The Nightfall DnD Preparation Thread

Mibbit - A good in browser IRC client
d20 SRD - DnD 3.5's SRD in hypertext format (I wouldn't advice on using this too much)
D&D Tools - Contains the vast majority of non SRD content for 3.5. (Very helpful when you're trying to find out in which book you can find more informations)
Myth-Weavers - A host for Character Sheets of all kinds. The sheets also fill in certain details automatically from your input to save you from computing everything. Very useful.

Player Handbook - A pdf version of the 3.5 Playerhand Book. If you're willing to spend some time, read it, it has all the basic informations
I can Link other pdfs if people request them, there are many more books with many more races, classes and feats.

Roll20 is where we'll be playing the game.

- Providing and controlling NPCs and enemies
- Crafting the game world and plot
- Doing lots of "behind the scenes" action
- Ensuring that the story moves forward while also encouraging player agency

- Secrecy and Secret Rolls - The DM doesn't have to tell players all the facts and figures about their situation. Likewise, he is allowed to make rolls in secret. This helps maintain mystery and suspense and limits "metagaming". Saying "make a perception check everyone" tells them immediately that there's something to percieved. Making the roll for them in secret means they won't know what's coming unless the check succeeds.
- DM Fiat - The DM ultimately has the final say on anything. This could be interpretations of the rules, deciding whether something works or receives a bonus or whatever. This is especially important for unclear or absent rules. It shouldn't be used to completely negate player decisions or railroad them, however. Moderation is key.

One of the most common modifiers to a check, and to many other aspects of characters, is a "bonus". Bonuses add flat increases to the result of a check or whatever they apply to.

In general, Bonuses don't stack if:
- They come from the same source. You can't have multiple people cast Bull's Strength on you for a ridiculous amount of strength, because Bull's Strength counts as a single source.
- They have the same name. You'll notice many bonuses have a name, like Shield Bonus, Enhancement Bonus, Profane Bonus, Dodge Bonus, Morale Bonus etc. If two bonuses have the same name, they don't stack; use the higher value. Dodge and Luck bonuses are an exception. Also note that some things will increase a bonus rather than providing a new one. These stack.
Bonuses without a name always stack unless they're from the same source.

Everything else should stack. Your shield bonus, armor bonus, natural armor bonus, dodge bonus and unnamed bonus can all add to your AC, for example.

These are the most defining aspects of a character. You don't think of yourself as that green guy who gets angry and charges people. You remember yourself as Grorg the Half-Orc Barbarian.
I'll cover them in more detail under Character Creation, but essentially:
Race is your... well, race. Human, Orc, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling and so on. This only has a minor (but not unimportant!) impact on the mechanics of your character but critical from a roleplaying perspective.
Your class is the main thing - the chassis for everything you are and will be capable of doing. Unless you multiclass, but one step at a time eh?

I shouldn't have to explain these, but just in case:
Your Level indicates roughly how spowerful and competent you are. Everything depends on your level in some way.
Experience is just a way of counting towards your next level. Nothing complicated.

The Abilities are six stats that represent your fundamental capabilities. They are as follows:
STR or Strength: Pretty self explanatory. It's how physically strong you are. Most useful for melee attacking and some ranged attacks, but also for carrying loads and busting down doors. Used in skills that require raw physical prowess, like Swim. Important for Barbarians, Fighters and the like.
DEX or Dexterity: This is how agile and coordinated you are. It's important for ranged attacks and some melee attacks. It also helps determine who acts first in battle, and helps you avoid being hit. Also important for many skills, like Stealth. Important for Rangers, Rogues and Two-Weapon Fighters.
CON or Constitution: Represents your resilience and fortitude. It's main use is to directly increase your HP, as well as help you resist toxins and diseases. Important for everyone! HP means not being dead.
INT or Intellegence: How smart you are, in regards to raw knowledge and problem solving. Book Smarts, in a sense. Determines how many skills you can get and helps in some skills. Its most important for Wizards and certain other casters (usually Prepared Arcane Casters) who rely on it for their spells, but also useful for skill-monkeys like Bards and Rogues.
WIS or Wisdom: It sounds similar to Intellegence I know, but it serves different mechanical purposes. Wisdom is how perceptive you are, your innate understanding and gut instinct. Kinda like Street-smarts to Intellegence's book-smarts. It also determines your Willpower. Usually involved in skills that involve understanding the actions of others like Perception and Sense motive. It's especially important for Divine Casters like Clerics and Druids, who almost universally use WIS as their casting stat. Also fuels many of the Monk's special abilities.
CHA or Charisma: A weird one this. Basically its your force of personality and presence. It reflects how likeable (or horrifying) you are. Generally useful for social skills like Diplomacy. It's especially important for the spellcasting of Sorcerers and Bards, and also plays a key part in the Paladin's abilities.
(Note: You will see the three letter abbreviations eg DEX, STR, WIS much more often than the full words)

For each Ability you have a Score which states your competence for that ability. 10-11 is the human "average". 4-5 and below is basically subhuman, while a 16-17 is the pinnacle of man. 18 and beyond is the realm of pure fantasy - so its a good thing we're playing fantasy. In fact, you'll probably notice that your abilities tend to all be above average. That's because DnD is not about average humans, its about heroes.

