Dungeon Crawl Classics – New Player Rules Breakdown

Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) is a fantasy role-playing game focused on danger, exploration, unpredictable magic, and characters who rise from common villagers to legendary adventurers.

The game is deadly, chaotic, and encourages bold choices over cautious optimisation.

DCC often begins with the “funnel,” where each player controls 2–4 ordinary people (farmers, bakers, gongfarmers, and other unlucky souls).

At 0-level they typically have:

• 1d4 hit points
• One crude tool or weapon
• A random occupation
• No class yet

Many of them will die. The survivors reach Level 1 and choose a class. This teaches how dangerous the world is and how hard-won true heroes are.

You roll 3d6 for each ability in order:

• Strength
• Agility
• Stamina
• Personality
• Intelligence
• Luck

Modifiers usually range from –3 to +3. Higher is better, lower is rough.

Luck is special: you can permanently burn Luck points to boost rolls. Thieves and Halflings can regain Luck over time. Luck represents lucky breaks, fate, and weird cosmic coincidence.

In DCC, race equals class. When a 0-level survivor reaches Level 1, they become one of:

• Cleric – divine magic, healing, turning unholy, but must avoid angering their deity.
• Thief – stealth, backstabs, locks, traps; regenerates Luck.
• Warrior – mighty deeds, big crits, the most flexible martial class.
• Wizard – dangerous arcane magic, spellburn, corruption, and wild results.
• Dwarf – stone-sense fighter, tough and stubborn.
• Elf – spellcasting warrior with strange fae drawbacks.
• Halfling – stealthy, lucky, and excellent at two-weapon fighting.

Almost everything in DCC uses a single core rule:

Roll 1d20 + your modifiers. If it meets or beats the Difficulty Class (DC) or Armor Class (AC), you succeed.

• Natural 20 = critical hit or dramatic success.
• Natural 1 = fumble or dramatic failure.

DCC also uses a dice chain instead of always adding flat bonuses:

d3 → d4 → d5 → d6 → d7 → d8 → d10 → d12 → d14 → d16 → d20 → d24 → d30

Some effects move you up or down the chain (for example from d20 to d24) instead of adding +2.

1. Roll initiative (1d20 + Agility; Warriors also add their level).
2. On your turn, you can move and take an action (attack, cast, use an item, etc.).
3. Attacks use 1d20 vs the target’s AC with relevant modifiers.
4. Damage = weapon die + Strength (for melee) or Agility (for ranged).
5. On a 20 you usually roll a critical hit on your class crit table.
6. On a 1 you roll on the fumble table (worse in heavy armor).

Other common rulings:

• Leaving melee often gives enemies a free attack.
• Firing into melee can hit your allies if you miss.
• Falling does 1d6 damage per 10 feet, sometimes with lasting injuries.

Warriors (and Dwarves) have a unique mechanic called Mighty Deeds of Arms.

Before rolling to attack, declare a stunt such as:

• Trip the ogre.
• Disarm the bandit chief.
• Kick the goblin off the ledge.
• Smash the door open while attacking.

If your Deed Die rolls 3 or higher and your attack hits, the stunt succeeds as part of the attack. Mighty Deeds make Warriors incredibly creative in combat.

Magic in DCC is powerful, risky, and often strange.

Spell Checks

Every spell uses a spell check:

1d20 + Intelligence modifier + caster level

Each spell has its own table of results. Low results can be weak, fail, or even backfire. High results can be spectacularly powerful.

Spellburn

Wizards can sacrifice points of Strength, Agility, or Stamina to gain a bonus to a spell check. Each point spent gives +1 to the roll, but the lost ability points come back slowly with rest.

Corruption

Sometimes, failed spell checks or particular results cause corruption: physical or spiritual mutations, strange marks, or creeping changes. Magic is never safe or clean.

Clerics roll spell checks using Personality and must stay in their deity’s good graces.

Every time a cleric fails a spell check, their disapproval range increases for the day. Rolling within that range brings divine punishment or demands.

Clerics can reduce disapproval by sacrifices, offerings, or acts of devotion. They heal best when the target’s alignment matches their deity.

Thieves use a special skill table based on their alignment (Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic) and level.

Typical thief skills include:

• Backstab
• Sneak silently
• Hide in shadows
• Climb sheer surfaces
• Pick pockets
• Pick locks
• Disable traps

Thieves are also very lucky: they regain Luck points over time, letting them push their luck more often than other characters.

Halflings are supernatural luck engines.

• They can burn their own Luck to help themselves or other characters.
• They are excellent at two-weapon fighting.
• They often gain an AC bonus while dual-wielding.
• They regain Luck more quickly than anyone else.

In play, a Halfling is part rogue, part talisman, part disaster insurance.

Find Familiar is a 1st-level wizard spell that uses a week-long ritual to summon a magical companion.

The familiar:

• Has its own hit points and AC.
• Grants the wizard bonus hit points equal to the familiar’s HP.
• Communicates telepathically with the wizard.
• Often grants a bonus to certain actions (for example, +4 to stealth with a cat).

The familiar’s type (guardian, focal, arcane, or demonic) depends on spell check and alignment, and changes what benefits it provides.

If the familiar dies, the wizard suffers permanent harm and spellcasting penalties until the next full moon.

Patron Bond is a 1st-level spell that binds a wizard to a powerful supernatural patron: demons, chaos lords, ancient spirits, or stranger beings.

It usually grants:

• Access to the spell Invoke Patron.
• Possible Patron spells with unique effects.
• Boons, marks, or aid from the patron.

In return, the patron expects service. Each use of Invoke Patron or Patron spells adds to the wizard’s “debt”, and the patron may eventually call in favors in awkward, dangerous, or story- shaping ways.

Healing in DCC is deliberately slow and gritty.

• Natural healing: 1 hit point per day of rest.
• Cleric healing: uses spell checks; results depend on alignment and roll.
• Ability score damage: heals slowly; permanent loss needs magic.
• Luck: usually does not return, except for Thieves and Halflings.

Monster stat blocks are simple and compact. They typically include:

• Initiative bonus
• Attack bonus and damage
• Armor Class (AC)
• Hit Dice (HD) and hit points
• Movement rate
• Action Dice
• Saving throws
• Special abilities

Special abilities can include poison, paralysis, regeneration, gaze attacks, swallow whole, fear, energy drain, and more.

Encounters are not balanced. Some creatures are too strong to fight directly. Retreat and clever tactics are part of the game.

DCC rewards:

• Creativity and improvisation.
• Wild stunts and bold decisions.
• Clever use of the environment.
• Teamwork and problem-solving.

DCC punishes:

• Hesitation and over-caution.
• Expecting level-balanced fights.
• Treating magic as safe or predictable.

The tone is pulp fantasy: weird, lethal, and full of stories that will be told for years, even when (especially when) things go horribly wrong.