Transcript
Speaker: Come on, it'll be just like in the movies. We'll pretend to be someone else. You don't just lie for no reason at all, folks. You know, just all of a sudden. A big lie will spill out of your evil head there. You know a guy will come up and go, hey, you ever see that movie with Meryl Streep and the horse? And then you go.
Speaker: Yes! man va gra What the hell am I lying about over here? I stand to gain nothing by this lie. i Roll the dice and take your chances. You know something, Marge? It's not that tough being a film cricket.
Speaker: Let's begin now. Greetings, dungeon crawlers. It's me, your dungeon master for this session, Andy Wilson. and in a very, very special. episode We have. Two tributes to the to the Mort Tube.
Speaker: dungeon crawl the inimitable Brookheim. and returning champion, Melissa. No! Why haven't they called that in so long? Welcome, welcome, welcome. Some backwards lore on this. We'll probably talk about this on another episode, but we have done so many different podcasts over like the last 10 years and you too.
Speaker: are just two of my favorite people thank you so much for being here I'm so glad that we get to talk about D &D thank you for having us I'm stoked about this so tell me Coming into this, what do you both know about D and &D? Like, what are what are your vibes? What are your experience levels?
Speaker: The problem with D and &D is it can be so intimidating and kind of... New user unfriendly? And I want to try to break. down past that. So I don't know. Tell me, tell me what you know. Jack and shit. ah Good answer.
Speaker: What I know of... er of D and &D is... Anything I learned from Stranger Things? And also my mom. hiring a Catholic priest to do an exorcism on my brother when I was seven because he was playing D and &D. So that's... That's my fault.
Speaker: experience. Yeah, it's so funny. Brooke, like... Us. both. growing up in the LDS church. the satanic panic was not explicit But...
Speaker: Gosh. people sure like glommed onto it. It wasn't like. They were saying, don't play D and &D from the pulpit. but... ah My parents forbade me from playing, so...
Speaker: Yeah. You sure would have thought they were. thats yeah If I had tried to play, I'm pretty sure. My family would have banned me too. Yeah. Well, here we go. um it's It's really funny. Because D and &D at its core.
Speaker: Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop role -playing game. Meaning. that It is traditionally played on... on a tabletop. where you will have ah A ah character.
Speaker: who traverses some sort of a map that is often drawn on anything from Uh, being drawn on graph paper to... Now in the digital age, there are all these amazing digital maps to people who build.
Speaker: out their entire environments and do it in in 3d these amazing like 3D models with ah with walls and and trees, and whatever.
Speaker: And ah it's, it's like. It's like little Legos and you move your guy through an environment. ah or your girl. of Whichever. whichever kind of character you want to play.
Speaker: and ah you encounter different obstacles and monsters and ah You roll dice to determine... how it goes. The thing that I love about D and &D...
Speaker: is that It is so... expansive and it is so flexible. ah what D and &D started out as. 50 years ago.
Speaker: is not What? The newest edition of Dungeons & Dragons is now. It has gone through. Many different phases. In fact, ah You will often hear...
Speaker: ah People referring to 5E or 5th edition. or 5 .5 edition. ah That is the current edition. that Dungeons & Dragons is on. The original version.
Speaker: um back in the 70s, and it has gone through. Uh, many different iterations, and this is now sort of the fifth incarnation. And there was a massive rule update. two years ago in 2024 and so fifth edition became uh 5 .5. So if you hear that, that is.
Speaker: That is what that means when people are talking about D &D. And people still play. Version 3 .5. People still play. ah Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, which was sort of the second major iteration.
Speaker: ah that came out in the 80s when when D and &D had its first like sort of big surge in popularity. So that is just a little bit of backstory. but also...
Speaker: ah Dungeons and Dragons doesn't have to be played on a tabletop like that. um Many people also play in what is known as theater of the mind?
Speaker: ah that is what we are like largely going to be doing. ah while I would love to eventually get us to a situation where we are. playing on some sort of a virtual tabletop with virtual maps and We're moving around on them. What we are going to start with. is just a, I'm going to Aya's Dungeon Master will describe the scene to you, and... you will.
Speaker: Use your character. that you have come up with. And... ah then tell me what you want them to do. And then using ah your character sheet.
Speaker: which we will... generate. during this time together. ah It tells you what your character is kind of good at. and kind of not as good at.
Speaker: And. um We'll roll some dice. And it will determine whether... ah The thing that you tried to do was either successful or not successful.
Speaker: Uh, you will sometimes get what is known as a a critical success. people ah Usually when you are rolling a dice, ah the main die you are rolling is a 20 -sided die.
Speaker: ah And so when you hear someone talk about rolling a nat 20. ah That is a natural 20. That is the highest roll that you get on the dice. That is considered a critical success. You not only succeed, you succeed with flair.
Speaker: And with. you know even greater than expected. So not only do you kill the monster, you do a sweet move and chop its head off and it goes flying off and then you whack it a second time and look really cool doing it.
Speaker: ah you know, something, something like that. ah You can also have what is called a critical failure. by rolling a natural one or not one. ah That's kind of the opposite.
