Chapter 7: Using Ability Scores

Six abilities provide a quick description of every creature's physical and mental characteristics:

Strength, measuring physical power

Dexterity, measuring agility

Constitution, measuring endurance

Intelligence, measuring reasoning & memory

Wisdom, measuring perception & insight

                     Charisma, measuring force of personality

Is a character muscle-bound and insightful? Brilliant and charming? Nimble and hardy? Ability scores define these qualities. They are both a creature's assets and its weaknesses.

The two main rolls of the game (the ability check and the attack roll) rely on the six ability scores. The introduction describes the basic rule behind these rolls: roll a d20, add an ability modifier derived from one of the six ability scores, and compare the total to a target number.

This chapter focuses on how to use ability checks, covering the fundamental activities that creatures attempt in the game. Rules for attack rolls appear in chapter 9.

Proficiency Bonus

Characters have a proficiency bonus determined by level, as detailed in chapter 1. Monsters also have this bonus, which is incorporated in their stat blocks. The bonus is used in the rules on ability checks, attack rolls and defences.

Your proficiency bonus can't be added to a single die roll or other number more than once. For example, if two different rules say you can add your proficiency bonus to a Wisdom check, you nevertheless add the bonus only once when you make the check.

Occasionally, your proficiency bonus might be multiplied or divided (doubled or halved, for example) before you apply it. For example, the rogue's Expertise feature doubles the proficiency bonus for certain ability checks. If a circumstance suggests that your proficiency bonus applies more than once to the same roll, you still add it only once and multiply or divide it only once.

By the same token, if a feature or effect allows you to multiply your proficiency bonus when making an ability check that wouldn't normally benefit from your proficiency bonus, you still don't add the bonus to the check. For that check your proficiency bonus is 0, given the fact that multiplying 0 by any number is still 0. For instance, if you lack proficiency in the History skill, you gain no benefit from a feature that lets you double your proficiency bonus when you make Intelligence (History) checks.

In general, you don't multiply your proficiency bonus for attack rolls or defences. If a feature or effect allows you to do so, these same rules apply.

Ability Checks

An ability check tests a character's or monster's innate talent and training in an effort to overcome a challenge. The GM calls for an ability check when a character or monster attempts an action (other than an attack) that has a chance of failure. When the outcome is uncertain, the dice determine the results.

For every ability check, the GM decides which of the six abilities is relevant to the task at hand and the difficulty of the task, represented by a Difficulty Class. The more difficult a task, the higher its DC. The Typical Difficulty Classes table shows the most common DCs.

Skills

Each ability covers a broad range of capabilities, induding skills that a character or a monster can be proficient in. A skill represents a specific aspect of an ability score, and an individual's proficiency in a skill demonstrates a focus on that aspect. (A character's starting skill proficiencies are determined at character creation, and a monster's skill proficiencies appear in the monster's stat block.)

For example, a Dexterity check might reflect a character's attempt to pull off an acrobatic stunt, to palm an object, or to stay hidden. Each of these aspects of Dexterity has an associated skill: Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, respectively. So a character who has proficiency in the Stealth skill is particularly good at Dexterity checks related to sneaking and hiding.

The skills related to each ability score are shown in the following list. See an ability's description in the later sections of this chapter for examples of how to use a skill associated with an ability.

• Strength: Athletics
• Dexterity: Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
• Constitution: Endurance
• Intelligence: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, Religion
• Wisdom: Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, Survival
• Charisma: Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion

Sometimes, the GM might ask for an ability check using a specific skill. For example, "make a Wisdom (Perception) check". At other times, a player might ask the GM if proficiency in a particular skill applies to a check. In either case, proficiency in a skill means an individual can add their proficiency bonus to ability checks that involve that skill. Without proficiency in the skill, the individual makes a normal ability check.

For example, if a character attempts to climb up a dangerous cliff, the Game Master might ask for a Strength (Athletics) check. If the character is proficient in Athletics, the character's proficiency bonus is added to the Strength check. If the character lacks that proficiency, they just make a Strength check.

Passive Checks (Taking 10)

A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn't involve any die rolls. Such a check can be used when the GM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster.

Here's how to determine a character's total for a passive check:

If the character has advantage on the check, add 4. For disadvantage, subtract 4. Further instances of advantage have diminishing returns. A second die of advantage only imparts a +2 to a passive score. Further dice of advantage impart +1 to a maximum total of +10. The game refers to a passive check total as a score.

