Greetings, to all that read and post replies to this thread.
Before you read, I must inform you that I am a beginner. I am only fourteen, and I have not even filled out a Character Sheet.
My character is a Half-Orc chief named Urkrar. He is humane unlike most orcs, and he often attempts to sign peace treaties with humans, but he is easily irritable and he does not like humans due to their hypocrisy. He fits into the Outlander backstory, which means that he: has natural skills in Athletics and Survival, can learn an extra language, and he can learn a musical instrument. This brings up my questions:
Can a person of any race or class learn a language (aside from Common and the language of their race) automatically?
If so, can Urkrar learn two languages, with the other from being an Outlander?
What musical instrument would you expect an orc to play?
How can I learn the feats of Orcish Aggression and Orcish Fury?
What Feats should I aim for achieving?
Thank you, everyone who posts to this thread. My last thread had no replies sent within fourteen hours. I will follow all who send helpful replies.
Not automatically. As I understand it you get languages from race and background. Further languages are gained with the linguist feat. Downtime rules allow for learning more but that depends on both your DM and the campaign.
One from race, one from background, sounds correct.
Any. What kind of music does he like?
I don't know if these are achievable feats. I only own the PHB. Maybe you could house rule them?
Depends. Are you going for min-max or flavour? I like different feats depending on the character build.
Firstly, I would highly recoomend using the character builder on this website to build your character. It will walk you through every decision point you need to make.
Secondly, since all of your posts in this subforum relate to the same character, it is considered good etiquette to continue the discussion in your original thread rather than starting brand new threads on the same topic.
As to your specific questions.
At creation a character knows any languages specifically granted by their race, background and/or class. Some backgrounds such as Sage allow you to learn 2 additional languages of your choice, others like Soldier don’t grant you any. As an Outlander you learn 1 additional language of your choice in addition to the Common and Orc languages granted by your race (Half-orc) for a total of 3 languages known at creation. A character may learn additional languages during play as a downtime (i.e. non-adventuring) activity. The Player’s Handbook requires your character to find a tutor and spend 250 days and 250 gold pieces to learn a new language in this way.
The instrument you learn as part of your Background is entirely up to you. How advanced is your character’s tribe? A simple society might favour drums, pipes and flutes as these are instruments that do not require significantly skilled craftsmen. If they are more advanced and produce their own tools and weapons then he could play a lute or a lyre. Alternatively, if you do not want him to play an instrument you could ask you DM if you could change the instrument proficiency to another language proficiency instead.
At every 4th level in a class (and sometimes at other points) your class grants you an ability score increase. If your DM is allowing feats, you may instead take a feat, such as Orcish Fury. As a Fighter you gain an ability score increase (or feat) at levels 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 and 19.
What feats you should be aiming for depend on the type of character you want to make. Do they fight with a sword and shield? Two handaxes? A greataxe or maul? It also depends on your starting ability scores because it is highly recommended to get your primary ability score (probably Strength) up to 20 as soon as possible.
Thank you very much. The reason why I opened a new thread was that the last one was abandoned.
I found your points to be enlightening. I will answer a few of your questions, for I did not make mine clear.
My character uses a battleaxe and is in an advanced orc tribe, because his orcs have learned how to use agriculture and wargs. Maybe my character would know how to play a lyre or bagpipes. I hope for my character to have high Ability Scores in Strength and Wisdom.
This is a slow moving forum, just because a thread does not receive a response within fourteen hours does not mean that it will never be replied to. Just be patient, someone will usually post a response within a couple of days.
Regarding weapon use, do you plan to use a shield with the battleaxe or swing it with two-hands? If using a shield the a feat like Shield Master is recommended as you can use a bonus action to knock targets prone after attacking, which controls the battle and can help your allies. If you are planning to attack two-handed, you may want to consider using a greataxe instead as it has a higher damage die (d12 vs d10) and you can make full use of the Great Weapon Master feat to increase your damage output.
I would like for you to keep in mind that I am only Level 1, and at the start of the game, I may not have enough Gold for a greataxe. The battleaxe is only temporary. I intend on using it two-handed. I thank you for the advice. I have done further research on the different Feats.
If your DM is having you determine starting gold and buying your gear from that then that is fair enough.
