<span class="bbc_u"><strong>Character creation</strong></span><br/><br/>Here are the rules and guidelines for character creation. When you've built a character, send it (a sheet and a background of at least a couple of paragraphs) to me in PM, and if it's all good, I'll ask you to post it in the character thread.<br/><br/>All PCs start at level 1, at least at this time. 32 point buy<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">details</div><div class="spoiler_body">All ability scores start at 8, and you have 32 points to spend on them. Raising scores from 8 to 14 costs one point each. Raising them to 15 or 16 costs two points each, raising them to 17 or 18 costs three points each.</div></div>, no dice involved.<br/><br/>All classes from the main 3.5 line of books are available, including psionics. Some classes (like ninja) will have certain geographic and cultural requirements. Check with me before building anything too outlandish, though, like the classes from Tome of Magic. The racial paragon classes are also okay.<br/><br/>Most (0 ECL) races are fine - again, check with me before choosing anything too odd. If you especially want to play something that has a level adjustment, we can try to work something out, but assume not.<br/><br/>Everyone gets the Apprentice feat for free! This is a feat from the DMG2. It means that your character has a mentor who is helping them to learn their skills, and will also throw social opportunities their way from time to time.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Apprentice mechanics</div><div class="spoiler_body">An Apprentice gains two new skills to add to their list of class skills (if they didn't already have those skills in-class), and two bonus skill points to spend on them. They also gain a unique bonus specific to the type of mentor they have.<br/><br/>Craftsman: +2 to Craft checks, 10% discount on purchasing materials to craft items (including magic items). Skills: Appraise, Knowledge (architecture and engineering).<br/>Criminal: +2 to Intimidate checks, and gain £10 times your new character level every time you gain a level (so you start with £25 instead of £15). Skills: Bluff, Gather Information.<br/>Entertainer: +2 to Diplomacy checks, can call on a fan of half your character level for aid, once per level. Skills: Diplomacy, Perform.<br/>Martial Artist: +2 to Intimidate checks and Reflex saves. Skills: Concentration, Tumble.<br/>Philosopher: +2 to Concentration checks and Will saves. Skills: Knowledge (any one), Sense Motive.<br/>Soldier: +2 to Intimidate checks and Fortitude saves. Skills: Intimidate, Knowledge (local).<br/>Spellcaster: +2 to Spellcraft checks, and a unique bonus depending on what sort of spellcaster you are. Skills: Knowledge (any one), Use Magic Device.<br/>Woodsman: +2 to Survival checks, can track as if possessing the Track feat if the DC is 20 or lower. Skills: Knowledge (nature), Survival.<br/><br/>When the apprentice reaches level 5, he graduates from his apprenticeship, although he retains most of the benefits. He then gains the Mentor feat, which I will detail at the appropriate time, but it means you'll have apprentices of your own!<br/><br/>You can also call on your mentor for advice and occasionally aid. Of course, he will want things from you too.</div></div><br/><br/>No Traits and Flaws, at least not from a mechanical perspective.<br/><br/><strong>Newly added:</strong>The "level 1 multiclassing" rules from the 3.0 DMG are available. This lets you take half a level in two different classes at level 1, giving you some features of each class, in preparation for becoming a 1/1 multiclass at level 2. Let me know if you think this is appropriate for your character, and I'll go over the details with you. (Only for ordinary base classes - not template classes or racial paragon classes.)<br/><br/>Things to consider about your character:<br/><br/>- Race and nationality: England is a predominantly human nation, but has a lot of hobgoblins and elves, and members of almost any race can be found within its shores. Tension between different races is usually over nationality than their actual physical differences - a fight between humans and elves is probably really a fight between Englishmen and Frenchmen at its core. If your character is British, from which part of Britain?<br/><br/>- Names. First names are often chosen along racial lines, while surnames are usually of national origin. Hence, a French elf might be named "Lomadriethiel Artoix", while a Scottish dwarf might be "Duergrim Macintyre".<br/><br/>- Social class. This is very important in Britain at this point in history. There are several ways to be in any given social class. Lower-class characters might be rural farmers, urban factory workers or outright criminals. Middle-class characters may be professional doctors, lawyers or spellcasters, or merchants whose families are rivalling the nobility in wealth. Upper-class characters might be nobility or landed gentry, and may have a profession (military, government, the clergy) that still qualifies them as "genteel".<br/><br/>- Family. Obviously important for upper-class characters, as good breeding is everything, and if your parents or grandparents actually worked for a living, that makes you new money and hence scum. But for all characters, who are your parents? Are they alive? Did you even know them? Do you have any siblings? Are you married? If not, why not, and do you intend to marry later?<br/><br/>- Profession. Not the same thing as "character class", although of course the two are related. A fighter might be an enlisted soldier, an officer, or a mercenary, and the Army and Navy are two very different entities. A cleric might be a parish priest with responsibilities to the moral upkeep of his parishoners, or an academic studying the lore of his god in a cloistered church or university hall. A rogue might be a common street thief or a high-class schemer.<br/><br/>- Education. Over the last few decades, the Church of Boccob has opened a number of "charity schools" that teach basic literacy and numeracy to children free of charge, funded by church tithes and charitable donations. It's not a perfect system by any stretch, and many families can't even afford to send their children to a free school when they could be working in fields or factories, but the educational level of Britain has been rising steadily throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. Wealthier families can afford more expensive schools or even private tuition. University is required for wizards and clerics (with some few exceptions), but many characters can benefit from a university education - even sorcerers sometimes go to Oxford to study arcane theory.<br/><br/>- Ambitions. An important part of this game is going to be your character's ambitions. What do they want to do with their life? Where do they see themselves in twenty years? Surrounded by money? Children? Minions? Worshippers? The more you can tell me about this, the more I can tailor plot events to facilitate your character's progression.