Combat is probably the most rules-heavy portion of DnD. And like everything, it will seem like a lot at first, but if you keep the basic structure of it in mind, it’s pretty easy to get the hang of.
Essentially, combat consists of rounds, with each person involved in combat taking a turn during which they can move and perform an action. Each round takes 6 seconds of time in the game world. So a combat that lasts 10 rounds occurs for the characters in the game over the course of a minute. All actions that happen during a round are considered to be done more or less simultaneously, with slight advantages given to particularly agile or lucky characters in the turn order. How is turn order determined? Initiative.
The very first thing that happens in combat is an initiative roll. Think of initiative as your character's reaction time. Ninety-nine percent of the time your initiative is just your DEX modifier. Some items, spells, and other things may add to this (which is why it’s in its own box) but for the most part, you’re just rolling a d20 and adding your DEX modifier. The DM will then arrange players and opponents in descending order based on their roll, and that will be the turn order for the entirety of the combat. Different DMs have different ways of breaking ties in terms of initiative roll. I usually do it based on who has the higher DEX.
After turn order is determined, the DM will then determine if any participants in the combat have the advantage of surprise. If one side has surprised the other, they get a full round of turns before the other side can act.
As we’ve said before, your turn consists of two main parts: moving and performing an action. Now we’re going to break that down into a little more detail.
On your turn, you can move up to your character’s speed, usually somewhere between 20 ft. and 40 ft. You can break this move up between your action, so with a 30-ft. move, you could move 10 ft. to a door, open the door, and move 20 ft. through it.
Some areas are difficult to move through in combat: a muddy swamp, a treacherous staircase, a bunch of broken furniture on the floor of a tavern. These spaces are considered “difficult terrain,” and your speed is halved moving through them.
Another area considered difficult terrain is an area that is within reach of hostile characters. A character's reach can be determined by their size and the type of weapon they are holding. For example, a dragon has a 15-ft. reach with its bite attack, a Fighter has a 10-ft. reach if they’re holding a lance. An important thing to remember when moving through spaces hostile characters can reach is that leaving the area they can reach after you have entered it can provoke what’s called an “opportunity attack,” allowing the hostile character to take a free swing at you.
Characters can also fall prone during combat. They can do this without using any of their movement, but standing up from a prone position takes more effort and uses up half of a character movement.
So let’s say you want to hit a goblin. On your turn, you’ll announce you want to attack a goblin that’s within your reach. The DM will then determine if there’s any circumstances giving you advantage or disadvantage on the roll (if the goblin is behind cover, or flanked by an ally) and then have you make an attack roll.
An attack roll is a d20 plus the attack bonus of the weapon you are using. You are looking to meet or beat the goblins Armor Class, or AC. Let’s say the goblin has an AC of 11. You roll a 7 on the die and add your attack bonus of +5 and end up with a 12, which hits. You’ll then roll the weapons damage. The DM will subtract the amount of damage you did from the goblins hit points until it reaches zero and is knocked unconscious or dies.
The process works essentially the same, but in reverse, if the goblin attacks you.
You can wield two melee weapons at the same time, as long as the weapon doesn’t say it’s two-handed. If the second weapon is a light weapon, you can make an additional attack with that weapon on your turn as a bonus action (we’ll cover how those work in a minute). This second attack functions identically to the first melee attack you made, except you don’t add your STR or DEX modifier to the damage roll.
Weapons like longbows, javelins, knives, and some spells can attack beyond your reach. These ranged weapons will show two distances, the first shows the maximum distance you can attack before having to roll with disadvantage, the second is the maximum distance you can attack with the weapon. Additionally, using a ranged attack when a hostile character is within five feet of you will also cause you to roll with disadvantage.
Note that a weapon’s range is different from its reach. So you can’t use a longbow for opportunity attacks within 150 feet of you, because that would be silly.
Sometimes in combat, it’s more advantageous to either try and incapacitate a creature or move them against their will.
You can, as an attack action, attempt to grapple a character within 5 feet of you. Instead of rolling an attack, you roll an Athletics check. Your opponent rolls their choice of an Athletics or Acrobatics check. If your roll exceeds theirs, they are grappled and unable to take any actions until they escape your grapple or you release them. You can also move a grappled opponent with you, but moving with a grappled opponent is considered moving over difficult terrain and has the same penalties.
