I've been wanting to get into D&D for some time now but most my friends are too normie. Though some are interest now and I'd like to find some sort of premade intro to the game. Everything pregenerated so they don't lose interest fast.
Is there some sort of normiebox set I could buy? I've seen the starter sets but that might be too advanced for these people.
Or maybe some content I can print out and piece together and buy some dice?
This is what you want to buy. It comes with everything.
Pretty much this. There's a case argument for some of the boxes sets for older editions, but 5e intro set and 5e really has become the gateway to RPGs.
Yeah, yeah, I know you guys hate 5e because X and it teaches newbies the wrong way to Y, which makes them bad players because of it. Get over it. Nothing can really come close to it in terms of marketing, ease-to-depth of gameplay ratio, and widespread playerbase.
Any required supplements if I want to sit down this weekend and get started? Some youtube review said there are no miniatures or maps.
There are maps, but they're in the book so you might want to draw them at a larger scale yourself and use paper tokens, i use dice for tokens myself and it works pretty well, minitures and grids work nicely for people who like versimiltude (the idea that they're physically in the world) but if your players don't mind there's another way of doing it called theater of the mind, where you basically ask the players what they want to do and make judgement calls about what they said in terms of game mechanics, so if a dude says "My fighter slowly walks up to the broken cart" you might rule that he's 30 feet away, or 10 feet, you get the idea.
but to answer your question, the starter set comes with an adventure out of the box.
Thanks for the input, I'll pick a 5E starter set up tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Have fun pal, and pro tip, players like it when memorable encounters influence the story of a dungeon, when i was running the goblin cave in the starter set adventure there was a goblin who survived having his dead allies being used as a club against him and falling down the ravine, somehow he survived and i had him shake up the story in the dungeon by having him fresh off his miraculous survival challenging the goblin chief and winning (the party took a short rest outside) the party when nuts when i described a familiar battered and bruised goblin being placed onto a chair of furs and bones.
I would first suggest downloading the basic player and dm rules for free off of the official site and giving them a read through. The rulebook that comes in the starter set is out of date and incomplete as well. Besides the adventure module and the set of dice, the starter set doesn't have much value in my opinion.
Any tips on dice basics. Why are there so many?
Basically d20 is for actions and the rest (d4, d6, d8...) is for damage.
It's for weapon balance, d4's through 12 are only used for weapon damage and for the dm rolling on optional things some dm's use like randomization tables for different loot or npc quirks and stuff.
You should read the basic rules pdf, it explains the usage of each dice throughout the booklet.
Dice are used mostly for weapon and spell damage, and for some really minor things like healing, and etc.
The core of the system revolves around rolling a d20 against a Target Number, adding your bonuses, and trying to match or overcome the TN to succeed in a test.
For example, if you were to try to sneak past an Orc guarding an entrance, you'd roll 1d20 + your stealth bonus, against the Orc's perception score. So let's say this guard has a perception score of 12, and your stealth bonus is +2. You'd roll one d20, add 2, and if you get a 12 or higher you sneak past him.
Attacking is the same thing. You'll roll a d20 against the target's Armor Class. Armor Class is a fixed number, a combination of your speed and your armor quality. So let's say the Orc guard noticed you, so now you gotta kill him: You'd roll for initiative to determine turn order, and then on your turn you'd move up to the orc and try an attack action. You roll a d20, add your attack bonuses, and if you roll equal or over the Orc's Armor Class, you hit him. Now you would roll your weapon damage dice (d4, d6, d8, d10 or d12, it depends on the weapon) and add your damage bonuses to determine how many points the Orc must reduce from his Hit Point total.
Give your players 5 or 6 extra HP to begin. It won't break the game and it will make them less likely to get TPK'd right out the gate by goblins.
Yeah the book says the goblins just ditch them by the side of the road, but still. Nothing says "This game is fun and we should keep playing it" quite like getting wiped out by fucking goblins in your first battle.
