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RufusFawn
2018-05-05, 09:03 PM
First and Foremost, I would like to sincerely apologize if i'm posting this in the wrong area or if the topic at hand seems kind of ignorant.

Hello, I've recently been invited to play Dungeons and Dragons with some friends of mine in town. I'm completely new to the game, and I really have no idea what I am doing. It all looks very complex and frightening but despite telling my friends that I don't think it's for me they keep persisting that I attempt to play it, and after about the 4th or 5th time they asked, I agreed.

The problem I am having is they have tasked me with the process of creating a character, I have not a clue as to how to do this in the slightest and any research I seem to do online of it just seems to make me even more confused than I previously was. I watched a couple of videos on it online and it still doesn't make much sense to me, as there was so much detail and stats and items and abilities and I just couldn't keep up with any of it.

In the end it has just made me more frustrated than anything and was wondering if anybody could possibly help or link me to some resources that might make a little bit more sense. I'm starting to feel as if my friends are getting annoyed by my lack of knowledge on how to do any of what they're asking of me

Koo Rehtorb
2018-05-05, 09:07 PM
They sound like jerks. Just ask them to make a character for you. If they're any good at all they'll ask you some leading questions about what sort of character you want and then make it based on those answers.

Kelb_Panthera
2018-05-05, 09:08 PM
Your best bet is to specify which edition of D&D you're playing and ask in the appropriate sub form. Most of the people here are pretty happy to help with newbs.

Peat
2018-05-05, 09:19 PM
Not the world's most promising start but we'll do what we can :)

D&D can be very complex - it can also be pretty simple once you've got the hang of a few numbers. Hopefully it'll all make sense in time.

What edition of D&D are they playing?

What about the idea of playing D&D attracts you (other than getting your friends to stop pestering you)?

What sort of character do you think would be fun to play? Do you really like the idea of being a frenzied barbarian, or a cunning magic user, or a dapper rogue? The big stoic type or the snarky wisecracking type? Etc.etc.

edit: I ask about character because there's no point learning all the systems at once - just the ones you need. Also, I'd point out now that the more magic your character has, the more complex it gets.

Finally - Kelb's right about asking this question in the right sub-forum. Or maybe ask a mod to move it?

RufusFawn
2018-05-05, 09:20 PM
Your best bet is to specify which edition of D&D you're playing and ask in the appropriate sub form. Most of the people here are pretty happy to help with newbs.

Ah gee... I didn't know there were multiple editions >.< Thanks for the reply.

RufusFawn
2018-05-05, 09:32 PM
Not the world's most promising start but we'll do what we can :)

D&D can be very complex - it can also be pretty simple once you've got the hang of a few numbers. Hopefully it'll all make sense in time.

What edition of D&D are they playing?

What about the idea of playing D&D attracts you (other than getting your friends to stop pestering you)?

What sort of character do you think would be fun to play? Do you really like the idea of being a frenzied barbarian, or a cunning magic user, or a dapper rogue? The big stoic type or the snarky wisecracking type? Etc.etc.

edit: I ask about character because there's no point learning all the systems at once - just the ones you need. Also, I'd point out now that the more magic your character has, the more complex it gets.

Finally - Kelb's right about asking this question in the right sub-forum. Or maybe ask a mod to move it?

Firstly, Thank you for replying. Been a little confusing navigating the forums (and just in general) and just hope it isn't in a bad spot.

Other than my friends pestering me to try the game, I think the idea of roleplaying a character can be a ton of fun. I sometimes roleplay online with a few friends as kind of just a fun way of interacting with eachother and we do it more as a storytelling/narrative way. I think the idea of a group narrative/storytelling for hours at a time could potentially be really compelling and immersive. It's when the complex RPG elements and mathematics kick in that really start to lose and confuse me.

Generally, in videogames I tend to play more of a Tank or Support role. I did briefly look over the classes and Barbarian and Bard piqued my interest. more-so Bard than Barbarian. The races were pretty cool too, I did like the Dragonborn and Humans. A lot of resources said that I should look over the Player's Handbook but I don't have my own copy and would much rather invest some time into learning the game before I go and spend some cash into something I don't know i'll entirely like or not.

as for edition... I'm not really sure. None of my friends specified which edition we were playing but I'd assume we were playing something more recent? Sorry if that isn't specific enough...

