I got a new Pc in my game recently he's been with us for over a month now over all not a bad person.
As a Dm and a player that has spent time with him on the table. I have noticed that he doesn't really know his class abilities not that he doesn't understand it
He just doesn't read the Phb as Player I helped him as much as I can but as a Dm I try to be neutral as much as I can so when the party is in a situation where the mentioned player's abilities can be a use to him and the party he doesn't use it and me pointing out the obvious solution would be against what I believe .
What should I do ?
I don't wanna be to pushy and discourage him out of the group
I imagine the other players will want him to be as successful as possible as part of the party for the benefit of everyone. I would recruit them to give him little nudges when he might be overlooking a very beneficial ability or feature of his character. That way you don't have to deal with it and you can all just turn a blind eye to a bit of metagaming for the sake of everyone having more fun.
Whether it is, "Hey Bob, you've got good eyes. What do you see when you look around the room?" or "Hey Bob, I'm really getting clobbered over here. Doesn't that upset you? Does it make you feel any... rage?" it's all good in the name of people having fun.
If they're a wild magic sorcerer, it should be simple fixing the current problem. The PC still needs to learn to read their features, but most wild magic abilities can be summed up in a sentence or two. They all have to do with advantage, minor buffing or debuffing, and wild magic surges. As long as you have the table for surges, its simple.
If he's a nice guy, you can probably just tell him, "Hey, I don't want to be pushy, but would you mind reading over your abilities in the Player's Handbook? Now that we've played together for a while, it would be cool if you started learning some of the more complicated rules." Just bring it up once casually, when you're chatting before or after a game, and leave it, and he probably won't feel hurt or called out. I don't think he'll be discouraged...if you play it right, he'll probably feel like he's growing into an expert player and you're acknowledging it! Honesty is the best policy after all.
Im running a campaign for a bunch of fairly new players who dont know their class abilities by heart yet, rather than have them constantly checking the handbook i have made them flash cards with their current abilities on so that they can just have them in front of them and look at them for reference when they need to, maybe do something similar for this player? Not necessarily the full ability word for word but just bullet points that sum up what it does.
To offer another perspective. Years (decades) ago we had a player that would play and he would always ask others about his character and not know what his skills were. We helped him where we could and gave suggestions. Turns out when I saw his character sheet it was illegible and I couldn't read it at all. From there it became clear he had severe dyslexia and the books were too much for him to comprehend. But he wanted to play so badly that he pushed through all that.
Guess what I'm saying is that there may be other reasons you are not aware of. Cheat sheets are a good Idea though.
Im running a campaign for a bunch of fairly new players who dont know their class abilities by heart yet, rather than have them constantly checking the handbook i have made them flash cards with their current abilities on so that they can just have them in front of them and look at them for reference when they need to, maybe do something similar for this player? Not necessarily the full ability word for word but just bullet points that sum up what it does.
Its a perfectly good idea
As a Dm I believe that its player responsibility to know what their PC can do
I have a new player that doesn't know all her character is capable of. I had a talk and asked, came with ideas, of what could be helpful. Even simplified some aspects of her class on a sort of cheat sheet. Easy and quick to reference. Thing is. She is actively trying to learn which makes it not a problem for me to invest time and effort into. If the player shows no interest in learning then don't bother. People like that are just parasitic leeches not worth your time and energy. Let them play the character how they want to, even if it is sub-optimal. It is their choice in the end. And if that, eventually, leads to their PC's death...then so be it. Their choice so they have to accept the repercussions as well when they occur.
I've played with my current group for about 3 or 4 years now (we've known each other much longer), also we're an online group. Out of about 8 or so people (spread between a few different games), probably the player other than myself with the best attendance record; the most reliable; is also the most rules ignorant. He's read the books a little, but he just seems to refuse to put his data on a character sheet in an organized and thoughtful way, and he usually forgets to update his sheet with valuable information, and he definitely never takes notes. But again, he's also seemingly the most invested player in the group in terms of raw interest so its weird.