For example. if a 1st-level character has a Wisdom of 15 and proficiency in Perception, he or she has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 14.

The rules on hiding in the "Dexterity" section below rely on passive checks, as do the exploration rules in chapter 8.

When a character is not in immediate danger or distracted, they may choose to use their passive score. This is sometimes known as 'taking 10'. For many routine tasks, taking 10 results in an automatic success. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure - you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn't help.

Taking 20

When you have plenty of time (generally 2 minutes for a skill that can normally be performed in 1 round), you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20. In other words, eventually you will get a 20 on 1d20 if you roll enough times. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, just calculate your result as if you had rolled a 20.

Taking 20 means you are trying until you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 20 takes twenty times as long as making a single check would take.

Since taking 20 assumes that the character will fail many times before succeeding, if you did attempt to take 20 on a skill that carries penalties for failure, your character would automatically incur those penalties before he or she could complete the task. Common uses of “take 20” include athletics to break an obstacle down, investigation to search, or thieves' tools to open a lock.

Strength measures bodily power, athletic training and the extent to which you can exert raw physical force.

Other Strength Checks

The GM might also call for a Strength check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Force open a stuck, locked, or barred door
• Break free of bonds
• Push through a tunnel that is too small
• Hang on to a wagon while being dragged behind it
• Tip over a statue
• Keep a boulder from rolling

Attack Rolls and Damage

You add your Strength modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a melee weapon such as a mace, a battleaxe, or a javelin. You use melee weapons to make melee attacks in hand-to-hand combat, and some of them can be thrown to make a ranged attack.

Lifting and Carrying

Your Strength score determines the amount of weight that you can bear.

If you want to determine whether your character's gear is heavy enough to slow them down, total the weight of all the character's items, including armour, weapons, and gear. Compare this total to the character’s Strength on the Carrying Capacity table. Depending on the character's carrying capacity, they may be carrying a light, medium, or heavy load.

• A light load does not encumber a character.
• A medium load reduces a character's speed by 10 feet, limits their maximum Dexterity bonus to defence to +3, and imparts disadvantage on physical ability checks.
• A heavy load reduces a character's speed by 20 feet, limits their maximum Dexterity bonus to defence to +1, imparts disadvantage on physical ability checks and attack rolls, and grants advantage to attempts to hit the character's Strength and Dexterity defences.

A character can lift as much as their maximum load over their head. A character can lift as much as double their maximum load off the ground, but they can only stagger around with it. While overloaded in this way, the character loses any Dexterity bonus to defence and can move only 5 feet per round as an action. A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much as five times his maximum load. Favorable conditions can double these numbers, and bad circumstances can reduce them by half or more.

The numbers shown in the Carrying Capacity table are for Medium bipedal creatures. A larger bipedal creature can carry more weight depending on its size category, as follows: Large ×2, Huge ×4, Gargantuan ×8. A smaller creature can carry less weight depending on its size category, as follows: Small ×3/4, Tiny ×1/2.

Quadrupeds can carry heavier loads than bipeds can. Multiply the values corresponding to the creature’s Strength score from Table: Carrying Capacity by the appropriate modifier, as follows: Tiny ×3/4, Small ×1, Medium ×1.5, Large ×3, Huge ×6, Gargantuan ×12.

Constitution

Constitution measures health, stamina, and vital force.

Intelligence

Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason.

You are skilled at riding mounts, usually a horse, but possibly something more exotic, like a griffon or pegasus. If you attempt to ride a creature that is ill suited as a mount, you suffer disadvantage on your Animal Handling checks.

Typical riding actions don't require checks. You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount without a problem. The following tasks do require checks.

If you are riding bareback, you have disadvantage on animal handling checks to handle the mount that you are riding.

Guide with Knees. You can guide your mount with your knees so you can use both hands in combat. Make a DC 5 Animal Handling check at the start of your turn. If you fail, you can use only one hand this round because you need to use the other to control your mount. This does not take an action.

Stay in Saddle. You can react instantly to try to avoid falling when your mount rears or bolts unexpectedly or when you take damage. This usage does not take an action.

Fight with a Combat-Trained Mount. If you direct your war-trained mount to attack in battle, you can still make your own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a free action.

Cover. You can use half your movement to drop down and hang alongside your mount, using it as cover. You can't attack or cast spells while using your mount as cover. If you fail your Animal Handling check, you don't benefit from cover. Recovering from this position also costs half your movement.

