Each PC has specific characteristics and attributes that will affect those decisions – like extra firepower, a keen mind or an overarching desire to do good – but your decisions as a player will also affect how your character's skills are used, and how they grow or diminish.Īs you play, the DM will grant your character experience points based on how you contribute to the campaign. PCs evolve through the campaign based on the decisions they make and what they learn. If you're not the DM, you're a player, and your character is a player character, or PC for short. The intricacies of the Dungeon Master's Guide, which contains the actual rules and regulations of the gameĪnd – just as important as all of that concrete knowledge – the DM has to be able to tell a story, settle disagreements between players, keep the game moving, and adapt on the fly when players decide to do something unexpected.The Monster Manual, which lists characteristics and descriptions of the game's beasts.The Player's Handbook, for rules on character creation and game play from a player's perspective.So grab your character sheet, a pencil and paper, and your 20-sided die because on the next page, we'll figure out what to expect from a D&D game. We'll also see how Dungeons & Dragons has established itself and evolved in culture. In the next few pages, we'll roll the dice and learn the basics of Dungeons & Dragons. The game revolves around a storyteller, or Dungeon Master, who isn't just building a narrative, but is also facilitating dialogue between characters and players. Not only are players sitting around the same table (or maybe the same Google hangout), but their characters are also working together on an adventure. Perhaps it's that combination of fantasy lore and intense attention to detail that gave D&D a reputation for being a game for reclusive outsiders. Arneson's appetite for imaginative, never-ending play, along with the concept of a master storytelling referee, combined with Gygax's meticulousness and thirst for characters to produce Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. It strengthens the thief significantly by allowing for two chances to succeed at any given usage of a “class skill” and doesn't infringe on the ability of other classes to have a reasonable chance of success when attempting "thiefly" actions.Gygax – intrigued by the rules and backgrounds of his war games' characters – teamed up with Arneson to create a new kind of war game. This approach is easy to remember, quick to employ, and doesn’t require changing one word of the thief class description from your rulebooks. Despite his advantage, the thief has blown it this time around. His follow-up Move Silently roll is 88%, also a failure. The magic-user succeeds with a roll of two. A failure by either is sure to be noticed by the orc. Neither are heavily encumbered or wearing metal armor, so the DM assigns a base 1-3 in 6 chance of success for each character. The thief rolls a five and also fails, however his follow-up Climb Walls “saving” roll is 41%, a success! He completes the climb safely.Įxample Two: A thief and his magic-user companion are attempting to tiptoe past a distracted orc sentry. He loses his grip and suffers falling damage. The fighter rolls a four and doesn’t make it. The DM rules that there is only a 1 in 6 chance to safely complete such a tricky ascent with no special equipment, possibly with a +1 modifier to the roll if the climber boasts extraordinary dexterity. If this second roll succeeds, the initial failed roll is ignored.Įxample One: Two intrepid adventurers, a fighting man and a thief, are faced with a sheer wall. So how do we fix the thief without rewriting the class or implementing elaborate supplemental rules? Simply treat each thief skill score as a sort of saving throw that the thief is entitled to in the event that the initial attempt at a given task fails. These latter critics claim that making activities like picking pockets and hiding in shadows dedicated thief class abilities creates awkward situations where fighting men, clerics, and magic-users are de facto prohibited (or at least strongly discouraged) from attempting to perform the same feats. The second camp holds that the thief class is simply a bad fit with the rest of the game. Thief skill success percentages are far too low to rely upon for most of the character’s career. Internet blogs, website message boards, and FRPG fanzines have all been buzzing with some fairly harsh criticism of this venerable class.Īn admittedly simplified analysis reveals that thief critics tend to fall into two frequently overlapping camps. I'm reiterating it here now for those of you without access to that document.) (Note: A version of this piece by me originally appeared in Fight On! Magazine #6 in 2009.
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