Character Creation Corner - OD&D (3LBB) - Elysia Brightstone


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. This time, we're covering roll #9. This was somewhat of a lopsided roll - our 3 non-Prime-Requisite Abilities were all below average, and the 3 Prime Requisite scores were all above average. Wisdom was the highest, though, so I decided this character would be our first Cleric. For each character I determined gender by rolling 2d4, one pink and one blue, taking the higher die. Our cleric came up as our fourth female of five characters so far. Since we don't have a setting yet, I used the Name Generator at capitalizemytitle.com, and got 'Elysia Brightstone.'


The rolls were: Strength 13, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 14, Constitution 9, Dexterity 9, Charisma 8. Starting Gold is also 3d6, multiplied by 10, and Elysia got to start out with 80gp.

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. With all 3 Prime Requisite scores above average, Elysia is our first opportunity to really illustrate the power of this. Clerics are able to boost their Wisdom using Strength on a 3-for-1 basis, and/or Intelligence on a 2-for-1 basis. I dropped Elysia's Strength from 13 to 10, giving her a Wisdom of 15, and Intelligence twice to 9, bringing Wisdom up to 17.


Ability Scores in OD&D don't have a lot of different rolls and modifiers associated with them. Strength of 10 has no effect either positive or negative for Elysia. Similarly, Intelligence of 9 has no effect beyond not granting us a bonus language. Wisdom of 17 gives us a 10% boost to Experience earned. 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.' A Dexterity of 8 give Elysia a -1 penalty to missile attacks (but a Cleric would pretty much be limited slings for ranged combat, anyway.) Finally, 8 Charisma - our lowest so far - gives us a maximum # of Hirelings of 2, and our first negative modifier to Loyalty Base of -1.

Other Character Choices and Rolls

I decided on the alignment of 'Lawful' for all 8 characters. Alignment is not well defined 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 'Acolytes' - level 1 Clerics - getting 1HD. For Elysia, I rolled a 2, not great!. For Languages, all characters get 'Common,' and their Alignment language. For Saving Throws, an Acolyte (level 1 Cleric) gets 11 vs. Death Ray or Poison, 12 vs. Wands (including Polymorph or Paralyzation), 14 vs. Stone (Petrification), 16 vs. Dragon Breath, and 15 vs. Staves and Spells.

Equipment

Elysia got 80gp to start with, with only 3gp remaining after shopping! I went with Chainmail, but no Shield, giving her an Armor Class of 5  Weapons for Clerics are restricted to non-edged weapons - no slashing or piercing. I have bought Elysia a Mace. The rest of our equipment includes some Standard Rations, a Backpack, a Wooden Cross, a Waterskin, a Large Sack, a Small Sack, 6 Torches, and a Vial of Holy Water. All this equipment puts us at 630GP Encumbrance, putting us at base Movement of (I believe) 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. Another major difference between this and most later editions, is that level 1 Clerics do not get any spells! We do, however, have the iconic ability to Turn Undead.

Putting it All Together

We expand on this when we start putting together our setting (soon! Only 3 more characters to go!), but all these numbers and rolls can start to give us a picture of what Elysia Brightstone is like. First, Ability Scores. Her Strength is 10, average. She's not the strongest, but has enough muscle to wear her armor and swing her Mace. Intelligence of 9 is at the low end of average. She's educated, as all temple Acolytes are, but her education has focused more on scriptures, doctrines and parables than on analytical, critical or creative thought. However, Elysia excelled at those studies, evidenced by her Wisdom of 17. She would often spend more time in prayer or contemplation than exercise, putting her Constitution at the low end of average, 9, and her Dexterity below average, at 8. She has a stern, pious demeanor, which can come across as judgmental, putting her Charisma below average at 8.

To me, Elysia is very earnest and devout. While she may seem stern and judgmental, her heart is in the right place. She may not always be the most pleasant companion, but her party will be unlikely to complain when confronted by undead, or when she finally gains access to healing magics.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Setting the Setting - OD&D (3LBB) & AD&D2e - Part 11 - Cultures: Soltari Humans

Image
It's finally time to detail the final culture in my OD&D setting, the Eldorian Isles! So far, in the Cultures subseries of these Setting the Setting posts, I've detailed the dominant culture of the area - Eldorian Humans - our three major cultures - the mercantile Thunderan Dwarves, the Egyptian-like Sunari Elves, and the militaristic, Roman Empire inspired Tauren Minotaurs - and four of our minor cultures - the Vindhyaksha Goblins, the Hearthwarden Halflings, the Drak'Thul Lizard Men, and last week, the Drogathi Stormcleaver Orcs. Now comes our final minor culture - well, minor while currently being dominant - and this is our second Human culture. For the Cultural Archetype for this culture, I rolled on the World Builder's Guide Cultural Characteristics Table on page 43.  The result was Arabic, particularly fun for me having lived for one year in the Middle East. Arabic: The campaign has a fantastic Arabian feel, modelled after A Thousand and One Nights or the sto...
Read more

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

Image
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 ar...
Read more

Setting the Setting - OD&D (3LBB) & AD&D2e - Part 3 - Cultures: Eldorian Human

Image
  In the first two posts on generating a setting for a try at soloing Original D&D, I used 2nd Edition World Builder's Guidebook to generate some World Hooks for the world our characters will adventure in, then generating some ideas for what the Local Campaign Area would be like, culminating in generating some cultures to populate it. This will be the first post taking a closer look at one of those cultures, some rolls and choices to further define, and breathing some life into it. We'll start with looking at the dominant culture of the area, one of 2 human cultures. For the Culture Archetype, I selected European Middle Ages. At its core, I wanted the culture to still have that familiar (TSR) D&D feeling.  However, there will be acknowledgement of the environment as well. A European Middle Ages culture doesn't just spring up on a large, grassy isle in a tropical sea, and if such a culture settles in such a place, there will be adaptations. European, Middle Ages: Th...
Read more