CHARACTER CREATION

Old School Essentials

- is the game we are playing, unless I say otherwise.

Generator

Use this website to generate your character.

Things to note

Class/Race Options

Use the Classic Fantasy options for now, as well as "race-as-class", so your options are:

Cleric, Dwarf, Elf, Fighter, Halfling, Magic-User, Thief.

This will probably change later.

Encumbrance

I use default encumbrance rules for OSE (don't worry, they are straight-forward and easier to use than the versions used in recent editions of dnd.)

Languages

Instead of "common", take Phaedren as your default language.

Choose your extra languages from ones in the Gazetteer based on what makes sense for your character rather than the list included with OSE.

Setting race/class changes

This section will get more filled out over time, right now here are a few things to know about playing Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Lizardfolk, Beastmen, or anything else that comes up later.

Cleric

There are two dominant faiths in the region: the Church of the One True God and the Old Faith.

A cleric of the One True God would be played like a typical cleric. They would be expected to spread the faith to unbelievers, promote the aims of the church (and likely also the great empire), and keep to generic medieval Christian-esque morals. Pretty close to how typical dnd clerics operate.

A cleric of the Old Faith (*cough* ancient greek polytheism *cough*) is a little different. You likely wouldn't serve one god over the others, instead you enter into contracts and perform rituals to different gods, large and small, to get your spells. You don't have a code of conduct to follow, but failure to keep up the proper rituals will lead to you losing your spells. Your worship is a little more pragmatic than the clerics of the One True God, but you definitely believe in your gods and their power over you and the world.

None of this for clerics of the old faith is backed up by mechanics yet, that will come later. This is just flavor for how your character would see the world and how their powers operate. Likely I'll come up with an alternate cleric package for followers of the Old Faith, but for now they play like other clerics.

Elves

The default Elf class will probably fully be replaced by the Dolmenwood version when that setting comes out.

For now, just now that elves in this setting are otherworldly-fae from the realm of Faerie. There are many types of elves in the world (such as Frost Elves, Summer Elves, etc) and yours can look as otherworldly as you like, and you can make up a 'type' if you like, or I can give you some options.

Mechanics-wise, replace the extra languages (Gnoll, Hobgoblin, Orcish) with Sylvan, High Elvish, and one extra language of your choice.

Dwarves

There is a specific Phaedren faction related to dwarves (The Northern Covenant), besides that expect that they are typical dnd dwarves.

Mechanics-wise, replace the extra languages (Gnomish, Goblin, Kobold) with three languages of your choice.

Halflings

There is a specific Phaedren faction related to halflings (The Northern Covenant), besides that expect that they are typical dnd halfings.

No changes mechanics-wise.

Lizardfolk

Not playable yet, but they will be eventually. Let me know if you are hankering to play one. (the actual class is done, you would just need to write your character sheet by hand instead of using the generator).

Beastmen

"Beastmen" encompasses Gnolls and similar mammalian anthromorphic species.

Not playable yet, same explanation as Lizardfolk.