Speaker: ah You. you do badly. And maybe instead of... chopping off the monster's head. Uh, you hit it and... you drop your sword because... You you messed up.
Speaker: Try not to make a failure so punishing, but... you know that But there are gradations in between. And we will just kind of narrate that. in a lot of ways, This is not that different. then kind of playing pretend on the playground like we used to do when we were when we were kids, hopefully.
Speaker: And you're like, oh, well, I want to be Indiana Jones. And I want to be Princess Leia. Great. And we pretend that we do that. And then we roll some dice and we...
Speaker: determine whether The things that we're doing are. are successful. or not, rather than just saying like, oh, well, I automatically i I beat you.
Speaker: Okay, well, how do we? How do we determine that? So ah you both have come in with some ideas. for... characters ah for this.
Speaker: Do you want to... briefly talk about your idea for a character. and your and your inspiration and your thoughts. So I...
Speaker: Did some very rudimentary. reading. i I said that I wanted... To be a human. And then I wanted to be a paladin because out of all the ones I read about, that seemed the most like what I would.
Speaker: Want to be? Is that how you say it? Paladin? Yes. Okay. Yes. Paladin. So... When it came time for a name. I wanted to go to my roots. My family's from Mexico.
Speaker: And I wanted to go a little indigenous. ah So I... My... Spirit animal. because Mexicans have spirit animals, has always been a hummingbird.
Speaker: And I've explained this in the last podcast, I think. um Yeah. That we did. But since this is a new audience of. like three or four people, you know, who are going to listen to this um all related to us. ah I'll explain it again. So...
Speaker: In... ancient Mexican, like like native Mexican. lore, I guess you could say. um The hummingbirds were thought to be... the spirits of dead warriors that have been like reincarnated in the bird and the reason why they come back as a hummingbird is because Hummingbirds.
Speaker: they're they look tiny and delicate and helpless but if you come after them or their their nest or their food they will dive bomb your ass like the you know they're like the bird version of fuck around and find out, you know what I'm saying? So like, don't fuck with them.
Speaker: And... You know, but but they they get taken for granted or people they you or other birds try to prey on them because they look helpless, you know.
Speaker: And I've just always sort of. really vibed with that because when I was younger You know, I was a short little thing. You know, if I was.
Speaker: If we were dogs, I'd be the runt of the litter. You know what I'm saying? and ah I was quiet and kind of shy, like almost painfully so. And, um oh, and I was recently diagnosed with ADHD. So apparently I had that my whole life and didn't know it. And so. Yay, join the club. Ha ha. you know I was just a weird kid and people ignored me you know I was kind of overlooked, taken for granted, or just outright bullied sometimes.
Speaker: And. um You know. Bye. I found my strength and. you know, I don't. allow that to happen to me anymore. So.
Speaker: I just really kind of identified with the hummingbird being like people. look at you and don't think much of you but if you fuck with me you're gonna find out So it just kind of.
Speaker: Always resonated with me, the hummingbird. ah Plus, they're just beautiful, right? They're they're just beautiful little creatures. So the... Native word. It's kind of hard to pronounce. It's like... haitsah who's a low It's it's is very hard even for me to say because I don't speak Nahuatl, which is the...
Speaker: The language. ah In fact, You know, there's like been a resurgence of this in Mexico, but it's still not spoken by a whole lot of people. um inspect Instead, they speak the colonizer's language in Spanish, you know.
Speaker: um So... Basically, uh... Shh! I kind of shortened it A little bit. And. um So my name, it's H -U -I -T -Z -I. It's just a ah shortened version of of hummingbird in Nahuatl. But I'm going to go with Huitzi, H -U -I -T -Z -I. The H is silent, like a lot of Texans. And.
Speaker: Spanish and in native language. um So yeah, we'd see. That's my name. We'd still like that. I love that. I'm going to tack on a Spanish word just for my last name, but I'm not going to use it often. But I just think it sounds kind of badass. It's Vengadora.
Speaker: which is an Avenger. Hell yeah. That is. That is like so Paladin. And... yeah that's why that's amazing yes yeah You've done, it that's that's really good. and I love. All of that.
Speaker: Melissa, that is like such a great concept. and So Huitzi Venedora stands a little apart from the crowd, her armor scuffed from travel but polished with care. Once she was a sort of person, others stepped over without noticing. Now she steps forward when no one else will.
Speaker: She carries a long sword and a quiet fury, sworn to shield the meek from the tyranny of the many. To those who pray on the weak, her name is a warning. The hummingbird has become an avenger. Hell yeah.
Speaker: That's my girl. That's awesome. ah and And that's like a great paragraph we can put into their areas in your character sheet where we can just like. I copy and paste that right in. Okay. Awesome.
Speaker: Um, We'll get to that in a second, Brooke. why don't you tell us some of your thoughts about your character concept. So I went through all of the things that you sent us, and I have to tell you, I was very tempted.
Speaker: To be a wizard because I really wanted a cat. Oh, you can... We can get you a cat. anyway i can still don't have a cat okay that was that was like this thing i was like okay what i really want a cat but when i read through all of them i feel very drawn towards being a bard i love the idea of the music connection and the poetry and and those different things. so um i I would like to be a fairy bard.
