Im looking for someone who can teach me how to play.

[Caius Bucklae]

Hello, Im new to dungeons and dragons and really want to try playing it. Unfortunately I know nothing about it except that its an RPG. I need help with the rules, character builds, classes, and where to start, whats an easy class to start as and where can I find someone who could help me learn. I also would like to know where to find people to play with. If anyone can help me that would be much appreciated. I also have evil powers so if you help me Ill grant you the powers of the Y'leth. Anyway Ill take any support that you could offer me. Thanks and have fun with your adventures.

-Caius 'Buck' Bucklae

[Legato Endless]

Hello, Im new to dungeons and dragons and really want to try playing it. Unfortunately I know nothing about it except that its an RPG. I need help with the rules, character builds, classes, and where to start, whats an easy class to start as and where can I find someone who could help me learn. I also would like to know where to find people to play with. If anyone can help me that would be much appreciated. I also have evil powers so if you help me Ill grant you the powers of the Y'leth. Anyway Ill take any support that you could offer me. Thanks and have fun with your adventures.

-Caius 'Buck' Bucklae

First, what version? I'm assuming based on forum placement you want to learn 3.5? What edition makes something of a difference. If you want summaries of the various differences, we'd only be too happy to expound.

There's a couple of ways to grasp the rules. The Player's Guide will give you everything you need to know, albeit in a poorly formatted way. Better would be to play a tutorial game, of which there are dozens freely available with a decent DM. What would probably be the most efficient would be to put in a request or join a beginner friendly game on a site.

Here on the Playground is one, RPG.Net is another. If you're looking for social interaction beyond words on a screen, Roll 20.net is a relatively new service for gaming via Skype for video/audio interaction. Although there tends to be lots of competition for the more popular formats.

The classic starting class for DnD is the fighter, as it lacks the bookkeeping and counterintuitive optimal play of the mage classes, but as long as you're patient there really isn't a (particularly) wrong way among the default core classes. Outside of that, things can get a bit dicey until you know what you're doing.

Builds and class advice are more straightforward. Once you've gotten an idea what you want, just post your concept here and people will mosey around with some advice for fine-tuning it.

Edit: By here I mean on the relevant subforum for the system.

[Aleolus]

Let me be among the first to say; Welcome to DnD, here's hoping you find many years of enjoyment from it!

Now, as for your questions, there are a lot of possible sources to help you learn the game, including the SRD online.

As for classes, personally I'm a fan of the Incarnum system. You get access to a bunch of fun and fairly useful magic-like abilities, which can be swapped around as you feel appropriate on a daily basis, without needing to worry about silly things like spells per day or power point reserves. is it a perfect system? Absolutely not, its difficult to optimize, annd a lot of the feats in the book are near useless. But, I think it has a lot of flavor appeal, and is well worth checkinng out

[GilesTheCleric]

If you're looking for folks to play with, we have a play-by-post forum here. There's other options like playing on an online tabletop like Roll20.net, or finding a local group at your Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS) or via a site like meetup.com.

In terms of 3.5 classes that are easy to learn to play, I recommend the barbarian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/barbarian.htm) for learning the combat (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatStatistics.htm#attackRoll) mechanics (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatStatistics.htm#damage) and some special combat actions (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm) (charge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#charge), trip (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#trip), disarm (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#disarm)). Once you've got that and how the d20 system (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/theBasics.htm#theCoreMechanic) works generally, try out a cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/cleric.htm) to learn how casting (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm) works (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/divineSpells.htm#preparingDivineSpells).

You'll want a character sheet (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/files/DnD_charactersheet.zip) handy, since it helps to see where the things you read about go. That's the official 3.5 sheet; it's organized so that things that make sense grouped together are together. Typically when you're building your character (following the guide on page 5 of the 3.5 Player's Handbook), you'll fill in fields starting at the top of the sheet and work your way down. Mythweavers (http://www.myth-weavers.com/user/login) has an online version of the sheet that you can easily share with folks so they can make sure everything is filled out correctly.

Watching other folks play can be a good way to learn; if you're into LPs, youtube also features folks playing tabletop D&D. Folks who play D&D tend to use a fair amount of jargon beyond the rules terms; you can look up what things mean here (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?470379-The-Unofficial-Dungeons-amp-Dragons-Forum-Glossary). We have a thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?460263-Simple-RAW-thread-for-3-5-31-By-now-your-question-has-probably-been-answered) for simple rules questions as well. Oh, and here's a guide (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?471536-The-Absolute-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Starting-D-amp-D-(ZombieGleeMax)).