Because of him I've now pretty much enforced a rule that all players must use D&D Beyond's sheets because they're pretty much idiot proof. But more importantly and in relation to your issue. I've decided not to help him anymore. If the other players want to help a willfully lazy player, that's their right, but as a DM, we already enough to do without having to literally play the game for another player as well. I just say what happens, ask questions, and wait to see their responses. If they forget powers, I let them forget. If they claim to be able to do something that I'm not sure about, I ask to see where on their sheet it's indicated.
Tough love. It actually seems to be working too. His sheet is improving.
If the books were that easy there wouldn't be constant erratas and questions lol I started playing a year ago, once a month in a regular group I am still messing things up, forgetting things but we get there and I get better. I misread Armour of Agathys as it dealt back damage equal to the damage taken until all the temp hit points were gone, I was a lot happier when I found out it did the max damage regardless of whether you were hit for 1 damage or 5 damage lol.
Try having a late session zero with the player, have a look through his character sheet as someone else said he could have other problems and not just be lazy, he could have dyslexia or he could just be a more hands on practical learner and find it hard to take the information in via the books. If after that there are still problems, ask one of the other players to sit with him and do some mild meta gaming. You're the DM so you can allow it if you want, you are allowing a team mate to cheer him on "Go for it, hit him with ......." etc
I can sympathize with players who don't know how their characters work, the first time I played it was still AD&D and I was asked if I wanted to join a game, I turned up to be told "you're playing a cleric" and handed a character sheet, I wasn't given any info about how anything worked and had to muddle through. Even now having played 3.5e (skipped 4e to take up Live Action Role-playing and Vampire the Masquerade) and playing/DM'ing 5e for a couple of years now I still get things wrong (as you'll probably see in some of my posts),. If I have a player that seems disinterested then I'd ask them quietly before or after a game if they feel it is ok and I'm happy if they want to switch characters for a while, maybe their in a rut and don't see a viable way of playing the character anymore but don't want to upset other players (especially if their character fills a niche role in the group).
If the player is fresh out the box so to speak then Sorcerer (or any spell caster) was probably quite a steep learning curve. But even giving a month or two of playing I wouldn't expect a new player to know the ins and outs of any class, remember people learn at different speeds, some learn by reading, some by doing.
I'd probably give this player an encounter just for them something like a carnival where they can use their spells to entertain npc's or do events like target shooting with a fire-bolt, do it in a way that they get to shine and show off where events are tailored to their abilities, hopefully then something will click with the player and they get their "oh I get it" moment.
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Have had a few players with dsylexia/ADD struggle similarly. They have a very difficult time with reading comprehension so the books are puzzles to them.
They've found a lot of use in video's explaining the subject:
These have been immensely helpful for my players. I also invested in Spell Cards for them, which are freely available here. You just have to make their spell list and have them print it out. You can use these for their class abilities too.
I also switched to having them use Beginner Character Sheets. There are a lot of these on the Dungeon Master's Guild.
Keep in mind, RAW states that the DM will call for a Wild Magic Surge at will (as long as the spell cast is 1st level or above). I have a variant rule in my campaign that using you can refresh Tides of Chaos at the cost of a Wild Magic Surge so that players have more agency in how often they are surging, but RAW says its mostly up to the DM how often the Surges happen... not the Players.
I had a similar problem and resorted to printing out a simplified version of the Features and Traits section from d&d beyond each time they levelled up so that they had a separate piece of paper that was always at hand that they can quickly refer to and as a reminder of what they could do. It works out pretty well, it just means that you have to do a bit of printing ever now and then.
I find having access to my character and specific dndbeyond sourcebook pages open in various tabs is brilliant. The conditions page is fantastic to keep at hands for example.
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I got a new Pc in my game recently he's been with us for over a month now over all not a bad person.
As a Dm and a player that has spent time with him on the table. I have noticed that he doesn't really know his class abilities not that he doesn't understand it
He just doesn't read the Phb as Player I helped him as much as I can but as a Dm I try to be neutral as much as I can so when the party is in a situation where the mentioned player's abilities can be a use to him and the party he doesn't use it and me pointing out the obvious solution would be against what I believe .
