Dungeon Master's Helper: Glossary
Greetings. FWIW, @Colarusso built is building this web app as a way to learn D&D. The code is on GitHub if you want to make your own. The definitions and examples provided here rely heavely on those found on the offical D&D Resources page. Since the web app contains deep links to items in this glossary, I felt free to order the entries in a manner other than alphabetical. So, I've put them in the order I would suggest reading them if, for some reason, you wanted to read them all.
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D or DnD)
A collabrative storytelling game in which the players work together to create a shared adventure. It's like improv, except instead of one rule ("yes, and") there are a lot of rules. ;) For example, there is an all-powerful narrator (the Dungen Master) who can shape the story and rule certian actions in or out of bounds. They're power is constrained by chance, however. When there is uncertianty about the success of a character's action, a roll of the dice is used to determin it's sucesse. See ability check
Dungeon Master (DM)
The Dungeon Master is the person running the game. They act as a narrator and oracle, setting the scene and answering player's questions. They also play the role of the monsters and non-player characters.
Dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20)
Dice are often refered to by the number of faces they have. For example, d20 has 20 faces (1-20). There are six dice used in DnD (i.e., d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20).
Ability Check
Ability checks are the game mechanism used to determine the outcome of an uncertian event. At their simplest, they involve rolling a d20, adding any relevant modifiers and bonuses, and comparing the sum with a difficulty class. Difficult tasks have high dificulty classes. So they requier one to get higher rolls and/or have higher modifiers/bonuses.
Difficulty Classes
A traget that one has to meet or exceed when rolling a d20 as part of an ability check.
| Typical Difficulty Classes: |
| Very Easy: | 5 | Hard: | 20 |
| Easy: | 10 | Very Hard: | 25 |
| Medium: | 15 | Nearly Impossible: | 30 |
Armor Class
A special difficulty class used to determine if a hit lands during an attack (which is a specialized ability check).
Modifier
A number added to your d20 roll when performing an ability check. The sum of ones roll plus the modifier gets compared to the approporate difficulty/armor class.
Initiative
When starting combat, all of the player roll a d20 and add their intitive. This sets the order of combat (i.e., who goes first). That is, it's a modifier added to a character's d20 roll to determine the order they will engage in combat, starting with the player who got the highest number.
Abilities & Skills
The six abilites (strength, dexterity, wisdom, constitution, intelligence, and charisma) represent a character or monster's physical and mental makeup. They can be found on their character sheet/"stat block."
Skills are paired with one of the six abilites. That is, their modifier value is the same as the ability they're paired with. However, it is possible for a character to have a skill-based bonus that doesn't apply to other skills in the same ability (e.g., you could have a proficiency bonus in one X but not Y).
Below are descriptions for each, pulled from the D&D Abilites Guide.
Strength
Strength is your ability to lift a heavy crate of daggers. It measures physical power/
- Athletics.
E.g., Jump farther than normal, stay afloat in rough water, or break something.
Dexterity
Dexterity is being able to accurately throw a dagger from a distance. It measures agility.
- Acrobatics.
E.g., Stay on your feet in a tricky situation or perform an acrobatic stunt.
- Slight of Hand.
E.g., Pick someone's pocket, or conceal or cleverly manipulate a handheld object.
- Stealth.
E.g., Escape notice by moving silently and hiding behind things.
Constitution
Constitution is being able to continue a fight after being slashed by a dagger. It measures endurance.
Intelligence
Intelligence is knowing a dagger is shorter than a sword. It measures reasoning and memory.
- Arcana.
E.g., Recall lore about spells, magic items, and the planes of existence.
- History.
E.g., Recall lore about historical events, people, nations, and cultures.
- Investigation.
E.g., Find obscure information in books, or deduce clues about how something works.
- Nature.
E.g., Recall lore about terrain, plants, animals, and weather.
- Religion.
E.g., Recall lore about gods, religious rituals, and holy symbols.
Wisdom
Wisdom is knowing not to bring a dagger to a sword fight. It measures perception and insight.
- Animal Handling.
E.g., Intuit an animal's intentions, or calm or train an animal.
- Insight.
E.g., Discern a person's mood and intentions.
- Medicine.
E.g., Diagnose an illness, or determine what killed the recently slain.
- Perception.
E.g., Using a combination of senses, notice something that's easy to miss.
- Survival.
E.g., Follow tracks, forage, find your way in the wilderness, or avoid natural hazards.
Charisma
Charisma is being able to talk your way out of that sword fight! It measures force of personality.
- Deception.
E.g., Tell a convincing lie, or wear a disguise effectively.
- Intemidation.
E.g., Awe or threaten someone into doing what you want.
- Performance.
E.g., Perform music, dance, act, or tell a story.
- Persuasion.
E.g., Honestly and graciously convince someone of something.
Speed
A measure of how far a character can move in one turn.
Bonus
A bonus is an additional numer that gets added to your modifier, like a proficiency bonus.
Proficiency
One can gain proficency based on experince level, background skill or the like. It get's added as a bonus to ones regular modifier.
Advantage
When a player has advantage, and roll a d20 with that advantage, they roll twice and use the higher of the two rolls.
Disadvantage
When a player has disadvantage, and roll a d20 with that disadvantage, they roll twice and use the lower of the two rolls.
Hit Points
A charcter's hit points are a measure of their health. One loses hit points by sustaining damage. When a character reaches 0 they either die or become unconsious.
Damage
Harm sustained by a character and reflected by a drop in their hit Points. One customarily calculates damage by rolling some number of dice after a hit.
XP
XP stands for experience points. You can gain experience point for slaying an enemy or completing a quest. See Level Up.
Level Up
Once a character acumulates sufficent XP they level up. This often comes with changes to their bonuses (e.g., proficiency). It can also unlock certia actions. For example, a wizard gains the ability to use more advanced spells after leveling up.
Dungeon Master's Helper
By David Colarusso
@Colarusso built this tool to help him learn D&D. After all, you never learn something as well as when you teach it. So imagine how well you learn something when you teach it to a computer. ;) Also, the code is on GitHub should you want to make edits and craft your own.
Images: D20, Dice on map.
credits