Key rules to know as a new player (3.5)

[Bacchanalian]

My wife and I played our first round last night. It was her first pen and paper RPG ever, and my first in maybe 20 years. We've skimmed the PHB, but with a newborn in the house and 2 kids, it's a project to read the entire thing, so we've not done so yet.

Are there some "you need to know this" rules to be aware of? Example: Last night, someone in our party rolled a 1 while trying to attack a spider that had jumped on my wife. He wound up knocking her down. On her turn, she used an action to stand up, not knowing that this gave the spider an automatic attack. It didn't get her killed or anything, but it was a surprise to both of us.

Sorry if this is covered somewhere or this is an inappropriate place for this, I'm pretty new to the forum.

[(Un)Inspired]

My wife and I played our first round last night. It was her first pen and paper RPG ever, and my first in maybe 20 years. We've skimmed the PHB, but with a newborn in the house and 2 kids, it's a project to read the entire thing, so we've not done so yet.

Are there some "you need to know this" rules to be aware of? Example: Last night, someone in our party rolled a 1 while trying to attack a spider that had jumped on my wife. He wound up knocking her down. On her turn, she used an action to stand up, not knowing that this gave the spider an automatic attack. It didn't get her killed or anything, but it was a surprise to both of us.

Sorry if this is covered somewhere or this is an inappropriate place for this, I'm pretty new to the forum.

Welcome to the forum and to the wonder world of Dungeons and/or Dragons.

I recommend looking up the rules for opportunity attacks. It's important to know when your enemy can bite you even when it's not his turn and you'll want to know when you get your chance to bite back.

Other than that don't piss of Wizards (the class not the company) and have fun.

[Bacchanalian]

Welcome to the forum and to the wonder world of Dungeons and/or Dragons.

I recommend looking up the rules for opportunity attacks. It's important to know when your enemy can bite you even when it's not his turn and you'll want to know when you get your chance to bite back.

Other than that don't piss of Wizards (the class not the company) and have fun.

Thanks! Opportunity attack was the word they used, I had forgotten what they called it. I'll check into that. We have some awesome ideas for our characters that should be really fun, so I'm excited about it. I've got a Bard that is using some of the BoVD rules on drugs and addiction to be hooked on a mildly addictive substance, so that drives his Chaotic Neutral character to find it wherever he can and sometimes act however he must to get a hold of it regardless of the impacts on the party (though he's aware of the side effects of his addiction and the fact that he will often need help, so he's very interested in keeping the party relatively happy with him so they keep him around and put up with his habits). And of course using Prestidigitation to hide the fact that he's ingesting it from the party until they realize he's acting funny. :) My wife is playing a half elf ranger with such serious trust issues and social anxiety she takes a penalty to most checks when there are strangers around. We have another friend of mine joining us with a halfling druid who wishes he was a barbarian and is about as aggressive as one in terms of charging into any situation (he's also a strange tint of olive skin and green hair, so his nickname is "the Toad"). Haven't learned much about the other two we're playing with, a fighter and a cleric, but it should be great fun.

[JusticeZero]

And as an aside, rolling a 1 just means she should have missed. It isn't actually a rule that anything else happens on a 1, intentionally because the rules that do those things have a variety of bad balance issues associated with them.

Seconding opportunity attacks as important. If we knew more about what characters you have, might be able to pick out something more specific. I'd also give the section on status effects a once over, personally, and make sure to read the types of combat actions.

[sideswipe]

if you use a battle matt and models look up movement rules and attacks of opportunity.

look at the rules for ranged and melee attacks as they act differently and if either of you cast spells look up the rules on casting in combat.

look at the rules for trip, grapple, unarmed attacks, bull rush, and what standard actions and move actions do and how they effect what you do (for example what ones give attacks of opportunity.

as much as people hate it, the book called rules compendium is just a book on rules, basicly no stories and extra bits. so if you want to just read up on some mechanics of the game that are basic look at that book instead. warning, it can be hard to navigate at times, but it doesnt have 5 paragraphs of a story before each rule.

