DDO Terminology from A to Zed

By Shayalyn (with a little help from Zed)


“Give me a DC25 UMD check.”

“Make an opposed grapple check.”

I asked Zed, one of DDO @ Ten Ton Hammer's resident D&D aficionados, for some examples of D&D jargon. Those were the examples he gave me. My response was a slack-jawed, “Huh?”

I learned that “Give me a DC25 UMD check” is something a dungeon master might say to ask a player to make a Use Magic Device roll versus a Difficulty Class of 25. (I don't know about you, but I'm still saying, “Huh?”) An “opposed grapple check” is, according to Zed, “A combat option. Essentially a creature/player is attempting to grapple and pin another creature. Opposed checks are made. Each character/creature has a basic grapple score (BAB + Str +Other) and they add that to a d20.”

Yeah, that makes sense. (I think.)

Terms like these make me grateful for DDO, where there's a computer rolling the virtual die and tallying things up appropriately. Even so, you'll hear a variety of terms used in DDO that hark back to the pen-and-paper (PnP) game, D&D. In fact, many of the terms used in today's MMOGs--terms such as experience points (XP), hit points (HP), and armor class (AC)--originated with D&D. But one has to admit that there's a lot more jargon tossed about in reference to DDO than most MMOGs due to its direct connection to D&D.

Fortunately, we're here to clear up any confusion with this nifty reference guide to DDO terminology. Read on, dear adventurer, and educate yourself. The research I did for this article certainly educated me.

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DDO Terminology Reference Guide

Ability – Abilities are what many MMOG gamers think of as “stats.” They are (say it with me): Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Your ability scores form the backbone of your character, helping to determine what he's good at, and where he's weak. Or perhaps he's a generalist, not particularly able in any one area, but well-rounded across the board. How your character plays out in combat is determined, in large part, by his ability scores. As a 1st level character in DDO, your scores for each ability will range between 8-18.

Ability Check – Ability checks occur when a character attempts something that requires a specific ability. The computer (behind the scenes) rolls the virtual dice for you and adds any modifier to determine whether or not you'll succeed at the action.

Ability Modifier – This is the bonus (or penalty) your character gets for having a good (or poor) ability score. Certain equipment, spells and potions also modify your character's ability score.

Alignment – Alignment determines how your character reacts to the world around her. How moral is she? How lawful? In DDO, truly evil alignments are reserved for monsters and other bad guys (and that's generally the way it's done in D&D, too). Player characters (depending on class) can be lawful good, lawful neutral, neutral, neutral good, chaotic good, or chaotic neutral. See our guide to alignments for more information.

Armor Class (AC) – This number determines a character's or creature's ability to avoid being hit in combat—the higher the AC, the harder one is to hit. Whether or not you hit a creature (or it hits you) is determined by AC and yet another roll of the virtual dice. An opponent's attack roll must equal or exceed the target's AC in order to hit it. If, for instance, you're up against a bugbear with an AC of 17 and the computer randomly rolls a 15, you're going to whiff. It's as simple as that.

Attack roll – A virtual roll of the dice to determine whether an attack hits. This is affected by various modifiers. If your attack roll equals or beats the opponent's AC, your attack will hit.

Buff – Vin Diesel is buff, but that's not what this term refers to. When you cast a beneficial spell on another player to make him stronger or better at something you're “buffing” him. This is a common MMOG term, but our little terminology guide wouldn't be complete without mentioning it.

Check – This is a method of determining whether your character succeeds or fails at an action. Most checks are either ability or skill checks. The computer rolls the dice and adds any relevant modifiers. If the roll meets or exceeds the pre-set difficulty class number for the action (which is determined by the game, which serves as a dungeon master of sorts), the action succeeds. If it doesn't, well, then you've just failed that lock pick or triggered that trap, or…whoops! You get the picture.

d20 - The 20-sided die that's arguably the most funky among the Dungeons & Dragons dice set. You'll see a little graphic of a d20 rolling away, making your AC checks, as you're flailing away at monsters in DDO.

Dungeon Master (DM) – The dungeon master in D&D is represented by a live person who runs the game. In DDO, two things represent the DM—the game itself and all its core mechanics; and the text (and in some cases voice) that appears to add color, or tell you something about your surroundings, or warn of impending danger. DDO is unique in that, unlike any other MMOGs, it has a DM that actually talks to you and serves as an omniscient guide, giving the game the distinct flavor of its pen-and-paper (PnP) roots.

