She-Rama, Veteran Princess

Here is my daughter's character from the weekend. You can tell we just finished watching She-Ra, Princess of Power. Also, note the treasure map she owns. This was the initial hook I used. She was kind of bummed about a really low roll for starting money so I gave her a treasure map that she received from a mysterious old lady. Black Dime instantly became suspicious of the old lady - it's like watching Snow White has had an impact.

Name: She-Rama
Sex: Female
Class: Fighter
Level [1]
XP [0] [+0%]
XP required for next level [2,000]
Alignment Lawful

STR [11]
INT [8] (can write simple common words)
WIS [13] (+1 on magic-based saving throws)
DEX [5] (-2 missile adjustment, +2 AC penalty)
CON [10]
CHR [13] (+1 reactions; Max. # Retainers 5; Retainer Morale 8)

[8] AC (Leather armor and shield, +2 penalty)
[4] HP (1d8 hit dice)
Move 120/40/120 ft

Saving Throws
[12] Death Ray or Poison
[13] Magic Wands
[14] Paralysis or Turn to Stone
[15] Dragon Breath
[16] Rod, Staff, or Spell

Encumbrance [340]
Coins PP 4 GP EP SP CP

Weapons:
Sword (60 cn)

Armour:
Leather armor (200 cn)

Gear (80 cn):
Backpack (holds 400 cn)
12 torches
Tinder box
Mirror
Treasure map

Black Dime the Dwarven Veteran

This weekend I sat down with my son and daughter and rolled up some new 1st level B/X characters and played a short adventure. Below is my 6-year old son's character which he named on his own. I'm not too sure if he is aware of the tropes or if his picking a battle axe for his character was serendipitous. We rolled 3d6 in order - don't want to coddle them. ;)

Name: Black Dime
Sex: Male
Class: Dwarf
Level [1]
XP [0] [+0%]
XP required for next level [2,200]
Alignment Neutral

STR [12]
INT [8] (can write simple common words)
WIS [8] (-1 on magic-based saving throws)
DEX [10]
CON [13] (+1 hp/HD)
CHR [13] (+1 reactions; Max. # Retainers 5; Retainer Morale 8)

[3] AC (plate mail)
[5] HP (1d8 hit dice; +1 Con)
Move 90/30/90 ft

Saving Throws
[10] Death Ray or Poison
[11] Magic Wands
[12] Paralysis or Turn to Stone
[13] Dragon Breath
[14] Rod, Staff, or Spell

Class Abilities:
Infravision 60ft
Find slanting passages, traps, and shifting walls
Speaks Common, Dwarf, Gnome, Kobold and Goblin

Encumbrance [580]
Coins PP 8 GP EP SP CP

Weapons:
Battle axe (50 cn)
Short bow & 20 Arrows (30 cn)

Armour:
Platemail (500 cn)

Gear (80 cn):
Backpack (holds 400 cn)

Aloles, Medium of the Copper Bonds

Name: Aloles, Medium of the Copper Bonds
Sex: Male
Class: Magic-user
Level [1]
XP [0] [+10%]
XP required for next level [2,500]
Alignment Chaotic

STR [9]
INT [17] (reads & writes common, chaotic, goblin & medusa; +10% XP)
WIS [11]
DEX [8] (-1 missile fire; +1 AC penalty; -1 initiative)
CON [13] (+1 hp/HD)
CHR [5] (+1 reactions; Max. # Retainers 2; Retainer Morale 5)

[10 yikes] AC (none)
[2] HP (1d4 hit dice; +1 Con)
Move 120/40/120 ft

Saving Throws
[13] Death Ray or Poison
[14] Magic Wands
[13] Paralysis or Turn to Stone
[16] Dragon Breath
[15] Rod, Staff, or Spell

Class Abilities:
Spells (1st - Floating Disk)

Encumbrance [174]
Coins PP GP 84 EP SP CP

Weapons:
Dagger (10 cn)

Armour:
none

Gear (80 cn):
Backpack (holds 400 cn)
Crowbar
Lantern
6 flasks of oil
50' rope
Mirror

Other Treasure:
none

Descriptors: untrained performer

Motivations: seek lust, oppress literature, plunder the populous

(Descriptors and motivations are from Conjecture Games' UNE the universal NPC emulator)

Wow, Aloles sounds like quite the guy. For someone who will really need retainers, Aloles will have a heck of a time hiring them and keeping them around.

Brother Dunnbelly

Just because I felt like making a B/X character...

Name: Brother Dunnbelly, Child of the Abundant Shrine
Sex: Male
Class: Cleric
Level [1]
XP [0] [+10%]
XP required for next level [1,500]
Alignment Lawful

STR [12]
INT [12] (reads & writes common & lawful)
WIS [16] (+2 on magic-based saving throws; +10% XP)
DEX [11]
CON [10]
CHR [15] (+1 reactions; Max. # Retainers: 5; Retainer Morale 8)

[2] AC (platemail, shield)
[3] HP (1d6 hit dice)
Move 60/20/60 ft

Saving Throws
[11] Death Ray or Poison
[12] Magic Wands
[14] Paralysis or Turn to Stone
[16] Dragon Breath
[15] Rod, Staff, or Spell

Class Abilities:
Turn Undead (skeleton 7; zombie 9; ghoul 11)
Cleric spells (at 2nd level)

Encumbrance [714]
Coins PP GP 4 EP SP CP

Weapons:
Mace (30 cn)

Armour:
Platemail (500 cn)
Shield (100 cn)

Gear (80 cn):
Holy symbol
Backpack (holds 400 cn)
Wineskin and quart of wine
Tinderbox
6 Torches
1 week standard rations

Other Treasure:
none

Descriptors: destitute pioneer

Motivations: record disbelief; attend greed; refine communications

(Descriptors and motivations are from Conjecture Games' UNE the universal NPC emulator)

From the motivations, I think that Brother Dunnbelly is a poor traveller wandering the Borderlands collecting oral stories and myths. He is hoping to publish a collective work that will make him rich and famous. All for the benefit of the Abundant Shrine of course...

The Changing Process of Character Creation

In very broad terms the process of character creation can be broken down into three aspects:

1. Generation - rolling stats, rolling lifepaths, etc.

2. Concept - "I want to play an angsty drow elf that is trying to right the wrongs of his past..."

3. Mechanics - builds, min/max-ing, "controller", etc.

Moving from "old school" D&D to the latest edition, character creation has focused on different aspects.

The oldest versions of D&D focused more on the Generation aspect - roll 3d6, six times in order and see what you get. The Concept and Mechanics resulted out of the Generation. I pick a Fighter (mechanics) because my strength is the highest and his charisma is so low because he was caught in a fire when marauding orcs burnt down his village (concept).

The newest versions of D&D focus more on the Mechanics - 4th edition's "roles", the need for a healer in 3.5E, etc. The balance and structure of the rules requires that the Mechanical aspects of a character be at the forefront. The Generation aspect has been minimized by first using point-buy systems to generate attribute scores and then by codifying a fixed number of hit points instead of rolling.

I would suggest that 2E is the version that most focuses on the Concept aspect of character creation. In yet another way, 2E is the red-headed step child. To me, it is the most "story"-focused of the versions of D&D and how your character fits into that story, the Concept, is a central part of the character generation.