D&D basics for first-time watchers
The Player's Handbook is great, but a lot of people want to watch Dungeons & Dragons-centric shows without reading five hundred pages of rules. Below is a crash course of basic D&D stuff that's relevant to watchers (it gets more complex as the post goes on, so just read until you feel like it's getting too complex)
send this to anyone who is watching Dimension 20, Critical Role, or another D&D campaign for the first time!
dice are referred to using "d" (for dice) + the number of sides. So a typical cube die is a d6, and a 20-sided die is a d20. (d20 is the most used one)
"Nat 1" : stands for "natural 1." This is the lowest possible number on a d20, and is considered an automatic fail at most tables.
"Nat 20" : stands for "natural 20," and is the highest possible number on a 20, and an automatic success.
DM/GM: Dungeon Master or Game Master; works as a sort of video game computer. They run the whole game, including the world, combat, and any NPCs, as well as direct plot or storyline.
PC: Player Characters, people who play a single character at a time during a game.
NPC: Non-Player Character, a character played by the DM for PCs to interact with.
The Slightly More Complex Basics:
Ability Scores: the numbers that make the game work and form characters, (ex: Strength, Charisma), higher means the character is better at that skill, details below.
Class: a category which a character falls into, giving them specific skills, spells, or abilities, allowing them to directly manipulate the game world (ex: Wizard, Fighter), details below.
Race: really should be called species (ex: Human, Elf, Dwarf)
Combat: times when PCs are directly fighting NPCs or each other, uses a specific order and series of turns, details below.
Getting Pretty Complex: Skills and Skill Checks:
When it happens: when a character is attempting to do anything not seen as extremely simple (ex: walking in normal conditions does not require an ability check, but swimming in a violent tide probably will)
What happens: the player rolls a d20 and adds their modifier to it. These are specific numbers to each character and aren't worth memorizing, but this is how players will sometimes get numbers larger than 20 or lower than 1.
What are modifiers?: modifiers define how naturally good (positive modifier) or bad (negative modifier) a character is at a given skill. This number then gets added to the number on the d20.
What is a success?: the DM sets a number (known as Difficulty Class, or DC) that is needed to succeed. When the character succeeds using the steps above, they are able to do whatever is attempting to be done.
What is a failure?: when a character does not reach that DC, they fail whatever they are attempting to do.
Note: Saving Throws: saving throws are similar to ability checks but are required by an outside influence on a player. These are super complex and not necessary to enjoy watching.
Getting Pretty Complex: Ability Scores:
Strength: measure of a character's physical ability to punch, lift, push, or break something (raw muscle mass, usually).
Dexterity: a character's ability to be agile, dodge, react, avoid, or pass over difficult terrain (speed or agility).
Intelligence: a character's ability to retain knowledge, objectively analyze, and remember things (raw knowledge).
Wisdom: a character's ability to infer, connect dots without having all the answers, or see something not initially apparent (analysis or reasoning).
Charisma: a character's ability to bend others to their will, whether through kindness, flirting, or threats (influence).
Constitution: a character's ability to endure and resist, affects Hit Points (sheer willpower).
Initiative: rolled by all participants at the beginning of combat, defines the order of turns, uses Dexterity as a modifier
Turns: include movement of a certain distance (usually 30ft for most humanoids), an action (usually a major spell or attack), and a bonus action (minor spell or extra ability that applies only to certain classes)
Armor Class: the number that defines how difficult a character is to hit.
Hit Points: the amount of damage a character can take before falling unconscious
Falling unconscious: when a character hits 0 hit points, they begin making death saving throws, where they roll a d20 and add no modifiers. A 1-9 is failure, a 10-20 is a success, 3 failures = full dead, 3 successes = stable but still at 0 hit points and therefore unable to take actions.
Full dead: occurs either at 3 death saving throw failures OR when dealt negative damage equal to a character's hit point total, a character can only come back to life when revived through magic.
Cantrips: minor spells that do not use spell slots
Leveled Spells: major spells that become more powerful with higher levels, consume spell slots
Spell Slots: the limited number of specific level spells a caster can cast between rests, increases with character level
Casting Time: certain spells take a longer time to cast, which is especially important in combat (each round is only about six seconds, so a spell that takes a minute to cast would take ten rounds and is not advised).
Wizard: Intelligence-based spellcaster, uses knowledge and study to learn magic.
Sorcerer: Charisma-based spellcaster, is born with magical ability and works to harness it.
Cleric: Wisdom-based spellcaster, is gifted with magical ability by (usually) a deity.
Warlock: Charisma-based spellcaster, bargains for magical ability with some sort of powerful entity via a contract.
Bard: Charisma-based spellcaster, channels magic through music or performance.
Druid: Wisdom-based spellcaster, harnesses the magic of nature
Barbarian: Strength-based physical attacker, fights through the power of rage.
Fighter: Strength- or Dexterity-based physical attacker, studies the skills required for effective fighting.
Ranger: Dexterity-based physical attacker with limited spellcasting, focused on survival, tracking, and ranged attacks.
Rogue: Dexterity-based physical attacker, strikes from the shadows and goes unseen.
Monk: Dexterity-based physical attacker, gains ability through meditation and training.
Paladin: Strength-based (typically) physical attacker with limited spellcasting abilities, fights for the sake of an oath.
[disclaimer: some DMs will change up/create classes, ability scores, etc., so these just typically followed rules, also there are many exceptions to the things above, these are just basics]
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