My favorite classic 3.5 feats for low levels.

These feats are feats I would choose nearly for any class as they just improve the game play for me personally. All these feats are from the core Players Handbook 3.5e.

1. Improved initative

This feat gives your a +4 to innitative increasing your chances of acting faster and going first in combat. Acting first is just better and increases your chances of defeating any foe.

2. Weapon Finesse

This feat allows you to use your dex instead of strength on attack roles with a light finesseable weapon. If your not a character that focuses in strength this feat can help you focus your abilitie scores on dex and still be a decent melee fighter. Howver you still use strcfor the damage but this would allow you to hit with yourndex modifier.

3. Quick Draw 

This allows you to draw a weapon as a free action instead of a move action. This wouldmean you could still do a full round action or move and still take out your weapon. It is immensly useful.

4. Weapon Focus

You choose a weapon you are profficient with and this feat will gice you +1 on attack rolls with that soecific weapon type (ex. Longswords).

What is pathfinder?

Pathfinder is a stand alone rpg that is very simulair to d&d 3.5 using simulair classes, races, spells and monsters intially but branching out into plenty ofnits own original content. It was written by some of the people who wrote dungeons and dragons 3.5 hence the simulairity . Some people interchange things from 3.5 with pathfinder doing some house ruled conversions. 

It has a a variety of book with different races, classes, archetypes, monsters and so on. To play the game you need the core book (pictured above) (which contains the player in for and game master info) and a beasiary (containing the monsters).

The other books are just to expand on those core rules and to give the game more flavor. For example one such book isnthe advanced players guide which has more classes, spells, equipment, feats etc.

Overall I like pathfinder. It is a good game which olays simulairties to 3.5 but with some improvements and expansion.

Dungeons and 5th Edition – What do you REALLY need.

5th edition is the latest edition of dungeons and dragons. It is the edition currently in print and easiest to get the books for. However, people can get overwhelmed with the complexity and multitude of different books. 

To play 5th edition you only need these books to start: 

Players Handbook 

This book outlines all the rules and stats for making your character, as well as all the rules and items you need to get started. 
The Dungeons Master Guide:

This has all the rules for the DM to run the game. All the traps, rules, loot and NPCs are listed in here. 
The Monster Manuel 

Here is all the monsters and their stats. Often there is a mm2 and so on but you only need one to start and to fill your adventure with intresting baddies from the start!

Getting Started #5: Hit Points

The amount of hit points you have is dependant on your con score and your class. Each class has a dice associated with it which you are suppose to roll when you level up. At first level you take max (ex. d8 take 8 d4 take 4 etc.) Plus your con modifier. So if you are a wizard you have a d4 hit points and perhaps 8 con. The modifier for 8 is -1 so at first level your hp would be 3. A fighter has a d10 and lets say it had a con score of 15 (+2) at first level you would have 12. Each class is different and it is important you read which it is for your class. When I play I usually do max HP (meaning you do not roll and take max each time) because I find it easier to keep track of and if you roll really low you could be at level 10 with like 15 hp and your enemiea doing that much damange in 1 or 2 hits. Other editions have slightly different rules but the basics are the same.

-thek8t

Getting Started #4: Ability Scores.

There are 6 ability scores in Dungeons & Dragons. I will be giving instructions based on 3.5 but it is very similar in other editions.

The 6 Ability Scores are:

Strength (Str) – Melee attacks/athletic skills

Dexterity (Dex) – Armour class/acrobatic skills/reflex saves/ranged attacks

Consitution (Con) – Hit points/fortitude saves/endurance skills

Intelligence (Int) – Skill points/ knowledge skills

Wisdom (Wis) – Spellcasting/will saves/perception

Charisma (Cha) – Spellcasting/social skills

Each class has different abilities score which are most important and this should be reviewed before assigning scores.

How to get these scores:

There are different ways but I tend to just use point buy as it allows you to build particular characters.

Point Buy: for this you have a bank of points and using a point buy calculator
(Click here) you assign the points to each score. Depending on how strong your DM wants you to be they may give you anywhere from 15 to 25 points. All the scores start at 8 and usually can go up to 18 at first level. The more points you allocate, the more they cost.

Here are some examples of tips on how to allocate points.

If you are a wizard you won’t need as much strength and constitution as you shouldn’t be engaging in melee combat and instead should allocate more points into intelligence which powers your spells.

Rogues get a lot out of intelligence because of the amount of skills they can get, but dexterity is more important in order to dodge attacks and hit more often with light and ranged weapons. They don’t need much wisdom since they don’t have any spellcasting abilities.

Fighters need high strength for their physical attacks. A high consitution is also good to increase their hit points since they will be in the front lines. Intelligence, wisdom, and charisma (the mental stats) are not important for the fighter’s attacks.

-thek8t

Getting Started #2: The Books

One of the first things you have to choose when you play is which edition. Doesnt really matter whoch but 5th edition is whats on the shelves right now and easiest to find.

There are 3 main books you will need to have access to. The players handbook has all the information on classes, spells and chracter creation, items all the sort of things.

This is the only book te players will need  to read and reference. The other books, the monster manuel, and thr dungeons madters guide are only needed by the dungeon madter (sometimes in certain editions these books are consolidated into one). In these books there are infomrstion about non player charcters (npc) creation, magic items and loot, traps, monsters, experience points and everythinf the DM needs to know about the rules to be able to play.

There are often many other supplementary books with more monsters, classes, spells or items but these and not essential to play the game. I would say only use the additional books you own or have readily acessbile as these new rules are not usually on the online referencing documents. You do not need ever book to play but make sure your books are of the same edition! (Rules change from edition to edition and are often not compatible).

-thek8t