Tips for first time DnD player?

[Jaxton Ravos]

So a co-worker was just like "Hey Connor, have you ever role played?" And I'm like "Uhh, you mean with dice and stuff?" "Yeah, like DnD." "Never." "I think you'd enjoy it. You should come sometime." So now I'm heading for a session on wednesday. Ran out a comic book store rather than dedicated peeps so I'm expecting it to be more casual than normal but I don't know. 5th edition IIRC.

Y'all know me decently well. I can minmax but I enjoy story. What should I be preparing for?

[member="Ashin Varanin"]
[member="Fabula Cavataio"]
[member="Cira"]
@Anyone Else I know who DnD's

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Roll a Warlock.

 

[Ghorumgash Khazund-Veranum]

Roll a Dwarven Druid and then Dwarven Defender

 

[Yoru Shakou]

Don't piss off the DM.


No seriously. Don't do it. No good will ever come of pissing off the DM.

 

[Jsc]

5th Edition is farely new so you're in for a treat. I grabbed the Handbook only back in November myself. As for actually playing? Creating a character takes time but is tons of fun with imput and advice from your friends. Complimenting the party loadout is fun too and let's everyone try new things. But truthfully, it's just another social experiement like any other. Such as playing football, or ice skating, or going country dancing. Your attitude and the companionship of your peers will determine mostly if you decide to have fun or not.

Trust in your skills as a writer. Of which you are an excellent one. And then decide early that no matter what happens? You'll make it a great experience and one to remember!

Enjoy and best wishes.

- J

 

[Grimm]

DROW one of the best races now useable! WARLOCK OR ROUGE! I mean there cool, great stats and involve many different styles. I like the skill monkey route, able to use other magic items and than destroy my entire party after they have become useless. ^_^

Just have fun, choose what you would like to be and just go for it.

[member="Jaxton Ravos"]

 

[Eleos]

I'm a pirate named Fergus OHaggerty with 18 str and cha

Me and a friend turned the town into a cult who think I slayed a dragon with one beard hair

Anyhow the most important thing is to have fun, I do it by screwing around, but I'm not too sure if anyone likes me, just friends of a friend :S
Also have confidence when speaking, be part of the group and don't get dragged around, have fun mate.

 

[Louise]

If your party gets locked below the deck on a wooden ship and your aggressors set the boat on fire, they only want to talk.

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[Fabula Caromed]

5e is remarkably simple, as they've taken out feats. Most of your character decisions are made at and around 4th level, to give you some time to get adjusted to your character. Pick a race you enjoy, but make sure your stats are functional.

Now. As for everything else.

D&D has the capacity to be a hack-and-slash game, a tactical wargame, a story-heavy epic, a tale of intrigue, or anything in-between. It really does just depend on your DM. It helps if you know who you're playing with, and who's leading the table. I've had mechanics-heavy DMs, DMs who had no clue what they were doing, DMs who cared way more for the story than any silly rules, and (again) everything in-between. The DM dictates the flavor, but the other players influence it strongly.

Basically, do what you want to do, but definitely talk to the rest of the table.

 

[Fabula Caromed]

Oh, and if you were looking for class summaries...

Barbarian: Basically invincible, great damage output, extremely one-note.
Bard: Friggin' overpowered master-of-all characters. They get access to literally every spell list in the game and some decent combat stuff.
Cleric: Unfortunately got the butt of the new redesigns, but still good at party support.
Druid: Haven't looked into them much. I know they've been nerfed to hell and back.
Fighter: The kings of DPS. Period. Fighters out-damage everything when played with even a base level of competence.
Monk: Still get shafted at high levels, but their ride up to high level is incredibly smooth due to the class in general being front-loaded.
Paladin: Melee fighter that deals elemental damage rather than physical. Rapes anything with a weakness to radiant. Bards poach Pally spells.
Ranger: Probably tied with cleric for butt monkey. Two-weapon rangers still hit pretty hard, but ranged and beast builds are both lackluster.
Rogue: Critmaster assassin build and arcane trickster are both incredibly formidable. Haven't checked the other one.
Sorcerer: Standard blaster. No real change from PF.
Warlock: THE ranged damage house of the game. Curse something, eldritch blast until it's a smoking heap. Repeat.
Wizard: Still a wizard. No change.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Jaxton Ravos"]
Haven't tried 5e; everything else I would have said was already said by Fabs.

