Playing the Roll Support Thread

Talking about Hikerangel's last story with some people on the Discord server I realized that this story will have a lot of stuff that might be all over the place for a lot of people.
So, Rjjt, Thero and I are trying to put together a bit of "condensed handbook" to help you guys figure out some bits and pieces of D&D lore.

Let's start at the beginning.
In D&D every player takes the role of a character that you put together choosing a combination of Species, Class and Background. A Character's Species tell you pretty much where they come from and gives some cultural hints.

In the base game there a number of different Species, some really weird and strange, but for our purposes, I'm going to present only the ones Hiker's put up for a vote.

Humans
Humans are... well, us in a way. In most D&D worlds humans are the most common species, thanks to a combination of ambition, skill and quite a bit of ruthlessness. Compared to most species humans are insanely shortlived, but they more than made up in sheer numbers. The real trick is that Humans are, apparently, really good at everything. They might not be nimble like the Elves or strong like Half-Orcs, but they pretty much came in second in every given category. Due to their numbers, humans are much more divided than any other Species, most Elves or Dwarves tend to consider themselves a single culture, whereas humans can be insanely provincial.

Elves

Elves are an incredibly long-lived species (they often live up to 800-900 years easily) defined by their almost symbiotic relationship with their surroundings. Due to their fey ancestry, elves tend to be rather chaotic in nature and they adapt to every environment insanely fast and yet they all worship the same gods and share the same language, even when they live thousands of miles apart. The two main branches of the elven family tree are the High Elves and the Wood Elves.
High Elves are highly intelligent and very knowledgeable about arcane magic. Every member of their communities receives a modicum of training both as a wizard and as a warrior, taking full advantage of their long lives. Many other species consider them haughty snobs and some nobles elves do fit the bill to a T.
Wood Elves are the tribal and rustic cousins of the family, compared to the High Elves they seem almost laughably uncultured, but that's a quickly dispelled notion. The truth is that Wood Elves live in a really close relationship with the natural world, up to the point that they can almost vanish into thin air when obscured by just a couple of leaves or light rain.

Drows (Dark Elves)

Drows are the "relatives that everyone wants to forget" of the Elves. Sometime in the early days of the Elven nation, there was a civil war, instigated by a schism between their gods. The loser faction fled underground, where their goddess started to remake them, encouraging practices like selective breeding and eugenics. The Drows' society is much more regimented compared to High and Wood Elves. Whereas the surface tribes have a very "your freedom stops where mine starts" kind of deal, Drows lives in great matriarchal houses, where males are considered just tools at the disposal of the Matriarch, an insanely powerful priestess of their deity.
Several generations of selective breeding ensured that all Drows have an incredibly powerful night vision and several innate magical powers, but it also made them very sensitive to daylight. They are almost blind during the day.

Half-Elves

Half-Elves are the offspring of Humans and Elves (very rarely Drows). While these unions are relatively rare Half-Elves seem to reap the benefits of both species, enjoying both the drive and flexibility of Humans and the long life of Elves. What set them apart from both Species is their innate charisma, not only they often grew up in two culture - making them adept at mediate - their human blood mitigate the most off-putting aspect of their elven looks, as a result, they look almost as beautiful as their elven parents, but not nearly as alien.

Half-Orcs

Like Half-Elves, Half-Orcs are the offspring of Orcs and Humans (sometimes other humanoids of similar size). Unfortunately, this means many Half-Orcs are "war children", the result of an Orc tribe pillaging a Human settlement. There are exceptions since the Orcs' blood remains pretty strong for many generations. Half-Orcs are really strong and tough by human standards, they can throw a punch like no one else and keep fighting even when they are reduced almost to a bloody pulp. They often live pretty harsh lives, being bullied by both sides, by Humans for what they represent and by Orcs because they're considered weaker.

