Chargen Lab: AD&D 1st Edition

Continuing a series of characters generated under the various editions of Dungeons & Dragons, here's one generated under AD&D 1st Edition.


Rodgar The Elder

Race: Male Human
Alignment: Neutral
Class: Fighter 1
HP: 5     AC: 6

STR    17
     To-Hit: +1    Dmg Adj: +1    Weight: +500    Open Doors: 1-3    BB/LG: 13%
INT    8
     Languages: 1 Additional.
WIS    9
DEX    10
     Reaction/Attack Adj: 0        Defense Adj: 0
CON    13
     System Shock: 85%    Resurrection Survival: 90%
CHA    7
     Loyalty Base: -10%    Reaction Adj: -5%

Languages: Common, Neutral, Elvish
Weapon Proficiencies: Battle Axe, Dagger, Short Bow, Two-Handed Sword
Money: 28 GP, 2 SP
Equipment

•  Scale Armor: AC 6
•  Short Bow: ROF 2, 5/10/15, 1d6 damage
• Quiver: 12/12 arrows
•  Two-handed Sword: Med/Small 1d10+1, Large 3d6+1

Notes

• Hit Points: Prior to 3rd edition, PCs rolled for their hit points at 1st level.  Since wizards/magic-users only roll 1d4 for hit points, many magic users were susceptible to being killed by a house cat (which deals 1d4 damage with its claws, if I remember right).
• Armor Class: The lower the armor class, the better.  In modern conventions, Rodgar the Elder has an AC of 14.
• Ability Scores:  3d6, straight down the line.  But unlike Basic D&D, there's a whole bunch of numbers associated with each ability score.  Wisdom doesn't have any because the elder Rodgar is not a cleric, and the only note for Intelligence for non-wizards is how many additional languages you know.  Note that Rodgar the Elder gets +1 to hit.  Bonuses in AD&D 1e and 2e are hard to come by, so a +1 is no small thing for Rodgar to have.
• BB/LG: Short for Bend Bars/Lift Gates.
• Reaction Adjustment: For some reason, we have two numbers that have the same name but have different uses.  The Dexterity Reaction Adjustment is what we'd call an initiative modifier now.  The Charisma Reaction Adjustment is a measure how likeable or unlikable you are; your Charisma modifier, to use modern terminology.
• Constitution: In AD&D 1e, your initial Constitution score determines how many times you can be resurrected with magic, with each resurrection costing you a point of Constitution. Sure there are ways to raise it back up, but your initial Constitution score is still what is used to determine how many times you can be brought back from the dead.
• System Shock: Your percentage chance of surviving some really bad stuff, like being turned back to flesh from stone.
• Resurrection Survival:  Yeah, not only do you have a limited number of times you can be resurrected, you have to roll and see if you survive getting put back in your body.  This is a percentile roll.
• Languages: In AD&D 1e, you know a language that is unique to your alignment.  Basic D&D has this as well, but I completely forgot about it when I wrote up Rodgar the Younger yesterday.
• Weapon Proficiencies: These are mandatory in 1e.  Fighters get 4 to start with.
• Short Bow: 5/10/15 refers to the short, medium, and long ranges of the bow, in scale inches.  So it'd be 25/50/75 in feet.
• Two-Handed Sword: In 1st Edition and 2nd Edition, weapons did different damage based on whether your target was small/medium, or large.  Rodgar the Elder prefers a two-handed sword because it helps him put down those nasty ogres that have been threatening his farmstead.
• The Lack of THAC0: THAC0 does not exist in 1e.  The numbers needed to hit things are contained in attack matrices in the Dungeon Master's Guide.  Players aren't supposed to know these tables.
• No Saving Throws?!:  Another thing the DMG has that the players aren't supposed to have access to. It's all terribly mysterious.
• Encumbrance: This is talked about on pages 101-102 of the PHB, and basically you add the Weight modifier from the Strength table to figure out how much you can carry around.