Beginning the Tabletop Experience

[Faerrin]

I am new to tabletop gaming, and I can't very well go over to my friend's house so he can teach me. So I need someone to guide me to a good place to start. Is there somewhere here that would be good, or is there somewhere else I can look? I really love the idea of D&D and I would love to start somewhere. Well, somewhere gentle hopefully. I have lots of questions!

[Carlyle]

I am new to tabletop gaming, and I can't very well go over to my friend's house so he can teach me. So I need someone to guide me to a good place to start. Is there somewhere here that would be good, or is there somewhere else I can look? I really love the idea of D&D and I would love to start somewhere. Well, somewhere gentle hopefully. I have lots of questions!

@Faerrin

Rulebooks tend to have a tutorial that you can follow to make a character of your own. It really just depends on what system and/or edition you'd like to play, but since you're a beginner to tabletop, I'd suggest sticking with D&D or possibly even Pathfinder. I know D&D 5e is pretty huge on the guild, for example.

[POOHEAD189]

I have lots of questions!

@Faerrin

Well, if you list your questions off I'd be glad to help you. But if you're looking to get into D&D particular, I suggest the current 5th edition as it has a simpler ruleset (which I have mixed feelings on, but it's very easy to learn). I also suggest finding rulebooks on this site. Almost every PDF you need is there.

[BangoSkank]

There are also DnD 3.5 games ongoing, here and in the Discord

[POOHEAD189]

3.5 is the best edition, but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners.

[Faerrin]

@POOHEAD189 First, questions about how the evolution of stats work. I know the base depends on what you roll but does evolving your character work similarly? Or does the GM/DM "gift" points for certain tasks? Also, skills and attributes. I assume they have to make sense for the character's background, like a magic-wielder would be less skilled in hand-to-hand and weapons; as well as more intellect. Illusionists could dabble in things like poisons and potions, maybe even weapons if necessary; most likely their highest attribute is charm. Am I correct in my thinking? Also, are there specific skills that only certain species have or specifically cannot have (like dwarves in Dragon Age cannot wield magic)? I probably have more questions, but those are the immediate things that come to mind.

[POOHEAD189]

@POOHEAD189 First, questions about how the evolution of stats work. I know the base depends on what you roll but does evolving your character work similarly? Or does the GM/DM "gift" points for certain tasks? Also, skills and attributes. I assume they have to make sense for the character's background, like a magic-wielder would be less skilled in hand-to-hand and weapons; as well as more intellect. Illusionists could dabble in things like poisons and potions, maybe even weapons if necessary; most likely their highest attribute is charm. Am I correct in my thinking? Also, are there specific skills that only certain species have or specifically cannot have (like dwarves in Dragon Age cannot wield magic)? I probably have more questions, but those are the immediate things that come to mind.

@Faerrin

It really depends on the edition and what set rules your DM gives you. You can do "point buy" which means you have 20 points to put into a stat calculator to add to each of your stats, which begin at base 10. Or you can roll for your stats.

In general people's skills do reflect their class, but not entirely and sometimes not at all!

In some editions, some races cannot be certain classes, but usually races just help you be worse/better.

[Faerrin]

@POOHEAD189 Thank you! That was actually really helpful! Would you mind if I PM you at a later point if I have more questions? I'll be sure to check out different sites to locate answers, and I'll only come to you if I can't find anything/just get more confused.

[POOHEAD189]

@Faerrin Sure :)

[Carlyle]

@POOHEAD189@Faerrin Dropping this link here if it'd help either of you for discussing 5e:

5e.tools/5etools.html

[Milkman]

I am new to tabletop gaming, and I can't very well go over to my friend's house so he can teach me. So I need someone to guide me to a good place to start. Is there somewhere here that would be good, or is there somewhere else I can look? I really love the idea of D&D and I would love to start somewhere. Well, somewhere gentle hopefully. I have lots of questions!

@Faerrin

Start with finding a gaming group. Dependig on where you live thatbcan be either face to face (maybe hard during corona times) or online.

There are sites like roll20.net to game on and people often use skype or discord for communication.

Best thing to do when you find a group is letting them know that youre entirely new to the system well in advance and ask them for help before the first session is even planned.

For a smooth experience for everyone on the table make sure you come prepared. That means you understand the basic mechanics and how your character functions on a mechanical level. Nothing more anyoning then having a player at the table who takes 10 minutes every turn to look up what they can do and what dice to roll :)

Also there are a billon youtube vids on this topic. Go find them ^^

P.S.
If youre Dutch you can drop me a pm because you might be able to.play along in a d&d 5e campaign on roll20 i am part of.