Dungeons and Dragons 5e: Spells

When I first started trying to decide if I would finally jump on the 5e wagon, I had to look at spells. While playing 4e, my main problem with it was spells. It seems that every class could cast “spells” or their powers. As someone who came from 3.5, I was able to use spells that, until 5e, were able to do just about anything. My spells were not just attack spells, like throwing a fireball or shooting lightning at people. They were able to effect the environment, allowed me to knock enemies out to avoid a large fight. They provided the level of role playing that Dungeons and Dragons was meant to have. In 4e, those spells were slimmed down, drastically. In 5e, they brought back spells, real spells.

Spells

Each spell in 5e has a spell level to it. It ranges from level 0 (Cantrips) to level 9. Spell levels do not correspond to your class level, simply just the level of spell.

Spell Slots

Spell slots are how many spells your spell caster can use in between long rests. The best analogy I have seen of this is a revolver. Imagine that your spells are like bullets, you only get to have so many loaded into your revolver before you can reload. So when you start your adventure you are saying that, I am putting this many bullets in my revolver. Once I run out, I need to rest so that I can reload for more fights.

When you go to fill spell slots, you can take lower level spells and put them into slots that are meant for your “higher caliber” spells. For example, you can put a Level 1 spell in any other spell slot you get, however, a level 9 spell can only go into a level 9 spell slot. Some spells, when used in a higher level spell slot, have extra bonuses to them to make them stronger. For example Cure wounds heals more damage if you place it in a higher level spell slot.

Cantrips

Cantrips are some extremely useful spells, both attack and utility spells, that the caster has memorized in their mind after years and years of tedious practice. Because of this practice, spell casters can cast their cantrips as many times a day that they like. Because of this, they are refused to as level 0 spells. (Not to be confused with 3.5e’s level 0 spells. Some of these spells, like Mage Hand, Ray of Frost, Acid Splash, and many more, are great spells, that your spell casters can use numerous times through out the day. This is a great improvement to the 3.5 spell system!

Rituals

Another added bonus that they added in 5e is the ability to cast certain spells as rituals. The spells that this can be done with will have the ritual tag on them, and to cast them as a ritual it takes an extra 10 minutes to cast. However, rituals do not take up spell slots.
To cast ritual spells, you must have the ritual casting feat. You must also have the ritual on your know list of spells, unless your class says otherwise.

Dungeons and Dragons 5e: Ability Scores

Of late I have been seeing a lot of DM’s and players out there discussing ability scores and which method of determining them is the best. There are a lot of people who are not in favor of rolling for their ability scores, while those who are, are against the other methods. Because of the recent blogs and videos out there discussing it, I have decided to throw my hat in the ring. I will discuss each of the methods that are common, and any variants that I have been introduced to. I will then sum it up with my opinion.

The Standard: Rolling for Your Ability Scores

This is the standard way of determining your ability scores. It has been in use since I have been involved with Dungeons and Dragons, and has been the prevalent method I have used. The way this method works is you will take 4d6 or 4 6-sided dice and roll them. You will then drop the lowest number, add the remaining three, and note your score down so you can place it in later.

Variants

1. Roll 3 dice instead of rolling 4 and dropping the lowest. It makes each die rolled a bit more important when you end up rolling that 1.
2. Instead of writing your scores down to divvy out later, your DM may tell you to start with Strength and roll each one in order down the page. This gives you the ultimate random character, so much so that you must do this first just to see which ability scores will be your strongest ones.

Standard Array

This method is straight forward. Instead of randomly rolling for your stats, you may use the standard array of numbers that is pre-generated for those who do not enjoy randomly rolling your characters. The standard array is: 15,14,13,12,10,8. You then plug those in where you want them and go from there, adding bonuses, just like above.

A Point Buying System

This is the more in-depth method of determining your ability scores. This method allows players to start off with scores of 8 across the board. They are then given 27 points to buy, or upgrade, your scores to the next rank, turn an 8 into a 9. The higher you get your score, the more it is going to cost you. The table below shows the ability score and the cost to raise it to said number.

Ability Score	Cost
9	1
10	2
11	3
12	4
13	5
14	7
15	9

With this method, you can only max out 3 of your scores. That array would look like 15,15,15,8,8,8.

My Opinion

In my years of playing Dungeons and Dragons, I have used almost exclusively used the first method. However, I have used the other methods as well. In fact, when I create NPC’s that are to help my players, I use a that standard array.