Speaker: Because I feel... Very fairy -like, just in my... everyday life right now. um And... I also want to be a tuba -playing fairy bard that blasts spells out of my tuba to destroy her enemies. So I think all of this feels very good inside of me. The characters that I was...
Speaker: Um, drawing on? As far as like. The inspiration inspiration for...
Speaker: What type of... character she is, is like Artemis from mythology um being the hunter and also the companion to Orion, who Like the Orion is just a very.
Speaker: prominent thing in my life and I really like Artemis. And then um Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. uh, Meg from A Wrinkle in Time and Tracy Lord from The Philadelphia Story. So those are kind of the...
Speaker: the characters that I was. thinking about that I really relate to in literature and movies. um But with that fairy bard tuba playing.
Speaker: spin on all of it. Yeah. i I love that. and and when when you said you wanted to play and we were talking about like kind of different things i'm like you know you could be like a tuba playing bard who is Katherine Hepburn from the Philadelphia story.
Speaker: you want to and that's it Perfect. Yeah. So... Uh huh. It's so, so good. and Um,
Speaker: Oh. Melissa, I don't. i I think one of the conceits we want to go with is. having Like. famous Hollywood actors who might. be playing us.
Speaker: Um... Who would you want to? Lay. I... your your character. And why is it Salma Hayek?
Speaker: No, I'm kidding. It doesn't have to be Salma Hayek. Wow that I did not think about. we can come back to it. you can you can You can think about it. But like. I don't know. i But i just I just immediately started thinking of...
Speaker: Salma Hayek in in Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico and what a badass she is. So that is where we will start. Um, So I shared with you... my Character Sheet for my main character, Jeff Virtues.
Speaker: And if you will take a look at. his character sheet. ah What you'll see... As you look at the top of this, is you'll see his name.
Speaker: You'll see some character art of him. ah where he looks like Channing Tatum. um With. with a Big old sword. ah You will see he is.
Speaker: ah He is also a human. And he is a. Paladin. Bard Warlock. Split. Um. And ah then you will see some...
Speaker: ah You will see some scores here at the top. ah Now, every character in D and &D. has Six. main attributes.
Speaker: that determine basically what you're good at. and what you're not good at. And they are split into. a physical And. um and mental.
Speaker: On the physical side, you have strength. ah you have dexterity, and you have constitution. strength. ah how much you can lift, how... um you know, how strong you are and for most of the ah sort of ah you know strong martial characters ah this will be your main attribute with how hard you can hit something.
Speaker: with your weapon. So strength is is usually... a ah a big thing. However, There are some classes that rather than going with strength.
Speaker: They use dexterity. So like you're rogue. ah your your ranger. Um, you know if they're If they're using a dagger or a...
Speaker: another kind of finesse -based sword, or they're using a bow and arrow. ah their dexterity is more important. And that is.
Speaker: ah fine motor control. That is, um, you know Being able to dodge, being able to... move fast, etc., etc. it is It is what it sounds like.
Speaker: And then Constitution. is ah is is your ability to take a hit. ah It is also your ability to fight back against like.
Speaker: ah taking a poison or or even just... you know, ah dealing with a ah night of hard drinking. Um, and And your constitution also determines.
Speaker: How many... hit points you end up with. Your hit points are your... ah your health meter. And ah when you are full up with your hit points, then you're great.
Speaker: When you get down to zero hit points. you are knocked unconscious. And there is the potential for you to die. i you will start making what are called death saving throws.
Speaker: ah And unless someone... comes and heals you. ah and and brings you back up to one hit point or above. ah you will have to roll a series of dice.
Speaker: to see whether you make it or not. and your character can experience death. ah But hopefully... Because we are on a team, someone will pop you back up.
Speaker: And... um and you will be. and you will be okay. So your constitution is generally. ah pretty important. So depending on... what kind of player you are.
Speaker: ah You might want to... Um, You might want to go hard into strength. You might want to go hard into dexterity. ah you generally want to have a a strong constitution as well.
Speaker: Oh, one other thing that dexterity also changes is you'll notice here on the sheet, you'll see something. called Armor Class? ah Your armor class is...
Speaker: Uh, how hard you are to hit. Um. So. When you roll an attack. Later on, you'll roll.
Speaker: A 20 -sided die? And each weapon that you use has a... an amount that they automatically add on to that. Some of them are plus four.
Speaker: Some of them are plus seven. etc., etc. And so if you roll an 11. and your weapon is a plus six.
Speaker: ah then you rolled 17. to hit. If the person you are attacking has an armor class of 17 or lower.
Speaker: Uh, you successfully hit them. And then you get to roll damage and you get to determine. ah how many of their hit points you get to take away. Similarly, when... um when bad guys are.
Speaker: attacking you. They will see whether they... ah hit above your armor class. And and obviously the higher your. Your AC is...
Speaker: ah AC short for armor class. ah then, um, That will determine. whether whether they hit you or not. Your dexterity.
Speaker: helps determine your armor class. ah But so does the type of armor. that you're wearing. Jeff Virtues has. ah heavy plate armor.
Speaker: and ah has a shield that he uses, he's pretty tough to hit. ah So you'll notice he has a very high armor class. Um. If you are a a squishy little wizard.
