Learn to Play D&D

What is Dungeons and Dragons?

Dungeons and Dragons, often referred to as D&D, is a tabletop roleplaying game published by Wizards of the Coast. In a tabletop roleplaying game, a group of people sit around a table roleplaying (or acting) as their characters. If a person is not comfortable acting, they can simply describe what their character does. The people at the table have character sheets and a set of polyhedral dice. The dice are four-sided, six-sided, eight, ten, twelve, and twenty. Sometimes the character sheets and dice are physical, but for online play, they are often digital.

When a D&D group sits down at the table, they are there to play an adventure. An adventure is a loose story created by a person who is called the Dungeon Master, or DM. The DM has a basic idea of what is going to happen in the adventure, but it really depends on what the players do with their characters. D&D is a collaboration. The players and the DM collaborate to tell a story that is created in real time. It is a truly unique, and very fun, experience.

The basic flow of the game is as follows. The DM describes scene, the players tell the DM what their characters do, the DM tells the players the result, and the process repeats. When necessary, the DM will ask a player to make a dice roll to see if their character succeeds at a specific task.

Example of Play

Chris is the DM. He has a one page adventure in front of him. The first paragraph reads, “The characters are an established adventuring party. They are in the city of Shakar, at a tavern called the Happy Goat. A tall, male human in robes walks into the tavern. He is an old wizard, looking for a group of adventurers to retrieve a rare magical item from the catacombs beneath a nearby cemetery that is crawling with undead monsters. He will offer them 500 gold pieces as a reward.” Other information on the page would include details like the wizard’s name, the exact location of the cemetery, details regarding entering the catacombs, information about the magic item, and statistics for the monsters in case the characters engage in battle with them.

Chris would start by telling the players that they are an established party, in the city of Shakar, at the Happy Goat. Chris would roleplay the wizard asking the party to retrieve the item, with an offer of 500 gold pieces as a reward. The players would roleplay (or simply describe) what their characters say in response to the wizard. Assuming the characters accept the mission, they would tell Chris that their characters are headed to the cemetery. Chris would tell the players that when their characters arrive, the cemetery is crawling with undead monsters. The players might tell Chris that their characters attack the undead. A combat encounter would start by Chris asking the players to roll for initiative (see D&D Rules Basics below). During combat, players will be asked to make a variety of rolls for things like trying to hit the monsters, or determining how much damage they do when they successfully hit a monster.

Once combat has ended, the players might tell Chris that their characters want to sneak past any remaining undead monsters to enter the catacombs without further combat encounters. Chris would ask the players to make Dexterity (Stealth) checks for their characters (see D&D Rules Basics below).

The players and the DM would continue with this back and forth until the adventure is over, at which point the players’ characters would probably buy a round of ale for all the patrons at the Happy Goat.

What You Need to Play

  • The core rulebooks, a character sheet, a set of polyhedral dice, people to play with, and a great imagination.
  • Core Rulebooks
    • If you are a player, you will need the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
    • If you are a Dungeon Master, you will also need the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide and the 2024 Monster Manual.
    • There are 2014 versions of the core rulebooks that might be less expensive, but they also contain an older rules set. They are still compatible with the 2024 rulebooks.
    • Any local game store or comic store should have the core rulebooks.
    • Instead of buying the core rulebooks listed above, you can instead use the free rules, which have limited options for players, but include enough information from all three of the core rulebooks to allow you to play the game. They can be found on D&D Beyond, which is a free digital tool set offered by Wizards of the Coast: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules.
  • Character Sheet
  • Polyhedral Dice
    • Any local game store or comic store should have sets of polyhedral dice.
    • D&D Beyond digital character sheets include virtual dice rolling, but many players use a D&D Beyond digital character sheet and physical dice.

