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Writer's pictureMichael Magee

D&D Beginner Guide

Updated: Aug 17

Welcome to D&D class!

In this class we will be learning the basics of Role Playing games through playing Dungeons and Dragons.  There are lots of different RPG’s out there and it’s very easy to play them all after you’ve mastered one.  We are going to start with Dungeons and Dragons because of its long history, its popularity, its simplicity, and because it’s my favorite.  The rules of this game are best described in the 3 core Dungeons and Dragons books: The Players Handbook (what most folks use), The Dungeon Master’s Guide and The Monster Manual.  It isn’t necessary to have any of these books for my class but they can help.  It is very easy to find information online too.  https://www.dndbeyond.com is a great tool for this.  There are also many podcasts and youtube series explaining everything in excruciating detail.  I will include links to my favorites at the end but please ask your parents permission before you look any of these up as some of them may have some adult themes.

 

What is an RPG?

As described on Wikipedia: 

An RPG or Role Playing Game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.


As described by me:

This is the ancient art of storytelling alive and well today.  Someone is telling you a story but you’re one of the main characters and your actions help decide where the story goes.  Essentially this is an advanced version of the games we all played in our imaginations when we were kids.  My brother and I used to run around with vacuum parts pretending they were sci-fi guns and shoot aliens (or each other depending on the story).  The only real difference is there are rules in place so when the inevitable...

“I shot you”

“No, you missed me”

“No, I got you”

“No, you didn’t”

“Yes, I did”

...happens, we now have rules and a referee who can definitively say,

“Actually, he did miss you and you’re free to return fire”.  Or whatever the outcome might be.  The referee or Dungeon Master will decide the outcome based on a roll of the dice.


The Dungeon Master

This is the storyteller, someone who will play the part of everyone else in the story besides the players.  The dungeon master might describe a restaurant to the players and will then play as everyone in the restaurant from the servers to the cooks to the other guests who are eating dinner.  The dungeon master must remain impartial which means they do not play favorites or sway a situation to go one way or the other.  The good dungeon master will play by the rules whenever possible.  

The Players

This is you.  You must come up with a character to play as in the Dungeon Master’s world.  This character is not the human you, but can be anyone you want to play as.  You can play as any gender or race as long as you do so respectively.  You will come up with a name and appearance and backstory for your character.  All of this is described in detail below.


What you need (Not much!):

 A character sheet and a pencil which I can provide for you on the first day of class.

Books (optional): The core books and much much more can be found at either Muse Comics or Retrofix games.  Retrofix has a great collection of dice.


Dice: We are going to provide you with your own set of dice that are yours to keep. 


There are 10 different dice used in D&D.. 

A ‘standard’ dice set includes:: 

20 sided die “D20”

12 sided die “D12”

10 sided die “D10”

Another 10 sided die which can be used to make a percentage roll when used in combination with the other D10 (more on that later!).

8 sided die “D8”

6 sided die “D6’

And a 4 sided die “D4”




This is what a character sheet looks like:

 

Introduction

I prefer to come up with a character in my head before looking at the options but also looking at your options can sometimes help you come up with who you want to be.  Try and make an original character that you come up with yourself as that is the most rewarding and fun to play.  Think about what your character looks like.Also try to make your character relatable and more human (even if you’re not human).  By human I mean make them have not only strengths but weaknesses as well.  Come up with ideas about how your character might act that is different from how you would act.  Are they greedy or are they extremely generous?  Do they stick up for the little guy or do they prefer to rob the little guy?  One very important thing to think about when you’re making a character is “Will this character be fun to be around?” You want them to be.  Most importantly you want to keep the story going which means you want your character to get along with the group for the most part.  Form bonds with other characters and try and help them out by sticking by their side through thick and thin, sharing magic items or treasure you might find or help them by stepping out of the spotlight and letting them shine for a moment.  



Below are the basic steps you will take to make a character.

(you will not need to make one before the first class)


Roll Ability Scores

Roll 4d6 (4 six sided dice) and take out the lowest number and add the rest together.  Do this 6 times.  These are your ability scores and you can assign each number you rolled to one of these abilities.

These can be found on the left hand side of your character sheet and are as follows:


Strength: how strong your character is (pretty straightforward)


Dexterity: how agile your character is and how good their hand eye coordination is.  This helps make you harder to hit and makes you better with ranged weapons and skills such as acrobatics and stealth.


Constitution: how tough your character is.  How much damage they can take and how well they can handle being poisoned or holding their breath or running for a long time.


Intelligence: how smart your character is.  This helps wizards and artificers cast spells.


Wisdom: how wise your character is.  Think Yoda from Star Wars.  This will help you avoid mind control effects and help Druids, Clerics and Rangers and Monks cast spells. 


Charisma: how charming your character is.  Some characters are just physically beautiful where others might just be funny or have a magnetic personality.  This might help you lie, trade, intimidate or convince someone to do something for you. Helps Bards, Warlocks Sorcerers and Paladins cast spells.


Choose 2 skills

Skills are located next to your ability scores on your character sheet.  I will explain any of them to you in class that you don’t understand. Ignore the “saving throws” for now.  By filling in the dot next to the skill that means that you are “proficient” in that skill which means you add your “proficiency bonus” to rolls made with that skill.  Anyone can use any skill but some are better than others.  Your proficiency bonus is +2 and it will get higher as you play.

