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Hello, a group of 3 friends and myself are starting to try out dungeons and dragons, so naturally we got the starter kit, but it seems like certain things are left unclear. We have each gone through the players book and are starting through the dungeon master's book with the encounters there, but death is not addressed at all in this book. I did some googling and it sounds like there is suppose to be ritual spells or something, I am completely unaware of these at this point in time, are they suppose to be avoided for beginners or something? If so how do players come back to life? Another question I have is when we were initially setting up our characters, our dwarf cleric ended up with 20 wisdom to start out, which seems weird to me because all other race/class combos have a max of 18 starting out. I think the wording in the player's book is just poor. When setting up the cleric it says you have 18 wisdom if you are a human, elf, or dwarf. But then when you get to skill selection in step 59, it says dwarves get either +2 wisdom or +2 strength, is this in addition to the 18 wisdom they have? Or is it 16 wisdom and then they can choose +2 wisdom or +2 strength? Thanks in advance, after our first sitting last night a bunch of questions arose so I'm sure I'll have more once I remember.

Ah, also, the clerics shield? In step 35 it says that the cleric has chainmail armor with AC of 16, and a heavy shield that adds +2 AC, but then once you get to equipment and items, it makes no note of this shield. Is there cleric suppose to start out with a heavy shield or not? And if so, is the shield need to be equipped (using a hand) for the AC bonus? Which would mean while wielding a mace the cleric has no free hands.

There's ways to come back to life, but they are higher level (level 5 i think is the earliest).  As a DM, you can make up stuff.  Perhaps they can make a deal with a devil or god, to be repayed later   .  You should generally try and avoid dying in the first place.

It can be 18+2 (20), or 16+2 (18), depending on how much he put's in his other stats.  20 is very focused, but leaves you lacking in other areas.  I don't know what the starter set recommends, but if say's only race X get 18 and the rest get 16, then it's likely already added in.