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>The case that all new players have to drop $120 on books and to even explore this hobby is ridiculous, and serves nobody by Hasbro's stock holders. To be clear, I think the post you are responding to is over the top. But also, this is not something they ever argued? Like they actually said >Why would you not read the PHB? You can find digital versions for free all over the place. Edit: Like half of the replies to this comment seem to assume that I am anti-asking questions to learn how to play. I am not. I thought the post the op was responding to was pretty ridiculous. People talking to other people is a way easier way to learn then just reading.

Yeah they clearly are just rage bating to the rage bait

I mean someone posted last week saying it's easy, it's "only" a 6 hour read or maybe a weekend if you read the spells. that's actually a solid chunk of time. Also there is a *lot* of stuff in there to remember. You won't get a lot on one straight read through (although it will help)

I mean, I am of the opinion that the easiest way to learn is to do a teaching one shot (I like to make it Town Fair themed) by a dm who knows how to play. And that that is way more effective then just reading the phb. So I'm not sure why this comment was directed at me. All I said was that the OP was making a strawman of the person they were responding to with the $120 price tag comment

Not directed at you, just something related that your comment made me remember. That sounds like a good way to teach people

But OP also later clarified that for those who don’t speak English, it’s not free.

The srd is avaliable for free in 6 languages. And even if you say that they must buy the phb, it's not $120. The first person said they should read the phb, and ops response was that that means they have to buy all 3 core rule books. I feel like I am going a little crazy responding to these comments because I *agree* that asking questions is an easier way to learn then just reading the phb, but I also think that the op built a strawman to say how ridiculous the other position was. And the strawman was extra unnecessary because the post they were responding to was already ridiculous.

PHB pdfs are usually in English, and free translations aren’t always 1:1… there would definitely still be questions. I am a native English speaker and had a bunch of questions for my veteran player friends even after reading 🤷

Did you read my comment and think I was of the opinion that people should not ask questions? Because that was never my stance. I even made a point to say that I did not like the post that said people should not ask questions.

I think I was responding to the portion of your comment about the pdfs being free - the free ones aren’t accessible for many folks, so they are left to purchase expensive guides to play. OP’s ‘dropping 120$ to explore this hobby’ seemed to be what you disputed, which is why I commented :)

Some people struggle to sit down and read 100 pages worth of rules. This is coming from someone who jumped into DMing and reading was so difficult for me that i made a whole campaign from scratch rather than trying to read/memories modules

Yeah, I had played for a year before I dropped any money on a book

I think OPs point is that yes, you can find it for free, but only in English. If you want it in another language it's not easy to find for free, so you do need to shell out $120 for books if you can't read English to an exceptional level. I don't know how true that is, never looked for it in any other language. Also, I'd counter the general point of using online versions with: personally I absolutely cannot read a 300 page pdf off a computer screen.

A Spanish copy of the PHB is ~$50, so even if you assume that to read it in another language, you *must* buy it, $120 is wrong. However, depending on the native language, the srd is always free. Looks like it's available in French, Italian, German, and Spanish. To be clear, I don't think that it's bad to ask questions when you are confused. But the OP made a strawman to argue against. Which is silly, seeing as how the original post they were responding to was already ridiculously over the top.

I dunno man. There's a big difference between "I'm new and having some trouble with X" type of questions and "the title of my question would be answered faster by typing into Google than into reddit" type of questions. Questions that are easily googled or, worse, easily answered by reading the damn book, get exhausting for community members. It's the equivalent of hanging out on an author's sub and having people who've only read book 1 constantly asking questions that are answered in book 3. Every comment just becomes "read and find out".

>the title of my question would be answered faster by typing into Google than into reddit This is the kind I really don't get. And there are so many of them

I DO get it. Because there's a whole generation younger than me that is too young to have experienced a Google before it enshitified. So I DO get it. But it's still not okay. Even a shitty google is faster than a reddit post. Go google it.

Younger generations have drifted to asking questions on social media rather than looking for answers online. It's just a cultural shift. I mean, look how many times they post a tiktok asking a question, and then people answer with their own tiktok.

I know. I'm a college professor. I can't get my students to "look up" an answer to save their lives. They want to ask it and be told. I'm not trying to old man yell at clouds. It's just different. But the difference CAN be exhausting in certain settings, and I think this is one of them.

It’s also exhausting when the person clearly isn’t trying to start a discussion or something. I think a basic question, asked correctly, can be the start of a conversation. But when people just plug in a few words and drop it there when they could’ve searched it, it just comes across as lazy. Lots of these posters also ask these questions without outlining the steps they’ve already taken, leading me to believe they didn’t try to solve the problem themselves.

I blame social media. I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing in an old man way, it’s just a shift i’ve noticed too. Pre-internet, if you wanted to know something you either had to find someone who knew and ask them, or find a book with the information written down by someone who knew. (Or, find out for yourself directly) Pre-social-media internet you tended to just… type questions in and scroll through scattered webpages for answers. I think people have a natural inclination to want information to be given to them directly by other people. Something about just finding a webpage written by some guy or reading prewritten text in a book doesn’t cut it as much. So, now people have unmitigated access to direct contact with other humans, it’s natural you want to ask the public forum for information. There’s even advantages to this direct communication like asking clarifying questions, or having incorrect responses being vetted for you by the swarm. I reckon most people who haven’t read the book and show up asking basic questions have entirely interacted with the system thusfar by asking their GM questions and they only run to the internet if they can’t get a response, or don’t want to look foolish to someone they have a more personal connection to. Research is just a skill that’s dying out because people are inclined to trust anything that’s said with enough confidence. Me, i grew up googling and finding 45 year old men on youtube with 70 subscribers who’ve made 3 videos and one of them happens to have the exact single answer i want, uploaded in glorious 480p. The video is 2 minutes long. The first 10 seconds are intro, the middle 100 seconds are the answer, the last 10 seconds is outro. Those are the people i really trust for information.

I don't mean to sound like it is necessarily a good or acceptable thing to crowd source answers. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with it so long as people understand that the popular answer isn't always the correct one. But I think it partially explains why more and more people are willing to just ask the expanse of social media rather than just look up an answer. I haven't really put a whole lot of thought into it, so I'm just pulling it over now and wondering - could there be some innate desire for connection that we are losing because of social media and finding some version of reconnecting to people by asking questions to the world rather than just googling an answer? I know it has been studied and discussed quite a bit how we are becoming less connected to each other since we all have a device that grants us access to nearly all of humanity's history and knowledge. So, maybe instead of accessing that knowledge, we are choosing instead to crowd source answers as some way to stay connected with other human beings. I dunno. Weird tangent. Sorry.

Crowd sourcing information that you need is a terrible gamble to take. Ultimately, you are relying on other people to do your research without a mechanism to discern the quality of the answer.

Of course. I think it is entirely dependent upon the question and importance of the question. Is it asking for an objective truth or a subjective opinion? It isn't inherently wrong to crowd source an answer, but if you're going to do that you need to be aware of what you're asking and understand that a popular answer doesn't mean it's the right answer.