Speaker: and you're only wearing... um you know, robes. ah and you are not as strong and not as dexterous. you may have a much lower armor class and you are going to be easier to hit.
Speaker: So. different characters have. Yes. Are all of these things determined by rolling dice, or do we pick our strength and dexterity and tell it, like... Is that things that we... Rule 4? Yes. Or how do they get a second? Okay.
Speaker: So we we there are three different methods for determining your attributes. You can roll dice. ah There is also what is called the standard array.
Speaker: where you are given... Uh, you're given a a standard set and you just pick. one to give each to there's also a method called point by which is pretty similar where everything starts off at eight.
Speaker: And then you have a number of points. And you just. increase ah the the numbers. however you want. Um, so So when we go through and we determine your...
Speaker: Um, your stats, we can... i think I think we should try to roll dice and see what comes up with them. that's kind of the classic way And if ah and if you get something that you like.
Speaker: ah then you can stick with it. And if you don't. ah you can you can use the standard array or a point by. Um, So yeah. So you get to you get to choose which of these things you you want to emphasize and which you want to.
Speaker: De -emphasize. ah So that's your physical. And then you have your mental stats. And that is your intelligence, your wisdom, and your charisma.
Speaker: Uh, Intelligence is what it sounds like. It's book smarts. How good are you at picking up? ah you know, things through reading and.
Speaker: and study. ah Wisdom is ah lived experience and and street smarts. Uh, much do you sort of inherently understand about ah dealing with people.
Speaker: and also ah nature. and the world around you. Um, And then charisma. which is... ah how well...
Speaker: you are able to... So to talk your way out of things or. ah interact with people. Uh, Now, most Most people, including ah both of you.
Speaker: also have a um a spellcasting. Attribute. ah which is ah the thing that makes your spells uh that and your magic stronger.
Speaker: ah in. both of your cases. ah your charisma. is what. ah your spells are based on. Amen. wizards are are based on their book smarts and intelligence.
Speaker: ah Druids. are based on their wisdom, ah and and so on. So... um So both of you. ah you are both going to want to make sure that you put one of your higher scores.
Speaker: In charisma. Um, because that will... ah that will help your character. Um, doing doing their magic. ah and and lots of other things. And it'll help you as you... you know.
Speaker: ah You're talking to someone and you want to. ah either persuade them to help you or or maybe you want to tell a lie and get through it.
Speaker: Um, and And then you will roll some sort of charisma. based. uh, skill. Speaking of those skills. ah Under underneath these attributes here.
Speaker: you'll see ah this list of... of skills acrobatics animal handling arcana Athletics, deception, history, insight, intimidation, investigation. Medicine, nature, perception, performance, persuasion, religion, sleight of hand, stealth, and survival. I know that is. A lot.
Speaker: not be intimidated. It's okay. Uh, To the left of each of those skills, you will notice that it has. and accompanying a attribute.
Speaker: that it is based on. So... acrobatics is a dexterity -based skill. ah So if you have put more points into dexterity.
Speaker: ah your acrobatic skill is going to be a little bit better. Um, If ah you are good at. wisdom. ah your your medicine. and your perception.
Speaker: checks are also going to be better. Uh, and While we are creating your character, you get to choose some of these skills.
Speaker: that you are going to be proficient in. And those are going to boost those even more. ah So you start off. Um, ah Let's...
Speaker: Let's just say, for example, Uh... you have a skill of 10. which is ah the exact... middle. ah that is average. and And that's how we should sort of understand the world of D and &D.
Speaker: is if you if you have an intelligence of 10. you are in exactly... Uh, average. intelligence person. ah If you are a little bit lower, like a 9 or a 10, you're a little bit less smart. If you are. and 11 or 12.
Speaker: ah you are a little bit more smart. but not. incredibly so. Um, If you have an intelligence of 18 or 19 or 20, ah We are talking about...
Speaker: a Super genius level. ah If... If you have an intelligence of. four or five. We are talking about. Uh.
Speaker: very serious problems you do. ah Animals, for example. often have intelligences of Three. So... um If you are at four or five, you are at a ah pretty severe disadvantage. Now, it can be really fun ah to make your character having.
Speaker: uh, buried. very good strengths, um very... ah Also some... ah some flaws. You don't want to be good at everything.
Speaker: ah And it can be fun to have areas where you're not good at. and that's And that's also what makes... ah having An adventuring party so important.
Speaker: is that you can balance each other out so Um. Not everyone has to be good at everything. of you know. the Uh, The paladin doesn't have to be.
Speaker: intelligent. Um. Hopefully we have a wizard or someone else who is very intelligent. And they're able to do those things where that.
Speaker: that is based on intelligence Um. but you'll get to... to boost some of these things. So as we're going through. ah you can think about from the basis of your character, sort of the things that you want to be good at.
Speaker: the things that that you want to be just okay at. And the things that... You're okay with being a little bit bad. Um, And that's okay. Okay. So that's...
Speaker: That is kind of the... basics. of Most things, any questions, any. concerns. I don't think so right now. I think it'll just be like going through it and getting.