Halflings

Halflings are really small humanoids, rarely bigger than a Human child, blessed with an insane amount of good luck, quick fingers and bravery. Larger Species often patronize them, based on the idea that they're these almost eternal children and, thank the gods, most Halflings don't seem to mind all that much. The Species is split in two branches: Lightfoot and Stouts. Lightfoot Halflings are stationary, usually congregating within or near settlements of other species. They prefer to live in the countryside and manage to be incredibly discreet and unobtrusive, having mastered the art of hiding behind anything even slightly larger than them.
Stout Halflings are nomadic, roaming the land in caravans of colorful wagons. They're a lot more confrontational than the Lightfoot and tougher too, apparently having some dwarven blood.

Tieflings

Tieflings used to be a pretty rare breed. They're the descendant of other humanoids that, at some point in their lives, had sex with a devil or another entity from the lower planes. The families often don't know of such unions until, a few generations down the line, a Tiefling is born. Despite their inhuman appearance (they have tails, horns, hooves and red or blue skin) these individuals can be supernaturally charming and charismatic, which is enough to make them dangerous even without their other gifts. Being partially infernal being, they're very resistant to flames and can even summon and control them to a degree using them to incinerate those who try to harm them.

Well, since I have a bit of time I'm going with the second part: Classes.
In D&D a class is something more and something less of a profession. It's how the character tackles obstacle and opponent. The one thing he/she focused on and trained for years.
Classes are sometimes grouped by their main features into warriors, priests, rogues and spellcasters, although many classes blur these lines a lot.

Barbarian

Barbarians are the quintessential brutal warriors (obviously inspired by the likes of Conan and Red Sonja). Despite being lightly armored (sometimes going for the classic "almost nude look") they're insanely tough and capable of withstanding untold amounts of punishment, even more when they invoke their signature ability: rage. Whne invoking it, barbarians gain strength and become almost inured to pain and fear, able to walk through a storm of arrows with barely a scratch. It doesn't matter where this rage comes from, some barbarians channel their innate fury or religious zeal, others become one with animal totems or the power of a storm. Aside from that, their usually violent lifestyle makes them extremely reactive and attentive.

Bard

Music and magic are deeply intertwined and nobody understands this better than bards. Often depicted as wandering minstrels, these characters are often so much more. Some are loremasters capable of recalling entire libraries of songs and books by heart, others rallies the troops on the frontline and some are spies with mysterious ties that stretch even to other planes of existence. No matter what, though, their words have the power to uplift and charm people, create and destroy magic.

Cleric

Clerics are the chosen servants of the gods, defined by their unshakeable faith and devotion, which makes them ideal conduits for miracle. Not everybody is fit to channel pure divine power, but what makes a cleric different is that when the flesh crumbles the conviction held strong. There are at least as many kind of clerics as there are gods, often more. Each one of these priests focus on a particular aspect of their divinity or creed and this afford them different miracles they can perform. Those who follow gods of life can bring back people from the brink of death, trickster gods gave powers of illusion, while the faithful of war gods are insanely skilled in battle.

Druid

Way before there were gods, people worshipped nature and those who still does are often called druids. While sharing some similarities with clerics, these "priests of nature" possess powers that are very different and are all based on being one with beasts and the natural world. Every druidic group, or circle, is a bit different and linked to a specific facet of the world, some channel the hidden power of mountains, forests and desert, others are master shapeshiters that can take the appearence of any animal or, in time, elemental creatures.

Part 2 of the classes document.

Fighter

Fighters are often considered just simple footsoldiers, but nothing could be further from the truth. Any idiot can swing a club, but a fighter dedicates years, perhaps decades, of life to master every possible weapon, combat style and every facet of war. In time they became unparallaled fighting machines, capable of recovering their strength while in combat, delivering barrages of attacks in a few seconds and soldiering on through any adversity. Depnding on personal inclinations, fighters become paragons of physical power, master strategists or some learn how to match their warrior expertise with magical power.

Monk

Monks are masters of unarmed fighting. Like barbarians, they don't need armor and their hands and feet are superior to many manmade weapons, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. As they become more experienced monks became supernaturally fast and reactive, capable of catching arrow midflight, controlling their physical and mental processes up to the point of becoming immune to poison and mind controls. Of course each path or school of martial arts learn different ways to channel their inner energy, from becoming superhumanly agile to controlling the elements (a la Avatar, the Last Airbender).