Good use of crowdsourcing is world news where people post 100s of articles. A bad use would be to go to a sub about world news where only editorial opinions about what was posted there could occur

As a professor, it makes perfect sense to teach your students how to do their own research. It is a core skill that they must learn. However, a reddit sub is not a search platform, nor an academic institution, nor a career preparation tool. It is a social interaction site. The entire purpose of Reddit is to get people to engage with each other. Getting upset that people want to engage with each other on Reddit, rather than use some other non-interactive search tool, misses the whole point of Reddit.

"Do I get sneak attack if I have advantage from my target being prone?" I dunno man. That question isn't something that's discussion worthy. That person should stop, read the conditions for sneak attack, and move on. It's not going to prompt some kind of special, one of a kind, social interaction that brings value to the community.

Why do you presume speed is the highest priority for others?

Well, it sure as heck can't be accuracy. If it were accuracy, those people would be reading the PHB lmao.

Yup. Some people just like talking to other people on social media.

Lets face it anything you google these days results in about a thousand ads followed by a bunch of conflicting websites who's order is determined by 1. Your previous searches and 2. The amount of ad revenue they bring into google. Asking on here gets answers based on people who play the game and love it enought to join a damn subreddit or 50 on the topic, not a group of often professional writers who are paid by people who rely on sponsorships.

It's almost like the other D&D subreddits have figured out to post weekly stickied mod threads about new player questions in order to solve this problem. Speaking of which, why does a community of 500,000+ redditors only have one mod?

> It's almost like the other D&D subreddits have figured out to post weekly stickied mod threads about new player questions in order to solve this problem. Which a lot of people ignore.

Probably because they’re too power hungry to share - or they’re the only one left after last years Reddit debacle and went afk

Or my personal pet peeve (mostly from being a Lord of the Rings fan, but hardly exclusively) when they ask questions that show they've only seen the movie, and never read the book.

That one's even worse than when they bring in low effort memes that have obvious answers. "wHy DoNt thEy flY eAglEss tO mORdoR???"

Next you'll be trying to convince me druids don't have infinite wildshapes and can't wildshape into owlbears.

Fun fact: druids did have infinite wild shapes and could turn into owlbears in 4E!

Well that explains it.

Yeah, I would do that. 😀

It's like when someone does something in a movie and the person next to you asks why they did that. We're watching the same movie! They're likely about to explain the actions themselves in the movie! Give it twelve seconds!

The thing is people will answer bad and usually short questions that are easily googlable right away, while well written longer questions where OP shows they've done some research already get ignored and maybe get 5 upvotes so they just disappear after a couple hours.

Do you get how often a Google search for X sends you right back to Reddit? Usually to posts years old that may or may not still be relevant Edit because I sucked at being clear- people should search on Reddit not google and filter for more recent/relevant info. Things that make sense in my head don’t always seem to make it out to the world

Sure. But 5e rules haven't changed since 2014. This isn't Path of Exile, where content is outdated every 3 months. Those answers already exist on reddit. We don't need new threads for them.

My point was searching in Reddit would be more helpful than google. Guess I missed being clear by a bit, my b

Oh yeah, *searching* in reddit instead of a new post is quite efficient; good point!

Use the handbook. That is why it exists.

In the case of DnD, it's usually still fairly relevant 😂

Yeah, and Reddit doesn’t need even more of those answers. If Google picks up on it that easily, we don’t need another post about it. If you did a Google search and couldn’t find the answer, to be honest that’s actually helpful information to put in your post, and people are more likely to help you if you explain the work you did before that. Something like “what is the default movement speed of a Dragonborn” should not require the use of other humans to quickly figure out. 

Precisely this. Nobody’s mad about a reasonable question, but if the question itself demonstrates you’ve made no effort whatsoever to answer it for yourself, why do you expect us to put in the effort to help you?

The problem has never been the people that don't know English well, or have tried to find the answer but can't. It's the people who don't even try a google search or anything first, refuse to even look at the rules, or want crazy things that don't fit the system. "Help, I speak bad English and don't understand falling damage." Is always welcome. "I want to play as a cyborg dragon that shoots purple lasers & deals 10000 damage, of course I haven't read the books, it's all made up anyway." Can fuck right off. Also, subreddits have search functions.

I was just talking to a coworker the other day about how many people pop into the DnD subs, apparently wanting to magically learn DnD without putting in any effort at all. I understand being intimidated by the Player's Handbook or maybe be unwilling to soak the time into reading it if you're unsure you'll even enjoy DnD. But if you're even unwilling to even read the *free* basic rules or watch a few short YouTube videos, then I don't know what to tell you. I can't learn it for you.

Thank you! Everything is said in this post.

☝️😆😂😅

New players and new dungeon masters don’t need to spend any money to learn the rules. D&D Basic Rules are free, and can be easily downloaded from the website of Wizard of the Coast. Sure, the basic rules aren’t easy reading, especially for non-native English speakers. I get that. English is my second language too. Yet, I think aspiring players need to put in the effort and at least attempt to read the rules. For those who prefer to watch a video than to read, there are many videos and websites which break down d&d rules and offer advice for beginners. Hand-booker helper, Dungeon Dudes, rpgbot, and Ginny Di, to name a few. I want to help new people get into D&D. Unfortunately, I can’t be a private teacher.

Arrgggh me matey

Popular Opinion: USE THE DAMNED SEARCH FUNCTION on literally ANY new subreddit you join to see if anyone else has ASKED THE SAME QUESTION Seriously people, it’s right there

I'd actually say use Google with "Reddit" in the search term if you want to search Reddit. (Unless they've *vastly* improved Reddit search since I last used it.)

I always google it and sometimes add reddit at the end, 9/10 times i can find a post that describes my question.

1/10 times other RPG related forums that quotes PHB and Jeremy Crawford often

I find that “pick the most important keyword” (or two) usually finds my search result on the first page

They must have improved it then. It used to be bad enough that searching, say "attack roll" would somehow bring up like 3 pages of posts that don't have the word "attack" anywhere in them at all. It was the worst search function I'd ever seen outside of Windows Search.

This is my go to solution for everything in life anymore. It's either I'm searching youtube, or I'm searching reddit.

Absolutely. The number of times I see the same question: is x years too early to start playing? Or worse: what do I need to start playing. *Grinds teeth*

One time I actually saw 'What is D&D?', which was the most obvious engagement bait ever as hundreds of people fell over themselves to gush at this 'potential convert' who could have fucking googled it if they were actually curious.

It's funny because it's so very true 🤭. I am all for meaningful discourse but the mods should start locking posts that are incredibly repetitive. The search button is there for a reason. 🤔🤔🤔

Yeah. It even lets you skip the waiting to comments!!!

Some subs have a sticky or guidelines with links. Sometimes, the question gets asked daily, so you may not even need to use the search function it is a pretty recent post. But Google can also give bad results. The fact dndwikia is one of the top results for a lot of dnd related questions doesn't help at all.

Whoa! I didn't know that was a thing 😂

If it can be answered with a link to a section in the dndbeyond basic rules, it's a bad question. In hobbies, school, and a profession, it's very important to show you've made an attempt to educate yourself first.

It's a question on a fan subreddit for a fucking *hobby*. Not a job interview. God forbid someone is simply vaguely interested and wants to get a feel for what it's like from experienced players.

A lot of the times, old threads will have wrong or deleted answers.  If people don't ask questions, there will be nothing to search for at all. 

