D&D 5E I think I'm in trouble

[KahlessNestor]

Lol Very fun! Glad you're jumping in! The DM screen will help avoid having to flip through the book to find things. The battle mat will be useful if you like that but 5e doesn't require its use. In fact, parts of Chapter 3 of the adventure don't even give maps for the smaller encounters. So don't sweat it too much. Just have fun!

 

[Skyscraper]

Go go go man! D&D is about fun and storytelling.

The rules, the story, all that you can make up as you go along. As long as you give the impression of fairness, everyone will be happy.

Here are a few tips:

• don't bother about the rules too much. Just know the basics.
• The rules you don't know during the game, don't bother searching for. Take a decision on the spot, tell your players that you're not sure what the official answer is, but that this will be it for now.
• use pre-generated characters. You have some right here, you can even pick your level. Don't bother making characters for the players on your first game.
• If your nephew and niece are not too young, e.g. say 12 or more, I suggest running level 3 characters instead of level 1. Less chances of them dying from the get-go, and the characters have a little more options, they'll catch on quickly.

Happy new year!

 

[Lidgar]

Don't forget the pizza and beer.

And some extra d20's never hurt. It's inevitable that you or someone else at the table will come to the conclusion that the dice are cursed and must be launched off the back patio our melted in the fireplace.

 

[Uchawi]

Focus on rolling up a few characters and understand what character abilities, ac, to hit, spells and skills mean. If you understand those concepts, then the rest is just throwing challenges against the players using those abilities. So things like AC, hit points, saves, etc. for monsters can be adjusted on the fly. But the best experience for the players is the DM and the player understanding what a character represents on the piece of paper.

 

[dmnqwk]

My best advice is related to the toughest part of early DMing in 5th edition - the skill check. Stories can be made up, adventures can be improvised but unfortunately DnD needs skill checks to maintain the semblance of game over pure fiction.

There are precisely 18 skills in 5th edition, and some of them come up in rolls more often than others.

Key Skills:
Perception - Avoid surprise, spot a secret door or generally noticing things. Passive Perception (which is your perception + 10) can be used when your PCs are not actively trying to look for things, think of it like spidey sense!
Insight - Like Perception, but for people not things. If an NPC is lying, Insight can let a PC determine this.
Stealth - Sneaking about is always a good thing! Often applied against a character's Passive Perception.
Athletics - Break down a door, shove a person over, move a heavy boulder. This comes up an awful lot in checks.

Diplomacy Skills: When the PC interacts with someone, these skills are used to see how well you interact
Deception: Lying and other non-truthful responses.
Intimidation: Threatening and Subtly insinuating if the person does not hand over the information their hand may accidently get chopped off.
Persuasion: Honestly appealing to their good nature, or convincing them it's a good idea to give you a huge discount on supplies!

Knowledge Skills: When PCs want to know things about a situation, such as what a crazy symbol means or know a little about a creature in the region - these 4 skills apply
Arcana - Magical Stuff, such as Runes and Sigils
Religion - Deities, Rituals, Holy Symbols etc.
Nature - Plants, Flora and Natural creatures fall under this skill
History - If your PC wants to know something in the past, History is the best place to go.

Other Skills:
Acrobatics - This really could've been labelled Balance, because half the things you think belong under here, are actually Athletics checks (vaulting over bannisters, for example!). This skill is mostly to avoid slipping on hazardous surfaces.
Animal Handling - Soothe the savage beast, or ride a horse safely. This skill has a lot of uses
Medicine - Treat basic wounds, identify a poison or maybe perform surgery to remove an arrow from someone. It's also used to try and stabilize someone who is dying.
Sleight of Hand - often opposed by a Perception check, it includes Pick Pocketing and other forms of subterfuge with your limbs.
Survival - Tracking. Also finding food in the wild or managing to set a trap for someone in the wilderness.

On top of skills you can also be proficient in Tools, such as Thieves' Tools for picking locks or a Herbalism Kit for crafting potions and poisons.

If you need a guide for how to quickly set a check, the best process is:
1) Decide what kind of success rate you want and set a DC
2) Ask them to make a roll
3) Decide which skill to apply while they are rolling
4) Determine if they succeed

DC 5: Gives you a 75-100% success rate for 1st level characters
DC 10: Offers a 50-75% success rate for 1st level chars.
DC 13: Offers a 33-66% success rate for 1st level chars
DC 15: Offers a 25-50% chance to succeed
DC 20: 5-75% chance for them to succeed.