GrayDeath
2018-05-06, 02:40 AM
Dragonbor and Human as standard Races sound more like 5th Edition, which is a good idea for a "Total Newb" to try out the feeling. ;)


Both Bard and barbarian play VERY differently, but should be workable characters in just about every group.

However, we cannot stress this enough, ask your friends to build with you, ask them what the group already has, and for other details needed to build.
Expecting someone you just convinced to try D&D to build their first character alone is ... not ideal. :)

DonEsteban
2018-05-06, 03:14 AM
I agree with everybody that it would be your friends' job to build a character together with them. Then again, building a character is a (some say: "the most") fun part of playing. Provided that you play 5th (the newest) edition, everything you need to start is available for free. There are similar resources for other editions.:

The Basic rules (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules) have everything you need to build a character and start playing. Just follow the step-by-step guide. There is a PDF or a web version.

If you want to play something that it not in those rules (like Dragonborn or Bard), you can usually find it in one of the online SRDs like here (https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Dragonborn#content) or here (http://5e.d20srd.org/).

If you feel lazy, you could just pick one of the pregenerated characters. (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets) They're all good.

Sure the options can be confusing at first, but you will sort it all out pretty quickly once you start playing! If you have specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Kaibis
2018-05-06, 03:44 AM
The easiest way to create a character is to use DNDBeyond - this is the official site. Otherwise the first character that I created took me several hours of flipping through the PHB and figuring out what every term meant.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/builder

Berenger
2018-05-06, 05:38 AM
First: Don't worry. Gamers are a lot like zombies. Mobs of already infected persons procreate by sourrounding and savaging a reluctant victim until that victim joins their club. At first, the victim panics and kicks and struggles and screams things like "Uh, I'm not sure that zombie thing really is for me!" - that's completely normal at this stage of the process. Once the painful transformation is complete, it will be fun!

Second: Just tell your zombie ma... game master that you don't feel comfortable with making a character in a vacuum. Ask if you can come one or two hours earlier so he can tell you about the other players' characters and his particular game world and help you make a character that plays well with both. Only do the online character creation when you can't fit such an earlier meeting in your schedule.

Keltest
2018-05-06, 07:51 AM
Second: Just tell your zombie ma... game master that you don't feel comfortable with making a character in a vacuum. Ask if you can come one or two hours earlier so he can tell you about the other players' characters and his particular game world and help you make a character that plays well with both. Only do the online character creation when you can't fit such an earlier meeting in your schedule.

This, so much this. It doesn't even have to be the game master, just somebody who you trust not to screw you over. Even veteran players shouldn't be told to just make a character in a vacuum with no information about the setting or who the other players are playing.

JAL_1138
2018-05-06, 09:51 AM
I'm fairly active in Adventurers' League, the "organized-play" chapter of 5e, and I see a lot of new players come in, both new-to-5e and new-to-RPGs-period. It's standard practice in League to either offer pre-made characters, or to work with new players to build their characters before the session's scheduled start time.

I categorically think it's bad form for a group of experienced players to expect a newbie to build their first character on their own, without offering to help and explain the process and the rules.

But your group may simply not have thought of it--it's sometimes easy for experienced players to forget how befuddling the process can be to someone looking at it for the first time ever--even though it was confusing for us when we started out, too. We get so used to our own level of understanding of the rules, we might not even think about a new player not knowing where in the blazes these wacky numbers come from, especially since the rulebooks themselves (in any edition) tend not to do a fantastic job of explaining it in easy-to-follow terms.

If they're a group worth playing with, they'll be understanding if you tell them you're not comfortable creating a character by yourself, and someone will be willing to walk you through the process and help translate the rules into plain English—without giving you a hard time for it.

D&D really does get much easier to understand after you've played a few sessions. Don't worry if it's confusing now. You're not alone; it's a bit baffling to everybody starting out. It gets much easier to understand once you actually see the rules in action, and you'll learn and get more comfortable with it as you go.

Beans
2018-05-06, 10:13 AM
I'm going to agree that it's probably best to ask your experienced friends' help. After all, if they're going to knowingly ask a total novice to play, it's the least they can do to make the experience as easy as possible and accept that you're necessarily going to be slower on the uptake at first compared to them. Thankfully, 5e is simpler in some aspects than previous editions (as far as I can tell, at least). If you can get at least one of them to sit down with you and their copy of the corebook, that would be best.

