Would anyone like to help a newbie?

[Akowrules]

I am completely new to this game. I have the essentials, but have absolutely no idea if I am doing anything right dungeon master-wise and player-wise. If there is anyone out there willing to add a newbie player to their game, or give tips, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Tegu8788]

Can you be any more specific about what you are doing? Or think you are doing wrong? Do you want a general explanation of how the game works, or advice in a particular aspect?

[Akowrules]

Well, there's quite a few things I think I'm doing wrong when it comes to the character sheet. I am not sure where the abilities and stuff go, although I'm trying my best to follow what it says in the players handbook, I'm pretty sure that all the math I'm doing is wrong when it comes to the defenses and such, I do not know what to do about the miniature stuff, I'm not sure on what to do when it comes to surprise encounters and things that require skill checks as well. There are others, but I feel these are the ones that I need help with at the most.

[Akowrules]

Forgot to add this: I have no idea if I'm putting abilities where I should. I do not know if I need to put sneak attack in one of the ability lists on the cs because the handbook says nothing of it, that it's just a class skill. I am creating the character sheets for my two younger sisters, who have taken an interest to the game (to my great surprise) and will be serving as dungeon master.

[shamgar001]

Sneak Attack is a class feature, not an ability score. There should be a section on the cs for those; if not, just write them down somewhere else.

[Fallbot]

Maybe you can give us an idea of the kinds of characters you are trying to build (class, race etc) and where exactly you think your maths is going wrong, so we can give you more specific advice? At the moment all we can do is re-explain what's in the books, which may not be all that helpful (on the off-chance that it is, I'll give it a shot though).


First you need to choose your ability scores. From the sound of it you have't had trouble doing that, which is good. The book should have a table of the modifiers an ability score will give you. Using an example level 1 Dwarf Fighter from the character builder with the ability scores of Str: 16, Con: 18, Dex: 12, Int: 10, Wis: 12, and Cha: 10, the modifiers will be +3, +4, +1, 0, +1 and -1 respectively.

To work out his defenses we take the highest relevant modifier for each defense (Reflex is based on Int or Dex, Fortitude is Str/Con and Will is Wis/Cha). Mr Fighter has a Dex of 12 and an Int of 10, so we'll use his Dex modifier to work out reflex. We add 10 to the modifier and then half his level (rounding down. Always round down). Since he is level 1, that will be 10 + 1 (for his Dex mod) + 0 (half of level 1 rounds down to 0). This gives him a base reflex of 11.

His Fortitude will be worked out as 10 + his Con mod of +4 (Since his Con is higher than his strength) + 0 for his level. BUT look at the Fighter stat block. Fighters get a +2 bonus to Fortitude, so we include that to give him a total fortitude of 16. Every class will give a defense bonus of some sort, you just need to check what it is and include it in your calculations.

His Will will be 11, since he has a +1 Wis modifier. Simple enough.

To determine AC, first you need to look at the kind of armour your character wears. If it's classed as light armour, we work out AC exactly the same way we work out Reflex i.e. 10 + 1/2 level + Dex/Int mod, then we add the armour bonus which will be stated in your armour's stat block. However if, like our Fighter, you wear heavy armour, we don't bother with Dex/Int mods and just add the armour bonus in the stat block to 10 + 1/2 our level. Mr Fighter is wearing scale armour. Scale armour gives an AC bonus of +7, so his AC is 17.

Clear so far? Great, lets make things more complicated. Our fighter is going to use a Heavy Shield. Looking at their stat block, we see that Heavy Shields give a +2 bonus to AC and reflex. This will give him an AC of 19 and a Reflex of 13, to go with his 11 Will and 16 Fortitude.

If we were to give him magic armour we'd just add the enhancement bonus of the armour to his AC. Say we gave him +1 Scale, his AC would jump to 20.

Any other bonuses we might receive e.g. from feats are added on in the same way. Suppose we took the Encouraging Shield feat that lets us add our shield bonus to our Will defense, we'd look at our shield bonus (it's +2, remember?) and add it to our Will in the same way we already add it to our Reflex. This would give us our final defenses of AC 20, Reflex 13, Fortitude 16, and Will 13.

Just remember that bonuses of the same type do not stack. If we took something else that grants a shield bonus like the Two Weapon Defense feat that could give us a +1 shield bonus to AC and Reflex, it wouldn't stack with the +2 shield bonus we already have, so we wouldn't get anything from it (not that you can usually get the benefits of a shield and TWD at the same time, it was just the first feat with a shield bonus I could think of). The exception to this rule is untyped bonuses. Those will stack quite happily, unless they come from exactly the same source e.g. if you took the same feat twice or something.


Um...is that breaking any rules? I'll scrub it if that's too detailed.

Don't worry if that looks complicated, just take it one step at a time and it's pretty easy. Hey, all of us have managed it ok :smallwink:

Depending on how invested you are in playing, it may be worth signing up for a D&D insider account to get access to the online character builder, which will do all the maths for you. Unfortunately the downloadable free trial version isn't legally available anymore, but a month's subscription is only like $6.

