On Rules Complexity: Starting Kids With Sidekicks
Most parents getting young kids into D&D worry about rules complexity. The Player’s Handbook alone is over 250 pages—and that’s one of several manuals. Much of it isn’t needed to start, and a lot only matters for classes or situations you may never use.
There’s a Starter Set with fewer pages, but I don’t think it’s the best on-ramp. It lacks full character-creation rules and locks you into a small set of pregens. If your kids don’t want those characters, you’re stuck. I’d rather start from the Essentials Kit, which covers creating characters for at least some classes and races.
Full 5e also offers a dozen-plus classes, each packed with choices. New players often lack the cultural background to tell a Paladin from a knightly Fighter, and class archetypes pulled from myth and fantasy fiction don’t always match the heroes kids actually want to play.
Why sidekicks help
The Essentials Kit includes Sidekick rules—three simple frameworks that fit on about two pages through 6th level:
- Warrior — ready to fight, best weapons and armor. Variants: Attacker (hits more often) and Defender (Protection reaction to guard friends).
- Expert — agile jack-of-all-trades; sneaky spy or loud swashbuckler. Not as tough in a pure fight as the Warrior, hardier than the Spellcaster, always with a trick ready.
- Spellcaster — Mage (offense) or Healer (support). Weakest gear, strongest magic.
These are open to interpretation. Robin Hood can be Warrior or Expert; Elsa fits a Mage with ice spells; Chip and Dale are obvious Experts. Kids don’t need a lecture on the Crusades to understand “the one who protects friends” or “the one who knows magic.”
Several options also push cooperation: the Expert’s Help bonus action, the Defender’s Protection, and the Healer’s support magic. That’s gold when young players default to lone-hero mode.
If I were rewriting the sidekick healer, I’d favor Healing Word over Cure Wounds so healing can be a bonus action from 30 feet away—help without spending the whole turn. Sidekicks as published also need light tweaks to feel like full PCs; an experienced DM can handle that quietly.
By the time a group hits 6th level, you’ll know whether heavier rulebooks are worth it. Official Unearthed Arcana sidekick rules (through 20th level, slightly older than the Essentials version) are here: UA Sidekicks PDF.
Sidekicks let newcomers learn how to play before drowning in class mechanics—and that’s exactly what most kid tables need.