sometimes I decide I want to read through the entire Player's Handbook, but lose steam after the first few chapters. I've never actually succeeded no matter how many times I've tried to sit down and read through a full sourcebook. generally, I use the sourcebooks just to reference when relevant and I need to find information. but I worry that there's important information as a Dungeon Master that I haven't really touched on. there could be features of the game I've never implemented for my players because I haven't gotten around to reading about them... or skills as a DM that I could improve on by having more knowledge at my disposal because I would have read and memorized enough. how much of reading through the sourcebooks do you think is important for a DM? how much have you read?
Read through the rules chapters in their entirety, but you don't have to read anything else. Just make sure you know about what each character can do so the players can't abuse lack of knowledge. There's no point reading every spell if your party is only going to have access to a 10th of them.
Thoroughly read through the rules. Familiarize yourself with class and lineage features, and the more common monsters. Skim the rest.
When a question or a situation comes up that requires a precise ruling, read that section carefully to make that ruling. Eventually that will have happened enough that you will become familiar with most of the necessary material.
I've read all the rules in the PHB and the DMG, read all the classes and races, and I'm familiar wth the stuff that my players are likely to take. There's no point reading all 391 spells in the PHB because they'll just start to blur together and you'll never remember details, but I know someone will always take Fireball or Eldritch Blast so those I've got memorised
The more you read, the better you will DM. To start, I would say just hit the Basic Rules, paying particular attention to the Playing the Game and Rules Glossary under the Players section, and The Basics and DM's Toolbox under the DM section. That's a good foundation and certainly more than I did when I first started DMing. You will find you know enough for most situations if you do that. Knowledge is power though, and you will eventually get rules lawyers and players who try to game the system. The more you read beyond that, the more comfortable you will feel addressing those kinds of players.
sometimes I decide I want to read through the entire Player's Handbook, but lose steam after the first few chapters. I've never actually succeeded no matter how many times I've tried to sit down and read through a full sourcebook. generally, I use the sourcebooks just to reference when relevant and I need to find information. but I worry that there's important information as a Dungeon Master that I haven't really touched on. there could be features of the game I've never implemented for my players because I haven't gotten around to reading about them... or skills as a DM that I could improve on by having more knowledge at my disposal because I would have read and memorized enough. how much of reading through the sourcebooks do you think is important for a DM? how much have you read?
Rusty DM & Barbarian
Read through the rules chapters in their entirety, but you don't have to read anything else. Just make sure you know about what each character can do so the players can't abuse lack of knowledge. There's no point reading every spell if your party is only going to have access to a 10th of them.
Thoroughly read through the rules. Familiarize yourself with class and lineage features, and the more common monsters. Skim the rest.
When a question or a situation comes up that requires a precise ruling, read that section carefully to make that ruling. Eventually that will have happened enough that you will become familiar with most of the necessary material.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
I've read all the rules in the PHB and the DMG, read all the classes and races, and I'm familiar wth the stuff that my players are likely to take. There's no point reading all 391 spells in the PHB because they'll just start to blur together and you'll never remember details, but I know someone will always take Fireball or Eldritch Blast so those I've got memorised
In addition to the above, I read the subclasses my players choose so I can understand the abilities. It cuts down on making on-the-fly rulings.
The more you read, the better you will DM. To start, I would say just hit the Basic Rules, paying particular attention to the Playing the Game and Rules Glossary under the Players section, and The Basics and DM's Toolbox under the DM section. That's a good foundation and certainly more than I did when I first started DMing. You will find you know enough for most situations if you do that. Knowledge is power though, and you will eventually get rules lawyers and players who try to game the system. The more you read beyond that, the more comfortable you will feel addressing those kinds of players.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
EXTENDED SIGNATURE!
Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock
Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
Check out my life-changing
I fully read the corebooks D&D is one of my passion!