Paladin

If clerics are defined by their unshakeable devotion to the gods, paladins' strength comes from their vows and their code. These warriors can heal the sick, detect the presence of unnatural creatures and infuse holy power in their weapons, making them even more lethal for undead and demons. Not every paladin follows the same code, but all swear an oath to uphold it until death. Some try to uphold knightly ideals, others strive to be a beacon of hope for all, others follow a darker path leading them to conquest or vengeance.

Ranger

Rangers are hunters (of both people and monsters), pathfinders, scouts and masters of the natural world. They often focus on hunting a specific kind of prey, ranging from animals to dragons to people. Their abilities might seem underwhelming at first, but only because nobody would even know that a ranger is hunting them untilit's too late. They're like shadows that can travel across entire nations unseen and supernaturally fast, sense the presence of their chosen target from miles away and follow a track across any terrain. Many rangers travel with a beastly companion, while others focus on developing fighting technioques ideal to take down either giant monsters or veritable hordes of creatures.

Final part of the Classes

Rogue

Next to rangers, rogues are the unparalleled masters of stealth and deception. Despite their often shady reputation, Rogues goes from immoral killers to thieves with a heart of gold, all the way to detectives. While they are lightly armored and prefer small weapons, they can be insanely deadly thanks to their deep knowledge of anatomy and their great expertise. Beside the most well known assassins and thieves, some rogues become masters of illusions, supplementing their great skills with arcane magic.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who are both incredibly powerful but somewhat limited. Their power comes from their bloodline, some have dragons among their ancestors, others demigods or powerful otherworldly creatures... some seem to scions of pure chaos. No matter the origin, a sorcerer has the unique ability to manipulate magic in ways that no one else can, but that's not all, often their bloodline manifest in unexpected ways, causing them to grow wings, become immune to the elements or control fate itself.

Warlock

Whereas sorcerers draw powers from their blood and wizards learn the subtle art of using mgic via years of studies, warlocks try to take a short striking a deal with a great supernatural entity, from the queens of faes to old being from beyond time and space. This pact makes them something more and something less than human. Their magical powers are somewhat limited, but they also slowly mutates gaining supernatural gifts and powers, like the ability to control shadows, see through the eyes of others or summon weapons out of thin air.

Wizard

Wizards are the most cultured and powerful spellcasters in existence. Their powers come from decades of study and training. Each wizard becomes a specialist in one of the traditional schools of magic, although some dwelve in more esoteric branches of knowledge, like war magic. The most powerful tool of a wizard is the grimoire, the collection of all his/her spells written in a complex cipher that only a fellow wizard might understand with great efforts. Describing the variety of a wizard's spells is impossibile, because every wizard smart enough can create new ones.

Since the new installment talks about Character Attributes, I think it's time to dust off this old infographic.

Also, I'd like to highlight one thing, every class usually has one primary Attributes and one or two secondary one. Although all Attributes have their place, some are more effective than others.

Barbarians, like Michelle, usually go for Strength and Constituion over anything else, since they really need that extra power and durability. Moreover, even without armor a Barbarian with high Constitution can tank most hits without problems, she's just that tough. Wisdom is often a distant third, sharpening the natural danger sense and instinct of the barbarian.
As a Sorceress, Beth's main scores are Charisma. Whereas the magical abilities of Wizards depends on their memory and knowledge (i.e. Intelligence), Sorcerers channel their power through the application of pure willopower and the strength of their personality. Also since they're a bit squishy being about to dodge a hit (Dexterity) or tank it (Constitution) is a plus. The most learned Sorcerers don't shy away from having high Intelligence to boost their knowledge of the arcane.
Paladins, like Jim, also rely on Charisma for some of their powers and spell, but being front-line warriors they also need high levels of Strength. Depending on personal style one might also priorize Wisdom to see through people's lies, Constitution to survive longer or Dexterity, if he fancies himself a more agile fighter.
Finally, a Rogue like Ron usually relies on Dexterity to pick locks, move stealthly or hit with light weapons. After than he can go pretty much any way he want, priorizing Intelligence (for illusionist and criminal masterminds), Charisma (for charmers and swashbuckers) or Wisdom (for those who don't want to be surprised).