Prologue 4 – Character Creation

“So, what is your character’s name?” The silver tongued Englishman asks.

“I was thinking of Rhiain.” Samantha answers.

“Ah, the Welsh word for ‘maiden’ a beautiful choice.” He smiles.

Samantha usually gives her characters Welsh names, but this is the first time anyone ever noticed. She wonders if the unknown tinge of the charming DM’s accent is Welsh. Lost in his voice Samantha listens as he explains how the primary stats for her character will be generated.

Four 6 sided dice will be rolled, and then the three highest will be added so a number between three and eighteen is generated. After doing this six times the numbers are placed among six primary stats, which are: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma. The higher the number, the better the character will be in that ability. Thus an eighteen strength would make the character one of the strongest in the land, while a three strength would be the level of a nursing home patient. A score between nine and twelve would be average. The DM has one special rule, if four sixes are rolled then the player gets to roll one more dice and half the number and add it to the eighteen, so that number will now be between nineteen and twenty-one, which would make that characteristic almost superhuman.

It might not have started off as a great birthday, but her new dice give Samantha a gift; she rolls a 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 and the extremely rare 21. Even the mysterious Englishman is impressed. “I have never seen such high numbers, congratulations; your new dice seem to agree with you Samantha. Go ahead and fill out your sheet, I am curious to see where you are going to place the twenty-one.”

To round out the party, Samantha has agreed to play a thief. Usually Samantha plays a magic-user, or a priest, and puts her highest stats into those attributes she values the most, intelligence and wisdom. Tonight she uncharacteristically decides to try something different. Samantha puts the seventeen in dexterity, since that is the prime stat for a thief. She wants her character to be able to fight, so the sixteen goes into constitution and the thirteen into strength; this means Rhiain would have above average strength and amazing endurance. Next the twelve goes into wisdom and the fifteen goes to intelligence, low for one of Samantha’s usual characters, but still Rhiain would be considered smart. This means the precious twenty-one will go into charisma, which for most D&D games ends up being physical appearance; this will make Rhiain the most drop dead gorgeous woman in the entire world. Normally, Samantha puts only an above average number into charisma. Of course she has wondered what it would be like to be extremely beautiful, but she usually refuses to indulge in the juvenile stereotypes of women that most men, especially the average role player, have. Tonight, however, is a one time game with strangers she will never meet again, so why not be the incredibly sexy one for a change she muses.

Samatha sheepishly gives the character sheet to the well-dressed Englishman, a bit ashamed that she is being so vain. “I see.” Is the only comment he gives after looking over her choices. “There are just a few more things to do, in order to finish your character.” He explains. “Each player gets one bonus, which could range from extra gear, to the rare chance of having an innate magical power. Let’s see how Rhiain fares, roll a D100, the higher the roll the better.”

Taking two 10 sided dice Samantha rolls them; the first lands on a zero, the next seems to rest on an eight and then at the last moment tips over to another zero. “Hundred!” Samantha gives out a shout and a clap of excitement.

“Samuin gives its blessing.” The DM calmly states in an unsurprised voice. “If you had rolled an eight Rhiain would had received an extra five copper pieces, an hundred, however, gives you a very special ability. Your character will have the power to regenerate, which means she can recover from wounds much quicker. It goes with your perfect appearance, because your skin will always be flawless in its beauty as all scars or blemishes will quickly disappear. Though this power doesn’t make you invulnerable, it does make you ageless. So, what is the ideal age should we make Rhiain? Twenty-two perhaps?”

Samantha at first doesn’t answer, surprised he picked her age on her birthday. She wonders if he knows it’s her birthday, or is he trying to hit on her? Before she answers, he does. “Twenty-two seems right. One last question, what alignment is Rhiain?”

Usually Samantha plays lawful good or neutral good characters, but going with the sexy rogue motif she says, “Chaotic neutral.” When the Englishman raises his eyebrow, Samantha adds, “With good tendencies.”

“So let me get this correct, Samantha.” The DM asks in a serious voice. “You want to be a gorgeous rogue, who is the most sexually desirable woman imaginable, who is a skilled thief and fighter, and though has moments of nobility, flirts with the dark side of life? Is this the person you wish to be?”

Though uncomfortable with the stranger’s line “most sexually desirable woman” Samantha has no desire to back down. It is true this isn’t the character she would normally play, but what the heck, it is only for one night, and it is only a game.

“Yes, that is who I want to be.” Samantha answers.