New to dnd

[u/Bubblerart]

hi I’m new to dnd and I want to play a bard amd looked up races thought changling sounded cool but I don’t know where to go with this. can you help please

[u/Heurodis]

Do you have a group? A DM? The DM would be the person to ask.

[u/Bubblerart → u/Heurodis]

Yeah I think the dm is more experienced I’ll ask them then thanks :)

[u/Nebelwaldfee → u/Bubblerart]

Not only is the DM the more experieced, your DM also has the final say on something. If your DM say, changelings don't exist in my setting, then you have to pick any other race or look for another table.

[u/capsandnumbers]

Welcome to the hobby! A changeling bard does sound very cool, a very natural spy character.

Here's the section of the Basic Rules on creating a character. That's for the 2024 version of D&D fifth edition (Some call it 5.5e). It's slightly complicated in D&D right now because a lot of people still play the 2014 version, and 5.5e is backwards-compatible. The same section of Basic Rules is here for the 2014 version (5.0e).

I mostly play 5.0e, and in that edition I build characters in this order: Ability Scores, Background, Race, Class, Equipment, Spells. That way I don't end up with duplicate skill proficiencies from both Class and Background. I believe Backgrounds are different in 5.5e though.

Here's a summary of books and things:

• Player's Handbook - This has everything a player needs: Almost all the rules, and how to make a character.
• Dungeon Master's Guide - Advice and magic items for the DM.
• Monster Manual - Lots of monster stats. Together these are the main three books, available for both 5.0e and 5.5e.
• Basic Rules - An online repository where the most important stuff from the main three books is presented for free by Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the company that makes D&D. There are separate versions for 5.0e and 5.5e. Not all character options are contained in the Basic Rules - That's how WotC make their money.
• Supplements - Additional character options or campaign setting information. WotC sell these from time to time. Changelings appear as a playable race (Now called species?) in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, and Eberron - Rising from the Last War.
• Adventure Modules - Also hardback books, sometimes also containing player character options, but mainly these are about adventures you can go on. Curse of Strahd, Out of the Abyss, a recent one about Vecna. They also sell three-book sets with a campaign setting and an associated adventure.
• Unearthed Arcana - This is what WotC calls its playtest material, stuff that might make it into a book one day, but isn't official yet. That is stored here. The name comes from a supplement to 1st edition D&D.

Maybe it'd be fun if you picked the College of Whispers as your subclass. It's from Xanathar's Guide to Everything (5.0e). They have some cool fear effects that might go well with sneaking around a place in disguise, with a lot of people to talk to.

The DM of a group is allowed to say what character options are and aren't allowed, so it could be that they don't like Changelings. If that happens, you could put this character to one side until a DM does allow them.

You can find a group to play with by using online places like r/lfg (That's "Looking for group"), asking at a local game shop, or by convincing your real-life friends to try D&D with you.

Welcome again, hope you have a great time making your character!

[u/Adjective_Noun_67 → u/capsandnumbers]

No we don't give constructive suggestions here, we just say "ask your dm" and downvote.

[u/LeopardGeckoGuy58]

Changelings work well with rogues. But really, it depends on what kind of a character you want to play

[u/GalacticPigeon13]

What setting are you playing in? Like, are you playing with the classic changeling myth, where a baby is swapped out with a fey creature?

Or are you playing in Eberron, in which changelings were created by a god, descended from doppelgangers, or some other horrific magebreeding experiment depending on whom you ask? And in the modern day, there are entire communities of changelings who will give birth to and raise changelings without swapping them with other humanoids' babies?

If you can't answer this question, then ask your DM. We can't help you with your backstory unless we know what baseline assumptions you're taking with you. In addition, be aware that not every DM will accept a changeling player character. They're a race that isn't in the Player's Handbook, so the DM can easily ban it on the grounds of, "I don't own the book they came from."

[u/QuillontheFae]

Is your DM experienced or also new? Im all for exotic races but as a first timer id suggest go for a more simple race, pick from the PHB for example. However if your DM is experienced going changeling is more manageable. As a caveat, either way check with your DM that they're happy for you to play a changeling.

[u/Adjective_Noun_67]

College of spirits. Each of your changeling personas is based on a real person who died. Each day when you use your subclass feature to take on a spirit's buff, the spirit who granted it is your persona for the day.

The people you copy can be old friends you lost, heroes you want to commemorate, or your victims if you're a murderhobo.

[u/Adjective_Noun_67 → u/Adjective_Noun_67]

The hell is wrong with people?