Despite all of this, you might want to consider starting with 5th edition (the newest edition). Your FLGS will very likely have a 5e "D&D Adventurer's League" group that should be friendly and open to folks new to the game, and the rules are both similar to 3.5 and less complex.

[Red Fel]

Hello, Im new to dungeons and dragons and really want to try playing it. Unfortunately I know nothing about it except that its an RPG. I need help with the rules, character builds, classes, and where to start, whats an easy class to start as and where can I find someone who could help me learn. I also would like to know where to find people to play with. If anyone can help me that would be much appreciated. I also have evil powers so if you help me Ill grant you the powers of the Y'leth. Anyway Ill take any support that you could offer me. Thanks and have fun with your adventures.

-Caius 'Buck' Bucklae

Sweet thing, let me tell you 'bout the world, and the way things are-uh.
You've come from a diff'rent place, and I'm sure that you've traveled far-uh.
Now that you've told me what it is... (Da da dada dah)
I'm gonna point you... Toward the Wiz.

That's me, by the way. I'm playing the role of the Wiz in this little microdrama.

Welcome to the forums, and to D&D at large. I'd suggest starting with the SRD, or System Reference Document. The SRD contains content that Wizards of the Coast released under the OGL (Open Gaming License), and an easily-navigated copy can be found here (http://www.d20srd.org/). It includes basic information from D&D 3.5 edition, from the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and other sources, as well as additional content from other books offering variant rules.

D&D 3.5 is a system that has come and gone; as such, there is a lot of material, and nothing new forthcoming. Anything that's out there, and there's plenty of it, is all there is, so you can start to familiarize yourself with content without fear that your knowledge will be rendered obsolete.

Others have suggested that you start with D&D 5th Ed. This is a fair suggestion; it's much more streamlined, or so I'm told, and this makes it easier for newcomers. 3.5e is heavy on "crunch," or mechanics; there are lots of nitpicky little details about how to do this and that.

The best way to learn how to play D&D is simply to play it. Towards that end, as has been suggested, I advise you to join a local gaming group, or try out one of the games offered in the Play-by-Post (PbP) forums here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?13-Ongoing-Games-%28In-Character%29). (You can find recruitment threads for PbP games here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?51-Finding-Players-%28Recruitment%29).)

Oh, one last thing. I'd advise against boasting of your purported Evilness. Not because there are Paladins afoot - which, inevitably, there are - but because I don't fancy competition.

[NomGarret]

What other games have you played - rpg or otherwise? Also is there a particular type of character or story that speaks to you? This will give us a feel for how best to describe things and may point you towards different options.

[GilesTheCleric]

The d20 SRD as noted has all the rules you need to play 3.5 available for free. 5e also has the free basic rules (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?471536-The-Absolute-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Starting-D-amp-D-(ZombieGleeMax)), and if you hear folks talking about pathfinder (PF), that's just a modified version of 3.5 and also available for free (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?471536-The-Absolute-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Starting-D-amp-D-(ZombieGleeMax)).

The best thing about lawful good is that we're accepting. No matter what your background might be, we welcome you to join us and learn our philosophy. Stick to it. Rely on it. It's comforting. You'll be doing The Right ThingTM. Maybe in time you'll also help others to see the errors of their undisciplined, uncaring ways.

[DataNinja]

Oh, one last thing. I'd advise against boasting of your purported Evilness. Not because there are Paladins afoot - which, inevitably, there are - but because I don't fancy competition.

I already warned them. And/or pointed them in your direction. Potayto, potahto, really. :smallbiggrin:

[Caius Bucklae]

What other games have you played - rpg or otherwise? Also is there a particular type of character or story that speaks to you? This will give us a feel for how best to describe things and may point you towards different options.
Well I've played all the Elder Scrolls games from Arena to Skyrim, World of Warcraft, Divinity, Fallout, and Heretic/Hexen.

[Caius Bucklae]

[I]
Oh, one last thing. I'd advise against boasting of your purported Evilness. Not because there are Paladins afoot - which, inevitably, there are - but because I don't fancy competition.

I guess Ill have to settle for "Acolyte of Mild Misdoings" rather than dark lord of all hells. And Ill try and find a group who can play a tutorial game with me.