Classes

(Don’t worry about this just yet)


Artificer, Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger,  Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard and Warlock.


Choose a Race

These are best described in the Player's Handbook, but here are my interpretations



Dwarf

Dwarves are awesome! They are tough and good with axes and armor.  They’re not as fast as taller races but they make up for it in toughness. Dwarves can see in the dark.

Constitution increase by 2

Wisdom increases by 1 or Strength by 2 (your choice)

Dragonborn

In my game these are people who are descended from dragons.  Metallic dragons have the ability to take human form and when they do they sometimes fall in love with humans.  Through this love they have dragonborn children which means either your parents are dragon born or one of your parents was actually a dragon. You can breath fire or a breath cold, lightening, or acid (depending on what color dragon you are descended from.)

Your Strength increases by 2

Constitution increases by 1

Drow

Dark elves who live underground. They have superior darkvision but are also sensitive to sunlight. They are very stealthy and have some natural elven magic.

You know the spell Dancing Lights and naturally gain more as the game progresses.

Gain proficiency in Perception. 

Dexterity increase by 2 and Charisma by 1

Elf

Elves are only slightly shorter than humans and they can live to be hundreds of years old.  Instead of sleeping they fall into a trance for 4 hours.  They have some spells they know automatically as well as some weapons they are automatically good with like longbows and different swords.  Elves also can see in the dark.

Dexterity increases by 2 

Intelligence or wisdom increases by 1 (your choice)

Gnome

Gnomes are very magical and good at making magic items too.  They have darkvision too. They are about 3 feet tall and move as fast as dwarves.

Intelligence increases by 2

Dexterity or Constitution increases by 1 (your choice)

Halfing

These are Hobbits.  They’re nimble and quick and lucky. They are very brave and it’s hard to frighten them.  They are also good at moving through crowds or between peoples legs.

Dexterity increases by 2

Charisma or Constitution increases by 1 (your choice)

Half Elf

Half Elves don’t have the long life span of elves or share their trance sleep patterns but do have darkvision.  They’re still good warriors like elves and they have the versatility of humans.  They can look as elven as you want them to.

Charisma increases by 2 and two other abilities (of your choice) increase by 1

Gain proficiency in 2 skills of your choice.

Half Orc

These are tough hombres. They can look and act as orcish or as human as you’d like.  Usually they’re on the taller side and have fangs or tusks and often have grey skin.  They have darkvision and proficiency in the intimidation skill. They have some advantages in combat which I will explain in class if you choose to be one.

Strength increases by 2 and constitution by 1

Human

Boring I know but sometimes they are really fun to be.  I often make human characters if I want to make a scoundrel or charlatan of some kind or someone who is deeply flawed in some other way.  I play with the variant rule that humans get an extra feat at level one.  Humans get 1 extra ability point in 2 different abilities of your choice.  They also get an extra skill 

Tiefling

Descended from devils and demons.  How much you look like a devil or demon is completely up to you.  You could have horns or glowing eyes or even a tail and your skin could be red, blue, purple or any human tone.  Tieflings have darkvision and know certain spells automatically as well.

Charisma increases by 2 and intelligence by 1.

Backstory

Who are you really?



Where are you from?

Our story takes place in and around the Goblin City of Gorgatha.  Gorgatha is an ancient elven city that has since been taken over by Goblins and though there are many goblins it is now a thriving city of all different races.  Outside the city is an old elven school that is still used by elves to teach them the ways of magic. 20 years ago the school was bought by a Mr. Herman Hughes Waits and his associate Marbles Bumbersnoot and has since been renamed The Bumbersnoot & Waits Academy for the Arcane Arts.  Recently Waits has instituted a scholarship program for other races to attend the Elven school.  Your character is not an elf but was one of the lucky students who was selected in the scholarship program to attend the elven school.

Your character does not have to be from Gorgatha and can have any kind of backstory that you desire.  One thing that I ask is that your character be young as you are attending school as a freshman.  It would be weird if an old man was going to school with a bunch of kids.  But if you reeeeally want that then we can make it happen.  Anything is possible in D&D as long as it fits the story well and a good Dungeon Master should try their best to help that happen.

Where are you going?

Dungeons and Dragons is open ended.  You are not stuck at this school.  Your character can do (or at least try and do) anything they want. Sometimes it’s good to think about what your character wants and what they want to do before you even start playing.  Is your character driven by money? Success? Power? Adventure? Think about some of your favorite characters in books and movies and try and figure out what they’re driven by.  It’s alright to take bits and pieces of characters that you like and put them into your own.  Marbles Bumbersnoot was inspired by Willy Wonka but I tried to make him unique by making his personality and appearance very different.  Crup the individual (one of the characters in the game) would like to remind players that they are part of a group and their decisions, the respect they hold for others, and their intent impact the whole group's ability to play.

 



First Class

Bumbersnoot and Waits Academy for the Arcane Arts

On the first day of class you will be playing as one of your characters' parents.  You will choose who your parents are and in turn what race you are and where you’re from.   Recently some spots have opened up in the scholarship program. Six parents will be competing in a race through a dungeon to fill these spots.  I will explain the different parents in class.  You don’t need to bring anything for your first day of class. Can't wait to see you all there. 


You’re friendly neighborhood Dungeon Master,

-Mars






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