Character Creation Corner - OD&D (3LBB) - Kargan Emberforge


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 post will cover roll #10. This roll had our biggest difference between highest and lowest score (though stay tuned for the next one.) Strength was 15 unmodified, and Constitution 12, so I decided to make this character a Fighter and a Dwarf. For each character I determined gender by rolling 2d4, one pink and one blue, taking the higher die. Our doughty dwarf came up as only our second male character so far. Since we don't have a setting yet, I used the Name Generator at capitalizemytitle.com, and got 'Kargan Emberforge.'


The rolls were: Strength 15, Intelligence 14, Wisdom 9, Constitution 12, Dexterity 5, Charisma 10. Starting Gold is also 3d6, multiplied by 10, and Kargan got to start out with 90gp.

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. Wisdom of 9 can't be used based on that interpretation, but Intelligence can feed Strength on a 2-for-1 basis. Now, I could have kept Strength 15 and Intelligence 14 and made an Elf, but I didn't feel right making an Elf with 5 Dexterity, and we didn't have a Dwarf yet. I lowered Intelligence twice to 10 to raise Strength to 17.

Ability Scores in OD&D don't have a lot of different rolls and modifiers associated with them. Our Strength of 17 doesn't give us any benefit other a 10% Experience bonus (which we would have gotten with 15, but there's always the possibility we might have to run an ability check to address something on the fly. Intelligence of 10 has no effect beyond not granting us a bonus language (if we hadn't dropped it, we would have gotten 4 additional languages.) Wisdom of 9 has no effect on us either positive or negative. Constitution of 12 does not positively or negatively affect our Hit Points, and gives us a '90% 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 5 gives Kargan a -1 penalty to missile attacks. Finally, 10 Charisma gives us a maximum # of Hirelings of 4, and no modifier to Loyalty Base.

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 'Veterans' - level 1 Fighters - getting 1HD+1. For Kargan, I rolled a 5, giving him 6 starting Hit Points. For Languages, all characters get 'Common,' and their Alignment language. Dwarves additionally get Dwarf (it actually does not specifically say this in the text, but it does say Elves get Elf, and it makes sense to me that Dwarves get their own language), Gnome, Goblin and Kobold. For Saving Throws, Dwarves (and Halflings) get their saving throws by class, but as if they were 4 levels higher. Swashbucklers (level 5 Fighters) get 10 vs. Death Ray or Poison, 11 vs. Wands (including Polymorph or Paralyzation), 12 vs. Stone (Petrification), 13 vs. Dragon Breath, and 14 vs. Staves and Spells.

Equipment

Kargan started with 90gp, and has 8gp left after shopping. As a Dwarf fighter, and with his shockingly low Dexterity, I decided to for making Kargan the tankiest tank to ever tank - Plate Mail and a Shield put his Armor Class at the best possible in just the original rules without magic, at 2.  For weapons, you can't get much more iconic for a Dwarf warrior than a Battle Axe or a Warhammer, and Warhammer isn't on the list, so we gave him a Battle Axe. The rest of Kargan's equipment includes some Standard Rations, a Backpack, a Waterskin, a Large Sack, a Small Sack, and 12 Iron Spikes. All this equipment puts us at 1080GP Encumbrance, putting us just into Armored Foot movement at 60'.


Putting it All Together

We expand on this when we start putting together our setting, but all these numbers and rolls can start to give us a picture of what Kargan Emberforge is like. First, Ability Scores. Kargan's Strength is 17, well above average. He likely had to contribute to whatever the clan trade was, building his muscle, before taking up the life of the adventurer, and wearing all that heavy armor while holding a shield in one hand and swinging a mighty battle axe in the other keeps his Strength at peak. Intelligence of 10 is average. He learned his Clan's trade, and the languages common in the underground realms, but that about exhausted his studiousness. Wisdom is 9 - Kargan is brash (at least by Dwarven standards), giving up honest craft work to gallavant about, but he's still a bit more sensible than our resident hothead, Seraphina. Constitution comes in at the high end of average at 12, and every bit of it is needed to adventure in plate mail with heavy weapons! Now, that 5 Dexterity. One typically doesn't think of Dexterity as a Dwarven strong suit, but this is a false assumption - all that fine craftsmanship requires great manual Dexterity to make every line and angle perfect and every detail flawless. So I envision Kargan not as stumbling and lurching about, but as being rather ham-fisted and fumble-fingered.  Having no proficiency with the fine detail-work of the Clan crafts, he knew he would likely be relegated to pumping bellows or carting metal or stone for the rest of his life, and, frustrated, he chose to seek adventure instead. Charisma of 10 is average. Kargan can be dour and laconic in the Dwarven manner, only really opening up after a long period of building trust (or after several ales!)

So, overall, I think Kargan is going to be the immovable mountain rock of the party. Both physically, and as far as following Lawful behavior and their contracts. He's still deciding what to make of his party, and whether to open up to them, but he agreed to form the party and that means he'll defend them to the death in combat.

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