[(Un)Inspired]

That sounds like a really fun if slightly psychotic party. I'm glad to hear you're gaming again after a 20 year hiatus it sounds like you and your wife have interesting ideas for characters.

[KillianHawkeye]

I'd recommend reading over the entire combat chapter as well as whatever rules you need for your class, race, feats and/or spells.

[Zombulian]

if you use a battle matt and models look up movement rules and attacks of opportunity.

look at the rules for ranged and melee attacks as they act differently and if either of you cast spells look up the rules on casting in combat.

look at the rules for trip, grapple, unarmed attacks, bull rush, and what standard actions and move actions do and how they effect what you do (for example what ones give attacks of opportunity.

as much as people hate it, the book called rules compendium is just a book on rules, basicly no stories and extra bits. so if you want to just read up on some mechanics of the game that are basic look at that book instead. warning, it can be hard to navigate at times, but it doesnt have 5 paragraphs of a story before each rule.

Spring-boarding off of that warning, I'd say take a look at the Mongoose Pocket Player's Handbook. It's slightly abridged so it misses out on some deity descriptions and the like, but rule-wise it is much more player friendly, and cuts out a lot of the rules segregation that WotC loves so much.

[bekeleven]

Something quick but annoying: Rolling a 20 means you hit an attack, succeed a save, and nothing on a skill or ability check. Although you generally succeed skill checks with a 20 unless the DC is insane or you have minuses.

Rolling a 1 means you miss an attack, fail a save, and nothing on a skill or ability check. Although, again, you'll usually fail skill checks unless you have a really good modifier.

[Gavinfoxx]

I would take a close look at the rules for taking 10 on skills, as well as the rules for charge attacks, and the tumble and concentration skills and how they interact with attacks of opportunity, and five foot steps. Those are very useful for players to know.

[jiriku]

Welcome to the Playground! We're glad to have you here.

I'd recommend reading over the entire combat chapter as well as whatever rules you need for your class, race, feats and/or spells.

Seconded. I'd say the most important chapter in the book to know is Chapter 8: Combat. You'll have an enormously increased knowledge of what to expect during combat, and combat is the part of the game where knowing the rules is especially valuable in order to keep the game moving smoothly and avoid nasty surprises.

When I want to learn a new game system with a big rulebook, I usually set aside 15 minutes per day (ideally after the kids go to bed and while the newborn is napping, in your/her case), to read the book. If you stick with it 15 minutes per day every day, you can easily knock out that chapter before your next game session.

The other chapters are not that important; they either cover material that you don't need in the middle of a game, or they cover rules for other people's characters that don't apply to you.

[Ferronach]

A good tool that I have found is handy to have kicking around is the booklet (pages 7-10 of the linked PDF) that comes with the Forgotten Realms DM Screen.

It is obviously not a be all, end all but covers a lot of the basics and is handy to have during game play as a quick reference.

The screen and booklet can still be purchased if you want to support the game.

[Bacchanalian]

Thanks guys, great information! We're using Roll20 to play online with some folks we met through Reddit, so I definitely need to brush up on the movement and such. Someone last night had to calculate his movement speed and if he could or could not reach an enemy and attack it in the same turn. That's all pretty new to me as when I played 2e back in the day, I was a wee teenager who didn't have all the materials, so my friends and I just winged it and never thought much beyond "I cast fireball for XdY damage" "I swing my bastard sword for XdY damage" etc. Thanks for the links too, I'll check those out.

I'm thinking that for her and I to learn the rules a bit more we'll practice with a 1 player campaign for her where I play a character as an NPC while DMing and she plays one of her own. I've been reading a bit on Gestalt ideas and how to run super small groups. Think I'll do that more for her than me, just to get her more comfortable with the concept (and to enjoy using all the fancy dice we bought before deciding to play online!).

[Lightlawbliss]

most important rule in the game: the rules can be changed but should only be done so with players and dm agreeing.

[Squirrel_Dude]

Bonuses of the same type, except for dodge bonuses, do not stack. You only apply the highest bonus of a type.