Character Assistance
Posted on Fri Oct 23rd, 2026 @ 2:03pm by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair & Ensign Connor Turner
Edited on on Sun Oct 25th, 2026 @ 10:08am
2,960 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 18 - The Edge of Darkness
Location: Officer's Mess Hall - Deck 2 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD002 2000 hrs
Connor knew that Rachel was nervous about playing. It was his duty as the GM to make her as comfortable as possible. Therefore, he decided that it would probably be best to meet up with her and giver her some tips and help about playing a wizard, if that was still what she wanted to do.
However, before he could contact Rachel, he suddenly realized that he knew next to nothing about her other than she was nervous. Most of session zero, he barely looked at her. He thought back. Did she tell him her last name? Yes, he thought she did. It began with an "S," did it not?
Well, that gave him an excuse to talk to the computer and he was never shy about doing that. He instructed the computer to show him all the women named Rachel on board. He then narrowed it to last names of "S." After doing that, he recognized the unmistakeable unusual skin tone of hers.
He tapped his commbadge and said, =^= Um, Ensign Turner to Lieutenant Rachel Sinclair. Do, um, you have a moment? =^=
Sitting in her quarters, Rachel was looking over a small pile of padds she’d put together, trying to read up everything she could on this game. There were so many editions, variations, official and unofficial source books. Many of which conflicted with each other. Hearing Connor’s voice over the intercom, Rachel gave a sigh of relief, =^= Yes, yes I do, what can I do for you? =^= she replied.
=^= Um, well, uh, I thought, well, that you might need some help with your character, =^= he replied thoughtfully. =^= If I am wrong, please forgive me and my intrusion on your comm. I'll just see you at the next game, then. Right? =^=
=^= No, no, wait, please I could use help. I feel like I’m 5 minutes away from making a murder board, =^= Rachel replied.
=^= A murder board? =^= Connor asked, not entirely certain what Rachel meant by that. =^= Right. Don't want to be responsible for that. So, where do you want to, well, um, meet? =^= Did that sound wrong? Did that sound like I was asking for a date? Gosh, I hope not! I just need to help her.
=^= oh, um, I suppose the mess hall? =^= Rachel suggested, figuring either of their quarters might be misconstrued.
=^= Right. See you there? What? Five minutes? =^= Connor asked.
=^= sounds good. Thank you. =^= Rachel replied before ending the communication.
Connor saw no reason to respond. He simply took his PADD, some dice that needed some TLC, and headed to mess hall.
— Mess hall —
Walking into the mess hall, Rachel looked around for a table while she was balancing a dozen padds in her hands. She’d brought every piece of reference material she’d accessed in hopes of gaining a broad understanding of this game and its mechanics.
Connor found Rachel right away. She looked flustered. Why did she have so many PADDs? What in the world was she doing? He walked right up to her, looked at her briefly and said, "Right! So ready to work on your character?" He immediately sat down and his eyes found her PADDs rather than Rachel's eyes.
Rachel nodded, "yes please. I've been looking into the wizard class and the magic system seems straight forward, but I can't decide which sub-class to go with. Evocation, Divination, Abjuration, there are so many. And on top of that the races also seem to add something extra on top of things."
Connor chuckled lightly. "OK. I think you are putting the cart before the horse, Rachel," he told her kindly. "Let's not focus so much on the technical details right now. You say that you want to be a wizard. Picture in your mind what your wizard looks like. What kinds of spells they like to cast or are best at casting. Maybe even tell me what he or she looks like.... If you need, you could even close your eyes to do it."
The young ensign hoped that she would close her eyes because he was barely able to hold this conversation together, as is. As long as he focused on D&D and character creation, he likely would not have trouble talking to her fluidly.
Giving a nod, Rachel closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and tried to come up with a mental image of what her character might look like. After a moment of silence, she started to describe them. “Umm, well, i think I see them as a smaller person, young, inexperienced. She likes to throw around elemental spells. Fire, ice, lightning. She used her magic to entertain the children in her village before the village elder sent her away after she almost burnt down one to many houses. I picture her with fair features, long pointed ears and eyes full of wonder and anticipation.”
"Right!" Connor replied brightening up. "So, now you know what your character is like. We can build her the way that you want her and then learn the rules and such as they apply to your vision. No need to be an expert on everything, just on you. Make sense?"
Rachel nodded, happy to be making actual progress. Now instead of memorising everything, she could focus in on just a few things. “Yea, that sounds good”
"So, it sounds like you, like me, like evocation spells. Those are spells that take magical energy and create a desired effect, such as lightning bolts, fire balls, sleet storms, and such. So, let's start there for your school of magic. When we build your character, start looking at those types of spells for what fits.