In 5th edition, bonuses don't become quite as silly as some editions (2nd edition going from a 20 save to as low as an 8 for certain race/classes within 5 levels was always a bit rich)
Excluding Expertise, which is a benefit of being a Rogue or Bard, most characters will go from a +5 at 1st level in their good skills to +11 at level 17-20. So setting DCs doesn't need to scale quite so much as in previous editions.

 

[iserith]

Knowing which skills to apply to which tasks with an uncertain outcome the players are having their characters undertake is important, but it is not as important as understanding the basic conversation of the game (Basic Rules, page 3) in my view. That being:

1. The DM describes the environment.
2. The players describe what they want to do.
3. The DM narrates the result of the adventurers' actions.

Somewhere between 2 and 3, the DM must consider whether the outcome of what the players want to do is uncertain. Only then does the DM call the rules of the game into play to resolve that uncertainty. For example:

Does the lie the character tells work on the NPC? If the DM thinks "yes" or "no," then just narrate the result. If the DM thinks "I'm not sure," ask for an ability check - Charisma (Deception) perhaps - and stick by the result.

Does the character's attack against the defending hobgoblin succeed? If the DM thinks "yes" or "no," then just narrate the result. If the DM thinks, "I'm not sure," ask for an attack roll and stick by the result.

Does the jet of flame scorch the character? If the DM thinks "yes" or "no," then just narrate the result. If the DM thinks, "I'm not sure," ask for a saving throw and stick by the result.

I have written a guide to adjudication actions in D&D 5e. Take a gander at it if you have the time and desire. It contains a lot of examples of play that may be of help to you.

 

[GMMichael]

When in doubt, make stuff up.

More like, "when in doubt, let them kill it."

D&D is easy. You just have to throw out things that make you sound like you know what you're doing:

"Roll initiative."
"What's your alignment?"
"Let me see that character sheet."

After that, whenever you don't know the answer, tell the PC to make a "check." If he rolls higher than 14 on d20, something good happens.

See above for more concrete information.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Go here:

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets

This gives you downloads for the character sheets included in the starter set, so you won't have to scan them or write on them.

It also includes several more official pre-made characters. I recommend sticking with fighters, rogues, clerics, and wizards to start.

I strongly recommend you go with pre-made characters for the first session. With all of these options (plus the link further up the thread to some fan made options), that is probably even too many choices.

But regardless of what anyone says, creating characters from scratch takes time. If you have a bunch of new players, it could take your entire evening. Save it for later. You can always make your own characters in the next session if you want to. Or you can finish the whole starter set first. The main point is to just get them playing, rather than stuck on character creation for 4 hours. That's an introduction that will drive some potential players away from the hobby.

Of course, if your group is the opposite, and would love to spend all night coming up with an interesting character, by all means do so. Just don't assume they'll want to unless you are sure. Maybe even offer them the option of whether they want to spend most/all of the night making their own characters and then play next time, or whether they want to pick a pre-made character and jump right in.

 

[xOgrex]

Thanks for all the insight everyone! I'll post back and let you know how things go.

 

[Eltab]

Simple skill checks (a.k.a. making it up as you go along)

Player wants to do something - it sounds cool (or awful) but something fun could result, succeed or fail. Alas that it has no close match in the printed rules.

Pick the skill that sounds closest to what would be appropriate. Athletics / Acrobatics cover many physical acts. Nature / Arcana / Religion to remember important facts. Intimidation / Persuasion / Perform to influence people. Perception / Insight / Investigation to find, recognize, and put together clues to a puzzle.

Then ask yourself: is this Easy, Hard, or Somewhere In-Between?
Have the PC roll 1d20 and add his skill modifier to the roll
If Easy, PC succeeds on 5+
If In-between, PC succeeds on 10+
If Hard, PC succeeds on 15+
If Impossible, PC succeeds on 20+
Option: natural 20 succeeds spectacularly; natural 1 fails spectacularly

Be ready to describe amounts of success based on how well the PC rolled; many acts have more to them than "you did it" / "you fell flat on your face". A swashbuckling attempt to swing across the ballroom on the chandelier might end up with the PC on the opposite balcony, or flat on his face on the floor ('1's) or stuck on the chandelier over the center of the room, or triumphantly swooping over the dance floor, grabbing the Scarlet Pimpernel off his feet, displaying him before the assembled crowd, and jumping onto the opposite balcony ('20's).