Questions should be about interpretation of rules and not questions that show the OP made no attempt to read them

I’m sorry, did I say “Never ask questions, ever” ?

kinda, yeah. you are screaming about the search bar to newbies coming here for help. just scroll, its not that hard

For fucks sake, if you see a question you know has been asked before and you don't want to answer it, scroll the fuck on. It's so much easier for you to just keep scrolling than it is for you to fucking whine about someone asking the questions you think shouldn't be asked. Just move your little thumbs along your little screen until the big mean question can no longer be seen. Seriously, the scroll bar is right there.

I can ignore stuff I don’t like Here, watch me ignore your opinion 💁‍♂️

See? Isn't it nice just to move the fuck on?

Same to you ima continue asking dumb questions cause I know it annoys tf out of you

Except "Reddit Search" is literally garbage, and has been since the beginning of time. It's much faster and community engaging to ask beginner questions than use the broken piece of web development.

Googling '(question) reddit' works great though, I do this to get answers to all sorts of questions about all sorts of topics. Sometimes I can't find what I'm looking for, for a variety of reasons, and then I'll post a question in a related sub. I'm with OP generally, but I can also see how people would get frustrated when it's clear a person asking a question had done literally nothing to try to solve their own problem. I agree the cost of books, even just the PHB, is prohibitive for a lot of people, and if it's not available for free (pirated, library, borrow from a friend) in a language you're comfortable with, that's a huge barrier. Googling reddit posts also likely in a language you're not comfortable with may also be a barrier, but I do think it's on the poster to at least try, and then say 'Hey, I tried but got nowhere, can someone help?' And that applies mainly to non-native English speakers. If you speak and read English fluently that's much less of a barrier, so get to your library, get in Google, and at least try to solve your own problem. And if that doesn't work, for whatever reason, then sure, ask away.

never in a million years would having to actually post on reddit be faster than finding an answer on the internet, especially with beginner information that's been around for almost a decade. Even with the search function on reddit.

Tf is the point of a community if you just point people to documentation? So this is just a wiki? Seems like it

You didn’t read what I wrote: it’s fine to ask if there isn’t an answer that’s easily found within, oh, let’s say *30 seconds* of searching? Give a cursory attempt at educating yourself? Keep up the good work 👍

No need to make it personal, very classy 👍

If you enter a community, you have to contribute, it’s a community Asking a question and doing nothing, is not how a community works, that’s leeching off of a community

If you're really getting annoyed by there being too many similar topics on a subreddit you should probably stop using reddit so much IMO.

It’s not about there being similar topics, it’s people who seemingly want an answer to a question, but not enough to actually look up that question first.

You realize you're on a social media platform right?

I am?? Nooo that somehow invalidates my point aaaaaa oh wait it doesn’t. At all.

Just ignore people who have questions you don't want to answer. People like interacting with other people.

Often, people don't want to read an old answer from an old account or FAQ. They want to *talk to a person*; and there are a number of good reasons. 1. they can ask followup and clarifying questions, because they don't always know if they're even asking the right question. Asking a person is the only way to feel sure they actually got it. This is why teachers exist, instead of just books and desks in a room. 2. Second, they will often be provided with additional useful context, suggestions or ideas tailored to their specific inquiry, which a FAQ/googled answer may not. "That Would work, yes, but you might also try this instead, it seems to fit better..." 3. they are More likely to get current information; especially with multiple editions of a game, the risk of outdated or inapplicable information is high. 4. they will get more accurate information. Wrong answers on some random page will often remain unchallenged, but on reddit someone will acshualize at light speed. 5. Most crucially, there is a human connection. This meets an emotional need. They want reassurance. The wire mother sideboard provides answers, but the traumatized baby monkeys choose the cloth mother. Seriously people, people will never stop asking, so stop asking them to stop asking.

Turns out PEOPLE came to the ONLINE TEXT FORUM to ENGAGE WITH OTHER HUMANS about a HOBBY THEY ENJOY TALKING ABOUT Just scroll past the question if it’s not what you want

"It is an unreasonable request to demand of every new player to buy multiple hardcover books just to access this hobby."  You acknowledge that there are digital versions available for free, so while people can buy the PHB (as I did, mostly because I wanted to annotate it), it's not strictly necessary. As for other books, you're acting like full text of multiple classes, subclasses, feats, etc available online isn't a thing, even though it is. I play characters from subclasses outside the PHB even though I haven't bought the books with those classes, and you know how I make it easy? I bookmark the webpage for the wikipage and possibly copy/paste/print it out, if I need to (mostly if I know there'll be Internet connection issues). Again, you don't strictly need the book, even if having it as a reference does make things a lot easier.  Language barriers probably would complicate things, and I won't speak to non-english resources because I don't know about them. But at least for english language resources, there's an abundance available for free, so I'd argue that ThaydEthna's ultimate point stands, especially since players usually don't have to read the entire PHB. All the races and classes/subclasses are a *huge* part of the book, and you can just skip the ones that aren't relevant. If you're playing, say, a gnome druid, let's not pretend anyone is going to make you read the parts about clerics or tieflings. 

I feel like you completely missed the point of that post. People who ask questions because they can't find the answer are fine. No one but assholes complain about that (and you'll have to deal with those everywhere) But people who ask questions because they won't look for the answer are the problem.

When seeing a beginner ask a basic question, you can react in several different ways: 1) answer the question, and help the poster see how great the game and community is 2) ignore the thread and move on to some other thread 3) berate the poster and make them feel dumb for asking the question, and convince them that the community is a terrible place. If you choose #3, you are the problem, not the poster.

False choice. You can also explain where the answer is located, direct them to to their DM (as Crawford loves to do in 5e) etc.

not going to agree with you here. I've been playing TTRPGs for 20 years, and have been a active member of r/DungeonsAndDragons for almost a decade now. I can't stand how unsupportive and toxic your mentality is. Imagine going to a library, asking the librarian "where are the books on dogs" and being told "DUH! you an idiot? You can't use the online search to figure out where the books are?" Dude, support new players or leave.

I mean, there’s a fine line between supporting new players and asking new players to do the bare minimum to help themselves. Asking in a subreddit “what is the movement speed of my new Dragonborn?” clogs up subreddits, creates bloat, and distracts/gets in the way of posts that actually need help or are useful.  I am always down to help new players, but I would rather help all of those new players making posts asking for advice, or asking for weird interaction rulings, etc. Again, just type the question into Google. It’s actually far more work to create a Reddit post than do that.  And if you can’t find it, that’s okay! Just mention in your post you searched for answers and couldn’t find it anywhere. There’s plenty of toxic people out there, and no one rational here is advocating for toxicity. That’s projection. They are advocating for people to do the bare minimum before clogging up subreddits with easily found answers

Except some players don't even know the right questions to ask! It's called being new, and there are no dumb questions. Either answer the question, or downvote and move on. Sitting there and berating someone that has beginner questions is just...cringe.

Who is advocating for berating? That’s what I mean by projection. You’ve mentioned it multiple times now. But neither the original poster nor the person you replied to mentioned berating anyone.  Like where is that coming from? I never said we should berate people, either. There’s even people in this post saying “oh I didn’t even realize I could search subreddits on Reddit.”  We are trying to teach people how to fish. No one should treat a new player badly for asking a question. No one is saying that. They are asking players who happen to see this post to stop asking questions that are easily googleable and that clog up subreddits. No one is saying “we should bully these people.” I legit don’t know where you’re getting that from. 