"Now, you already started to craft a background story for her. I like that. Probably burnt down some houses with a firebolt. That's a basic cantrip evocation spell. If she has pointy ears, then she could be an elf, any type of elf (wood, high, aquatic, drow, etc.), half-elf, gnome, half-orc, or tieflings.... That's right off the top of my head. Now, if she's fair and it sounds like above ground, that eliminates gnomes, half-orcs, tieflings, drow, and aquatic elves. I don't think a wood elf would really fit your vision as they tend to live reclusively in the woods. So, I think you're likely a high elf or a half-elf with high elf blood. Other than in Dryad Wood, though, half-elves tend to not fit in with anyone, so high elf might be what you want to do?" he asked after his analysis was complete.
Picking up a PADD, Rachel brought up a digital character sheet and started filling in the details. Wizard, high-elf, 5’0”, then she stopped, unsure what to do next. “Um, how do I know what equipment or spells I have access too? And how do I know my stats?”
"Right. Good questions. Let's start with your ability stats. We start off with everything at 8: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, and Charisma. I think those categories are self explanatory, but if not, please ask. OK?" He looked into Rachel's eyes, caught himself and then quickly looked away.
Connor cleared his throat, looked back down at the PADD and said, "Right. Well, you have 27 points to use to purchase increases over 8. Each increase from 8 to 13 costs 1 point. However, if you go to 14 or 15, it costs 2 points for each additional point. So going from 8 to 14 would be 7 points and 8 to 15 would be 9 points. Once this is done, then you get to add racial bonuses for being a high elf. Just so you are aware, high elves get an additional 2 points after this process added to their dexterity and an additional 1 point added to your intelligence."
He paused momentarily and clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Here's the significance of these numbers: They give modifiers to your rolls on the 20 sided die. The modifiers change on the even numbers. So, a 10 or 11 ability score has no modifier but an 8 or 9 would be a -1. 12 or 13 would add 1, and so on. Now, with wizards, you will want a high intelligence so you can memorize more spells and cast better. So, how would you like to spend your points? Remember, envision your character and think how she would be and then we can distribute the points appropriately."
Barely keeping up with the flow of information, Rachel just nodded along as Connor explained the process. Biting her lower lip as she thought, Rachel started adding numbers to her stats. “Ok, so I should put more points into intelligence. Maybe not so many in charisma or strength. Should wisdom be high too?”
"That's up to you," Connor replied with a warm smile. "How do you envision your elf? Intelligence should be the highest for a wizard. That means you are book smart. That does not mean you have one whit of common sense, which is wisdom. If you have low wisdom, you will not perceive things well. If you have low charisma, people may not react well to you; whereas, the opposite is true, if it is higher. If you have higher dex, you're likely to be like a gymnast and you're able to dodge things, giving you a better armor class and making you harder to hit. Low dex and you're more of a klutz. Higher strength and you can jump further, climb more, and do other athletic things. Lower strength and you may need someone to carry something for you. Higher constitution makes you more resistant to illnesses, curses, poisons, and gives you more hit points. Low constitution, and you're more fragile. Again, up to you. Just like real life, we all have strengths and weaknesses."
Nodding along as he explained, Rachel thought about her character. A higher intelligence and constitution score would make sense. And a lower dex would play into her idea of a more clumsy character. The other stats would be good to leave balanced. “Hmm….ok. So if I go…16 in intelligence, 15 in constitution, 10 in strength, wisdom and charisma and leave dexterity at an 8. That should be right, I think?”
"Actually, your Dexterity would be 10 because of the +2 for being a high elf." Connor screwed up his face a little and said, "I think there is a math error. You have 27 points. 15 intelligence would use 9, then you add +1 for being a half elf which gets you to 16. That's right. 15 constitution would be another 9. So between those, you've used 18 points and have 9 left. 10s would be 2 points each. 18 and 6 is 24. Definitely 3 left. Your dex would go from 8 to 10 even without using a point."
He looked over at Rachel's arm, finding it easier to look at. "So, what are you going to do with those 3 points?"
“I….um…I’m not sure…” Rachel said, thinking over the numbers. Adding 2 to one stat would give it a +1, but which one? Wisdom maybe? Or strength? After a moment, she nodded. “Wisdom, yes. I’ll put them all in there. So…that would make it a 13?”
"Right!" Connor answered proudly. "See, not terribly difficult, once you think about it. So, now, we need to get you a background which will start giving you some of your starting equipment and proficiencies - skills that you can be better at than others."
“A background? Yea, I guess that makes sense. Helps the other players get to know more about your character.” Rachel said, giving it a little thought, “Well, call it a little uninspired, but I’d like her to be a new adventurer, as in this is her first time away from the academy she trained at. So that way she had no real world experience. Does that work?”
