How to lead
5th Edition
D&D Rules School - Learning the Basics (5th edition)
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hi everyone you're watching WASD 20 my
name is Nate today's video is intended
for newcomers to D&D to give you a
little more comfort with the game and to
help you understand what the heck this
game is and how it works for this one
I'm assuming that you have a character
sheet that maybe you've seen some of my
character creation videos and our goal
here is really to understand now that
you have a character sheet now that
maybe you've created a character how do
all these numbers and words work and
actual practice in the game what do they
mean and how do we apply them to the
game so to do that we're going to
actually be playing a sample session of
Dungeons & Dragons I will be both the
player and the DM and we'll give it a
shot here should be kind of fun if you
don't have a character sheet I recommend
you check out my website WASD 20 net on
the resources tab there and I'll put a
link to this in the description I'll
have a section there with some pre
generated characters including the one
that I'm using today and you can
download those check them out and follow
along with me what I'm doing or if
you're feeling adventurous you could try
to create your own character sheet I
also have a whole series of videos
dedicated to that now I just want to say
that this video is totally optional
let's say that you've been invited to
play Dungeons and Dragons for the first
time and you're wanting to learn all the
rules before you show up to actually
play well good luck with that the rules
are pretty dense there's a lot to learn
about the game and I'm I would never
attempt to do something like that in
this video it would be hours long if
you've been invited to play in a game
one of the best things you can do is
just show up with an open mind if you
have a good dungeon master and a good
group they're gonna welcome you and
teach you the rules on the fly as you go
that's how I learned but that said if
you want to learn how some of the basics
of the game work in practice this video
is for you
so keep watching with that out of the
way let's get down to the game
here we have our battle mat you don't
always play D&D with a map like this but
some people prefer to if you're not
playing with a map you're just kind of
imagining things and we call that the
theater of the mind but for our sake
today just to have a visual we playing
with a map and we'll be playing with
minis too
first I'd like to just say a word about
the Dungeon Master the DM in dungeons a
dragon is the lead storyteller the rest
of the players should also be a part of
the storytelling and depending on the DM
it could be a very big part of the
storytelling but the DM is the lead
storyteller in general the DM is also
the adjudicator of rules they make the
calls on what goes and what does not and
sometimes they can choose to bend the
rules a little bit for the sake of the
game they don't normally play a
character but they do play multiple non
player characters so they're not going
to be a party member in general but they
do get to play lots of characters the DM
also describes scenes creates obstacles
and adventures for the players all the
while trying to adapt to player actions
so usually you begin a session of D&D
with a Dungeon Master setting the scene
in this case when I'm speaking as the DM
I'm going to do my best to have the read
d20 out here and when I'm describing the
actions of the player and speaking in my
players voice I'll have the purple d20
out here now today I'll be playing as
aired on cero shent who is a wood elf
fighter he happens to be a character I
play in the provokers campaign and he's
level 3 usually you'll be starting at
level 1 but I just happened to have this
level 3 character sheet handy so I
figured I'd use this and it'll give us a
few more abilities to play around with -
during the session so we generally start
with our dungeon master setting the
scene with a little exposition a little
narration if you will so now the dungeon
master is going to set the scene you are
aired on cero shent
a young wood elf soldier who has been
tasked with scouting the position of a
fierce orc vagabond known as he lost the
man-eater
rumor has it he has moved into the area
and everyone knows he is no good the
village elders have tasked you with
finding his location so that a raiding
party might be sent to root him out all
right now air Don is a bit of a brash
soldier shoot the arrow now and ask
questions later type of guy so I have a
feeling he's not going to be so into the
task of scouting but he's going to try
to take out a loss himself
if I'm playing in character that's what
I'll probably do now as the player one
of the first things you need to know
about D&D is you just narrate your
action so I am going to say I walk down
the path to the river to see if I see
any footprints
now the DM might say you see footprints
scattered about in the mud and they're
going in many directions okay well I
think I want to move a little closer
here and see if I see anything on or
across the river anyone across the other
side perhaps you don't see anyone but
you do see a fishing line out in the
middle of the river looks like it's
coming from your side of the river okay
well I think I want to try to sneak
along the the back here and see if I can
see anyone from further back so it's not
to alert them now the DM might decide
that I need to be stealthy but in this
case the sound of the river is loud
enough where I can do it without making
a stealth check so I sneak along here
and the DM says on a rock you see with
his back to you a man he's wearing
leather and he is holding a fishing pole
hmm a man well I have a feeling he might
be able to give me some good information
so I'm just gonna knock an arrow just in
case pull out my short bow nock and
arrow and I'm gonna call out to him you
there now what I just did is I spoke in
my character's voice rather than just
saying I call out to him I said I call
out to him and then I actually did call
out to him in character voice now your
character might actually have the same
voice as you you don't have to put on a
funny accent some people enjoy that some
people don't but the point is you're
speaking in the first person kind of
well you're speaking from a first-person
perspective you were immersed and so
that's that's a style I prefer but
everyone has different styles some
people might just say I call out to him