Leap. You can get your mount to leap obstacles as part of its movement. If the Animal Handling check to make the leap succeeds, make a check using your Animal Handling modifier or the mount's Athletics modifier, whichever is lower, to see how far the creature can jump. If you fail your Animal Handling check, you fall off the mount when it leaps and take the appropriate falling damage (at least 1d6 points). This usage does not take an action but is part of the mount’s movement.

Spur Mount. You can spur your mount to greater speed with a bonus action. A successful Animal Handling check increases the mount’s speed by 10 feet for 1 round but deals 1d3 points of damage to the creature. You can use this ability every round, but the mount gains a level of exhaustion after a number of rounds equal to its Constitution score.

Control Mount in Battle. As a bonus action, you can attempt to control a mount not trained for combat riding while in battle. If you fail the Animal Handling check, you can do nothing else that round.

Fast Mount or Dismount. You can attempt to mount or dismount from a mount of up to one size category larger than yourself as a free action. If you fail the Animal Handling check, mounting or dismounting costs movement as normal and must be completed before you can do anything else. You can't use fast mount or dismount on a mount more than one size category larger than yourself.

Teach an Animal a Trick. You can teach an animal a specific trick with one week of work and a successful Animal Handling check against the indicated DC. An animal with an Intelligence score of 1 can learn a maximum of three tricks, while an animal with an Intelligence score of 2 can learn a maximum of six tricks.

The following tricks can be taught to animals by training the animal for a week and making a successful Handle Animal skill check against the listed DC.

Aid (DC 20): The animal can use the aid another action to aid a specific ally in combat by attacking a specific foe the ally is fighting. You point to a particular creature that you wish the animal to aid, and you point to another that you want it to make an attack roll against, and it will comply if able. The normal creature type restrictions governing the attack trick still apply.

Attack (DC 20): The animal attacks apparent enemies. You may point to a particular creature that you wish the animal to attack, and it will comply if able. Normally, an animal will attack only humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants, or other animals. Teaching an animal to attack all creatures (including such unnatural creatures as undead and aberrations) counts as two tricks.

Bombard (DC 20): A flying animal can deliver projectiles on command, attempting to drop a specified item that it can carry (often alchemist’s fire or a similar splash weapon) on a designated point or opponent, using its base attack bonus to determine its attack roll. The animal cannot throw the object, and it must be able to fly directly over the target.

Break Out (DC 20): On command, the animal attempts to break or gnaw through bars or bindings restricting it, its handler, or a person indicated by the handler. If the animal cannot break the restraints by itself, its attempts grant the restricted creature a advantage on acrobatics checks. Furthermore, the animal can take certain basic actions such as lifting a latch or bringing its master an unattended key. Weight and Strength restrictions still apply, and pickpocketing a key or picking any sort of lock is still far beyond the animal's ability.

Build Simple Structure (DC 25): The companion can build simple structures on command, limited by its natural abilities and inclinations. The companion is able to build only structures that creatures of its type would naturally build on their own, and this trick merely allows the handler to direct the companion on when and where to build such structures. For example, a spider could be commanded to spin a web between two trees, but it could not be made to create a hammock or a tent out of silk. Similarly, a beaver could be ordered to make a dam or lodge, an alligator a dome-shaped nest, and any burrowing creature a small tunnel or hole. In general, this process takes 10 minutes for each 5-foot square the structure occupies, but depending on the terrain and the type of structure, it might take as little as 1 minute or as much as 1 hour or more, at the GM's discretion. Only companions that naturally build structures can learn this trick.

Insight

Your Wisdom (Insight) check decides whether you can determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone’s next move. Doing so involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerisms.

Stabilise

A Wisdom (Medicine) check lets you use your action to try to stabilize a dying creature. This requires a successful Wisdom (Medicine) check of DC 15 + 5 for every death save the creature has failed.

Diagnose Illness

If you spend one minute examining a creature, you can make a Wisdom (Medicine) to identify a disease or poison affecting them. The DC is determined by the effect in question.

First Aid

Requires Healer's Kit Use
As an action, you can administer first aid to an unconscious or wounded creature. If you succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine) check, the creature regains a number of hit points equal to its Character level, +1 for every point by which your check exceeds the DC. Using a Surgeon's kit grants advantage on your skill check. If the skill check succeeds, the tended creature cannot benefit from additional first aid until it takes new damage.