D&D Rules Basics

  • Terminology
    • 5E means fifth edition (the current edition of the game).
      • Previous editions are 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E.
    • D&D means Dungeons and Dragons.
    • DM means Dungeon Master (the storyteller).
      • GM, or Game Master, is a more system neutral term.
    • PC means player character.
    • NPC means non-player character (a character controlled by the DM).
    • AC means Armor Class (how well a character or monster is protected from attacks).
    • DC means Difficulty Class (a target number for succeeding at tasks or overcoming effects).
    • “Cocked” means when a die isn’t laying flat on one side and therefore must be rerolled.
    • d20 means a 20 sided die (additionally there is the d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12).
  • Basic Game Play
    • The DM describes the scene.
    • The players describe their characters’ actions.
    • The DM tells the players the result.
    • Repeat the process.
  • Core Activities of D&D Adventures
    • Exploration.
    • Social Interaction.
    • Combat.
  • Characters
    • Ability Scores (generate modifiers for dice rolls)
      • Strength.
      • Dexterity.
      • Constitution.
      • Intelligence.
      • Wisdom.
      • Charisma.
    • Species.
      • Human, dwarf, elf, etc.
    • Classes (a character’s job).
      • Fighter, rogue, cleric, wizard, etc.
    • Experience Points
      • One method used for characters to reach higher levels in their class.
      • Character levels are 1st level to 20th level.
  • Core Game Mechanic
    • Roll the d20 and add a number (called a modifier).
    • …to attack rolls (to hit something).
    • …to saving throws (to resist an effect).
    • …to skill checks (to use a skill like Acrobatics, Persuasion, or Stealth).
    • Compare the total of the d20 roll, plus the modifier, to a target number.
    • You must meet or exceed the target number to succeed on the roll.
    • Rolling a 20 is referred to as a “natural 20,” and is often followed by cheers!
    • Rolling a 1 is referred to as a “natural 1,” and is often followed by swearing!
  • Combat
    • Starts with the players rolling initiative (to see when their characters can act).
      • Initiative: Roll a d20 and add your initiative modifier from your character sheet.
    • Takes place over several rounds.
      • Each round is 6 seconds in game time.
    • Movement.
      • Move up to your speed.
    • Action.
      • Attack, cast a spell, use a class or species feature.
    • Bonus action.
      • …only if you have a feature that requires a bonus action to use.
    • Attack rolls.
      • Roll a d20 and add your attack modifier from your character sheet.
      • Try to meet or exceed a creature’s armor class (AC).
      • Rolling a natural 20 on an attack roll is a critical hit, or simply a critical, which does extra damage, and is often followed by cheers!
      • Rolling a natural 1 on an attack roll is an automatic miss, and is often followed by swearing!
      • Example: You attack a zombie with your longsword.
        • The zombie has an AC, or Armor Class, of 12.
        • You roll the d20, add your modifier, and your total is 12 (you met or exceeded its AC).
        • You hit the zombie and you get to roll damage (see below).
    • Hit Points.
      • Represent the amount of damage a character can take before going unconscious.
      • Generated from hit point dice (or hit dice for short).
        • A number of hit dice equal to a character’s level (1-20).
    • Damage.
      • Reduces a character’s/monster’s hit points.
      • Temporary hit points are an additional buffer.
      • When a player character reaches 0 hit points they drop unconscious and must make death saving throws (see below).
      • When a monster reaches 0 hit points, like a zombie, they are destroyed.
      • In the Attack Roll example above, you would roll a d8 (longsword damage is a d8) and add your Strength modifier (which gives a bonus to damage).
        • You roll 5 on the d8, and your Strength modifier is +2, so you deal 7 slashing damage to the zombie (longswords deal slashing damage).
        • If the zombie had a total of 6 hit points, and you dealt it 7 slashing damage, the zombie would reach 0 hit points and be destroyed.
    • Saving Throws.
      • Rolled to resist an effect.
      • Roll a d20 and add a saving throw modifier from your character sheet.
      • Meet or exceed the DC, or Difficulty Class, of the effect.
      • Sometimes a successful saving throw means there is no harmful effect.
      • Sometimes a successful saving throw means there is a reduction in the harmful effect.
      • Example: A wizard casts the Fireball spell at you.
        • You must roll a Dexterity saving throw.
        • The DC, or Difficulty Class, is 15.
        • You roll the d20, add your modifier, and your total is 16 (you met or exceeded the DC).
        • You take half damage from the Fireball, rather than full damage.
    • Death Saving Throws (or death saves for short).
      • Rolled at the start of a dying character’s turn.
      • Roll the d20, with no modifiers (death saves don’t use a modifier).
      • The DC, or Difficulty Class, is 10.
      • Three successes means the character is unconscious but stable.
      • Three failures means the character dies.
      • Rolling a natural 20 on a death save means the player character regains one hit point and is conscious, and is often followed by cheers!
      • Rolling a natural 1 on a death save means the player character suffers two failures, and is often followed by swearing!
  • Skill Checks.
    • Rolled to succeed in a task.
    • Roll a d20 and add a skill modifier from your character sheet.
    • Meet or exceed the DC, or Difficulty Class, set by the DM.
    • Example: You want to sneak past a guard.
      • The DM sets a DC of 15 for a Dexterity (Stealth) check.
      • You roll the d20, add your modifier, and your total is 14 (you did not meet or exceed the DC).
      • The DM tells you that the guard sees you and blows a whistle to alert nearby guards.
  • Magic
    • Cantrips.
      • Spells that can be used each round of combat. They do not consume spell slots.
    • Spell slots.
      • A consumable resource used to cast spells of 1st level or higher.
    • Concentration.
      • Required by spells with a longer duration (as apposed to instantaneous).
      • Damage can disrupt concentration on a spell.
      • If you take damage while concentrating on a spell, you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (d20 + Constitution modifier) to maintain Concentration. The DC equals 10 or half the damage taken (round down), whichever number is higher (up to a maximum DC of 30).
  • Resting
    • Short Rest (1 hour).
      • At the end of which a character can spend hit dice to heal.
    • Long Rest (8 hours).
      • Recover all hit points, hit dice, and spell slots.
      • Recover expended uses of class abilities and species traits.
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