New player: what I should read before the first session?

[Wrain]

In about 10 days I will start a 5ed d&d campaign with other three friends. We played a bit of 3.5 but we wanted to try 5ed for the sake of curiosity.

So, in order to not waste any precious play time, what should I read before the first session?

Thanks!

[Sigreid]

Assuming you're a player and not the DM. I suggest reading the class/subclass descriptions for your character and the characters of the other players and familiarizing yourself with their abilities and how combat, magic and skills work. All this is in the PHB.

Good luck! I like this edition and hope you have fun.

[leogobsin]

I would say chapters 7-9 of the PHB (and chapter 10 if you'll be playing a spellcaster) should give you everything you need to know as a player, along with a full reading of whatever class you're going to be playing.

[JakOfAllTirades]

If you're playing a spell caster, don't forget to read the descriptions of the spells you know.

Or if you're a cleric/druid (or similar class) figure out which spells you'll prepare, and read those.

[Daphne]

I would say chapters 7-9 of the PHB (and chapter 10 if you'll be playing a spellcaster) should give you everything you need to know as a player, along with a full reading of whatever class you're going to be playing.

As leogobsin said, you just need to read Part 2 of the PHB (which is about 20 pages long, when disconsidering the art). But I'll advise to also read the Introduction and the Step-by-Step Character first.

[Wrain]

Thanks to our DM we have PHB / DMG and MM. I'm probably going to buy an additional PHB.
I'll try to read at least chapter 7-10 of the PHB and the details of my class / race.

It's important to have a dedicated healer in the party? What class are capable to heal?

[Sigreid]

Thanks to our DM we have PHB / DMG and MM. I'm probably going to buy an additional PHB.
I'll try to read at least chapter 7-10 of the PHB and the details of my class / race.

It's important to have a dedicated healer in the party? What class are capable to heal?

Its helpful to have someone with healing magic but you can get by without one.

Off the top fo mu head the PHB classes that can heal are
Cleric
Druid
Bard
Paladin
Ranger

[nickl_2000]

Its helpful to have someone with healing magic but you can get by without one.

Off the top fo mu head the PHB classes that can heal are
Cleric
Druid
Bard
Paladin
Ranger

At level 1
Cleric, Bard, Druid, and Divine Soul Sorcerer (from Xanathar's) can cast healing spells.
Celestial Warlock (from Xanathar's) and Paladin gets healing pools.

At level 2 Ranger gets healing spells.

Fighter gets some self heals

You can also get a huge amount of healing from the Healer Feat and a huge amount of temp hp from the inspiring leader feat.


You can survive without healing magic with short rest hit dice, but it is harder. If you do, make sure you have healing kits.

[Sigreid]

Yep. But I was assuming that they will only have the core books. At least for now.

[Darkbru]

Maybe I'm just crazy; but, I read the entire PHB before my first session. I read everything from how to create a character, each race, each class (even though I had a good idea which class I was going to play and then promptly changed my mind after reading about the Warlock), backgrounds...you get the picture. I wanted to make myself fully familiar with the PHB at minimum to understand my responsibilities as a PC and to be able to help other players if they decided to not read up on everything. I then dipped into the DMG. After that I basically started picking up the other books. But my suggestion is to read the PHB fully to familiarize yourself with 5e. In 10 days you should be able to get through it with no problem.

[Grear Bylls]

I'm so glad that you, as a new player, are inclined to read. Definitely read your class, race, and 173-198 of the PHB. If your going caster, read those rules. Also, try and read the equipment section, and if your DM allows it, feats and multiclassing.

[Wrain]

I'm so glad that you, as a new player, are inclined to read. Definitely read your class, race, and 173-198 of the PHB. If your going caster, read those rules. Also, try and read the equipment section, and if your DM allows it, feats and multiclassing.
Well, more I know less the DM have to use precious session time teaching me stuff :D

Plus DMs use their time outside the session to prepare awesome adventures for the players.
I should at least know enought to play my character before the first session.

Thanks for all the advices... in the end I'll probably read the PHB cover to cover.

[Honest Tiefling]

Well, more I know less the DM have to use precious session time teaching me stuff :D

Plus DMs use their time outside the session to prepare awesome adventures for the players.