Read any of the literal comments in this thread! There are multiple posts about how these redditors are too lazy to be playing, or that they need to go google on their own, or just read the damn book. It's frustrating to see a community turn it's back so fast on dialogue with newbies.

I get that’s frustrating, but you should directly reply to those people, then. Otherwise it comes across like you’re bringing straw man arguments into discussions. 

It's literally the librarian's job to tell you where to find books. But this analogy doesn't even track here, even if there were professional redditors whose entire function is to help point you in the right direction, the type of post people complain about isn't asking WHERE to find answers, they just want the information spoon fed to them. It's not going to the library and asking "where are the books on dogs?" It's going up to the librarian and asking them "what kind of dog should I get?" And then being angry when you are pointed to the dog section.

yeah, not what's happening here. New players are getting shit on by this community, and it's unhealthy. End of Story.

It is exactly what I've seen happen over and over again. Someone asks a very simple question about a rule. Someone else replies letting them know where in the source books all the information they need can be found, then the person gets mad and says they shouldn't have to be able to read a book to play the game.

And I've not seen that. Funny how anecdotal evidence works!

Lol. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think you completely missed the point of my comment. I'm fully supportive of new players. I taught all the people at both of my tables how to play. I'm hosting a one shot tomorrow on my day off to teach some coworkers how to play. What I don't support are players that can't put any effort into learning how to play. Your DM is busting their ass to run the game, you can at least read the basic rules available for free online.

"What I don't support are players that can't put any effort into learning how to play. " And yet, these very people are coming on to reddit to get a better understanding of the game. They are doing research in a way that feels comfortable to them. Is there only one right way to learn the game? Are they learning wrong?

What's the point in coming to reddit and asking someone to write out a detailed beginners guide just for you when there are literally countless of those available already? Do you really need to go to reddit to have someone link the DnD beyond beginners guide instead of just going there yourself?

Your example makes no sense Going to the library and aksing for dog books is fine, going to the library and asking the librarian how to train a dog is not

FFS It's just an example, my goblin. If newbies need help, you help them. D&D is already hard enough as it is, and I'm tired of troglodytes saying "just watch Critical Role."

Ok and it was a shitty example my goblin Equally as unhelpful as a player who doesn’t read the rules

Reading the book gets you 40% of the way. Playing and asking questions gets you to 100%. My main compliant, and in support of the unpopular opinion, is to have the dialogue with a new player. Most people learn faster and get more interested when being supported than by being stifled.

That’s not a dialogue, that’s a lesson A dialogue needs both people at least on the same page and one side is refusing to open the book

Stupid questions = stupid responses

How are they a problem?

Why do you point out that the information in all the books is available online for free and then complain about having to buy hardcover books? Who is making you buy hardcover physical editions of everything?

Imagine going to reddit, create a new post and ask a question when for sure you'll find an answer just by googling it

>Why would you not read the PHB? You can find digital versions for free all over the place. Since you keep circling back to this despite the answer being right here, you don't *have* to spend hundreds of dollars on hardcovers to get access to the PHB... there are lots of places online that give you free access to them online, hell WotC gives you free access to the basic rules to understand how the game works. My personal go to is anyflip While I agree some people are too harsh and gatekeepy, it's extremely frustrating to see identical posts over and over from newcomers on a topic, not because a question may be "stupid" but purely because that exact question has been answered 100s of times already and people's patience wears out when people seem to refuse to look for the easily found already existing answers to their question

I mostly agree. In practice it's a bit different. I come to these subreddits to read stories and give advice to people asking for it. Be it explaining rules they're confused about or just sharing what works in sessions for me. My only problem with that is when people would rather make a post than make a 5 minute google search. Or even search that question here on reddit. I fairly often see the exact same question asked by multiple people on the same day. Basic rules are free. All rules are technically free if you search some places, like the library (assuming a library nearby has the rule books). And it's so much easier to read them and ask about parts they don't understand than asking about everything and for someone to teach them the game because they're too lazy to read those. Reading the base rules gives a strong foundation that helps understand the rules being explained. But people will never remember all the rules. I still get things wrong after \~700 sessions. Critical Role gets some rules wrong almost every episode, often multiple times per episode. Hell, some people didn't learn what their abilities that they use every session do till session 50 or so in the new campaign. It happens, and people shouldn't blast others for not understanding something. Only for being too lazy to read it even once.

I think gently blasting CR cast for forgetting simple rules when they've been doing 5e D&D as a career for years is perfectly acceptable.

Those posts are aimed at people who have all the information at their fingertips and still expects someone else to do the research or hold their hand. If you cannot glean information from the PHB or any other book, and you cannot find your answer on Google or a reddit search, then by all means, post a question. But, if everyone who posted followed this chain of thinking, there would be far less posts like these.

A quote I quite like  “The first step to being great at something is sucking at something.” (Or something like that) Everyone starts somewhere, and this is supposed to be a great place to start

"stupid" questions are often how new people learn. but it would be helpful if the questioner specified which edition or book they are asking about. with a new "edition" coming out, there will be a lot more questions with conflicting answers depending on what edition they are asking about. as for the one answering, adding where and which book really helps the questioner learn the info. while reading the PHB or SRD really helps answer things, that is a lot of info to absorb at once. especially for new people. suggesting a specific section or page is more helpful. edit: also stating what accessible, free, and legal resources are available to play the game. ill post links later. but here are some great ones: i find the essentials kit rulebook one is a great resource because it shows how to play, how to DM, how to make a character, and how to run a sidekick. but its a really quick overview of all that. its easier to mentally digest the 70 or so pages instead of the 300-ish of the SRD or PHB. - Starter Set Rulebook (Lost Mine of Phandelver) pdf on the WotC webpage. - Essentials Kit Rulebook (Dragon of Icespire Peak) pdf on the WotC webpage. - Stranger Things Starter Set Rulebook (Hunt for the Thessalhydra) pdf on the Hasbro board game instruction replacement webpage. - System Reference Document v5.1 (D&D 5th edition free rules) pdf on the WotC webpage. it sucks that it does not have an index. - Basic Rules (somewhat like the SRD but contains WotC intellectual properties) pdf on the WotC webpage. - Peril in Pinebeook (one of the best intro adventures that explains things) pdf on the TMI webpage.

The books are literally free as pdf's on a pletora of websites. Dont act like this is a money issue. Its a lazyness issue.

You should have seen (if you haven’t) those old Giant in the Playground forums (I think that was name). Near the end of 3.5’s lifecycle, their front page for 3.5 would still have posts up from like a week before, extremely little traffic, and if you made a thread people would lose their damn minds. “Ever heard of a search function?” Etc So then if you post in one of those threads, they’d bitch and call you a necro. That site had a lot of good, but some of its members were absolute clown douchebags.

