May 24, 2019 Ted Cory

How to Play D&D 5e

How do you play D&D?

So you’ve watched a few Twitch streams or heard about D&D from somewhere. And now you want to start playing? This article will explain how to play DND 5e. For the aspiring Dungeon Master, we’ll go over the materials you’ll need, where to find players, and how to find or create your first adventure.

For the player just joining his first campaign, we’ll discuss how to create a character and how to play D&D 5e effectively. This article will explain everything you need to get started playing Dungeons and Dragons right away.

dungeons and dragons materials

Materials

Before you begin, there are a few materials you’ll need to gather to play D&D.

Rulebooks

DND can be played without any rules. In this case, the DMs just makes up what happens based on the player’s decisions. But most campaigns find that the game is more fun if you use some version of the official rules.

The easiest way to get a copy of the basic rules is to download them from the official Wizards of The Coast (WoTC) website. There is no charge for the basic rules.

If you play a few adventures and find that you want more options for classes & feats, you may want to buy the Player’s Handbook. Or if you’re the DM and want more tips for how to create adventures, as well as more monsters to put in those adventures, you may want to consider purchasing the Dungeon Master’s Guidebook and Monster Manual.

Paper and pen (or other ways to record info)

D&D requires you to record a lot of information: your character's hit points, skill bonuses, gold, equipment, and other stats all need to be available at a moment’s notice. The easiest way to keep track of this is through plain old pen and paper.

Character sheets can be downloaded from the official WoTC website and printed out. Or you can make your own by just writing this information on notebook paper.

If you’d rather use a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to record information, that can work as well.

Dice (or some way to generate random numbers)

If you’ve never played a role-playing game in the past, you’re probably used to dice that have six sides. But in D&D, you’ll be using dice with many different sides.

A 20-sided die or “D20” is the most important one to get. You’ll use it for attacks, skill checks, ability checks, saving throws, and many other things that happen in the game. You’ll also need a pair of ten-sided dice to roll percentages, along with a D4, D6, D8, and D12 for damage rolls.

One inexpensive way to get a full set of dice is to purchase a blind bag. You can also just browse through the sets until you find one you like.

Maps

When the players are talking to non-player characters (NPCs) or exploring, all of the gameplay can be handled through role-playing. But when a fight breaks out, it can be hard to keep track of the locations of each character. For this reason, most campaigns use at least some maps in their adventures.

Some great free maps can be found on Wizards’ website. Or you can use map-making software like Mipui or Hextml to make your own. Another option is to draw maps by hand using graph paper. In this case, each square on the graph paper or a certain number of squares can represent sq. feet in the game.

Pawns, icons, or miniatures

If you’re using maps, you’ll need some way to represent characters. Some D&D players use inexpensive Pathfinder pawns for this purpose. Others like to be a little fancier. They purchase painted miniatures instead.

Yet another option is to just tear off pieces of paper and write “rogue,” “priest,” “ooze monster,” etc. on them. As long as it works for distinguishing one character from another, you can handle this problem anyway you choose.

That’s all of the materials you’ll need to get started playing D&D.

Finding players or a campaign

If you want to be the DM, you’ll need to find players. And if you’re a player, you’ll need to find a DM and more players. We've made an extensive blog post on How to Find a Dungeons and Dragons Group here.

Finding or creating adventures

Dungeon Masters always need new adventures to keep their players happy. Here is a list of some free ones from the official D&D site:

You can also create your own adventures by taking your favorite fantasy novel, TV show episode, movie, or game and reworking it into an interactive adventure.

Creating characters

If you’re just joining a campaign, you’re going to need to create a character. And if you’re the DM, you may sometimes want to use the player-character creation rules to make NPCs. The basic D&D 5e rules explain how to create a character in detail. But here is a step-by-step summary:

Choose a race: If you’re using the basic rules, you can be a Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, or Human. If you have the Player’s Handbook, you also have the option to play a Dragonborn, Gnome, Half-elf, Half-orc, or Tiefling
Choose a class: You can be a cleric, fighter, rogue or wizard in the basic rules - or these plus barbarian, bard, druid, monk, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, and warlock in the Player’s Handbook
Determine your abilities: Roll four twenty-sided dice (4D20). Throw away the lowest roll. Repeat this five times - giving you six scores in total. Assign each of these six scores to one of your six abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom

Flesh out your character: Come up with a backstory for your character. Decide if he has any ideals, bonds, or flaws. Decide on his alignment

Choose equipment: Look up the starting equipment for your class and copy it onto our character sheet. Or choose to buy equipment using the starting gold for your class

Finish your character sheet: Once your character is finished, calculate his ability modifiers, attack bonuses, skill bonuses, and other information you’ll need when you start playing. If you’re a spellcaster, choose the spells you are going to memorize

That’s it. The rules go into more detail about how to create a character, but these are the essential steps.

