Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition

Understanding Your Character Sheet & Abilities Personal Information

The Personal Information section contains the information about your character that you should already be familiar with. This information helps define the way your character will interact with and fit into the game world. Your character's chosen or birth name. This is not concrete, and can be changed at will, but may come with repercussions as it would in real life. The race of your character, usually a humanoid-type mammal. It determines certain starting abilities and stats and can effect social status. Your character's chosen adventuring profession. Those sharing a class will be similar in skill, though may have completely different playstyles and ability scores. Obvious information detailing the physical traits of your character. These bits of information will be as relevant as they may be in the normal world. Your character's current level of experience points. Upon reaching certain milestones in your total amount of experience, your level will increase, giving you skill points to spend and certain increases in abilities that will be covered later. This is the amount of experience needed to advance. Your total level of experience points. XP is gained through many different actions; most notably, combat. Other than certain special occasions, almost all XP gained will be shared amongst the party.

Name

Race

Class Gender Height Age Weight Level Next Level

XP

Your character's moral alignment. While this does explain what sort of attitude your character has in general situations, it should be noted that this is not a guideline. You may act out of your alignment at any time, Alignment however, it will not be met without repercussions. Acting out of your alignment may change it. In all honesty, do not worry about this stat unless your DM says to. Your character's chosen adventuring kit. This will give your player certain advantages as well as disadvantages and requirements. Your kit will help you decide what sort of lifestyle your character will live/is living when he begins adventuring. In some cases, it may be desirable to decide not to get a kit at all.

Kit

Ability Scores
Your character has six major ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. These stats are the backbone of everything your character will be able to do, and are important in deciding how your character will play. Certain characters are best-suited with a certain emphasis on different scores, but can still be played with unorthodox scores. There is no correct score range for different classes or races.

Strength
Strength determines how strong your character is. Within Strength are two sub-ability scores: Stamina and Muscle. Stamina determines how much you can carry without becoming encumbered and how much energy you have. Muscle determines how accurate you are with melee weapons as well as how hard you hit with them. It also determines the maximum weight you can press, how well you can break down doors, and your ability to bend bars or lift gates. Strength is a core attribute of warrior-type characters.

Dexterity
Dexterity determines how nimble and precise your character is. Within Dexterity are the two sub-abilities: Aim and Balance. Aim determines how likely you are to hit with a projectile weapon, as well as your skills in picking pockets and locks. Balance determines your ability to move silently or remain hidden. It can also provide bonuses to your Armor Class (AC) and Reaction Adjustment (when surprised) when at a high value. Dexterity is a core attribute of thief-type characters or archers.

Constitution
Constitution determines how durable your character is. Within Constitution are two subabilities: Health and Fitness. Health determines your System Shock value, a stat that allows you to remain conscious or healthy in stressful situations or conditions. Health, if at a high value, may also provide some resistance to poisons. Fitness determines your Hit Point bonuses (if any) as well as the likelihood of a resurrection should your character pass and be given the chance to be revived. Constitution is an important stat for all play-styles, but even more so for those intending to be on the front lines.

Intelligence
Intelligence determines how smart your character is and how well they comprehend new information. Within Intelligence are two sub-abilities: Reason and Knowledge. Reason determines your maximum spell level, maximum number of spells allowed for each of those levels, and any immunity to illusions you may have. Reason is used to determine how well your character handles new information. Knowledge determines your chance to learn new spells and provides bonus points that can be used to spend on Proficiencies. Intelligence is a core attribute of spell-caster-type characters.

Wisdom
Wisdom defines a character's common sense, perception, and awareness. While Intelligence covers the character's ability to analyze information, Wisdom focuses on situational and self-awareness. Within Wisdom are the two sub-abilities: Intuition and Willpower. Intuition determines a character's bonus Clerical spells, and defines the chance that the character may fail casting such a spell. Intuition also represents the character's awareness. Willpower determines your character's possible magic defenses and spell immunity, and is a key attribute in remaining in control of your character. If you ever fail a Willpower check, your character may preform an action you may not want them to due to their lack of restrain. Wisdom is a core attribute of cleric-type characters.

Charisma
Charisma determines how sociable and attractive your character is. Within Charisma are two sub-abilities: Leadership and Appearance. Leadership determines your character's ability to lead a group of people (non-player-characters) and the maximum amount of henchmen your character may enlist without err. Appearance simply determines your attractiveness, and can give you bonuses to initial reactions from NPCs. Charisma is a core attribute of characters that expect to be put in a leadership position.

These scores will play a big part in deciding what sort of character you will play. Keep in mind, any kind of character can be played with any kind of stat arrangement, but that does not mean they will be played effectively. Talk to your DM about how he wants to determine your stats, as there are many different methods to do so.

