dnd-5e-srd/yaml/07 combat.yaml

Combat:
    'The Order of Combat': {content: 'A typical combat encounter is a clash between two sides, a flurry of weapon swings, feints, parries, footwork, and spellcasting. The game organizes the chaos of combat into a cycle of rounds and turns. A **round** represents about 6 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant in a battle takes a **turn**. The order of turns is determined at the beginning of a combat encounter, when everyone rolls initiative. Once everyone has taken a turn, the fight continues to the next round if neither side has defeated the other.', 'Combat Step by Step': ['**Determine surprise.** The GM determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised.', '**Establish positions.** The GM decides where all the characters and monsters are located. Given the adventurers’ marching order or their stated positions in the room or other location, the GM figures out where the adversaries are̶how far away and in what direction.', '**Roll initiative.** Everyone involved in the combat encounter rolls initiative, determining the order of combatants’ turns.', '**Take turns.** Each participant in the battle takes a turn in initiative order.', '**Begin the next round.** When everyone involved in the combat has had a turn, the round ends. Repeat step 4 until the fighting stops.'], Surprise: {content: ['A band of adventurers sneaks up on a bandit camp, springing from the trees to attack them. A gelatinous cube glides down a dungeon passage, unnoticed by the adventurers until the cube engulfs one of them. In these situations, one side of the battle gains surprise over the other.', 'The GM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the GM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.', 'If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.']}, Initiative: {content: ['Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. The GM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time.', 'The GM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Dexterity check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round.', 'If a tie occurs, the GM decides the order among tied GM-controlled creatures, and the players decide the order among their tied characters. The GM can decide the order if the tie is between a monster and a player character. Optionally, the GM can have the tied characters and monsters each roll a d20 to determine the order, highest roll going first.']}, 'Your Turn': {content: ['On your turn, you can **move** a distance up to your speed and **take one action**. You decide whether to move first or take your action first. Your speed— sometimes called your walking speed—is noted on your character sheet.', 'The most common actions you can take are described in the “Actions in Combat” section later in this chapter. Many class features and other abilities provide additional options for your action.', 'The “Movement and Position” section later in this chapter gives the rules for your move.', 'You can forgo moving, taking an action, or doing anything at all on your turn. If you can’t decide what to do on your turn, consider taking the Dodge or Ready action, as described in “Actions in Combat.”'], 'Bonus Actions': {content: ['Various class features, spells, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. The C
    'Movement and Position': {content: ['In combat, characters and monsters are in constant motion, often using movement and position to gain the upper hand.', 'On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed. You can use as much or as little of your speed as you like on your turn, following the rules here.', 'Your movement can include jumping, climbing, and swimming. These different modes of movement can be combined with walking, or they can constitute your entire move. However you’re moving, you deduct the distance of each part of your move from your speed until it is used up or until you are done moving.'], 'Breaking Up Your Move': {content: 'You can break up your movement on your turn, using some of your speed before and after your action. For example, if you have a speed of 30 feet, you can move 10 feet, take your action, and then move 20 feet.', 'Moving between Attacks': 'If you take an action that includes more than one weapon attack, you can break up your movement even further by moving between those attacks. For example, a fighter who can make two attacks with the Extra Attack feature and who has a speed of 25 feet could move 10 feet, make an attack, move 15 feet, and then attack again.', 'Using Different Speeds': {content: ['If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you’ve already moved from the new speed. The result determines how much farther you can move. If the result is 0 or less, you can’t use the new speed during the current move.', 'For example, if you have a speed of 30 and a flying speed of 60 because a wizard cast the *fly* spell on you, you could fly 20 feet, then walk 10 feet, and then leap into the air to fly 30 feet more.']}}, 'Difficult Terrain': {content: ['Combat rarely takes place in bare rooms or on featureless plains. Boulder-strewn caverns, briar- choked forests, treacherous staircases—the setting of a typical fight contains difficult terrain.', 'Every foot of movement in difficult terrain costs 1 extra foot. This rule is true even if multiple things in a space count as difficult terrain.', 'Low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow, and shallow bogs are examples of difficult terrain. The space of another creature, whether hostile or not, also counts as difficult terrain.']}, 'Being Prone': {content: ['Combatants often find themselves lying on the ground, either because they are knocked down or because they throw themselves down. In the game, they are prone, a condition described in appendix A.', 'You can **drop prone** without using any of your speed. **Standing up** takes more effort; doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you must spend', '15 feet of movement to stand up. You can’t stand up if you don’t have enough movement left or if your speed is 0.', 'To move while prone, you must **crawl** or use magic such as teleportation. Every foot of movement while crawling costs 1 extra foot. Crawling 1 foot in difficult terrain, therefore, costs 3 feet of movement.']}, 'Moving Around Other Creatures': {content: ['You can move through a nonhostile creature’s space. In contrast, you can move through a hostile creature’s space only if the creature is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you. Remember that another creature’s space is difficult terrain for you.', 'Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can’t willingly end your move in its space.', 'If you leave a hostile creature’s reach during your move, you provoke an opportunity attack, as explained later in the chapter.']}, 'Flying Movement': 'Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the *fly* spell.', 'Cr
