D&D 5E Ok all, I just cannot wrap my head around how combat works. Please Help.

[Mouseferatu]

Not only that, the examples of play are a joy to re-read.

I still wanna know if that poor halfling thief was eaten alive by the ghouls before the others managed to rescue him.

 

[steeldragons]

I still wanna know if that poor halfling thief was eaten alive by the ghouls before the others managed to rescue him.

Wasn't it a gnome? [EDIT: And I'm certain he was, yes. Or always was in the scenario in my imagination. /EDIT]

I sometimes wonder what Gutboy Barrelhouse is up to these days.

 

[Zak S]

This is something 5E missed that most of the prior editions got right -- including examples of play. I know the examples in the original Moldvay Basic and 1E DMG taught me a lot about how to play the game then there was not internet to ask questions.

Yeah, and it's weird because we know that the design team read both the Mentzer Red Box and Lamentations of the Flame Princess, both of which have those very memorable walk-thus and they were just like "Nah, not gonna do it".

It might've been a space or budget issue, but I think it's so important for expanding the game to new people that you'd wanna go for it.

 

[Grainger]

ISTR that the beginner set has examples of play. I guess that's where Wizards expect new players and DMs to start, rather than the PHB and DMG.

 

[painted_klown]

This comment points up something important:

While the 5th edition D&D system is pretty cool, the writers and graphic designers clearly could've done a much better job of laying out how to play for brand new players.

Why not a little comic strip? Or at least a flowchart?

It scares me how many people who could be in the same boat as you--having all the tools right there but stuff veteran gamers take for granted is still assumed or just buried in walls of text.

+1
SO. MUCH. THIS.

As a new player, if there are suggestions I could make to WOTC, they would be the following.

1. Show a pic of a blank Character Sheet with labels and a guide that tells you what you need to do to fill in each box, or put in each box. Step by step. IMO the "step by step" character creation in the PHB is missing all of the details. Even when watching youtube videos (to try to learn how) there were experienced players admitting they had to consult online forums to figure everything out. IMO, it needs to be spelled out for the new players.

2. Show a random page from the Monster Manual with labels on all of the stats, indicating exactly what everything is, and "how to read" what you are seeing.

3. A step by step walk-through of combat. Literally spell it out. Every die roll needed (tell us when and why) until the end of a few sample battles. Include magic in them, PC's getting knocked out, monsters flying, etc

Either I am not as intelligent as WOTC assumes, or my lack of experience left me confused (perhaps a bit of both HA!), but IMO, new players should not be required to consult the internet to figure out these basic, and highly important aspects of playing the game.

Once again, thanks to all for helping me out. I really do appreciate it!

 

[Zak S]

1. Show a pic of a blank Character Sheet with labels and a guide that tells you what you need to do to fill in each box, or put in each box. Step by step. IMO the "step by step" character creation in the PHB is missing all of the details. Even when watching youtube videos (to try to learn how) there were experienced players admitting they had to consult online forums to figure everything out. IMO, it needs to be spelled out for the new players.

Call of Cthulhu does even better--there's a 2 page spread of the character sheet there with little arrows and every single step of character creation is called out in order--with page numbers for where stuff is.

So you can run a whole group through character gen just by looking at one page.

 

[Hollow Man]

Paizo's Pathfinder Beginner Box really does a great job of explaining how to play. I do wish WotC's Starter Set was more like this, because as is, its rulebook is simply a scaled down version of the PHB.

-HM

 

[painted_klown]

Call of Cthulhu does even better--there's a 2 page spread of the character sheet there with little arrows and every single step of character creation is called out in order--with page numbers for where stuff is.

IMO, something like that would go a LONG way in clearing up confusion. I was actually surprised the starter box didn't have something like that. In fact, there isn't anything to help create characters in the starter box (that I saw anyway). I found that to be rather odd, considering it is the "starter" box. Oh well, it is what it is...

Paizo's Pathfinder Beginner Box really does a great job of explaining how to play. I do wish WotC's Starter Set was more like this, because as is, its rulebook is simply a scaled down version of the PHB.

I thought the exact same thing when I was able to get my hands on the 5E Starter Box (one of my players bought it, showed everything to me/had me check it out, and let me take the adventure module out to prepare to run the game).

When I bought the physical copy of the PHB, I expected it to be more detailed, and give breakdowns of everything to learn the whole system. Instead, it was the free PDF with artwork and more options, making the free PDF really, really impressive to me, but making the purchase of the physical copy less important than I had thought.

While I like the physical copy of the PHB (I just got it yesterday, so admittedly I have not yet had an opportunity to really sit down with it much), I felt it should have been more detailed in the areas being discussed ITT.

The free PDF is like a condensed (edited) version of the physical book, and the book in the starter set felt like a condensed (edited) version of the free PDF to me.

Having said that, WOTC really did give 5E away for free, so "Kudos" to them on that.

 

[Hollow Man]

IMO, something like that would go a LONG way in clearing up confusion. I was actually surprised the starter box didn't have something like that. In fact, there isn't anything to help create characters in the starter box (that I saw anyway). I found that to be rather odd, considering it is the "starter" box. Oh well, it is what it is...

The 5e Starter Set specifically removes the character creation process, and instead includes pregens, to streamline learning. There was, of course, a lot of debate about whether this was the right thing to do, but since character creation rules are available free via the Basic Rules pdf, there wasn't that much to really argue about.

-HM

 

[Hollow Man]

The free PDF is like a condensed (edited) version of the physical book, and the book in the starter set felt like a condensed (edited) version of the free PDF to me.

That's fairly accurate, but for me, the PHB really does have increased value due to the extra classes, races, feats, and multiclassing rules. But if that stuff and a well produced physical copy isn't important, there's no question that the Basic Rules pdf is a spectacular value.

-HM