I might somewhat recommend you go for something like a Barbarian or Fighter if you want to maximize simplicity, though Bards have the benefit that their spellcasting is simpler than, say, a Wizard's (in that you don't have to worry about spellbooks and prepared spells and such). You would still have to keep track of your spell slots and what your spells do, as well as your Bardic Inspiration---I myself have sometimes belatedly realized "hey, I have Bardic Inspiration I could use!"

If you like the idea of being tanky, a Fighter could do that very easily. In my wholly inexpert opinion:
1. Race-wise, human, dwarf, dragonborn, or half-orc seem like good ways to go. Humans are... basically pretty good at everything. Dwarves are hardy. Half-orcs can get some extra damage out of critical hits, and they can come back from a blow that should have knocked them out. Dragonborn get a breath weapon and some damage resistance toward an energy type (such as fire, cold, etc).
2. Maybe pick the chain mail from the starting equipment options. You don't have to worry about Dexterity at all in terms of your Armor Class then. (Armor Class is basically how hard it is for someone to hit you, and you want it nice and big.)
3. Your call whether you want to use a two-handed weapon or go for something one-handed and a shield. Shield gives you a bit more Armor Class and also ties into my next point.
4. You start with a Fighting Style; if you want to be tanky, I might recommend the "Defense" style (your armor gives you a little more Armor Class) or "Protection" (if you're holding a shield, once a round you can make it a bit harder for an enemy to hurt a friend standing next to you). I'm playing a character who has the Defense style (which, with chain mail and a shield, gives her 19 AC and makes her generally quite hard to hit) and a friend uses the Protection style to great effect.

Overall, this should probably give you a character who's pretty mechanically simple, which I think would be a good way to go for your very first time. You would have less stuff to worry about, and that could probably free up more of your attention for learning the basic rules and roleplaying a character.
Again, that's my totally inexpert opinion, but I figured I'd offer it.

RufusFawn
2018-05-06, 06:49 PM
Thanks so much to everybody that has replied to this thread, I have been quite nervous about everything but all of the suggestions and resources given have made have been very helpful.

I talked to my DM (GM?) and explained my problem a little bit better, they agreed to sit down when we get together next to explain some of the character creation aspects, and also run-through making a character to use for the campaign. (and they also explained that we're playing 5e edition.)

Deophaun
2018-05-06, 07:25 PM
Generally, in videogames I tend to play more of a Tank or Support role.
One piece of advice in coming from videogames to the tabletop that will save you a lot of hassle (and I wish someone would have told me beforehand): pants are not optional.

Chad Hooper
2018-05-06, 08:42 PM
Rufus (for lack of a better idea what to call you):smallsmile:,

If you haven't already firmly decided on a class/race combination based on the rules, I would suggest it would be better to come up with a character concept you would enjoy playing, based on fantastic fiction you have read/played in video game format/seen in a movie, or come up with a fantastical version of yourself that you can largely playbased on your own life experience/knowledge.

I've been a DM (about 80-90% of total playtime) since 1982. One of the best players I have ever had, forever known to all who played with him as Jorg Ironfist, was a Vietnam vet who never learned one real line of rule book text. He played Jorg (a fighter loosely based on a Viking-based fantasy character called Barak from David Eddings's books) based on his own life experience, largely street smarts from growing up poor and combat smarts from surviving Vietnam. His advice to the other party members never steered them wrong, and often steered them away from ambushes that were hinted at by my terrain description but no other player twigged to. When combat came up, he would tell me what he was doing based on that knowledge, and when the time came just ask, "what do I need to roll?".

Short story long, if you can play without being dependent on the rule books, you may surprise everyone around you quite a bit.

If through some crazy stretch of coincidence you happen to read this, we miss you, Steve, and I've always got a seat at my game table for you.

Kelb_Panthera
2018-05-06, 09:32 PM
Ah gee... I didn't know there were multiple editions >.< Thanks for the reply.

That's unfortunate.

The others are right though, your friends -should- be helping you with this more than anyone. If you still need help when they're not around though, c'mon back once you figure out which edition you're on.

Mordaedil
2018-05-07, 02:14 AM
It's worth noting that in all editions of D&D, fighters and the like are not comparible to MMO tank variants. Nothing really is, because tanking means losing.

Instead the game is a lot more focused on a hit and miss system, where you adjust the odds of being hit and odds of landing a hit. You can get lucky some of the time, but eventually the odds aren't going to be nice to you and you will get hit. That is why in combat your goal is to empty your enemies hit point totals before you take any hits. Battles aren't prolonged conflicts, but rather brutal skirmishes where the outcome can flip every round.