I believe Dungeons and Dragons was built on the system of rolling dice. That means if you are the lucky guy at the table who just rolled 3 18’s and some other high numbers, then so be it. It is okay. If you roll a 3, then that is okay too. In fact, rolling a very low score like that will make roleplaying and character development very fun. If you are a wizard and roll a 3 for your ability score, give him a low strength because your character is an extremely old and wise wizard. Or if you are the barbarian dragon born who rips things to shreds with your bare hands, maybe you have a huge mental disability or learning disability, that effects your ability to read and write.

I feel as if the point buying system was made for people who are tired of not getting to be that character that rolled 3 18’s. And that is okay too. The greatest thing about Dungeons and Dragons… THERE IS NO ONE CORRECT WAY TO PLAY IT! Your group can run a campaign where ability scores above 15 are not allowed to make the difficulty harder. In fact, I have a house rule when I have new players, that says is they roll a crappy number for the score (one that gives a negative modifier) then they are allowed to roll it again if they want to.

Remember, Dungeons and Dragons is about having fun and playing games with friends. Go out there and have fun. Adapt to the group you are with for their specific method they use.

Dungeons & Dragons 5e Skills

As I mentioned in last weeks The Tavern Post, we were moving on to Dungeons and Dragons 5e. I have been waiting to do so for awhile. As I have been reviewing the new books, I have decided to go over skills for 5e. They have been changed a bit since 4e and I figured it would be best to cover them for any new players out there. Instead of an alphabetical list like I gave with the 4e skills post, I am going to post them by their corresponding ability score. I am doing this because if 5e skills are listed as ability checks(for the specific skill). For example: instead of rolling for Perception, it is now a Wisdom(Perception) check. It is basically the same thing, just different syntax.

Strength

• Athletics – climbing, running, and jumping your way through the environment.

Dexterity

• Acrobatics – staying on your feet in bad footing and perform stunts such as leaping over your foes.
• Sleight of Hand – From swiping coin purses from townsfolk to planting evidence on them.
• Stealth – Conceal yourself from those you wish to remain unseen to.

Constitution

• Whole ‘lotta nothing! At least skill wise anyways.

Intelligence

• Arcana – Your ability to recall knowledge about magic items, traditions, places, and symbols.
• History – Your ability to recall important historical events.
• Investigation – This is new if you are coming from 4e, and it means your ability to deduce things logically from evidence. Think Perception, Sherlock Holmes style.
• Nature – Your ability to recall information about terrain, regions, animals, weather, etc.
• Religion – Your ability to recall information relating to gods, prayers, holy symbols and practices.

Wisdom

• Animal Handling – Ability to control animals around you or perceive their motives.
• Insight – You try to determine someone’s true intentions, and try to stay one step ahead of them.
• Medicine – Attempt to stabilize your allies from dying.
• Perception – This has not changed. It is still your sensory checks, look, listen, detect, etc.
• Survival – Ability to follow tracks and all tasks that allow you to survive in the wild.

Charisma

• Deception – You try to convince others to believe your lies, whether in action or in word.
• Intimidation – Attempt to influence someone through your physical persona, or through acts of violence.
• Performance – How well you play instruments.
• Persuasion – Influence someone with tact and social grace.

D&D 4e Basics: Skills

ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE!
On the last post over D&D, I received a comment that wanted me to go into detail about the skills. I had mentioned in the post that I was going to go over them briefly in a different post. We have gone over D&D basics of making a character so far and what the game is about. One thing you need to know for this post is that every action you make in this game can be linked to a skill (besides combat related abilities and attacking). If you want to look for something, that is found in Perception. If you want to forage for food while sleeping in the woods,that is under Nature. Also, all of these skills will revolve around one die, the d20. When you tell your DM that you want to look, listen, hunt, forage, jump, climb, steal, pick a lock, etc. you will roll you d20. You will add your bonuses to the number on the roll and your DM will decide if you meet the required check.

Pertinent Info

First off, skills describe different types of actions your character can do in the game. Everyone has access to the same list of skills. However, not everyone will be as efficient at each skill as others may be. In fact, each class can only pick from a small number of the skills to start off trained in. As your character levels up there are ways to get trained in skills or receive bonuses.

