Thursday 4 August 2011

Rules Clarifications: 2nd Level

Levelling Up (see also pages 145-146 of PHB, plus the relevant chapters for your Race, Class, Skills, Feats and Spells...)
1.       Choose class.  Most characters have only one class, and when such a character achieves a new level, it is a new level in that class.  If your character wants to acquire another class, however, you choose which class goes up one level.  The other class or classes stay at the previous level.
[Aside: if you would like to take another class on (now or at a future level up) contact me – it’s not that difficult so if you are keen and it makes sense in the context of your character there is no reason why you shouldn’t – imagine a wizard picking up some combat pointers from the fighter, or the fighter who is fascinated by magic asking the wizard to teach him a few cantrips.
From a game perspective, there are differing opinions on how useful taking an extra class.  In the long run a multiclass character will never have the raw power of a single class character at those particular abilities, but of course the RANGE of abilities (and combinations thereof) increases.  As always my advice is to do what you want to do for the ‘feel’ of your character rather than worrying about maximising the numbers. 
That said, if you’re going to take an additional class make sure you have the ability scores to support it!  For example rogues generally use dexterity and intelligence, so if you want some rogue levels make sure you have decent scores in those attributes.]
Assuming you choose to keep to the single character class for now…
2.       Base Attack Bonus (you find this info on the bit about your class in the PHB)
As a fighter Tam’s base attack bonus goes from +1 to +2 at level 2.
As a druid Oreth’s base attack bonus goes from + 0 to +1 at level 2. (pg 34)
As a wizard Lareth’s base attack bonus goes from + 0 to +1 at level 2. (pg 52)
3.       Base Save Bonus (you find this info in the bit about your class in the PHB)
As a level 2 fighter Tam’s Fort save goes up from +2 to +3. (pg 36).
His Reflex and Will saves remain at +0
As a level 2 druid Oreth’s Fortitude and Will saves both go up from +2 to +3. (pg 34) 
His Reflex save remains at + 0.
As a level 2 wizard Lareth’s Will save goes up from +2 to + 3. (page 52)
His Reflex and Fortitude save remains at+0
4.       Skill Points
You get extra skill points with which to either buy ranks in your current trained skills (get better at what you already do) or to buy ranks in currently untrained skills (pick up new skills).  
Your class determines how many skill points you get per level, and you get additional skill points = to your intelligence modifier, and one additional skill point/level if you are human.
Remember that your rank in a skill effectively is a bonus to that skill on top of your ability modifier.  The maximum rank you can have is your level +2 – so currently you can buy ranks to ‘max out’ skills to 5 points maximum (see page 58 and the bit on skills in your class section).  Also remember that you can buy one rank of a class skill for 1 point, HALF a rank of a cross-class skill, and you are not allowed to buy ranks in skills which are not for your class (see the chart on page 59).
Tam gets 2 extra skill points for an extra level as fighter, minus 1 skill point for his Intelligence modifier, plus 1 skill point for being a human so he has 2 more skill points to spend.
Oreth gets 4 skill points for an extra druid level, plus 1 for his intelligence modifier, giving him 5 extra points to spend.
Lareth gets 2 extra skill points for a wizard level, + 3 for his intelligence modifier, giving him 5 extra points to spend.
5.       Ability Scores
At 4th level you get to allocate an extra point to an ability score (eg. Strength, Charisma, etc.).  Obviously you can’t do this now but I just included it for completeness.
6.       Hit Points
For going up in level, you roll a dice, add your constitution modifier and get these extra hit points.  This reflects your character’s ability to roll with blows, minimize damage, turn direct hits at vitals into glancing blows, press on through pain which would drop a lesser warrior, etc.
This is one part of levelling up you can’t do at home – just like rolling for abilities in Mordheim it just seems fair to do this in front of everyone else so DO NOT DO THIS TILL NEXT SESSION.  Also, let me pre-empt the groans by not despairing if you roll a 1 – the has you go up in level your HP will average out over successive rolls.
For a fighter level Tam will roll 1d10 + 3 for constitution (between 4 and 13 extra hp)
For a druid level Oreth will roll 1d8 + 0 for constitution (between 1 and 8, though his constitution is currently lowered by Filth Fever.)
For a wizard level Lareth will get 1d4 – 1 for Constitution (between 1 and 3 hp – even with a negative constitution you ALWAYS get at least ONE hp for going up in level.
7.       Feats
Only fighters get feats at 2nd level (Druids and Wizards have to wait for 3rd).
Tam gets to choose an extra ‘Feat’ but it has to be one of the bonus combat oriented Feats mentioned on page 37.  As I recall, Gary, you were looking at the ‘Cleave’ feat which you are now eligble for because of your ‘Power Attack’ Feat.  On turns when you drop a foe, this allows you to automatically make another attack at an adjacent foe, and is a prerequisite for Great Cleave.  There are lots of other feats to choose from though – ‘Sunder’ and ‘Improved Bullrush’ also require power attack.  Drop me a line if you’d like to chat about where to go with the feats – fighters get HEAPS of them so building your combat combos is a lot of fun!
8.       Spells
As a 2nd level Druid, Oreth can now memorize 4 0th level spells + 3 for Wisdom = 7 0th level spells per day and 2 st level spells + 3 for wisdom = 5 1st level spells per day.
As a 2nd level wizard, Lareth can now memorize 4 0th level spells + 3 for Intelligence = 7 0th level spells per day and 2 st level spells + 3 for Intelligence = 5 1st level spells per day.  In addition, Lareth can write 2 new spells (TOTAL) chosen from any level you can currently cast (either 0th or 1st level) to your spellbook, representing your continuing research and experience of magic and enhanced ability to perceive and control the arcane.
Spellcasters – remember to try to read your spells if you can, knowing their intricacies can make all the difference in terms of strategy.  Gregory’s use of light on his mace was inspired…
9.       Features
Only Oreth gets special features at level 2 – as a druid lvl 2, Oreth gains the ‘woodland stride ability’ – he may move through natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain at his normal speed and without suffering damage or other impairment.  While the early part of this campaign is dungeon-based there are in fact a range of adventure potential settings in the game (wilderness, city, etc.) so this is a pretty nifty little

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