I’ve been playing for almost 40 years and I still need to look at my character sheet before I do most anything. Don’t feel bad. If it was easy to commit to memory, you wouldn’t need a sheet. But what you’re describing isn’t as much a character sheet issue, it’s a rules issue with not knowing you can only have one concentration spell active.
I’d suggest re-reading PHB chapters 7, 8 and 9. Now that you’ve played a few sessions, you may find the terms may make more sense, and the information may stick in your head a bit better.
As far as role playing, the first suggestion I’d have is, don’t worry about it. The extra pressure you’re putting on yourself is probably making you more self-conscious and kind of spiraling the whole thing. Very few people are actually good at improv, especially at first. Don’t expect to be like people on streams. Let yourself get comfortable with the group. Then relax and have fun and talk when you think it’s the right time to talk.
Pay attention to concentration - You can only have one concentration spell at a time. so if you are using concentration cast non- concentration spells.
there are two types of smites "spells" and "class feature smites." sometimes you can use both on the same turn. smites work especially well when you CRIT (roll a 20 on an attack)
Try and remember 1 action, 1 bonus action and movment per turn. if possible find ways to use both actions every turn. Feats like shield master can help(at level 4).
remember and track resources. Lay on hands, channel divinity and spell slots.
paladins can re-choose their spells every day but you dont have to change them. have a default go to list and maybe change one or two depending on what you think you will need. Most paladins cast few spells anyway and use a lot of smites
Roleplaying is just being a character. make choices that reflect that and it will be fine. every fantasy person will have hobbies and values you can show off. cooking, music, games favorite places.
Does someone in your group have a PHB and share it? You might have access without realizing. Or if not digitally, then borrowing a print copy. I’d bet your DM would love to hear your interest in learning the game better (it will make their life easier) and would be willing to share.
I'll say this about roleplaying. You dont need to get into voices or things like that. The biggest thing on role playing isnt responding or saying something cool or having the best quibs. Its actually playing your character.
What I mean by that is make decisions that the character that you created would do. I've been playing almost 20 years now and the best part of playing a character to me is making decisions that my character would make regardless if it leads to his death or not. Set up flaws that your character has set up morals and bonds and limits on things your character would never do. These are what make interesting role play dynamics. I've been in several groups and have helped several new players by playing a brand of D&D where players could fight and kill eachother based on interactions between one another. This takes alot of not meta gaming to do correctly though. I'll given an example of this from a story a group played.
I typically play a Oath of Devotion Paladin Scourge Assimar that worships Bahamat. I'm good at playing this character because I have developed him over a long period of time. Anyways in decent into avernous a player playing a warlock had routinely been making deals with demons/devils and what not for power. I joined late to the group around the level two level 3 time frame. So I initally treated everything on what my character knew. Everything I knew as the player about the character I wouldnt bring up unless my character was there, saw, or heard something. Towards the end of the dungeon at Balders Gate the warlock got ahold of the crown of Tiamat and intended to give it to a devil for more power. I hadnt seen him grab it as my character but I knew he had it as the player. I didnt pester him to spill the beans but as we're walking back through balders gate he let slip that hes been getting cool gifts by doing missions for someone. I asked him about it. He mentioned a crown. I asked him to describe the crown and then asked the DM if my character would actually know what this was from the discription I was given. He had me roll an intelligence check with advantage given my characters background ... I had a -1 intelligence, and rolled just barely high enough to know what it was. SO my character challenged him over this and we ended up in a fight and the devil he was working for ended up saving his life otherwise I would have killed him. The player made a new character after that.
With this same group we had a campaign where each of us went through 3 characters before it ended because of playing our characters. Whether it was fights between each other, taking off and running to save yourself, leaving because your characters mission goes differently from that of the party, or just plain old making very bad decisions. One of the best games I had was playing a character that pretended to be something else entirely and was actually working against the party subtly. I was almost caught a few times but bad dice rolls saved my ass.
My point being is the Dice should determine how well you know something in a moment just like they do in combat. Not everyone can recall information very well. Asking the DM if your character would know this is a good way of progressing. The dice should determine interactions going hostile or not is my overall point. If your character would fight someone over crossing a line and finds out they would then they should. But finding out is left to the dice.
As a purely mental exercise roleplaying is about getting into the mindset of your character so you can act as naturally as possible from their point of view, but doing it as a purely mental "what would X do?" exercise doesn't always work for all people. Another method of getting into character is to pick a small set of default behaviors that act as a character "stance" to get into. Things like posture, tone of voice, and maybe a physical tic. Examples of a combination of these would be a person who slouches, has a gruff voice, and scratches lazily at themselves frequently. Or maybe someone who holds themselves ramrod straight, speaks in clipped tones and never uses contractions.