Skill Checks

As mentioned above, during a skill check you will roll a die and add your bonuses to the roll. Your DM will set the difficulty of the check and will let you know if your score passed the check. There is another way to perform a skill check with out rolling a d20, it is called taking ten. When you take ten you get a base score of 10 and add your bonus for that particular skill to it. That is your score for the skill check. Taking 10 is only allowed during times where you are not distracted (chasing after something, in combat, etc).

You also have what is called a Passive Skill Check. It only pertains to Perception and Insight. Your DM may allow it for other skill, but the standards are Perception and Insight. An example of when a passive skill check would come in handy: If you are walking through an area and you are paying attention to your surroundings because you assume you are safe with an enemy lying in wait for you. You may end up spotting them because your ability to see is high enough. For this you will be following the take ten method mentioned above.

For this post I will go over each skill and go over some of the basics about that skill and what type of characters are going to need that skill the most. For more detail check out chapter 6 in your Player Handbook 1. However…
DISCLAIMER- Realistically each character you play would need to be trained in all of these skills. As mentioned above some will be better than others at certain skills. When I say what classes are best for each skill I am looking at two things: one, the score that they rely on and the classes that need that the score the most, and two, my own personal opinion of what I have seen played out, so it may differ from what the Player Handbook 1 says or other players. Also, just because you see here that I suggest skills for certain classes does not mean they will have the option to start off trained in that skill.

Acrobatics (Dexterity)

Acrobatics is all about being quick on your feet. The ability to perform stunts, balance, escape from restraints or grabs, and to reduce damage when falling come easy to you with this skill. The only way to take advantage of the damage reduction from falling is if you are trained in the skill. Characters who would benefit from this skill: Rouge, Ranger, and Fighter.

Arcana (Intelligence)

As the name hints, this is about the arcane things, magic. Arcana is a knowledge skill more so than an action skill. You can have knowledge about magic things,knowledge of magical monsters (those made of the elements), and the ability to detect magic, if you are trained in Arcana. Detecting magic is a great way to figure out if there are magic traps in the room or identifying ritual circles. Wizards and Warlocks are going to benefit the most from this skill.

Athletics (Strength)

This skill covers you rigorous physical activities: climbing, jumping, swimming, and you can also attempt to over power those grabbing you with this skill. This skill is pretty self-explanatory and the classes that benefit the most for this are Ranger, Fighter, Warlord, and Rogue.

Bluff (Charisma)

Bluffing can be a way of getting information from NPC’s (non player characters) in the world or convincing your enemies to stop attacking you. You can even bluff merchants and use this skill for gambling. It is a great skill to have for those who are on the weaker side or those who enjoy deceiving their foes. Warlocks and Rogues benefit the most from this ability.

Diplomacy (Charisma)

The power of influencing those around you with your grace. You can sway others to your side and haggle with merchants, and everything between. This is a good skill to have for Paladin, Cleric, Wizard, and Warlord.

Dungeoneering (Wisdom)

Your character has been in some dungeons before if they have this skill. They know what to look for when navigating through dungeons, from traps and hazards, to making sure you do not get lost. You will also have the ability to forage for food, but you must be in the Underdark. For those not familiar with Forgotten Realms or D&D, the Underdark is the part of the world that is under the surface of the earth. It is filled with creatures that are entirely different that surface creatures and is pitch black to those with normal sight. Rangers, Wizards, and Rogues are going to be good at this skill.

Endurance (Constitution)

Being hardy is your expertise. You can survive the harshest of environments, hold your breath longer than others, and hold out longer against hunger and thirst without dying. The main two classes that will benefit from this are the Fighter and the Ranger. These two are often the go to person when out in nature trying to survive and will be called upon by their allies time and time again to perform certain tasks that will require this ability. The Paladin and Warlord would also benefit from it.

Heal (Wisdom)

The ability to heal others from near death experiences or other conditions such as disease. Clerics, Paladins, Ranger, and Warlord would benefit from this skill.

History (Intelligence)

This skill allows you to recall information about a specific region. The information can include wars, leadership, customs, and laws. Clerics, Paladins, and Wizards benefit the most from this skill.

Insight (Wisdom)

Insight is used to combat Bluff. It gives you the ability to see if someone is withholding information from you, figure out someone’s motives, and to read between the lines in a situation. The Cleric, Rogue, Paladin, Warlock and Wizard are all good at this skill. Everyone should invest some into this skill at some point.