Your ability score isn't all that useful though, except for determining the much more important Ability Modifier. While your Strength will be a number like 8 or 15, your Strength Modifier will be something like +3 or -2. The score is based on how far you are from the average score of 10 (which has a 0 modifer). The modifier increases at every even numbered score such that:
0-1 = -5
2-3 = -4
4-5 = -3
6-7 = -2
8-9 = -1
10-11 = 0
12-13 = +1
14-15 = +2
16-17 = +3 and so on.
Alternatively you could think of it via a formula of (Score-10)/2, rounded down. The ability score is what will be used in almost all game mechanics, so they're very important; The fact that you have 15 Strength isn't helpful to remember, but the fact your have a +2 STR modifier is.

A Fun little Image to explain Stats:

Your HP is your Health - how much damage you can take before you're out of the game. As Pokemon players you shouldn't struggle with this concept. Your HP is determined by 2 things - your Class's Hit Die and your Constitution Modifier.
You always have at least CON HP per level. For example, if you're level 5 and have a +3 CON Modifier, that's 15 HP right there. This is modified retroactively; if you somehow increase your CON modifier to +4 while still at level 5 you will now have 20 HP from your Constitution.
The Hit Die is a variable depending on your Class. Every time you take a level in a class, you roll the appropriate dice and then gain that much HP. For a Sorcerer you'd roll a d4, while a Fighter has a d10.
At first level you generally get the maximum value just to make sure you aren't too squishy. For a 3.5 sorcerer, only having 4+CON HP is bad enough, but imagine if you rolled a 1!
So in essence, your HP at any level is Level x (Hit Die + CON modifier). This gets a little less straightforward if you multiclass but let's worry about that later.

Your Armor Class (AC) is essentially the Difficulty Class for opponents attacking you. It reflects your ability to not be hit, whether by moving around with agility or due to sturdy equipment. You know, like... Armour?
The basic formula for AC is
AC = 10 + Armor Bonus + Shield Bonus + Dexterity Bonus + Misc
But there are some caveats. You don't necessarily need to understand them just yet, but here they are:
The Armor and Shield bonuses are straight forward - it's the bonus provided by your Armor or Shield (or equivelant).
The Dexterity Bonus is just your Dexterity Modifier... sort of. Each kind of Armor has a "Maximum Dexterity Bonus" which reflects how mobile you can be in that armor. If your DEX modifer is greater than this than some of it is wasted in terms of AC. For example, Full Plate Armor has a Max Dex Bonus of +1. So even if you have a +3 Dex Modifier it only increases your AC by 1. As a result characters with high dexterity will generally wear light armor or none at all, while low Dexterity character will wear something more protective.
Now, sometimes you will be hit by a touch attack. This means that the attack doesn't need to penetrate or otherwise ignores your armor - it only needs to touch you to succeed. In this case, you don't get an Armor Bonus to AC. Better hope you can dodge!
Conversely, some conditions such as being Stunned or "surprised" hamper your mobility such that you will be "denied your dexterity bonus to AC". Trust me, you'll be seeing that phrase a lot in the material (since a lot of feat effects and class abilities are also lost in these situations). It just means that you're a sitting duck. If you're Armor fails you you're in trouble.

This is how generally competent you are at using weapons and attacks, represented by a number like +6. There are three BAB progressions:
Martial - Your BAB is equal to your class level.
Semi-Martial - Your BAB is equal to a 3/4 of your level rounded down.
Non-Martial - Your BAB equals half your level rounded down.
So a level 8 Fighter will have a BAB of +8. His Cleric ally would have a BAB of +6 and the party Wizard would have +4. Though Multiclassing messes with it a little.

Saves are something that don't come up too often in my experience but they're important when they do. Some attacks and abilities will permit you a save to reduce or negate its effects. Your base saves are based on your Class/es and Level, and recieve modifers based on your Ability Modifiers and certain miscellaneous bonuses.
Reflex: Your ability to jump out of the way or duck for cover. Usually helps you avoid traps and area effects like Fireball. You add your Dex Modifier to your Reflex Save.
Fort or Fortitude: Your ability to resist poison and disease, and effects that target your very substance like Disintegrate. You add your Con Modifier to your Fort Save.
Will: Your willpower. Allows you to resist mind-affecting abilities like compulsion and mind-control. You add your Wis Modifier to your Fort Save.

I'm going to cover this in more detail later under Character Creation, but in essence skills represent your combat in areas which don't necessarily involve combat. Using skills involves a d20 Skill Check adding your Ranks in that skill and a relevant ability modifer. The DCs however vary wildly both between and within skills, depending on the circumstances. Its a very case by case thing and I am absolutely not dumping everything down here. If you want to read on, use the d20 or Pathfinder SRDs. Note that this is one of the ways Pathfinder improves on 3.5 in my opinion, due to simplifying the Skill Point system.

