D&D 5E 5th edition quickstart guide for 3rd edition GMs

[der_kluge]

I needed something like this. I want community feedback here. Something like a 1-2 page guide that is intended for GMs who are familiar with d20/Pathfinder/3.5 and are converting to 5th edition. One of the frustrating things (for me) in 5th edition is that it seems like most of the really relevant game-changing significant rules are literally buried in some obscure place somewhere, that they seem to come out of left field. Having all the "gotcha" rules and significant flavor changes in a guide would have been super helpful.

I'll start. Feel free to chime in with whatever you found to be the "omg, I wish I'd known that sooner" kind of thing.

BASICS

• Read the section on "Proficiency Bonus" on page 12 in the PHB. This is a flat bonus (based on the chart on pg. 15) that applies to all the listed things - basically things the character is proficient with.
• Chapter 4 covers "Personality and Background". This might seem superfluous, especially for experienced players, but be aware that these choices grant additional skill, tool, language, and equipment proficiencies. So, while you can ignore the personality aspects of these (or just make your own), don't disregard the additional benefits.
• Instead of feats every 4th level, classes get an ability score increase (ASI). As per chapter 6, you can opt to take a feat in lieu of this benefit, as an optional rule.
• As in 3.5, d20 is the king of dice, but 5e adds an "advantage/disadvantage" mechanic. An advantage means that you roll 2d20, and take the best result. A disadvantage means you take the worst result. See also this section on pg. 173
• Read "Actions in Combat" on pgs. 192-193. Your players should understand these as well.
• Read "Critical Hits" on pg. 196.
• Read page 197. Death and dying works differently in 5th edition. Also, take special note of the "Damage Resistance and Vulnerability" section.

RACES

• Be aware that rock gnomes are all basically tinkers, and get interesting abilities due to that fact.
• Most races have a subrace, which grant slightly different things.
• 5th edition includes Dragonborn as a standard race, though considers it "uncommon" (pg. 33)

CLASSES

• Most of the classes have more hit dice. Casters have d6, and specialists get d8.
• Your class provides proficiency with certain skills. To these, you add the proficiency bonus.
• Wizards no longer prepare spells. They know a certain number of spells, and can cast a certain number of spells per day. This means your wizard could cast multiple magic missile spells per day if they want to.
• Read "Preparing and Casting Spells" for clerics, on pg. 58.
• Know that "Circle of the Moon" Druids can wildshape into bears, and are total badasses.
• A 2nd level rogue gets bonus actions during combat. This is normal.

SPELLS

• Cantrips are actually kind of powerful, and can be cast at will!
• Read "Cantrips" and "Rituals" on pgs. 201-202.
• Certain spells require Concentration. Read "Concentration" on pg. 203.
• There is no "Cure Light Wounds" spell. It is just "Cure Wounds" that now scales with the level of the spell slot it is being cast in. Be aware that quite a few spells work like this now. This is a good thing.

MAGIC ITEMS

• 5th edition seems to imply magic items a bit more rare, and magic swords and armor only go to +3.
• Magic items require "attunement" and you can only wear 3 attuned items at a time. Read "Attunement" in the DMG on pgs. 136-138

COMBAT

• Ranged weapons use the characters Dexterity for to-hit AND damage. They buried this rule on pg. 176. Read "Attack Rolls and Damage" on this page.
• Some weapons are "finessable" and you can use either Dex or Str with them. This is a property of the item. Pg. 149

MONSTERS



.. that's all I got for now. What else should I add?

 

[darjr]

INSPIRATION

• Don't ignore the personality bit of backgrounds and such. It's what drives inspiration.
• Get a copy of your players characters backgrounds, ideals, flaws, and favorite breakfast cereal and hand out inspiration whenever they RP any of that.
• Also hand out inspiration when they do cool stuff. They can only have one at a time but you can give inspiration regardless, if they use it right then and there.
• Players can hand their inspiration to others! I had players die in an epic because other players forgot.
• Or home brew and let them have more than one.

SKILLS

• Many times players should say what their characters are doing in order to unlock skill checks. 5e Skills were built with that in mind.
• Passive perception is the floor of their perception. Seems like a big deal but kinda isn't because you can do the above.
• Contested checks have to be beaten, not merely met. So a character that gets a 13 to hide can only be seen by a perception of 14 or higher (including passive)
• Hide ends when an attack hits or misses, unless that character wanders into the clear open, or an enemy can clearly see them, but YOU the DM are the final arbiter. Do what seems right.

MISC

• The save DC of a spell caster starts at 8 before adding modifiers.
• A half orc can choose to stay standing with 1 hp after being dropped to zero, if they are still alive. If i had a dollar for every time this one was forgotten....

