Character Creation Corner - OD&D (3LBB) - Thalindra Aelrindor

The first set of characters I'll be making are for Original Dungeons & Dragons, using only the original '3 Little Brown Books,' though I have them in the form of last year's 'Big Red Book.' I'll get to characters using the supplements, and probably some magazine or third party content later.

Ability Scores

I rolled characters using 3d6 in order, keeping 8 out of 12 sets of rolls. Our first showcase for this party is roll #5, which I decided to make an Elf based on the stats. For each character I determined gender by rolling 2d4, one pink and one blue, taking the higher die. Our elf came up female. Since we don't have a setting yet, I used the Name Generator at capitalizemytitle.com, and got 'Thalindra Aelrindor.'

The rolls were: Strength 12, Intelligence 14, Wisdom 11, Constitution 9, Dexterity 10, Charisma 11. Starting Gold is also 3d6, multiplied by 10, and Thalindra got to start out with a whopping 160gp!

Elves in the original boxed set are both Fighters and Magic-Users - not in the sense that we would normally think of a multi-class character today, or even in the same way as Basic Edition's later 'Race-as-Class' Elf. To quote the books, "Elves can begin as either Fighting-Men or Magic-Users and freely switch class whenever they choose, from adventure to adventure, but not during the course of a single game. Thus, they gain the benefits of both classes and may use both weaponry and spells. They may use magic armor and still act as Magic-Users." My interpretation of this is that we can use our abilities at any time, but in any given session we earn Experience only towards one class or the other. 

This roll had decent Strength (the Prime Requisite of Fighters) and Intelligence (the Prime Requisite of Magic-Users), and at least average Dexterity and Charisma, which is why my instinct was for this to be an elf character.

Original D&D also contains a mechanic for adjusting scores, allowing one to subtract from the Prime Requisites of the unchosen classes to enhance the chosen Prime Requisites on a 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 basis. However, as elves are both Fighters and Magic-Users, our only score to pull from in this case was Wisdom. While it would have been nice to pump our Strength of 12, Wisdom can feed Strength as 3-for-1, which would have dropped our Wisdom to 8, and while it's not stated in the original books, it is mentioned elsewhere that such methods cannot reduce the score being dropped below 9. Intelligence, however, can cannibalize Wisdom on a 2-for-1 basis, so I reduced Thalindra's Wisdom from 11 to 9 and increased Intelligence from 14 to 15. 

In contrast to later editions, Ability Scores at this time don't have a lot of different rolls and modifiers associated with them. Our Strength of 12 has no effect either positive or negative for us (though if we had been able to boost it even by 1, we would have earned an Experience bonus when adventuring as a Fighter.) Our Intelligence, however, does earn us an Experience bonus as a Magic-User, and increasing our score from 14 to 15 increased that bonus from 5% to 10%. Intelligence of 15 also gives 5 bonus languages. Our new Wisdom of 9 has no real mechanical effect. Constitution of 9 does not positively or negatively affect our Hit Points, and gives us a '60% chance of survival,' something which is only lightly explained, but which I interpret as being what we would later call 'System Shock.' "Constitution is a combination of health and endurance. It will influence such things as the number of hits which can be taken and how well the character can withstand being paralyzed, turned to stone, etc." Dexterity of 10 does not give us a bonus or penalty to missile attacks. Finally, 11 Charisma grants us a maximum # of Hirelings of 4, and no modifier to Loyalty Base.

Other Character Choices and Rolls

I chose the alignment of 'Lawful,' as I did for all 8 characters. Alignment is also not well explained in this edition, but one interpretation I've seen more than once is that Alignment for OD&D is less about individual character morality and more about what side the character supports in a great cosmic struggle between the forces of order and chaos.

All (3) character classes in the original release have a Hit Die of D6. I haven't seen anything official in the book for determination of Multi-Class Hit Points, but being a 2nd Edition player of 35 years, rolling as a Fighter (1HD+1) and a Magic-User (1HD) and taking the average felt right to me for a level 1/1 Elf, and Thalindra ended up with 4 HP. For Languages, all characters get 'Common,' and their Alignment language. I've seen Alignment languages take a lot of criticism over the years, but if you look at Alignment in the context of the cosmic struggle, it makes more sense - the agents of Order and Chaos would have means of private communication, as would the defenders of balance. The normal everyday person likely wouldn't know these, or even know of them, but as adventurers with the potential to affect the balance of power, it makes sense Player Characters would have been courted by the side they favor and have learned these secrets. As an Elf, we also automatically know Elf, Orc, Hobgoblin and Gnoll. Finally, we have 5 bonus languages for our Intelligence.  I added the bonus languages a Dwarf would get (Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin and Kobold), and added Giant. For Saving Throws, again it's not explained how this would work for an Elf, but I went with the 2e standard of taking the better number either of our classes would have access to for each category. This gives us 12 vs. Death Ray or Poison, 13 vs. Wands (including Polymorph or Paralyzation), 13 vs. Stone (Petrification), 15 vs. Dragon Breath, and 15 vs. Staves and Spells.

Equipment

Thalindra started off pretty loaded, with 160gp. She is down to 44gp now, after purchasing: Chainmail and a Shield (giving us an AC of 4), a Sword (all weapons in this version of the rules deal 1d6 damage), a Backpack, Large Sack, Small Sack and Waterskin, Standard Rations, a Lantern, a Flask of Oil, a Silver Mirror, a bud of Garlic, a bunch of Wolvesbane and a bunch of Belladonna. Some of our other characters ended up with much less starting gold or remaining gold, so Thalindra may end up bankrolling our party's initial stay in town! All this equipment puts us at 780GP Encumbrance, meaning that we'll be moving at Heavy Foot rate of 90'.

Spells

OD&D appears to assume that both Magic-Users and Clerics use Spell Books, and that when you gain a Spell Level, you gain a Spell Book with all the Spells in that Level. We'll see if that's how I do it when either Thalindra or our Magic-User gain second-level spells, or when either of our Clerics obtain first level spells. For now, Thalindra has a Spell Book containing Charm Person, Detect Magic, Hold Portal, Light, Protection from Evil, Read Languages, Read Magic and Sleep.  She has currently memorized Sleep.

Putting it All Together

We can add to this when we start putting together a rudimentary setting, but all these numbers and rolls can start to give us a picture of what Thalindra Aelrindor is like. First, Ability Scores. A Strength of 12 clearly indicates that Thalindra has put some effort into her martial studies despite her slight leaning toward the scholarly and magical side. Intelligence of 15 definitely indicates a focus on study and intellect, though, as illustrated by her staggering 11 languages! However, apparently coming from wealth, and learning primarily from tutors and trainers, Thalindra does not have a lot of practical experience, combining with the elven predilection for being considered flighty, showing her Wisdom score at the low end of average, at 9. Similarly, despite her training with a sword, she'd rather devote time to her books than to conditioning, as illustrated by her 9 Constitution. She hasn't practiced much with the bow, or exploring the treetops, for an average Dexterity of 10. She has the natural elven beauty and charm, but her predilection to get lost in thought can make her seem aloof, with her Charisma at 11.

She likes to be prepared and have all her bases covered, hence her wide selection of equipment and tidy emergency fund - she'll likely be the party member that takes charge of inventory and divvying, and probably take up the task of urging members to prepare properly.