You can administer first aid to yourself, but you suffer disadvantage on your Wisdom (Medicine) check.

Long Term Care

Requires Healer's or Herbalist's Kit Use
If you tend to a creature for 8 consecutive hours, the next poison or disease attack roll vs its Constitution defence is made with disadvantage and its injuries are immune to festering. A creature can only benefit from long term care once in a 24-hour period. You can tend to one creature at a time if not proficient, or up to six simultaneously if proficient. You can't give long term care to yourself.

Perform Surgery

Proficient Only; Requires Surgeon's Kit Use
You can perform surgery to heal damage to a wounded creature, or to remove injury effects 5 to 16. Any of these operations requires at least 1 hour of uninterrupted work, at the end of which time you must make a Wisdom (Medicine) check. If you fail your check, the surgery does not yield any benefit (but any resources used are still lost). In addition, if you fail your check by five or more, the creature takes damage equal the character's Constitution bonus (Minimum 1) x the creature's level. If this damage reduces the creature to 0 hit points, it dies.

Heal Damage. You can make a DC 14 Wisdom (Medicine) check to perform surgery on a wounded creature, healing an amount of damage equal to the character's Constitution bonus (Minimum 1) x the creature's level. If you fail the check, the creature instead takes damage equal to the same amount. If the creature was already at 0 hit points, it dies. You can perform Surgery on yourself to Heal Damage, but you have disadvantage on the ability check.

Remove Injury Effect. You perform surgery on a specific injury effect that a creature has, in order to remove or lessen the effect. Not all injury effects can be removed by surgery. Ask your GM if this is possible. To remove an injury effect, make a DC 14 Wisdom (Medicine) check. The procedure requires 1 hour of uninterrupted work and one use of a Surgeon's Kit. A creature proficient in Medicine can attempt to Help by spending an additional use of a Surgeon's Kit.

On a success, the injury effect improves. If the injury requires natural healing, it recovers twice as fast. If the Injury requires magical healing of a specific level or higher, magical healing of up to two levels lower achieves the same result. If the Injury effect lists a Constitution check, the roll benefits from advantage for the next week.

Once you attempt surgery on a specific injury effect, you cannot attempt it again for one week. You can however attempt surgery on another injury effect on the same creature.

Resuscitate

Proficient Only; Requires Healer's Kit Use
As an action, you can revive a creature that has just died. To revive the dead creature you must reach it within 1 round + 1 additional round for each successful death save the creature made before dying, and succeed on a Wisdom (Medicine) check of DC 30 - 5 for each successful death save the creature made before dying. If the check succeeds, the creature is unconscious instead of dead. If the check fails, you are unable to revive the creature.

Treat Disease

Requires Herbalist's Kit Use
Treating a diseased creature requires 8 hours. At the end of that time the creature makes a Constitution check against a DC of 10 + the disease's attack roll. If the creature is proficient in Constitution defence, it may adds its proficiency bonus to this check. You can also spend another herbalist's kit use and make a Wisdom (Medicine) check against the disease's DC. If the check succeeds, the creature has advantage on its check and any check you might have to make against contracting the disease from the sick creature is made with advantage. You can treat a creature's disease once every 24 hours. You can treat one creature at a time if untrained, or up to six simultaneously if trained.

Treat Poison

Requires Herbalist's Kit Use
As an action, you can treat a poisoned creature. The creature makes a Constitution check agains a DC of 10 + the poison's attack roll. If the creature is proficient in Constitution defence, it may add its proficiency bonus to this check. If the check succeed, the creature gains resistance against the next instance of damage it deals. You can also spend another herbalist's kit use and make a Wisdom (Medicine) check. If the result equals or exceeds the poison's DC, the creature has advantage on its check.

Perception

Your Wisdom (Perception) check lets you spot, hear, or otherwise detect the presence of something. It measures your general awareness of your surroundings and the keenness of your senses. For example, you might try to hear a conversation through a closed door, eavesdrop under an open window, or hear monsters moving stealthily in the forest. Or you might try to spot things that are obscured or easy to miss, whether they are orcs lying in ambush on a road, thugs hiding in the shadows of an alley, or candlelight under a closed secret door.

Follow Tracks

To find tracks or to follow them for 1 mile requires a successful Survival check. You must make another Survival check every time the tracks become difficult to follow. If you are not proficient in this skill, you can make Wisdom checks to find tracks, but you can follow them only if the DC for the task is 10 or lower. Alternatively, you can use the Perception skill to find a footprint or similar sign of a creature’s passage using the same DCs, but you can’t use Perception to follow tracks, even if someone else has already found them.