 

[Li Shenron]

Well, in general there are so many small but important differences that I think a DM needs to read at least the whole Basic rules...

But if you do a DM quickstart list, I would also add:

- a short summary of the action economy in combat (actions, reactions, bonus actions)

- movement in combat is simultaneous with the actions, meaning it can be broken up freely

- opportunity attacks are provoked only by movement, when someone moves out of reach

- only one spell requiring concentration can be active at any time per caster

- ranged attacks in melee have disadvantage, but don't provoke OAs

- spells cast as rituals don't use up spell slots

- a bonus action spell allows only cantrips to be cast in the same turn

- polymorphed or wildshaped creatures don't die at 0hp but revert to the original form

- nobidy can cast spells in armor if not proficient in it, but nobody has any penalty once proficient

 

[Gadget]

Wizards no longer prepare spells. They know a certain number of spells, and can cast a certain number of spells per day. This means your wizard could cast multiple magic missile spells per day if they want to.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...start-guide-for-3rd-edition-GMs#ixzz4fxNyyLSq

This is not strictly true. To quote from the online SRD:

You prepare the list of wizard spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of wizard spells from your spellbook equal to your Intelligence modifier + your wizard level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

The method described in the OP is more like the Sorcerer spell casting method.

 

[der_kluge]

- a bonus action spell allows only cantrips to be cast in the same turn

That one is news to me. What page is that on?

The method described in the OP is more like the Sorcerer spell casting method.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...start-guide-for-3rd-edition-GMs#ixzz4fxQzpQIk

Yea, I worded that a little vague. I'll fix it later.

 

[Lanliss]

INSPIRATION

• Don't ignore the personality bit of backgrounds and such. It's what drives inspiration.
• Get a copy of your players characters backgrounds, ideals, flaws, and favorite breakfast cereal and hand out inspiration whenever they RP any of that.
• Also hand out inspiration when they do cool stuff. They can only have one at a time but you can give inspiration regardless, if they use it right then and there.
• Players can hand their inspiration to others! I had players die in an epic because other players forgot.
• Or home brew and let them have more than one.

SKILLS

• Many times players should say what their characters are doing in order to unlock skill checks. 5e Skills were built with that in mind.
• Passive perception is the floor of their perception. Seems like a big deal but kinda isn't because you can do the above.
• Contested checks have to be beaten, not merely met. So a character that gets a 13 to hide can only be seen by a perception of 14 or higher (including passive)
• Hide ends when an attack hits or misses, unless that character wanders into the clear open, or an enemy can clearly see them, but YOU the DM are the final arbiter. Do what seems right.

MISC

• The save DC of a spell caster starts at 8 before adding modifiers.
• A half orc can choose to stay standing with 1 hp after being dropped to zero, if they are still alive. If i had a dollar for every time this one was forgotten....

You forgot to mention what inspiration does. As I understand, the Dis/Advantage mechanic will be new to these people, right?

 

[darjr]

Good point, except it's such a pronounced change that I never forgot it during the game.

 

[OB1]

One more for the general section.

*5e is designed with Theater of the Mind as the default. If you've always played on a grid, try your first session or two in TOM. If you don't like it, switch to the optional grid rules, but it's worth a shot and helps to emphasize the focus on rulings not rules. The DMG has a good section on adjudicating AOE spells if you are worried about that issue specifically.

 

[hastur_nz]

I think your list is too big; you should aim for about half a page, and that's still bordering on too much, because you risk drowning the big and important changes (which are very few), with various other little bits that are of no great concern and might or might not come up in play.

For me, the highlights are very simple:
* Advantage / Disadvantage
* Actions in combat (simpler)
* Proficiency Bonus ("flatter" - c.f. Bounded Accuracy)
* Saves, Skills and Checks incl. DC's (simpler, flatter)
* Bounded Accuracy (ties into skills, proficiency, monsters, magic items etc; flatter)
* Hit Dice (ties into short and long rests, the adventuring day, healing, etc)
* Classes now include more options, there are no Prestige Classes
* some things are now "optional" (multi-classing, feats, etc)

Overall, the differences between 3.x and 5e are not that great, especially for players; the main change is simply that creating a character is more rounded and potentially simpler; in-game it has much greater potential for smoother faster play. For the DM, if you've never played 4e, then all I can really say is Hallelujah finally the game just got simpler to run e.g. no more complex monsters who never get to use 80% of their capabilities.

 

[Li Shenron]

That one is news to me. What page is that on?

From Basic rules, Spellcasting section: http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/players-basic-rules

"CASTING TIME

Most spells require a single action to cast, but some spells require a bonus action, a reaction, or much more time to cast.

BONUS ACTION

A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn. You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action."