For context my friends and I are all very new to D&D. Not a single one of us has played before but want to start. I am the DM for our first attempt and am trying to learn as much as possible to make our game smooth.
This might be a very stupid question, but if a spell just has "ranged" in the attack/save portion instead of a specific saving throw how do I know if it hits an enemy or not? I understand that the player would have to roll a d20 + spell mod + proficiency bonus but what would that number be going against? Do I treat it like a normal ranged attack and their roll to hit would be against the enemy's AC? Am I missing something in the rules?
Yep, most spells which directly target a creature use one of those two mechanics to allow the creature to defend itself from the spell. The spell description will explain if an attack roll is required OR if a saving throw is required (generally never both). A few spells actually don't provide the target with either of these two options -- for example, Magic Missile automatically hits the target unless it is countered by something like the Shield spell.
Some spells indirectly affect a creature by targeting a nearby point in space to create an Area of Effect. These will almost always use the saving throw mechanic, but you still need to read the description to make sure.
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For context my friends and I are all very new to D&D. Not a single one of us has played before but want to start. I am the DM for our first attempt and am trying to learn as much as possible to make our game smooth.
This might be a very stupid question, but if a spell just has "ranged" in the attack/save portion instead of a specific saving throw how do I know if it hits an enemy or not? I understand that the player would have to roll a d20 + spell mod + proficiency bonus but what would that number be going against? Do I treat it like a normal ranged attack and their roll to hit would be against the enemy's AC? Am I missing something in the rules?
Thanks in advance
Yes is is a "normal" ranged attack, it is just a ranged spell attack, rather than a ranged weapon attack.
The attack roll is compared to the enemies AC the same as with a weapon attack.
Yep, most spells which directly target a creature use one of those two mechanics to allow the creature to defend itself from the spell. The spell description will explain if an attack roll is required OR if a saving throw is required (generally never both). A few spells actually don't provide the target with either of these two options -- for example, Magic Missile automatically hits the target unless it is countered by something like the Shield spell.
Some spells indirectly affect a creature by targeting a nearby point in space to create an Area of Effect. These will almost always use the saving throw mechanic, but you still need to read the description to make sure.