My friends and I are very new to D&D, played like 3 times. In a monster's stats next to weapon damage it says stuff like "+11 to hit" and "Hit: 5 (1d8+1)". For the premade characters it just says things like "+4, 2d6 + 2 slashing", though. Why are there two "hit" numbers for monsters? Which do I use for the d20 roll to hit against a target's AC?
I mean for example like in the Ogre entry in the "Starter Set: Excerpt 7" article on monsters.
Flip back to pages 54 and 55 of the Starter Set's adventure booklet, at the beginning of Appendix B: Monsters. This section explains how to read the monster's stats. I want to bring your attention in particular to the text in the heading Ações (p. 55, bolded phrase my emphasis):
Hit. Any damage or other effects that occur as a result of an attack hitting a target are described here. As DM, you have the option of taking average damage or rolling the damage; for this reason, both the average damage and the die expression are presented.
So "Hit 13 (2d8 + 4)" tells you what happens after you've already made a to-hit roll and it landed: an average of 13 damage, which is the average of 2d8 + 4 damage. You can ou just deal 13 damage, or you can roll for it (but not both). The average is the same, so it's up to you. Since taking the average for damage isn't an option for players, no average is listed beside die expression for damage on character sheets and they always roll for it.
The "+X to hit" is what you add to the d20 roll to hit a target AC.
Putting this all together, you can interpret the notation on the character sheet too: "+4, 2d6 + 2 slashing" means that the attack roll gets +4 to hit, and (if it hits) does 2d6+2 slashing damage.
The number under the "To hit" column on the character sheet, (and followed by the phrase "to hit" in monster blocks). Represents what we call the "To hit modifier".
To use this, when you make an attack (melee or spell), you roll 1d20 and then add the modifier to the result. You compare this total to the target's AC and if it's greater than equal, you have a hit.
Then you roll the damage dice (1d8+1 or whatever). For monsters in the starter set, they also give you the average of this result in case you'd rather not roll the dice and just use the average.
Certain spells are different and require a saving throw for the monster. For this you need two different things. You need the caster's spell save DC (this is listed in the far right column of the starter character sheets or in the monster's state block). The target(s) must then roll a saving throw and add the appropriate modifier (usually dex). If they have proficiency they can also add their proficiency bonus (character save bonuses are precalculated in the "saving throws" box on the character sheet, and when a monster gets proficiency it's listed in a "saves" line).
Hopefully this information will help you resolve attacks in 5e.
É simples.
When you roll to-hit, you roll a d20 and add 11 to the result. The total is your result. If it's equal to or higher than the target character's Armor Class (AC), then it's a HIT and you roll damage. The monster's damage is on a HIT: 1d8+1. Roll a d8 and add 1 to the result. The total is how much damage you did. To speed things up in a big fight, you can just assess 5 which is the average result of the average of 1d8 (4) + 1 = 5.
The 'hit' part you're referring . So you roll a D20 and add your attack. If you hit then the enemy takes that amount of the hit points. So it's saying - on a hit in the above example you do 1d6+2 damage. the number next to it (in the example, your five) is if your dm wanted to skip rolling for damage, then rather than roll it, you just deal 5 damage. Does that help? the number you add to your D20 should be just before the damage.