Getting your character's stats

I recommend printing out a character sheet to doodle on to figure out what your character scores are.
Revised D&D v.3.5 character sheet (363k pdf/zip)
(This link is from Wizards of the Coast site: www.wizards.com)

Roll a six sided die (or the D6 dice in the roll dice thread).
Roll the die 4 times, take off the lowest number and then add them. Do this 7 times and get rid of your lowest score. At the end you should have 6 numbers.

Example:

5 4 5 3 = 14
3 1 2 1 = 6
4 6 2 6 = 16
4 3 1 5 = 12
2 1 6 1 = 9
5 1 2 4 = 11
3 2 5 1 = 10

After you have your numbers, you put them to your ablity score section (on the print out sheet if you printed it, it's not on the forum sheet... yet.) for Strength [STR], Dexterity [DEX], Constitution [CON], Intelligence[INT], Wisdom [WIS], and Charisma [CHA]. You can choose where you want to place them. Depending on my race and class you will put them in the appropriate spots. To find out what your ability modifier is please follow this chart:

02-03 = -4
04-05 = -3
06-07 = -2
08-09 = -1
10-11 = 0
12-13 = +1
14-15 = +2
16-17 = +3
18-19 = +4

So looking at the number from the previous example (I put them to abilities just to show it all together):

Ability	Ability Score	Ability Modifier
STR	14	+2
DEX	16	+3
CON	12	+1
INT	9	-1
WIS	11	0
CHA	10	0

0 is average, so anything above is above average and anything below is below average. So this character has a little below normal intelligence but has really high dexterity.

What do we use the ability modifiers for? It's what you us to know how hard you Attack, Skills, AC (Armor Class), HP (Hit Points).

Depending on your race or class you might get bonuses and disadvantages to your ability score. Meaning you'll add points or deduct some depending on who/what you are.

Example:
For an Elf, you have a +2 to DEX & -2 to CON. So thier table would look like this using the previous stats.

Ability	Ability Score	Ability Modifier
STR	14	+2
DEX	18	+4
CON	10	0
INT	9	-1
WIS	11	0
CHA	10	0

Strength [STR]: Determines how strong you are, how much you can carry, how hard you attack. Skills like Jump, Swim, Climb .

Dexterity [DEX]: Determines how fast you are, your AC (Defence). Skills like Pick lock, Escape Artist, Ride.

Constitution [CON]: Determines how much you can take, the affect how long you life is. Skills like Concentration.

Intelligence[INT]: Determines how smart you are, how many spell you a do, how many languages you know. Skills like Knowledge, Profession, Spellcraft.

Wisdom [WIS]: Determines how wel you can use your intelligence. Skills like Listen, Sense Motive, Heal.

Charisma [CHA]: How well you can influence other people. Skills like Diplomacy, Disguise, Perform.

To find out more about races and classes, there are topics for them under this section of the forum.