Article A Bit More on the Basic Rules for D&D

It’s hard to believe that we’re on the eve of the release of the first D&D fifth edition product. The Starter Set will be available at Wizards Play Network stores this week, starting on July 3. That day will also see the release of the basic rules for D&D on the Dungeons & Dragons web site.

For the D&D basic rules, our initial release will include character creation. It features the human, elf, dwarf, and halfling for races, along with the cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard classes, all from 1st level to 20th level. As the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide near completion, we’ll add to the basic rules with more material to grow it into a complete game. Our goal is to continue to make updates to the basic rules for D&D until the end of the year, at which point it will be feature complete.

As for the contents of the basic rules, let’s take a peek under the hood to see what you can expect. It’s important to remember that all of this material is drawn from the Player’s Handbook. The basic rules for D&D are not a separate game, but rather are a subset of Dungeons & Dragons.

Races: The dwarf, elf, and halfling each feature two subraces: hill dwarves and mountain dwarves, high elves and wood elves, and lightfoot halflings and stout halflings.

Classes: Each class features one option for specialization. The fighter has the champion martial archetype, the cleric features the life domain, the rogue has the thief roguish archetype, and the wizard has the School of Evocation arcane tradition.

Backgrounds: The backgrounds featured in the Starter Set pregenerated characters are included in the D&D basic rules.

Equipment: The basic rules include the Player’s Handbook equipment chapter in its entirety.

Rules of Play: The D&D basic rules cover combat, using ability scores, adventuring, and the rules for magic, all taken straight from the Player’s Handbook.

Spells: The game provides a wide selection of cleric and wizard spells, from 0-level cantrips all the way up to the most powerful 9th-level spells.

Mike Mearls is the senior manager for the D&D research and design team. He led the design for 5th Edition D&D. His other credits include the Castle Ravenloft board game, Monster Manual 3 for 4th Edition, and Player’s Handbook 2 for 3rd Edition