Speaker: familiar with the process. Okay. yeah Let's dive in. questions as I go, you know what I mean? Totally. You totally are. So that's the overview. and And you're not expected to retain all of this. You're not expected to remember all of this.
Speaker: This is like an overview. Uh, again, I think that. one of D and &D's problems is is it is a little bit complicated. uh, We can start off.
Speaker: ah Easy. And. um you know. It's... It's really funny to me. There are people who are professional. ah D and &D players who ah Forget the rules all the time.
Speaker: ah You watch. You watch some of these people on Critical Role. and Dimension 20 and these other shows, and they're asking the DM, like... How do I do this thing again?
Speaker: Totally normal. And I think it's important that we normalize. that kind of stuff. So. Awesome. I'll make that very normal then. Yeah. Um...
Speaker: Okay. So let's ah let's build your character sheets. so Um. You're starting out. Melissa, you you asked about... um this ah this character builder character preferences Um,
Speaker: so Start off with adding your character's name in there. And then the only thing that we want to change here. Um,
Speaker: Don't worry about most of these Uh, If you will go down to where it says... partnered content? And say that you want to enable all partnered content. Okay.
Speaker: That doesn't mean as much to y 'all, but... ah there are There are a lot of people who create... Uh... Um, different things for for D and &D.
Speaker: uh, that that I've purchased. ah through the years and i want to be able to bring in some of those even if they are not ah sort of norm core. Amen.
Speaker: Basic stuff. Uh, under optional features. i Click optional class features and customize your origin.
Speaker: Okay. Um... And we are going to keep. hit point type as fixed. For now. if at some point you want to go back and Roll for your hit points. ah We're more than happy to do that. but For right now, let's keep it at fixed. um and it's one less thing we have to worry about.
Speaker: Um, And then... under encumbrance type. ah turn off encumbrance, say no encumbrance. Uh... You can play this where you can only carry a certain amount.
Speaker: Uh. This is a fantasy setting. Uh... you've got magical. pouches and things that you can put stuff in. I'm not gonna make you track. how much gear you carry around.
Speaker: Um, So no encumbrance. And... Uh... Yeah, and then And then you can go ahead and click this. blue.
Speaker: Arrow. ah To the next. And ah we do. our Our first... Big choice.
Speaker: is what is your class? class you can kind of think of as your job. ah You both have picked out... ah your class. So if you will...
Speaker: melissa if you will pick paladin and brooke you will pick Barred. And then there will be a pop -up. And if you will click add class. ah then that will get you started.
Speaker: then you'll notice kind of in the upper right hand corner it'll say level one Let's go ahead and we're going to take you both. all the way to...
Speaker: Level 12. So up ah after you hit... Attag. class. It'll have your class listed. Like mine has the little purple thing and it says Bard. And under. Like between that and my name over to the right. It says.
Speaker: level. There's no tuba under musical instrument. That's okay. we'll We'll change that for you. that's what's That's what's great about this is Aya's Dungeon Master can...
Speaker: Add. anything that I want to as long as I know how to homebrew it. And that's why we enabled all of that. Extra content. that is not.
Speaker: uh, standard. so that to make sure that... You can. you can do all of those things. We'll definitely get you a tuba. ah So both of you will start off at the beginning. It'll say like core paladin traits or core bard traits.
Speaker: and ah you're going to start off choosing two of your skills. So you'll have a list of these skills. And we do that under core, right? Yes. Oh, I see. Choose skill. Okay. So there's three skills. Okay. so You can choose. any of these skills.
Speaker: Um, Let me know if you have a question about any of them. Um... ah The ones the ones that. that come up most often.
Speaker: Uh... Insight. is often very helpful because you can Uh... Ask. to do an insight check to ask if like a person you're talking to is lying.
Speaker: or try to understand something about them. Uh... perception is always good to you know you're You're out and about and you sense something. and like ah You think about like Legolas out there.
Speaker: Like. He's just out there on the road and then he just like senses something on the breeze. Uh, Like dude is. it has a massive perception.
Speaker: Score. And he's just able to pick up on stuff that's out there. Um, but you can But you can pick what you want to be good at. And, uh... If it happens. Has three options listed? Do we choose three or just two?
Speaker: I... You choose. Do you? Do you get three? I think as a bard you might get three. I see how I am. Rude. Yeah. Well,
Speaker: Bards are ah what are colloquially known as skill monkeys. Both bards and rogues are exceptionally good at picking up. extra skills.
Speaker: And. um In fact, Brookie we're going to get. A. a trait at level three called jack of all trades where you get half proficiency in. every skill.
Speaker: So. Uh, That is just one of the things that... that bards get. um but paladins get other things so um You're okay.
Speaker: and if you And if you want to get good at other skills, there are things we can do that make you. ah good at other skills. Okay, so... I chose my skills, right?
Speaker: Okay. bell casting it just it's level when it won't let me do Yeah. More with that. Right. For now. Right. Yeah. It says starting equipment.
Speaker: So I already have all that starting equipment it's telling you, right? ah You will. we'll um will add We'll add all of that. ah at the end when we get to Uh,
Speaker: Because it's asking me about my weapons. But like if it says long sword on starting equipment, I don't have to choose long sword again, right? Well,
Speaker: Okay. Are you looking at the weapon mastery section? Yeah. Yes. Okay. So weapon mastery is a separate thing. Okay.