>Unpopular Opinion: It is NOT unreasonable or unhealthy for new players to ask stupid questions on this subreddit I mean there is a fundamental difference between a question like "Does a rogues sneak attack need advantage to work?" and "Would a bard + wizard multiclass be good?" - one is a rules based question and the other can be up to discussion. In my opinion, if a question can be easily put into google to get a straight forward answer then it isn't a good post - and honestly most questions asked have been previously put onto reddit too (if you put in my previous rogue sneak attack question into google a reddit post comes up about it...) >Why would you not read the PHB? You can find digital versions for free all over the place. Firstly, as mentioned in the question the PHB is free online (and you can find many of the other books too), so anyone with access to the internet shouldn't have an issue with finding it but also this isn't just about the PHB - it's about reading in general. So *so so* many of the questions asked in this sub (and other subs) can be answered by just reading the part of the book that it is about, and honestly I've done that too and it was stupid of me - the amount of people asking questions that are just answered by reading the part of the book talking about it is crazy. If you don't want to read a whole book that is fine, but there is tons of already available content that'll answer basically any question you have - I personally haven't read the whole PHB or DMG, but I know the majority of rules about the game about the majority of classes and ideas simply because I've googled the questions.

The basic rules are free.

I mean, reddit is terrible...so seeing such rudeness is not uncommon...kind of welcome to the internet vibes....but also yeah, I dont think anyone has problems with general questions, its the ridiculous ones that tend to get ridiculed.

It shouldn't, but this sub is full of... unhelpful individuals who forget what it was like to be new and excited about the hobby.

Kids are welcome to join but DnD was developed by adults for adults and the guide books have been around for many decades. Now newer versions of DnD and other RPGs have helped simplify the game to make it enjoyable for all. When I was introduced to the game in the 80s/90s, the rules seemed incredibly complex that I decided to just paint the miniatures instead. As an adult player, I can see how much this game relies on the personalities and play-styles of your gaming group. My current campaign has a novice DM who is focused on story and a rules-lawyer player who has only played Balder’s Gate 3 and constantly talks about 5e in ways that benefit his character. I bet neither of them have read the PHB. I’m just happy to have buddies to game with so I try to take it easy!

But the PHB *IS* available for free online and you should read it before playing because it *IS* short and simple.

Asking questions are fine, asking questions that have been repeated for the 1 millionth time is annoying. I get it, being new in DnD can be overwhelming, it can feel like there are so many things to learn and pick up on and you are anxious about not knowing something; that's completely fine. The issue a lot of people have are with the people that would rather be told what to do instead of actually thinking for themselves. We have a whole generation coming in that has learned helplessness because of social media and laziness; if they can't get the answer themselves right away, then someone better tell them because they can't be bothered to actually do the work for it. Most of the questions asked can be sorted into two categories (with the third category being "Talk to the Dm/table, but that's a whole other issue): 1. **Read the books.** There is absolutely no excuse for this, as they now put the basic rules online. Back in the day, yeah you wanted to play or you wanted to DM, you had to buy the books. You even had to buy the UA for it if you wanted to have it. Sure, you could borrow your friends books until you could afford your own, but most times they needed the books to play too; the players handbook for players, and the Dungeon Master's Guide for DMing. DnD wasn't free back in the day and it didn't just require a set of dice. The only way people got away with sharing anything back then was if they were siblings and it was already in the same house. Leveling up and things like that took a while to sort out and do, so unless you're wasting an hour of your play time just leveling up of your limited time then that's your own prerogative, I guess. You have a question about basic rules, great, read the basic rules that are now provided for you online for free. Being broke is no excuse for being lazy. Would like to point out that yes, not speaking or being able to read English can be an issue, but DnD has been printed in multiple languages since it took off in the 70's. So that's not really an excuse. Back in the day, it was printed in: Hungarian, Polish, Hebrew, Danish, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Finnish, Turkish, Norwegian, Dutch, Korean, and Spanish. now a lot of these translations fell out of use because it just wasn't popular enough to justify production costs and therefore some of them fell out of use for printing the books. Now, if you had of googled it, you would have found this. Which brings me to my next category. 2. **Google it.** If it's the language barrier that has you confused on things, you have the internet. While some of the languages have been stopped in their use for printing, that doesn't mean that people have stopped translating these things for play. it just means that there are people that have it somewhere online that you just have to find. Okay, lets say that there is absolutely no spot in the entirety of the vast internet that has the translation you are requesting, that's not a problem, as then the person themselves could try to translate it so that others that can't will have at least an anchor point to connect to when asking the same question in the future. I see a lot of people on here asking questions and then either near the top or at the end saying that English is not their first language. While I sympathize with how much brain power it takes to translate things in your head to possibly understand something you might not in your second language; these same people type out whole novellas about what they don't understand in their second language (in this case it's English), and using words in ways that could make some native speakers look rather uneducated. So you will excuse the rest of us if we say something like "just google it" because it honestly, at that point it's just pure laziness while trying to use the "English is not my first language" as an excuse not to have to do the work themselves. If after you have googled it, looked through reddit, read the books, and your question is still not answered, then by all means ask your question. We have all been there before, with a situation or question that doesn't seem to really have an answer, so we ask it. I have been there myself. I believe it was to carry over an older edition monster to 5e (which had something to do with numbers and math, which takes me a bit of time to actually wrap my head around lol) so I reread the books. When that didn't answer my question (didn't know at that point that there was actual math equations to use that weren't included in the book), I looked on google, seeing if my question had been answered before. It had been with a PDF from Wizards themselves...but it didn't seem to answer my specific question I was after. After a little bit more reading around and looking through reddit, I did find that my question had been answered many times before, but none of them had my answer I was specific about. So I got onto my account and asked it, because honestly my answer just wasn't there. If you have done your work and you know that your question hasn't been answered before, then that's fine, people don't have a problem answers a question that hasn't really been answered before; so long as that person has done their due diligence on it. People have an issue when people just can't be bothered to put effort into questions to find an answer and just want everything spoon-fed to them. People can tell the difference. Sure, everyone has that day where their brain just goes flat and an answer to their very simple question just won't come to them, or they completely miss it in their readings, that's fine it happens; but that's not the case with the vast majority of the repeated questions on here about "How do I calculate AC?", "How do I get my stats?", or even "Where can I find armor stats?"; these sorts of questions.

The problem is basic things, such as that when you come to a session the DM doesn't expect you to know EVERYTHING plus there are sometimes personal rules for things like character creation, for example when I DM I never make my players roll for HP because you are supposed to be better than normal people you are heroes so you get free max HP for every level that I start you off on, also when rolling for Stats I will not let anything be less than 10 on initial roll, it can drop below 10 with race adjustments but not on roll. That isn't in the PHB but if you don't know that Dragonborn get Strength score +2, and your Charisma score +1, then don't play a Dragonborn and don't ask me what stat boosts they get because you SHOULD know. Asking about what kind of world it is (high or low magic, are we in a realm where being a Dragonborn will make someone stand out or are other races common) or some questions like that most DMs don't mind. You don't need to drop a red cent for the PHB, I agree that nobody in their right mind reads the PHB like it is a novel but use it as a reference to know what is going to happen during prime things, for example know how to do character creation, know the main parts of the race and class you want to play, take a peek at the basic equipment know what a "+1" weapon or armor does, don't ask for things that are in the PHB but not know what you are asking for, and then ask the DM to explain. If you think that something sound important ask a specific question for example if you don't understand what the "+1" weapon does ask the DM "So does the +1 get added to the attack, the damage, or both" this way the DM knows that you put in the time to have an idea of what the "+1" is and he just has to make a short answer. If you go to the SRD online I'm guessing that they are able to translate the information. Why? The post simply says (from my reading of it) that if you are new and want to play take a little time and read the PHB before coming to the table. Again if money is the issue then use the SRD or find other places that the PHB is available online for free. But I do agree that the PHB isn't a small booklet. I will say that if you want to be a DM you SHOULD spend the money to get the DMG. An individual's time is as valuable as they place the value on it, that is why people get paid for their time. Sometimes going online and ranting is just to vent frustration.

