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Dungeons & Dragons 5e
by Wizards of the Coast
About Dungeons & Dragons 5e
Does Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings series make you yearn for a fantastical journey? Do you want to delve into the far reaches of the realms and encounter some thrilling creatures? Or terrifying creatures, if Stranger Things is more your style! Dreaming of fighting otherworldly threats like an Avenger, or wandering around helping out everyday folk like a Witcher? Dungeons & Dragons let’s you do all of this and more in an amazing high fantasy setting! D&D 5e is the most popular tabletop role-playing game on the market. With its simplified rules, diverse settings, and player-driven customizability, it’s easy to see why! Perhaps you’ve dreamed of slinging arrows like Legolas, crushing enemies like Conan, or attacking angry chickens like Link—you can make that a reality in D&D 5e! There are three main aspects to a game of D&D: combat, exploration, and roleplay. Different games will feature different balances of these depending on how the people like to play but it’s up to you and your Dungeon Master (DM) to craft a world that you love! Whether it’s the Forgotten Realms, Critical Role’s Wildemount/Exandria, your own steampunk-themed world where wizards ride dinosaurs, or anything in between—your imagination truly is the limit!
How to Play
One person is the dungeon master - a storyteller, referee and actor all rolled into one. The dungeon master creates an adventure, which can be a one-off (meaning you can play the whole story in one session) or a longer-form campaign - an ongoing story that lasts multiple sessions. This adventure can be written entirely by the dungeon master themselves, a type of D&D adventure known as homebrew, or they can use a pre-made one-off scenario or campaign. There are a range of official Dungeons & Dragons 5E campaigns out there packing plentiful non-player-characters, maps, lore and story. As well as guiding the players with descriptions, dialogue and quests, the dungeon master also ensures that the rules of D&D are being followed. The rules have been simplified in 5e, but you’ll still use dice to determine the outcome of many things, mainly your trusty d20. To start, you’ll want to pick a race and class. There are a variety of fantasy races to choose from that will likely seem familiar. Your class determines what kind of things you can do and ultimately what role you’ll play in the group. You’ll then roll dice to determine your character's stats, such as strength and intelligence, or use what’s known as points buy to allocate a set number of points to the stats you choose. You’ll write up all of this information, along with an inventory and your skills and abilities, on a character sheet. D&D 5e utilizes six stats for characters which, along with a d20 roll, determine most of the outcomes for any task your PC sets out to accomplish. There’s also the advantage/disdvantage mechanic which helps the DM set easier or harder targets depending on the circumstances. For advantage, you would roll two d20 and take the higher result, and for disadvantage you would take the lower result. You choose skills, weapons, items, saving throws, and other things that your PC is trained in during character creation, and these all use a single proficiency bonus that increases as character level increases. As you level up, you can also choose to gain feats, which are abilities that allow you to specialize in certain skills or fighting styles. If you’re more into slinging spells, don’t worry, 5e has an extensive list of spells broken down by class and school of magic so you’re sure to find something to suit you! Between all of the option combinations available, it’s easy to create unique and memorable characters, encounters, and stories to keep you and all of your friends entertained for countless hours!
