Summary
If you’re a longtimeDungeons & Dragonsplayer, it can be easy to forget just how far you’ve come as a tabletop gamer. But sometimes, it’s important to remember just how many mistakes you might’ve made as a first-time DND player. However, looking back can sometimes be a bit cringey, especially when it comes to making rookie mistakes.
So, let’s indulge the cringe together and take a walk down memory lane. After all, no matter how long you’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons, you’re not too experienced to remember some of these classic beginner mistakes. Here are the biggest mistakes we all made as newbies.
10Using The Wrong Dice
Roll A D What?
We’ve all been there, our first Dungeons & Dragons game. You tell your Dungeon Master you want to try something, and they tell you toroll a certain die. You, of course, being a newbie, have to ask, ‘Wait, what’s a d8?’
This can be embarrassing your first time around, but honestly, we’ve all done it. It takes a while to memorize which die is which, and there are even some dice that even veterans forget how to use. Don’t lie and say you perfectly understand how the d100 works. I sure don’t.
9Not Roleplaying
Or Not Knowing How To
If you’re brand new to tabletop roleplaying games, it can be a bit of a scary experience. Dungeons & Dragons is great for beginners, but we all remember how strange it can be to try out roleplaying for the very first time, especially if your character is meant to be a bit ‘out there’ conceptually.
After all, if it’s your first time at a DND table, how are you supposed to know what a dragonborn sounds like as opposed to a dwarf? You might even ask yourself if you should do a voice or not, or if you’re even capable. Rest assured that we’ve all been there, and roleplay is something that comes with experience.
8Miscasting Spells
I Cast Fireball At First Level
A lot of other tabletop roleplaying games over the years have tried to simplify the spellcasting system. Daggerheart, for example,Critical Role’s tabletop game, uses a card-based spell system. However, veteran Dungeon Masters know how taxing it can be to try to teach newbies the difference between spell levels and spell slots.
This almost always leads to confusion for new players. Understandinghow to cast spellsat different levels, all the while keeping track of your spell slots, can prove exhaustive. It happens to the best of us, even when you become a veteran player.
7Forgetting Features
Oh, Right, I Can Fly!
If you’re a new player, it can be really easy to forgetall your different abilities, particularly as you begin to progress and gain levels and experience. Some classes, more than others, gain new abilities almost every level, forcing your character sheet to become four or even five pages long.
When you’re a new player, it’s easy to forget how all of these different features work, or even that you have them. As a DM, I once had a player who went an entire campaign without using one of her key cleric features. She told me later she simply forgot that she had it as part of her subclass.
6Thinking You’re Invincible
I Charge Right In!
If you’re more used to playing video games as opposed to tabletop roleplaying games, it’s easy to lull yourself into a false sense of security. After all, you can’t really die in this game, right? Wrong.
New players in Dungeons & Dragons sometimes forget that permadeath is a thing in DND, and you need to watch your step. I, for one, as a new player, found myself charging into combat way too willingly. This led to me making death saves in my very first Dungeons & Dragons game.
5Not Taking Notes
What Happened Last Game?
Longtime Dungeons & Dragons players know the importance of good note-taking, particularly if your campaign has a lot of worldbuilding or is lore-heavy. However, new players might not be used to the idea of having to take notes while playing a board game.
When you’re a new player, this can lead to a lot of inadvertent frustration as you try to remember where your character left off last game. Of course, any good DM worth their salt will help remind you, but it can still be embarrassing to have to ask your DM where on earth the party is, or what goal they’re trying to achieve.
4Using The Wrong Stats
Can You Use Stealth To Seduce?
Let’s face it, Dungeons & Dragons has a lot of different stats to keep track of. While most of these are relatively self-explanatory, it’s easy to get confused as a new player. Plus, because there aren’t always hard and fast rules for what stats can be used for what aims, it’s sometimes common for new players to try to use the wrong stats for the wrong things.
For example, one time, when DM-ing a group of newbies, I had a player ask me if they could use their Sleight of Hand skill to scale the face of a cliff. They weren’t entirely off the mark, but I had to explain that climbing is more of a Strength-based check, and would require an Athletics check on their end. This is a lot more common than you might think, so DMs who are preparing to run a game for newbies, beware.
3Forgetting To Look For Treasure
Loot, Loot, Loot!
Every expert Dungeons & Dragons player knows exactly what to do the moment a round of combat is over: loot. Sometimes, it’s easy for the party to turn into a cold, bloodlust-ridden group of gravediggers, looting dead bodies everywhere they go.
However, new players sometimes forget that treasure is also an important mechanic in any Dungeons & Dragons game. We’ve all had that moment as newbies where we finish a round of combat, and look to the DM for what to do next, only to realize that we still have control. So, newer players: don’t forget to loot!
2Not Preparing For Combat
Just Cast Mage Armor Real Quick
Longtime DND players know that good prep is essential for good combat. Making sure you have ammunition slicked with poison, or have any protective spells you might want already up and concentrated on, can make the difference between life and death on the field of battle.
However, newer players tend to forget that they can take preparation rounds before formally entering Initiative. This is one of the easiest ways to get a TPK early on as a relatively green Dungeons & Dragons party.
1Playing To Your Weaknesses
Watch Out, The Wizard’s Got An Axe!
At the end of the day, in DND, certain classes are always going to be better at certain things. It can be tempting, as a new player, to try to change your character concept midway through a campaign. Of course, you always have multiclassing as an option, but new players tend to try to turn their squishy wizards into ruthless barbarians by asking DMs if they can wield swords or other heavy weapons.
This can prove tough to navigate as a DM, as new players sometimes don’t know what they want right away at character creation. Plus, we’ve all been in that situation where we find a super cool magic item, only to discover we can’t really use it thanks to our proficiencies or other features. Still, it’s fun to sometimes try and fail to do something outside of your character’s strengths.
