My recommendation is to seek out some YouTube videos of the game being played, and/or a gameplay podcast. It can really help seeing (or even just hearing) the rules put into action.
I'm not going to say the game isn't complicated or isn't tricky sometimes. But really most of the rules boil down to this:
Characters attempt to do something: a d20 is rolled.
The DM compares the roll to the Difficulty Class (DC) or Armor Class (AC).
If the roll is equal to or greater than the DC or AC, then the character succeeds. If not, then the character fails.
If the character succeeds, there may be additional dice to roll to determine the results (damages, buffs, healing, etc.)
Try starting with just the Basic Rules. That’s a small subset of the rules, starting with them will make your life much easier.
I would agree with that, I would also suggest that you do not allow multiclassing at least until you get more comfortable with the rules (if the players are novices it is probably a good idea not to allow multiclassing anyway). Regarding the Basic Rules:
Part 1. is all about Charater Creation the players will be making their own characters, while this is mainly releven tto the players you will need to make some decisions like how the players choose their ability scores (Standard Array is simplest). You will also need ot know what the players are able to do so you need to understand Chapter 1 and the parts of chapters 2 and 3 that relate to the races and classes the players choose. One everyone has their character set up you don't really need know this section. You will need to refer to it again when players level up but it is mainly something you need to look at between sessions (and in a session 0)
Part 2 is the main part you will be using the rules in this part continually during the game so I would concentrate on getting to ubnderstand this section
Part 3: Chapter 10 is also very important, you need ot know how spells work in general both when used by the players and by your NPCs. Chapter 11 details all the individual spells which you can use as a reference when they are cast (though it would be good to make sure you understand the spells the players can use, initially this will be a very small subset of the spells (they will all be first level and only a small number of those)
Part 4 is about setting up encounters for the players and things like that thisis less important if you are using a published adventure as a lot of this is done for you (but as you get more experianced you will probably want ot tweak things to suit your group)
I would also suggest you use a published adventure some of these are designed for inexperianced DMs and guide you through a lot of things (for example instead of saying the monster has a passive perception of 15, or just showing it on the monsters stat block they will detail out what this means), a nice little adventure designed for new players and DM that will probably take 2-3 sessions is available for free here
After that you and your players should know whether you enjoy playing, have a knowledge of the basics of the game and be ready for a longer campaign such as lost mine of phandelver.
Personally I'd say that chapter 7 (Using Ability Scores) and chapter 9 (Combat) are the most important chapters to understand. Chapter 7 is a breeze, chapter 9 is more complex.
A more intuitive way to go about learning the rules is to look at a character sheet. Look up all the things on it that you don't know about. Once you've gotten that down you're more or less good to go.
A more intuitive way to go about learning the rules is to look at a character sheet. Look up all the things on it that you don't know about. Once you've gotten that down you're more or less good to go.
That is good advice for a player but a DM needs to know how to work the environment as well as their (non playing) characters. They also need ot rule how the features of the players work (and know when they get them wrong)
A more intuitive way to go about learning the rules is to look at a character sheet. Look up all the things on it that you don't know about. Once you've gotten that down you're more or less good to go.
That is good advice for a player but a DM needs to know how to work the environment as well as their (non playing) characters. They also need ot rule how the features of the players work (and know when they get them wrong)
Ideally yes, the DM should know everything. But the best way to learn is to test it out, and I believe it is possible to do so after going through chapter 7 & 9, or knowing about every concept represented on the character sheet. Also, it is a viable option to have the players be responsible for their own characters, especially if the main issue is the rules being too numerous and too complicated for one person.
I recommend reading the New Player Guide, accessed from the main menu. It goes over the basics quite well, and from there you can move on to the full Basic Rules for DMing. Links and more are included in the guide.
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Is one of your friends available to let you try things out. Get them to develop a character/some characters (not to necessarily levelled up) and get them to encounter/fight various creatures and work out together how things work. Take time out to check the rules. They are complicated so you can take your time and plenty of time outs.
If your players can be trusted and have the competence to go by the rules of their characters without claiming/imagining abilities they don't have, then you could just let them handle their side of the action without policing.
Otherwise, you could limit characters to a lesser set such as barbarians, druids and wizards and only allow the subclasses from the PHb.
I also know people who like simpler rule RPGs so check them out if preferred
It's been over three years since that post, but I imagine they were talking about chapters 7 and 9 of the Player's Handbook. In the version that was available at the time, the 2014 version, chapter 7 covered how ability checks and saving throws worked, and chapter 9 covered combat. Most of this stuff is now concentrated in chapter 1 in the 2024 Player's Handbook.
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Every time I try to read the official rules, it melts my brain. Could someone give me a summary? I'm a DM, so all my friends are counting on me!
