Dungeons & Dragons is the first name that many people think of when the word "tabletop RPG" is mentioned, as it is easily the most famous game of its type. The name of Dungeons & Dragons may be known across the world, but the exact nature of the game can be difficult to explain to those who aren't familiar with tabletop RPGs. There have been many occasions where Dungeons & Dragons players have had to try and explain the game without making it sound bad, which is a difficult feat when the game involves gathering a group of your friends together and pretend to be fantasy heroes who slay monsters for a living.

The unclear nature of Dungeons & Dragons has led to a  lot of misinformation over the years, which has been exploited by interest groups and lawyers in order to further different agendas. Those who were introduced to Dungeons & Dragons through sources like the Internet have also been fed a lot of misinformation about the game, due to various prejudices and fan biases towards certain parts of the lore.

We are here today to clear up the misinformation that has built up around the Dungeons & Dragons series over the years - from the accusations of it being a male-dominated hobby to claims that playing D&D will turn you into a devil worshiper.

Here are the 20 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Dungeons & Dragons!

Dungeons & Dragons Is Enjoyed Exclusively By Men

Playing Dungeons & Dragons is considered by many people to be the geekiest hobby around, which is why D&D players have often been presented in the media as socially-inept men, whose love for a tabletop RPG is meant to signify what a loser they are. The real truth is that there are many women who play Dungeons & Dragons, as well as other popular RPGs, such as Vampire: The Masquerade. 

The number of women who enjoy games like D&D has only increased over the years, due in no small part to the Internet making it easier to acquire information about the game and become part of a group. The ability to play games like D&D over video messaging services has also played a huge part in increasing the number of female players in the fanbase to forty percent, which is a huge jump from only a few years ago when that number was twenty percent.

Spellcasters Are The Most Powerful Characters & Are Untouchable

The fans of Dungeons & Dragons have spent a lot of time breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of every class, magic item, monster, and spell in the game, in order to rank them in tier lists of power. The average Dungeons & Dragons class tier list will inevitably put the spellcasting classes (cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard) near the top, due to the sheer range of options that magic can provide, such as summoning hordes of monsters, throwing balls of fire, or vanishing in a moment's notice.

The truth is that spellcasters are easy to deal with, so long as you have the correct tools to hand. We have written entire articles on the methods of dispatching spellcasters, such as smokesticks that remove their line-of-sight, thunderstones that can cause deafness and force spell failure checks, and summoning animals with grappling capabilities to bind them.

The Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Ended With The Characters In Hell

The Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series involved a group of kids going on a magical amusement park ride that sent them to a fantasy realm and their adventures involved them trying to find a portal back to the real world. The last episode of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was just a standard story that didn't resolve any plotlines, which birthed a strange urban legend about the original plan for the final episode, which supposedly involved the revelation that the characters had been sent to Hell.

It turns out that there was an unproduced script for a final episode, but there was no mention of the characters being trapped in the afterlife and it ended on a cliffhanger that opened the door for more episodes.

The Tarrasque Is Difficult To Destroy

The tarrasque has consistently been one of the most powerful creatures in Dungeons & Dragons, with its appearance in a campaign world being treated as if the apocalypse has come, as a tarrasque is an unstoppable engine of destruction. The version of the tarrasque in the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons is a fearsome creature, due to its high number of hit points, a regeneration ability that heals forty points of damage per round, and the fact that a miracle or wish spell is required to finish it off.

There is an infamous document online that outlines seven ways in which a mid-level party can take the tarrasque down, including a huge pit full of water, a group of flying warriors that can outpace its regeneration, or summoning some allips to by its natural armor.

Goblins & Kobolds Are Pushovers

The average party of first-level adventurers will cleave their way through groups of goblins and kobolds, due to the fact that the dungeon master will use them improperly, as the enemy will usually run straight at the party. The entire premise of the Goblin Slayer anime series is that goblins can be a frightening threat if they use their cunning and prepare the environment around them, which is just as true in Dungeons & Dragons. 

There was an infamous article written in Dragon magazine by Roger E. Moore that detailed the tactics of "Tucker's Kobolds" who were named after the dungeon master that spawned them. The reason why Tucker's Kobolds were so feared was that they relied on tight corridors and flammable weapons to dispose of adventuring parties that were much more powerful than they were, all by using basic tactics and items.

 Player Actions In Baldur's Gate Made A Difference

The storyline of the Baldur's Gate series involves the deceased deity known as Bhaal attempting to revive himself through mortals that he sired, one of which is the protagonist. Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal had three endings - one where the protagonist became a good god, one where you take Bhaal's place as an evil god, and one where you remain a mortal.

The recent editions of Dungeons & Dragons and their associated novels have retconned any possible outcome from the Baldur's Gate series, as Bhaal is revived regardless of the events of the game and has reclaimed his former divine spheres of influence from Cyric.

There Are No Movies Based On Dungeons & Dragons Campaigns

There are currently three terrible Dungeons & Dragons movies in existence, and none of them used one of the settings from the game. You would think that there is enough Dungeons & Dragons material out there to be used as the basis of a movie, but there is only one person who has had the guts to adapt a Dungeons & Dragons character for the big screen, and that person is Vin Diesel, who is an outspoken fan of the game.

Vin Diesel starred in a movie called The Last Witch Hunter and he revealed in an interview with Screen Rant that the story was based on one of his old Dungeons & Dragons characters, who was a witch hunter named Melkor.

 Players Have To Defeat A Darklord To Escape From Ravenloft

The Ravenloft campaign setting is made up of several different demiplanes that are each ruled by a being known as a Darklord, who committed some terrible crime during their life and was imprisoned in a hellish realm as punishment. The Ravenloft adventures have offered several loopholes for outsiders to escape a demiplane, but there is only one guaranteed method of breaking free and that involves slaying a Darklord, which is far easier said than done.

There is another way to escape from Ravenloft, however, and it simply involves not engaging with the world. Lord Soth managed to escape from his realm by accepting his punishment, which caused the dark powers that rule over Ravenloft to let him go free. (The real reason why Lord Soth was freed from Ravenloft was due to legal issues involving ownership of his character, but he still proved that it could be done.)

There Have Only Ever Been Six Ability Scores

One of the first things that every player does when creating their Dungeons & Dragons character is roll the numbers for their six ability scores, which determine the benefits and penalties the character will have when attempting certain tasks. Dungeons & Dragons uses six stats to define a character - Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

Charisma is meant to reflect a character's personality, but some players also use it to determine their physical beauty. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons briefly introduced a seventh stat called Comeliness, which was meant to reflect a character's physical appearance. Comeliness was dropped from the third edition of the game and has not been seen since.

There Are No Science Fiction Elements In Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy game that mostly uses settings based on medieval Europe, which means that you are more likely to see magic and monsters over anything related to science fiction. The third edition of Dungeons & Dragons did include rules for advanced weaponry (such as laser rifles) in the Dungeon Master's Guide, but most dungeon masters would never consider adding them to their game.

There is one early Dungeons & Dragons adventure called Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, which was centered around a crashed alien spaceship that contained advanced technology, but the players had to survive the ship's defenses in order to claim them. There was also a campaign setting in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons called Spelljammer that included spaceships that were powered by magic, but that setting has long since been discontinued.