These are technically Pathfinder only, but they exist namelessly in 3.5. Pathfinder just simplifies things by giving them a name and making them more consistent.
CMB and CMD are involved in Combat Maneuvers - special techniques that you can use in battle like tripping, sundering and disarming. This is semi-advanced stuff with a lot of details, and you won't see it a whole lot anyway, so I won't cover it in detail but I'll briefly explain:
CMB is your Combat Maneuver Bonus. It's essentially Attack Bonus for combat maneuvers, and is your BAB + STR modifier + Size Modifier.
CMD is your Combat Maneuver Defense - essentially AC for manuevers. Its 10 + BAB + STR mod + DEX mod + Size Modifier. 3.5 doesn't use CMD but uses an opposed roll with similar modifiers, producing similar results, but with more confusion and little consistency between maneuvers.

This stuff will all be covered later! Generally these are the things that will make your character unique and interesting, so they're pretty important, but they vary wildly from character to character.

At the start of a new combat, the turn order is determined. Everyone makes an Initiative check by rolling a d20 and adding their Dexterity Modifier and any other bonuses they might have such as the Improved initiative feat. Whoever gets the highest total goes first (unless its a surprise round - see below), second highest goes second and so on. In the case of a tie, the highest modifier (as opposed to the roll) wins. Any remaining ties between players can be decided by negotiation or a coin flip. Ties between characters and their opponents can be decided by a coin flip or DM fiat ("I'll let the player go first to give them a decent chance" or "I'll let the wolves go first because this is an ambush that the players weren't expecting"). In each round, each combatant takes a turn in initiative order until every one has moved. The process repeats until combat ends. Any new combatants will need to make new initiative rolls as they enter the battle.

This only occurs if one or more combatants is not yet aware of the combat. For example, the party is ambushed by a gang of goblins and only the Monk succeeds on a perception check to hear them coming. Lacking time to warn his allies, the characters are unaware of the combat and surprise round occurs.
In the surprise round, only combatants who aren't surprised can act. So the goblins can act, and so can the Monk, but the rest of the party are sitting ducks! In the surprise round, everyone who acts gets either 1 Standard Action OR 1 Move Action (more on that later), acting in initative order.
Until a character acts, they are Flat-Footed, which is a fancy way of saying they haven't gotten into the swing of things yet. In game terms, this means they are denied their dexterity bonus to AC. This is especially significant in the surprise round, because surprised combatants will be vulnerable for that entire round.
After the surprise round (if any) everyone acts in initiative order as normal. But combatants who have not yet acted are still Flat-Footed until they take their first turn!

In each round, each player gets one turn (usually). In a turn, under normal circumstances, you can use the following Actions in any order:
- Any number of Free Actions
- One Swift Action OR Immediate Action
- One Move Action and One Standard Action OR one Full Action

Free Actions: Take a marginal amount of time and effort. Includes things like talking, dropping an item, activating certain abilities and much more. You can do these things "infinitely"; however some specific actions have restrictions, and the DM may rule that a particular action or amount of actions is unreasonable ("No, this 10 minute monologue does not constitute a single free action. While talking you were stabbed by Goblins and died before you reached the end of your speech.").
Swift and Immediate Actions: Take slightly more time/effort than a Free Action. Includes a variety of things, usually activating certain abilities or casting Quickened Spells. Swift and Immediate Actions are mostly the same, with one major difference: An immediate action can be used when it isn't your turn! However, using one when its not your turn prevents you from using a Swift/Immediate action in your next turn. Also, you can't use Immediate Actions while flat-footed.
Move Actions: Mostly involve... moving! In a movement action you can make a standard move up to your movement speed. However, there are other things that can be done instead of moving but still take a movement action: Drawing a weapon, standing froma prone position and many abilities (which is usually better than using your standard action) are a few examples.
Standard Actions: This is where you get stuff done. Basic Attacks and many spells are standard actions, as are a wide variety of special abilities. However, you can always take an extra move action instead of a Standard Action.
Full Actions: You're already where you need to be, weapons drawn, all preparations complete. Its time for a full action! Full Actions are like Standard Actions but with extra "oomph". Instead of a single attack, you might be able to use several. Instead of a simple spell, you might be able to cast a more powerful one. Full Actions can be difficult to pull off but are almost always worth it.

Combat in DnD takes place on a square grid where each square or space represents a 5 foot by 5 foot area (Users of the vastly superior Metric system are allowed to sigh now). Each square you move into decreases your remaining movement by 5'.
Note - Diagonal Movement: The first time you move diagonally in a given action counts as one square or 5', while the second counts as 2 squares or 10'. This pattern repeats for continued diagonal movement. You can't move diagonally past corners or impassable obstacles.

The 5' Step
Once during your turn you can make a single 5' step. This doesn't use an action, and can be used between or even within actions, such as between strikes in a full attack. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. However, you can't make a 5' step if you use any other sort of movement based action, such as moving, running or charging.