Speaker: What? So you can you can carry like... any weapon that you want to and use it but You get to be. extra good.
Speaker: at certain weapons. And you can... Certain classes can swap those out. ah either every day or ah or every time they level up.
Speaker: But you can you can choose the things that you most want to be good at. and each of them We'll have... a special thing that they do.
Speaker: So ah you'll notice each of them as you go through. Out. Like. Lance. is Topple. If you decide that you want to be really good with a Lance.
Speaker: than when you hit someone with a successful attack. Sure. also going to knock them over. which gives which makes it easier to attack them on the next turn.
Speaker: Um. and and makes them less able to run away. you'll notice like I'll Long sword sap. Uh, Sap.
Speaker: is um if you If you hit the creature with a longsword, that creature has disadvantage. on its next attack. role. before the start of your next turn.
Speaker: So if it tries to turn around and attack you. It will roll with disadvantage, meaning it will roll. Two dice? and it will use the lower of them.
Speaker: so like if it rolls a seventeen and that would have hit but it also rolls a 3, and that's not going to hit. and they have to use the three. So. Um.
Speaker: you know. that can that can be good. ah So you can choose. um sort of what you want to... specialize in. and um and and what is interesting to you.
Speaker: So I don't know if you have a... a specific idea of what you want to be good at. there There are no wrong answers here. There's only choices.
Speaker: There are so many choices and you can change this. so You can pick one now. And ah we'll have like some amnesty for the first. ah for the first little while where you can... change anything around on your character you want to.
Speaker: So on my bard subclass. Yes. um we'll We'll get to that in. in one second. I want to make sure. Melissa, I think. you also have to choose a fighting style.
Speaker: Aha. And you can. Uh, you can either choose... ah to be a blessed warrior or You can choose ah a fighting style feat.
Speaker: again, is sort of a specialization. of things that you want to be good at. Okay. Blessed Warrior gives you some advantages with... ah casting spells.
Speaker: ah you get some extra spells and Now I have to choose spells? Yes, if you want to do if you want to. Go for the blessed warrior.
Speaker: Um, one Yes, you learn two cantrips. ah So a little a little lesson in... magic, and spells. I... you will have different spells of various levels.
Speaker: and you will have spell slots. that allow you to cast. Spells from that list. that many times per day. Uh...
Speaker: So a cantrip. is... for lack of a better term a level zero spell It is a spell that costs no magic to...
Speaker: Attitude. ah to cast. You can do it. Anytime. and ah or at least an unlimited amount of times per day. Um, So these are... these are pretty...
Speaker: Uh, you know they're not they're not your most powerful spells but they can do different things. Um, Out. Light.
Speaker: ah casts a ah bright light in the area. ah Guidance is ah is a buff. that you give to different members of your party where...
Speaker: ah they will add um They will add a D4. dice roll to whatever they are. Um. whatever they're trying to do.
Speaker: um mending you can fix things magically Uh... Sacred Flame. Uh, you. You hit people with some sacred fire.
Speaker: ah spare the dying if someone's making death -saving throws you can Pop them up. thaumaturgy It has all sorts of cool things.
Speaker: ah you're you're making noise, you're making... light you're making some other just random things. Toll the Dead. Uh, you.
Speaker: you literally make a ah a spiritual bell. ring out and it does. Uh, It. It does damage on people. making them fear for their mortality.
Speaker: Uh huh. Third. these are These are some... basic spells but they're They're a lot of fun. If you're looking for ah sort of basics.
Speaker: Um, You can never go wrong with guidance. And then I would choose ah one of the ones that causes a little bit of damage. so either a Sacred Flame or Toll the Dead is probably good.
Speaker: Um. Or if you always want to make sure you've got a light. ah You can cast you can Don't play. Those are all ways. Pretty thematic. Okay. Here we are at your subclass.
Speaker: ah This is... probably the most important um choice you will make. in For Your Character. Um. Your subclass. You've chosen your ah your main class.
Speaker: ah You're a bard, you're a paladin, but what kind of bard? ah what kind of paladin. Do you want to be? There are a lot of different options here.
Speaker: i can I can sort of run through some of them for you. Or you can ask me about ones that... sound interesting to you and I picked College of Tragedy.
Speaker: Oh, you want to be a College of Tragedy bard? Those are... Those are fun. ah They are. Yeah you. you use your sadness to impose disadvantage on on the the people who are attacking you. though Um,
Speaker: Cuts. That's a lot of fun. I want the tuba.
Speaker: Melissa, the the four basic paladins. You have Oath of Devotion, which is kind of just a general, I'm a holy warrior, I'm devoted to.
Speaker: a cause. They're sort of the... the standard flavor Paladin. ah Oath of Glory, you can think of kind of like a sports star. They're they're in it for the glory. Uh, there. they're all about.
Speaker: sort of self -promotion and so on but they're ah but they're still really good. You get some extra buffs too. making you into kind of a peerless athlete.