You move at half your normal speed while following tracks (or at your normal speed with disadvantage on the check). The DC depends on the surface and the prevailing conditions.

For finding tracks, you can retry a failed check after 1 hour (outdoors) or 10 minutes (indoors) of searching.

For a group of mixed sizes, apply only the modifier for the largest size category.

For visibility, apply only the largest modifier of this type.

Survive in the Wilderness

You can keep yourself and others safe and fed in the wild.

Other Wisdom Checks

The GM might call for a Wisdom check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:

• Get a gut feeling about what course of action to follow
• Discern whether a seemingly dead or living creature is undead

Spellcasting Ability

Clerics, druids, and rangers use Wisdom as their spellcasting ability, which helps determine the saving throw DCs of spells they cast.

Charisma

Charisma measures your ability to interact effectively with others. It includes such factors as confidence and eloquence, and it can represent a charming or commanding personality.

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

History

Investigation

Nature

Religion

Animal Handling

Insight

Medicine

Perception

Find Water

It's recommended players take time to drink a few times in an adventuring day. In some of the more dangerous regions of the world that can be hard to do. Being trained to find water can help mitigate this risk.

Fire Mastery

Something even children are taught and one of the basics of survival, you know how to start, stop, or enlarge a fire. Also, you can easily determine how long a fire has been burning.

Fishing

Let others eat berries. Find yourself some of that delicious flaky food. A staple in any port location, many adventurers will supplement their dried foods with fish.

Foraging

No water nearby? Can't hunt because the animals in the forest belong to the king and his evil henchmen? If you're going to end up eating berries, it's a good idea to know the difference between the ones that will make you feel better and the ones that will leave you sick.

Region Navigation

Can't see the forest for the trees? Finding the Underdark keeps twisting around in circles? An ocean all around you and no idea where you are? Take some time to learn how to navigate the world and never feel lost again. When picking this skill, select a region from the Regional Lore expertise. You can take this skill multiple times, selecting a new region each time.

Rope Mastery

You might not want to kill your foes, but they certainly can't be allowed to walk around freely. Why not tie them up with a rope? Or tie off a rope as an impromptu ladder for those times you're in the dungeon and a ladder cannot be found.

Skinning

Animals need to be skinned before becoming the leather armour that ends up protecting your more lightly armoured friends and warming more northern peoples. It is recommended for GMs to set the DC based on how difficult removal is and to reward failures with lower yields.

Tracking

Not everyone can be so lucky as to track foes through wet mud or snow. Being skilled in spotting the tell-tale signs of your prey through the best and worst of conditions is useful to most adventuring groups.

Trapping

If the whole 'slowly chase animals and shoot them with arrows' thing isn't working for you, try luring them with some bait into a trap! It is advised that the GM sets the DC based on how plentiful creatures are in the area.

Weather Sense

Storm's a brewin' and you can tell! Know what the weather will be like in a few hours or even a few days, if you're really good at it.

Savagery

Talking to barbarians, tribal creatures, and other so-called 'uncivilized' societies requires a different set of skills from playing around in a court. The Savagery skill is used in the same way that Etiquette is used in civilized places or Zeal in locations of faith.

Interrogation

Extracting information from a source, sometimes by force. The GM should use a character's passive Constitution or an Endurance (Pain Tolerance) score to set the DC for using this skill.

Comedy

What's the deal with Orcs subjugating other races? Comedy is a great way to endear yourself to your audience. Of course the wrong joke to the right crowd could end very poorly.

Dancing

Dancing is a universal sign of civilization. From the smallest Halflings to the largest Giants, every race seems to have their own culturally significant way to cut a rug.

Entertainment Mastery

You have mastered a form of entertainment appropriate to specific situations. When picking this subskill, select a style. You can take this subskill multiple times, selecting one new style each time. You can use this subskill to perform in a way that is particularly fitting to specific situation. If you use an instrument you are proficient with, you gain advantage to your skill check.

Strength Defence

Strength Defence: 10 + Strength modifier

A character's Strength defence represents their physical power. How well can they oppose a force that would physically move or bind them?

When defending in melee you can choose to use your Strength defence to block an attack rather than evading it. Melee attacks that deal bludgeoning damage have advantage to hit a target defending with its Strength defence. Melee attacks that deal slashing damage have disadvantage to hit a target defending with its Strength defence.