The Move Action
The most basic form of locomotion. Each character has a movement speed depending on various factors. The move action allows you to move any distance up to your movement speed. Funnily enough, moving this way uses up your move action in a turn. You can also move in place of your standard action if you want.

Running
Running is a full action in which you lose your dexterity bonus (there it is again! phrased differently, but still) but may move up to four times your movement speed, with some limitations that aren't really worth listing just now.

Other forms of movement include crawling, climbing, withdrawing and charging.

Ok, this where a lot of stuff starts coming together and making sense.

Attacks
To attack, you make an Attack Roll. Pick a target you can hit, roll a d20 and add your Base Attack Bonus, as well as:
- Your STR Modifier for a Melee Attack
- Your DEX modifier for a Ranged Attack
And any other bonuses you might have.
If the total is higher than your opponent's AC, you hit him! However, note that a natural 20 is always a hit and a natural 1 is always a miss.

You then roll for damage. Each weapon has a different damage dice - a longsword has a d8, while a Greatsword has 2d6. Roll the weapons damage dice and add your STR* if its a Melee Attack (Ranged attacks don't usually get bonus damage based on ayour abilities) and any other bonuses. The opponent then loses that much HP.
*With a one-handed weapon. Two handed attacks add 1.5x STR, while off-hand attacks only add half your STR.

Critical Hits
If your attack hits, and the natural value of your attack roll (ie, the number the dice shows) is in your weapons Critical Threat range (19-20 for most swords, just 20 for many weapons, but can be as high as 15-20) then you may score a critical hit. Make a second Attack Roll. If this roll "misses" you still hit as normal, but if it hits then the threat is confirmed and you score a critical hit. This multiplies the damage you deal - usually by 2, but more for some weapons.

The Attack Action
A simple Attack action uses up your Standard action. A single Attack Action permits only one attack, with few exceptions. If you want to unleash a flurry of attack you'll need to use...

Full Attacks
A Full Attack is a full action that permits more attacks than usual, provided you meet certain criteria:
Dual Wielding: If you are carrying more than one weapon then a Full Attack allows you to attack with both instead of just one. However, it comes at a cost to accuracy. The base penalty is -6 for your primary weapon and -10 for your off-hand weapon. That's a lot! However, you can reduce these penalties by 2 (-4,-8) by making sure your off-hand weapon is a Light Weapon. That's still a lot though; realistically, if you want to fight this way you need the Two-Weapon Fighting Feat which reduces the penalties to -4/-4 or -2/-2 if the off-hand weapon is Light.
High Base Attack Bonus: As your BAB increases, you can get more attacks in a Full Attack regardless of the weapon. At +6 BAB you get one extra attack with a -5 Penalty. This is sometimes indicated by saying that the character has a +6/+1 BAB. You get an extra attack for every 5 BAB after that, but each extra attack has a more severe penalty than the last. At Level 20, a Fighter has a BAB of +20/+15/+10/+5.
Feats And Abilities: Some special abilities just give you extra attacks. Yay!

You are said to be threatening a space if you hold a melee weapon that can reach said space. Usually this means a character with say, a sword, threatens the 8 spaces around him. This is important for certain game features like Flanking and Attacks of Opportunity. Ranged weapons don't normally threaten spaces.

Attacks of Opportunity:
An attack of opportunity is essentially a free attack that you can make in certain circumstances. It's a single attack -like the attack action - but doesn't use any of your actions up and can be used in an opponents turn. You normally only get one AoO per round. You can use an attack of opportunity when an opponent your threaten:
- Tries to use a ranged attack
- Tries to cast a spell - this can stop spells from working
- Tries to move out a space you threaten
- Tries a combat maneuver against you
- Other random stuff

Magic! Wizardry! Witchcraft! Sorcery! Whatever you want to call it, the effect is the same. The caster says some magic words and waves his hands around a little and reality bends to his will.

Time
Each Spell has a different casting time. Some are swift actions. Some are standard actions. Some are full actions. Some take even longer: minutes, hours or even days! Obviously the latter group are not suitable for combat. The ones that are just use the appropriate action.

Casting
Choose a spell you know/have prepared (More on Spontaneous vs Prepared casters later...), do the thing it says in the time it takes and its done! Pretty simple in theory. The complexity comes more from the variety of spells themselves, and the bookwork of keeping track of them. I'll expand on all that at a more appropriate time.

A quick overview of some special techniques you may consider using.

Feinting
You may consider using this, but shouldn't. Its cool in theory but it uses a standard action by default which means you won't get the benefit (which is minimal) until next turn! A GM might consider house-ruling this to make it more appealing though.

Combat Maneuvers
These range from cool and nifty to useless and have a variety of effects. They can be pretty complicated though. Most are standard actions, but some can be used in place of any attack and others have ongoing effects. They include Tripping, Sundering, Grappling, Overrunning, Disarming and Bull Rushing. These don't come up a whole lot, so you may not need to know about them, but if you're interested you can look them up on the pages I've linked.