[Silma]

First of all, I'd like to welcome you to Dnd!!! I'll be glad to help you in any way I can. I will provide some basic information, but feel free to send me a PM with any questions you may have.
Also, when I finish explaining all the rules, I will make a sample character sheet and explain where everything goes.

Okay...where do we start?

Well. Creating a character.
When creating a character, the two things you must do first are to choose a race and a class.
The race will give you a bonus to some abilities, skills and defenses, as well as a bonus power.
The class will more or less define what your character can do.

Ability Scores.
the six abilities an the game are STR, CON, DEX, INT, WIS, CHA.
Those abilities affect how strong your attacks will be, your defenses and your skills.
The tricky part about the ability scores is the modifier.
The Ability Score is different than the Ability Modifier. In fact the Ability Score does almost nothing by itself. All it does is to determine what your modifier will be. A Score of 10-11 has a modifier of (0). 12-13 has a modifier of (+1) and so on. there is the possibility of negative modifiers. A score of 8-9 gives a modifier of (-1).
The Ability Score is ofter a perquisite for many feats (we'll talk about them later)


Defenses
Your defenses show how easily you can avoid being hit by different types of attacks. They have nothing to do with how much damage you will take.
Your 4 defenses are AC, Fortitude, Reflex, Will.

AC is basically your ability to evade physical attacks like a sword blow. This includes evading the attack, blocking it with your weapon or shield, deflecting it with your armor, or reading the enemies attacks. Your AC is 10 + 1/2 of your level + your armor bonus (each armor gives a +X bonus to AC).
Now if you are wearing light armor or no armor (cloth armor, robes, leather armor, hide armor) you get to add your DEX OR INT Modifier (whichever is higher) to your AC. If you are using a shield you also add your shield bonus as well.

Fortitude is your ability to ignore attacks through sheer force or through physical well-being. You use fortitude to protect yourself from poisons, frost or dark energy, mostly.
Your Fort defense is 10 + 1/2 level + your STR OR CON Modifier (whichever is higher).

Reflex is your ability to evade attacks through quick movements, careful positioning or even blocking with your shield. Attacks like lightning bolts or fireballs usually target your reflex. Your Reflex is 10 + 1/2 level + your DEX OR INT Modifier (whichever is higher) + your shield bonus (if you use a shield)

Will is your ability to evade attacks that target your mind, through sheer will power, or deeper concentration. Your will is 10 + 1/2 level + your WIS OR CHA Modifier (whichever is higher)

Note that some feats will also give you a bonus to one or more defenses. In that case you simply add it to the corresponding defense.


Skills

Your skills are basically what your character can do outside of combat. (They are often use inside of combat too though)
They are use in the form of Skill Checks
A Skill Check is basically a challenge. You try something to see if you will succeed or not. What you do is roll a d20 (20-sided-die), take the result and add the bonus of the skill that you were using. In order to succeed, you must beat a DC (Difficulty Class) determined by the DM.
For Example. Let's say you want to try to jump from one roof to the next. That will require an Athletics Check. The DM sets the DC (the DC is higher if the roofs are far away and lower if they are close). You then roll a d20. Lets say the result is 9. You then add your Athletics bonus. Lets assume that you have a bonus of 6. You add 9+6 and your Athletics Check Result is 15. If 15 beats the DC, you succeed and land on the other roof. If not, you fall down.
Each time you want to attempt something like that, you make a new Skill Check.
Now, lets see how the skill bonus is determined.
Each skill falls under one Ability. For Example your Thievery Skill is influenced by your Dexterity.
Your skill bonus is 1/2 level (your character's level that is) + the corresponding Ability Modifier (NOT Score) + any racial bonuses you might have (some races give a bonus to certain skills) + 5 (if you are trained in this skill)
Your class determined in which skills you can be trained, but you can also gain training in a skill by spending a feat.




General Reminders
1. Bonuses of the same type do not stack. Which means that is you hold a shield in each hand, you only gain the bonus to AC and Reflex ONCE. That's because the shield gives a shield bonus to AC and Reflex.
When you have 2 bonuses of the same type, you only add the higher of the two.
Same goes for feat bonuses
If two different feats give you a feat bonus to a specific Defense or Skill or whatever, you only gain the higher of the two. If a feat gives a feat bonus to something, it will be mentioned in the feat description. If it doesn't specifically say that you gain a feat bonus, then that bonus stacks with anything else




Will keep adding things.

[Akowrules]

Thank you so much all of you, this has helped me IMMENSLEY! And thank you fr clarifying in the ability defenses, which are ow not abnormally high

[Akowrules]

If there is any other tips you people would like to give, I would appreciate it :smallbiggrin:

[Tegu8788]

Put the pointy end in the bad guy.

But more helpfully advice, check this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230158) out.

If you want to get real complicated, I present a chart (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AtNpg2ePSBVcdEw3T0hZV1ZzQ0ktcVRmZ0d4eFJQV0 E) of workable hybrids, still in progress.