Lawful Evil DM-to-be. Not on the site that much (at least not anymore) but I may become more active some day. Maybe.
Try starting with just the Basic Rules. That’s a small subset of the rules, starting with them will make your life much easier.
Professional computer geek
But those rules are the ones that are too complicated...
Lawful Evil DM-to-be. Not on the site that much (at least not anymore) but I may become more active some day. Maybe.
My recommendation is to seek out some YouTube videos of the game being played, and/or a gameplay podcast. It can really help seeing (or even just hearing) the rules put into action.
I'm not going to say the game isn't complicated or isn't tricky sometimes. But really most of the rules boil down to this:
Characters attempt to do something: a d20 is rolled.
The DM compares the roll to the Difficulty Class (DC) or Armor Class (AC).
If the roll is equal to or greater than the DC or AC, then the character succeeds. If not, then the character fails.
If the character succeeds, there may be additional dice to roll to determine the results (damages, buffs, healing, etc.)
Everything else is simply building on this.
I would agree with that, I would also suggest that you do not allow multiclassing at least until you get more comfortable with the rules (if the players are novices it is probably a good idea not to allow multiclassing anyway). Regarding the Basic Rules:
Part 1. is all about Charater Creation the players will be making their own characters, while this is mainly releven tto the players you will need to make some decisions like how the players choose their ability scores (Standard Array is simplest). You will also need ot know what the players are able to do so you need to understand Chapter 1 and the parts of chapters 2 and 3 that relate to the races and classes the players choose. One everyone has their character set up you don't really need know this section. You will need to refer to it again when players level up but it is mainly something you need to look at between sessions (and in a session 0)
Part 2 is the main part you will be using the rules in this part continually during the game so I would concentrate on getting to ubnderstand this section
Part 3: Chapter 10 is also very important, you need ot know how spells work in general both when used by the players and by your NPCs. Chapter 11 details all the individual spells which you can use as a reference when they are cast (though it would be good to make sure you understand the spells the players can use, initially this will be a very small subset of the spells (they will all be first level and only a small number of those)
Part 4 is about setting up encounters for the players and things like that thisis less important if you are using a published adventure as a lot of this is done for you (but as you get more experianced you will probably want ot tweak things to suit your group)
I would also suggest you use a published adventure some of these are designed for inexperianced DMs and guide you through a lot of things (for example instead of saying the monster has a passive perception of 15, or just showing it on the monsters stat block they will detail out what this means), a nice little adventure designed for new players and DM that will probably take 2-3 sessions is available for free here
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/module/40/the-masters-vault
After that you and your players should know whether you enjoy playing, have a knowledge of the basics of the game and be ready for a longer campaign such as lost mine of phandelver.
Personally I'd say that chapter 7 (Using Ability Scores) and chapter 9 (Combat) are the most important chapters to understand. Chapter 7 is a breeze, chapter 9 is more complex.
A more intuitive way to go about learning the rules is to look at a character sheet. Look up all the things on it that you don't know about. Once you've gotten that down you're more or less good to go.
That is good advice for a player but a DM needs to know how to work the environment as well as their (non playing) characters. They also need ot rule how the features of the players work (and know when they get them wrong)
Ideally yes, the DM should know everything. But the best way to learn is to test it out, and I believe it is possible to do so after going through chapter 7 & 9, or knowing about every concept represented on the character sheet. Also, it is a viable option to have the players be responsible for their own characters, especially if the main issue is the rules being too numerous and too complicated for one person.
I recommend reading the New Player Guide, accessed from the main menu. It goes over the basics quite well, and from there you can move on to the full Basic Rules for DMing. Links and more are included in the guide.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Is one of your friends available to let you try things out. Get them to develop a character/some characters (not to necessarily levelled up) and get them to encounter/fight various creatures and work out together how things work. Take time out to check the rules. They are complicated so you can take your time and plenty of time outs.
If your players can be trusted and have the competence to go by the rules of their characters without claiming/imagining abilities they don't have, then you could just let them handle their side of the action without policing.
Otherwise, you could limit characters to a lesser set such as barbarians, druids and wizards and only allow the subclasses from the PHb.
I also know people who like simpler rule RPGs so check them out if preferred
https://www.google.com/search?q=simple rpg games
They have different strengths to D&D and there are some great D&D light game types out there.
Chs 7 and 9 of what?
It's been over three years since that post, but I imagine they were talking about chapters 7 and 9 of the Player's Handbook. In the version that was available at the time, the 2014 version, chapter 7 covered how ability checks and saving throws worked, and chapter 9 covered combat. Most of this stuff is now concentrated in chapter 1 in the 2024 Player's Handbook.
pronouns: he/she/they