D&D 5E A running list of questions from a new player/new DM. Other n00bs please feel free to add in.

[painted_klown]

How often new characters are created is up to the group. Some groups will take characters from level 1 to level 20+ and some groups rarely get past level 10 before creating new characters and starting a new campaign. Now if you are doing a story arc like Tyranny of Dragons then I would expect that most groups would keep the same characters across the whole story arc (exception being when a character dies). Hopefully that answers your question.

That does. Thank you for your answer/help.

 

[aramis erak]

Thank you to all who are participating ITT. I am learning, not only from my own questions, but from the questions of others as well. I appreciate all who are asking, and answering questions posted here.

I have another kind of random question really, and it's one that was spawned when reading another thread.

On average, how often do PCs roll up new characters?

It varies. I've had players get bored with a particular character and roll up a new one 3 sessions in; I've known people who have played the same AD&D 1E characters for 20+ years, playing weekly or every other week. (Yes, characters into the level 70+ range, despite a DM who was stingy with the XP.)

In general, most of the time, modules get worked into an existing campaign, so they aren't the trigger for new characters. But sometimes, as with the Adventure Path model, or with low level modules, the module or sequence of modules demands a fresh start.

Likewise, sometimes, it's time for the group to switch campaigns - either because the existing story demands it, or because the players have tired of the setting, or the GM/DM is tired of the setting or the characters, or even the system. And sometimes, one goes back to a prior campaign.

And, should one be doing playtesting, one is at the mercy of the designer's requests...

 

[seebs]

So, useful tip for improvising when the players have wandered off into stuff you didn't prepare:

"What you search for twice exists."

Players search for secret doors? Nope, no secret doors. Players continue searching for secret doors? There should be a secret door somewhere.

This is surprisingly good at producing a world which seems realistic to players because it contains everything they're pretty sure it should contain.

 

[painted_klown]

Ok gang, I may have a bit of an issue with one of my players before we even get started.

He, along with another player, went tonight to look at the starter set and realized that is has pre-made characters to use in with the included adventure. My buddy called and said he was freaking out at the idea of playing pre-made characters, even to get us started.

My friend and I discussed the options a bit and I said that we can probably roll up our own characters, but we would need to use the online PDF to do so, and since none of us know what we are doing, then it will probably take forever to get us started. I also explained that the PDF has all of the rules but not all of the options (for PC characters) covered in the print copy of the PHB. He seemed to lose some excitement, to say the least.

My first thought is to get the starter kit, sit the players down and explain why I think it would be a good idea to play the starter kit "as is" and failing that, take the time for all of us to figure out how to roll up characters, then play through with those.

What say all of you? How would you handle this?

Please bear in mind that none of us have a clue of what we are doing, with me having (by far) done the most reading and learning. These guys don't even know what the 3 core books are. I am not saying that out of some sense of superiority (as I am still clueless myself), I am saying this out of fear, to be honest. I worry this may end up being a really bad case of the blind leading the blind, and I'm worried they will not enjoy it and not want to continue.

I sincerely feel that if they all nab up one of the pre-made characters, and we roll through the adventure as written, then we will all learn a LOT and be able to move forward from there. I admit, I think it may be a bit of a crutch that I can lean on, and would like to have it at my disposal.

Any advise would be welcome.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I'd say that you can pretty easily make a character with him over the phone or email beforehand. Since you're using the basic set, he only has four basic decisions to make (race, class, background, and stats). He can mix and match the first three however he wants without risking a really bad character, and even the stats are pretty common sense if you read the class entries first (which tell you that clerics need wisdom, etc).

 

[Tormyr]

Ok gang, I may have a bit of an issue with one of my players before we even get started.

He, along with another player, went tonight to look at the starter set and realized that is has pre-made characters to use in with the included adventure. My buddy called and said he was freaking out at the idea of playing pre-made characters, even to get us started.

My friend and I discussed the options a bit and I said that we can probably roll up our own characters, but we would need to use the online PDF to do so, and since none of us know what we are doing, then it will probably take forever to get us started. I also explained that the PDF has all of the rules but not all of the options (for PC characters) covered in the print copy of the PHB. He seemed to lose some excitement, to say the least.

My first thought is to get the starter kit, sit the players down and explain why I think it would be a good idea to play the starter kit "as is" and failing that, take the time for all of us to figure out how to roll up characters, then play through with those.

What say all of you? How would you handle this?

Please bear in mind that none of us have a clue of what we are doing, with me having (by far) done the most reading and learning. These guys don't even know what the 3 core books are. I am not saying that out of some sense of superiority (as I am still clueless myself), I am saying this out of fear, to be honest. I worry this may end up being a really bad case of the blind leading the blind, and I'm worried they will not enjoy it and not want to continue.