Saving Throws
Saving Throws determine your ability to reduce the effects of or even negate a spell cast upon you. Some spells do not allow any saving throw, but for those that do you will always receive a chance to save (unless something else is preventing you). When rolling for a saving throw, you want to roll above your saving throw value for the kind of save you will be attempting. Let's say your saving throw value for spells is 16. This means you must roll at least a 16 in order to be considered saved. Some spells may still have some effect on you even if you do save. For a good majority of spells, the spell will simply fizzle and leave you unaffected, but a good number of other spells may only reduce the damage you would have received. Either way, saving is always advantageous if you do not wish to feel the effects of whatever is being cast on you.

Intentionally missing saves

Saving throws are even allowed should an ally target you with a beneficial spell, however, for simplicity, no saving throw will be requested by the DM. If you do want to try to prevent the spell's effects, however, you will be given the chance to do so if requested. Sometimes the mage casting the spell may not be aware that the spell they are trying to cast could hinder you! All spells are situational, and have varying degrees of usefulness in different settings.

Combat
Combat is an important part of AD&D, however, do not mistake it for the most important part! Combat, while very prevalent, is minor in comparison to roleplay. In fact, if your character is not a fighter, he may aid the party in other ways outside of combat more effectively than in. Regardless, at some point you will certainly be expected in some sort of struggle, or fight. On your character sheet, there are several bits of information under the Combat table.

Hit Points
Hit points are the numeric value of your character's health. When these reach 0, your character is dead, or unconscious, depending on how your DM chooses to handle it. Regardless, it should go without saying that you want to avoid hitting 0 hit points! As you level up, your hit points will increase based on die rolls determined by your class. (1d10 per level for fighters, 1d4 for mages, etc.) You can not increase your hit point value past its maximum without magical influence.

THAC0
THAC0 is an acronym for To Hit Armor Class 0. Essentially, this explains your character's chance to successfully hit a target. When attacking with a weapon, you will roll a d20 to determine what AC (Armor Class) you will be able to hit. To determine what AC you can hit, we do some very simple mathematics.
Let's say your THAC0 with a short sword is 13, and you just rolled a 16 on your d20. To determine the AC value you can hit, you subtract the number you rolled from your THAC0 value.

13

(THACO)

16

(ROLL)

= 3

(AC HIT)

This would be a good roll, since your player would be able to hit anyone with an armor class equal to or greater than 3. The same mechanics are used with ranged weapons, though they lose accuracy as the distance increases.

Should a player at any time roll a d20 and score a 20, that player has earned a critical hit. The effects of the critical hit are determined by your DM, but in most cases you will deal double damage. A critical hit always hits, regardless of your target's AC, however, that does not necessarily mean your target will receive damage should he have some sort of special defense. On the opposite side of the spectrum, a player may roll a 1, which is considered a critical miss. A critical miss always misses, as well as effects your character negatively in some way. In most cases, you may simply lose your turn. However, depending on your DM, you may also break your weapon, deal damage to an ally, or even yourself!

Armor Class
Your AC determines how physically protected you are. A lower AC value is better, as we have seen in the explanation of THAC0. The worst AC possible is 10, while the best is -10. To decrease your AC, there are several different methods. The first is armor. Armor in AD&D does not reduce damage. Instead, it negates it completely. The better your armor, the lower your AC value is! This means that, technically, an enemy may still hit you even if their calculated THAC0 goes above your armor class, but the armor completely negated the damage. The second method for decreasing AC is high Dexterity. Should a player have a high Dexterity, (or, more specifically, a high Balance sub-ability,) the player may be awarded bonus AC for being nimble and dodging attacks! Keep in mind, however, that this AC bonus is entirely due to your character being mobile. This means that your character may lose this AC bonus should he be put in a position where dodging is not an option. The third method is simple. There are many magical items in the AD&D world, and many of those decrease your AC. These items are Protection items and, while uncommon, are not terribly rare. These items magically increase your resistance to weaponry, decreasing your AC by varying degrees depending on the item's power. The forth method is a bit more complicated, and may not be applicable depending on how your DM does combat. During combat, certain advantageous and disadvantageous situations may occur. For example, depending on the level of cover you character is hiding behind (based on percentage) you may receive some additional bonus AC. Other situations, such as having high ground, may also play a part in determining your AC bonus. These can easily be handled by the DM, however, but should be kept in mind! Position yourself strategically in battle. There are certainly other methods, such as temporary spells cast upon your character, though it's not necessary to cover every individual spell and bonus. It should be noted that in some special cases AC bonuses will not stack with each other. These cases are rare, and will probably be pointed out by your DM.

Proficiencies, Abilities and Traits

There are two kinds of proficiencies in AD&D, both of which may be handled differently by your DM. For this guide, however, I will refer to the standard rules for these proficiencies. When creating your character, you will be given a value of points to spend during creation. These points may be used for various different bonus and abilities. First up are your Racial Abilities. When you create your character, your racial abilities will remain as they are from level one until you die. These abilities will be as useful as they are at level one as they will be at max level. They may range from simple THAC0 bonuses to the ability to see in Infravision. It's important to spend some time deciding these, as only on the rarest of circumstances will they change. Some points may be left unspent to use later, however, there is a maximum per race.