    'Actions in Combat': {content: ['When you take your action on your turn, you can take one of the actions presented here, an action you gained from your class or a special feature, or an action that you improvise. Many monsters have action options of their own in their stat blocks.', 'When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the GM tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.'], Attack: {content: ['The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your fists.', 'With this action, you make one melee or ranged attack. See the “Making an Attack” section for the rules that govern attacks.', 'Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature of the fighter, allow you to make more than one attack with this action.']}, 'Cast a Spell': 'Spellcasters such as wizards and clerics, as well as many monsters, have access to spells and can use them to great effect in combat. Each spell has a casting time, which specifies whether the caster must use an action, a reaction, minutes, or even hours to cast the spell. Casting a spell is, therefore, not necessarily an action. Most spells do have a casting time of 1 action, so a spellcaster often uses his or her action in combat to cast such a spell.', Dash: {content: ['When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn. The increase equals your speed, after applying any modifiers. With a speed of 30 feet, for example, you can move up to 60 feet on your turn if you dash.', 'Any increase or decrease to your speed changes this additional movement by the same amount. If your speed of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, for instance, you can move up to 30 feet this turn if you dash.']}, Disengage: 'If you take the Disengage action, your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn.', Dodge: 'When you take the Dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll made against you has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity saving throws with advantage. You lose this benefit if you are incapacitated (as explained in appendix A) or if your speed drops to 0.', Help: {content: ['You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.', 'Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally’s attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage.']}, Hide: 'When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the rules for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the “Unseen Attackers and Targets” section later in this chapter.', Ready: {content: ['Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.', 'First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the goblin steps next to me, I move away.”', 'When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.', 'When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your react
    'Making an Attack': {content: ['Whether you’re striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a spell, an attack has a simple structure.', ['**Choose a target.** Pick a target within your attack’s range: a creature, an object, or a location.', '**Determine modifiers.** The GM determines whether the target has cover and whether you have advantage or disadvantage against the target. In addition, spells, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonuses to your attack roll.', '**Resolve the attack.** You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Some attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage.'], 'If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you’re making an attack roll, you’re making an attack.'], 'Attack Rolls': {content: 'When you make an attack, your attack roll determines whether the attack hits or misses. To make an attack roll, roll a d20 and add the appropriate modifiers. If the total of the roll plus modifiers equals or exceeds the target’s Armor Class (AC), the attack hits. The AC of a character is determined at character creation, whereas the AC of a monster is in its stat block.', 'Modifiers to the Roll': {content: ['When a character makes an attack roll, the two most common modifiers to the roll are an ability modifier and the character’s proficiency bonus. When a monster makes an attack roll, it uses whatever modifier is provided in its stat block.', '***Ability Modifier.*** The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.', 'Some spells also require an attack roll. The ability modifier used for a spell attack depends on the spellcasting ability of the spellcaster.', '***Proficiency Bonus.*** You add your proficiency bonus to your attack roll when you attack using a weapon with which you have proficiency, as well as when you attack with a spell.']}, 'Rolling 1 or 20': {content: ['Sometimes fate blesses or curses a combatant, causing the novice to hit and the veteran to miss.', 'If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC. This is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this chapter.', 'If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC.']}}, 'Unseen Attackers and Targets': {content: ['Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, casting the invisibility spell, or lurking in darkness.', 'When you attack a target that you can’t see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the GM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly.', 'When a creature can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it. If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard—when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.']}, 'Ranged Attacks': {content: 'When you make a ranged attack, you fire a bow or a crossbow, hurl a handaxe, or otherwise send projectiles to strike a foe at a distance. A monster might shoot spines from its tail. Many spells also involve making a ranged attack.', Range: {content: ['You can make ranged attacks only against targets within a specified range.', 'If a ranged attack, such as one made with a spell, has a single range, you can’t attack a target beyond this range.', 'Some ranged attacks, such as those made with a longbow or a shortbow, have two ranges. The smaller number is the normal range, and the larger number is the long range. Your attack roll has disadvantage when your target is beyond
    Cover: {content: ['Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.', 'There are three degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies; the degrees aren’t added together. For example, if a target is behind a creature that gives half cover and a tree trunk that gives three-quarters cover, the target has three-quarters cover.', 'A target with **half cover** has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body. The obstacle might be a low wall, a large piece of furniture, a narrow tree trunk, or a creature, whether that creature is an enemy or a friend.', 'A target with **three-quarters cover** has a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has three-quarters cover if about three-quarters of it is covered by an obstacle. The obstacle might be a portcullis, an arrow slit, or a thick tree trunk.', 'A target with **total cover** can’t be targeted directly by an attack or a spell, although some spells can reach such a target by including it in an area of effect. A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.']}
