(you should probably watch Community’s D&D episodes)

What you’ll need

• Dungeon Master (someone to play god for you)
  1. Usually someone who has played before
  2. Someone who is quick thinking
  3. Someone who has the manuals
  4. Someone who can act as the neutral party member
  5. A storyteller
• Player’s Handbook 
  1. At least one, though each player having their own won’t hurt.
  2. Make sure you all have the same version
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
  1. Only the dungeon master needs one
• Monster Manual
  1. Also only for the dungeon master
• Polyhedral Set of Dice
  1. Everyone needs at least one set
  2. Having extra doesn’t hurt
• Pencil
  1. Same as the dice
• Character sheet
  1. At least one per person
  2. It’s safe to say print out three. Rough draft, Second Rough Draft, Final Copy.
• Gridded, Dry Erase Mat
  1. It makes visualization easier
  2. It’s fun to draw on
  3. Gives everyone something to focus on
• Minifigures
  1. Same reasons as the mat above
  2. Minifigs are cool

(you should also probably check out Table Top)

How to create a Character

• Class (generalization)
  1. Barbarian
     1. Hard hitter
     2. Usually high health and defense
  2. Bard
     1. Blend between magic and melee
     2. Hardcore Support
     3. Medium health and medium defense
     4. Medium damage
  3. Cleric
     1. If you can’t decide what to be, go cleric and you can be pretty much whatever
     2. Seriously. You get a hammer and some cool spells. Then pick a spell based “class” that matches with almost all the other classes on here, but magic oriented
     3. Medium health and usually high defense.
     4. Medium damage
  4. Druid
     1. Option one: Nature oriented magic
     2. Option two: Turn into animals and bite everything
     3. Medium health and low defense
     4. Low starting damage. Increases exponentially
  5. Fighter
     1. You fight things
     2. Not as much health, but better defense than the barbarian; otherwise the same
  6. Monk
     1. Pretty much a Fighter/Barbarian with spells and some different feats
     2. Medium health and defense
     3. Average damage
  7. Paladin
     1. What happens when you combine a druid and a barbarian
     2. Hard hitting
     3. High Health and defense and minor healing capabilities
  8. Ranger
     1. Archer with melee capabilities
     2. Tricky fighter
     3. Gets a pet
     4. Medium Health and defense
     5. Hits consistently for decent damage
  9. Rogue
     1. Thief and assassin
     2. Get’s to stab and steal things
     3. Has lower health and defense
     4. Can hit really hard every so often (aka super high damage, sometimes)
  10. Sorcerer
      1. Destruction magic
      2. Low Health but medium-high damage and low defense
  11. Warlock
      1. Weird magic
      2. Melee oriented for a spell caster
      3. Medium damage and medium health and low defense
  12. Wizard
      1. THE spellcaster
      2. All the magic
      3. Low Health, range of damage, range of defense

• Race (generalization)
  1.  Dragonborn
     1. +2 Strength (=damage, good for any of the melee classes), and +1 Charisma (=Bard, Paladin, Cleric)
  2.  Dwarf
     1. +2 Constitution: bonus health (good for everyone)
     2. +1 Wisdom (=Cleric, Monk, or Druid), or +2 Strength (=damage, good for any of the melee classes) depending on your pick of sub race
  3.  Elf
     1. +2 Dexterity: Helps with attack order and not getting attacked (=Monks, Rogues, Rangers and Barbarians)
     2. +1 Intelligence (= Wizard Class), Wisdom (=Cleric, Monk, or Druid) , or Charisma (=Bard, Paladin, Cleric) depending on your pick of sub race
  4.  Gnome
     1. +2 Intelligence (=Wizard)
     2. +1 Dexterity: Helps with attack order and not getting attacked. (=Monks, Rogues, Rangers and Barbarians) or +1 Constitution: bonus health (good for everyone) depending on your pick of sub race
  5.  Halfling
     1. +2 Dexterity: Helps with attack order and not getting attacked. (=Monks, Rogues, Rangers and Barbarians)
     2. +1 Charisma (=Bard, Paladin, Cleric), or +1 Constitution: bonus health (good for everyone) depending on your pick of sub race
  6. Half Elf
     1. +2 Charisma (=Bard, Paladin, Cleric) and +1 to two other abilities
  7. Half Orc
     1. +1 Strength (=damage, good for any of the melee classes), and +2 Constitution: bonus health (good for everyone)
  8.  Human
     1. +1 to everything
     2. Can also get +1 to two of anything, plus an extra skill and feat
  9. Tiefling
     1. We won’t discuss tieflings. Don’t do that to your dungeon master

• Alignment (see picture and you get to choose one)

• “Rolling” for stats (choosing ability scores)
  1. Those abilities we spoke of earlier: charisma, dexterity, etc… are given points to build your character
  2. The Player’s Handbook is key to this.
• Equipment and Skills
  1. Each Race and Class has their own starting equipment and skills
  2. Again, you’ll need the handbook to determine these
• Feats
  1. These are special skills you can have. Dual wielding weapons, advantage on rolls, etc
  2. Again, handbook
• Background
  1. In 5e, it actually has a bit of impact on your character. Skills and such can be acquired
  2. Again, you need a handbook for this

How to start playing

• Location
  1. Anywhere you can sit and have space
  2. Basements are acceptable, though cliched
  3. A lot of comic book stores act as host, look into that
  4. You can also change locations each session, so don’t get locked down
• Snacks
  1. It’s not D&D if you don’t get to eat junk food while playing
  2. Or drink (or drink, if ya catch my drift)
  3. Since everyone has to be there to play, try rotating who brings consumables
• Table
  1. Any table would do, but those gaming tables are sweet
• Timeline
  1. A solid session usually takes over an hour or so
  2. Set a time limit on the game- it helps with planning and rate of play
  3. Longer than a few hours will be tedious for most-  so be careful
• Gameplay/Rules
  1. You’ll need that manual for most of the game
  2. You can do anything you want if the DM is flexible
  3. Rolling dice well is your only barrier

Beyond the Starter Kit

• What happens after you’ve decided to play and made your character is up to you and your group
• The manuals mentioned above should be enough of a resource for quite a lot of play time
• If you have to, it’s OK to try and kneecap your friends
• May the dice roll your way, friend

Questions? Need a Dungeon Master? Want to play with us? Hate our Starter Kit?

Drop us a line: theguys@nerdlithic.com

Tweet us: @nerdlithicguys

For more D&D, feel free to check out our tinkerer’s game he’s chronicling over at The Erelandis Archives.