Chapter 8: Adventuring

Determine Terrain Difficulty

For each travel day, the GM determines the terrain type and calculates how much distance will be crossed without any larger disruptions (such as combat or a detour to explore unexpected locations).

Several activities during travel refer to the Navigation DC. This DC is dependent on the terrain you are traversing. The harder the terrain, the slower your group will advance during your travel, up to a point where you must concentrate on actually moving, rather than paying attention to other activities. If difficult terrain slows your pace to 0 miles or less, you can still move but at ½ a mile per hour.

Choose Destination and Speed

Players must choose a heading and a travel pace (fast, normal or slow) and how long they will travel for. The party can follow a natural feature of the land like a coast, river or tree line, or just head off in any of the cardinal directions.

If you travel by horse or carriage and you cross easy (DC 5) or moderate (DC 10) terrain, refer to the Mounted Travel rules for each mount's speed and distance. If you choose to gallop by horse and you cross easy (DC 5) terrain, you can use fast pace and increase distance traveled by 33%. If you cross difficult terrain (DC 15 or higher), you can only use slow pace and decrease distance traveled by 33%.

Decide Travel Activities

In each travel leg, a character may carry out one activity of their choice. Some activities allow several players to work as a group. Your chosen pace of travel affects how easy it is to do things during your daily travel legs.

Favoured Activities. Favored activities may be made with advantage when traveling at this pace.

Associated Activities. Associated activities are typical activities for the corresponding pace.

Hindered Activities. Hindered activities must be made with disadvantage when traveling at this pace.

Forbidden Activities. These activities cannot be taken when traveling at this pace.

Dangerous Activities. Several activities are noted as Dangerous. Performing one of these activities usually means having to separate from the group with a risk of being attacked or trapped without help.

Distracting Activities . Some activities are so demanding that you can't pay much attention to your surroundings. While you perform a Distracting activity, you suffer disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Exhausting Activities. Some activities are much more tiresome that simple travel. If you perform two Exhausting activities on one day, you suffer one level of exhaustion after finishing the second one, but before looking for and setting up camp.

Focused Activities. Most activities can be performed by several players. However, some activities can only be performed by one or two simultaneously. These Focused activities can only be performed by a maximum of 2 players, and you only use the higher of the two check results to determine their effect.

Draw a Map

Skill: Intelligence (Cartographer's tools)
While your companions keep watch, hunt for food and guide the party, you focus on documenting your journey. Drawing a map won't help you on your journey forward, but might prove useful once you try to find your way back. Good maps are also a highly sought-after commodity.

Make an Intelligence (Cartographer's tools) check against the Navigation DC.

Sneak

Skill: Dexterity (Stealth)
Sometimes you need to move quietly for a while to avert the eyes and ears of nearby enemies or to cover your tracks and take detours to shake off possible pursuers. Doing so does not require the whole party to perform the Sneak activity, as the party members that do so, can try to keep everyone else as stealthy as possible.

Add the Dexterity (Stealth) check results of all sneaking party members together and divide the sum by the number of players in the group (rounding down). This is the final and effective result for the group's efforts.

Track

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)
Sometimes you don't try to find a specific location, but follow or chase another creature or group. Instead of the Navigation activity, make a Wisdom (Survival) check against the terrain DC to find and follow the tracks of your quarry. If your quarry is trying to cover their tracks, use the higher of their Sneak result or the terrain DC.

If your check fails by less than 5, you are having trouble following your quarry. Your travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg.

If your check fails by 5 or more, you have made a mistake. Your travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg, however, you moved away from your quarry.

If you rolled a total of 5 or lower, you got lost. Depending on the nature of your surroundings, getting lost might entail additional complications and dangers.

A different use for the Track activity is to read the tracks your group crosses during their travel, in order to glean what kind of creatures are roaming nearby. Make a Wisdom (Survival) check. The GM determines the DC for any possible tracks you might find and to which creatures they might belong.

Trailblaze

Skill: Strength (Athletics)
Traveling through difficult terrain slows you significantly. You can help your companions by clearing a clear path for them to follow. Make a Strength (Athletics) check against the terrain DC. If you succeed, the terrain's travel speed penalty is reduced by 1 mile per hour (to a minimum of 0).

If you succeed by 5 or more, the terrain's travel speed penalty is reduced by 2 miles per hour instead.

