D&D help for a noob

[Triss Merigold]

So I know this is a bit random and maybe a shot in the dark, but, would anyone be able to point me in the direction of where I could find some newbie friendly d&d groups? It sounds like people use discord? I'm just looking to get started. There don't seem to be a ton of people looking for more party members in my area though I'm not sure if that's because of a lack of players or that groups are already formed among friends that aren't to keen on picking up new and inexperienced players. Not that it's a huge disappointment though as I'd rather look like an idiot getting the hang of things from behind a keyboard rather than in person in front of strangers.

And if there are people who do/have done D&D what are the core things I need to know getting started and what new player things should I try to avoid? Typical mistakes of new player kind of things? Or any tips in general would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sync]

Groups...? Not sure I can help you there, sorry. I don't get to play a lot, and when I do play it's around a table with a group of friends I've been playing for decades with (literally). Online groups don't work for me because of timezones.

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As for the game itself...I'm going to assume that you're talking about joining a 5th Edition D&D group - DnD5E.

If you've never (or barely) played before then I'd recommend you don't stray beyond the Player's Handbook (PHB) for your first outing. There are other books that can provide additional and supplementary material, but that will only confuse you if you've never played before. Stick to the PHB and try to become familiar with a few core concepts to begin with.

Outside of the 6 stats (attributes), there are three major elements to character creation in DnD5E: Race, Background, Class. The PHB does a reasonably good job of guiding you through the process and steps. Before you start anything, though, it's important to have a Concept in mind - at least a basic idea of what you'd like to play.

Backgrounds: there are a good number of them in the PHB, and they can help you solidify your character concept. Note that backgrounds not only provide a brief idea of how it might fit into the gameworld from a narrative perspective, they also give you starting skills, equipment and money.

Classes: some Character Classes that can be relatively easy to play from a mechanical perspective are the Barbarian, the Fighter, the Paladin, and the Rogue (I'd also suggest a Ranger might be a good option; some call the Ranger Weak and Wasted, but the Ranger is best played as a Support character to others - Rangers tend to do really well while backing up others; they do a little bit of everything while not excelling at anything). I suggest those classes because they're mostly combat and/or stealth oriented, and also touch on the magic system enough to let you get a feel for it without you stressing about it being the primary focus of your class/character. I generally suggest new players avoid full spell casters, as that can come with its own set of pain - although if you're wanting to look at a spell caster, the Cleric or Druid would be good to get you started (and it never hurts to have a healer around ).

Racially: Humans, Elves, Half-elves tend to be the easiest to grasp for new players. Humans, obviously - you are one. Elves...because everyone has come across them in film and literature, so you can likely figure them out readily enough. Half-elves...because it can be fun playing a character who has the blood of both and is often shunned by both. I also suggest them because they're likely to be less challenging from a game mechanics perspective (certainly during character creation).

...and that's a quick'n'dirty starter. Hope it helps! Happy to answer more if you're not sure.

 

[Triss Merigold]

Thanks for the tips! I do have the handbook and I've been going over it, seems like a lot of good information in it I'm just hoping I can remember it all. I was thinking that something like a human barbarian would probably be a fairly easy start, but a ranger would be really cool as well. I think tieflings are pretty cool but they do seem a little bit more complicated than your generic human. Spell casting seems really cool and I love Keyleth from Vox Machina but it does seem like a much more complex play style that I'll probably leave for once I have some experience to try out at a later date.

Thanks again for the input. I appreciate it and will implement it into my search!

 

[Revelations]

To expand a bit, there are fighter and rogue subclasses that grant you spellcasting as well, in case you ever wanted to go that route. They are still a fighter or a rogue primarily, so you can't become a full caster by going those paths.

In general, and especially with how they updated races ability score modifiers (Going forward now, ever race gets the +2/+1 to the stats of their choice), race isn't super duper important but every race tends to have something unique about them aside from baseline humans and even that is changing in OneD&D (The revision to 5e coming out next year.)

While you are looking at a barbarian, I feel fighter is probably the easiest class to learn the game with, so to speak. You do get a few more things to keep track of with second wind and action surge, but both are pretty fun tools to have, and recover on any rest (Short and long rest). Fighter also has the Champion subclass which is pretty basic if you want no frills and just want to hit stuff slightly better, battlemaster for some neat tricks you can do every so often, and Eldritch Knight if you want to cast spells (Though I feel the class primarily shines if you're allowed to use certain cantrips that were released after the PHB).

Still, 5e isn't a very difficult system aside from ambiguous wording at times and some poorly explained rules differences. You'll probably get a good feel for it after a few sessions, and once you do it gets a lot easier.

For looking for games, if you aren't averse to online games (Which often require a mic nowadays though), roll20 is perhaps the most popular place to find online games at.

 

[Triss Merigold]

Thanks! That's making building a DnD character a lot more fun!

 

[Deante]

The 5e Discord is here. There's going to be a LFG channel. Most Ther's also say reddit.com/DndLFG, and really if you google "D&D LFG" you'll find options everywhere. If you want to find an in-person game, I suggest checking Meetups.com and looking in your area, as well as checking the local gaming/comicbook store. They very likely have a weekly or bi-weekly game that anyone can show up to.

For general discussion the Discord is good, but so is DnDNext; there's a stickied thread for questions right now.

When it comes ot online play, people are generally going to be playing on Discord for voice chat at least, and they may also be using a virrtual tabletop like Roll20 or other similar sites.

There's all kinds of tips one could give, but I'll give you one that is less about the rules of th egame and more abuot being a good player: don't create a character that is unwilling to play with the team. D&D is a group game, and that means going along with what the group decides to do. Venturing out by yourself is "splitting the party" which is usually death, and it's also kind of obnoxious because you're forcing teh spotlight just on you. Same with being obstinant about "no I don't want to go there/go on this adventure". Essentially, be a team player in terms of what the group decides to do. Same with conflict with other party members. Group infighting, while it may make since in character, is often really disruptive. Same with playing an "EVIL" character who wants to go murderhobo on innocents, etc. Again, while you should be tinking about your fun, think about the group's fun too.

You'd think this is obvious but no, some people really ride that "But this is what my character would do" right over a cliff. It's often the excuse of someone covering being a disruptive jerk.

Also, please don't commit to a regular game if it's very likely you will not be able ot make it. If your RL is very chaotic, maybe just go for a one-shot, or a local game where you can drop in, etc. It is incredibly frustrating to set up a game only to have someone regularly/semi-regularly be unable ot make it. Joining a game is a commitment.

[/DM]

 

[Embrace Dusk]

Some suggestions that may or may not help:
* Create an account on Roll20 and practice using it - this is where a lot of folks roll dice, keep character sheets etc for online games, they also have a LFG section in their forum.
* Don't create a character then try and shoe-horn it into games - it might not fight the background or work well with other characters in the group, create characters anew for each game. Some folk find it really rude if players rock up with a premade character and expect the game to mould round it.
* Appreciate the work it takes to DM a game of D&D - there's a lack of DM's for D&D in general because it is such hard work and many players have such high expectations (and contribute so little) that DM burn out is really high.
* Check out other RPG's! There are loads of systems out there (many of which are better than D&D for many different styles of games) and see if any of them interest you. Many of them are less hard work learning and people who run/play them seem to be more eager to get more people onboard -because people wanting to play them are thin on the ground due to D&D's *ahem* 'market share'.