(Could a mod merge the posts once I've finished making them all?)
[SIZE="4"]Introduction[/SIZE]
Hi all, I'm writing this short guide to provide interested newcomers with the essential information they need to create a starter character and join in one of our campaigns. I hope all the relevant information will be cohesive and easy to access, to make things a bit simpler. (I know the amount of rules alone can sometimes be daunting.
I've tried to organize the guide so that, from the top down, one can use this guide almost as a step-by-step guide, even though it's more like a small library. If you've never played DnD before, but are interested in trying, hopefully you can use this format to your advantage.
[SIZE="4"]Playing the game[/SIZE]
During the game, players will take turns moving their avatars or tokens, which represent their character, and using their allotted abilities and actions. Before that happens, some things will be set up, but first I'd like to examine how turns are taken during combat.
As I said, before anything happens, certain aspects will be decided. Of these, turn order is established, I'll talk about how that works later. When it's time for you to take your turn, you first start by examining any active effects on your character. If you have ongoing regeneration, or damage (such as from poison), this is when you apply them. If you have an effect that lasts a certain number of turns, decrement the turn count and apply the effect now. Then, you get to make your actions.
[SIZE="3"]Taking Turns:[/SIZE]
While it's your turn, you have to keep track of the type of action you're performing. You get one standard action, one minor action, and one move action. The action card will tell you what type it is. If you aren't using an action card (opening a chest, accessing your inventory, or doing something unprecedented by the action cards) ask the DM, and he or she will decide, though you may certainly suggest for yourself what type. In a addition, there are also free actions. You can, as the name suggests, perform as many free actions as you have in the same turn. Free actions may also be performed during the turns of others.
Some actions may also be used in place of another, according to this hierarchy: Standard > Move > Minor. This means that a standard action can become a move action or a minor action, and a move action can become a minor action, while minor actions may not be substituted. So, one may use their actions such that they move, make a minor attack, and then move to safety, by substituting a standard action for a move. (Note: the hierarchy does not refer to action order. Actions may be performed in any order.)
[SIZE="3"]Attacking:[/SIZE]
One of the most common types of actions are attacks. When you look at an attack, you will see a few data, including a description of what the attack is. Here, we'll look at two data in particular: the attack modifiers and the damage modifiers.
When you attack, you make two rolls. The first roll, the attack roll, is analogous to an accuracy roll, and uses a 20-sided die. It determines whether or not you're able to hit the opponent at all, and is modified based on the attack. When you make an attack roll, we say that you roll against a particular enemy stat (for instance, their armor class). This means that your roll, plus any modifiers, must be greater than that stat for the attack to hit. If you try to make an attack against an armor class of 16, with a bonus to attack of 3, then your roll must be 13 or higher, or else you won't land the attack.
If you happen to roll a perfect 20, we say you landed a critical hit. In that case, you ignore the next passage, and simply deal the maximum amount of damage the attack can do (pretend that you roll perfectly during the damage roll.)
[SIZE="3"]Damaging:[/SIZE]
Suppose you've successfully rolled an attack. What now?
Check the attack's action card and look at its damage. The damage you do depends on the nature of your attack, as well as your characters stats. Let's say you used an attack that says "2[W] + Dex" That's a bit cryptic, so we'll look at each aspect of it alone.
[W] stands for your weapon's damage rating. The damage rating refers to the number of faces on the die used in the roll. A rating of 10 means you use a 10-sided die. A rating of 20 means a 20-sided die.
2 means that you get to use two die in the roll. The size of the die will depend on your weapon rating, because we're rolling a [W] sided die.
+ Dex allows us to add our dexterity modifier to the damage. If you have 20 dex, then your modifier will be +5, so you add 5 to the final damage value. (Be careful; stat mods can be negative.)
So, if we landed a hit with an attack that was 2[W] + Dex, with a weapon rating of 8 and a dex of 20, we would roll two 8-sided dice, add the outcomes together, and then add 5 from the dexterity mod. That number is then subtracted from the target's health.
But what was this about critical hits?
If you get a critical hit, it's easy. When I say to act like you rolled perfectly, I mean pretend that you actually rolled, and it happened to land on the highest number. If we use the above example, our two dice would both have rolled 8, resulting in 16, which we add 5 to. If we got a crit on this attack, we'd do 21 damage to our enemy.
There are more details to making and taking attacks, but this is the way one goes about it. The finer points of attacking and combat should be easily learned in a real fight, and particular cases, such as bloodied, combat advantage, dying, and death saving throws will be explained when they become pertinent.
[SIZE="4"]Before turns are taken[/SIZE]
Now that you know how to play (more or less), we need to talk about what happens before turns are taken.
[SIZE="3"]Initiative[/SIZE]
Initiative is a stat that varies from campaign to campaign. At the very start of a campaign, we all roll a 20-sided die, and add our Dex mod to that number. That becomes our initiative. Initiative determines turn order where the highest numbers go first. Bear in mind that enemies have initiative too, and they can move before you if your initiative is low. (Yes, I'm aware that 4e rules say to roll for initiative at the start of every fight, but we've been using this method for simplicity, and I happen to like it. It's up to the DM how he or she wants to handle it.)
[SIZE="3"]Characters[/SIZE]
Even before we roll for initiative (often days before), we create our character. Everything from your characters name, their powers and abilities, their inventories, to their back stories and motivations must be created even before the campaign starts. For some, spending time working on their character is the most rewarding part of the game.
Information on Character Creation is located below.