Here here. Every time someone moans about it or gets mad about table drama questions I try to chime in and tell them to knock it off. Managing the learning curve and social aspect of this game is make or break whether people stay in this hobby.

When you post something in this realm of 'stupid question' you are asking other people to do free labour for you. That's why people get mad about it. It doesn't really matter why they're doing it - it doesn't matter how common it is (and it *is* common, I read the handbook when 5e came out years and years ago and can barely remember any of it at this point) - it doesn't matter what language you speak, or how much money or free time you have. At the end of the day, you are saying "I don't want to put the work in myself, I want you to do the work for me," and that's something that people will usually take disrespectfully. If you care about it, then show it, by being willing to put the work in yourself. That's the angle here.

Not everyone has such a transactional mindset as you are portraying here. Some people are quite happy helping people with questions they have. That's a win for the person asking and win for the person answering (making them feel good about themselves for being helpful). Win-win.

No one is forcing you to answer the question.

no one is forcing them to ask it here, either. 🤷‍♂️ I'm just trying to explain why asking that kind of question might not be received charitably.

I’m glad you made this post, it’s much more articulate than I would’ve been 🥲 if I had seen something like that post as a new player (and all the affirmations underneath) I would’ve skipped this game altogether. Thankfully I had kind friends and helpful GMs. (OOP is probably a fine GM - the whole thread just felt very ‘get off my lawn’)

Also an unpopular opinion: I think several of us learned the game through our friends and the tables we joined. Through our *communities.* yes, the PHB is there and should be referenced, but it’s those in the community that provide context and explanations. I have no problem with players hitting the forums with questions because we are their community now. This is a way for new players to engage with the hobby and the people who’ve been in it for a while. What comes from these kinds of posts aren’t just answers, but anecdotes and experiences, warnings and ideas, and overall inclusion into the hobby. Plus, they make for great reminders about why the game works the way it works. I know many of the answers to questions asked here and I still learn something new from the comments as conversations evolve. Popular opinion: the PHB is garbage. It is so poorly formatted; seriously, it and the DMG make for difficult reads. I have fantastic reading comprehension and English is my native language. The books are just bad. I have been playing for 4 years now (8 for ttrpgs altogether) and I’m a DM even. I have never been able to sit through either one of these books. I’ve bought several of the books over the years, I just can’t get through them. I use Google now and the books for context I can’t find online. Popular opinion: Reddit’s search function is SO bad that I type the question into Google and end it with Reddit to get better search results. Telling folks to use the search function is cruel. So, I’m with OP. Questions should be encouraged. It’s not like we have to stop what we are doing to answer them; this is the internet, not the table. If we don’t feel like engaging we can scroll past. But there are folks who will want to engage, and that’s what makes this hobby great.

100% agree with this sentiment. You don't grow a community by stifling new player growth and turning people down.

Reddit tends to be full of whiney assholes who think their time is wasted by scrolling past questions they think don't deserve answers, yet still feel compelled to spend time complaining about the questions being asked. It's just too much for them to just keep scrolling when the temptation to be exclusionary shitheads is so strong.

You're lucky if they just scroll past. Usually they have to answer your question in the most pedantic and demeaning way possible even though 15 other jerks have posted the exact same answer already. Usually, none of them actually answer your question because they don't really bother to read your question in the first place. It is just so important to them to punish someone for liking they game they like

Let us keep in mind that sometimes new players aren't even really sure what they're searching *for*. Google doesn't help if you can't define exactly what your looking for.

> When I was a kid, D&D was known to be **free.** It was never free. The original game came out in 1974, and the SRD (free reference document for 3rd party creators) came out in 2000, 26 years later. The SRD was playable so maybe this is what you meant by “free,” though the books still cost money. 5e actually has the first free version of the game explicitly intended for players: the Basic Rules, which are essentially a free trial of the game. It also has an SRD for 3rd party creators which is again playable. D&D is a paid game that costs about $30 to get into for players and about $100 to get into for DMs. I am not sure where you got the notion that it was ever free, as it has always been run by for-profit companies.

Hey look, a scarecrow. Oh, sorry op! I must have been confused from how full of straw men your post is.

I agree with what you AND what the one you're replying to said. New Players have to ask questions because the PHB is not exactly cheap nor a small book... However, the Basic Rules of 5e is indeed a Free Book online. And it contains most of the rules you'll ever need to know, you don't have to memorize how underwater combat works or how you can climb on top of another, WAAAY larger creature to fight it. These are the things any player should know, regardless of anything, because more than likely the Basic Rules or any DM with a PHB can explain to you: - How to build your Character. - How AC is calculated. - What is a/How to make d20 rolls (Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, Saving Throws...) - How to calculate your Save DCs and/or To hit (With weapon attacks and spells). - How applying proficiency to something works. - If you're a Caster, how the specific spells you picked work (This one is essential if ANY new player wants to play a caster.) - How your class features work, and/or how your racial features work. More or less, if you know these things, the rest of the stuff you need to know will come in naturally, either by osmosis, other people citing them at your table, or your DM mentioning them. If you have a good DM, or, just literally any DM that's not an ass, you will naturally learn if you put in the minimum effort. These aspects are essential, and you can learn them in perhaps a few sessions in. Me, myself. A native brazilian dude who grew up with AD&D 2e, diagnosed with ADHD and learning disabilities, I wasn't exactly good at this stuff, but I learnt, waaay slower than others, took me a whole month to actually understand what the rules were at the time, played through most editions until 5e with the same group I started to play D&D with. I took my shot DMing in 3.5 after I got enough of a grasp of how DMing looked like, then I've been both a DM and Player since then, who learnt from who I consider being the best DM I ever played with - My Older Brother. Perhaps that anecdote is irrelevant for the post, and some parts might not be too well written because this isn't my main language either, Portuguese is my native language, then I moved to Venezuela and learnt spanish, then I started doing online courses to learn English, and here we are. But this huge chunk of text might be a very exotic case (or not, Idk.) of someone with disabilities being able to still enjoy this hobby, someone has to be willing to learn in order to do that, I've met tons of players and DMs alike that simply refuse to know how the system works at the most basic aspect such as "What does this spell do?" or similar things, they didn't have any disability or condition that I knew of, they just didn't care to learn. If a new player cares to learn, then they can come here and ask questions, hopefully someone in good faith will answer them or point them out to the rule that answers them. But I wholeheartedly want to see both players and DMs playing first, then asking questions later, because some of the questions come from people who might have NEVER actually played the game. *And, sometimes, I'm actually telling the truth after reading some posts.* Anyways, have a good day (or night, it's early morning in my country.) If you REALLY read through all of this.

Just come join us over in Delta Green land, we’ll answer your questions.

