Character Creation Challenge Day 16: Old School Essentials

 Ah, nice simple Old School Essential, oh how pretty and elegant it is. I think enough praise for its “Control Panel” layout has been given but I just want to say that I really dig the clean white and green. Also, I think I’m going to start alternating between simple and complex games but I’m not too sure how long that’ll last before I just start doing simple games. Before I get started, I’d also like to mention that I’ll be using Ascending AC and possibly some of my OD&D house-rules.

 Starting things off, of course, is to roll 3d6 down the line: 11, 11, 8, 5, 12, and 7; hm, pretty below average but oh well. I might use my OD&D house-rule of “When Bad is Good”, which would give a minor bonus for Dexterity and Charisma, something like: Slow but Steady and Unassuming Presence. I think I’ll go with Dwarf for the class, who sadly don’t have Constitution as a Prime Requisite. Also, I’ll move points from Intelligence into Strength, just for carrying things.

STR: 12 -> +0 to Melee, Open Doors: 2-in-6, 0% XP Mod

INT: 9 -> Literacy in Native languages

WIS: 8 -> -1 to Magic Saves

DEX: 5 -> -2 to AC and Missile, -1 to Initiative

CON: 12 -> +0 to HP

CHA: 7 -> NPC Reactions -1, Retainer Max is 3 and their Loyalty is 6

Attack Value: 0; Saves: D- 8, W- 9, P- 10, B- 13, S- 13

HP: 6/6; XP: 0/2200; AC: 8 unarmoured, 13 in chain + shield

 Lawful and knows the Common, Dwarvish, Gnomish, Goblin, Kobold, and Law Languages; any armour and only small/normal sized weapons; abilities are Detect Construction Tricks, Detect Room Traps, Infravision, and Listening at Doors.

 Next up is equipment, 3d6*10 for gp: 70 gp – Chainmail, Shield, Battle axe and Sling, Backpack, 7 days of Rations (standard), and 50’ of Rope

 Alright, let’s figure out his name and some background stuff. For the name, I’m going to use the “Holmesian Random Names” generator. First, roll a d100 for amount of syllables: 81, so 3 syllables. Then roll a d6 and a d100 for each syllable: 2 + 66 – Ger, 4 + 64 – Sun, 5 + 37 – Poy; so Gersunpoy or Gersun Poy, maybe Poy Gersun actually. Then, of course, his title: 28, so Poy Gersun the Fearless! Lastly, for his background I’m going to use Shane Ward’s “D100 Mildly Plausible Background Stories for Old School Characters”: 34, Ransomed as a prisoner of war (I did roll a couple times...).

 If I were to actually use this character I’d see if we were playing with multiple characters, haha! His only real saving graces are decent HP and saves, but oh well, would just have to play him smart.

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 This was really nice, making a simple character, definitely the quickest to make yet. If I ever return to my OD&D hack I'll definitely be borrowing things from B/X (namely Attack Value =! Level). Next time I'll be making a character for a 3e/d20 hack by the name of Legend that I think is pretty neat (but would probably never play).

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