Makes sense, what about the crit fails I always see in >dndgreentext
Crit fails are a popular houserule that you don't need to use if you don't want to.
It basically means that you automatically fail if you roll a 1.
Again, this is just a houserule, something that isn't an official rule but people tend to use it for shits and giggles.
>I know you guys hate 5e
Please don't judge Veeky Forums by its worst posters.
Though as a note....
when unearthed arcana comes out pick that up.
As always, it gonna provide a lot of neato burrito alternatives.
That other user() explained rolls in general. Dice exist for grading, every dice except for the d20 are used to measure different "tiers" of stuff. The barbarian is the sturdiest and meatiest class and depends more on HP than actual armor to survive, so he uses the d12 to define HP while a wizard, weak and scrawny, uses a d4. That same barbarian uses a large 2-handed war axe that packs a big punch and deals 1d12 damage, while a rogue might use two shortswords for more attacks per turn, dealing 1d6 with each. All in all, the dice are used to represent how good something is at its job - a high die for HP means a character is tanky, a low die means it's not a frontline character. A high weapon die means it's dangerous, but probably requires both hands and/or can't be used in stealth and such.
In combat, if you roll a 1 you automatically fail, and if you roll a 20 you automatically hit, plus you double the dice you'll roll for damage.
So for example, if you're using a weapon that deals 1d8 damage, you'd roll 2d8 instead.
Actually, autofail and autosuccess are part of the rules - in an attack or save(not skills), a 20 is always a success and a 1 is always a fail.
The houserule usually featured in greentext stories is "if you roll a 1, something BAD happens"(other than simply failing) and "if you roll a 20, something GREAT happens"(other than simply succeeding). It's a fun rule when you don't care much about balance, but for an actual serious game it's too much of a sway because of a simple dice roll. Don't add it in your first games, it's something you do when you know the system well.
Buy the starter box and 2 sets of polyhedrals.
As a first time DM, if you have the time, walk yourself through the adventure (play both the PCs and NPCs) with all the characters you are planning on making available if you are new to DMing. You will find that a LOT of questions pop up as you play through the game.
Here are some questions I had from a group I recently introduced to D&D as an example:
"Can i hit these two enemies with acid splash/burning hands?"
"What happens when I get to 0 HP?"
"Can I move, then attack, and then move again?"
"Can I move through a square with an enemy in it?"
"Whats the difference between a short rest and a long rest?"
"Can I run through the fire without taking damage?"
I dont want to freak you out by giving you a pop quiz, but questions of this nature do come up, and you want to be somewhat prepared to answer them
...
That is amazing.
That's the first time I see that pdf. It's actually fucking great.
>"Type" Fuckers
>"Your mom" listed under large weapons
>Actually rolling randomly for spells
>Calling Tieflings out for the edgelords they are
10/10 would play
>"Can i hit these two enemies with acid splash/burning hands?"
If the enemy is in the burst/ray zone, yes
>"What happens when I get to 0 HP?"
You fall unconcious and need to start making death saving throws. A roll of 1 or being hit by an attack counts as 2 failures and a roll of a natural 20 results in you stabilizing and going to 1 HP. If you fail 3 checks (rolls made by a 20 sided die) you die. If you succeed 3 checks you stabilize at 0 HP. If an attack would take you to negative you Constitution score you die.
>"Can I move, then attack, and then move again?"
As long as you still have movement you can use, yes. Please note enemies may perform attacks-of-opportunity against you if you do this.
>"Can I move through a square with an enemy in it?"
No.
>"Whats the difference between a short rest and a long rest?"
A short rest lasts 1 hour and during this time you can expend Hit Dice and regain health. A long rest lasts 8 hours after which you regain all of your health and half of your total Hit Dice back. A person can only benefit from a long rest once per 24 hour period of time.
>"Can I run through the fire without taking damage?"
No unless it is illusory.