The following is required to play.
This game assumes you have 1 Game Master (GM), and at least 3-5 Players who run 1-3 Player Characters. However, it is recommended that you have 10+ players, each with 1-3 characters they want to run, although have no more than 5 or 6 at a table at any given night.
Each player should have some means of tracking their character, either scratch paper with notes, the official character sheet provided, or a custom character sheet of their choosing.
Many players and GMs are choosing digital tools over physical paper. Players, please double check your GMs table rules about devices at the table before you bring a digital character sheet to the table. A digital character sheet is also provided for those who wish to stay digital.
You will need a set of polyhedral dice containing at least a 4-sidede, 6-sided, 8-sided, 10-sided, 12-sided, and 20-sided dice. Having more than one of each type of dice is recommended. At least four 6-sided dice are highly recommended for character creation.
Dice notation is done in the "XdY" style popularized by the world’s greatest roleplaying game. X will be the number of dice you roll, d simply stands for dice, and Y is the dice type you roll. Thus, 3d6 would mean you roll 3 dice that are 6-sided.
Occasionally, a "d2" is referenced. You can perform a d2 roll by flipping a coin. Heads = 2, Tails = 1. Alternatively, you can roll a 1d4, with a 1 or 2 on the dice being a 1, and a 3 or 4 on the dice being a 2.
You may need to use a percentile dice. If you have a d100, perfect, if not, you will roll 2d10, preferably with 2 different colors. One of the dice represents the 10s digit, and the other the 1s digit, and you should call which dice is which ahead of time.
Finally, sometimes a rule references "going up" or "going down" a "dice step”. Dice go from lowest to highest from d4 to d12. If your dice is a d8, and you "go down a dice step", your dice becomes a d6. With few exceptions, your dice cannot go below d4, nor above d12.
<aside> <img src="/icons/die6_gray.svg" alt="/icons/die6_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Dice Step Order
d4 > d6 > d8 > d10 > d12
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Although technically not required, having a calculator on hand is a good idea. Most of your day-to-day adventuring will require simple addition and subtraction, but there are occasionally times where more complex math needs done. Although anyone can do this math by hand, a calculator can speed things up. A calculator is HIGHLY recommended for a GM. Especially when creating monsters or calculating player XP, as multiple sources of increases or decreasing in percentages can quickly lead to doing more math than gameplay without a calculator will quickly cause you to wish you kept one on hand.
Adding or subtracting percentages, and averaging out numbers are the most common mathematical "things" you might need to do.