#greychan

Since I'm playing ranger, once again, I will use my ranger (and also the ability scores I rolled last week). For a ranger, the BAB starts at +1 (fuck yeah), and basically goes up by 1 every level (fuck yeeaaah). At level 6, rangers get a second attack, as well (hahaha, motherfuckers).

Because I'm an archer, I'm going to focus on RAB (ranged attack bonus), but if I were using a sword, or a fist, or anything that, let's say, doesn't have range, then it's called melee. We don't normally use MAB, however. Just AB, works. Whatever you prefer.

So:

AB (melee, means getting close and personally and seeing the life leave your opponents eyes, muahahaha)

RAB (ranged, means snipers. We're dicks; never get our hands dirty if we can help it)

AB relies on your Strength modifier. RAB relies on your Dex mod. My ranger's BABs are as follows:

AB: +1 +1> +2

RAB: +1 +3> +4

Now, let's put my ranger in combat. She starts off using her bow and arrows. She picks a target, announces it OUT LOUD, and rolls her att. Using JUST the RAB I have above (just BAB and Dex), I would roll 1d20, then add +4. I rolled 17 (no I really did YEAH NOW YOU ROLLED MORE THAN 10? WHAT ABOUT AT MY GAME, YOU FUCKING DICKTWAT OF A DICEROLLER!) *ahem* sorry.

So, 17 +4 > 21

And that is your attack roll (att). Now, you tell your DM (dungeon master) your roll. Then, the DM looks at the target's character sheet the ranger had aimed for. The DM looks at the target's AC (Armor Class, remember?). If your att is THE SAME OR HIGHER, you make a successful hit. You roll dmg. Dmg (damage) is specified by the equipment you used. Let's say my character used a longbow. (Because longbows are better, shut up, I'm not compensating for my lack of penis.) Longbow do 1d8 damage. That's it. Sadly, you need a composite longbow to add str mod to your damage. Anyway. I rolled a 7 (THIS IS HORSESHIT! WHY ARENT YOU ROLLING THIS WELL WHEN I ACTUALLY PLAY YOU FUCKING COMPUTERIZED PIECE OF-)

The enemy takes 7 dmg. (i'm ridiculously frustrated now)

Now, let's move on to AB: It works the exact same way. Melee weapons, however, allow you to add your str mod to your dmg. So if I had rolled 7 (*steams angrily*), I would add +1 as well and done 8 dmg. However, my att roll would have been 19, not 21. *shrugs*

Moving on.

There are a ton of different ways to increase your att roll.

Feats (easiest way)

Spells (limited to access to magic)

Magical Items (limited to treasure and/or the money you gots. Also, limited to the area you're in. A good DM makes finding good items even in a town at least VAGUELY difficult. The smaller the village, the less likely you'll find anything good, or be able to find someone to make it. Also, you could find a sweet new item and be too low-level, or the wrong class, to be able to use it)

Flanking/Charging (Flanking means two teammates facing each other with an enemy between them. With both teammates fighting the same opponent, the enemy is flanked, and the teammates get +2 to their att; Charging means, well, charging. Also called Bull Rush. It means you can move twice your distance AND still attack the opponent (normally if you run, you cannot attack). HOWEVER, you must move at least 10 feet, and you get a -2 to your AC. You also cannot move away afterwards, not even 5'. Taking the feat "Improved Bull Rush" however, negates the -2, I think? Yeah. Anyway.)

Those are the only ways I can think of off the top of my head to get more BAB, other than just leveling. The LAST THING to talk about when discussing attacks is an attack of opportunity.

2) What is an attack of opportunity, aka What is this fuckery?

An attack of opportunity is an extra attack allowed when the target is taken unawares or is distracted. There are certain situations where this happens.

when in combat, you attempt to move more than 10' away (unless you call "withdraw action")

when you pass within an enemy's reach (say your friend is fighting a troll, and you try to get past the troll, but you're within its 10' reach, it gets to attack you)

when you attempt to cast a spell while within melee reach

when you use a ranged weapon within melee reach (this happened to me this past weekend. Fucking trolls. It moved within 10 feet of me, and I couldn't move far enough away without creating an attack of opportunity anyway, so I just shot the bastard, but it got a hit on me first. It killed me. I would have done 53 dmg, damn it. I was so angry)

drawing a weapon while within melee reach of an enemy (that's why, children, you always have your weapon drawn if you're feeling antsy)

getting up from a prone position while in melee reach

I can't think of anything others. Basically, if you do any of those things, the enemy gets to attack you, even if they've already attacked that round, or if it's not even their turn to att. Which brings us to ONE MORE QUESTION, FUCK, I ALMOST FORGOT.