Speaker: oath of vengeance is... ah the most popular. paladin class for a reason. It is generally considered a little bit. overpowered you are the person who smites evil there's bad people out there and you get a whole bunch of extra abilities that help you go after them and do extra damage too. people who would harm you or do bad things. It's pretty awesome.
Speaker: Oath of the Ancients is a bit more chill. You're more like a ah hippie paladin. ah You want to protect like nature and balance and things like that. You'll also see on here some other ones. Oath of the Noble Genies instead of making an oath. to...
Speaker: ah like a god or an ideal you've got you've got a genie in a bottle and it gives you some extra some extra things that you want to do. I will. I will say we should probably not be an oath breaker.
Speaker: ah Because they are. Uh... sort of the evil ah versions. ah So unless you want to go down that route. No thank you. Okay. ah Do any of those stick out to you? Are they interesting to you?
Speaker: Yeah. what are What are you thinking? Vengeance Vengeance Oh my gosh. The Vengeance Paladin is the... I'm sorry. That was my personal thing. The Vengeance Paladin is the best paladin.
Speaker: Hey y 'all. Future Andy here. a quick housekeeping Note, I originally had Brooke and Melissa. build their character sheets out to level 12.
Speaker: ah But I've gone ahead and removed that portion. of the podcast. ah both Because this... This is a very long episode, and you may not want to hear all of that. and uh because afterwards we decided we were going to have our characters start at level three so I figured We would just have you go up to level 3 and choosing your subclass.
Speaker: But I think cutting out this next part is... going to be better for you if you're just trying to learn how to start your first D and &D character. rather than trying to build them out all the way to a much higher level.
Speaker: Okay. Back to the podcast where we go next to... ah everyone's species choice.
Speaker: Species. Melissa, if you will ah go ahead and choose human. ah That's... That's pretty easy, and that'll come up with a few things.
Speaker: Brooke, you will have to scroll down a little bit. ah To get to where... I see. Okay. under 5E expanded. Yes, under 5e expanded.
Speaker: Okay. but Um. once you've Once you've got that, you can... you can choose that You are small. When you choose that, it should give you... a Um,
Speaker: Some. some other things. ah Melissa as a human, you get another set. of uh skills that that you're good at.
Speaker: under versatile ah you get an... Additional origin feed. So... um, So like you started off. Gosh, we were just there and I forgot. ah uh,
Speaker: you You took lucky. Um. So... you can take something else. ah that might be um that might be good for you.
Speaker: Okay. On to ability scores. Here here we are. Do you all want to both try rolling your scores? and yeah seeing yeah what we come up with.
Speaker: Okay. Uh... if you If you click on manual slash rolled. ah then it'll come up with a thing and then you'll see.
Speaker: six little green boxes that all say roll. And you can just... Press. Like all of them? Yeah. What?
Speaker: Melissa, you rolled an 18. What does that mean? ah And 18 is the... literally the best score that you can roll. Yeah.
Speaker: That's ah that's. That means you can... Like. potentially be ah you know, sort of the top of the heap. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: huh what's happening it still says rolling except for one of them it says 10 and there's a little drop down And I don't know. hah What to do with that drop down.
Speaker: Don't. Don't worry about that. Try hitting refresh and see if... um It comes up. if it puts those numbers in there. What if I lose them? I don't want to lose my 18.
Speaker: We will not make you lose your 18. ah if you lose it we will just we'll have you roll five others and then We'll just have you put 18 something. Andy is God.
Speaker: Yeah. i I mean I saw it So. Okay. You know. Okay, so it's the 10 and now it's telling me to roll the 5. again. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: So try try rolling the other five. And what we'll do is we will. drop the lowest one of those and replace it with an E. Ooh, a lot of tens.
Speaker: Tens are okay. Tens are average. I don't want to be average. You could never be average. Yeah. The lowest was 8 and the highest is 15. Okay.
Speaker: Um, So what we'll do is we'll drop that eight. um And we'll make that. A 15. or excuse me, an 18. And then you have a 15.
Speaker: You You can keep that. And you can... Keep your one. Things super high at 18. You can. you can try to do like point by or Um.
Speaker: or the standard array Uh, just Just as an FYI, your standard array... Uh, it. you get an 8, a 10, a 12, a 13, a 14, and a 15.
Speaker: ah So... Um. And generally speaking, when you do point by. ah The. the top score that you'll end up with is a 15 or a 16. So your choice, if you would like to. keep those rolled stats or if you would like to Oh.
Speaker: Or if you'd like to try the... um The standards right are right or point by. And what is the standard again? ah a 15 A 14.
Speaker: A 13, a 12. A ten and an eight. So. Brooke, you might you might have... um A better shot with that. You might have a better shot with that or with or with point by.
Speaker: Um, If you want to, if you want. And how does point by work? I... you Everything starts at 8. And then you have a number of points that you put into them, and you basically...
Speaker: I... You can. you can basically run up Um, you know, to kind of a kind of like a standard array, but you can... ah you can drop some things down a little more in order to increase other ones.
Speaker: Can I just reset and just do this one more time? Sure, go for it. Okay. And it's the luck of the draw, whatever i try that happens. Yeah.