Intimidate (Charisma)

You are a tough mother. You look at others and try to make them cower and submit to your awesomeness. This is great for Warlords, Fighters, and Paladins. Warlocks can also be intimidating as well, but not in the physically rip your face off way.

Nature (Wisdom)

Foraging for food, handling animals, and having extensive knowledge over nature and the natural creatures that inhabit it. This ability is useful for the Ranger and Wizard. Depending on how you play your character, it could also be helpful for fighters.

Perception (Wisdom)

This is going to be the most needed skill for every D&D group out there. This is going to be your everything skill. From looking for hidden things, listening at the door before entering a new room, finding tracks outside, etc. This skill is going to be most useful to the Wizard, Ranger, Rogue, Cleric, and Warlocks.

Religion (Intelligence)

Knowledge of the religions of the world and religious monsters(immortal or undead). You can draw on your knowledge to inform your group of ceremonies, holy symbols, etc. of the different religions. A must for the Paladin and Cleric, but can also be useful for the Wizard and Warlock.

Stealth (Dexterity)

You try to move silently without being noticed or spotted by others. This skill is a must for those who are on the weaker side when it comes to hit points. An obvious choice for the Rogue and Ranger, but is also a good skill to get with you Wizard later on in the game. Imagine, a wizard, that can surprise fireball people, then disappear again next turn, with successful check.

Streetwise (Charisma)

This is your street smarts. When you walk into town, you know exactly who the big boys are and what is going in town. This is good for the Fighter, Rogue, and Warlock.

Thievery (Dexterity)

This covers a bunch of fun things. From disabling traps to picking pockets, you have the ability to jack people’s stuff without getting seen. Also used to open locks.
This is an obvious choice for your Rogue. It can also be useful to the Ranger. I have played with a Wizard and Fighter who were extremely skillful at Thievery.

Those are all of the skills that are given in 4e. As I mentioned at the top of this post everyone will have access to the same list, but will have different starting choices to pick from. But remember one important rule for D&D, have fun! If you want to make a character that has some skills that do not make sense, then by all means do so. That is how you find out different things, that actually end up turning out to be cool.

D&D 4e Basics: Character Creation

Character creation is one of the most important parts of Dungeons and Dragons. Character creation is also my own personal favorite part of Dungeons and Dragons. You can make your character anything you want them to be. You can customize race, sex, age, looks, etc. Character creation in D&D is as essential as it is in video games, if not even more so. This is the character you will spend a great length of time playing with, as long as the dice and DM allow it. For these tutorials I will be referencing the Player Handbook 1. There are many different places throughout the internet to get a free download of the pdf. If you prefer a book you can get one on Amazon. For new players I would suggest limiting yourself to Player Handbook 1 for the time being until you get a better understanding of how the game works.

Picking a Class

There are a few different ways to pick your character you will be playing. The one I suggest to the new players out there is to pick your class first. Class is going to be the type of character you will play. Do you want to be the strong fighter who charges into battle ahead of the rest of the group, the cunning rogue waiting in the shadows until the opportune moment to strike, or the wizard off in the corner lobbing fire balls at the enemies from afar? No matter your preference, there is a class for you.
The classes available in the Player Handbook 1(PH1) Chapter 4 are:

• Cleric- Holy warrior/healer. Can attack from afar or up close.
• Fighter- Typical warrior who rushes into battle and beats their enemies down with brute force.
• Paladin- Holy warrior. Some healing spells, but with the stopping potential of the fighter.
• Ranger- Can be the expert marksman and attack from far or the warrior who swings a weapon in each hand up close.
• Rogue- Stealthy character that backstabs and deals extra damage. Waits for openings in a fight to come in for the killing blow.
• Warlock- Dark magic users who use dark energy and curses to harm their enemies.
• Warlord- Leaders who lead from the front line with the fighters and paladins.
• Wizard- Masters of magic who can use it their powers to harm enemies or help allies.

Each class will be good at certain things and have their own features they rely on the most. They will also have bonuses to certain stats we will look at later. Classes also have what is called key abilities. Ability scores tell us how good your character is at certain things (Strength, Intelligence, etc). Each class will have 3 key abilities that their class relies on to have a better chance of doing things.
You will also pick out which of your class powers you want to have. Each class has some suggested combinations to start with.