If you fail the check by less than 5, you still reduce the terrain's travel speed penalty by 1 mile per hour (to a minimum of 0), but you automatically suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the activity.

Making Camp

The players must search the environment and find a proper location for setting up camp. Depending on the location, the camp can have different properties. If a character performed the Scout activity on the last leg, they may make an Intelligence (Investigation) check, while characters that Kept Watch may make a Wisdom (Perception) check with disadvantage. For each 5 points of the best result among all rolls, the campsite has one or more properties, some even improved.

If none of the party took either activity, they need to spend an additional hour to find a suitable campsite.

The GM rolls a d6 on the table below to decide what campsite properties are found first, second and third.

If you are not content with the campsites you found, you must travel on for another hour (risking a forced march), in order to search again. Once night sets in, you can search by Scouting using Intelligence (Investigation) with disadvantage.

Attune Magic Item

Skill: none
Attuning to one magical item takes time and concentration. You must have identified the item's magical properties before you can attune to it.

Camouflage Camp

Skill: Dexterity (Stealth)
You can gather and use natural materials like rocks or foliage to hide your campsite. A successful DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check adds the Hidden property to your campsite if it doesn't have it.

Cook Hearty Meal

Skill: Wisdom (Cook's utensils)
A good night's rest is not guaranteed when camping in the wilds and a fine cooked meal can go a long way to remedy this fact. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Cook's utensils) check.
You need one fresh ration of food for every person that will partake of the meal, as well as a reasonable amount of seasoning. If you provide at least 50% more fresh rations than necessary, you gain advantage on this check. If you can only provide half the required amount of rations (but not less), you gain disadvantage.

If you succeed, each person partaking of your meal regains a quarter of their maximum hit dice (rounded down, min 1). If you fail, the meal is edible, but not refreshing. If you rolled a total of 5 or lower, the whole meal is spoiled and its rations are wasted.

You can only benefit from one hearty meal per long rest.

Fortify Camp

Skill: Strength (Athletics)
You can use wooden spikes or large boulders to barricade your campsite or dig a ditch and build ramparts. A successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check adds the Defendable property to your campsite if it doesn't already have it.

Hunt/Forage

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)
Gather food and water or hunt local game. This is the same action as the Hunt & Forage travel activity. However, since you are not traveling at this point, you may make the corresponding Wisdom (Survival) check with advantage.

Keep Watch

Skill: Wisdom (Perception)
A long rest requires at least 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of light activity. Depending on the size of the traveling party, you are advised to take shifts keeping watch whilst the others try to gain some sleep. Make a Wisdom (Perception) check. If your result is 7 or lower, you can take 8 instead. Players who perform one of the other camp activities (i.e. not sleeping or keeping watch) do not benefit from a minimum of 8 on the roll.

The GM determines the DC for any threat or approaching danger (hostile creatures or natural phenomena) and compares it to all Wisdom (Perception) results. On a success, the watchers are able to wake and warn the rest of the party, and prevent being surprised.

Set up Traps

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)
You can set a number of small traps like caltrops, slings, and small pits around your camp. Make a Wisdom (Survival) check. The DC to find these traps with an Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check is equal to the result of your Wisdom (Survival) check. The attack bonus of their effects is equal to the result of your Wisdom (Survival) check minus 10.

Rest and Recuperate

Skill: Wisdom (Medicine)
You take your time to catch your breath properly, eat and drink, and dress your wounds. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check. If you succeed, treat any hit dice rolled to determine the hit points you regain as having rolled their maximum value during this rest. If you suffer from a sickness or disease, it has disadvantage to attack you during your long rest.

Tend to the Wounded

Skill: Wisdom (Medicine)
You go around camp, making sure that the wounds of up to six creatures other than yourself are properly cleaned and dressed. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check for each patient, in order to assess the wounds and properly dress them. This consumes one use of a healer's kit per creature tended to.

If you succeed, your patient can treat any hit dice rolled to determine the hit points that they regain as having rolled their maximum value, during this rest. If your patient suffers from a sickness or disease, it has disadvantage to attack them during their long rest.

Train

Skill: Varies
You dedicate time to training and self-improvement. This might be spell research, practicing a skill, subskill or language, or any other training activity that can normally be performed during downtime. If you succeed at the appropriate check, you gain two hours of progress towards your goal.

