So I've no idea what to do...

[drakhe]

Easy and cheap source...

One nice and easy and CHEAP way of starting with DnD is the wealth of PDF's out there. They offer everything from nicely formated SRD's, to entire campaign settings, including source for variant rules, adventures, how-to's, monsters, etc.

And unless you like to do your character manualy, there's a variation of support software available, starting with the free Character generator demo included with the 3.0 PHB (should still be available for download at the WOTC site, but can't check, the site seems down right now)

Oh, and there's another great reason why you should buy your stuff at your FLGS (or friendly local gaming store): they most likely will be able to steer you towards other players!

 

[Lord of the Enarkae]

Yeah I've been looking at PDFs but once I know what I want to buy I want to have the book in my hand.

 

[resistor]

Oh, and there's another great reason why you should buy your stuff at your FLGS (or friendly local gaming store): they most likely will be able to steer you towards other players!

Yeah, that's a good point. ENWorld and similar sites are great online communities, but most people also like to have local communities they can join. This is where your FLGS fits it: it's usually a focal point of the local community and by far the easiest way to meet other gamers.

 

[Henry]

As for a craft I was going to go for Weaponsmithery even if that isn't a real word. Someone will have to explain to me how exactly to use that since it's giving me a spot of bother.

No problem; let's see if I can explain a little better:

Assuming you put four skill points into it, you (as a fighter) will have 4 ranks, or a total of +7 in Craft (Weaponsmith). ALSO, because you are a dwarf, if you are working with metal weapons (like swords, axes, etc.) you get a +2 to your checks, for a total of +9 if you are working with stone or metal.

By the Core rules, You can do several things with your skill:

1. Hire yourself out by the week to work. You can make, each week, wages equal to half of one check result (1d20 + 7) in gold pieces.
2. Make an item from scratch. Take a weapon from the equipment charts (e.g., a handaxe); now, convert that to silver pieces by multiplying its price by ten (that handaxe would be 60 silver). Pay one-third of this (20 silver worth) to buy the raw materials to forge/craft the item.
   Each item will have a Craft DC to succeed in making the item. To make our Handaxe it is, according to the table under the craft skill, DC 15. We have to make an 6 or better (we get that +2 'cause we're dwarven, remember) on that d20 roll to succeed. Then, if we succeed, we multiply our roll by the DC we needed. If we rolled an 6 and just barely got our 15 (8 + 7 + 2), then we made 15 x 15 sp = 225 sp worth of progress. Because the axe is 60 silver in cost, we just made the thing in a week. According to the rules, because we made TRIPLE what we needed, we don't even take a week; we just made the thing in one-third the time.
   If you don't make enough in that first week's roll, just keep on making that roll on a weekly basis, and keep adding the progress numbers together, until you make it. If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this week. If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
3. Make a Masterwork version of the weapon. To do that, you pay 100 gold pieces for a masterwork weapon, and make a second check, while crafting your item, and this check is DC 20. you do this check just like the check for making your item - make the weekly check, try to hit DC 20, and when you do, multiply your roll by the DC (20) to see how much silver pieces of progress you made toward getting the item done. This will take a bit longer than making just a plain old weapon. In our example, let's say we wanted to make a masterwork hand axe. We roll, week to week, we get exceptionally lucky, and get a 29 (natural 20!), a 27, a 19, a 24, a 24, a 23, and a 20.
   29 x 20 = 580
   27 x 20 = 540
   19 = no progress that week
   24 x 20 = 480
   24 x 20 = 480
   23 x 20 = 460
   20 x 20 = 400
   ------------------
   total 2,940 silver pieces which is just short of the 3,000 silver pieces worth of progress we need.
   
   ONE MORE WEEK, we roll a 21, get 420 silver worth more progress, and VOILA, we have our masterwork hand axe. We took eight weeks to make the darned thing, but hey, we're first level!

For ANY craft making check, you have to have tools to work with the skill. If you have poor or improvised tools, you have a -2 penalty on all your die rolls when making an item.


Hopefully I answered the question you asked, and didn't create any new ones.

 

[Lord of the Enarkae]

Thanks Henry! You're a legend.

 

[Lord of the Enarkae]

Hey guys! Remember me?

Well I kinda got sidetracked a little there but I think I've got this whole Dwarf thing in the bag now. With your help and a little investigating of my own I feel happy enough with Enarkae the Dwarf. Sure, he's not a handsome fellow, even by Dwarf standards but he has a stout heart. But he is lost! So er... what now?

 

[Thotas]

Calculate saving throws, buy equipment, work out your AC and your hit and damage numbers with the weapons you bought, choose your alignment.

Find some guy sitting behind a cardboard screen. Have him (or her) tell you what your immediate environment is. Describe what you do in that environment. From there, you're a D&D player.

 

[knitnerd]

As for a craft I was going to go for Weaponsmithery even if that isn't a real word. Someone will have to explain to me how exactly to use that since it's giving me a spot of bother.[/QUOTE]


I thought that with the ride and handle animals skills you were going for a blacksmith with an ususual fondness for horses. His reason for adventuring could be to track down some horses stolen from his care. I may try this if Idriss, the pyromanic gnome,gets killed.