Introduction
Dungeons & Dragons is a cooperative fantasy roleplaying game. One person runs the world as the Dungeon Master (DM); everyone else plays an adventurer and decides what that character says and does. The DM describes a situation, the players respond, and the rules resolve uncertain outcomes.
This guide covers the 2024 Player's Handbook from a standing start. If you are bringing an older character or origin forward, use the 2014-to-2024 conversion guide; this page is for learning the game and making a first character.
What You Need to Play
- The Player's Handbook (2024) - The book is the core rules reference. The Player's Handbook describes using it in physical form or on D&D Beyond.
- A Dungeon Master - One player runs the world, nonplayer characters, and rules. The Player's Handbook says three to six adventurer players are best alongside the DM.
- Dice - A full polyhedral set: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. You'll use the d20 constantly, so keep it close.
- A character sheet - Printed or digital. It tracks your ability scores, Hit Points, proficiencies, and everything your character can do.
- Something to write with - A pencil, ideally. Hit Points and resources change constantly during play.
The Player's Handbook also describes battle grids and miniatures as useful accessories for visualizing combat, rather than requirements for play.
The Core Mechanic: The d20 Test
When an action's outcome is uncertain, D&D 2024 uses a D20 Test. There are three kinds: ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls. They follow the same three steps:
- Roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier.
- Add relevant modifiers, including your ability modifier, your Proficiency Bonus when it applies, and any rule-based bonus or penalty.
- Compare the total to a target number. For a check or a save, that's a Difficulty Class (DC) set by the DM. For an attack roll, it's the target's Armor Class (AC). Meet or beat it, and you succeed.
Ability modifiers come from your six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Your Proficiency Bonus starts at +2 at level 1 and rises as you level up. You add it to any D20 Test that uses something you're proficient in, and it never stacks with itself even if two separate reasons would apply it.
Advantage and Disadvantage are the game's main dial for favorable or unfavorable conditions. With Advantage, roll two d20s and keep the higher. With Disadvantage, roll two d20s and keep the lower. Multiple sources of the same one don't stack - you always roll exactly two dice - and if you somehow have both at once, they cancel out and you roll a single d20.
Hit Points track how much damage your character can take. Your class and Constitution modifier determine your level 1 Hit Point maximum.
The Three Pillars of Play
The Player's Handbook calls social interaction, exploration, and combat the three main pillars of play. In each, the DM describes a scene, players describe their characters' actions, and the DM narrates the result.
| Pillar | What happens there |
|---|---|
| Social Interaction | Talking to NPCs, negotiating, gathering information, roleplaying |
| Exploration | Traveling, searching, investigating, interacting with the environment |
| Combat | Structured, turn-based encounters against monsters or hostile NPCs |
Combat uses a stricter turn order, so everyone knows when to act.
Build Your D&D 2024 Character
The D&D 2024 character builder is live - build a Beastkin, a Kobold, or whatever your table is missing, free, right now.
Start BuildingBasic Combat Flow
When talking and searching give way to a fight, the game shifts into a more structured sequence.
- Establish Positions - The DM figures out where everyone and everything is relative to each other.
- Roll Initiative - Everyone rolls a d20 plus their Dexterity modifier. Higher results act first; this order repeats every round until the fight ends.
- Take Turns - On your turn, you can move up to your Speed and take one Action. A feature, spell, or other rule can grant a Bonus Action. A Reaction is an instant response to a stated trigger, such as an enemy leaving your reach.
An attack roll is a D20 Test: d20 plus your ability modifier, plus your Proficiency Bonus if you're proficient with the weapon or spell, against the target's Armor Class. A saving throw works the same way against a DC set by whatever's forcing the save. When a fight ends, everyone drops back into Exploration or Social Interaction until the next one starts.
Resting gives adventurers time to recover. A Short Rest lasts 1 hour, and a Long Rest lasts 8 hours. Check the rules glossary and your class features for the recovery each rest provides.
Creating Your First Character
The Player's Handbook lays out character creation in five steps. Starting with class helps later choices fit the character you want to play.