Gameplay

Over the course of a play session, there are essentially three types of gameplay you’ll be engaged in: social interaction, exploration, and combat. If you’re a player, you’ll handle each of these types of play for your character. If you’re the DM, you’ll handle them for the NPCs and monsters, as well as serve as a kind of “referee” to determine whether the players succeed or fail at these encounters.

Here is how to handle each type of gameplay.

Social interaction

If you encounter a friendly NPC, you may need to successfully interact with it in order to progress in the adventure. In this case, you should roleplay your character’s dialogue.

Based on your dialogue, the DM may decide that you are trying to persuade the NPC to do something he normally wouldn’t do. If so, he will require you to make a Persuasion check. He will decide the difficulty of this check based on the NPC’s personality and what you are trying to get him to do.

If he decides you are trying to intimidate the NPC instead, he will ask you to make an Intimidation check. And if he decides that you are trying to lie to the NPC, he will ask you to make a Deception check to see if the NPC believes you.

Depending on how the NPC reacts, you can then try another approach. Maybe you try to intimidate the NPC but he laughs at you. You then change tactics and seek to persuade him of something instead. But maybe he is distrustful of you because you tried (and failed) to intimidate him earlier, so the difficulty increases.

Play continues like this until you either succeed or fail. If you succeed, you move to the next step in the story. If you fail, you may have to find some other way of progressing.

There will also be some social interactions that do not require rolls. For example, you may have to roleplay the process of accepting a quest or asking for information from someone who trusts you and is open to communicating. In this case, you may automatically succeed as long as the dialogue you choose is reasonable for the situation.

Exploration

If you are looking for a particular place or trying to track a foe, you may need to explore. The DM will ask you what you are trying to do. Maybe you are looking in the bushes or studying the sand for footprints. Or maybe you are trying to sneak past the guards so they don’t see you.

Depending on what you say your character is doing, the DM may ask you to make a Perception, Survival, or Sneak check. Or you may need to make a Religion or History check should you encounter ancient ruins or religious artifacts. If you succeed at these rolls, clues may be revealed that will get you closer to your goals. If you fail, you may need to try different strategies than the ones you are using.

Combat

As you progress in an adventure, you will inevitably run into monsters or other foes that will want to stop you in your tracks or kill you. Some of these foes you may be able to avoid. But many of them you will have no choice but to fight.

When combat begins, each character will roll a single D20 and apply his Dexterity modifier to the roll. This is called initiative. The highest rolling character goes first, followed by the second-highest, etc.

On your turn, you can move up to the maximum number of feet based on your character’s speed, plus take one action. Some abilities will allow you to take an extra action, called a bonus action. There are also some activities that do not require the use of an action, such as yelling a short sentence to an ally, opening a door, or drawing a sword.

When you make an attack, you’ll roll a D20 and apply whatever modifiers your character has for that particular attack. If the attack roll is higher than your foe’s Armor Class, it will succeed. In this case, you will roll for damage based on the damage dice of the weapon, spell, or ability you are using. If the attack roll fails, you will miss the target and do no damage.

Combat is the most complex aspect of Dungeons and Dragons. And to succeed at it, you will need to read up on the rules and think creatively about how your character’s abilities can be used to maximize your chances.

Conclusion

Because of the new 5th Edition rules and the rising popularity of D&D Twitch streams, Dungeons and Dragons is more popular now than it has been in decades. But if you are new to the D&D scene, it might not be obvious how to get started playing.

This article has explored how to play DND 5e. We’ve gone over materials needed, where to find players, how to create characters, and some of the basic rules.

There are many variations of the D&D rules. And there are many settings in which D&D adventures can take place. But this information should at least be enough to get you started on your first adventure.

Enjoy this Guide? You May Also Like:

Thinking about other classes? Check out our giant list of D&D 5e Tools and Tips here.

Hungry for Adventure? Your group will love these D&D Game Night Snack Recipes

New to find a D&D Group? Check out our guide on How to Find a D&D Group.

Want more tips? Check out our D&D for Beginners blog post.

Disclaimer

Last updated: January 27, 2019

The information contained on www.SkullSplitterDice.com website (the "Service") is for general information purposes only.

www.SkullSplitterDice.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. (source: Section 5)

Blueshift Nine, LLC assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents on the Service.

In no event shall Blueshift Nine, LLC be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Service or the contents of the Service. Blueshift Nine, LLC reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modification to the contents on the Service at any time without prior notice.

Blueshift Nine, LLC does not warrant that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components.

Affiliate disclaimer

This affiliate disclosure details the affiliate relationships of Blueshift Nine, LLC with other companies and products.

Some of the links are "affiliate links", a link with a special tracking code. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission.

The price of the item is the same whether it is an affiliate link or not. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers.

By using the affiliate links, you are helping support the Service, and we genuinely appreciate your support.

Affiliate advertising programs that the Service uses are:

Amazon Services LLC Associates Program
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Blueshift Nine, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com or endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, or AmazonWireless.com.
Pages on this Service may include affiliate links to Amazon and its affiliate sites on which the owner of this Service, Blueshift Nine, LLC, will make a referral commission.