How does dungeons and dragons combat work

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. 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.

Many class features and other abilities provide additional options for your action. You can forgo moving, taking an action, or doing anything at all on your turn. Various class features, spells, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. The Cunning Action feature, for example, allows a rogue to take a bonus action.

We are, in this article, only going to cover attacking and not the additional actions you can do in combat instead such as using items or casting spells. They are sneaking up on a camp of 4x Bandits. The Bandits are armed with Scimitars.

Agador has two Scimitars, one in each hand. Sparticus has a Great Axe. So, to use the example — Agator attacks Bandit 1, rolling a 12 on a D When it comes to taking the bonus actions, Agator will take a second attack. This is a 14, so again he hits the Bandit. Holding two weapons and swinging like a maniac is one such thing that allows them — otherwise it may be a feat, class ability, spell, item etc.

Dealing Damage — After you have hit you get to deal damage. Clerics of the Domain of War gain an additional attack. You get the idea. So that is the very basics of attacking. Rolling a 1 is a Critical Fail. Rolling a Critical Fail is always a miss, no matter what your modifiers are. There are quite a few variations on what Dungeon Masters choose to happen with a Critical Hit, and I have heard of everything from rolling and adding on an additional damage dice also known as the official rule to the attack always doing maximum damage.

I have a few tweaks that I like to use when resolving attacks in Dungeons and Dragons. So, there you have it — a brief overview of combat in Dungeons and Dragons , plus some of my own little quirks to combat added in. You can browse their website here. Do you have any of your own? Let me know in the comments below.

Board game nerd, comic book geek, Rubik's Cube solver, Splendor player, and Blogger. View all posts by Luke. Email Address:. If the caster of the spell goes first and targets the spell on the foe, the foe get a Dex saving throw reaction and takes damage if they fail. The foe then gets to take their turn.

If the foe does not move out of the bonfire during their turn, they take additional damage. The amount of damage done by an attack, spell or effect is spelled out in its description. For example, a rogue may get extra damage for a surprise attack. Some actions and spells work in a similar manner, but the target is the one that gets to roll. For example, a spell may automatically hit, but the defender gets to roll a saving throw to avoid or decrease the effects they suffer. Looking at the Create Bonfire cantrip above, you can see that the spell caster did not have to roll to hit.

It is assumed that the spell occurs exactly where they wanted it to and their foe gets to react, presumably by dodging, to avoid the damage.

The caster should be able to tell you their DC, as it is on their character sheet. Some spells have a fixed DC that does not change, regardless of who is casting the spell. That will be listed in the spell description.

Your email address will not be published. You are about to leave DMingDad. If you find the link provided is no longer valid, please use our contact page to let us know. Combat Flowchart Roll Initiative on a d20 All enemies of the same type share the same initiative roll i. Bonus Action — Some spells, attacks and actions can be performed as a bonus action. The spell, ability or action description will specifically state that it can be performed as a bonus action.