Session / Campaign Rules
Setup for Success!
Understanding these fundamental Dungeons & Dragons rules is crucial for several reasons. First and foremost, it ensures that gameplay flows smoothly, minimizing disruptions and allowing everyone to focus on the adventure and storytelling aspects of the game. Familiarity with the rules also empowers you as a player, enabling you to make strategic decisions and fully utilize your character’s abilities, which enhances your overall experience and enjoyment. Moreover, knowing these rules helps maintain fairness and consistency throughout the game, ensuring that all players are on the same page and reducing misunderstandings or conflicts. Finally, a solid grasp of the rules fosters creativity and collaboration, as it allows players to engage more deeply with the game world and with each other, crafting a more immersive and rewarding experience for everyone involved.
Common D&D Rules Every Player Should Know
| Number | Rule Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ability Scores and Modifiers: Understand how the six ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) impact various aspects of your character's capabilities. |
| 2 | Advantage and Disadvantage: Know when to roll two d20s and choose the higher or lower roll, significantly affecting your action outcomes. |
| 3 | Attack Rolls and Damage: Learn to make attack rolls against a target's Armor Class (AC) and calculate the damage if you hit. |
| 4 | Spellcasting Rules: Familiarize yourself with the basics of spellcasting, including spell slots, spell save DC, and casting times. |
| 5 | Initiative and Combat Order: Understand how to roll for initiative and the sequence of combat turns, crucial for strategic planning. |
| 6 | Movement and Positioning: Grasp movement rules in combat, effects of terrain, and strategic positioning. |
| 7 | Hit Points and Healing: Keep track of your hit points and learn the ways your character can heal during and outside of combat. |
| 8 | Resting: Learn the differences between short rests and long rests, and the benefits each provides. |
| 9 | Skills and Proficiencies: Understand how your character’s skills and proficiencies contribute to various ability checks. |
| 10 | Conditions: Familiarize yourself with different conditions like Poisoned, Blinded, or Paralyzed that can affect your character. |
| 11 | Death and Dying Rules: Know the rules about dropping to 0 hit points, making death saving throws, and the consequences of character death. |
Meta-Gaming
Please don't do this
Metagaming in the context of role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons refers to when a player uses knowledge that their character would not realistically have to influence their decisions during gameplay. This often involves applying real-world information or player-level data to situations within the game, breaking the immersive experience of the game and operating outside the game's internal logic and story.
For example, if a player's character comes across a creature for the first time and the character has no prior knowledge of such a creature, but the player uses their own knowledge from having read the game's monster manual to exploit the creature's weaknesses, that would be considered metagaming. Similarly, if a player acts on information their character hasn't learned in the story, such as overhearing a conversation between the Dungeon Master and another player about a hidden trap, and then avoids the trap, it is also metagaming.
Metagaming can diminish the role-playing aspect of the game, as it encourages players to make decisions based on external considerations rather than staying true to their characters' perspectives and the in-game scenario. It can also lead to unfair advantages and reduce the overall enjoyment and challenge of the game for everyone involved.