Your Character

Our table welcomes inexperienced players, but keep in mind we also have to strike a balance between explanation and gameplay.
  Generally, new players are easier to get started with a DM built character. Either a completely premade character, or one that takes the player's ideas and puts them into something that fits what they had in mind.
 
This guide provides direction on building a character for Melody of the Weirding Mover. Don’t worry about getting every detail perfect; we’ll help you fit into the world.   Reading the other sections on this site is recommended, but not required to create your character. It's ultimately up to you whether you are going into the situation blind or not. If that's just your style, that's alright with me. The social guidelines are at the bottom of the House Rules section, and I recommend you give that document a look if you are particular about the rules that will apply.
    The bulk of 3.5e material is allowed to be used to create your character. Certain things may be disallowed or tweaked to fit the world.   If you take into consideration the sheer magnitude of available material, many hundreds of books and magazine articles, some of the entries and combinations can be ridiculously overpowered, even in the context of high level D&D 3.5e play.   There are also many entries that have the potential to be fun to play, but for whatever reason aren't up to par. If you really like something, I can consider how effective it is, and potentially alter it or suggest ways to use it for your character. Entries from other D&D editions aren't necessarily off the table, but require more work on the back-end to get going. Even completely made up things can pass muster, but please understand that I may also have to impose drawbacks and limitations that are fitting, for any of the above. I won't promise to make any particular class suddenly an A+ bruiser, or anything that I think doesn't work.   Don't forget that once in game, you will find opportunities for improvement through normal play.
      We may need to have some form of informal discussion about expectations and/or the mechanics of what you are trying to do or be. This is to ensure that things will go smoothly for everyone involved.
  If you are intending a high-power combination build, please let me know in advance, and be prepared to explain why and how your character follows their path.
  As the power of the players rises, so too must the might of the challenges they face. To maintain the intended balance of the campaign and preserve the integrity of play, I reserve the right to adjust encounters, items, and abilities as necessary to prevent unchecked power creep.
  I won't tell you how to play, but it's better for everyone if your DM knows what you'd like to see in your character's potential future.
  There is too much material to list, so please just ask!
    To get a head start, you are welcome to create a World Anvil character sheet, login required. This has the added benefit of making your character easier for me to create in Foundry, and also the only way I can give you personalized library access.   World Anvil Character Sheet Creation Guide
  Sometimes the best way to explain a character concept is to show it!
    Your character could potentially be from ancient Netheril, or pulled to the lands of Ahvindamahdorah's Demise. You could also be a traveler from from a different world, from the same time period, which is about two thousand years before the current D&D date.   Also be aware that the adventuring party contains a mixture of alignments, and at least one shady figure, having made friends both high and low on their journeys. They are used to working together from their time in the lands of the module, while trying to complete it. This information is presented for your convenience in character creation, but please be aware that your PC is most likely going to be meeting the party for the first time, narratively speaking.

  Currently, new PCs are joining at 12th level, slightly behind the rest of the group.   The item budget for a level 12 character is 88,000 gp, and I'm willing to give you an additional 1000 gp/level balance stipend, to make it an even 100k, should you want it. A good rule of thumb is to not spend more than half of your gold on one item, and no more than a quarter on consumables. Magic items are subject to DM approval.   There are multiple ability score allocation methods. A proper high-fantasy campaign setting supports characters of varying degrees of ability, and I welcome them all!   I would like people to feel like they can roll a multiple ability score dependent character if they want to, while also giving a little something for single ability score characters at the same time.
    You can shoot for the stars (or the gutter!) with my Single Use Ability Point Roller, which gives the option to apply a +3 bonus to a single ability score, if the sum total of your rolls is too low. With proper lucky rolls, this does allow you to get up to 21 in a single ability score.   For your stat rolls, you may use 3d6, or 4d6 and drop the lowest die. Your other options are automatically assigning your ability scores down the line as you roll, or whether your set will be eligible for the bonus.   If you don't want to roll, or your rolls are unacceptable, you may always create your character using a point buy, up to 40 points. Please feel free to use my modified point buy calculator, which supports up to 21 points in an ability, as expensive as that is.   Link: Single Use Ability Score Roller
  Link: Point Buy Calculator     Your choices here are taken into account during game play. High ability characters answering the call to adventure is a normal thing, but low ability characters tend to have a reason for being there, even if they don't necessarily understand why.   Use of the roller is logged. I would appreciate it if you didn't try to cheat the system.
    If you need help making your character, that is not a problem, but I don't always have extra time between sessions to talk. I can answer text inquiries on Discord in my spare time, and assist you there.   Our table welcomes new players, but we also need to strike a balance between explanation and gameplay. Generally, new players are easier to get started with a DM built character. Either a completely DM made character, or one that takes the players ideas for a character and puts them into something that fits what they had in mind.
    The standard SRD classes are included in Foundry, which presents an easy way to use your abilities, and see what you have available to you. For the rest of the classes, and material that isn't released in the SRD, I need to manually add the information into the VTT. This means that for a new player, you will be better off with a basic class. However, I have already added many new entries into Foundry, and you shouldn't feel like you can't be what you want. The worst case scenario is that, in a rush, you would have to manually roll more often, and not have as many visual ques for your abilities.   Most stuff is easy enough to plug in, to let you see what you are doing, and additional Foundry automation can be added after the fact. I'm still learning some of the finer points of the 3.5e system for Foundry, which works with Foundry v11. It is being upgraded for the current version, which will enable newer features to be used more easily. Combat animations and more.   As the game continues to grow, we will be improving our technology more and more.
    Once your character is finished enough to be considered, you will be placed on the official list of candidates. When we have a seat, I will decide, taking council from the senior players, who to extend an invitation to. I can't guarantee that new PCs will be accepted on a first come, first join basis, but I will be talking with people in the order that I have heard from them, and they will be queued up for consideration in this order. I need to be fair while also acknowledging that it is a complex decision with multiple people to be considered.   Please don't take it as a knock on your character idea if you aren't accepted. If we've discussed the idea enough to prepare it for joining the game, that means that I like it!