Character Creation Corner - OD&D (3LBB) - Kaelen Oathkeeper

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. Today, I'm covering roll #6. Based on this character's ability scores, I decided to make this character a (human) Fighter. For each character I determined gender by rolling 2d4, one pink and one blue, taking the higher die. This human Fighter will be male. Since I haven't worked on a setting yet, I used the Name Generator at capitalizemytitle.com, and got 'Kaelen Oathkeeper.'


The rolls were: Strength 12, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 11, Constitution 11, Dexterity 9, Charisma 12. Starting Gold is also 3d6, multiplied by 10, and Kaelen gets to start with 90gp. Fighter was chosen due to Strength being the highest of the three Prime Requisite scores.

Original D&D 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. While it's not stated in the original books, I've seen and heard it mentioned elsewhere that such methods cannot reduce the score being dropped below 9. Unfortunately, neither Kaelen's Intelligence nor his Wisdom were high enough to sacrifice 3 points to pump Strength by 1. 

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.) Our Intelligence of 10 and Wisdom of 11 similarly have no effect. Constitution of 11 does not have any effect on our hit point rolls, but gives us an '80% chance of survival,' something which is only lightly explained, but which I interpret as being what we would later call 'System Shock.' Dexterity of 9 does not give us a bonus or penalty to missile attacks. Finally, 12 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' for all 8 characters. Alignment is 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, with 'Veterans' - level 1 Fighters, getting 1HD+1. Unfortunately, Kaelen's roll was a 2, giving our Fighter a starting HP of 3. For Languages, all characters get 'Common,' and their Alignment language. Kaelen doesn't get any bonus languages for Intelligence, so his starting languages are Common and Lawful. For Saving Throws, a Veteran gets 12 vs. Death Ray or Poison, 13 vs. Wands (including Polymorph or Paralyzation), 14 vs. Stone (Petrification), 15 vs. Dragon Breath, and 16 vs. Staves and Spells.

Equipment

Kaelen started off with 90gp, and is now down to 11gp. As a Fighter, and with such an abysmal HP roll, I earmarked 60gp right away for Plate Mail and a Shield (giving us an AC of 2.)  Weapon wise, I saved some gp by going with a Spear (all weapons in this version of the rules deal 1d6 damage.) Rounding out our equipment is some Standard Rations, Backpack, Rope, Waterskin, Large Sack, Small Sack, 6 Torches, 12 Iron Spikes, a 10' Pole, and 3 Stakes and a Mallet. All this equipment puts us at 1030GP Encumbrance, putting us just inside Armored Foot movement rate of 60'.

Putting it All Together

We can expand on this when we start putting our setting together, but all these numbers and rolls can start to give us an idea of Kaelen Oathkeeper's character. First, Ability Scores. A Strength of 12 is described as the high end of average - Kaelen's no Conan, but strong enough to justify trying his luck as an adventuring Fighter. Intelligence of 10 and Wisdom of 11 are average - Kaelen's reasonably learned and sharp, with a simple common sense. 90 starting gold would be the low end of average, so I envision Kaelen having a town background, maybe a family of laborers. It's not an easy life, giving him a Constitution of 11, but not as hard as the rural life. He's definitely more used to using his Strength than his manual Dexterity, putting that ability at the low end of average, at 9. Growing up in town, he's dealt with people all his life and is quite comfortable doing so, with his Charisma at 12.

I think Kaelen is an eager young man, ready and willing to prove himself as more than just a normal townsfolk with a collection of average abilities. He saved up to outfit himself as well as possible, and hopes to find enough treasure with the party to further enhance his capabilities. His equipment places him on the frontline, but he'll have to be extremely careful and prudent until he gets some more HP.

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