My only real recommendation is to focus on doing something you think is fun and then have fun with your friends.

Beans
2018-05-07, 09:33 AM
It's worth noting that in all editions of D&D, fighters and the like are not comparible to MMO tank variants. Nothing really is, because tanking means losing.

Instead the game is a lot more focused on a hit and miss system, where you adjust the odds of being hit and odds of landing a hit. You can get lucky some of the time, but eventually the odds aren't going to be nice to you and you will get hit. That is why in combat your goal is to empty your enemies hit point totals before you take any hits. Battles aren't prolonged conflicts, but rather brutal skirmishes where the outcome can flip every round.

My only real recommendation is to focus on doing something you think is fun and then have fun with your friends.

Mordaedil makes a good point! My use of the term "tanky" probably wasn't the most accurate, and there's probably better terms for the general idea of "a character who is both difficult to hit and has good health, such that foes' attacks on them are most often wasted, hopefully improving the lifespans of the character's easier-to-hit allies".

Anyway, I'm glad your friends are going to help you learn the game and make a character, and hopefully you have fun!

KillianHawkeye
2018-05-07, 10:15 PM
DM (GM?)

For the sake of being informative, DM (Dungeon Master) is D&D's proprietary term for the person who runs the game and arbitrates the rules. Other game systems often use more general terms like GM (Game Master), Storyteller, Referee, etc. or they may have their own proprietary terms for the role, but they all basically mean the same thing.

Pleh
2018-05-08, 07:27 AM
It's worth noting that in all editions of D&D, fighters and the like are not comparible to MMO tank variants. Nothing really is, because tanking means losing.

Instead the game is a lot more focused on a hit and miss system, where you adjust the odds of being hit and odds of landing a hit. You can get lucky some of the time, but eventually the odds aren't going to be nice to you and you will get hit. That is why in combat your goal is to empty your enemies hit point totals before you take any hits. Battles aren't prolonged conflicts, but rather brutal skirmishes where the outcome can flip every round.

This depends on how aggressive the players and DM are. If you're executing flawless system mastery in a competitive manner, yes, this tends to be the result.

The DM can just as easily say, "the goblins gang up on the dude in heavy armor cause he's scary and clearly the biggest threat."

The real threat to any Tank character in D&D is the way that attacks are resolved not in one or two ways, but in five or six. Most MMOs create tanks by having high defense (reducing odds of attacks landing) and high HP (increasing the number of successful attacks you can sustain before dropping).

In D&D, you also have to watch out for attacks that target Reflex, Will, and Fortitude. There are AoEs and Swarms that automatically hit (unless you have evasion, which most tanks don't), negating your AC. There are touch attacks that make armor irrelevant. There are game changing tactics (like the Grease spell; you may be a tank, but you're not much of a threat while lying prone on the floor). Then there's enemies with superior movement like flight (you may be a tank, but who cares when you're stuck on the ground, slowed by heavy armor?)

The usefulness of being Tanky in D&D is just limited (but not zero, you can still be a wall on the battlefield preventing enemies from freely attacking your allies). As you go higher in level, you'll need to become more than just tank.

For this reason, I recommend Cleric for a tanky support role. In addition to wearing heavy armor, they are also great with spellcasting, which gives you a ton of options on how to be helpful to the party. Plus, you're a healer, so the more experienced players will be motivated to keep you alive while you already have fantastic staying power in your own right.

Barbarian isn't really Tank as much as Meat Shield (tend to be low defense, but high HP), but they are an excellent front liner if you like running point on combat.

Bard is excellent support, but they'll be squishy. You'll have to play smart and stay out of the direct line of fire.

JAL_1138
2018-05-08, 08:32 AM
This depends on how aggressive the players and DM are. If you're executing flawless system mastery in a competitive manner, yes, this tends to be the result.

The DM can just as easily say, "the goblins gang up on the dude in heavy armor cause he's scary and clearly the biggest threat."

The real threat to any Tank character in D&D is the way that attacks are resolved not in one or two ways, but in five or six. Most MMOs create tanks by having high defense (reducing odds of attacks landing) and high HP (increasing the number of successful attacks you can sustain before dropping).