Second up are your Class Abilities. These are abilities and skills specific to your chosen class and will also not be modified after creation. Points from this stage may also be carried over to spend on other skills with no maximum value enforced. Within the abilities available to choose, you may notice the value on some being in the negative. These abilities negatively effect your character for the purpose of acquiring more points to spend. Keep in mind, these negative effects are permanent. Third are your Traits and Disadvantages. Traits and Disadvantages are universally available to all players and play-styles, and are permanent as well. Traits vary from simple bonuses to senses, an increased ability to understand others, or even excellent musical skill. Disadvantages vary from simple fears to colorblindness, to other quirky choices like compulsive honesty! These disadvantages have major effects on your character from the first level to their last, however, they provide hefty bonuses to your point value, allowing you to compromise and purchase more valuable traits. Next, we'll talk about Non-Weapon-Proficiencies. NWPs determine your character's ability with a huge assortment of hobbies, skills, and professions. While not having a NWP for specific task does not mean you cannot still preform the task, it does mean that your character has never spent the time learning just how to do it. NWPs have different prices depending on the relevance of each ability compared to your chosen class and race. Dwarves will have an easier time learning to mine. Mages will have a discount to Astrology, and other intelligence-based skills. These skills will help shape your character's personality and purpose, but are definitely not concrete! Don't be afraid to attempt things your character has not before. Lastly, we'll cover Weapon Proficiencies. Weapon proficiencies are by far the most important for warrior-type characters, yet the least for spell-caster-type characters. Either way, it goes without saying the WPs are important for gameplay. WPs will determine your character's skill with specific weapons. Without a proficiency in a certain weapon, your character will have a hard time wielding it. This does not mean your character will be unable to wield it, however, it would be disadvantageous to enter combat with a weapon your character has not properly familiarized himself with. There are various levels of WPs, ranging from basic proficiency to weapon mastery, which can only be achieved after a certain level. When choosing the weapon your character will start off with, try to imagine what he would be best suited with. Instead of focusing on the damage, instead try to pick something fitting for his background. Perhaps he was a lumberjack forced to protect his village, using his axe to chop down his foes just as he has done to trees for many years. The limits only go so far as your imagination and your DM's permission, which should be easy to earn as long as you aren't being too unreasonable.

Inventory, Movement, and Encumbrance

Your character will carry with him any number of items you see fit, as long as he can afford them and carry them on his own. The most common items to have are a backpack, a pouch or two, a wineskin for water, some dry rations for traveling, some torches, and flint and tinder. In addition, your character will, hopefully, be wearing some sort of armor or clothing. All of this adds up, weighing your character down. Each character has a limit to the weight they can carry determined by their Stamina sub-ability before it begins to negatively effect him. There are 6 levels of encumbrance, each of which has worse conditions than the last.

Unencumbered

The most ideal situation. This means that your character is fully able to carry the amount of weight he has on him, giving him no penalties. Your character can easily carry the items, however, not as quickly as he could normally. The player suffers a -4 penalty to movement, and loses any bonuses he had to AC or surprise as a result of high Dexterity. This applies each additional level of encumbrance as well. A bit more dramatic, the weight is now causing your character to suffer a -1 penalty to his THAC0 rolls as well as a -8 to movement. At this point, your character is so weighed down, he loses some ability to defend himself. His penalties are now -12 to movement, -2 to THAC0 rolls, and a +1 penalty to his AC Your character is probably immoble at this point. Regardless, he receives increased penalties. -14 to movement, -4 to THAC0 rolls, and +3 to AC. There will almost never be a case where your character is overloaded due to inventory. Instead, this will apply when your character is attempting to lift something so heavy it breaks the limits of his encumbrance. This means your character is completely immobile, cannot attack at all, and cannot defend himself. Any who may attempt to attack him may receive a free hit, depending on the circumstances.

Light

Moderate

Heavy

Severe

Overloaded

A Note About Rolepaly

D&D is often mistaken for a game in which a player may win the game. This is not the case. As such, you should not feel pressured to make a supremely powerful character. In most cases, you will not be able to achieve one anyway, but keep in mind that disadvantages and quirks make the game interesting! There is no such thing as a bad character, but there is such a thing as poor roleplay. Instead of focusing on achieving the most powerful character, instead focus on immersing yourself within the world, expressing your character, and functioning within your group. This does not mean that your character must cooperate with the group's decisions. In fact, internal conflict can be part of the fun, as long as the arguments stay within the game and do not spill out into the real world. Once that happens, someone has roleplayed poorly. Try to make decisions that you think your character would make. A character who denies himself the gift of a powerful god due to his righteous nature is far more interesting than one who takes it simply because it provides more power. Of course, if your character is into power, then you should do the opposite! Roleplaying is something you'll have to learn through your own experience, but hopefully this guide helped you figure out the basics of gameplay!