The Player's Handbook assumes that most players will take the starting equipment defined by their class and background, in which case a Fighter gets to start with:
(a) chain mail or (b) leather armor, longbow, and 20 arrows
(a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
(a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) two handaxes
(a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
Plus equipment from your background.
Since a greataxe is a martial weapon you could in theory start with two! Not that I recommend that.
Greetings, to all that read and post replies to this thread.
Before you read, I must inform you that I am a beginner. I am only fourteen, and I have not even filled out a Character Sheet.
My character is a Half-Orc chief named Urkrar. He is humane unlike most orcs, and he often attempts to sign peace treaties with humans, but he is easily irritable and he does not like humans due to their hypocrisy. He fits into the Outlander backstory, which means that he: has natural skills in Athletics and Survival, can learn an extra language, and he can learn a musical instrument. This brings up my questions:
Thank you, everyone who posts to this thread. My last thread had no replies sent within fourteen hours. I will follow all who send helpful replies.
Firstly, I would highly recoomend using the character builder on this website to build your character. It will walk you through every decision point you need to make.
Secondly, since all of your posts in this subforum relate to the same character, it is considered good etiquette to continue the discussion in your original thread rather than starting brand new threads on the same topic.
As to your specific questions.
At creation a character knows any languages specifically granted by their race, background and/or class. Some backgrounds such as Sage allow you to learn 2 additional languages of your choice, others like Soldier don’t grant you any. As an Outlander you learn 1 additional language of your choice in addition to the Common and Orc languages granted by your race (Half-orc) for a total of 3 languages known at creation. A character may learn additional languages during play as a downtime (i.e. non-adventuring) activity. The Player’s Handbook requires your character to find a tutor and spend 250 days and 250 gold pieces to learn a new language in this way.
The instrument you learn as part of your Background is entirely up to you. How advanced is your character’s tribe? A simple society might favour drums, pipes and flutes as these are instruments that do not require significantly skilled craftsmen. If they are more advanced and produce their own tools and weapons then he could play a lute or a lyre. Alternatively, if you do not want him to play an instrument you could ask you DM if you could change the instrument proficiency to another language proficiency instead.
At every 4th level in a class (and sometimes at other points) your class grants you an ability score increase. If your DM is allowing feats, you may instead take a feat, such as Orcish Fury. As a Fighter you gain an ability score increase (or feat) at levels 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 and 19.
What feats you should be aiming for depend on the type of character you want to make. Do they fight with a sword and shield? Two handaxes? A greataxe or maul? It also depends on your starting ability scores because it is highly recommended to get your primary ability score (probably Strength) up to 20 as soon as possible.
Thank you very much. The reason why I opened a new thread was that the last one was abandoned.
I found your points to be enlightening. I will answer a few of your questions, for I did not make mine clear.
My character uses a battleaxe and is in an advanced orc tribe, because his orcs have learned how to use agriculture and wargs. Maybe my character would know how to play a lyre or bagpipes. I hope for my character to have high Ability Scores in Strength and Wisdom.
This thread is not closed.
This is a slow moving forum, just because a thread does not receive a response within fourteen hours does not mean that it will never be replied to. Just be patient, someone will usually post a response within a couple of days.
Regarding weapon use, do you plan to use a shield with the battleaxe or swing it with two-hands? If using a shield the a feat like Shield Master is recommended as you can use a bonus action to knock targets prone after attacking, which controls the battle and can help your allies. If you are planning to attack two-handed, you may want to consider using a greataxe instead as it has a higher damage die (d12 vs d10) and you can make full use of the Great Weapon Master feat to increase your damage output.
I would like for you to keep in mind that I am only Level 1, and at the start of the game, I may not have enough Gold for a greataxe. The battleaxe is only temporary. I intend on using it two-handed. I thank you for the advice. I have done further research on the different Feats.
If your DM is having you determine starting gold and buying your gear from that then that is fair enough.
The Player's Handbook assumes that most players will take the starting equipment defined by their class and background, in which case a Fighter gets to start with:
Since a greataxe is a martial weapon you could in theory start with two! Not that I recommend that.
Thank you again. I intend on buying a Player's Handbook. This thread is officially closed.