Choosing a Race

Once you have picked out the class you would like to have, you will then pick out your race. Your race will give you bonuses and extra features. The benefits that all races will offer are:

• Speed- The amount of movement you can make in one turn.
• Ability scores Each race will give a bonus to one or two ability scores
• Vision- Your characters ability to see. Some can see in low light, others have normal sight.
• Languages- The different languages a character can use to interact with the world.
• Racial Traits- Bonuses to skills and weapons are common ones.
• Racial Power- Some races will have their own power to use.

Now that you know what type of bonuses you will be receiving, you can look at the different races and start choosing which one you would like to be. The races you can pick from are: (Chapter 3. PH1)

• Dragonborn
• Dwarf
• Eladrin
• Elf
• Half-Elf
• Halfling
• Human
• Tiefling

While new to D&D pick races that work well with your classes. You can make your character however you would like. If you want a dwarf wizard who is stronger than it is intelligent, then by all means have fun. But to help ease you into playing D&D I would suggest keeping it simple until you have a better understanding of things.

Ability Scores

Ability scores are a characters natural ability. For example how strong a character is or how intelligent the character is. I heard a great way to explain the abilities with a tomato. Each character will have six abilities. I will explain each of them with this analogy.

• Strength(STR)- How easy it is to crush the tomato with your hand.
• Dexterity(DEX)- How easy it is for you to hit a target by throwing the tomato.
• Constitution(CON)- The ability to eat a rotten tomato and not get sick from it.
• Intelligence(INT)- Knowing the tomato is a fruit not a vegetable.
• Wisdom(WIS)- Being able to tell a tomato apart from other food.
• Charisma(CHA)- The ability to sell the rotten tomato.

There are a few different ways to generate these numbers. There is the standard array method. On this method you get the array of numbers, 16,14,13,12,11,10. You will then assign each of those to one of the six abilities listed above. A second method is the point buying system. You start with 8,10,10,10,10,10. Plug those in where you want, and you are given 22 points to spend to increase those. Each point added to them costs an extra amount of points. This is my least favorite of the methods. However, my favorite method is the last, rolling scores. You take 4d6 or 4 six sided dice and drop the lowest score. Add the rest and that is your score. Do this six times, then plug them all in where you would like them. This by far allows for the most random of results. Some do not like this method because there is a possibility of rolling four ones, which would make one of your scores a 3. I however, find that this method results in the most fun, and if your DM is cool they will not let the new people get stuck with horribly low scores.
When I DM, I have a house rule where if you roll a score lower than ten you may re-roll. Sometimes rolls like these are great for story though. Rolling a low strength you could tie into your character having some kind of physical disability.

Skills and Feats

Next you will pick out your skills. These are the types of things that you are good at. Skills are used to perform certain types of things, jumping, running, hiding, looking for magic, healing fallen comrades, etc. When you are investing points into these skills, you get a number that adds to the dice roll each time you have to perform a check.
Each class will have a different small list of skills that you can be trained in. You will pick out of these the skills that you would like training in. For now I am just going to list the skills, but check back and I will do a post over skills and how they affect things. When you pick one, it means that you are trained. When you trained in one of these you get an automatic plus five to them.

• Acrobatics
• Arcana
• Athletics
• Bluff
• Diplomacy
• Dungeoneering
• Endurance
• Heal
• History
• Insight
• Intimidate
• Nature
• Perception
• Religion
• Stealth
• Streetwise
• Thievery

Not all classes will have all of these to pick from to start. However, as you level up there are ways to become trained in them all.
Feats are going to be permanent bonuses to your character. They can do anything from increasing their powers from their class to giving them the ability to use more weapons. There are too many feats to list here. However, in Chapter 4 of the PH1 you will see under each class some suggested feats for the class. Follow these when you go to start creating your characters for the first time. When you feel confident enough to jump into Chapter 6 (pages 196 and 197) and pick one of your own, go ahead. Just make sure you meet the prerequisites for the feat.

Equipment

The last thing you will do is choose your characters starting equipment. You are given 100 gold to spend. Chapter 7 lists all of the starting items, armor, and weapons and their prices. Pick the ones that cater to how you want to play. If you have any gold left you will keep it for later.

This is a lot of information to take in. I know. So we will stop here. Keep an eye out, I will posting a complete walk through of making a character from beginning to end to give you an idea of how it works.