Speaker: Let's do it. um So how do we do it reset group? ah We'll just... Just tell it ad group. So you can keep your old ones too. and Oh, shoot.
Speaker: Alright. I didn't do that. That's okay. I don't think I can get much worse. Ah, son of a bitch. Mmm. Mmm.
Speaker: Hey, Future Andy here again. We're just gonna... cut out all of this stuff with rolling dice. Uh... We had some technical issues with D and &D Beyond where...
Speaker: We lost. a lot of these dice rolls and considering what had happened with Melissa and that lost 18. We finally got it all to work. And we got...
Speaker: Good. dice rolls but it was outside of this session. You want to find out what... Brooke and Melissa got for those. Tune into one of our episodes and... Uh,
Speaker: Check us out on on Facebook. or Patreon, or one of the other places where we'll be posting full character sheet so you can take a look at them and you can see what they got.
Speaker: But just know that we rolled for those outside of this recording. because D and &D Beyond kept glitching on us. Okay, back to the show.
Speaker: No whammies, no whammies. Yeah. yes slightly better I'll take it.
Speaker: Like I would. Oh, that. That's six. That's fun. Okay. Okay? Son of a...
Speaker: Bitch. Well? Well. But the... Still better. is Bye. Bye. they're Really good. and um Still better, right?
Speaker: You got... Four 16s. That's amazing. Really, really, really good, actually. Like you're... really good at a lot of things. And then...
Speaker: and You would just have to choose one thing. that you're not going to be very good at. Um, And I would suggest... It's always fun to play a either low wisdom or low intelligence character.
Speaker: ah where you can be just a little bit A little bit chaotic. Chaotic, yeah. So that might be fun.
Speaker: ah You might also, um you know, maybe we do some sort of. i mean That's what I did. I did 16 for. Charisma. uh constitution strength and dexterity and then Wisdom is 13 and intelligence is six.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, you know what? You know what though? You know what would actually be really thematic? You are a tiny fairy. You should. you should use the six as your strength score.
Speaker: You don't need to be strong. You're a tiny fairy. You are with. A bunch of really, really buff paladins. Um... with with strength scores of 19 and 20.
Speaker: Okay, I like that better. Yeah, that's actually that's actually more. thematic and on -brand. So. i I think that's actually super cool.
Speaker: Okie dokie. That feels way better. Yeah. No, that's super cool. You're actually like pretty. I mean, not overpowered, but like.
Speaker: but that But that character... Bye. tells a story. Um. with their Joe. You're incredibly charismatic. You're... incredibly dexterous.
Speaker: ah You're very intelligent. you're You're very tough. You're very wise. or not strong. Shabbat Shalom That's fun. Okay. Cool. Um,
Speaker: Well, I think that is... um That is mostly it. what On the next screen, you can also... Choose your starting equipment. Um, i You can go ahead and add that starting equipment to your inventory if you want to.
Speaker: ah This is where I am going to step in as DM. And I am going to... Gift you. Um. Some. some starting equipment.
Speaker: ah So I will give... I will give both of you some. All right. some plus one armor, and some plus one weapons. Um... to to get started with because at At level 12, that is.
Speaker: sort of where you're expected to be. um I will I am also probably going to think about uh, some Extra.
Speaker: things I might want to give you. um and and make some Like. Kind of homebrew legendary items. ah to add on top of that. So you've got some...
Speaker: special abilities or tricks either through your your armor, or your weapons. um And I'll just put that right in your inventory. Um. But.
Speaker: then you should... you should be able to... Uh, you know, open up your character sheet and and take a look at it. And... Um.
Speaker: Yeah, congratulations. You've you've created your... ah your first D and &D characters. Um, You survived? ah Sorry, that it that is a lot.
Speaker: Uh... And... Thanks. Everything that we did, we can go back and kind of... I'm kind of Jewish, and... Switch out. Um. because this should be fun.
Speaker: So. Hey, look, there's a character sheet. Yep. You have a character sheet. Congratulations. next you'll go through and you will like i'll i'll give you your inventories ah you can choose all of your...
Speaker: ah spells that you want to add. Uh... we might. We might. Oh, this is awesome. When we click on this, okay, so I click on the character sheet.
Speaker: And it says strength is negative two. That's because I'm a six. Correct. So there are going to be times when they say like, oh, do a strength saving throw. And you're like, oh. Well. I'm going to get a i'm going to get in minus two.
Speaker: um But maybe that is where... you know, you're going to have to do a strength saving throw. And Melissa steps in and casts guidance on you.
Speaker: and gives you a boost to... the strength ability check that you're going to have to do. Um. to try to counteract that So...
Speaker: No. just because you're minus two in strength. doesn't mean that ah You're incapable of doing heroic things. And... Uh, you...
Speaker: You should not be the one doing the heavy lifting as the fairy with the tuba. I'll let the paladins pick up those heavy wickets. So. ah You don't have to be good at everything. Great. Well, that's that is intro to character creation in D and &D.
Speaker: Congratulations. and um I guess. Cool. We'll see you both in the dungeon. Yay. Thank you so much. Bye. Talk to you all soon. All right, bye.
Speaker: Together! the tree.
