So for about half a year now I have been wanting to get into D&D but I couldn't due to various reasons. but now I'm going to try to make a real effort for it, and I was hoping that a veteran (or anyone with any general knowledge) could help me get started by telling me what the best edition for a noob like me would be. And also any tips or maybe answering a few questions would be a great help.
Well, I’m still pretty new, but I’ve jumped in pretty hard and am pretty good at working through questions. The best edition to get started is probably the Starter Set(Lost Mine of Phandelver). I’ve been really surprised to learn that adventure is widely respected by newbs and veterans alike. They’re even running it on the Adventure League Hub through Roll20 these days. If you have a group to play with in person, I applaud you. If not, Roll20 is perfectly viable to learn the game on. (One thing that’s not very clear is that you can’t build a character sheet until you join a game, so just know who you want to play and have a picture downloaded of them, and the DM will help you fill out a sheet before the game starts.)
Also, if you get the starter set, build your own character. Pre-generated ones make it slower learning about how everything works. You always know more about things you build yourself. And when building a character, you’ll have the most fun role playing them if you start from the backstory and apply class and background options based on who they are. I didn’t do that. I took a pre-gen character with the starter set(which we’re still running sporadically), then when I built my first character of my own, I just chose a class I hadn’t seen used in the starter set yet. I just built a character to use mechanics I thought would be more effective for combat, and I’ve kinda committed him to the only other campaign I’m in. Meanwhile, I’ve created some really enjoyable personalities with great stories who would be a lot of fun to adventure with, and they’re just sitting around until I can find new games to play in.
Thanks for the info, but could you answer these questions if you can please?
I'm interested in playing a necromancer/demon summoner (probably won't be the best first class to play but whatever xD) and I was just wondering if my character would have to be evil to do it or does character alignment even exist anymore. also if that type of build is possible would you have any tips for me?
Honestly I’ve never had any interest in the demonic/undead aspects of the D&D universe, so I haven’t studied those.
But I do know alignment is a thing, though I think it only really matters to your DM and party members, so they know if you’re likely to backstab them.
I also know your character wouldn’t have to be evil to do it, but you probably need a pretty good story as to why someone who isn’t evil is summoning demons.
Well, if you meant Necromancer OR Demon summoner, the Necromancer part is easy, you’d be a Wizard, and you’d take the School of Necromancy for your arcane tradition at 2nd level. For just Demon Summoner, the best I know to do is also go wizard, or warlock, and to just tailor your spell list to make sure you always have Summon Lesser Demons when you can cast 3rd level spells, and Summon Greater Demon when you have 4th level spells. Other than that, I don’t know how to make a Demon Summoner an official thing. But you can certainly make it part of your wizard-necromancer character that they summon demons every chance they get.
5e is pretty streamlined, so its good for learning to play.
IRL you could just ask a bunch of players if they would be interested. Personally this is what I prefer, because I find that the online environments just dont feel the same to me.
If you are struggling to find people who are interested IRL, I know Roll20 is an option, but I have also heard several horror stories of their customer service, so I think it would be working into Fantasy Grounds, which is another online option.
There are also 'discord' servers for finding (or running) online games, so I would possibly search around for those- plus, discord (whether you use the browser version or the app) is free.
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So for about half a year now I have been wanting to get into D&D but I couldn't due to various reasons. but now I'm going to try to make a real effort for it, and I was hoping that a veteran (or anyone with any general knowledge) could help me get started by telling me what the best edition for a noob like me would be. And also any tips or maybe answering a few questions would be a great help.
Well, I’m still pretty new, but I’ve jumped in pretty hard and am pretty good at working through questions. The best edition to get started is probably the Starter Set(Lost Mine of Phandelver). I’ve been really surprised to learn that adventure is widely respected by newbs and veterans alike. They’re even running it on the Adventure League Hub through Roll20 these days. If you have a group to play with in person, I applaud you. If not, Roll20 is perfectly viable to learn the game on. (One thing that’s not very clear is that you can’t build a character sheet until you join a game, so just know who you want to play and have a picture downloaded of them, and the DM will help you fill out a sheet before the game starts.)
Also, if you get the starter set, build your own character. Pre-generated ones make it slower learning about how everything works. You always know more about things you build yourself. And when building a character, you’ll have the most fun role playing them if you start from the backstory and apply class and background options based on who they are. I didn’t do that. I took a pre-gen character with the starter set(which we’re still running sporadically), then when I built my first character of my own, I just chose a class I hadn’t seen used in the starter set yet. I just built a character to use mechanics I thought would be more effective for combat, and I’ve kinda committed him to the only other campaign I’m in. Meanwhile, I’ve created some really enjoyable personalities with great stories who would be a lot of fun to adventure with, and they’re just sitting around until I can find new games to play in.
Thanks for the info, but could you answer these questions if you can please?
I'm interested in playing a necromancer/demon summoner (probably won't be the best first class to play but whatever xD) and I was just wondering if my character would have to be evil to do it or does character alignment even exist anymore. also if that type of build is possible would you have any tips for me?
Honestly I’ve never had any interest in the demonic/undead aspects of the D&D universe, so I haven’t studied those.
But I do know alignment is a thing, though I think it only really matters to your DM and party members, so they know if you’re likely to backstab them.
I also know your character wouldn’t have to be evil to do it, but you probably need a pretty good story as to why someone who isn’t evil is summoning demons.
Alright cool, but do you know if the build is viable or will my character be doomed from the start?
Well, if you meant Necromancer OR Demon summoner, the Necromancer part is easy, you’d be a Wizard, and you’d take the School of Necromancy for your arcane tradition at 2nd level. For just Demon Summoner, the best I know to do is also go wizard, or warlock, and to just tailor your spell list to make sure you always have Summon Lesser Demons when you can cast 3rd level spells, and Summon Greater Demon when you have 4th level spells. Other than that, I don’t know how to make a Demon Summoner an official thing. But you can certainly make it part of your wizard-necromancer character that they summon demons every chance they get.
Alright, thanks for all your help!
5e is pretty streamlined, so its good for learning to play.
IRL you could just ask a bunch of players if they would be interested. Personally this is what I prefer, because I find that the online environments just dont feel the same to me.
If you are struggling to find people who are interested IRL, I know Roll20 is an option, but I have also heard several horror stories of their customer service, so I think it would be working into Fantasy Grounds, which is another online option.
There are also 'discord' servers for finding (or running) online games, so I would possibly search around for those- plus, discord (whether you use the browser version or the app) is free.