DnD 2nd ed help

badbromance

Hey Guys!

It looks like I might be getting into a 2nd ed game (With other Australians, YAY!!) and I have zero experience with 2nd ed. I have played plenty of 3.5/4th and some Star Wars: Edge of the Empire lately - which is awesome, so I should be able to roll up a character and hit the ground running.

If anyone could give some advice it would be awesome, mainly about chargen. If all goes to plan I would prefer to play a Bard (lore master kit if allowed) or a Thief. I don't need charop advice just general advice would be great.

A lot of people talk about how good 2nd ed is and lets be honest BG1/2 are awesome so i'm keen to give this a real crack and enjoy the hell out of it

LadyRhian

In 2e, Bard is a subclass of thief. Unlike in Baldur's Gate, Legend Lore is less like an Identify spell and more like knowing the history of an item through knowing legends, stories and songs. Loremasters need a high Intelligence and wisdom. When you play your character, remember that Loremasters love history tales. Meeting people who actually lived through certain times in history (elves and dwarves especially, as they are long-lived) will probably evoke a similar reaction to meeting a super-star actor or similar famous person. You'd rather go to the site of an ancient battle rather than a cave system infested by orcs or Ogres. In BG, your lore master would be salivating over the prospect of exploring Durlag's Tower or following the path of Balduran's last voyage- both are heavy in history. Basically, look for places to explore where something important happened- you want to know more- to know the whole story, if possible. Carry a logbook of your own and take copious notes about the things you discover. Have your character ask lots of questions- remember your character will be writing books about this later, and your stories about what you have discovered have a "Gosh, wow!" response from your audience.

badbromance

Thank you @LadyRhian for the input. I had a decent idea I had for the character and you just helped take it to the next level!

Mechanically speaking I think he will play similar to a mage. He wont be a combat specialist but I prefer support classes anyway. More interesting to come up with clever ideas to avoid combat.

If I understand NWP right I will be using them to compliment the lore/history side of things and the remainder to be a more charming individual. I think that will help compliment the kit.

LadyRhian

@badbromance Modern and Ancient Languages are good for a loremaster. You get one ancient language for free (consequences of your field of study). Ancient history is another good one- you get that for free as well. You also get Reading/Writing for free and Navigation. Other good proficiencies to take are Religion (you know the history of various sects and how those religions evolved, like how Selune and Shar were formed from one Goddess), Spellcraft (you read all magical tomes you encounter), more than one Ancient Language, Modern Languages (areas you will be traveling in- Dethek. Espruar, Seldruin/Hamarfae, or Thorass for Ancient Dwarven and Elvish inscriptions/high magic (Seldruin the language used, Hamarfae the script) and Thorass is the precursor of modern common for humans). Maybe even Gnim if you investigate something Gnomish (Gnim uses modified Dethek runes, but a different vocabulary- kind of like Chinese and Japanese). You can use a high INT to get more NWPs, up to 7 at an 18 INT, so you might want to use them on languages. You can also take Local History, Direction Sense, Weather Sense (you are supposed to be astute, after all!) Also Musical Instrument, Etiquette (helps to know how to talk to the people in charge of an area you might be exploring) and Artistic Ability (which can be oratory, the better to influence people with your stories). You will probably want to set up your own little library somewhere as well to keep track of all your research materials, and one of the best backgrounds for a Loremaster is a scribe. Ask your DM if you can have a home base somewhere, even a rented room, where you can keep your stuff- some of it will get very heavy.

If he allows you access to Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, check over the Wizard and Scribe section thoroughly for gear- camping supplies as well. You might want to be the mapmaker for the group, so you can make note of "interesting" map features that another might not care about.

When it comes to magic, divination spells are going to be your best friend. You should have them in your spell book, even if you don't memorize them immediately. Know Languages (for something you can't already translate, or to speed up the translation of a language you might only know the rudiments from your class skills), Detect Magic (tells you the type of magic as well as if there is magic there), and so on.

If it helps, think of your character as a somewhat more scholarly version of Indiana Jones. You still have the rogue skills to break into places, but you're after knowledge rather than some other kind of treasure (though more, um, prosaic kinds of treasure will help fund further researches and expeditions for you.).

Hope this helps!