Dungeons & Dragons: Tips For Playing The Game

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

Well apparently and I didn't know this but Dungeons & Dragons knowledge is a popular topic, this fits right into my category of Science Fiction with my book series www.space-command.net currently in development with comics and stuff like that in the same category.

So I have been asked if I can include these topics on my blog so it can help people to learn to play Dungeons & Dragons and help with them progress in their game skills development. I can add then a section on this blog to cover questions about Dungeons & Dragons.

For one, it's hard to find a good group of people to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Not a lot of people are into Dungeons & Dragons and in a small area you may only be able to find about 5 - 7 people to play with if you are lucky.

Living in a city you may be able to find groups of people to play with at a "game club" but don't count on it, it's usually just a few people playing in a local area that you might know. In school maybe you can start a Dungeons & Dragons club if you want to meet people into the game. When I was I kid I though that I was made of Dungeons & Dragons so I have a lot of information on the game.

So this is like a Wizard Magazine kind of topic and that also goes with my book series Space Command which is why I brought up Dungeons & Dragons, I guarantee my information is top quality information that can compete with any professional Dungeons & Dragons outlet.

If you want to get into Dungeons & Dragons I suggest watching videos about the game on YouTube to help you get started so you can see things like how to create a character sheet and watch examples of game play. I will add D&D, for short they call it, to my page as topics arise in my daily routines.

The current edition of D&D is the 5th addition pictured above and it is a great return to older style game play while keeping the newer easier to follow rule set. On YouTube reviews of the game and others like Pathfinder say that they offer advice for game play on internet forums etc. for rule clarification and there may be errors in interpretations of the rules of Dungeons & Dragons.

So what are the main pitfalls that I encounter when playing Dungeons & Dragons?

Well the game is extremely large and apparently has many inaccuracies or inconsistencies in their rule books OR this also might be bad interpretations.

Like this, when you read the D&D rule books don't confuse a description of a background or other "narrative descriptions" with rules in the game. If they don't specifically say it is a rule in the game it might not actually be a rule.

You could be attempting to put into gameplay things in the books that are actually only meant to be descriptions of what the Dungeons & Dragons universe looks like. Those might not actually be rules and people are saying "how do I use this?" The answer is that you don't.

All my examples are based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons One which is just my personal favorite which is old and people have a hard time following the rule book so they made updated versions which I will explain.

One of the biggest questions in Dungeons & Dragons is how do you keep track of time in the game? Meaning in hours or days.

People try to account for this by making up their up "in house" Dungeons & Dragons rules to track the time in the game for example - to heal their characters.

These are more advanced rules but they are not difficult. I think that the language and dialect in the rule books may be misleading in different languages leading to confusion in the rules about the translations. Even what I am saying is the rule may be misinterpreted but when you play the game with the rules in the book as I say them the game will work better.

Like this, if there is no rule for the description of the event in the game like "time" for example it may be a "physical description" only of an event in the game.

In the game of Dungeons & Dragons the rule is that over several hours or days your characters Hit Points will "heal" so many Hit Points will return to your game character when you use the rest rule to regain your characters Hit Points.

Then in the books they don't list the rule for the healing time.

This is where people get confused, they don't mean "game time" they mean "real time".

What that means is that if you are playing Dungeons & Dragons for the day and then you take a day off when you come back your character had regained several hit points. That is from taking a break in the game time.

For example, you can say four hours real life game time is one half day in Dungeons & Dragons - after this you spent the next four working on your character sheets and building your characters, assigning experience points and buying your new weapons.

The second four hours is considered "the character rest period" as if the characters in the game were sitting in a camp inside the game and having dinner and fixing their equipment.

So if you stop playing after four hours the Dungeon Master declares a rest period, then you work on your character sheets etc. then after four hours of rest your character gains 2 hit points.

I don't think there is an actual rule in Dungeons & Dragons for the amount of Hit Points you gain by taking a rest from game play but it should be limited, I will post more later if I find out.

The point to that is you are supposed to play Dungeons & Dragons on a regular schedule like 3 times per week or something or once or twice a week if you are busy. The rest period rule means days in real life that you spend NOT playing the game so if you play twice a week your days off are your characters "rest period" when you come back to the game your character has regained I would assume 3 or 4 Hit Points for a few days rest from the game. That's just to start fresh and keep the game moving and not wearing down your character too fast.

The whole point to the game of Dungeons & Dragons is that you have to choose from several different character types and then roll dice to determine the strength of your character.

When you pick your character and roll the dice for your strength this "generates" a character, the extra values for your character are then picked based on your character type decision and dice roll numbers.

After that the additional values are added from a list in the Players Handbook to determine your "character adjustments" which make your character a "unique" character. Not totally unique however the rules of the game may generate hundreds of thousands of possible predetermined character combinations that all fit into the game.

What I mean is there are not infinite combinations of characters generated from the dice rolls and adjustments in the game because they are SET VALUES, that creates a large set of possible characters that you build yourself based on your selection of character, dice rolls and character adjustments.