Charging
A Full Action that combines moving and attacking. Seems kind silly when phrased like that since you get a standard and move action anyway, but I'll clarify: You can move up to twice your movement as long as its in an unhindered straight line towards your target. Then you gain a +2 bonus on the Attack roll but take a -2 penalty to AC until your next turn.

- Wait. DnD is a game where people can, and do, come back to life. The party may already have someone capable of casting such a spell, or they may be able to find and NPC who can. This does mean you'll be doing nothing until you are revived; however this option can be combined with one of the other options.
- Roll up a new character. Obviously you'll need to be written into the story, which may not be immediate, but perhaps quicker than a revival (especially at low levels). You'll probably need to start at a level higher than first to be balanced with the party, too.
- Take over an NPC. Sometimes there may be appropriately levelled NPCs associating or even travelling with the party. To save time, such a character could be handed to a player who has lost his own. Usually an excellent band-aid solution if you want to wait for a revival, but depends on the campaign.

This is pretty important.
My recommended method is to sign up to Myth-Weavers. They have sheets for a wide variety of systems. They're especially useful because they compute certain details for you. No need to calculate how much stuff you can carry, just put your Strength in and it should be ready to go. Either way, you definitely need to use some sort of sheet system that is shareable online. Pen and paper is fine for an IRL game, but useless for our purposes.

For some reason official sources recommend doing ability scores first, but I think this is more important - how can you know how to assign abilities until you know what you want to be?
So what do you want to be? Some people just pick a class an a race first and take it from there. And that's fine, of course. Another way to tackle it is to come up with an idea, then try to find the class/es that will get you to that concept. This will probably require you to look ahead to other steps to decide what you need to make it work, but it usually ends up with something you think is cool and fun to play.

A quick summary of the core races
Human
Humans don't get anything to any Stat
Gets a Bonus Feat at level 1 and an extra Skill Point per level. Pretty hard to go wrong with a Human, but kinda boring in a way.
Elf
+2 DEX, -2 CON
They get some bonuses to perception and low-light vision, plus immunity to sleep. Able to find secret doors that they walk past.
Dwarf
+2 CON, -2 CHA
Slower than other races, but not hampered by armor. They have a natural resistance to poisons and spells, are good at staying on their feet. Bonuses against orcs, goblins and giants. They also have Darkvision and some other neat stuff.
Gnome
+2 CON, -2 STR
Small sized (which has its own set of positives and negatives). Similar bonuses to dwarves against enemies except with Kobolds over orcs. Bonuses to perception and item based checks. Some small boosts to using and defending against illusions.
Halfling
+2 DEX, -2 STR
Also small. Has a boost to saving throws, especially against Fear. Has minor boosts to perception, stealth and some acrobatics. Halflings get a bonus with thrown weapons and slings.
Half-Elf
Nothing, like Humans
They have the Elves' Sleep Immunity and get Skill Focus as a bonus feat to represent their human heritage. Bonuses to perception, boost to social skills.
Half-Orc
+2 STR, -2 CHA, -2 INT
Half Orcs kinda suck hard. They get shitty stats, and the only recompense is Darkvision. Non-Core Races and Monsters
There's a lot of races out there, but a lot of them have balancing issues. Always run them by the DM before using them; he may want to make changes or outright forbid its use, and he does reserve that right.
Be wary of things with Racial Hit dice and Level Adjustment. LA is an attempt to balance powerful races, but it usually ends up hurting them. Both LA and RHD also change your effective level, making characters unusable in a level 1 campaign. Talk to the DM though, they may let you nerf/boost the character to avoid these issues.
Generally its easiest to stick the core, or at least simple, races. I'd STRONGLY suggest against using anything with LA or something similar.
There are also some alternative versions to races, which can be found in the Unearthed Arcana