What should I do ?
I don't wanna be to pushy and discourage him out of the group
I just want them to be better
I imagine the other players will want him to be as successful as possible as part of the party for the benefit of everyone. I would recruit them to give him little nudges when he might be overlooking a very beneficial ability or feature of his character. That way you don't have to deal with it and you can all just turn a blind eye to a bit of metagaming for the sake of everyone having more fun.
Whether it is, "Hey Bob, you've got good eyes. What do you see when you look around the room?" or "Hey Bob, I'm really getting clobbered over here. Doesn't that upset you? Does it make you feel any... rage?" it's all good in the name of people having fun.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Just to clear things out this pc is a wild magic sorcerer
If they're a wild magic sorcerer, it should be simple fixing the current problem. The PC still needs to learn to read their features, but most wild magic abilities can be summed up in a sentence or two. They all have to do with advantage, minor buffing or debuffing, and wild magic surges. As long as you have the table for surges, its simple.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
If he's a nice guy, you can probably just tell him, "Hey, I don't want to be pushy, but would you mind reading over your abilities in the Player's Handbook? Now that we've played together for a while, it would be cool if you started learning some of the more complicated rules." Just bring it up once casually, when you're chatting before or after a game, and leave it, and he probably won't feel hurt or called out. I don't think he'll be discouraged...if you play it right, he'll probably feel like he's growing into an expert player and you're acknowledging it! Honesty is the best policy after all.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Im running a campaign for a bunch of fairly new players who dont know their class abilities by heart yet, rather than have them constantly checking the handbook i have made them flash cards with their current abilities on so that they can just have them in front of them and look at them for reference when they need to, maybe do something similar for this player? Not necessarily the full ability word for word but just bullet points that sum up what it does.
To offer another perspective. Years (decades) ago we had a player that would play and he would always ask others about his character and not know what his skills were. We helped him where we could and gave suggestions. Turns out when I saw his character sheet it was illegible and I couldn't read it at all. From there it became clear he had severe dyslexia and the books were too much for him to comprehend. But he wanted to play so badly that he pushed through all that.
Guess what I'm saying is that there may be other reasons you are not aware of. Cheat sheets are a good Idea though.
Its a perfectly good idea
As a Dm I believe that its player responsibility to know what their PC can do
I have a new player that doesn't know all her character is capable of. I had a talk and asked, came with ideas, of what could be helpful. Even simplified some aspects of her class on a sort of cheat sheet. Easy and quick to reference. Thing is. She is actively trying to learn which makes it not a problem for me to invest time and effort into. If the player shows no interest in learning then don't bother. People like that are just parasitic leeches not worth your time and energy. Let them play the character how they want to, even if it is sub-optimal. It is their choice in the end. And if that, eventually, leads to their PC's death...then so be it. Their choice so they have to accept the repercussions as well when they occur.
I've played with my current group for about 3 or 4 years now (we've known each other much longer), also we're an online group. Out of about 8 or so people (spread between a few different games), probably the player other than myself with the best attendance record; the most reliable; is also the most rules ignorant. He's read the books a little, but he just seems to refuse to put his data on a character sheet in an organized and thoughtful way, and he usually forgets to update his sheet with valuable information, and he definitely never takes notes. But again, he's also seemingly the most invested player in the group in terms of raw interest so its weird.
Because of him I've now pretty much enforced a rule that all players must use D&D Beyond's sheets because they're pretty much idiot proof. But more importantly and in relation to your issue. I've decided not to help him anymore. If the other players want to help a willfully lazy player, that's their right, but as a DM, we already enough to do without having to literally play the game for another player as well. I just say what happens, ask questions, and wait to see their responses. If they forget powers, I let them forget. If they claim to be able to do something that I'm not sure about, I ask to see where on their sheet it's indicated.
Tough love. It actually seems to be working too. His sheet is improving.
