D&D 5E First time Dad DM has some questions!

[Shaunobi]

Hey all - just played the first part of the 5e starter set. I have a 6 year old, an 8 year old, and a 3 old (who was helped by mom.) While we were gaming I wrote down questions; I tried to find some answers in the starter rulebook and PHB (which I also have a copy of), but it still wasn't completely clear. So - here are my questions:

1. What does a weapon's Atk Bonus mean? I see this used but I'm not sure - is that something you add when you try to figure out if you "hit" someone, or is it something you actually add to the attack? Failed to write down where I saw it, so sorry if it's a nonsensical question...

2. When you miss an attack due to not meeting or beating AC you just... do nothing? Cause that kind of stinks

3. What should a sorcerer or Druid be doing in their first battles? My daughter (druid) ended up just grabbing a shovel from the supply wagon and - very successfully - whacked a goblin that had run up to the wagon. Fun but I'm sure she should be... using spells? And my youngest boy is a sorcerer - what should he be doing?

4. On the goblin stat block, what does "+5 to hit" mean exactly?

5. I only have 3 players, so I deleted a Goblin. They barely got hurt, though, getting rid of 3 goblins. How should I balance the rest of the encounters? Just try to remove the minimum number of enemies to keep it "proportional" to 4 players?

Thanks for the help - and please point me to any learning-the-rules / first-time-DM kind of books / videos / podcasts out there. I would really, really love it if there was something TRULY step by step that I could follow, preferably written. The starter set is great, but doesn't really tell you everything you need to know, and piecing the rules together from the rulebook or PHB is (and forgive me here) kind of painful IMO. If you can point me to non-adult-language playthroughs that would also be awesome; my kids would love to listen to other people play through the adventure after they're done I bet.

Also, want to pass on that the kids had a BLAST. I tried to make things funny and they were all laughing their asses off as Goblins turned around just in time to show a puzzled expression as a crossbow bolt nailed them in their helmet and knocked them over; my daughter chased a goblin around the wagon with a shovel (her idea) and it was pretty priceless - they really seemed to lose themselves in the story and we had a blast. Mom thought it was a little boring when I asked her afterward, though, so I really think I need to speed up combat They decided to NOT go on the goblin trail for the next session, though they did discover it (they KO'ed one of the goblins and questioned him - I told them they could do a non-lethal blow.) They voted to go to Phandalin to deliver the supplies first then come back - good citizens I guess

Hey, shout-out btw to Hero Kids. Bought that on DTRPG, bought the expansions, played them in 2014. Made me realize what vivid imaginations my kids had, and how much story they could create and hold in their minds; our 5e session took 15 minutes to start as they described the various aspects of the apartment they shared in Neverwinter. Hero Kids and now 5e are something I can tell will stick with them. I hope we make great stories and remember them for years to come.

Cheers,

--Shaun

 

[Reynard]

First and foremost, Welcome to D&D! It's awesome!

On to your questions:

1) Attack bonus is added to the 20-sided die roll to determine if you hit (by getting a result equal to or greater than the target's Armor Class).

2) If you do not at least tie the Armor Class, you miss and do no damage. ::whiff::

3) Most spell casters have "cantrips" or "orisons" which they can use all the time without using up. Start with those. Spells can be a little confusing for kids at first but soon they'll get it.

4) "+5 to hit" is what you add as DM to the 20-sided die roll to determine if the goblin hits one of the player characters. (See 1 and 2 above.)

5) Removing a goblin is a fine way to balance the scales. Just because one fight goes easy does not mean they all will. Remember that the dice has a lot of variability in it and it is easy for the monsters to have a run of good luck or the players have a run of bad luck. If they happen at the same time, watch out!

Make sure you read through both Starter set books and the character sheets completely before you set down to play again. You don't have to remember everything, but knowing where things are and having primed your brain for running the game will definitely help. Good luck and have fun!

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

That's awesome! Welcome to D&D and welcome to EN World! I have played a variety of RPGs with my kids over the years; its always refreshing to see our favorite games through innocent eyes.

As for your questions...

1. Atk Bonus generally stands for Attack Bonus - the number you add to a d20 roll to determine if you hit. Its the same as a "bonus to hit" or other similarly phrased things.

2. Yeah, missing an attack usually doesn't result in anything.

3. Sorcerers, druids, and other spellcasters have cantrips - spells that can be cast any time they like. So, if your druid wants to attack with a spell every round, she could be casting Produce Flame, Poison Spray, or Shillelagh (if she likes to thwack things, this is the best one). The sorcerer has a bit more variety in attack cantrips. Check out the Player's Handbook pages 208 and 209 for the spell lists and page 201 for how to use them.

4. In a monster stat block, a bonus to hit means that's the number you add to a d20 roll to attack. So, if the goblin rolls an 8 on the die, he then adds 5 for a total of 13. That's compared to the player character's Armor Class (AC). If the player character's AC is 13 or lower, the goblin's attack hit and does damage.