 

[Daxton Bane]

My advice would depend on your play style. I tend to play healers or rogues. Healers cuz everyone needs them and leaving the healer behind is like shooting yourself in the foot and limping off to fight a dragon. rogues because they have a chance to side step traps and damage, plus you can find many ways to fill your pouches if you are resourceful enough.

 

[Edward Vyperion]

My advice would depend on your play style. I tend to play healers or rogues. Healers cuz everyone needs them and leaving the healer behind is like shooting yourself in the foot and limping off to fight a dragon. rogues because they have a chance to side step traps and damage, plus you can find many ways to fill your pouches if you are resourceful enough.

I'd say this, except I try for melee at all times :3 Once made a Shifter Barbarian named "Garrett" and put him in the Frostfell of Ebberon

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I found it interesting that none of the advice was actually about stats and crap like that, but about the approach to it. OOC communication, have fun, chillax. I can do that.

Oh, and because why not.

Oh, and if you were looking for class summaries...

Barbarian: Basically invincible, great damage output, extremely one-note.
Bard: [member="Spencer Jacobs"]
Cleric: [member="Anders Sivas"]
Druid: Haven't looked into them much. I know they've been nerfed to hell and back.
Fighter: The kings of DPS. Period. Fighters out-damage everything when played with even a base level of competence.
Monk: [member="Fabula Cavataio"]
Paladin: Melee fighter that deals elemental damage rather than physical. Rapes anything with a weakness to radiant. Bards poach Pally spells.
Ranger: Probably tied with cleric for butt monkey. Two-weapon rangers still hit pretty hard, but ranged and beast builds are both lackluster.
Rogue: [member="Sarge Potteiger"]
Sorcerer: [member="Darth Hauntruss"]
Warlock: [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Wizard: Still a wizard. No change.

 

[Darth Assimilus]

DnD ive always wanted to try it

 

[Jen]

Just play a halfling rogue/sorcerer and scare everyone with your amazing charisma. Most comical thing there is.

 

[Crucius Sin]

[member="Jaxton Ravos"]

Battle-mage for the win!

I loved walking up to people in my Fighter armor, and then Shocking their faces off... But all your XP is split between the two classes, so watch out.

 

[Fabula Caromed]

Unless you do the smart thing and pick a class that's designed to be a gish from the outset, in which case your XP is pretty much fine and your class works better than just being half of two other classes.

Magus > Duskblade > Fighter/Mage. Try it next time. Saves a ton of headache. Magus is my flagship class for a very good reason.

Spoiler

Technically, it's Abjurant Champion/Eldritch Knight > Magus > Duskblade > Fiighter/Mage, but most games don't last long enough for AbjCh/EK to pay off. Magus and Duskblade are much more serviceable.

 

[Tefka]

Try your best to never argue w/ your DM

Ask your DM lots of questions, even if they fall outside the rules.

Try your best to integrate your characters background into your actions. Your DM can and will, on occasion, grant you bonus experience (or items) for extraordinary roleplaying

Try your best to be innovative but dont be too stupid. DMs like killing too stupid.

 

[Strider Garon]

Ahhh, I miss such campaigns. a while back we tried WRPG (fantasy warhammer's version of D&D). The game is awesome, ruthless and unforgiving. Especially with the DM we had. Our first outing, at very low levels we got a random encounter with a Wyvren. Lets just say all of us almost had to rewrite a new character that night.