If the books were that easy there wouldn't be constant erratas and questions lol
I started playing a year ago, once a month in a regular group I am still messing things up, forgetting things but we get there and I get better. I misread Armour of Agathys as it dealt back damage equal to the damage taken until all the temp hit points were gone, I was a lot happier when I found out it did the max damage regardless of whether you were hit for 1 damage or 5 damage lol.
Try having a late session zero with the player, have a look through his character sheet as someone else said he could have other problems and not just be lazy, he could have dyslexia or he could just be a more hands on practical learner and find it hard to take the information in via the books. If after that there are still problems, ask one of the other players to sit with him and do some mild meta gaming. You're the DM so you can allow it if you want, you are allowing a team mate to cheer him on "Go for it, hit him with ......." etc
From Within Chaos Comes Order!
I can sympathize with players who don't know how their characters work, the first time I played it was still AD&D and I was asked if I wanted to join a game, I turned up to be told "you're playing a cleric" and handed a character sheet, I wasn't given any info about how anything worked and had to muddle through. Even now having played 3.5e (skipped 4e to take up Live Action Role-playing and Vampire the Masquerade) and playing/DM'ing 5e for a couple of years now I still get things wrong (as you'll probably see in some of my posts),. If I have a player that seems disinterested then I'd ask them quietly before or after a game if they feel it is ok and I'm happy if they want to switch characters for a while, maybe their in a rut and don't see a viable way of playing the character anymore but don't want to upset other players (especially if their character fills a niche role in the group).
If the player is fresh out the box so to speak then Sorcerer (or any spell caster) was probably quite a steep learning curve. But even giving a month or two of playing I wouldn't expect a new player to know the ins and outs of any class, remember people learn at different speeds, some learn by reading, some by doing.
I'd probably give this player an encounter just for them something like a carnival where they can use their spells to entertain npc's or do events like target shooting with a fire-bolt, do it in a way that they get to shine and show off where events are tailored to their abilities, hopefully then something will click with the player and they get their "oh I get it" moment.
Have had a few players with dsylexia/ADD struggle similarly. They have a very difficult time with reading comprehension so the books are puzzles to them.
They've found a lot of use in video's explaining the subject:
Sorcerer (Quick Build)
Spellcasting Basics
How to Play Sorcerer
A Crap Guide to D&D: Sorcerer (Meant to be taken lightly but still inspiring)
The Animated Spellbook (For individual spells or inspiration)
D&D Story: Doomed the Universe with Karaoke (My Bad) (This video is the first in an animated series Dingo Doodles does about her Wild Magic Sorcerer, and his journey)
These have been immensely helpful for my players. I also invested in Spell Cards for them, which are freely available here. You just have to make their spell list and have them print it out. You can use these for their class abilities too.
I also switched to having them use Beginner Character Sheets. There are a lot of these on the Dungeon Master's Guild.
Keep in mind, RAW states that the DM will call for a Wild Magic Surge at will (as long as the spell cast is 1st level or above). I have a variant rule in my campaign that using you can refresh Tides of Chaos at the cost of a Wild Magic Surge so that players have more agency in how often they are surging, but RAW says its mostly up to the DM how often the Surges happen... not the Players.
I had a similar problem and resorted to printing out a simplified version of the Features and Traits section from d&d beyond each time they levelled up so that they had a separate piece of paper that was always at hand that they can quickly refer to and as a reminder of what they could do. It works out pretty well, it just means that you have to do a bit of printing ever now and then.
Dungeon Master - PBP Lost Mine Of Phandelver (Closed)
Dungeon Master - PBP Out Of The Abyss (Closed)
Dungeon Master - The Chronicles Of Dantia (Home Game)
Forbi & Dorbi - Deep Gnome - Fighter/Rogue - PBP Into The Fire
Vosdred Ironeye - Hill Dwarf - Fighter/Wizard - PBP Game of the Last Chance
I find having access to my character and specific dndbeyond sourcebook pages open in various tabs is brilliant. The conditions page is fantastic to keep at hands for example.