A quick summary of the Core classes.
Barbarian
d12 Hit Die, full BAB
This is for all your "crazed beserker needs". The main class feature is Rage which gives you enhanced STR and CON at the cost of AC and certain skills, for a limited period of time. The Rages get better as you level up, and you also gain Trap Sense, Uncanny Dodge and Damage Reduction.
Bard
d6 Hit Die, 3/4 BAB
A jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none support class. Decent skill list and points, moderate spell-casting, average attacking capability. And of course, Bardic Music which makes the whole party a little stronger. If you want to do a little bit of everything, this is the class for you, but odds are that at least one party member will outshine you most of the time.
Cleric
d8 Hit Die, 3/4 BAB
AKA Divine Wizard. A holy (or unholy) man who recieves spells from a higher power. Clerics can prepare a vast array of spells, of all spell levels, and can also cast a variety of healing spells spontaneously. But wait, there's more! The cleric is also capable at melee combat, especially with certain buffing spells. He can also turn the undead, raise the totally dead and is generally a powerful dude.
Druid
d8 Hit Die, 3/4 BAB
And then there's this asshole. Basically Cleric but with a Nature theme instead of a religious one. Except the druid also gets a powerful animal companion. And he can turn into an animal. This class is considered by many to be overpowered, and when your character is a bear with a pet bear and can summon an army of bears, its easy to see why. (Bears can also be substituted with Wolves, Dinosaurs, Giant Squid...) Mind you, a Druid isn't as good with Undead and isn't able to turn any spell into a Cure/Inflict spell like a Cleric can.
Fighter
d10 Hit Die, full BAB
The Fighter is highly generic but also very flexible. In lieu of actual class features, the Fighter instead gets a bonus Feat at first level and every even numbered level. That's a lot of feats! With these you can customise your Fighter to be capable in a wide range of Martial fighting styles, or the absolute undisputed master of a single style.
Monk
d8 Hit Die, 3/4 BAB
The Monk is a Martial Artist who fights with no armor and armed with nothing but his fists. But don't let that turn you off; his unarmed strike gets stronger as you level up, rivalling and exceeding ordinary weapons by far. He's also very mobile, and has excellent Saves, some Ki based abilities and a small selection of bonus feats.
Paladin
d10 Hit Die, full BAB
The archetypical Holy Knight, sworn to protect the innocent and destroy all evil. The Paladin is a fearsome combatant with a limited selection of divine spells to boot. He can also heal himself and others and gains a powerful, loyal mount. His signature ability is Smite Evil, which gives you nice juicy bonuses against an Evil Target of your choice a limited number of times per day.
Ranger
d8 Hit Die, full BAB
The Ranger is to the Druid as the Paladin is to the Cleric. A Warrior of nature, with a handul of nature based spells and a cute little pet. However, while the Paladin is typically an armored knight, the Ranger is nimble and stealthy. The Ranger gets good skill capability, and a few class features to help him hide and survive in the wild. His favored enemy ability let's him say "fuck that thing in particular" and his combat style let's him focus on either Archery or Two-Weapon Fighting.
Rogue
d6 Hit Die, 3/4 BAB
The ultimate skill monkey, and a contemptible sneak. Rogues get 2 main features: a large skill list with loads of skill points, and Sneak Attack, bitch! Rogue's are no frontline fighters, but their skill set makes them very competent outside of battle, and his Sneak Attacks deal hefty damage to foes unaware of/flanked by the rogue. Together, these features make the rogue a stealthy assassin and exceptional skill-monkey, and learns a number of talents to assist these capabilities.
Sorcerer and Wizard
d4 Hit die, 1/2 BAB
These guys I think are similar enough together, and they go to alphabetically anyway. These are your Arcane spellcasters, who learn their magic either by devoted study (Wizard) or innate talent (Sorcerer). These guys are less physically capable than their Divine Equivelants, but their spells are often more powerful and versatile. The main difference is that Sorcers cast spontaneously, with a narrower selection of spells but more on the go flexibility. They also get more spells per day. Meanwhile, Wizards must prepare and decide which spells to use in advance, but have a comparatively huge selection of spells (read: all of them) compared to the sorcerer, and get access to higher levels spells slightly faster.
Other Classes
There are plenty of non-core classes for both systems. Some are better than others though, and its always a good idea to run it by the DM first.
Advanced Option: Alternate Class Features
Alternate Class Features is when you swap out certain class features for different ones. This can put a subtle twist on your class or carry it off in a radical new direction. If you're willing to look into it, these can be a great way to customise your character and get exactly the concept you want, but sometimes it can be a little complicated. But again, run things by the DM.

Races have a favoured class (which may be your choice). This only matters if you're multiclassing, and even then the rule it applies to is almost universally ignored on account of being terrible.

Now that we know your class, race and what you want to be, we can assign Ability Scores.
There are two main ways of generating Ability Scores (and a third one suggested by Hytheter), which will depend on what the DM sets out at the start of the game:
Random
Scores are determined by the dice. Methods vary, but I think the most common is:
Roll 4d6. Discard the lowest result. Record the result somewhere. Repeat this six times to get six different scores, then assign each to a different ability of your choosing. If you're ballsy, you can apply them in the order you roll them, but then maybe you actually should do this step first and then pick classes accordingly. The main issues with this system are lack of control and the possibility of very good or very bad scores, and a need for the DM to either monitor or trust the rolls of players, and frankly I don't trust you people to hold my sandwich without taking a bite.
Point Buy
In this system, the DM declares a certain point limit, then the players select their ability scores with each different value incurring a certain cost. Rather than listing it all, I'll just link this Point Buy Calculator which works for both 3.5 and Pathfinder and even adds your Racial Modifier for you for core races. This method allows for maximum control over your scores, but could be seen as "unrealistic". Not that we're here for realism.
Set Values to be Assigned
The DM just gives you six values that everyone assigns. My group has always used a simple 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10 system, possibly allowing a few 2 point tweaks. It ends up similar to point buy, and is probably less balanced, but I thought I'd mention it.