You can also shove an opponent using the same rolls as grappling, but instead of grappling them, you can move them 5 feet in any direction, or make them fall prone.
Combat isn’t all just moving and attacking. There are a number of other actions which you can take to find better positions, protect yourself, or aid your allies.
Casting a spell generally takes up an action. We’ll cover this in more depth later.
You can use your action to double your movement this turn.
You use your action to focus entirely on avoiding danger. Until the start of your next turn, all attacks on you have disadvantage, and you have advantage on all DEX saving throws.
You use your action to safely leave a hostile character’s reach without provoking an opportunity attack.
You use your action to aid an ally in an action they’re taking. Their next roll to accomplish the action they are taking is done with advantage. You can also use the help action to aid an ally in attacking a foe you are within 5 feet of. Their next attack on that target is rolled with advantage as long as it is done before the start of your next turn.
You use your action to hide from opponents. You make a Stealth roll and, if successful, you are unseen by opponents. As long as you are not seen, you get advantage on attack rolls, and opponents have disadvantage on attack rolls on you. As soon as you attack a creature, or take some other action besides hide, you lose this benefit.
Sometimes you want to wait for a certain set of circumstances before you attack. For example, if you’re hiding in a storeroom and want to ambush the skeletons when they come through the door, you can ready an action to fire an arrow at the first skeleton that comes in. Ready actions usually take on an “if, then” structure and usually need to be specific about the action you will take, and what the trigger for that action will be. If the trigger doesn’t happen before the start of your turn, nothing happens, and you’ll need to re-ready the action again.
Using some objects (for example, a magic wand of fireballs) takes up an action, as does interacting with others, like opening a door or pulling a lever.
Some actions, as the result of a character's expertise, are considered bonus actions. You can perform bonus actions in addition to your normal action, but you can only perform one bonus action per turn. Some spells are bonus actions, as is attacking with a light weapon in your off-hand.
So for instance, let’s say you’re playing a Paladin wielding a longsword and shortsword with a spell that grants you extra damage on your sword attacks as a bonus action. You can either cast the spell and then swing your longsword, or you can swing both the longsword and the shortsword, but you can’t cast the spell and then swing both weapons.
Some actions can be performed as reactions. Often these are special class abilities or spells. These are often done in response to something that happens on someone else’s turn.
Opportunity attacks are an example of reactions. There are also spells that can be done as reactions, to heal an ally of damage, or damage a creature that attacks you.
Like bonus actions, you only get one reaction per turn. So once you use an opportunity attack, you can’t use it again until the start of your next turn.
These aren’t the only kinds of action that can be performed in combat, but they are some of the most combat. Your class and race might give you access to others. Also, even with all of the additional rules, combat in DnD is still intended to be freeform, and there’s never a wrong answer to the DM asking you “What do you do?” If there’s something you want to do, ask your DM, it’s their job to fit into the framework of the rules.
Each class has its own list of spells it is able to cast, with some overlap between them. For example, Sorcerers and Wizards can cast magic missile but not cure wounds, and Paladins and Clerics can cast cure wounds but not magic missile. The spell lists are sorted by spell level. These levels are a measure of how powerful the spell is, so a level 9 spell is way more powerful than a level 1 spell. As your character increases in level, you gain access to higher-level spells. But what powers these spells? Spell slots.
Think of spell slots as bullets and the spells you have available to cast as guns. So let’s say you have three different first-level spells you can cast: magic missile, shield, and disguise self. Let’s also say you have two first-level spell slots left. You can cast any of those spells twice, or two of those spells once, before you’ve run out of power and can’t cast any more spells. For example, if you’re in the middle of combat, you could cast magic missile twice, or cast shield to protect yourself and magic missile at a bad guy. Then you’re pretty much stuck with cantrips and regular old weapon attacks. Make sense? You can cast any spell you have, as long as you have the spell slot for it.
Things get a little wilder when you get spell slots of higher levels. To cast a spell of a certain level, you must have a spell slot of that level or higher. No using two first-level spell slots to cast a level-two spell. Now, here’s the crazy bit: some spells get better if you use a HIGHER level spell lot. For example, cure wounds heals a person better if you use a second-level spell slot to cast it, and magic missile fires more missiles if you use a second-level spell slot to cast it.