3) What is an attack round?

An attack rounds begins as soon as you enter combat with an enemy. Everyone, including the enemies, roll Initiative (d20, plus Dex modifier). The numbers are set up highest to lowest. The highest Initiative (Init) goes first. A round is how long it takes for every person on the list to attack/make some sort of action. Each round is six seconds long. No matter how long it takes to get through the list (ten minutes, an hour), IN GAME, that round was ONLY SIX SECONDS. That's important. Some spells are time sensitive. If the spell says its duration is 1 hour/ten minutes/1 minute/etc, it means 1 hour in game time. Not the time on your watch or phone. If it lasts 1 hour, that means the spell lasts-- fuck I have to do math. Shit. Um. Ten rounds = 1 minute. So, yeah, 600 rounds is one hour? yeeaaahh

Studded Leather: Armor Bonus +3 Dex Bonus+5 Armor Check Penalty -1 Arcane Spell Failure Chance 15% Speed 30/20 ft. Weight 20 lbs

Armor Bonus: On your character sheet it should have an AC place. It'll have the number 10, plus a few more boxes, usually labeled with Armor/Shield Bonus, Dex modifier, Natural Armor, Misc. The 10 is your AC without any armor on at all.

AC: ____ = 10 + Armor Bonus + Dex + Natural + Size + Misc ...etc...etc..

Using the studded leather and my Dex score from my Abilities post yesterday:

AC: 16 = 10 + 3 + 3

Your armor's dex bonus does not belong in the AC. Your Dex modifier does. Natural armor bonus is a bonus if your character has a natural tough hide, or a spell or magical item that gives them natural armor. None of the starter races (human, elf, half-elf, halfing, dwarf, gnome, or half-orc) have natural armor. Size is a bonus added only for certain races or creatures. Medium creatures do not get an AC size bonus. We'll say my ranger is a human, so she's medium. However, gnomes and halflings are small. They get a +1 AC size bonus. They are "harder to hit", because they are a smaller targets, hence the AC bonus.

Dex Bonus: So, if that +5 doesn't go in the AC, what is it? The armor's Dex Bonus is a limit. You see that Dex mod that I put in the AC? It's only 3, right? Let's say I manage to get my Dex up to... 22. My modifier would be +6. But if I still have this armor, I can only use +5. My AC wouldn't go up. Basically my armor is just heavy enough that I can't dodge very well. +5 is still pretty good though.

Armor Check Penalty: Basically, if you ever need to use a skill that uses Str or Dex modifiers, you have to subtract your penalty. (Remind me to mention this when I talk about skills.)

If you are nonproficient with that armor, you apply the penalty to attack rolls. HAHA, I WAS RIGHT. It doesn't put a negative on your AC, but it does put a negative on your attack rolls. So, just wear armor you're proficient with, okay?

Arcane Spell Failure Chance: This only matters for arcane spell casters, such as wizards and sorcerers. Clerics are divine casters. Rangers and Druids are like... divine/nature casters. Anyway. Basically, if you wear the armor and try to cast a spell, you have to roll the percentile dice. If you roll 15 or below, your spell fails. Poof. No magic. Sucks to be you.

Speed: Medium and heavy armors slow you down. Normally, a characters speed is 30 ft. Dwarfs, gnome, and halflings have a normal speed of 20. The heavier the armor, the slower you move. With studded leather, no change.

Weight: If you DM gives a shit, make sure you make a note about how heavy your armor is. Every race, plus your character's strength, has a "carrying capacity" of a certain amount of lbs. If you carry too much, you get negatives on movement and shit like that. You should get a packhorse or a Bag of Holding as soon as possible. Carrying Capacity and weight shit is annoying to keep track of. I love it when my DM is lazy. When they stop caring if you stocked up on rations at each town, you know you're golden. Math sucks and DM's usually have better things to do, lol.