5. Encounter balance is not my forte so hopefully someone else can help out with this question. I have found that keeping things on "easy mode" for younger players is probably best as it keeps them in the game and having fun.

I hope that helps. Have fun with your next adventure.

 

[iserith]

Hey all - just played the first part of the 5e starter set. I have a 6 year old, an 8 year old, and a 3 old (who was helped by mom.) While we were gaming I wrote down questions; I tried to find some answers in the starter rulebook and PHB (which I also have a copy of), but it still wasn't completely clear. So - here are my questions:

1. What does a weapon's Atk Bonus mean? I see this used but I'm not sure - is that something you add when you try to figure out if you "hit" someone, or is it something you actually add to the attack? Failed to write down where I saw it, so sorry if it's a nonsensical question...

A character's attack bonus is its relevant ability score modifier (usually STR or DEX) plus its proficiency bonus if it has proficiency in that weapon plus any additional modifiers like magical weapon bonus, bonuses from spells, or situational bonuses that the DM may assign. You add this to the d20 roll and compare it against the creature's defense value, usually AC.

2. When you miss an attack due to not meeting or beating AC you just... do nothing? Cause that kind of stinks

The "whiff factor" of D&D is probably among its worst features in my view, a very boring failure. You can look at it as a pacing mechanism that increases tension - a miss means the monster potentially lives a bit longer so it gets in another attack which isn't good for the characters. But since you're the DM, you can narrate the result of adventurers' action any way you like. So if you want to say that a missed attack roll results in damage plus a setback (e.g. get your damage in, but get disarmed) or just do ability modifier's worth of damage only, you can do that.

3. What should a sorcerer or Druid be doing in their first battles? My daughter (druid) ended up just grabbing a shovel from the supply wagon and - very successfully - whacked a goblin that had run up to the wagon. Fun but I'm sure she should be... using spells? And my youngest boy is a sorcerer - what should he be doing?

They should be doing whatever is fun but effective, given the situation. Sometimes that means using a spell or class feature. Other times, it's the shovel!

4. On the goblin stat block, what does "+5 to hit" mean exactly?

That's what they add to a d20 roll when attacking.

5. I only have 3 players, so I deleted a Goblin. They barely got hurt, though, getting rid of 3 goblins. How should I balance the rest of the encounters? Just try to remove the minimum number of enemies to keep it "proportional" to 4 players?

The free Basic Rules for the DM goes into this a bit (page 56), but essentially, yeah, just reduce the number of enemies to fit the number of PCs in your party. It's not an exact science and a good rule of thumb is that it's easier to add than to take away. So start with a small number of monsters if you're not sure of the difficulty and add them back in a second wave of monsters if you want to increase the difficulty.

Thanks for the help - and please point me to any learning-the-rules / first-time-DM kind of books / videos / podcasts out there. I would really, really love it if there was something TRULY step by step that I could follow, preferably written. The starter set is great, but doesn't really tell you everything you need to know, and piecing the rules together from the rulebook or PHB is (and forgive me here) kind of painful IMO. If you can point me to non-adult-language playthroughs that would also be awesome; my kids would love to listen to other people play through the adventure after they're done I bet.

Dungeon Master 101
Session Zero
Structure First, Story Last
Players 101
Goals of Play
11 Ways to Be a Better Roleplayer
Stanislavki vs. Brecht in Tabletop Roleplaying
Adventure Scenarios

Welcome to the hobby - good luck and have fun!

 

[Shaunobi]

...and wow. Thanks for the quick replies all. Exactly what I needed.

I will read through both books before next weekend. I'm especially impressed by some of those character sheets - it took me several hours to figure out / fill in the first three sheets I did (and I'm not 100% sure I did it all right.) Those character sheets look AWESOME.

 

[Shaunobi]

iserith, I will check those podcasts out - thanks, and thanks for the detailed replies - appreciate it!

 

[Pickles JG]

Poor old mum! I will say if you are (almost) all having fun you are doing it right regardless of the rules.

Lovely post btw.

Low level casters are likely to be casting one or other cantrip over and over (spamming)

The druid can reserve her spells for healing and work pretty ok. The sorcerer needs some sort of proactive spell use. As a cantrip spammer he might he better of being a Warlock as that is one of their simple and effective builds. It can be flavoured much the same. The alternative is a risk he blows all his spells in the first fight then gets bored.

 

[DEFCON 1]

1. What does a weapon's Atk Bonus mean? I see this used but I'm not sure - is that something you add when you try to figure out if you "hit" someone, or is it something you actually add to the attack? Failed to write down where I saw it, so sorry if it's a nonsensical question...