So you killed all the bad guys and used up all your spell slots for the day. How do you get them back? Resting. Everyone except the warlock and wizard needs a full 8 hours of downtime to get their spell slots back. So plan accordingly when using spells, because you won’t always have a full eight hours to rest after every time you get in a fight.
Some types of spells don’t need a spell slot to be cast. These come in two forms: cantrips and rituals.
Cantrips are simple spells which your character has done so many times they become automatic. These are generally less powerful spells that can be cast as many times as you like.
Some spells also can be cast as a ritual. Rather than burning a spell slot to use the spell, you take 10 minutes to cast the spell. These spells are usually used to gather information, like an Identify or Detect Magic spell, or to provide some other aid to the characters, like Rory’s Telepathic Bond, Water Breathing, or Unseen Servant. Obviously, the time required makes using rituals impractical in combat but useful during exploration, when you want to preserve your spell slots.
Every class has an ability score they use for casting spells, for example: Wizards use Intelligence. We use this ability modifier to get two useful numbers for spellcasters: Spell Attack and Spell Save DC.
Some spells require you to aim them like a laser beam, or to touch a target that might not want you to harm it. In those cases you roll an attack roll, just like you would with a weapon, but your “to hit” is the ability modifier you use to cast (INT for a Wizard) + your proficiency bonus. So for example if you were a first-level Wizard with a +3 Intelligence modifier, you would roll a d20 and add 5 to it to see if you hit. If you do, you deal the damage described in the spell description.
Other spells require the creature you cast it on to roll a saving throw. To review from last session, a saving throw means they roll a d20 and add their ability modifier to it, hoping to beat a number based off your spell casting ability modifier. This number is 8 + your spell casting ability modifier + your proficiency bonus.
Let's say that a Wizard wants to cast “Blindness” on a kobold. The spell description says the kobold must make a Constitution saving throw or go blind. So the DM will roll a d20 and add the kobold’s Constitution modifier. The DM will ask the Wizard what the DC, or difficulty class, of the spell is (this is the number the kobold must meet or beat to not go blind). The Wizard’s spellcasting DC is 13 (8 + 3 intelligence modifier + 2 proficiency bonus). If the kobold rolls a 12, it is now blind.
Some spells require concentration to maintain them. In the spell description, the duration of the spell is listed as concentration, up to a maximum time (like 1 minute). This means the spell lasts a minute or until one of the following happens:
You cast another spell that has a duration that says concentration.
You die or fall unconscious
You take damage and don't make a Constitution-saving throw that beats 10 or half the damage taken (whichever is higher).
Let's say our Wizard gets hit by a fireball for 22 damage while concentrating on a spell. The Wizard must roll a d20 and add their Constitution modifier to the roll. If the result is not 11 or higher (because half of 22 is higher than 10) the spell immediately ends.
It's usually a good idea to mark spells on your list that require concentration as a reminder.
Spell descriptions take up a pretty good chunk of the Player’s Handbook and are designed to give you all the information you need for a spell in a relatively condensed form. Let’s go through it line by line.
Spells are listed alphabetically in all DnD sources. The line after the name of the spell tells you the spell’s level (and thus, the lowest spell slot you can cast the spell with) and the school of magic the spell exists in. Schools are generally just broad categories of spells. For the most part you won’t need to worry about what school a spell belongs to, but it does come up every once in a while, so it's useful to know where to find that information. This is also the line where a spell will be marked as a ritual.
This is how long it takes to cast a spell. It can be an action, a bonus action, or even a reaction.
Specifies how close a target has to be to be affected by the spell. A target can either be a creature or a point in space. Usually this is expressed in feet, but some spells have range of touch or self. Touch means you can only target creatures (including yourself) that you can touch and self means you can only target yourself, or that you are the point of origin for a spell that has an effect in a line or a cone.
This line will usually have one to three letters (V, S, M) and then a description of some items needed to cast the spell.
“V” stands for verbal components. This means there are verbal incantations that must be spoken to cast this spell. Characters who are unable to speak (whether gagged or under the effects of a silence spell) can’t cast this spell.
“S” stands for somatic components. This means there are specific gestures required to cast the spell. A character must have the free use of at least one hand to cast a spell with somatic components.
