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Writer's pictureTea Leaves

Dungeons and Dragons: d20s and RNGesus

I reach out to my fallen teammates and I roll my dice. RNGesus does not bless me. It's a 3. My spell fails as I see the body of my fallen teammate vanish from my view as a billion goblins beat me with their little sticks. I drop dead on the spot. My DM laughs maniacally as our last hope, a level 5 cleric - gets slain by a goblin.


Dungeons and Dragons (which I shorten to DnD) is a tabletop roleplaying game that can either be super stress relieving or tense as you hope that you didn't roll low.


The DnD magic system is based around the infamous d20 (a dice with 20 sides for those unfamiliar) and is split into two groups: arcane and divine. The DnD magic system is very unique and considered a Vancian magic system - based of Jack Vance's fantasy series, Dying Earth. You can only use the spell a certain amount of times and spells must be prepared before casting. There bonuses when you level a bit further, but casual players hardly get to that level.


I remember the first time I played DnD, I with my fantasy MMORPG head, understood the word "spell slot" as "skill slot". I've, since then, played a lot more DnD, and I've started to lead my own session too!



At a first glance, DnD may seem to have a soft magic system...but it's a lot harder than most think. While it's not hard as the magic systems in some books and shows, it's a lot more explained than most games. Wizards get their magic through study, warlocks get their magic by making deals with the heavens above (or the abyss below), sorcerers are born with magic, clerics and paladins receive magic from their god, while rangers have their magic sourced from nature, bards...are bards.


The DnD Magic system is a bit softer to allow for the Dungeon Master and players to create their own explanations for the magic their characters use, and allows both to rather than to read a billion guides on the origins of magic - make their own. Afterall, DnD is a creative problem-solving session.



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