Introduction
Dungeons & Dragons is a cooperative storytelling game played with a small group, some dice, and a rulebook that mostly gets out of the way once you know the basics. One person runs the world as the Dungeon Master (DM); everyone else plays an adventurer and decides what that character says and does. There's no board, no win condition, and no opponent trying to beat you. The DM describes a situation, you describe what your character does about it, and the dice settle anything uncertain.
This guide covers the 2014 Player's Handbook rules from a standing start: no prior D&D experience assumed. If you've played D&D 2024 (5.5e) and want to know what's different here, the short version is this: 2014 characters start with race before class, races grant ability score bonuses directly, and there's no Origin Feat or Weapon Mastery system.
What You Need to Play
- The Player's Handbook (2014) — one copy per table is enough. A physical book, a digital copy, or a platform like D&D Beyond all work.
- A Dungeon Master — one player runs the world, the non-player characters, and the rules.
- 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.
Optional but common at most tables: a battle map and tokens for combat, or a virtual tabletop if you're playing online. None of it is required for a good first session.
The Core Mechanic: The d20 Roll
Nearly every uncertain moment in D&D 5e resolves with a d20 roll. There are three kinds: ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls, and they all follow the same three steps.
- Roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier.
- Apply circumstantial bonuses and penalties, including your proficiency bonus if the task uses something you're trained in: a skill, a weapon, a tool, a saving throw.
- 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, each measuring a different kind of capability. Ability modifier = (score − 10) ÷ 2, rounded down.
Your proficiency bonus starts at +2 at 1st level and rises as you level up. It applies to any roll that uses something you're proficient in, and it never applies more than once to the same roll even if multiple reasons would otherwise stack 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.
Specific beats general: when a racial trait, class feature, or spell contradicts a general rule, the specific rule wins. This is how a wood elf gets longbow proficiency despite the general rule that most characters don't.
The Three Pillars of Play
The Player's Handbook organizes everything you do in D&D into three broad categories. Knowing which one you're in tells you what kind of roll, if any, is coming.
| Pillar | What happens there |
|---|---|
| Exploration | Traveling, searching, investigating, interacting with the environment |
| Social Interaction | Talking to NPCs, negotiating, gathering information, roleplaying |
| Combat | Structured, turn-based encounters against monsters or hostile NPCs |
Regardless of which pillar you're in, play follows the same basic loop: the DM describes the environment, the players describe what they want to do, and the DM narrates the results, which usually leads right back to another decision point. Combat is the pillar with the strictest structure, since everyone needs to know exactly when it's their turn.
Build Your Dungeons & Dragons (5e, 2014) Character
The Dungeons & Dragons (5e, 2014) 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.
- Determine surprise — the DM decides whether anyone is caught unaware; a surprised creature can't move or act on its first turn and can't take a reaction until that turn ends.
- Establish positions — the DM figures out where everyone and everything is relative to each other.
- Roll initiative — everyone makes a Dexterity check; highest total goes first, and this order repeats every round until the fight ends.
- Take turns — on your turn you get movement (up to your speed) and one action, in either order, plus a bonus action only if something specifically grants you one, and a reaction you can use even outside your own turn, triggered by something specific.
- Begin the next round — once everyone's had a turn, repeat step 4 until the fighting stops.
An attack roll is a d20 roll: 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.
Creating Your First Character
The 2014 Player's Handbook lays out character creation in six steps, and the order matters: race comes before class, and ability scores come after both.
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Choose a Race | Your race sets ability score increases, racial traits (senses, weapon or tool proficiencies, skill proficiencies, sometimes minor spells), starting languages, and base speed. Chosen first because it grants ability score bonuses you'll apply in step 3. |
| 2. Choose a Class | Your class is your adventuring role and your biggest source of Hit Points, proficiencies, and signature features. At 1st level, you have 1 Hit Die (die type set by class); starting HP equals the die's maximum plus your Constitution modifier. Your proficiency bonus at 1st level is +2. |
| 3. Determine Ability Scores | Assign your six scores using the standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), the point-buy variant (27 points to spend, 15 is the max score before racial bonuses), or rolling (four d6s, drop the lowest, six times). Then apply your race's ability score increases from step 1. |
| 4. Describe Your Character | Name, appearance, and personality: alignment, ideals, bonds, and flaws, plus your background (skills, tools, equipment, and one narrative feature). |
| 5. Choose Equipment | Take your class's and background's starting equipment packages, or spend starting gold (set by class) to buy your own gear instead, forfeiting both packages if you do. Armor Class without armor or a shield equals 10 + Dex modifier. |
| 6. Come Together | Join with the other players' characters into a party and talk through how the characters know each other. |
That's a complete level-1 character. Most classes don't ask you to pick a subclass until level 2 or 3, so there's no need to plan that far ahead before your first session.
The biggest difference from D&D 2024: race grants ability score increases directly in the 2014 rules (a Mountain Dwarf gets +2 Strength and +2 Constitution, for example), and race is chosen before class. In D&D 2024, ability score increases come from background instead, and species is chosen alongside background after class.
Choosing Your Class
The 2014 Player's Handbook has 12 classes.
| Class | What it does |
|---|---|
| Barbarian | Rages into melee, hits harder and takes less damage 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 Ki 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 |
Every class here plays well for a first character. Pick the one whose one-line description sounds the most fun, not the one a guide calls "optimal." Browse the full class guides hub for a full breakdown of each one, including subclass details and build advice.
Choosing Your Race and Background
Race is chosen first and grants ability score increases, racial traits, starting languages, and base speed. The 2014 Player's Handbook covers 9 core races (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Human, Dragonborn, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Tiefling), most with subrace options that adjust specific traits. See the race guides hub for a breakdown of every race and subrace.
Background is what your character did before adventuring: two skill proficiencies, usually a tool or language, a starting equipment package, and one narrative feature (like an Acolyte's free healing at temples or a Criminal's underworld contact). It doesn't touch your combat stats, unlike class or race. See the backgrounds guide for a full ranking and what each one grants.
Your First Session: What to Expect
Most of a session isn't combat. You'll spend a good chunk of time talking to NPCs, deciding where to go, and figuring out what to do about whatever the DM has put in front of you. When the outcome of something is actually uncertain, the DM calls for a check, names the ability involved, and sets a DC; you roll, add your modifiers, and find out what happens.
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.
- A failed roll isn't "nothing happens." It usually means the situation gets more complicated. That's often more interesting than a clean success.
- Track your resources as you spend them. Spell slots, class-specific pools, and other limited-use features don't refresh mid-encounter, so note what you've used at the start of each turn.
- 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
- Race Guides Hub — all 9 PHB races and their subrace options
- Backgrounds Guide — every background ranked by real table utility
- Equipment Guide Hub — armor, weapons, tools, mounts, and vehicles
Go deeper on the rules:
- Feats Guide — every feat ranked by class
- Spell Guides Hub — every spell explained, ranked, and rated
- Familiars & Companions Guide — Find Familiar, Pact of the Chain, and companion options compared
Hot Take: New players lose more time agonizing over the "correct" first character than they'd ever lose playing a slightly suboptimal one. Pick a class that sounds fun, pair it with a race and background you understand, and show up to session one. You'll learn more about what you actually want from your character in one real session than from another hour of reading guides.
