Tools of the Trade (Player Edition)

What do you need to play D&D?

D&D's essential tools are available through various formats. All material listed below possess physical or digital options. You decide what works best for you!

Digital Character Sheet & Polyhedral Dice

The Dungeon Master (DM) and Player Character (PC) use similar tools, however, the DM’s toolbox is a bit more extensive since they facilitate the game. Let's focus on player materials as most newcomers start out there.

Players Simply Need:

• Character Sheet
• Polyhedral Dice
• Basic Rules 

Optional Player Resources

• Player's Handbook

Character Sheet

Highlighting your abilities, skills, and other features, the character sheet is a quick and effective reference tool! You can find Character Sheets to print out here or plug in digitally here.

Let’s examine specific elements from the sheet.

Your Abilities:

• Strength: natural athleticism and bodily power.
• Dexterity: physical agility, reflexes, balance, and grace.
• Constitution: health, stamina, and vital force.
• Intelligence: mental aptitude, information recall, and analytical skill.
• Wisdom: awareness, intuition, and insight.
• Charisma: confidence, eloquence, and leadership.

Each ability is given a set of numerical scores during character creation (explained later). These scores are added to much of your dice rolls. If you match or exceed a challenge’s difficulty class (supplied by the DM), you succeed!

Your Skills

You will often be asked to roll a specific skill set. Character skills are derived from abilities and are expanded into their own list.

Your character’s skill may increase greatly or decrease drastically due to their score, but it doesn’t mean your character is better or worse than someone else’s. Dynamic stats create a fun opportunity for role-playing a character's personality in an interesting and organic way!

Example: A High Charisma character radiates confidence or intimidation while a Low Charisma character may be timid or inarticulate.

Here's a brief overview of each ability's specific skill set:

Charisma:

• Deception: lying, disguising yourself, or misleading          
• Intimidation: threatening with actions or words
• Performance: entertaining or giving a speech
• Persuasion: convincing, requesting, or negotiating

Dexterity:

• Acrobatics: balancing, landing on your feet, parkour
• Sleight of Hand: sneaking into someone’s pocket, picking a lock, or switching items
• Stealth: concealing yourself or slipping out of sight

Intelligence:

• Arcana: recall magical lore or understand magical mechanisms
• History: recall lore about historical events, people, wars, etc.
• Investigation: seeking clues or finding hidden objects
• Nature: recall lore about terrain, plants, animals, or weather
• Religion: recall lore about deities, prayers, or religious hierarchies

Strength:

• Athletics: climbing, jumping, swimming, or any other use of force

Wisdom:

• Animal Handling: calm an animal or uncover its intentions
• Insight: determine intentions while observing body language and speech habits
• Medicine: stabilize someone who is dying or diagnose an illness
• Perception: spot, hear, or detect presence of something
• Survival: follow tracks, hunt, or guide through difficult terrain

Other Features

The Character Sheet also contains quick references to your:

• Languages you may speak such as Elvish or Draconic.
• Armor you’re wearing such as Chainmail or Leather.
• Weapons you’re carrying such as a Longsword or Quarterstaff.
• Spells you can cast such as Disguise Self or Fireball.
• Tools you can use such as an Herbalism Kit or a Musical Instrument.
• Hit Points which show the number of points you have until you fall unconscious (zero).
• Armor Class which shows a number value that determines whether you're hit or missed in and out of combat.

We’ll cover the specifics of these and other aspects during character creation (explained later).

Set of Polyhedral Dice

D&D uses a set of 7 polyhedral dice. After you roll the dice take a look at the number resting on top to identify your result!

D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20, & D100

More often than not, you’ll be rolling the D20 for various ability and skill checks. The other dice tend to show up when you enter into combat. Various spells and weapons use different dice depending upon their strength or potency.

Physical dice are fun to shake in your hands and hear clatter together as they roll across the table or dice-tray, but Digital dice are just as effective! You can easily acquire a digital dice roller from the app store on your phone or even on the web from sites like dndbeyond.com or roll20.net.

Digital Dice App "RPG Simple Dice" by Caique Pereira

Basic Rules

As seen below, the Basic Rules highlight 4 major components of the game. The first 3 sections are good for players to scan through as they explain how to play alongside the game's mechanical system. You're not required to read everything in its entirety. The DM will guide the Players along as they play through their sessions. 

One great thing for newcomers is that the Basic Rules are an open source for all to access and view for free!

The Basic Rules highlight:

1. Creating A Character
2. Playing The Game
3. The Rules of Magic
4. Dungeon Master's Tools
5. Appendices

Downloadable versions you can view or print out are here!

Player’s Handbook

The Player's Handbook expands upon all of the elements that are provided in the Basic Rules. There are plenty more races, classes, spells, and abilities to uncover after you've got your feet wet!

Next Up: Creating Your Character

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