Player’s Basic Rules Version 0.3 Credits D&D Lead Designers: Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford Based on the original D&D game created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, with Brian Blume, Rob Design Team: Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt, Rodney Kuntz, James Ward, and Don Kaye Thompson, Robert J. Schwalb, Peter Lee, Steve Townshend, Drawing from further development by Bruce R. Cordell J. Eric Holmes, Tom Moldvay, Frank Mentzer, Aaron Allston, Editing Team: Chris Sims, Michele Carter, Scott Fitzgerald Gray Harold Johnson, David “Zeb” Cook, Ed Greenwood, Keith Producer: Greg Bilsland Baker, Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis, Douglas Niles, Jeff Grubb, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Art Directors: Kate Irwin, Dan Gelon, Jon Schindehette, Mari Baker, Peter Adkison, Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, and Rob Kolkowsky, Melissa Rapier, Shauna Narciso Heinsoo Graphic Designers: Bree Heiss, Emi Tanji Interior Illustrator: Jaime Jones Playtesting provided by over 175,000 fans of D&D. Thank you! Additional Contributors: Kim Mohan, Matt Sernett, Chris Dupuis, Tom LaPille, Richard Baker, Chris Tulach, Miranda Additional consultation provided by Horner, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Steve Winter, Nina Hess Jeff Grubb, Kenneth Hite, Kevin Kulp, Robin Laws, S. John Ross, the RPGPundit, Vincent Venturella, and Zak S. Project Management: Neil Shinkle, Kim Graham, John Hay Production Services: Cynda Callaway, Brian Dumas, Jefferson Dunlap, Anita Williams Brand and Marketing: Nathan Stewart, Liz Schuh, Chris Lindsay, Shelly Mazzanoble, Hilary Ross, Laura Tommervik, Kim Release: June 2015 Lundstrom DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. ©2015 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley Park, Available for download at Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK. DungeonsandDragons.com Introduction The Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is about up with other adventurers (played by friends). Working storytelling in worlds of swords and sorcery. It shares together, the group might explore a dark dungeon, a elements with childhood games of make-believe. Like ruined city, a haunted castle, a lost temple deep in a those games, D&D is driven by imagination. It’s about jungle, or a lava-filled cavern beneath a mysterious picturing the towering castle beneath the stormy night mountain. The adventurers can solve puzzles, talk with sky and imagining how a fantasy adventurer might react other characters, battle fantastic monsters, and discover to the challenges that scene presents. fabulous magic items and other treasure. One player, however, takes on the role of the Dungeon Master (DM), the game’s lead storyteller and referee. The Dungeon Master (DM): After passing through the DM creates adventures for the characters, who navigate craggy peaks, the road takes a sudden turn to the east its hazards and decide which paths to explore. The DM and Castle Ravenloft towers before you. Crumbling might describe the entrance to Castle Ravenloft, and towers of stone keep a silent watch over the approach. the players decide what they want their adventurers to They look like abandoned guardhouses. Beyond these, a do. Will they walk across the dangerously weathered wide chasm gapes, disappearing into the deep fog below. drawbridge? Tie themselves together with rope to minimize the chance that someone will fall if the A lowered drawbridge spans the chasm, leading to an drawbridge gives way? Or cast a spell to carry them over arched entrance to the castle courtyard. The chains of the chasm? the drawbridge creak in the wind, their rust-eaten iron Then the DM determines the results of the adventurers’ straining with the weight. From atop the high strong actions and narrates what they experience. Because walls, stone gargoyles stare at you from hollow sockets the DM can improvise to react to anything the players attempt, D&D is infinitely flexible, and each adventure and grin hideously. A rotting wooden portcullis, green can be exciting and unexpected. with growth, hangs in the entry tunnel. Beyond this, the The game has no real end; when one story or quest main doors of Castle Ravenloft stand open, a rich warm wraps up, another one can begin, creating an ongoing light spilling into the courtyard. story called a campaign. Many people who play the Phillip (playing Gareth): I want to look at the gargoyles. I game keep their campaigns going for months or years, have a feeling they’re not just statues. meeting with their friends every week or so to pick up the story where they left off. The adventurers grow Amy (playing Riva): The drawbridge looks precarious? I in might as the campaign continues. Each monster want to see how sturdy it is. Do I think we can cross it, or defeated, each adventure completed, and each treasure is it going to collapse under our weight? recovered not only adds to the continuing story, but also earns the adventurers new capabilities. This increase in power is reflected by an adventurer’s level. Unlike a game of make-believe, D&D gives structure to There’s no winning and losing in the Dungeons & the stories, a way of determining the consequences of the Dragons game—at least, not the way those terms are adventurers’ action. Players roll dice to resolve whether usually understood. Together, the DM and the players their attacks hit or miss or whether their adventurers create an exciting story of bold adventurers who confront can scale a cliff, roll away from the strike of a magical deadly perils. Sometimes an adventurer might come to lightning bolt, or pull off some other dangerous task. a grisly end, torn apart by ferocious monsters or done in Anything is possible, but the dice make some outcomes by a nefarious villain. Even so, the other adventurers can more probable than others. search for powerful magic to revive their fallen comrade, or the player might choose to create a new character to Dungeon Master (DM): OK, one at a time. Phillip, carry on. The group might fail to complete an adventure successfully, but if everyone had a good time and created a you’re looking at the gargoyles? memorable story, they all win. Phillip: Yeah. Is there any hint they might be creatures and not decorations? Worlds of Adventure DM: Make an Intelligence check. The many worlds of the Dungeons & Dragons game Phillip: Does my Investigation skill apply? are places of magic and monsters, of brave warriors and DM: Sure! spectacular adventures. They begin with a foundation of Phillip (rolling a d20): Ugh. Seven. medieval fantasy and then add the creatures, places, and DM: They look like decorations to you. And Amy, Riva magic that make these worlds unique. is checking out the drawbridge? The worlds of the Dungeons & Dragons game exist within a vast cosmos called the multiverse, connected in strange and mysterious ways to one another and to In the Dungeons & Dragons game, each player other planes of existence, such as the Elemental Plane creates an adventurer (also called a character) and teams of Fire and the Infinite Depths of the Abyss. Within this multiverse are an endless variety of worlds. Many of D&D Basic Rules | Introduction 2 Version 0.3. Not for resale. Permission granted to print and photocopy this document for personal use only. them have been published as official settings for the D&D might search a treasure chest while a second examines game. The legends of the Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, an esoteric symbol engraved on a wall and a third keeps Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Mystara, and Eberron settings are watch for monsters. The players don’t need to take turns, woven together in the fabric of the multiverse. Alongside but the DM listens to every player and decides how to these worlds are hundreds of thousands more, created resolve those actions. by generations of D&D players for their own games. And Sometimes, resolving a task is easy. If an adventurer amid all the richness of the multiverse, you might create a wants to walk across a room and open a door, the DM world of your own. might just say that the door opens and describe what lies All these worlds share characteristics, but each beyond. But the door might be locked, the floor might world is set apart by its own history and cultures, hide a deadly trap, or some other circumstance might distinctive monsters and races, fantastic geography, make it challenging for an adventurer to complete a task. ancient dungeons, and scheming villains. Some races In those cases, the DM decides what happens, often have unusual traits in different worlds. The halflings of relying on the roll of a die to determine the results of the Dark Sun setting, for example, are jungle-dwelling an action. cannibals, and the elves are desert nomads. Some 3. The DM narrates the results of the adventurers’ worlds feature races unknown in other settings, such as actions. Describing the results often leads to another Eberron’s warforged, soldiers created and imbued with decision point, which brings the flow of the game right life to fight in the Last War.