In D&D, you also have to watch out for attacks that target Reflex, Will, and Fortitude. There are AoEs and Swarms that automatically hit (unless you have evasion, which most tanks don't), negating your AC. There are touch attacks that make armor irrelevant. There are game changing tactics (like the Grease spell; you may be a tank, but you're not much of a threat while lying prone on the floor). Then there's enemies with superior movement like flight (you may be a tank, but who cares when you're stuck on the ground, slowed by heavy armor?)

The usefulness of being Tanky in D&D is just limited (but not zero, you can still be a wall on the battlefield preventing enemies from freely attacking your allies). As you go higher in level, you'll need to become more than just tank.

For this reason, I recommend Cleric for a tanky support role. In addition to wearing heavy armor, they are also great with spellcasting, which gives you a ton of options on how to be helpful to the party. Plus, you're a healer, so the more experienced players will be motivated to keep you alive while you already have fantastic staying power in your own right.

Barbarian isn't really Tank as much as Meat Shield (tend to be low defense, but high HP), but they are an excellent front liner if you like running point on combat.

Bard is excellent support, but they'll be squishy. You'll have to play smart and stay out of the direct line of fire.

OP clarified they're playing 5e upthread.

In the interest of preventing confusion, RufusFawn, the advice in Pleh's post is for a previous edition of D&D (and also applies to another game based off that prior edition called Pathfinder).
5th Edition D&D, which you and your group are playing, has much different, simpler rules, so don't worry about this stuff.

In 5e:

*There are no Reflex, Fortitude, or Will saves. Each of your stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) has an associated save used to avoid various harmful effects (for instance, a Dexterity save to avoid the cantrip Sacred Flame), which your group will help explain in character creation and during play.

*Swarms don't automatically hit, regardless of whether you have Evasion or not (Evasion is a Rogue class feature that helps avoid damage from effects you can make Dexterity saves against, like the Fireball spell for example). In 5e, swarms still have to hit your armor class.

*There are no "touch attacks" that bypass armor class. All attack rolls are against your armor class. (Many spells and other effects don't use attack rolls and instead require you to make a saving throw--either to avoid the effect outright or to take half damage, depending on the specific thing--or in rare cases you won't run into until higher levels, may take full effect automatically. The other exception is grappling, which is an opposed skill roll you defend against with the Athletics skill or Acrobatics skill.)

*Fighters and other frontline meatshields/damage-dealers work fine at higher levels--you don't need to branch out to other roles to be effective.

Pleh
2018-05-08, 09:00 AM
OP clarified they're playing 5e upthread.

In the interest of preventing confusion, RufusFawn, the advice in Pleh's post is for a previous edition of D&D (and also applies to another game based off that prior edition called Pathfinder).
5th Edition D&D, which you and your group are playing, has much different, simpler rules, so don't worry about this stuff.

In 5e:

*There are no Reflex, Fortitude, or Will saves. Each of your stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) has an associated save used to avoid various harmful effects (for instance, a Dexterity save to avoid the cantrip Sacred Flame), which your group will help explain in character creation and during play.

*Swarms don't automatically hit, regardless of whether you have Evasion or not (Evasion is a Rogue class feature that helps avoid damage from effects you can make Dexterity saves against, like the Fireball spell for example). In 5e, swarms still have to hit your armor class.

*There are no "touch attacks" that bypass armor class. All attack rolls are against your armor class. (Many spells and other effects don't use attack rolls and instead require you to make a saving throw--either to avoid the effect outright or to take half damage, depending on the specific thing--or in rare cases you won't run into until higher levels, may take full effect automatically. The other exception is grappling, which is an opposed skill roll you defend against with the Athletics skill or Acrobatics skill.)

*Fighters and other frontline meatshields/damage-dealers work fine at higher levels--you don't need to branch out to other roles to be effective.

I apologize. I knew the thread was 5e, but I haven't had much chance to play the system. I thought the ability saves were in addition to the standard saves rather than being in place of.

JAL_1138
2018-05-08, 09:51 AM
I apologize. I knew the thread was 5e, but I haven't had much chance to play the system. I thought the ability saves were in addition to the standard saves rather than being in place of.

No worries. You're not alone there either; this comes up a lot in League--3rd Edition and Pathfinder players can sometimes have a trickier time learning 5e initially than newbies do, because so much seems similar at first until you get into the details. A lot of stuff got dropped altogether, a lot of stuff got changed around in major or minor ways, new stuff got added, and a lot of terms that were used in 3rd/PF now mean something different. While there are a lot of similarities between 3rd/PF and 5e, it's easier and safer to assume nothing carries over at all, and approach it as if it were a totally new system.