Just a few details like this, used as a default for whenever you're not sure how your character would act, can put you into a particular frame of mind and help get into character even without an extensive background story.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
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I’ve been playing for almost 40 years and I still need to look at my character sheet before I do most anything. Don’t feel bad. If it was easy to commit to memory, you wouldn’t need a sheet.
But what you’re describing isn’t as much a character sheet issue, it’s a rules issue with not knowing you can only have one concentration spell active.
I’d suggest re-reading PHB chapters 7, 8 and 9. Now that you’ve played a few sessions, you may find the terms may make more sense, and the information may stick in your head a bit better.
As far as role playing, the first suggestion I’d have is, don’t worry about it. The extra pressure you’re putting on yourself is probably making you more self-conscious and kind of spiraling the whole thing.
Very few people are actually good at improv, especially at first. Don’t expect to be like people on streams. Let yourself get comfortable with the group. Then relax and have fun and talk when you think it’s the right time to talk.
The basic rules are available and they cover much of that information. Parts 2 and 3 in perticular. https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules some tips.
Does someone in your group have a PHB and share it? You might have access without realizing. Or if not digitally, then borrowing a print copy.
I’d bet your DM would love to hear your interest in learning the game better (it will make their life easier) and would be willing to share.
I'll say this about roleplaying. You dont need to get into voices or things like that. The biggest thing on role playing isnt responding or saying something cool or having the best quibs. Its actually playing your character.
What I mean by that is make decisions that the character that you created would do. I've been playing almost 20 years now and the best part of playing a character to me is making decisions that my character would make regardless if it leads to his death or not. Set up flaws that your character has set up morals and bonds and limits on things your character would never do. These are what make interesting role play dynamics. I've been in several groups and have helped several new players by playing a brand of D&D where players could fight and kill eachother based on interactions between one another. This takes alot of not meta gaming to do correctly though. I'll given an example of this from a story a group played.
I typically play a Oath of Devotion Paladin Scourge Assimar that worships Bahamat. I'm good at playing this character because I have developed him over a long period of time. Anyways in decent into avernous a player playing a warlock had routinely been making deals with demons/devils and what not for power. I joined late to the group around the level two level 3 time frame. So I initally treated everything on what my character knew. Everything I knew as the player about the character I wouldnt bring up unless my character was there, saw, or heard something. Towards the end of the dungeon at Balders Gate the warlock got ahold of the crown of Tiamat and intended to give it to a devil for more power. I hadnt seen him grab it as my character but I knew he had it as the player. I didnt pester him to spill the beans but as we're walking back through balders gate he let slip that hes been getting cool gifts by doing missions for someone. I asked him about it. He mentioned a crown. I asked him to describe the crown and then asked the DM if my character would actually know what this was from the discription I was given. He had me roll an intelligence check with advantage given my characters background ... I had a -1 intelligence, and rolled just barely high enough to know what it was. SO my character challenged him over this and we ended up in a fight and the devil he was working for ended up saving his life otherwise I would have killed him. The player made a new character after that.
With this same group we had a campaign where each of us went through 3 characters before it ended because of playing our characters. Whether it was fights between each other, taking off and running to save yourself, leaving because your characters mission goes differently from that of the party, or just plain old making very bad decisions. One of the best games I had was playing a character that pretended to be something else entirely and was actually working against the party subtly. I was almost caught a few times but bad dice rolls saved my ass.
My point being is the Dice should determine how well you know something in a moment just like they do in combat. Not everyone can recall information very well. Asking the DM if your character would know this is a good way of progressing. The dice should determine interactions going hostile or not is my overall point. If your character would fight someone over crossing a line and finds out they would then they should. But finding out is left to the dice.
As a purely mental exercise roleplaying is about getting into the mindset of your character so you can act as naturally as possible from their point of view, but doing it as a purely mental "what would X do?" exercise doesn't always work for all people. Another method of getting into character is to pick a small set of default behaviors that act as a character "stance" to get into. Things like posture, tone of voice, and maybe a physical tic. Examples of a combination of these would be a person who slouches, has a gruff voice, and scratches lazily at themselves frequently. Or maybe someone who holds themselves ramrod straight, speaks in clipped tones and never uses contractions.
Just a few details like this, used as a default for whenever you're not sure how your character would act, can put you into a particular frame of mind and help get into character even without an extensive background story.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!