• Terminology for games- especially relevant to new players, but still fairly basic terms.
• Player/DM Related
• PC - Player Character, the characters that people play
• NPC - Non Player Character, characters who are played by the DM.
• DMPC - DM Player Character
• DM - Dungeon Master, the person who narrates the game and controls the monsters and NPCs
• GM - Game Master, another phrase for Dungeon Master
• ST - Storyteller, same as DM or GM
• RP - Role Play, when you act like your character
• IC - In Character: something said only in character, not OOC.
• OOC – Out of Character. Something you say or do at the table, not as your character.
• PHB - Player Hand Book, the Dungeons and Dragons book that contains information for players
• MM - Monster Manual, the Dungeons and Dragons book that contains information about monster stats
• DMG - Dungeon Masters Guide, the Dungeons and Dragons book that contains information for DMs
• RAW - Rules As Written, the literal rules as written in the D&D Rulebooks (DMG, PHB, MM)
• RAI - Rules as intended, intention from the creators of the game, antithesis of rules lawyers everywhere.
• FLGS - Friendly Local Gaming Store
• BBEG - Big Bad Evil Guy, normally referring to a final boss
• TPK – Total Party Kill. To have the entire party be wiped out from an encounter.
• WotC – Wizards of the Coast. The Company that owns D&D, as well as Magic: The Gathering.
• OGL - Open Game License
• Character/Monster Related
• STR - Strength
• DEX - Dexterity
• CON - Constitution
• INT - Intelligence
• WIS - Wisdom
• CHA - Charisma
• BAB - Base Attack Bonus
• AC - Armor Class
• SR - Spell Resistance
• Combat Related
• [x]d[y][±z] – A shorthand for rolling dice. Eg. 2d4+3, which would mean that you roll two four-sided dice and add a 3 to the result.
• DPS/DPR/DPT - Damage per second/round/turn. How much damage can your character deal to monsters in a time period.
• DR - Damage reduction/damage resistance.
• Tank - A character designed to take hits and protect weaker characters.
• AoE - Area of effect. Refers to effects (usually spells, such as Fireball) which affect all creatures in an area.
• DoT - Damage over time. An effect which makes you continuously take damage every round (or other time period) until it ends or is dispelled.
• CC - Crowd control. An effect which does something more than just "deal X damage": for example slowing, tripping, charming, frightening, etc. Usually used to temporarily or permanently remove enemies from a fight without having to kill them.
• Save or die - A type of spells that have your character make one or several saving throws. If you fail some or all of those, you instantly die, no matter how much HP you have left
• DC - difficulty challenge
• MAD - multi-ability dependant
• SoS - Save or Suck: When something is forced to make a saving throw with failure resulting in some debilitating/crippling penalty or condition