Character Creation

Begin with the End in Mind

In AD&D, the end game begins with the achievement of "name level" when characters of most classes can "clear an area" and collect revenue from its inhabitants due to trade, tariffs, and taxes. Some will attract followers, may build a stronghold, can create new magic items, and so on. While accumulating the experience and wealth my character requires to enter this stage of the game, I will be seeking out his ideal place in the world.

With respect to such an end game, the cleric makes an attractive choice as name level requires only 225,001 experience points to achieve, stronghold construction costs are halved compared to every other class, and the allotted territory revenue is higher than any other class at 9 silver per inhabitant per month. As a bonus, the cleric attracts followers as early as 8th level with only 110,001 experience and these average a force of 113 men-at-arms in mixed cavalry and infantry configurations.

The druid, on the other hand, never really shifts into this mode of play, instead having to displace senior druids in order to progress past 11th level, topping out at 14th level, and ever after 11th level defending himself against upstarts. The druid's life doesn't interest me even if my dice qualify my character!

The fighter is a fairly close second to the cleric, needing just 25,000 more experience than the cleric to achieve his name level. The fighter attracts a slightly smaller, but more elite force than the cleric and his force includes the very large advantage of a leader of 5th to 7th level in addition to the 0-level men-at-arms. The fighter draws 7 silver per inhabitant per month, I suppose because the peasants are more afraid of the cleric's god than the fighter's hand.

Like druids, paladins do not engage in this phase of play. They suffer restrictions on their accumulation of wealth and are never entitled to clear a territory in order to collect revenue from its inhabitants. Notably though, an 8th level paladin could forsake his oaths at around, say 250k of experience points, becoming a 9th level fighter and all that that entails--having his cake as a young paladin, then eating it too as an older fighter. Worth consideration if a 17 is rolled because charisma is an excellent place to put such a high score in the long run anyway...

The ranger offers a very interesting alternative. Instead of 100 zero-levels, and maybe a leader-type, as the cleric and fighter classes offer, the ranger can look forward to a much smaller number of followers, as few as 2 and a rare maximum of 60, but a much more elite selection ranging in power from 1st level NPC to adult copper dragon! On the down side, the ranger needs 325,001 experience before attracting followers, an extra 30% over the straight fighter. An aspect of the class I'm having trouble reconciling is that rangers are permitted to own only those goods and treasure which they can carry on their person and mount, yet if they construct strongholds they conform to the fighter in the non-follower-attracting respects. How a ranger might ever possess the wealth necessary to construct a stronghold with this restriction is a mystery to solve another time if my rolls qualify the character for ranger.

I have always loved playing a magic-user character. There are some distinct disadvantages to this class at every stage of play, however. At low level they are next to useless and exquisitely vulnerable to destruction. If they can get to 5th level, they become something of a glass cannon, one devastating fireball offensive requiring piles of stouter bodies to protect for that one moment when it's needed and can be used. They don't achieve name level until 11th with 375,001 and then only to create magic items. The wizard needs to make 12th level with a whopping 750,001 experience before being eligible to clear a territory from which to collect a meager 5 silver per inhabitant per month. This one's a hard sell, and yet I cannot deny the attraction.

Illusionists conform to the characteristics of magic-users in most respects, which we may take to include territory development since it is not otherwise specified. They are able to construct magic items, of illusionary nature anyway, at 10th level with only 220,001 experience, less than 60% of the experience a magic-user needs. They achieve 12th level, and the territory development that goes with it, with 88% of the experience it takes the magic-user. I've never felt an affinity for characters of this class or its style of spells, but I can't deny the advantage in rate of advancement over the magic-user. Still, the illusionist needs more than three times the experience of a cleric before qualifying to clear a territory, so this class is off the table for me.

