Basic dnd Introduction
Hello! I will try to give the easiest explanation of DnD I can, so please read even if you've
played before. Dungeons and Dragons is a ROLEplaying game (meaning that you act
according to a role, that of your character) that uses tabletop mechanics, such as dices, to be
played. The Dungeon Master describes a situation, you decide what your character would do,
then roll to see if you succeed. But not everybody is good at everything, and that is why we
have modifiers : something that you add or subtract to your dice result. That is how we imply
that a buff fighter is better at cutting wood than a puny wizard.
That is how we will resolve most things. Your character has 6 abilities that determine what
they're good at and affect the skills:
-Strength=muscles. Skills: athletics
-Dexterity=being good at coordination of your body and hands. Skills: acrobatics, sleight of
hand, stealth
-Constitution=having a solid body that is not easily taken down. No skills but it affects your
Armor Class (how easy it is to get a hit in), more on that later.
-Intelligence=books smart. Skills: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, Religion
-Wisdom=street smart (knowing how to apply the knowledge in a smart way). Skills: Animal
Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, Survival
-Charisma=how good you are with people. Skills: Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion
Note: some of your skills could be affected by more than just your abilities. For example a
thief (called rogue) would be much better at sleight of hand than just a simple dexterous
person. That is why sometimes we add Proficiency, which is determined by your level as a
rogue.
And that is it for most situations! You'll just need to do what you want based on your
character's abilities.
But sometimes you will get into fights, called COMBAT, and that is where dnd shines, as it is
a war game at heart.
When you want to fight someone firstly you will roll initiative: this result determines how
quick you are to react to the situation, and it defines the order of initiative, who acts first and
second and so on, which will remain the same until the fight ends.
Initiative has a modifier too, determined by dexterity and other things
If someone tries to hit you they have to beat your AC (Armor Class), determined by your
constitution, armour, race ecc. If they beat it (meaning the DM got a dice number that is
superior to it) then they harm you and get to roll damage which is the actual amount of HP
that you lose
Great!
And what if you're the one to attack? In your turn you can do lots of things: move (you have a
max movement per turn and you can spend your whole turn running to double it), hide,
prepare an action, help, cast a spell, attack with a weapon, and of course you can speak as
much as you like, as roleplaying is always encouraged. But when you are trying to kit
someone you will need to do a similar thing to what your DM did before: you will try to beat
a monster's AC in order to roll damage
Now, how do you determine how good you swing as sword or throw a punch? Pay attention
this is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO REMEMBER:
Your attack roll is determined by an ability modifier and a proficiency bonus
The ability modifier is Strength for melee weapons and Dexterity for ranged weapons
You add your proficiency bonus to weapons you are proficient in, for example a
barbarian will be terrible with a bow but great with an axe
Thus d20 + Strength/Dex + Proficiency
for unarmed strikes you usually add strength, and fighters, monks and other classes are
proficient in it, so they add that too.
And you will have to use this formula many many times, so remember it. Each time you
attack you'll do the same calculation, so just have it ready. Also some weapons add to this
Attack Modifier, and that will be specified in the weapon with "hit +6" or something.
Ok, almost done.
Spells. You know them, you love them, they put the dragons in your dungeons. Not
everybody can cast them, unlike a punch that anyone can throw you need to be of a spell
casting class to have them at the ready (even if other subclasses can have small spells). Not
all spells require you to roll an attack roll when you cast them. You can imagine that firing a
fireball to hit some goblins will need one, but creating a fog will not. The logic is similar:
your spell attack is d20 + spellcasting ability modifier + proficiency bonus
What is the spellcasting ability modifier? That depends on your class and the source of your
magic. Wizards have studied to acquire magic, so they cast with Intelligence, Druids get their
magic from their link with nature, so they add Wisdom, Bards get their magic from their
performing abilities, so they add Charisma.
It is all very logical, all these rules are just ways of translating a narrative into numbers to
make it into a game!
and that is it. All other rules will be important for me, mostly, and I will point them out when
needed. For any uncertainty ask me or refer to the player's handbook:
[Link]
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In particular for problems with combat refer to pp 189-198 and for spellcasting 201-202
PS: d20 means dice 20: most things are determined by rolling a dice with 20 faces. why? Bc
it looks really cool