By the way, RufusFawn, this is why everyone was asking which edition you were playing. D&D's "editions" are often more like "completely different games that happen to still be called D&D."

SirGraystone
2018-05-10, 01:08 PM
Since you don't have the Player Handbook to help you, you can start with this document

http://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/PlayerBasicRulesV03.pdf

The advice to get an hour before the game and asks you Dungeon Master helps is probably the best way to go.

But a few suggestion for "noobs":

- You'll do mistake, we all did, we all were new to this game at some points, don't worry about it.
- You'll see many posts about "optimizing" character, you don't have too. Yes some choice make stronger character in combat but you don't have to optimize everything, play what is fun to play for you and don't let others bullying you into changing your choices.
- Start with the basic, don't worry about what your character will be at level 20 most campaign never reach that level anyway. If you want to plan a character look up to level 5 or so. I would also stay away from multiclassing on a first character.
- Remember this game is not about how many monsters you kill or how much coins you can get, it's about telling a story and having fun.

Slipperychicken
2018-05-11, 10:49 AM
Ah gee... I didn't know there were multiple editions >.< Thanks for the reply.

Each edition of D&D is quite different. They're not just updates to the same game, but are different games entirely. If I gave you advice for 4th edition's character creation rules, for example, it would not apply to the 5th edition.

The game's writers don't seem to like saying explicitly which edition each one is. But we could easily identify it. If you could post a link to the logo or cover art of the book (or the rules if you're looking at an online source), we'd be able to tell immediately which edition it is and give you advice tailored to it.

Consensus
2018-05-11, 11:05 AM
Each edition of D&D is quite different. They're not just updates to the same game, but are different games entirely. If I gave you advice for 4th edition's character creation rules, for example, it would not apply to the 5th edition.

The game's writers don't seem to like saying explicitly which edition each one is. But we could easily identify it. If you could post a link to the logo or cover art of the book (or the rules if you're looking at an online source), we'd be able to tell immediately which edition it is and give you advice tailored to it.
It's already confirmed to have been 5e

HalezYeah
2018-05-11, 11:23 AM
The easiest way to create a character is to use DNDBeyond - this is the official site. Otherwise the first character that I created took me several hours of flipping through the PHB and figuring out what every term meant.




DNDBeyond is a great place to not only create a character but to learn what it means to create and flesh out a character. You can make up to 6 characters to see which type you like.

King of Nowhere
2018-05-12, 04:42 AM
A lot of resources said that I should look over the Player's Handbook

Just google "D&D [name of the concept]" and you'll be fine. the core of each edition has been released for free by the developers. Even stufff that was not released for free is found pirated, and often so openly that you won't even know it is pirated.
Of course you should first ask your friends which edition. Then you can go something like "D&D 3.5 barbarian" or "D&D 5 bard" and get all the information you need.

I recommend buying the manual later, if you like the game and stay, to support the creators.

Rynjin
2018-05-14, 01:12 AM
I will point out that there is a character creation section in the PHB, which should at least give you a solid guideline for what you need to do. Follow it in order and look up any terms you don't understand as you go along and everything should fall into place well enough. If your friends are pressuring you into playing but haven't provided a copy of the rulebook (Player's Handbook) to you...well, that's a bit shortsighted of them to say the least. Start by procuring a copy of that; I learned my first system by wiki-walking the Pathfinder SRD, and it was not preferable to simply having a book (a PDF is available as well).

That said, you're likely to have a lot of questions during and after that process since even 5e can be pretty dense reading all in one go (learning a new system takes a bit of brain bending, especially since it's you're first one), so I think people will be happy to help with more specific questions as you come across them.

A good thing about 5e for new players is it doesn't really punish you for picking what sounds cool unlike previous editions of D&D, so just start with the races section, pick which one sounds cool, then do the same for class. If you're used to playing MMOs, a lot of the basic optimization concepts apply: certain classes work off certain attributes, and each race gives a bonus to specific attributes. If you want to optimize, start with lining those up.

Once you've picked those, determine your stats using whatever method your friends are doing, and your character is mostly done; everything else is derived from those three starting points, and keeping track of those along with teaching you how combat works SHOULD be something your friends are helping you with during your first session.

SirGraystone
2018-05-14, 09:21 AM
I talked to my DM (GM?)

GM is Game Master, DM is Dungeon Master they are both the same thing but the name Dungeon Master is more specially use by Dungeon and Dragon players.