You're not wrong, but a good DM can take a few minutes to help you if you get confused. However, feel free to post in these forums about questions, and don't worry, everyone was a newbie once.

When I play a spellcaster, I often write down spells for reference instead of flipping through the book. I also suggest doing this for any fancy ability you might have, including feats. Rewriting things often helps me remember them, but everyone is different.

As for the race parts, I STRONGLY suggest NOT reading these. I would ask your DM what setting you're going for first, as the race sections are MOSTLY, but not COMPLETELY applicable to the Forgotten Realms. Don't waste your time reading the drow section if the DM wants to run a story about desert dwelling patriarchal dark elves or something.

As for a healer, technically, no, you don't need one, but it's often a better idea to go with one, especially for newbies. Gives you a bit more wiggle room and you don't need to plan ahead as much with builds/gear/tactics.

[Contrast]

We played a bit of 3.5 but we wanted to try 5ed for the sake of curiosity.

I don't think anyone said it yet so worth mentioning - don't assume because something is called the same that it works the same way it did in 3.5.

[Kane0]

5e Cheat Sheets (https://imgur.com/r/dndnext/Zmuxu).

After that, read over your race and class in the PHB, plus any relevant feats and spells depending on what you are playing.

- Proficiency bonus is used for skill/ability checks, attacks and saving throws instead of BAB, save progressions and skill points. It's all based off Stat + Proficiency, and the numbers are lower and scale slower. HP and abilities/options are the primary differentiation between low and high levels.
- Due to reduced scaling of basic numbers (skills, attacks, damage, AC) it is expected that low CR creatures remain a threat to higher level parties in significant numbers. This is intended.

- You have a saving throw type for each attribute.
- You can't have a stat higher than 20 by normal means, nor a stat higher than 30 by any means.
- Movement is not an action, and actions can happen between movement. Bonus actions are like swifts, reactions are like immediates. No action can be traded for another type. You can also make one interaction (grab a weapon, open a door, etc) per turn for free.
- You cannot delay, only ready an action.
- Only one thing provokes an AoO: Moving out of a creatures reach.
- Learn the advantage / disadvantage mechanic, it replaces 90% of fiddly +1s and +2s.
- Dying works differently. You only die outright when you take damage equal to your max HP in one hit after reaching 0. When reduced to 0 you make saving throws, three successes stabilizes you and 3 failures you die. Taking damage while making death saves counts as one failure.
- Damage resistance, reduction and vulnerability is simplified. It's half damage, doesn't exist (as such) and double damage respectively.

- There are two kinds of rest: short and long. There is expected to be two short rests for every long on average, which is important to maintain balance short rest classes (monk, warlock) against long rest classes (paladin, sorcerer).
- Everybody can heal via hit die, which are spent during short rests.

- Concentration is a thing you need to know well. Most buff, debuff and control spells need concentration, and you can concentrate on one thing at a time. You have a chance to lose concentration each time you take damage.
- All casting is 'spontaneous', though the list of spells available for you to choose from may change based on how your class handles it.

- Levels 1-3 are supposed to go by very quickly, and 4-5 fairly quickly. The majority of PC time is angled to be spent in the level 6-11 range.
- Encounter design and challenge rating is also different. A CR 6 enemy is an easy (little resource expenditure & low chance of falling) challenge for a level 6 party of 4, not an easy challenge for a single level 6 character. You are expected to deal with half a dozen or so medium encounters on an adventuring day, not one or two hard ones.
- Don't use any optional rules to start with. This includes multiclassing and feats.
- The core math of the game does not expect you to get magic items by default. You can play through levels 1 to 20 without seeing a magic item at all, anything you get/give is a bonus.

Golden Rule: Thou shalt not assume to know that which shares a name
Sneak attack works differently. Protection from Evil works differently. Critical hits work differently. Do not skim over things that look familiar because they are almost all different in subtle ways that become very apparent in play.

[Toadkiller]

You can also ask the DM if there are any re-ahead materials for the campaign. Sometimes there is a player’s guide to published adventures or they give out notes for home brew stuff. It can be a good way to get on the same wavelength on setting and stuff.