I sincerely feel that if they all nab up one of the pre-made characters, and we roll through the adventure as written, then we will all learn a LOT and be able to move forward from there. I admit, I think it may be a bit of a crutch that I can lean on, and would like to have it at my disposal.

Any advise would be welcome.

Whichever way you go will have to get buy in from the group. There are several pluses to using the pregens if everyone is new to D&D.
+Everything is done for you in setting up the character. You can just play.
+It has backgrounds integrated into the story.
+Being outside of what kind of character they play in other games can help them focus on role play.
+You get a well rounded party if everyone chooses different pregens

Minuses
-They aren't playing what they wanted to play.
-First level characters don't take that long to create. If they look at the pdf ahead of time, the character can be ready to go at game time. Just have them use the standard array for character creation.

 

[PnPgamer]

Does pushing effect of thunderwave cause AoO, if it pushes enemies out of allys or your reach?

 

[Fralex]

Does pushing effect of thunderwave cause AoO, if it pushes enemies out of allys or your reach?

Nope. You only can make an attack of opportunity if someone moves out of your reach on purpose. It doesn't count if they're just being blown away or they fall past you. Basically, anytime the movement was forced, you can't attack them for it.

 

[wedgeski]

Running the Starter Set with the pre-gens is, in absence of all other considerations, by far the best thing to do, for all the reasons outlined by [MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION].

I would also add that if you use the pre-gens, you know they'll be correctly built, which will remove ALL doubt during play that you guys have done something wrong in the character generation process. I cannot impress strongly enough how important that will be during those times when everyone seems to be missing their attacks or failing their saving throws.

 

[Fralex]

Ok gang, I may have a bit of an issue with one of my players before we even get started.

He, along with another player, went tonight to look at the starter set and realized that is has pre-made characters to use in with the included adventure. My buddy called and said he was freaking out at the idea of playing pre-made characters, even to get us started.

My friend and I discussed the options a bit and I said that we can probably roll up our own characters, but we would need to use the online PDF to do so, and since none of us know what we are doing, then it will probably take forever to get us started. I also explained that the PDF has all of the rules but not all of the options (for PC characters) covered in the print copy of the PHB. He seemed to lose some excitement, to say the least.

My first thought is to get the starter kit, sit the players down and explain why I think it would be a good idea to play the starter kit "as is" and failing that, take the time for all of us to figure out how to roll up characters, then play through with those.

What say all of you? How would you handle this?

Please bear in mind that none of us have a clue of what we are doing, with me having (by far) done the most reading and learning. These guys don't even know what the 3 core books are. I am not saying that out of some sense of superiority (as I am still clueless myself), I am saying this out of fear, to be honest. I worry this may end up being a really bad case of the blind leading the blind, and I'm worried they will not enjoy it and not want to continue.

I sincerely feel that if they all nab up one of the pre-made characters, and we roll through the adventure as written, then we will all learn a LOT and be able to move forward from there. I admit, I think it may be a bit of a crutch that I can lean on, and would like to have it at my disposal.

Any advise would be welcome.

Making a character can seem a little daunting the first time, but plenty of people do it even for their first time playing. In some ways it may even be better to make your character yourself; by the end you'll already have a better understanding of what you can do and how all the pieces fit together. Even if you don't know all the finer points on how to, like, pick all the right things to make a super-optimized hero or whatever, it's easy to understand the basics and with the limited options in the free PDF you're not gonna be overwhelmed by choices. Plus, it's fun to make a character yourself!

All you really need to be concerned about is accounting for the extra time it will take to create a character. If you have all your players start making characters on the first get-together, that's likely all you'll have time for. You'll have to start the game for real another time. You could have everyone make their characters on their own and bring the finished ones to the game, but there's also something to be said for being able to talk to each other while you make characters. Might help everyone get on the same page, ask each other for help when they need it, sort of thing. Once you get the hang of it, character creation will go faster. Oh, and I don't know how much of the class descriptions you've read, but each one contains a "quick build" section that gives you basic advice for making that class quickly. Look, the bottom line is, you'll all be fine. This is a very beginner-friendly edition to be starting out on.

Disclaimer: It's worth noting that when I played my first game, a couple of the players were already experienced with it and could help the rest of us. It might be different when everyone is a beginner. Then again, I was trying to learn 3.5 edition, which had a lot more tricky rules to learn than 5th edition. I'm still reasonably sure you'll be fine either way.