Assigning the Values
Once you have your values (or while buying them) you need to decide which score needs to go in which stat, generally by putting the highest scores in the most important stats and so on. For primary casters you absolutely want your highest stat to be your casting stat. That's Wisdom for Divine Casters, Int for Wizards and Cha for Sorcerers and Bards. Fighters (as in the role, not the class) will either want Strength, Dexterity or both depending on their chosen fighting style. Dexterity is important for anyone who won't be wearing any armor, like Monks or Arcane casters, and also helps Rogues with their skills. Intellegence is helpful if you need Skill Points but that and the other mental stats aren't really that useful to non-casters (though Monks need Wisdom and Paladins need Charisma). Constitution is just good for everyone, and will usually be between your primary stats and your dump stats (dump = the stats you won't be using and thus assign low scores to).
After you've assigned your scores, apply the racial modifiers of your selected race. If you rolled a 16 for Strength, but you're a Half-Orc, that goes up to 18. You can then calculate your modifiers.

Most characters only get one feat at level 1. Some races and classes may also provide bonus feats (though there may be limitations of the feats available).
The feats you choose will go a long way to shaping your character. Generally you can pick any feat for which you meet the pre-requisites, but look for feats that match your concept, work with your class or seem generally good. DnD tools has a Filterable List for them.

Unless you're a spellcaster, skip this step. Fighters, Barbarians, Rogues, move on. But Clerics, Sorcerers, Wizards, Druids and Bard's should stick around. Rangers and Paladins don't need this yet, but they will, so it wouldn't hurt to read it now.

Types of Magic:

Important Spellcasting Concepts:

Your Characters Spells:

Most of this stuff will come straight from your class, with some modifiers based on race, abilities and feats.
Saves: From your class, add Dex for Reflex, Con for Fortitude and Wis for Will. You may also have racial bonuses - halfling provides a +1 bonus to all saves. Don't add situational bonuses like the Halfling's fear resistance, note them somewhere else.
HP: For first level this is the maximum value of your Hit Die plus your constitution modifier. 10+Con for Fighters, 4+Con for Wizards.
BAB: Straight from your class. NEXT.
Attack rolls: It's not a bad idea to calculate your Melee and Ranged attack bonuses. That's your BAB+STR and BAB+DEX respectively.
Initiative: This is just your DEX mod plus additional modifers; this'll be the number you add to your initiative rolls.
AC: Whoa hold on. Wait til you've gotten your equipment first.

Buy your character some stuff! Each class has a starting wealth value that determines how much gold you have available to start your character. Then use the equipment sections in the SRDs and get yourself some weapons and armor etc.
Don't fret too much about picking the right equipment. Your stuff can and will be regularly replaced by better stuff as you go through an adventure.
This is the time to figure out your Armor Class based on whether you bought Armor and Shields, and what kinds.
AC = 10 + Armor Bonus + Shield Bonus + Dexterity Bonus + Misc
Remember that your Dexterity Bonus may be limited by your choice of armour.

This is stuff like your name, gender, appearance, personality, backstory etc. Things that aren't usually relevant to gameplay mechanics but are important for roleplaying.
The only Game Impacting thing that fits this category is your Alignment.
Depending on your class, this may be partially decided already; Barbarians can't be Lawful, but Monks must be, and Paladin's are exclusively Lawful Good.
The simple way to look at alignment is this:
Lawful represents a tendency to respect rules, regulations, traditions, order and structure. Chaotic on the other hand is a tendency towards personal freeding, following your whims and rejecting restrictions.
Good is a tendency towards helping and protecting others. Evil is a tendency to disregard how actions might affect others or actively seek to harm them.
Neutral on both Axes can include elements of both extremes, or it could have elements of neither.
There's more to it than that, some of which is debatable, but that's the gist of it I think.

Your saves and BAB increase according to your new level, which you can find easily from the appropriate table.
For HP, you need to roll your hit die. Your HP increases by the result + your Con Modifier. You can use your Pathfinder Favored Class Bonus for an additional point.

At 4th Level and every 4 levels after that you can increase one of your Ability scores by 1 point. I know, that's not much, it won't even increase your modifier half the time, but these things add up, you know? Plus you'll probably get boosts from other sources, so stop being greedy.

You gain a number of Skill points equal to your Class Skill Points + Your INT Modifier, plus any other miscellaneous modifiers. In other words a quarter of your starting amount.
You can then apply these as normal.
Note: If your Intellegence Modifier increases, you get more skill points when you level up, but you don't gain retroactive skill points for previous levels.

At some levels you will get new feats. This happens at third level and every three levels after that. You may also get bonus feats from a class level.
If any of these things occur, just... pick a new feat. Simple.

Just use the tables for your class to determine your new spells per day. If you're a Wizard, you can add two new spells of any spell level you can cast to your Spellbook. If you're a spontaneous caster you may have increased your spells know, in which case you can select some new spells from your list.

