Character Creation Questions

[Darkranger85]

Hey all,

I'm a new player thats trying to learn the game.

I'm building a character for an up coming game and a few things, so far, have confused me.

[I'm using myth-weaver.com]

What do you put down for the 'speed' slot in the armor section? The items seem to have 2 speed values for '30 feet' and '20 feet' and I don't know what that means.

Also, what do I put in the 'Total attack bonus' slot on weapons. I don't see that stat on the weapons list. Or is this the same as my characters total attack bonus?

Then, on the subject of the TAB, what does it mean when this stat has two numbers, like '+9/+4'?

Thank you guys ahead of time! :)

[Doc_Maynot]

1. The Speed section asks what your race's natural speed is, and then tells you what it is when wearing the armour.

2. Total attack bonus refers to the base attack bonus from your class + the relevant modifiers from either Dex or Str. I also use that space to add in bonuses from a weapon being masterwork or in the case of a magic weapon, an enhancement bonus.

3. +9/+4 means that if you dedicate the entire round to attacking, you can make two attacks, one with a +9 modifier, the other at +4.

[Darkranger85]

Thank you so much! :)

I have a few additional questions as well.

I've been looking at other peoples character sheets for ideas and I'm wondering.

How many things can you have "equipped?"

I thought that I could have my armor, my weapon, and either a second weapon [if Two Weapon Fighting] or a Shield.

But I see people with a weapon on each hip, a bow on their back, another thing hanging on their belt, daggers in their boots, etc etc.

How does this work? I didn't see it say anything about this in the PHB.

[Doc_Maynot]

You can have as many things equipped as you have places to put them/the strength to carry them. The only limitations are when it comes to bonuses from magic items. ex. Having a magic helm tied to your waist won't give you it's bonuses.

[Abaddona]

For nonmagical equipment? Basically everything you can logically have equipped at the same time. For magical equipment - there is listed numbers of slots you can use (for example only two rings, one amulet etc.). As for weapons - in other books there is vast number of various non-standard weapons such as crossbows hidden in the gauntlets, hidden knifes, there are even weapons you can use by wielding them in your tail (if you are of race which has one) - most of them requires exotic weapon proficiency, but many players like to use them even without it simply because it's cheaper to have multiple weapons with various enchantments on each of them, than one weapon with all this enchantments (also some magical bonuses are good only in very specific situations) - also if you loose you weapon (disarming, sundering, city guards confiscated your weaons etc.) you have spare on hand. Also many monsters have damage reduction - for example skeletons are hard to damage with piercing and slashing weapons, so it's good to have a source of bludgeoning damage on hand (even simple club can be of great help). There are also situations where you cannot attack your target in melee (classic: enemy is flying) so being able to attack from range means that you are at least contributing a little instead of standing still and waitig for the rest of your party to finish of such encounter. Last thing - sword and board style of fight is suboptimal but shields have far more uses than simply getting some points to AC - for example you can use solid chunk of metal to bypass certain traps etc.
When you are creating 1 lvl character you don't have enough gold to buy all of this (but some source of other damage type than your main weapon is a must - even if this is simple club or dagger) but with time you will see what items are good to have.

[Darkranger85]

Ok, so speaking of in game, say there are two situations.

1. I have a backup dagger in my boot.

2. I have a backup dagger in my backpack.

Is there a difference mechanics-wise as to how I go about getting at my weapon?

[Doc_Maynot]

Both would be covered by the move action.

[Abaddona]

Yes and no. If you have a weapon on hand (for example strapped to your belt) then you can draw it as a move action or (if you have BAB +1 or more) as a part of your move action (you are drawing your weapon when moving). If you have weapon in your backpack you must take it first from it which takes time and provokes an attack of opportunity (unless you have Haversack or something like that).
In your specific example - drawing dagger from your boot would work as retrieving it froom backpack, but your DM may rule that in specific situations you can't retrieve it from backpack but would be able to do it from your boot - for example when climbing. It generally depends on how much DM wants to make a game realistic, some will simply handwave that, others will give you circumstance penalties to check.

[Darkranger85]

Thank you both, very helpful information!

Heres another.

When you have a horse, do you make a separate sheet for it? The reason I ask is because of the weight slot on my characters sheet. If I list the items that the horse is carrying in my list, it shows me as carrying a heavy load.

EDIT: about the Haversack as well. How do you figure it's weight into your list considering it always weighs 5lbs?

For items in the sack and on the horse do I simply leave the weight unwritten?

[Urpriest]

Thank you both, very helpful information!

Heres another.

When you have a horse, do you make a separate sheet for it? The reason I ask is because of the weight slot on my characters sheet. If I list the items that the horse is carrying in my list, it shows me as carrying a heavy load.

EDIT: about the Haversack as well. How do you figure it's weight into your list considering it always weighs 5lbs?

For items in the sack and on the horse do I simply leave the weight unwritten?

Are you using a digital character sheet, or a real one?

If it's a real one, just keep track of the weight by yourself, adding up only the weight you're actually carrying.

If it's a digital one, my suggestion would be to not list the weight of anything that isn't weighing you down, and instead keep track of it by hand or in a separate text file/spreadsheet.

As for the more general question of if your horse needs a character sheet, since it's probably just the horse from the monster manual you probably can just reference that for most things. That said, I think it's often good to have a character sheet for each pet like that that can engage in combat, but you have to be familiar with the monster rules to understand how to put one together. The guide in my sig should be a good start if you're interested in learning that stuff (in general, learning the monster rules makes a lot of the rest of the game make much more sense).

[Darkranger85]

Thanks man, that helps a lot. I will take a look at that guide too.

And I'm using myth-weaver.com for the character sheet.

[Urpriest]

Thanks man, that helps a lot. I will take a look at that guide too.

And I'm using myth-weaver.com for the character sheet.

Ah yes, should have seen that in the OP, my bad.

And yeah, generally when using a digital character sheet you occasionally have to cheat the program a tad, since they don't take into account everything you can do in the rules. :smallwink:

[Darkranger85]

Noted! :)

I'd love for people to have a look at my CS and let me know how I'm doing so far.

I have not yet spent all my skill points as I'm unsure if I should put some in Knowledge or not and if so, which knowledge.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=712471