“M” stands for material components. This means there are physical items that are used in the casting of a spell. Some spells also state that this item is consumed during the casting, so a new one must be provided for each cast. For example, the spell Raise Dead requires a diamond worth at least 500 gold pieces to cast, and the diamond is consumed during the casting. So if you need to bring back three members of your party from the dead, you’re going to need three diamonds.
This describes how long a spells effects last. This can be in rounds or minutes or hours or even days. This is also the line where you determine whether a spell requires concentration. Usually it will say something like “concentration, up to 1 minute.” Many of the damage-dealing spells have a duration of “instantaneous” meaning the spell’s effect happens and then is over, like a fireball exploding, or someone being healed from a cure wounds.
This describes the spell’s actual effects and outlines how the spell improves if you cast it using higher-level spell slots.
Because spellcasting wasn’t complicated enough, the various classes that can cast spells function slightly differently and have access to different spells. Class spell lists are located in the Player’s Handbook immediately before the spell descriptions.
Clerics’ and Druids’ spellcasting ability is Wisdom
Paladins’ spellcasting ability is Charisma
Clerics, Druids, and Paladins are prepared casters, meaning every day they must pray to their deities or commune with nature to receive their spells.
After every long rest, all three can choose the spells they want to prepare for the day from their respective class spell list. The number of spells you get to prepare is determined by the following formulas:
Paladins get (CHA modifier + half of their Paladin level rounded down to a minimum of one). A level-3 Paladin with a 0 Charisma would be able to prepare one spell a day (0 + 1.5 rounded down is one).
Clerics/Druids get (WIS modifier + Cleric/Druid level). So a level 3 Cleric with a wisdom modifier of +4 would prepare 7 spells.
You can choose spells of any level you have spell slots for. These spells are the only spells you can cast until after your next long rest, at which point you can change which spells you have access to.
All three of these classes require a focus to cast spells. This can be any item (a shield, a necklace, an extreme teen bible) that represents your connection to your faith. If this item is stolen or lost or destroyed, you can't cast spells until it is retrieved or replaced.
Rangers’ spellcasting ability is Wisdom
Bards’ and Sorcerers’ spellcasting ability is Charisma
Rangers, Sorcerers and Bards are spontaneous casters, meaning they don't rely on any outside source for their magic, and they innately know the spells they can cast.
Every time you go up in level you gain new “spells known” to add from your class’ spell list to the list of spells you can cast. At this point you can also switch out existing spells for new ones. It's not as versatile as the Cleric, who can change out spells daily, but since your magic is innate, you are also less vulnerable to being cut off from access to your magic. It’s also a lot less bookkeeping if you’re just getting started playing a spellcaster.
Wizards’ spellcasting ability is Intelligence
Wizards are one of the two weird spellcasting classes in that they function as a sort of hybrid between the daily preparation of spells of the divine casters and the limited number of spells known of the spontaneous casters. Wizards are probably the most bookkeeping of all the casting classes but make up for it with access to the widest variety of spells of all the classes.
Instead of communing with some sort of outside source for spells like a Cleric or Druid, Wizards study their spellbook after every long rest. Wizards start with six spells in their spellbooks and can add two additional spells every level. Wizards can also add spells to their spellbook while out adventuring. A Wizard can copy spells from a scroll, or another Wizard’s spellbook at the cost of some time and some gold pieces for materials. There is no limit to the number of spells you can have in your spellbook.
The number of spells you can prepare after every long rest is the same as a Cleric or Druid (INT modifier + Wizard level)
Warlocks’ spellcasting ability is Charisma
Warlocks are capital-W Weird. They get their magic from making some sort of pact with a devil or fey or unknowable cosmic horror. These pacts often come with a price. As warlock you often trade the flexibility of other casting classes for the ability to cast more often.
The main feature of the class is a type of spell called invocations. Think of these as super cantrips that are significantly more powerful and can be cast an unlimited number of times. You also get a small number of spells and spell slots to work with each day, but spell slots are also a little weird for Warlocks. In the Warlock level progression chart, it has a column labeled “slot level.” This means all your spell slots are that level. So for example, at third level you have two level-two spell slots, and any spells you cast will be cast at second level. To offset the shorter spell list and smaller amount of spell slots, your spell slots come back after a short rest (one hour) instead of a long one.