D&D (2024) What have you seen new players confused by/mistakes they make?

[Benjamin Olson]

Everyone starts out confused over action economy, though the game generally does a good job of not really giving options for bonus action or reaction at level one, so you get some time to figure it out. It could still be presented clearer.

Attack Bonus vs. Damage Bonus seems to be a big one. Frankly I think just adding proficiency bonus to damage and making it all simpler would not be the end of the world.

90%+ of new players struggle to make sense of ability scores vs bonuses, but this tends to not be a problem once someone fills out the bonuses for them and explains that they don't really need to worry about the scores. I know ability scores are a legacy thing, but absent that it would make vastly more sense to just roll up or assign bonuses rather than have this two step process with scores.

Even veteran players struggle with critical hit damage because "double dice results" vs. "double the dice rolled" get confused easily, and many people have played at tables doing it the other way, or some third way. This is why the experiment in one of the playtests with making critical hits both vastly more complicated and a fraction as important made me seriously doubt the design team. No game designer familiar with how people actually play 5e should need survey feedback to recognize why that is idiotic. Making critical hits something simpler and clearer like "double all damage" or "max damage" would be an improvement comprehension wise.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Proficiency bonus. The phrase doesn't mean anything. Can we think of a better term for this?

It did mean something once, years ago, when 5e was young and things still served their original intended purposes, although I felt it was always a more difficult and obscure word for younger players than it needed to be ("Training Bonus" would have been more accessible). Now that it's meaning is muddled it should just be "Standard Bonus" or the way WotC seems to want to use it perhaps more like "Universal Bonus" (or the way WotC seems to feel about it perhaps more like "Divinely Perfect One True Number For All Things Bonus").

 

[Xamnam]

Spells. I've seen almost every aspect of spells be a stumbling block for new players, though which ones specifically vary quite a bit. Spells known, spell levels, spell slots, known spells, preparing spells, components, spell casting modifier, the save dc, the list goes on. Most of them get it before too long, but it's by far the most jargony and least intuitive aspect when you're starting from scratch, made all the worse by how attractive and interesting playing a spellcaster is.

Hit dice are a distant second.

 

[Horwath]

Remembering what all conditions effects are.

Remembering what spells are doing.

Why ability scores and modifiers are not one thing.

 

[Horwath]

The big one for me. Ability scores. They are never used. 16 and 17 Wis for no direct reason add 3.

It would be much nicer if we could just skip to the modifiers. Roll 3d4, take the middle or some such.

for abilities:

remove racial bonuses for character creation.

pointbuy default:

16pts pool:

cost
-1: 0pts
+0: 1pt
+1: 2pts
+2: 3pts
+3: 5pts
+4: 8pts

optional: default array;
+3,+3,+2,+1,+0,-1

Second is equipment choices where one is choice is strictly superior to another. Why does padded armor and blow guns exist if no one would ever use them?

Nets are also really terrible.

Because someone in wotc had idea that it would be cool/legacy/what ever.

there needs to be clear balance in weapons and every ability(light/finesse/reach/thrown/special/ranged) should cost a damage die size decrease, while heavy/twohanded/loading/martial should add a size or two on damage dice. Starting with d8.

 

[Alby87]

Second spells. As a recent fan of the game, and having introduced to people, I think that having people select from the huge list of spells when creating/leveling up characters should really be helped. As I said a lot of time, make a good recap table in an appendix or at the start of the chapter. Don't have people going back and fort the PHB for a quick recap. 3.5 Spell Compendium had a good appendix for this!

 

[jdrakeh]

1. action vs. bonus action vs. reaction. This is BY FAR the most common point of confusion I find among new players.

I came here to post exactly this. Notably, I've seen many new players think that a bonus action is just a second attack action (which it can be, but often is not).

 

[Horwath]

3.5 Spell Compendium had a good appendix for this!

that was one of the best organized books in 3.5.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think, new players do easily grab the base rules.
It is 3.5 players who are sometimes confused by the action economy.

 

[Horwath]

I think, new players do easily grab the base rules.
It is 3.5 players who are sometimes confused by the action economy.

in 3.5e it was;

Standard action(5E Action)
Move action(5E move)
Swift action(5E Bonus action)
Immediate reaction(5E reaction)

only difference is that you can now split your move between action and in 5E you cannot use higher tier actions for lower. Easy to houserule back.

what is so confusing?