You need to pick a few characters to start and then learn how to "master" them to be good at Dungeons & Dragons because there are too many combinations to choose from.

The character "adjustments" in Dungeons & Dragons based on your dice roll scores is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in the game.

The "adjustment tables" they are called determine your +/- for game events...meaning you will have BONUSES which are positive or Plus values (+) or PENALTIES when are negative or Minus values (-).

What that means is when your are using character adjustments for certain scenarios in the game like if you choose an evil character you will be penalized when certain events happen and your dice scores will have a minus on them.

Like when you attack, you will lose 3 points and protentional miss your target in SPECIFIC SCENARIOS ONLY...meaning that those are listed in the Players Handbook in the Character Type section.

You need to be familiar with that section of the book for your specific character so you will know when you will loose points on attacks or other events or gain them in other situations.

That way in the game you can choose an evil character which has it's drawbacks and benefits, after that you need to find ways to overcome your character's flaws by gaining extra items in the game.

I can not stress HOW IMPORTANT it is to use the character adjustment tables properly, if you don't you are missing out on a HUGE part of the game of Dungeons & Dragons.

This is why.

Let's say you pick a character that uses weapons and also has magic spells.

In the game this limits your "weapons choices", meaning that certain characters can only use certain weapons. You need to know all the character adjustments so that when you choose a limited character that you pick weapons with "attack bonuses" for your character to make up for the lack of weapons choices.

So a character with limited weapons selections can make up for that by choosing weapons that give them bonuses to make them stronger when they use specific weapons for their character.

That is how you build a character in Dungeons & Dragons, if you pick a limited weapon character don't pick the weapons that have no attack bonus, use the ones with the bonus on them to make your character stronger.

This will bring your character adjustments up or positive with a + value.

When you make your character combinations DO NOT use adjustments that lower your attack score unless you have to for another reason, like you choose to be evil to gain magic spells but then you have to be penalized on certain other weapons in some scenarios.

Dungeons & Dragons is supposed to be BALANCED, what that means is that if your character has limited weapons because of magic spells then the MAGIC SPELL section is supposed to make up for those differences.

Like this a Fighter has Heavy Armor with no Magic Spells, then....a Wizard has Magic Spells but no armor.

In Dungeons & Dragons that is the same thing but they are opposite...what that means is the Wizard's Magic Spells are supposed to be so strong that it makes up for their lack of armor.

So you choose a Wizard with no armor - Wizards in Dungeons & Dragons have no armor because you can't cast spells while wearing armor. The Wizards magic spells are supposed to make up for the lack of armor making the character just as strong as a Fighter but the Wizard uses Magic to deflect attacks not armor.    

If you use a Wizard in the game of Dungeons & Dragons and they get killed faster than a Fighter then you are NOT paying the game correctly or have made a weak character.

Using the "character adjustment tables" to pick the weapons and spells for your Wizard will strengthen the Wizard and make them just as strong as a Fighter in the game, when used properly. That is the same for all characters.

Now...how do you get those special weapons and magic items in the back of the book to strengthen your character and increase your attack bonuses and defenses bonuses?

Well like this, when you pick your character look in the back of the book in the magic items section and see what items you will need to strengthen your character and pick them out.

Then build your character to be ready to find those items in the game, when you find the items you will know that you will receive your attack bonuses for finding the items.

To get the items do this....

Ask your friend who is the Dungeon Master (or make them yourself as the Dungeon Master) to build a specific adventure with rewards hidden in the game that include the magic items from the back of the book that you will need for your character.

Then use these "special quests" with rewards from the back of the book to give you and your friends the secret items you will need from the back of the book.

So make a special game yourself that includes all the items that you want from the back off the book to offer as rewards through out your custom adventure.

These kinds of quests that you build yourself are "character building adventures". Make up several adventures yourself to guarantee that you will receive the magic items as special rewards that you will be promised in advance to playing the quest.

Then play these custom quests for the specific treasures you need from the back of the book by just placing them as rewards through out the adventure to build you characters "inventory" and increase your levels and statistics.

After you do this for a while you will earn the secret items from the back of the book to build a great Dungeons & Dragons character, it's just you and your friends playing the game at home for fun so this is a good way to see and use all the secret and rare game items.

However, make sure that when you make your custom adventure that you follow the experience point rules etc. when you do that on your custom character building adventures.

Then after that you can run your characters through the "Official" game books when you have build a strong character and then this will make the game easier, less frustrating and more fun.

When you play the real game book adventures at home you will have a strong character and then you will get the traditional "random events" rewards that you get with the regular game.

That is an excellent and fun way to play Dungeons & Dragons.

The original version that I like was changed because only Human Characters could play the game at high levels in the game which limited game play with lower characters. 

Also included in the newer versions are "mid level monsters" between the high and low game levels so that there can be "moderate" game play between the high and low levels. 

People wanted the higher level characters and also more monsters with a mid level skill rating making it more levels of play in the game at an intermediate level.  

Also important to remember is that the PLAYERS HANDBOOK is the most important book in the game and contains all the game rules and it is the core book, remember to familiarize yourself with the sections of this book.

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