Never played before, character creation help?

[Traumkampfer]

Hey guys, I'm running the demo version of the game, and before I buy the players version, I was hoping I could get some help creating a character (I've never played any tabletop RPG before)

I'm not new to RPG's in general though, so I was hoping I could make my first character a Red Mage like from the first Final Fantasy (can use medium armor and swords, medium healing spells and medium damage spells), since that sounds like a well-rounded starter class.

But I cant seem to find any guide saying exactly how to make your own class and character, can I get a little help?

Or is there a tutorial I missed, saying "You have this many attribute points to assign, this many skill points" and whatnot?

*Edit*: This is for DnD 3.5e

[Trenloe]

There are many D&D 3.5e applications and websites out there that have details on creating a D&D 3.5e character. Google dungeons and dragons 3.5 character creation and look through a few of the results.

If you have access to a D&D 3.5e player's handbook that will also outline the steps required and give details of the base classes and races.

There is also some info from the D&D 3.5e core rulebooks here: https://www.d20srd.org/index.htm

Fantasy Grounds isn't a character creation program - if you're familiar with the rules you're using you can build your character within Fantasy Grounds (to game in FG you'll have to do that anyway), but FG won't check you've created your character correctly as per the rules. FG is a way to play pen-and-paper roleplaying with your friends (new or old) online and it facilitates that very well - but you will need to know the rules and ideally create your character outside of Fantasy Grounds before adding it to FG for a game.

In the results for the search I mention above there are a number of applications, spreadsheets, interactive PDFs that can help you put a character together - some will have a level of rule validation.

[Traumkampfer]

Ohhh, thank you, I'll be sure to look that stuff up. Like I said, I've never played anything like this before, so forgive any lack of knowledge xD

[Traumkampfer]

https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetvi...sheetid=955342

I attempted to make my first character, used a whole bunch of tutorials, and I probably got some stuff wrong xD

[Carthar]

You don't want to use a shield. The class says you still incur arcane spell failure for shields, which means that 15% of the time when you cast a spell it fails.

It may not sound like much, but trust me, it will happen exactly at the worst time. It always does. :-)

[Traumkampfer]

I didnt want to make my guy OP or something, especially since its my first character and I'm new, so I tried giving him some weaknesses, like the 15% fail rate ^^;

What I'm trying to make is a character who can use up to mid-tier healing and damage spells, along with light armor and a sword, pretty much the equivalent of a Red Mage from Final Fantasy 1.

So I took some skills and traits from the bard, wizard/sorcerer, and cleric, and used them to make this.

[levinth]

I'm afraid I've never played Final Fantasy... but if you're willing to look into Pathfinder (very similar to 3.5 D&D) there is a class that you might be interested in called the Magus. It combine sword and sorcery and as I'm playing one myself, I can tell you they're quite fun to play. They don't really come with healing spells, though. Mine is awesome in combat, but generally rubbish at social skills. If you're interested, the class is here on the PRD. Feel free to PM me if you want help building one.

[Traumkampfer]

Hmm, my only experience with Pathfinder, is I watched a 2007 movie with the same name (probably not related at all). But the Magus does sound pretty cool, and i wouldn't mind sacrificing healing magic.

Plus the name alone makes me think of Magus from Chrono Trigger, which gains some cool points :P

[levinth]

Well I've just googled the movie you mentioned and since it seems to be about Vikings and Native Americans I'm pretty sure it's not related I could go into what Pathfinder is and isn't but I could easily derail your thread and a quick google search will tell you what you want if you're interested. Instead, I'd like to offer some more general advice (without sounding too preachy if possible).

If you're literally just starting out at tabletop RPGs, you may have an idea of what setting you'd enjoy but I'm guessing you probably won't know which ruleset will suit you best - believe me there are a lot of options out there! And equally since GMs run games differently, you'll find variety between tables and sessions and players within any one system.

My best advice to find out what you enjoy is to get playing! Seriously, the only way to know what you'll like is to try out different ones. Whether that's D&D 3.5, 4th ed, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, or an RPG based on Final Fantasy itself. Most GMs will have sympathy with people who aren't completely up to speed with the rules - we all had to learn once!

If pathfinder seems like it might be your thing, I can happily run you a taster session. If you look into other systems and find you prefer another one, I'm sure posting in the right place on this forum will give you some pointers. From what I've seen this community is fantastically helpful!

[Trenloe]

Pathfinder is essentially D&D 3.75 - designed on top of D&D 3.5e and has been significantly expanded over the last couple of years and is still being actively developed. The publisher (Paizo) provides all of their core rulebook info here: https://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/