In the previous installment, I generated five adventurers using the random race, class, ability score, and equipment tables from Playtest 1. The results were an unlikely company: three Human Rogues, a Human Ranger, and a Human Fighter.
That was enough to reveal some immediate tactical problems. With no Cleric or Warlord, the party lacks a dedicated healer. With only one Fighter, it has limited ability to hold a battle line. On the other hand, three Rogues and a Ranger offer interesting possibilities for reconnaissance, ambushes, and maneuver.
But I still didn't have five playable characters.
Fourth Edition requires quite a few additional decisions: class features, trained skills, powers, and feats. Ordinarily, these are selected to create a particular sort of character. For this experiment, I wanted to see what happened when most of those decisions were left to chance.
Random, But Not Entirely Arbitrary
The first principle was to let previously generated results guide subsequent choices.
For example, our Ranger began with a longbow. It made sense for him to use the Archer Fighting Style rather than randomly becoming a Two-Blade Ranger.
Similarly, when a feat called for a particular weapon group, the character's existing equipment could provide an obvious answer.
Beyond such considerations, however, I wanted to avoid designing the characters.
Trained skills were randomly selected from eligible class skills. Powers were drawn from those the characters could use. Feats were chosen from eligible selections, including general feats that might have little to do with a character's expected role.
We also introduced a 15% chance of multiclassing at character creation. A successful result would grant a randomly selected eligible multiclass feat, consuming one of the character's normal feat slots.
The idea was to preserve mechanical coherence without making every character an optimized example of their class.
Three Rogues, Three Individuals
Our three Rogues began with different equipment and ability scores, but the same class.
We randomized their Rogue Tactics, allowing Artful Dodger as an option when the character had a positive Charisma modifier.
All three became Brutal Scoundrels.
That's hardly the distribution I would have chosen deliberately, particularly since one Rogue has Charisma 16. But there was no reason to interfere with the results.
Their skills, powers, and feats began to distinguish them.
The first Rogue became a knife fighter with some extra durability from Toughness. The second developed a talent for opportunistic melee attacks. Both remained single-class Rogues.
The third took an unexpected turn.
A Rogue with an Interest in the Stars
Our third Rogue rolled successfully for multiclassing.
The subsequent rolls gave him Warlock multiclass training, followed by the Star Pact option of Pact Initiate.
Suddenly, a fairly ordinary Rogue armed with a shortsword and hand crossbow had acquired an interest in arcane mysteries and a supernatural power.
We gave him Arcana training to reflect that interest.
His Intelligence is only 9. He may be fascinated by forbidden knowledge without being particularly adept at understanding it.
That suggests a character immediately.
How did he encounter these strange powers? What does he think they are? Does he understand what he's become involved with?
I have no answers, and I don't particularly want them yet.
The dice have established a few facts. The adventure can reveal what they mean.
The Archer's Other Weapon
Our Ranger was equipped with a longbow, so his fighting style was straightforward. His other choices were randomized.
Among his feats, he received Human Perseverance and Weapon Proficiency.
The latter required another random selection, which produced the hand crossbow.
At first, that seemed a rather peculiar result. Why would a longbow specialist have special training with a weapon he didn't even possess?
But the explanation soon suggested itself.
He has trained to fight in two different environments. His longbow serves him in open country, while the hand crossbow is better suited to confined spaces.
He simply doesn't have one at present.
Now the Ranger has a practical reason to acquire a hand crossbow, and we've learned something about his experience without inventing a backstory.
An Unconventional Fighter
The last character was our Human Fighter, equipped with scale armor, battleaxe, and heavy shield.
His equipment suggested a Guardian Fighter, but the random selections didn't produce the conventional collection of defensive abilities I might have chosen.
He received Heal, Streetwise, Endurance, and Intimidate as trained skills, but not Athletics.
His powers included Comeback Strike, a particularly welcome ability in a party without a dedicated healer.
Then he succeeded at his multiclass roll.
The result was Ranger training through Warrior of the Wild, with Dungeoneering as his additional skill. His remaining feat was Alertness.
We now have a heavily armored Fighter who knows something about wilderness fighting and underground exploration, can tend injuries, and has experience dealing with people in towns.
He's not necessarily the Fighter I would have designed, but he already suggests a life beyond the dungeon.
Discovering Character Rather Than Writing It
This has been the most enjoyable part of the experiment so far.
I haven't written elaborate backgrounds or assigned personalities to these adventurers. Nevertheless, the random results have begun to give them identities.
Our Rogue has become fascinated by the arcane. Our Ranger has trained for two very different fighting environments. Our Fighter has an unexpectedly varied collection of practical skills.
Not every result needs an explanation. Some may never become important.
But each provides an opportunity for character to emerge during play.
I find that much more appealing than deciding everything about an adventurer before the first expedition.
An Unfinished Procedure
There is an important qualification.
The random-generation process used here is still experimental. We've been developing it as we go, working through the PHB1 class features, skill lists, powers, feat prerequisites, and multiclass rules.
Some choices were straightforward. Others required judgment. The feat-selection process, in particular, needs a more systematic approach.
Eventually, I'd like to formalize the procedure into a set of reproducible tables, or perhaps a small browser-based character generator.
But that's a future task.
For now, the important result is that the five adventurers have become more than a collection of race, class, and ability-score entries.
They're beginning to look like characters.
And I still haven't sent them into a dungeon.