Maybe the completely free Basic Rules, with every important rule, on WoTC’s own page should be translated to more languages 🤷‍♂️. I wonder how it would fair from a google translate 🤔

I will never understand people who get pissed off when people ask simple questions on Reddit. Like, yes, I could google this and get answers. But do you not have the capacity to understand that a new uninformed person wouldn’t have the knowledge necessary to know which of those answers are helpful, and which are reliable? Plus, if you ask a question on Reddit, *you can follow up* with a real live human being and get the exact nuanced discussion you’re looking for. Aimlessly googling isn’t going to give the same quality of a response, and it’s a lot more effort. If you’re annoyed by the question, just don’t answer (Not to say there are *never* times when a poster should have just googled something. If you’re asking “what are the stats of X creature?” Then yeah, you should’ve just searched for the table someone is about to link you. But I see people getting mad all the time about much more reasonable questions)

I'm right there with you. Just because someone's new to a hobby and trying to figure it out is no excuse to be a jerk. That's gatekeeping, and no one likes you for it. The books are expensive at $50 USD each. I wouldn't have my core books if I hadn't found a PHB at a used bookstore for half-off the cover price and received the other two as gifts. I also have no idea how people have the time to read them completely, or why they even would. You don't need to memorize the DMG to be a good DM. Even professional DMs will crack open a book to see how they should rule on something or how a spell works. The only books you should try reading through are the modules and that's only so you know what's coming up or when your players do something unexpected and can appropriately respond without breaking the module entirely. Realistically, you don't have to buy anything. Everything in the books is available online, yes, but some people don't have access to the internet or know where to look. For dice, you can use random number generators, or pull numbers from a hat like prisoners do when they play. You can make minis from paper and draw maps, or just use theater of the mind. You can even use regular notebook paper instead of printing character sheets. There's almost no reason to spend money on the books at this point other than ease of access. It's a bit more convenient to crack open a book to find a spell or class feature than it is to try looking it up online. It just come down to how you want to play, but you shouldn't feel pressured to buy the books. This game shouldn't be held behind a paywall.

To be honest, I don’t even think that it’s just a Reddit problem. I did one campaign in person and they kept getting annoyed when I asked questions like what’s the difference between perception and investigation. And how to calculate modifiers and what not. And then I joined a discord server with people that did it online, and there is a few people that have helped me learn the basics, but there’s also a good chunk that still seem to get annoyed

If you tried to read the sourcebooks - googled it - and checked out former reddit posts - it is totally fine to ask. It is important, that you actually tried, but simply can't comprehend whatever you read/watched. It comes down to different *learning styles*, and another reddit user might be able to explain things in a usefull way, where others failed. Obviously it is annoying if multiple users ask the exact same question, which is already answered from different perspectives. But if we meet insecure noobs with hostility, the community will inevitably cease to exist.

The only stupid question is the one not asked

I agree with almost all of this, except for one thing. Any question one might ask on a forum has already probably been asked, I know it's more effort and it's more convenient to start a new thread, but it does get old for everyone else in the community. I also believe that the way to deal with this is not by trying to discourage new players with the post you mentioned, but instead by promoting and reminding new players that new player guides and translations of the free rules are downloadable on the Wizards of the Coast website and answers to many questions have already been asked in forums.

I agree. It's such a huge turn off when people whine and complain that it's already been answered... Or just in general display unwelcoming behavior.  If I'm excited for the hobby, I want to put a face to it. Yes, some questions have already been answered- but maybe said people want an interaction. Tell me this- when you are solving a problem, is it better if someone walks you through it or if you do research to come to your own conclusions? I mention this because we all learn differently! Some people want to use this place to ask questions rather then research, which can be overwhelming!  I'm not asking to put a customer service face to it, but just treat people on here like humans...

I grew up in an era when reading manuals to play a game was often necessary. Think Baldur’s Gate. We now live in an era when you have access to everything at the tip of your fingers. People need to take initiative in real life and not just when a DM tells them to do so.

I never read the manuals for Baldurs Gate. Did just fine

Honestly, I still ask stupid questions and I’ve been playing for 20 years- mostly pathfinder. I have played D&D too. I do read as well. But retaining that much information is difficult. I can’t spend that much time reading due to my migraines- especially not a digital copy. A lot of times, I’m stuck in a dark room with ice on my head. It’s insane to think that newer players should have read the entire book. A lot of people learn by doing and some people just don’t retain enough information to actually understand it. It can be confusing until you actually play the game for a while. Also, I would NEVER drop that much money on a new hobby off the bat. Most newbies aren’t going to spend the money until they’ve already played awhile. Personally, as long as the players are asking questions then they are indeed learning to game. It takes effort to actually ask a question. A lot of times, I still ask questions. Sometimes things are worded weirdly or it doesn’t make sense until I actually talk to another person and then it clicks.

Most people can't plunk down with a manual and read it. Their brain just doesn't work that way. It's excruciating for them and frankly doesn't work very well, even if they knuckle down and work their way through it. I'm a happy camper sitting and reading the owner's manual for my car or the PHB, but I'm just an odd duck like that. It's unreasonable to expect everyone to enjoy reading a couple hundred pages of rules, or specs, or whatever else.

Asking questions is good and important! Reading the PHB is also good and important! Back in my day I had all the 3.5e books in pdf, I dunno if that's still in fashion these days.

If you want to play at my table, you read the rules. You can buy a stand alone PHB for like $40, or if you can't afford that/just don't want to, I will provide a PDF. If English isn't your first language, I will provide one in your native language assuming you speak English fluently enough to play and there is a translation available. If you don't speak English fluently, you don't play at my table because I can't understand you. Find a table in your language. If you can't read well enough to read the rules, you don't play at my table. DnD requires basic reading and math ability. No, you don't need to read every source book available and the DMG. But the PHB is the basic rule book that I expect my players to read.

As a Hasbro stockholder, I vigorously disagree. It is incumbent of all new players to purchase and consume all existing and new D&D products. No excuses. j/k the rules are malleable and fluid. Having fun is the important thing. (I did buy a couple of shares of Hasbro stock though, just because I wanted to own a bit of the company who currently owns D&D. Similar to the pilgrimage I took to Lake Geneva WI when I was a teenager and TSR was still around. )

I never understand the childish mentality of "asking questions bad!!!!". So what if it's a simple question they could google search? Either answer it or don't. There's no gun to your head forcing you you to interact with it. People here act like dumb questions killed their entire family or some shit.

It's indeed reasonable and healthy to ask questions. Whether you're just starting or a seasoned veteran, asking questions is part of life. This is what I tend to respond with when people tell me they have any stupid questions: There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. Questions are asked to understand a situation better, to visualise a concept, to help improve cognitive abilities. Without questions, we would still be stuck hunting and gathering. There are people out there who have trouble asking questions in general (speaking from experience; I'm one of them), and having a question new shot down without mercy certainly doesn't help with building confidence in asking more. So, whatever the question may be, treat thy neighbour as thy own, or in simpler words, treat each other with respect and dignity. Tl;dr: Asking questions is reasonable and healthy.

I think some people need to learn that just because _they_ find something obvious, it doesn't make it obvious to everyone else. Ah yes, you played for 20 years and you know that this specific question is on page x of the phb. Good for you. This new player read the book once and doesn't have a photographic memory, they might not remember that the answer to this question is in the book. Let alone on page x. Add that not everyone is fluent in scanning and finding information. Respect that not everyone is as skilled and knowledgeable as you in this subject, but that does not mean they are stupid. Being gatekeepers of information is stupid.

