Armor Class

[greenstar]

What's an attack bonus?

 

[Shape D.]

What's an attack bonus?

A first level wizards base attack bonus it +0

Add your strength bonus to that for your melee attacks

and add your dex bonus to that for your ranged attacks. (includes ranged touch attacks via spells)

 

[sukael]

What's an attack bonus?

I don't want to seem like a jerk here, but... read the book. It's all in there.

 

[lottrbacchus]

I don't think that just sitting down and reading the books is the best way for every new person. I would suggest sitting down with the DM and going through the character creation process step by step.

I have a new player who is quite intelligent and it took him a number of sessions to consistently get the correct numbers for everything- "why is it 18 and not 19? oh yeah, I'm within 30' and have PBS..."

 

[UltimaGabe]

In any case, going to a message board and making half a dozen topics saying, "What's this?" "How do I find that?" "Wait, what does this mean?" is quite possibly the WORST idea. Either read the book, again and again, until it makes sense, or find someone who can explain it to you in person. That's really the only way to learn.

 

[Nail]

Either read the book, again and again, until it makes sense, or find someone who can explain it to you in person. That's really the only way to learn.

As an educator, I disagree. It's not the only way to learn. It is inefficient though.

All that as a given, try this: The OP should contact others in his area who want to play D&D. They should all buy Player's Handbooks. They should all read the PHs. Then they should all discuss, in a group, how to build a PC.

Then if the group has any nagging questions, one of the group (perhaps Greenstar) should post the question on this forum/

 

[Piratecat]

In any case, going to a message board and making half a dozen topics saying, "What's this?" "How do I find that?" "Wait, what does this mean?" is quite possibly the WORST idea. Either read the book, again and again, until it makes sense, or find someone who can explain it to you in person. That's really the only way to learn.

I disagree. There's nothing wrong with someone friendly asking for help. If giving help makes you cranky, then move on to another thread... but answering the questions in a superior or condescending way doesn't really put the best face on the hobby. I'd rather have new players feel welcome here.

Greenstar, there's a nifty online rules reference that pretty much duplicated the Player's Handbook. It's located here...

http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm

...and it's really nicely laid out.

Thank you, by the way, for concentrating your rules questions in one thread. That's cool, and the right way to handle it since your questions are straightforward.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

What's an attack bonus?

An attack bonus is a bonus (positive modifier) that you add to an attack roll. Some attack bonuses apply to all attacks (such as your Base Attack Bonus, which you should be able to find in the level table of the class for the character that you are making). Some attack bonuses only apply to ranged attacks (your character's Dexterity modifier is applied to ranged attacks). Other attack bonuses only apply to melee attacks (your character's Strength modifier is applied to melee attacks).

Later
silver

 

[irdeggman]

An attack bonus is a bonus (positive modifier) that you add to an attack roll. Some attack bonuses apply to all attacks (such as your Base Attack Bonus, which you should be able to find in the level table of the class for the character that you are making). Some attack bonuses only apply to ranged attacks (your character's Dexterity modifier is applied to ranged attacks). Other attack bonuses only apply to melee attacks (your character's Strength modifier is applied to melee attacks).

Later
silver

Actually an attack bonus is not always a positive modifier. A Base Attack Bonus is (well it is never negative), but not necessarily the total attack bonus. For example a 1st level human wizard with an 8 strength attacking with a dagger in melee will have a -1 attack bonus. BAB for a 1st level wizard = 0, Strength modifier for an 8 strength = -1, size modifier for a medium creature = 0 total = 0 + (-1) + 0 = -1


Greenstar:

I would try to first check out the index in the back of the book (as I said in a different thread it is actually fairly decent).

In this case.

Attack bonus 134 (as in page 134).

Pg 134

"ATTACK BONUS"

it then goes on to list how you calculate it and where the bassic modifiers come from.

Melee weapon - Base Attack Bonus + Strength modifier + size modifier

Ranged weapon - Base Attack Bonus + Dexterity Modifier + size modifier.

There are other modifiers but seeing as how this is new they should not come into play yet.

Index - base attack bonus - pg 22 (there is a paragraph on that page explaining what it is and where it comes from)

Index - Strength modifier - pg 134 - there is a paragraph on that page explaining where to get that number

Index - Dexterity modifier - pg 134 - there is a paragraph on that page explaining where to get that number

Index - Size Modifier - pg 134, 136 - page 134 has a pragraph explaining where to get that number (pg 136 has a reference to armor class and size modifier).

Try this method first before immediately posting for help. I find that knowing where to look in the book is infinitley more useful than someone merely "telling" me the answer.

There will be a lot of "peculiar" things to wade through but these types of questions are actually fairly easy to answer once you know where to look.