Now this is where things sometimes get tricky and/or awesome.
When you level up, instead of increasing the power of your class, you can instead take a level in another class.
Class and Character Level
This doesn't matter for single-class characters, but for multiclassers a distinction must be made between your Character level - the total number of class levels you have obtained - and your Class Level/s - the levels you have obtained in a given class.
Gaining new feats and Increasing your Abilities, as well as the limits on Skill Points, occurs based on your Character Level. Gaining new Class features and their scaling depend on your class level.
How Classes Combine
Basic things like Saves and BAB stack; just add the values for the two(or more) classes at your class level together, then add modifiers like your ability modifiers.
For HP, roll the hit die of whatever class you're taking a level in and apply appropriate modifiers.
Skills
For skills, you gain skill points according to the class you're taking a level. When spending skill points, only Class Skills for the class you are levelling in recieve the full 1 point = 1 rank investment. Cross-class skills only give half-ranks even if they are class skills in another class. However, the upper limit on skill ranks remains Level+3 as long as at least one class has that skill as a class skill.
Spells and Class Features
Class Features only change depending on your individual class levels unless otherwise noted, and usually don't stack. This includes spells; your spells per day/spells known only increase if you increase your level in the relevant spellcasting class. There are Prestige Classes that break this rule though. If you have levels in two different spellcasting classes, you have to track the spells separately, and you can't cast spells from one class in another's slots.
Prestige Classes
Prestige Classes are special classes that have prerequisites - you can't take levels in the class until your meet the criteria. Other than that, they work the same as regular multiclassing, but may advance the progression of existing class features.

Whenever you Level up, you can choose to advance one of your existing classes or take a level in a new one. However, some classes have restrictions on multiclassing, and some classes may be incompatible due to alignment. 3.5 has rules that can make multiclassing difficult in the form of an EXP penalty if the levels of each class differ greatly, but nobody pays attention to that rule because it sucks.

1) Character creation:
I) Characters are created at level 1
II) Stats are bought from 30 points
III) Any 3.5 Race can be taken, but if you want a race that isn't from the PHB, please provide a link to a pdf version of the source they are from
III b) Please try to avoid Races with LA, if you REALLY want something with LA, we'll have to see what we do...
IV) Any 3.5 Class can be taken, but if you want a class that isn't from the PHB, please provide a link to a pdf version of the source they are from
V) Any 3.5 Feat can be taken, except Leadership and Undead Leadership as well as any version of it that I might not be aware of. Again, if you want a feat from a different book then the PHB, please provide a link

2) Monster:
I will mostly use monsters from the official sources, though I reserve me the right to change them slightly and even create my own monster, if I feel that a different creature would fit the campain better.

3) Minor rules:
I) Starvation/Dehydration deals lethal damage in the same way cold/hot weather do.
II) Drowning doesn't set you to 0 health if you have less then 0 health when you beginn drowning.
III) Coins are weightless

4) GM right:
If rules or interpretations are unclear, I have the right of the last word. I reserve the right to disallow or change certain races, classes or feats, if I consider them to be unfairly powerful. I reserve the right to add minor rules, if I consider a certain rule or rule interpretation to be unfitting for the campain. I do not expect to need to make use of either of these two rights though I wanted to make clear that I have them, to avoid discussion IF I need to make use of them.

sparkingLife: Human Sorcerer
The Mather1: Shadowskulk, Air-Goblin Fighter Martial Rogue (gunslinger)
Sandstriker: Changeling Bard
royalPawn: Baraqel, Human Wizard
JakeMorph: warmage/battle sorcerer perhaps?
Shaula: Drea, Human Rogue
Ralte: Urmelena, Drow Paladin
Meta: Dwarf Barbarian
Tekken: Warforged Paladin
Bookworm: Roywyn, Gnome Bard
Havoc: Tibbit Rogue
IreliVent: Human Battle Sorcerer with Brass Dragon Heritage Kamryn Anatol, Human Sha'ir/Warlock and his Familiar Beval
silckenSoul: Wanderer, Warforged Warblade
eunomicZenith: Kallistos, Half-Elf Cleric

DEATH DOMAIN
Deities:Nerull, Wee Jas.
Granted Power:You may use a death touch once per day. Your death touch is a supernatural ability that produces a death effect.
You must succeed on a melee touch attack against a living creature (using the rules for touch spells). When you touch, roll 1d6 per cleric level you possess. If the total at least equals the creature’s current hit points, it dies (no save).
Death Domain Spells
1 Cause Fear:
One creature of 5 HD or less flees for 1d4 rounds.
2 Death Knell:
Kill dying creature and gain 1d8 temporary hp, +2
to Str, and +1 caster level.
3 Animate Dead:
Creates undead skeletons and zombies.
4 Death Ward:
Grants immunity to death spells and negative
energy effects.
5 Slay Living:
Touch attack kills subject.
6 Create Undead:
Create ghouls, ghasts, mummies, or mohrgs.
7 Destruction:
Kills subject and destroys remains.
8 Create Greater Undead:
Create shadows, wraiths, spectres, r
devourers.
9 Wail of the Banshee:
Kills one creature/level.