I'm attracted to the spies of literature and cinema and project that image into my concept of the thief class in the game. It's a class I've played in frequency second only to the magic-user. As with the magic-user, my attraction is more romantic than practical. The thief is not a builder and as such enters the end game differently from those classes which are. The thief doesn't achieve name level until 10th, but with only 160,001 experience, a little over 70% of the cleric's requisite experience, making it the earliest class to get to this stage. Instead of territory and men-at-arms, however, the thief attracts 4-24 other thieves of 1st to 7th level, and collecting revenue from a cleared territory is not an option. I can envision many interesting possibilities as my character's ambitions for this den. It's a highly intriguing prospect for playing with the right DM (I know just the one if he would only move back into proximity!), but one sure to fall flat in solo campaign or without the ideal referee.

The assassin, like the illusionist, is a class toward which I feel little attraction. Like the druid, the assassin's advancement requires eliminating his superiors after 13th level and caps at 15th anyway. The assassin's table of assassination fees immediately reminds me of Top Secret. The whole class seems strangely restricted and structured. Although the PH suggests that spying is the assassin's secondary function, the thief class seems better suited to the function by my estimation. Despite all these complaints, the idea of a class that is somewhere between the fighter and the thief which has the ability to possibly instantly kill an opponent has an appeal. If the assassin had better end game prospects I would consider it, but as presented I won't be playing a character of this class.

Finally the monk. In more than 40 years of playing this game I have never played a monk--even in games where I've walked into the room and been handed a character sheet cold. I suspect I never will. Perhaps that's too close-minded of me. In end game terms this class is almost a non-starter. The monk will never hold lands and thereby collect revenues from it. He will only have 2 - 5 followers, and they will leave service automatically at a certain point although others will join at each level of advancement. Just like the druid and the assassin, the monk has to defeat a superior to advance and is capped in advancement (at 17, unlike 15 for the assassin and 14 for the druid). For the monk, however, this "defeat a superior" requirement starts at the point of making 8th level. The monk can build a stronghold at 8th level and is permitted to retain 250,000 gold to finance this and subsequently retain sufficient funds for its upkeep. It's difficult to meet the requirements of this class with one's ability rolls, so I probably will not need to draw a final conclusion on this class anyway and will leave off my internal debate here.

Cleric, fighter, and ranger all offer good late-game play. If I roll a 17+, I'll also consider the paladin-becomes-fighter option, although the limits on wealth accumulation before renouncing his code probably impair the character too much to offset the advantages. The ranger is quite a bit slower to get there and has some complications. I'm tempted to calculate the odds of even rolling a character that qualifies for the ranger class, but I won't.

The last question before actually rolling is "what race?" The considerations are simple now that the class options are made: only humans can achieve name level as clerics and rangers. For fighters, two non-human races can achieve it: dwarf and half-orc. The half-orc tops out at 10th level, which is adequate, and the dwarf makes it to 9th only if he has an 18+ strength. Since charisma is so important to attracting and keeping good henchmen, and for the morale of followers, the penalties and lower maximums for both the dwarf and half-orc with respect to those not of the character's race are disincentives to their selection. The dwarf's need for a high strength, requiring a lower roll to be applied to charisma unless two 18s are rolled, further disincentivizes that choice. Humans have the clear advantage in the late game, and that will be my choice.

Rolling the Character

I find it interesting that the Players Handbook does not provide complete instructions for rolling up a character. The book says that players determine their characters' ability score randomly with dice, that they will range from 3 to 18, and that the referee will inform the players how to do this. The implications of that, and the fact that later editions of the game put this information into the players' hands, are interesting to me. It also says that having at least two abilities of 15+ is essential for survival.

Since I'm also on the DM's side of the screen, I will specify that "Method I," that is 4d6, drop the lowest and arrange to suit will be the method used and that a set without at least 2 scores of 15+ must be discarded while the first set that does meet that requirement must be retained.

My first set of rolls are: 14, 15, 14, 13, 11, and 12. Not quite over the line. Next set: 11, 11, 10, 14, 10, and 14 is another miss. Third try: 10, 7, 14, 17, 13, and 13 which I'd like to take, but doesn't meet the requirement. Fourth attempt: 14, 12, 14, 12, 15, and 8 dammit. Fifth: 11, 13, 16, 15, 14, and 10 makes a viable set!