    'Damage and Healing': {content: 'Injury and the risk of death are constant companions of those who explore fantasy gaming worlds. The thrust of a sword, a well-placed arrow, or a blast of flame from a *fireball* spell all have the potential to damage, or even kill, the hardiest of creatures.', 'Hit Points': {content: ['Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.', 'A creature’s current hit points (usually just called hit points) can be any number from the creature’s hit point maximum down to 0. This number changes frequently as a creature takes damage or receives healing.', 'Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points. The loss of hit points has no effect on a creature’s capabilities until the creature drops to 0 hit points.']}, 'Damage Rolls': {content: ['Each weapon, spell, and harmful monster ability specifies the damage it deals. You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. Magic weapons, special abilities, and other factors can grant a bonus to damage. With a penalty, it is possible to deal 0 damage, but never negative damage.', 'When attacking with a **weapon**, you add your ability modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll—to the damage. A **spell** tells you which dice to roll for damage and whether to add any modifiers.', 'If a spell or other effect deals damage to **more** **than one target** at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them. For example, when a wizard casts *fireball* or a cleric casts *flame strike*, the spell’s damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.'], 'Critical Hits': {content: ['When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack’s damage against the target. Roll all of the attack’s damage dice twice and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal. To speed up play, you can roll all the damage dice at once.', 'For example, if you score a critical hit with a dagger, roll 2d4 for the damage, rather than 1d4, and then add your relevant ability modifier. If the attack involves other damage dice, such as from the rogue’s Sneak Attack feature, you roll those dice twice as well.']}, 'Damage Types': {content: ['Different attacks, damaging spells, and other harmful effects deal different types of damage. Damage types have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as damage resistance, rely on the types.', 'The damage types follow, with examples to help a GM assign a damage type to a new effect.', '***Acid.*** The corrosive spray of a black dragon’s breath and the dissolving enzymes secreted by a black pudding deal acid damage.', '***Bludgeoning.*** Blunt force attacks—hammers, falling, constriction, and the like—deal bludgeoning damage.', '***Cold.*** The infernal chill radiating from an ice devil’s spear and the frigid blast of a white dragon’s breath deal cold damage.', '***Fire.*** Red dragons breathe fire, and many spells conjure flames to deal fire damage.', '***Force.*** Force is pure magical energy focused into a damaging form. Most effects that deal force damage are spells, including *magic missile* and *spiritual weapon*.', '***Lightning.*** A *lightning bolt* spell and a blue dragon’s breath deal lightning damage.', '***Necrotic.*** Necrotic damage, dealt by certain undead and a spell such as *chill touch*, withers matter and even the soul.', '***Piercing.*** Puncturing and impaling attacks, including spears and monsters’ bites, deal piercing damage.', '***Poison.*** Venomous stings and the toxic gas of a green dragon’s breath deal poison damage.', '***Psychic.*** Mental abilities such as a mind flayer’s psionic blast deal psychic damage.', '***Radiant.*** Radiant damage, dealt by a cleric’s *flame strike* spell or an angel’s smiting weapon, sears the flesh like fire and overloads the spirit with power.', '***Slashing.*** Swords, axe
    'Mounted Combat': {content: ['A knight charging into battle on a warhorse, a wizard casting spells from the back of a griffon, or a cleric soaring through the sky on a pegasus all enjoy the benefits of speed and mobility that a mount can provide.', 'A willing creature that is at least one size larger than you and that has an appropriate anatomy can serve as a mount, using the following rules.'], 'Mounting and Dismounting': {content: ['Once during your move, you can mount a creature that is within 5 feet of you or dismount. Doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you must spend 15 feet of movement to mount a horse. Therefore, you can’t mount it if you don’t have 15 feet of movement left or if your speed is 0.', 'If an effect moves your mount against its will while you’re on it, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall off the mount, landing prone in a space within 5 feet of it. If you’re knocked prone while mounted, you must make the same saving throw.', 'If your mount is knocked prone, you can use your reaction to dismount it as it falls and land on your feet. Otherwise, you are dismounted and fall prone in a space within 5 feet it.']}, 'Controlling a Mount': {content: ['While you’re mounted, you have two options. You can either control the mount or allow it to act independently. Intelligent creatures, such as dragons, act independently.', 'You can control a mount only if it has been trained to accept a rider. Domesticated horses, donkeys, and similar creatures are assumed to have such training. The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it.', 'An independent mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts as it wishes. It might flee from combat, rush to attack and devour a badly injured foe, or otherwise act against your wishes.', 'In either case, if the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you’re on it, the attacker can target you or the mount.']}}
    'Underwater Combat': {content: ['When adventurers pursue sahuagin back to their undersea homes, fight off sharks in an ancient shipwreck, or find themselves in a flooded dungeon room, they must fight in a challenging environment. Underwater the following rules apply.', 'When making a **melee weapon attack**, a creature that doesn’t have a swimming speed (either natural or granted by magic) has disadvantage on the attack roll unless the weapon is a dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear, or trident.', 'A **ranged weapon attack** automatically misses a target beyond the weapon’s normal range. Even against a target within normal range, the attack roll has disadvantage unless the weapon is a crossbow, a net, or a weapon that is thrown like a javelin (including a spear, trident, or dart).', 'Creatures and objects that are fully immersed in water have resistance to fire damage.']}