The Attack Bonus is what a player adds to a d20 roll to see if they hit an enemy with an attack. The bonus is usually the character's Strength or Dexterity modifier (depending on the weapon used) plus the character's Proficiency Bonus (which is +2 at level 1). So if a fighter wields a longsword and has a STR modifier of +3, their Attack Bonus will be +5 (the +3 modifier plus the +2 proficiency bonus.) Roll a d20 and add 5. If the number rolled is higher than the enemy's Armor Class (AC), then the attack hits and the player can roll the weapon's damage.

2. When you miss an attack due to not meeting or beating AC you just... do nothing? Cause that kind of stinks

Depends on what you really mean by "do nothing". Technically, the character can still move around the battlefield if they wanted (either before or after the attack). But in terms of not meeting or beating the target's AC with the attack roll... yeah, that turn resulted in nothing. And it absolutely *does* stink. Which is why we all keep fighting, so that we eventually get to hit and knock out the enemies and clear the battlefield!

3. What should a sorcerer or Druid be doing in their first battles? My daughter (druid) ended up just grabbing a shovel from the supply wagon and - very successfully - whacked a goblin that had run up to the wagon. Fun but I'm sure she should be... using spells? And my youngest boy is a sorcerer - what should he be doing?

The Sorcerer is easy-- yeah, casting spells at enemies is their primary purpose. I presume they have one or more cantrips that causes damage (like Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost) that they can cast at enemies... as well as some combat spells of Level 1 or higher (which are for higher damage and thus should be used when they can cause the most problems for the targets out there.)

For the Druid... casting spells all the time like the Sorcerer is certainly an option. However, the Druid is also fairly adept at using weapons too (either hand-to-hand combat melee weapons, or ranged weapons like bows and crossbows and such.) Or even mix and match depending on the fight. Find out from your daughter what she'd like to focus on (fighting / spellcasting / both) and choose a weapon, armor, and a couple spells that compliment it.

4. On the goblin stat block, what does "+5 to hit" mean exactly?

That is what you (as the Dungeon Master) add to a d20 roll to determine whether the goblin hits any of the players when the goblin takes his turn to attack. Choose a target (one of your players), roll a d20, add the +5 for the goblin's attack roll, and if the number equals or is higher to your player's AC, then the goblin hits and you roll damage to see how many Hit Points the player loses.

5. I only have 3 players, so I deleted a Goblin. They barely got hurt, though, getting rid of 3 goblins. How should I balance the rest of the encounters? Just try to remove the minimum number of enemies to keep it "proportional" to 4 players?

Barely getting hurt with 3 goblins will occasionally happen (whereas sometimes 3 goblins will hurt them *a lot*). Removing one enemy from each batch in the adventure is not a bad theory, and some times your players will mop the floor with them, other times they'll get wiped. It'll happen both ways. Thus you don't need to worry about it too much. Especially if your kids are having fun regardless.

Thanks for the help - and please point me to any learning-the-rules / first-time-DM kind of books / videos / podcasts out there. I would really, really love it if there was something TRULY step by step that I could follow, preferably written. The starter set is great, but doesn't really tell you everything you need to know, and piecing the rules together from the rulebook or PHB is (and forgive me here) kind of painful IMO. If you can point me to non-adult-language playthroughs that would also be awesome; my kids would love to listen to other people play through the adventure after they're done I bet.

Here is a YouTube video that I think does a really good job at showing exactly how a 5E combat works, and explains both the thought process of the players and what they are doing, the roleplaying that happens during the combat, and how the rules determine what happens. Hopefully this will help.

HERE

Also, want to pass on that the kids had a BLAST. I tried to make things funny and they were all laughing their asses off as Goblins turned around just in time to show a puzzled expression as a crossbow bolt nailed them in their helmet and knocked them over; my daughter chased a goblin around the wagon with a shovel (her idea) and it was pretty priceless - they really seemed to lose themselves in the story and we had a blast. Mom thought it was a little boring when I asked her afterward, though, so I really think I need to speed up combat They decided to NOT go on the goblin trail for the next session, though they did discover it (they KO'ed one of the goblins and questioned him - I told them they could do a non-lethal blow.) They voted to go to Phandalin to deliver the supplies first then come back - good citizens I guess

Hey, shout-out btw to Hero Kids. Bought that on DTRPG, bought the expansions, played them in 2014. Made me realize what vivid imaginations my kids had, and how much story they could create and hold in their minds; our 5e session took 15 minutes to start as they described the various aspects of the apartment they shared in Neverwinter. Hero Kids and now 5e are something I can tell will stick with them. I hope we make great stories and remember them for years to come.

Cheers,

--Shaun

Welcome to EN World! And congrats!

 

[Quartz]

There's a thread somewhere about GMing for the very young. Anyone got a link?

 

[fjw70]

When DMing with the kids I keep thing very basic and just use the basic game for character options.