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Choose a Class | Your class is your adventuring role and your biggest source of Hit Points, proficiencies, and signature abilities. Pick this first; it shapes every later choice. |
| 2. Determine Origin | Choose a background, a species, and two languages. Your background provides a feat, two skills, a tool proficiency, and starting equipment. It also guides the ability-score increases you make in the next step. Your species provides its own traits. |
| 3. Determine Ability Scores | Assign your six scores using the standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), point buy (27 points to spend), or rolling (four d6s, drop the lowest, six times), then apply your background's increases from step 2. |
| 4. Choose an Alignment | A shorthand for your character's moral compass that can help shape personality, goals, and core beliefs. |
| 5. Fill in Details | Calculate your derived numbers - Armor Class, Hit Points, initiative, saving throws, skills - and add your character's name, appearance, and personality. |
That's a complete level-1 character. Most 2024 Player's Handbook classes choose a subclass at level 3; Cleric, Sorcerer, and Warlock choose one at level 1.
In the 2024 Player's Handbook, your background guides ability-score increases while your species provides its own traits. The book also gives a specific conversion rule for using older backgrounds and species.
Choosing Your Class
The 2024 Player's Handbook has 12 classes. Each one has four subclasses, chosen at level 3 for most classes (level 1 for Cleric, Sorcerer, and Warlock).
| Class | What it does |
|---|---|
| Barbarian | Rages into melee, hits harder and shrinks damage taken while raging |
| Bard | Boosts allies with Bardic Inspiration and covers the widest range of skills |
| Cleric | Channels divine power to heal, buff, and still hold a line in a fight |
| Druid | Shapeshifts via Wild Shape and casts nature magic |
| Fighter | The most consistent, straightforward combatant, with the most attacks |
| Monk | A mobile martial artist who spends a resource for special strikes and movement |
| Paladin | A durable holy warrior who smites hard and protects allies |
| Ranger | A wilderness specialist strong in exploration and versatile in a fight |
| Rogue | A precision striker who deals burst damage and covers social and skill checks |
| Sorcerer | An innate spellcaster who reshapes spells with Metamagic |
| Warlock | A patron-bound caster with fewer spell slots that recharge on a Short Rest |
| Wizard | The broadest spell list, prepared daily from a spellbook |
Choose the class whose role sounds fun to you, then use the full class guides hub for class and subclass detail.
Choosing Your Species and Background
Once you've picked a class, step 2 asks you to determine your character's origin: a species and a background, chosen together.
Species describes your character's ancestry. The 2024 Player's Handbook includes 10 species: Aasimar, Dragonborn, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goliath, Halfling, Human, Orc, and Tiefling. Elf, Gnome, and Tiefling each have a further lineage or legacy choice. See the full species guide hub for every species and lineage option.
Background describes the place and occupation that were formative for your character. It provides a feat, skill and tool proficiencies, and starting equipment, and it guides your ability-score increases. The Player's Handbook includes 16 backgrounds: Acolyte, Artisan, Charlatan, Criminal, Entertainer, Farmer, Guard, Guide, Hermit, Merchant, Noble, Sage, Sailor, Scribe, Soldier, and Wayfarer. See the backgrounds guide for the choices and what each grants.
Your First Session: What to Expect
At the table, you will talk to characters, explore locations, and sometimes enter combat. When an outcome is uncertain, the DM can call for a D20 Test, identify the relevant ability, and set a target number.
A few habits that make a first session smoother:
- Describe the action before you reach for dice. Say what your character is trying to do; let the DM decide if a roll is needed and which ability applies.
- Keep your sheet in front of you. You don't need to memorize your class features before session one - read them when they come up.
- Read the result with the DM. The DM narrates the outcome of your character's action, which often creates the next decision.
- Track resources as you spend them. Note spell slots and limited-use features, then follow the feature's stated recovery rule.
- You don't need to fully understand the rules before you play. Play is how the rules actually click. Your first session will be a little messy, and that's normal.
Where to Go Next
Build your character:
- Class Guides Hub - Every class rated, ranked, and broken down by subclass
- Species Guides Hub - All 10 PHB species and their lineage options
- Backgrounds Guide - Every background ranked by its feat, skills, and ability score package
Go deeper on the rules:
- Feats Guide - Origin, General, Fighting Style, and Epic Boon feats explained
- Equipment & Magic Items Hub - Weapons, armor, tools, and gear
- Weapon Mastery Guide - The new martial-class mechanic in 2024
Already know 2014 5e?
- D&D 2014 to 2024 Conversion Guide - Every rules change, class by class
Running the game instead of playing?
- Dungeon Master Guides Hub - Everything for the person behind the screen
Hot Take: Your first character does not need a long-term build plan. Choose a class you want to play and a background whose feat and proficiencies make sense to you; the Player's Handbook's five-step process gives you a playable level 1 character from there.