The Five Adventurers: Complete Working Roster
For reference, here are the characters as they currently stand. These are their recorded first-level choices, not optimized replacement builds. Ability modifiers are shown in parentheses. Derived combat statistics such as defenses, hit points, attack bonuses, and skill totals still need a final character-sheet calculation and audit.
Rogue 1 — The Knife Fighter
Human Rogue 1; Brutal Scoundrel
Ability scores: STR 12 (+1) · CON 14 (+2) · DEX 19 (+4) · INT 7 (-2) · WIS 8 (-1) · CHA 13 (+1)
Alignment: Unaligned
- Class features: First Strike; Rogue Weapon Talent; Sneak Attack; Brutal Scoundrel
- Trained skills: Stealth, Thievery, Dungeoneering, Bluff, Streetwise, Perception, Insight
- At-will powers: Piercing Strike, Riposte Strike, Sly Flourish
- Encounter powers: Dazing Strike
- Daily power: Easy Target
- Feats: Weapon Focus (Light Blades); Toughness
- Multiclass check: No (d100: 92)
- Equipment: Leather armor; two daggers; sling; 20 bullets; thieves’ tools; climber’s kit; modified adventurer’s kit
- Unspent starting money: 37 gp, 7 sp
Rogue 2 — The Opportunist
Human Rogue 1; Brutal Scoundrel
Ability scores: STR 13 (+1) · CON 15 (+2) · DEX 18 (+4) · INT 5 (-3) · WIS 14 (+2) · CHA 16 (+3)
Alignment: Unaligned
- Class features: First Strike; Rogue Weapon Talent; Sneak Attack; Brutal Scoundrel
- Trained skills: Stealth, Thievery, Dungeoneering, Intimidate, Acrobatics, Insight, Athletics
- At-will powers: Deft Strike, Piercing Strike, Riposte Strike
- Encounter powers: Dazing Strike
- Daily power: Blinding Barrage
- Feats: Blade Opportunist; Weapon Focus (Light Blades)
- Multiclass check: No (d100: 61)
- Equipment: Leather armor; shortsword; dagger; thieves’ tools; modified adventurer’s kit
- Unspent starting money: 32 gp, 7 sp
Rogue 3 — The Star-Touched
Human Rogue 1; Brutal Scoundrel; Warlock multiclass
Ability scores: STR 11 (+0) · CON 13 (+1) · DEX 17 (+3) · INT 9 (-1) · WIS 12 (+1) · CHA 14 (+2)
Alignment: Unaligned
- Class features: First Strike; Rogue Weapon Talent; Sneak Attack; Brutal Scoundrel; Pact Initiate (Star Pact)
- Trained skills: Stealth, Thievery, Dungeoneering, Bluff, Insight, Streetwise, Acrobatics; Arcana (Pact Initiate)
- At-will powers: Deft Strike, Riposte Strike, Sly Flourish
- Encounter powers: Positioning Strike; Dire Radiance (Pact Initiate, once per encounter)
- Daily power: Trick Strike
- Feats: Alertness; Pact Initiate (Star Pact)
- Multiclass check: Yes (d100: 02); Warlock, Star Pact
- Equipment: Leather armor; shortsword; hand crossbow; 20 bolts; thieves’ tools; modified adventurer’s kit
- Unspent starting money: 7 gp, 7 sp
Ranger — The Archer
Human Ranger 1; Archer Fighting Style
Ability scores: STR 13 (+1) · CON 13 (+1) · DEX 17 (+3) · INT 12 (+1) · WIS 14 (+2) · CHA 10 (+0)
Alignment: Unaligned
- Class features: Hunter’s Quarry; Prime Shot; Archer Fighting Style
- Trained skills: Heal, Perception, Endurance, Dungeoneering, Stealth, Nature
- At-will powers: Twin Strike, Careful Attack, Nimble Strike
- Encounter powers: Evasive Strike
- Daily power: Hunter’s Bear Trap
- Feats: Defensive Mobility (Archer bonus); Human Perseverance; Weapon Proficiency (Hand Crossbow)
- Multiclass check: No (d100: 47)
- Equipment: Leather armor; longbow; 60 arrows; dagger; climber’s kit; modified adventurer’s kit. Proficient with a hand crossbow, but does not own one.
- Unspent starting money: 28 gp, 7 sp
Fighter — The Shield-Bearer
Human Fighter 1; Guardian
Ability scores: STR 17 (+3) · CON 14 (+2) · DEX 14 (+2) · INT 9 (-1) · WIS 12 (+1) · CHA 11 (+0)
Alignment: Unaligned
- Class features: Combat Challenge; Combat Superiority; Fighter Weapon Talent (one-handed weapons); Warrior of the Wild (Ranger multiclass; limited Hunter’s Quarry)
- Trained skills: Heal, Streetwise, Endurance, Intimidate; Dungeoneering (Warrior of the Wild)
- At-will powers: Reaping Strike, Sure Strike, Cleave
- Encounter powers: Steel Serpent Strike
- Daily power: Comeback Strike
- Feats: Warrior of the Wild; Alertness
- Multiclass check: Yes (d100: 11); Ranger
- Equipment: Scale armor; battleaxe; heavy shield; modified adventurer’s kit
- Unspent starting money: 18 gp, 7 sp
Equipment note: The modified adventurer’s kit contains a backpack, bedroll, flint and steel, belt pouch, ten days of rations, 50 feet of hemp rope, waterskin, and two torches (rather than sunrods). The Ranger’s hand-crossbow proficiency is a feat result, not an additional starting item.
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