Experience Points (XP) – Anybody who's ever played a MMOG knows what XP is. After all, experience points determine your character's progress toward another level of advancement. While many MMOGs require you to defeat monsters and complete quests to gain XP, DDO focuses solely on quests. You won't gain XP for each monster you slaughter, but rather for each quest you complete. Given that, avoiding melee combat during a quest is a perfectly feasible tactic.

Feats – Specific combat maneuvers or advantages that add to your character's capabilities or performance. Some feats are simple bonuses such as Combat Casting, which adds a +4 modifier to Concentration checks and increases the character's ability to continue casting while taking hits during combat. Others, such as Cleave, allow characters to perform certain types of special attacks. Some feats are tied specifically to a certain race or class, while others are more general.

Fortitude Save – A type of saving throw (see definition) generally applied to things a character resists through sheer physical stamina, such as surviving the effects of a poison.

Hit Points (HP) – This is a measure of your character's overall health. Any damage you take decreases your total hit points. When you reach 0, your character is incapacitated. When you reach -10, your character dies. Hit points are restored either by magical healing (spells or potions), or by resting at a rest shrine or recuperating in a tavern. (Getting up close and personal with the bar wench will not regenerate your hit points any faster—sorry.)

Level – A measure of your character's overall advancement. In DDO, there are 10 levels, and each level consists of 4 ranks. You'll start the game at level 1, rank 1. You'll progress to level 1, rank 2…and so on. At launch, the highest possible level will be level 10, rank 4.

Multi-class – This is a strategy for character development in which you choose to add levels from a different class than the one your character started off with. For example, let's say you've started off as a cleric. Upon reaching 2nd level, you might choose to take a level as, say, a fighter. This would make you a 1st level cleric/1st level fighter. If you chose not to multi-class, you would become a 2nd level cleric.

Non-Player Character (NPC) – NPCs are characters controlled by the game. They represent the sort of characters that would be controlled by the DM if you were playing the tabletop D&D. NPCs have abilities and modifiers and skill checks just like you do, but, as a rule, you can expect all those things to be higher than your own. Why? Because that's what makes the game challenging.

Player Character (PC) – This is you, and all those other people scurrying around being controlled by some live person who, just like you, is sitting in front of her computer playing her ‘toon.

Prerequisite – Sometimes you'll need to meet a certain condition before your character can get something; a certain feat, for instance. Let's say you want to take Cleave as your next feat. You'll need to have Power Attack in your repertoire and a Strength ability of at least 13 before you'll be allowed to take the feat. Those requirements are called prerequisites.

Reflex Save – A type of saving throw that relates to your character's ability to avoid a threat through agility or quickness.

Saving Throw – The saving throw is your saving grace. (Can I get an amen?) The computer rolls the virtual dice to give you an opportunity to avoid or lessen the effect of a special attack, such as a spell or monster ability. The three types of saving throws are: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will.

Scroll – These are magical items that give you a one-shot use of a single spell. Characters can only use scrolls that are on their class spell list. If the spell is too high level for them to cast normally, they'll have to make a caster level check to pull it off.

Skills – Every character has certain skills which represent their training and/or experience in a certain area. Your character receives a number of skill points each level based on class and Intelligence modifier. Skills are divided into two categories: Class skills and cross-class skills. Cross-class skills cost more—when you spend one skill point on a cross-class skill, you gain half a point in that skill, as opposed to the full point you would gain in a class skill. An example of a skill would be Concentration, which affects a caster's ability to continue casting while taking combat damage.

Special Abilities – Your character's race and class proved special abilities. Dwarves, for instance, receive a +2 bonus to constitution due to their hardy nature. Elves are immune to magical sleep effects and receive a +2 bonus against enchantment spells and effects.

Spell Resistance – These defensive abilities help make a monster or character harder to affect with spells. Your character might receive a potion of Resist Fire, for instance, which would increase her resistance to fire-based spells for a period of time. Buffs and equipment can also increase resistance. Some spells, however, cannot be resisted.

Turn Undead – The supernatural ability of clerics to drive away or destroy undead monsters. Turn Undead is affected by the cleric's charisma.

Will Save – A type of saving throw. Will saves determine your character's ability to withstand ill effects based on their mental strength and willpower.

Zed – Our resident D&D nerd, who helped me check and re-check this article for accuracy, and who continues to dazzle the DDO @ TenTonHammer.com staff with his godlike (or perhaps geeklike) knowledge of the game. (Thanks, Zed!)

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