Telling someone the exact page number where they can find the information they need is the opposite of gatekeeping.

I have a curiosity and a helpful tip: What's your first/native language? The PHB from 2014 is written so poorly that even English first language speakers, like myself, have a tough time finding and understanding some things. Don't feel bad about having a tough time with it. Hopefully, the '24 edition will be better and more translated.

It doesn't matter if you've read the PHB, or are asking a dumb question or not or even for just having an opinion You are going to get downvoted and Um, Akshualied no matter what you do on any D&D related sub. Some seriously toxic fans here.

My biggest issue with that persons post (other than the general air of elitism) is the whole “I have crippling ADHD and I still managed to do it.” Uh, okay, and???? Due to life and my untreated and undiagnosed (until last year) ADHD getting worse, I haven’t been able to read more than one book a year for like 5 years now. I used to literally read one a week. My bf does all the rule reading when we play our tabletop board games. He doesn’t mind because he knows trying to read them makes my thoughts swim and my brain go fuzzy. Believe me, I’d love to read all 70 million D&D books that my bf has on our shelves, because it truly does interest me, but I just can’t. Not everyone with the same disorder has the same struggles at the same levels.

I agree and I've been on this reddit since before the game came out. Reddit is social, it's more helpful and satisfying to get answers from a human. This is not stack exchange. When a sub bans basic questions it basically gives itself a death sentence.

Thanks. This needed to be said

Nah ur wrong. It clogs the recommended post notifications and degrades the quality of the sub. If people have questions, that's fine, but there are so many easier ways to get answers online.

This right here. All these people concern trolling about degrading the community by not answering dumb questions don't seem to think about the fact that seeing the same shit asked over and over again makes the whole idea of a forum on a specific topic far less useful than it should be. It's noise.

I agree, I'm new to the game and posted asking for help. People just replied with 'read the hand book ect' . It's easier to understand from people who have played it than to try and understand starting from scratch from a book. Plus it would be nice to make friends with people who play locally so we can play together!

As to make friends with people locally, you can expand on that and play together with people online. r/lfg exists

OK but... DID you ever actually try reading the rules?

I agree- especially since you can learn the hobby more from a book these days. There are videos, websites, fellow players interested in teaching. Hell, my local game store runs a "learn to play DND" once a month.  Why should people not treat people on here like friends, family, strangers? Rather then subhumans that are somehow wasting their time and offending them for asking a question (that they'll scroll past!)  It just hurts my heart. 

The PHB is badly organized. WotC has stated that this is one of the things that they've changed in the new edition, and it isn't as bad as AD&D, but a 300 page rulebook is still daunting for people who can't read that well.

I’m old, so I am told, and perhaps have become more empathetic through the years, but I also have two kids with learning differences and it has opened a whole world of approaches to learning to me. I “learned” how to play D&D back the early 80’s. The way it worked was that one person got the books, was obsessed with them, learned everything possible… and then told us some of the rules. We learned the rest over time actually playing. I didn’t actually read the PHB until a few years ago when I got into GM’ing during Covid. I have shit short term memory and learn best by talking about it and doing it. Not so much reading. My kids have visual and audio processing issues. They don’t learn by reading. They also don’t learn by having things read to them. They learn when the content is presented or explained in different ways allowing them to triangulate on the subject matter. A google search doesn’t give a specific answer and can be overwhelming for them. They aren’t lazy, they learn different. So when it comes to people asking the same questions that have been asked being asked again, I remember that my journey has been filled with people who have taken the time to help me on my journey and everyone is wired differently. I flip into mentor mode and get motivated by their desire to learn and play and, well, try to help. Because the same questions often come up, it is pretty easy to answer the question, reinforce how awesome it is they are wanting to play, and then point them in the right direction to dive deeper. Are some of them lazy and could just google it? Sure. Do most people learn differently like my kids? Probably not. But I figure if someone asks some question that has been asked before I have two paths: ignore it or answer it. Taking the time to flame them for even asking seems like a waste of energy and reinforces the fears new players already have with the gate-keeping that is too common in the hobby. Of course that is just how I’ve decided to roll with things.

TLDR Y'all this is ragebait. The basic rules are free online. If you buy the SINGULAR book you need to play dnd because you're too good for the basic rules and google, it's 30$ on dnd beyond, 50-60 USD physical, so that price tag is something you personally made up to ragebait. If you don't bother to read the books, don't expect people to read them for you. Yes we all DO have better shit to be doing than answering your stupid questions on the internet. Your opinion on how valuable our time is is worthless and only serves to prove that you're an asshole who doesn't respect others. We already knew that, though. However, I have never seen either a native OR non-native English speaker who asks for clarification on something they DID read and don't understand have any response except clear, thorough explanations of what they missed. So once again, pure ragebait from someone who's never been on the sub before. I hope the internet points brought you joy since clearly nothing else in your life does

I hadn’t played the game since AD&D, and when I began to play 5e I realized that every single thing had changed. I was lost, so I asked a lot of dumb questions. My friends were patient with me. Obviously they teased me too, but that was part of the process too. Now I feel that I have to pay it forward. I am patient with newbs and I’m also patient with people who ought to know better. If you want to clarify a rule, or have something better explained, then I consider it to be part of the game.

I feel like this is common with chronically online people, especially on reddit. They act like it’s a personal attack on them that they had to read your question, that you dared to waste their precious time with your post. It’s very obnoxious. I don’t know how many times I’ve just tried to strike up a conversation, but ended up deleting the post because of people being offended by my audacity 😭

As a Hasbro stockholder, I vigorously disagree. It is incumbent of all new players to purchase and consume all existing and new D&D products. No excuses. j/k the rules are malleable and fluid. Having fun is the important thing. (I did buy a couple of shares of Hasbro stock though, just because I wanted to own a bit of the company who currently owns D&D. Similar to the pilgrimage I took to Lake Geneva WI when I was a teenager and TSR was still around. )

Meh. I think that person has a right to complain as much as new players have a right to not care. I barely ever use the official rules. In fact if I play tabletop with any DM and all they do is use exactly what's in the book, I get bored and quit playing. I said this in my last message in that person's post (which they downvoted) but to me D&D is the RPG Maker of board games. When Gygax told me with 2nd Edition that I'm free to make you whatever I want, using the PHB as a reference guide: Why the hell wouldn't I do that? My own classes, my own spells, my own level up systems, my own mechanics. Rolling to hit *every single time* was obnoxious. So we cut it out. We ended up with tabletop Final Fantasy. So what? We love it. We've been playing it for 20+ years now. I get why people would be frustrated on either side of the fence. I just don't get why it has to be like, a serious conflict between hobbyists.

>a response from all the non-native english speakers Never seen a non-english post or response on this sub >all the people who too poor to afford books Wizards of the coast literally put the entire players handbook online for free. If you can access Reddit you can access that >all the new people who want to engage in this hobby but don’t live in the USA It’s not like this is a regionally locked game, I don’t think this is very relevant >and all the new players looking to learn while engaging with the community It isn’t our job to teach you and for that matter, the players handbook does a phenomenal job at explaining almost everything you could ask, which again, is a free resource. I’d be happy to help answer clarifications or provide ideas and feedback as I’ve needed help in those areas myself, but nobody wants to see a question like “does sneak attack require you to be sneaky”