The character qualifies for three of the classes I said I'd consider: cleric, fighter, and ranger and not for the other two I hadn't fully discarded, though was leaning away from anyway: paladin and monk. In order to make the character a ranger, I'd have to put either the 10 or 11 on charisma which I think would be a late-game liability, so it's just between cleric and fighter. It's a pretty close call, but I'm choosing fighter.

I'll arrange the ability scores as Str 14, Int 13, Wis 10, Dex 15, Con 11, and Cha 16. Putting the 16 on charisma instead of strength where it would buy a 10% bonus on experience points and melee adjustments is a tough call, but with the end in mind I chose to.

The 15 needed to go on Str, Dex, or Con after giving the best roll over to Cha. Given that 14 and 15 provide the same value on Str, the choice comes down to an extra hit point per level or an improvement to armor class. This easily could have gone either way, but Dex was the final decision. With no possibility of a hit point bonus, Con loses some draw for a high number. The decision about whether the 10# weight allowance improvement and 3% bend bars improvement beats an additional language or improved resurrection and system shock survival wasn't easy, but Str won out for the 14. There's no difference between 10, 11, and 13 on Wis for a fighter, so that's where the 10 goes. The final decision between 11 and 13 on Int and Con is probably most rationally concluded as the 13 going to Con, but I prefer the idea of a fighter with more brains than stamina and made the less rational choice.

With teeth gritted I rolled for psionics and thankfully got 65% so can pass on that section of the rules until a psionic foe is encountered.

For the house rule of social standing (Soc) and family background, I rolled a Soc of 8 on 2d6 indicating freeholder class, a 4 indicating the freeholder subtable, and 44 indicating hostler (meaning hotelier, not ostler) or publican.

For years I've used a house rule for hit points, and encountered others using a similar one, for first level characters having the maximum. However, as natural and advisable as it seems to use this, I cannot justify it as more than a matter of taste. As such, this character just gets the roll... a 5 is not so bad.

Equipping the Character

I rolled 140 for the character's starting gold. I've selected a name and gender for the character now, so I'll start referring to him as Robern Tefalls. Given his high-ish dexterity and moderate strength and constitution I think that a mobile and ranged approach to combat will serve him better than wading into a sea of opponents. As such, the first consideration is to equip Robern with a decent ranged weapon and the long bow offers the best offense capability.

I will armor him in a way that keeps his movement rate at least at 9". I considered going lighter still to maintain a 12" movement rate, but I'd prefer to give him the versatility to enter close combat without such a handicap when he has no choice or circumstances warrant it, and so selected studded leather for his armor. Banded would have been better of course, but the cost is prohibitive at the moment. Something to look forward to commissioning in the near future, he hopes.

The dagger is just a no-brainer weapon choice. It has really good modifiers against the lightly or unarmored opponent, is concealable and throw-able, and proficiency with it covers the short blades commonly found in any kitchen.

After selecting the long bow and dagger as his weapon proficiencies, the choices become a little harder however. It seems a blunt weapon is often a good thing to have as a backup and going beyond the club, or improvised weapon, the footman's flail is very attractive. It offers twice the damage of a club and really excellent performance against most armor.

The dagger and flail are both one-handed weapons and now I have to consider whether a two-handed weapon is worth taking versus a shield. The ranseur calls me for its dismounting and disarming capabilities as well as its small space requirement and reach. If I was dungeon delving instead of journeying into the wilderness with this character I would almost certainly make that choice, but instead I'll make the rather pedestrian, if sensible, choice of a long sword for Robern's fourth and final weapon proficiency.

Hard choices over, I round out his equipment with basic clothing requirements and a donkey and tack to haul stuff. Robern is equipped for his journey and has another 28 gold, 16 silver, and 4 copper to possibly hire some help and/or buy additional equipment and provisions for an expedition.

That's enough preparation for me as a player. As referee, I am going to "wing it" as much as possible to facilitate being the player at the same time. I'm a little worried about excessive retconning with that approach, but that's where I'm starting.

In the interest of in medias res, I will begin play with Robern already on his journey and approaching Jonril.