to try to get his attention
anyway I call out to him you there and
the DM says he turns around looking
quite startled and he says what was that
who goes there
I say
have you seen anyone traveling around
here any any signs of well uh no work a
narc well hmm no no I can't say I have
I'm just here minding my own business
you know trying to catch some fish
so as the player I have a feeling this
guy might not be telling me the truth I
feel like he might not be totally honest
with me so I'm gonna try to figure out
is this can I tell if he's nervous as
he's shifting and can I tell if he's
telling me the truth now the DM is going
to say make an insight check alright so
we have our very first skill check this
is an essential part of D&D our skills
are all listed on the character sheet
right here and in air Don's case we find
that insight has a +2 bonus for all
skill checks and this is true of most
d20 games not just D&D you're going to
be rolling a d20 and then adding the
appropriate modifier for insight which
is how I would tell if he is telling the
truth or not I'm going to roll my D 20
and add 2 so here we go alright I have
my assistant here five-year-old Caleb
and he rolled a 17 for me excellent work
Caleb so 17 plus 2 is 19 so the DM is
gonna say you can tell that he is not
being very truthful he's shifting he is
twitching and looks very nervous okay so
he's not being totally truthful with me
well err Donegan is kind of a brash guy
I think I'm gonna move up and I'm gonna
try to intimidate him I'm gonna not keep
my arrow nock and I'm gonna move closer
glaring at him raising my bow just
slightly and tell him you had better be
truthful with me I can tell you know
something else make an intimidation
check alright so now I'm going to make
my second skill check intimidation for
aired on you can see I have a plus 1 to
intimidation actually Caleb's gonna roll
for me
alright you rolled a seven which
intimidation plus one that's an eight
and I'm going to say that this guy is
probably not going to be intimidated by
that
so as the DM I will say he stares you
down and says don't you threaten me elf
I have powerful friends what to do what
to do so he's just staring me down well
I think I'm gonna back off I don't think
I want to provoke a fight with this guy
I'm gonna back off and say all right
well I'm gonna be on my way and you stay
out of my way and he's going to move
move on - keep looking for this orc I
move away but I continue to watch my
back as I move alright so I failed to
intimidate that guy wasn't able to get
any information from him so I'm going to
keep moving and I'm just going to try to
you know kind of sneak around and and
see what I can see you see if I see any
other tracks or anything out of the
ordinary I think I'm going to move this
way stop when you get right here you
hear a sharp twang and you need to make
a dexterity saving throw alright so
saving throw this is my very first
saving throw and they're similar to
skills in some ways they are based on
our abilities ability scores and ability
modifiers just as the skills are they're
more general so in this case I'm going
to be making a dexterity saving throw
and I have a plus two bonus there so
saving throws are things that you know
you'll face that you need to resist in
some way whether it's through the force
of mind and will or through through the
just brute strength or Constitution or
whatever in this case it's it's kind of
quickness and agility so something is is
going to be falling on me
just tell you it's a falling net trap so
I have to make a dexterity saving throw
and I make a five plus two gives me a
seven which is not going to be enough
the DC on this is ten that's the
difficulty so that's not going to be
enough so a net has fallen on me all
right
I am knocked down and I am going to try
to get to my dagger and try to cut
myself free from this all right so I'm
going to reach for my dagger and see if
I can't hit this thing it says in my
book here that the net has an armor
class of ten so I have to get 10 to hit
this is kind of like combat here I'm
going to be using my dagger and I have a
+4 attack bonus so I'm going to roll my
D 20 and I'm going to add my attack
bonus of 417 plus 4 is 21 I had to get
10 to get this net and so that that is a
hit my damage for my dagger is 1 D for
which I have here plus 2 so here we go
all right I got a 2 plus 2 is 4 and that
is not quite enough so I'm not able to
cut a big enough gash in this with my
dagger I think I'm going to try to just
throw this thing off it's probably
weighted down in some way I'm just going
to try a strength check to throw it off
so in this case this is just a
straight-up strength check here it's not
really a saving throw so much and so I
have a plus 2 to strength and I need to
get a 10 in order to throw this thing
off I got it - all right so that's not
working so well I'm stuck in this net
I'm going to give it a shot with my
dagger again all right 16 plus 4 is 20
so I definitely am able to hit and now
I'll roll one D 4 plus 2 damage 3 plus 2
is 5 you cut a gash that is big enough
in the net slashing it with your dagger
in order for you to be freed from its
grasp
all right so I'm out of the net there a
bit of a struggle I think now I'm going
to actually try to climb this tree that
trap is made to be suspicious and I'm
going to try to climb the tree and see
what I can see see if I see anything out
of the ordinary in this area the DM
might decide that I need to make a check
in order to climb the tree but in the
interest of time here I'm just going to
say I'm able to climb the tree so what
do I see from up here I'm looking for
anything out of the ordinary straight
ahead you see a cave opening and you see
light flickering from within the cave it
has become dark outside but you can see
light clearly flickering from within the
cave
oh I'm sorry to leave you on a
cliffhanger there what could be in that
cave hmm
well so far in this one we've covered
the role of the DM we've covered how to
narrate action how to make a skill check
how to make a saving throw and the next
one we're going to get into some real
combat against something that hits back
something that is not made of rope and
does not simply fall from a tree so that
should be fun until then make sure you
give this one a thumbs up if you enjoyed
it leave me a comment below let me know
what you think and everybody take care
until next time happy gaming
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