can be easy to kill if you have the right weapons. A bludgeoning weapon like the club (relatively light, and you can throw it) or the quarterstaff (relatively light, plus it's a double weapon) can help you take on zombies and skeletons that are immune to critical hits and take reduced damage from piercing weapons like arrows. Ranged bludgeoning weapons include the club, the light hammer, and the sling.
     • grappling: daggers and spiked gauntlets are great for extremely close quarters combat.
     • backup weapon: it's always bad to lose your sword or battle axe at an inopportune moment. Having another weapon in addition to your undead weapon or your short-range weapon may be handy. When squaring off against a rust monster, your artifact level sword may not be a good tool to sacrifice. If your character is especially good with a particular weapon (which is the case with exotic weapons and various weapon specific feats) you may just want to carry a spare. An adamantine version of your favorite magic weapon makes a handy backup weapon, if you can afford the cost and the weight.
     If you are concerned about weight or with just having too much stuff, several of these weapons can cross categories, for example, the club can mage a good undead weapon and a good short ranged weapon. The dagger is good for grappling as well as for short ranged combat. The short spear is well suited for both short ranged combat and it makes a good backup melee weapon in a pinch. The light flail and the morning star make excellent undead weapons, and they do enough damage to make good primary and backup melee weapons.
  2. Consider more than just damage.
     • weight can be a factor if you are concerned about traveling light.
     • critical can make a weapon more attractive, if it does lots of damage on a crtitical, or it has a good threat range.
     • other factors such as reach, the ability to make disarm or trip attacks, or if the weapon can be thrown.
• Be well armored:
  This may sound obvious, but be sure that the armor you pick offers you the best protection, weight, armor check, and bonus that is possible. Remember that armor checks for masterwork armor are improved by 1.
• Use both hands
  In a fight, make sure that both of your hands are working for your benefit. IF you aren't casting spells, here are some uses for your other hand:
  • use a two handed version of your current weapon they do more damage.
  • use a shield it will improve your armor class.
  • use an off hand weapon you will get an extra attack, but it will be at a penalty. Rangers should do this since they have great bonuses for two hand fighting.
  • carry the torch if you can't do anything with your free hand, then free up someone else's so that they may do something useful as well.