Race And Languages

All characters know how to speak Common. A dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, or halfling also speaks a racial language, as appropriate. A character who has an Intelligence bonus at 1st level gains extra skill points to spend in additional languages (see Skills).

Small Characters: A Small character gets a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +2 size bonus on Stealth checks. A Small character’s carrying capacity is three-quarters of that of a Medium character.


A Small character must use smaller weapons than a Medium character.

Medium Characters: Medium characters have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. Base land speed for a Medium character is 30 feet unless otherwise noted.


Vital Statistics


You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table 1). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table 1: Random Starting Ages.

Alternatively, refer to the table below and roll dice to determine how old your character is.

Table 1: Random Starting Ages

Race Adulthood Barbarian,
Rogue, Sorcerer
Bard, Fighter
Paladin, Ranger
Cleric, Druid
Monk, Wizard
Human 15 years +1d4 +1d6 +2d6
Dwarf 40 years +3d6 +5d6 +7d6
Elf 110 years +4d6 +6d6 +10d6
Gnome 40 years +4d6 +6d6 +9d6
Half-elf 20 years +1d6 +2d6 +3d6
Half-orc 14 years +1d4 +1d6 +2d6
Halfling 20 years +2d4 +3d6 +4d6

With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table 1). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.

When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table 1, plus the result of the roll indicated on the Maximum Age column, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age some time during the following year.


Table 2: Aging Effects

Race Middle Age1 Old2 Venerable3 Maximum Age
Human 35 years 53 years 70 years +2d20 years
Dwarf 125 years 188 years 250 years +2d% years
Elf 175 years 263 years 350 years +4d% years
Gnome 100 years 150 years 200 years +3d% years
Half-elf 62 years 93 years 125 years +3d20 years
Half-orc 30 years 45 years 60 years +2d10 years
Halfling 50 years 75 years 100 years +5d20 years

1 -1 to Str and Con; +1 to Int and Wis.

2 -2 to Str and Dex; +1 to Wis.

3 -1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int and Wis.

Height and Weight


Table 3: Random Height and Weight

Race Base Ht. Ht. Mod Base Wt. Wt. Mod
Dwarf, male 4' 0" +2d4 140 lb. ×(2d6) lb.
Dwarf, female 3' 10" +2d4 130 lb. ×(2d6) lb.
Elf, male 4' 5" +2d6 85 lb. ×(1d6) lb.
Elf, female 4' 3" +2d6 80 lb. ×(1d6) lb.
Gnome, male 3' 7" +2d4 70 lb. ×(1d3) lb.
Gnome, female 3' 5" +2d4 60 lb. ×(1d3) lb.
Half-elf, male 5' 0" +2d8 100 lb. × (2d4) lb.
Half-elf, female 4' 8" +2d8 80 lb. ×(2d4) lb.
Half-orc, male 4' 10" +2d12 150 lb. ×(2d6) lb.
Half-orc, female 4' 8" +2d12 110 lb. ×(2d6) lb.
Halfling, male 3' 9" +2d4 60 lb. ×(1d3) lb.
Halfling, female 3' 7" +2d4 50 lb. ×(1d3) lb.
Human, male 4' 10" +2d10 120 lb. ×(2d4) lb.
Human, female 4' 8" +2d10 85 lb. ×(2d4) lb.