"Of course that works," Connor replied with a smile, though his eyes gazed somewhere over Rachel's shoulder. "But what was her home life like? Why does she want to seek adventure? More importantly, we need to select one of the game's backgrounds that fits so we can get those additional proficiencies for bonuses on your rolls."
“Oh right. Umm……” Rachel responded, looking through the padds again. “Is there one you would suggest? I mean, this Acolyte one looks ok.”
"Is that how you envision your character? As someone that has had a religious upbringing?" Connor inquired. It was an odd choice for someone playing an evoker but ultimately the character was her build and choice. It would certainly be unique. He was more fond of the sage background for his wizards.
“Well, I’m not sure about the religious part of it, but with her being a magic student, wouldn’t she be an acolyte technically?” Rachel said, looking through the lists again.
"No," Connor replied shaking his head. He was going to tell her what he thought. He just hoped that he did not influence her too much. She should not play what he would. She needed to be comfortable in the shoes of her own character. "A sage would likely be more accurate." He bit his lip and purposely scrolled on a PADD to all the potential backgrounds for a character. "Look at all of these possibilities. Don't feel limited."
“I’m not feeling limited, if anything I’m feeling overwhelmed. There’s so much to this game and I imagine I haven’t even scratched the surface” Rachel replied as she pulled up the sage background, “I mean, I guess it sounds right, but isn’t a sage an older person?”
"No, it is just a name for someone that has studied magic and really did little else." Connor fretted. "I'm sorry that you feel overwhelmed. I am doing my best to simplify things for you. That's why I wanted you to envision your character as best as you could so we could build it based on how you envisioned her and then sort the details based on how you see her."
He paused for another moment and worried, "It just seems that you are selecting a lot of my preferences and I worry that's because they're my preferences and not what you want. I want you to have fun." He dared a brief look at Rachel, his eyes doe-like, and then looked back down at the PADD, fearful of how that could have been construed.
Rachel looked up at him in surprise, “wait, this is your favourite class? I…I had no idea. I just……i like the idea of throwing around spells. I didn’t mean to take your ideas” she’s said feeling a little guilty.
"You have not taken my ideas," Connor assured her. "It just seems, um, well, uh, that we think very similarly. And, um, well, uh, I really don't know you, other than, well, Millie brought you."
He pressed his lips inward together and thought about the problem. In that moment, an epiphany struck him. "I have an idea! Why don't we go to the holodeck? You can tell the computer what you want your character to do and what it would look like and everything about her and then have it translate it into D&D stats, backgrounds, and such?"
Connor looked at Rachel hopefully, thinking that this was the most wonderful idea that anyone could ascertain.
Rachel’s eyes lit up. “Yes, that would be perfect. It would help me visualise her. Spirits why didn’t I think of that?” She said, jumping up and hugging him before quickly realising what she’s doing and just as quickly backed away. “Sorry, I…I’ve been hanging around Millie too much.”
Connor stiffened at the hug. He had only recently been dumped by Marjani and had not expected this response. As the hug started to end, he relaxed slightly, realizing that it did not feel bad. I really should not read anything into it. She's excited. I was excited when I created my first character too, wasn't I?
Awkwardly, he smiled at Rachel and told her, "I remember when Millie was not like that." Fearing he said too much, he moved on, "As to the idea, well, I should have thought of it sooner. I feel a bit of a tit. After all, I work with computers all day."
He hesitated as he addressed the hug again. "Um, and no worries about being around Millie. So, no worries about the hug. I, uh, just did not expect it." Suddenly, Connor's feet were the most interesting things that his eyes could find in the room.
Rachel looked at him, a little confused, “what’s a ‘tit’? I’ve never heard that expression before.”
Connor blushed lightly. "Sorry. I'm British. Old saying for being a bit of a fool or being embarrassed after making a mistake. Does that help?"
“Oh ok. I understand” Rachel said, tilting her head, “but, you weren’t being a fool. Neither of us thought of using the holodeck before now.”
"I'm an engineer," Connor replied as if it was self evident. "It should have been the first thought in my mind."
“Well we got there eventually. Why don’t we book some holodeck time a little later and we put the final details of my character together?” Rachel suggested, giving him a cheerful smile.
"Right!" Connor replied enthusiastically. "So, tonight, then? I'll set it all up."
Rachel nodded, “That sounds good. Thank you for this.”
"My pleasure!" Connor replied earnestly. "It also is my duty as the DM. See you tonight." With that, he made a hasty exit.
A Joint Post By
Ensign Connor Turner
Computer Systems Specialist, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Rachel Sinclair
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Pioneer
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