D&D 5E What have you found to be the hardest thing for new players to understand about 5e systems?

[ExploderWizard]

I find a large barrier to more players reading the book is that nobody else owns the book.

The basic rules including how to play are free. There is no excuse for not knowing the basics except a lack of desire.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Acton economy was a tough one, spells too. My players just tend to blast with cantrips.

And I did have one struggle with using her imagination, but we were able to work through it thankfully.

Once I got in a better habit of asking each players "What do you do?" they began to worry less about doing the right thing or scouring their character sheet. It helped a lot.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The two big exceptions I’ve noticed are spells and hit dice. I very often see new players confuse spells known, spells prepared, and spell slots

Even long-time players can have a little trouble with new prepare-then-cast-spontaneously thing.

Each caster casts spells at least a little differently, so if you have two or more different casters it deepens the confusion. One instance where it's nice if the other players /don't/ pay attention when you're answering one player's question.

New players also seem to have a hard time understanding what a hit dice is, where it comes from, and how it can be spent and regained.

Once they get past the weirdness of gaining hps as they level, in the first place, I haven't seen any issues with it. OK, the idea that 'we need to rest' when you've only been doing things for a matter of minutes can throw some players, just a bit.

How do you teach new players about the spellcasting system? How do you explain to them how hit dice work?

First, you try not to: let them play a fighter or barbarian the first time out. If they really want to play a caster, they'll probably pick it based on the name ("I want to play a wizard!" "It won't be exactly like Harry Potter, but OK...") or whatever short explanation you give of the concept, if you get that far.
Then you just explain the spell casting system particulars of that one class, to that one player.

Are there any other aspects of the game system that you notice new players struggling with?

Well, yeah, of course. Hit points & AC; the fact that most things you may think to do when attacking with a weapon necessarily boil down to making an attack roll and dealing damage (you can try to dress it up or hide it from them for a while); that an injured enemy isn't generally less (or a wounded animal more) of a threat, so always focus fire; that you can only 'swing' once in a 6-second round isn't the stumper that it was when rounds were 1 min long, but it still takes some aback; similarly, what you can & can't do with actions, that not moving doesn't let you do more of anything else, that you get a bonus action when you use a bonus action but not when you don't, and not a second one if you're set up for two, etc; whether you roll to hit or tell the DM which save your spell uses (/most/ spells use saves & cantrips attack rolls, so the exceptions'll trip 'em up); before that, what each spell does in the first place (it helps to print out the known spells of a pregen), why you can't start casting the 2nd level spells at 2nd level, etc...

...oh, and I'm assuming pregens, because there's no end to the misunderstandings at chargen & level up.

I have new players that still think that if your not ''trained'' in something (proficient), you cant attempt this action. Like if you're not proficient in Athletic, your character cannot jump! I dont even understand this mindset but it comes up frequently.

It's just easier to think in a binary way of what your character 'can' and 'can't' do, rather than what he might try with little idea of what his chance of success may be.

 

[jgsugden]

Inspiration seems odd to many new players, but the biggest issue I have seen is Flanking. Experienced gamers expect there to be flanking, and based upon prior editions they want it to grant advantage in 5E. There is an optional rule for this, but I think that makes advantage too easy in 5E and should be avoided (my house rule for flanking is that creatures that move while flanked provoke an OA from all adjacent creatures - flanking is a lockdown maneuver, not an advantage maneuver).

 

[Irda Ranger]

Rank 0. These things are learned pretty quickly.

• The basic system. Roll d20, add modifier.
• Advantage and disadvantage are easy too.

Rank 1. These things take several readings but are usually ironed out by the third session.

• Spells prepared vs Spell slots.
• Hit Points vs Hit Dice. Spending HD to recover HP. Recovering HD and HP.

Rank 2. These things are continuing problems.

• Action economy and similarly named actions, e.g., "Attack action" vs "weapon attack".
• How Surprise and Initiative work together.
• The limitations your Bonus Actions spells impose on Action choices.
• Teamwork. Understanding how classes compliment and help each other.
• Remembering all the things their character can do. I find it's really helpful to organize character sheets around action type. "These are all your Bonus Actions. These are all your Reactions. Etc."

 

[Staccat0]

It’s easy to ignore cuz it goes by so fast but every player I have ever taught gets confused by the use of “spell level” and how it differs from their level

 

[KenNYC]

I am an old player who came back to the game after 30 years, and after two years being exposed to 5e, I am still confused about what you guys call action economy and just tend to ignore it. The action, extra action, bonus action, saving an action, weapon action, using an action to dash...it all is gibberish to me most of the time and I tend to just ignore it and just explain myself in english organically. I would rather talk in normal english "I walk into the room and look around" and just go with the flow rather than "I walk into the room 15 feet, do a perception check as my action, then walk back 15 feet, and as a bonus action I cast xxx", next round "I want to save my action until it triggers, and use my bonus action to do yyy" My way keeps me mentally in the scene, the other way I am always looking at my sheet and thinking about a rule.

 

[Saint_Ridley]

My wife played a little with me and some friends about a year ago, and while she leaned on me quite heavily for the little things like what math she needed at any point, I think the hardest part for her was analysis paralysis when it came to making choices about character design. Choosing a subclass, deciding if she wants a feat or an ASI (and what to go with in either case), etc. She's terribly indecisive and would need to discuss with me over the course of a week in order to feel confident making a choice, and while I tried to let her come to her own decisions, she was very attentive to any nuances of my language and would use those to rule out options.

 

[Staccat0]

I am an old player who came back to the game after 30 years, and after two years being exposed to 5e, I am still confused about what you guys call action economy and just tend to ignore it. The action, extra action, bonus action, saving an action, weapon action, using an action to dash...it all is gibberish to me most of the time and I tend to just ignore it and just explain myself in english organically. I would rather talk in normal english "I walk into the room and look around" and just go with the flow rather than "I walk into the room 15 feet, do a perception check as my action, then walk back 15 feet, and as a bonus action I cast xxx", next round "I want to save my action until it triggers, and use my bonus action to do yyy" My way keeps me mentally in the scene, the other way I am always looking at my sheet and thinking about a rule.

I think you’ll find that nobody really plays the way you are imagining.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I am an old player who came back to the game after 30 years, and after two years being exposed to 5e, I am still confused about what you guys call action economy and just tend to ignore it. The action, extra action, bonus action, saving an action, weapon action, using an action to dash...it all is gibberish to me most of the time and I tend to just ignore it

3.x/PF, 4e/E, or 2e C&T would've made your head explode - by comparison, 5e is a triumphant 'return' to natural language for D&D.

...yeah, it got pretty crazy for a while...