Now, remember that AC: 16 I have? Scroll up, it's there. That means, if an enemy tries to attack me, that have to roll higher than a 16. If they roll 15 or below, then the attack glances off, and I take 0 dmg. They roll with a d20, which is why an AC 16 is shit after, like, level 3. I will explain attack rolls in my next post. Now, let's look at breastplate and call it a day, shall we?

Breastplate: Armor Bonus +6 Dex Bonus+3 Armor Check Penalty -4 Arcane Spell Failure Chance 25% Speed 20/15 ft. Weight 30 lbs

AC: 19 = 10 + 6 + 3

Dex Bonus: It's +3. So, if I would to make my Dex 16 a Dex 18, and get a modifier of +4, I still could only use +3. It only affects AC. It does not affect anything else that uses your Dex modifier (like attack rolls, or skills).

Armor Check Penalty: Anytime you use a skill with a Str or Dex modifier, you subtract 4.

Spell Failure: You have to roll 26 or more on percentile dice if you cast an arcane spell, or the spell fails.

Speed: If you're a gnome, dwarf, or halfling, you can only move 15 ft a round. Otherwise, you can only move 20 ft.

This depends VERY much on your class and how you want to rp your character. I will show you how I plan out my typical ranger. Keep in mind, I'm probably not the best ranger-maker ever. I make choices that are probably stupid based on HOW I want to play her and who she is as a person. Most people tend to keep personality out of the mix. I will use rule c.

2 + 4 + 6 > 6 + 4 + 6 = 16

4 + 6 + 2 > 4 + 6 + 3 = 13

5 + 5 + 3 = 13

4 + 6 + 2 > 4 + 6 + 3 = 13

4 + 1 + 6 > 4 + 3 + 6 = 13

5 + 3 + 1> 5 + 3 + 4 = 12

Okay, my phone's dice app is stupid and I hate it. *grumbles* wtf is with 13? Anyway. Now, I have to put a score into each ability. Because I'm playing a ranger, my most IMPORTANT skills are Dex, Con, and Wis. Depending on how I play her, Str could be important, too.

See, rangers have two basic ways that they go. Two-weapon fighting, or archery. I normally go archery (though I had a two-weap ranger named Sikanda who was friggin' bamf). So, going with archery: Dex, Con, Wis, and maybe Int or Str. Cha for my Ranger is useless. She's terse and quiet. She doesn't bluff, she's terrible at diplomacy, and she's neutral towards animals. I see no reason for her to have high Cha. So,I'm probably going to put my 12 there. Dex is my most important because I'm using a bow. To HIT my target, I need a high Dex. So, my 16 will go there. As for the rest- well, I only rolled 13s. This is the easiest time I've ever had divvying up my abil. scores. Wow. So, this is my stat list.

Str-13

Dex- 16

Con- 13

Wis- 13

Int- 13

Cha- 12

I'm going to be using this score list whenever I need to use Abil scores later on. So, don't forget it.

Based on the race you choose, you get extra or negative points to certain abilities, but we'll talk about races later and change the list then. Moving on to modifiers.

Modifiers tie into the number of your ability. Starting at 10, which the mod is +0, at every even number, the modifier goes up by 1. 10 +0, 11 +0, 12 +1, 13 +1, etc. So, let's see what my mods are?

Str-13 +1

Dex- 16 +3

Con- 13 +1

Wis- 13 +1

Int- 13 +1

Cha- 12 +1

Anything lower than 10 gets a negative. So, 9 -1, 8 -1, 7 -2... it looks like it goes to every odd number... I MAY be wrong on going down every odd, usually your DM will work with you so you don't get a negative unless 1) they're dicks, 2) you're veteran players so you get a laugh outta fucking yourself over, or 3) there's a specific reason you actually want a low score (yes, there are reasons for low scores, but I've never had them).

Every odd level, you get a free ability point and you can put it into any score you want. Level 1 is odd, so freebie point at the gate. I have a shit ton of 13s, so I'll choose one of them. Usually, I'd put it in Dex, but it's a solid score right now and those 13s are pissing me off. I'm going to choose.... Con. I'm choosing Con because I can add the modifier to every hp roll and get MORE hp. Hp is a good thing, so I tend to beef Con up as much as I can. This is my new score list.

Str-13 +1

Dex- 16 +3

Con- 13 +1> 14 +2

Wis- 13 +1

Int- 13 +1

Cha- 12 +1