Travel Pace of Mounts

Animals need feed (per day) or can find some themselves with a Wisdom (Survival) check at a DC based on the Hunt & Forage table for 1 Ration. Animals who hunger or thirst for longer than 2 days suffer one level of Exhaustion per day at the end of their long rest.

Feed Costs (per day)

Mounts can pull five times their typical carrying capacity minus the weight of the vehicle. Mounts pulling carts or wearing armour may not travel more than two travel legs in a row without rest and suffer a disadvantage to the Forced March check. Travel groups that use wagons have access to the Drive Wagon travel activity, below.

Drive Wagon

Skill: Intelligence (Vehicle proficiency) or Dexterity (Animal Handling)
You stay at the front of the wagon, maintaining a steady pace for the animals and avoiding road obstacles that slow down or damage the carriage. Make a Dexterity (Animal Handling) check against the Navigation DC. Increase the DC by 5 if you are traveling off-road, without a clear trail or road.

If your check succeeds by 5 or more, you may increase the travel pace by 1 mile per hour for the rest of the travel leg.

If your check fails by 10 or more or is a critical failure, a cart wheel breaks. Repairing a cart is a Focused activity requiring a successful DC 15 Intelligence check and takes a full travel leg. Players with proficiency in Smith, Carpenter, Woodcarver, or Tinker's tools add their proficiency bonus.

Perils of Travel

Hunting and Gathering

These tables help the GM come up with quick results to player actions based on terrain and circumstances.

Foraging - Water

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for water, you may apply the following modifiers:

Hunting

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for a game, the GM may let the players roleplay actual hunting. If they choose to, use the following tables to identify, track and kill the prey. Make a Wisdom (Perception) check against the Track DC, and then an Attack Roll against the Kill DC to take down each individual prey with the appropriate weapon (usually, a ranged weapon). You have advantage on one of the Attack rolls if you beat the Track DC by 5 or more prior making the killing shot.

Each terrain table has 17 safe encounters and 3 combat encounters with Monster Manual page references. In combat encounters, players can withdraw or must fight the creature. Depending on how dangerous your environment is, you may change safe encounters into appropriate combat encounters.

Fishing

Fishing is a time-consuming activity that requires a whole travel leg (3-5 hours) to be spent near the bank of a river or a lake. For every travel leg spent fishing, the player rolls a DC 12 Survival check. If successful, the GM rolls on the following table.

Subtract 5 from the result (minimum 1) if fishing in a River, or subtract 10 from the result (minimum 1) if fishing in a Pool or a Small Lake.

Freshwater

Saltwater

Creating Hazards

The following rules let the GM quickly design and resolve blizzards, hailstorms, avalanches and earthquakes. Choose the appropriate tier for your party and the danger level of the hazard: setback, dangerous or deadly. Each hazard has an associated defence (usually Dexterity or Constitution) that it attacks.

On a hit, the character takes damage appropriate for their level tier. On a miss, they take half of that damage. On a critical hit, follow the rules for a critical hit with an attack. On a critical miss, they take no damage.

Falling

A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer.

At the end of a fall, a creature takes a cumulative 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet that it fell, to a maximum of 11325d6 for a fall of 1500 feet or more. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.

Suffocating

A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds). If a creature takes an action, the remaining time that it can hold its breath for is reduced by 1 round.

After this period of time, the creature must make a DC 10 Constitution (Endurance) check in order to continue holding their breath. The check must be repeated each round. When the creature fails one of these Constitution checks, it drops to 0 hit points and is dying.

For example, a creature with a Constitution of 14 can hold its breath for 3 minutes. If it starts suffocating, each round it has a 35% chance to drop to 0 hit points.

Vision and Light

The most fundamental tasks of adventuring (noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat and targeting a spell, to name just a few) rely heavily on a character's ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.

A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

A heavily obscured area (such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage) blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition (see Appendix A) when trying to see something in that area.

The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light and darkness.

Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.

Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a torch, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.

Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness.

Smashing a weapon or shield with a slashing or bludgeoning weapon is accomplished with the sunder combat action (see Chapter 9). Smashing an object is like sundering a weapon or shield. Generally, you can smash an object only with a bludgeoning or slashing weapon.

Dexterity Defence: Objects are easier to hit than creatures because they don't usually move, but many are tough enough to shrug off some damage from each blow. An object’s Dexterity defence is equal to 10 + its size modifier + its Dexterity modifier. Not only does an inanimate object have a Dexterity of 0 (–5 penalty to Dexterity defence), but you also have advantage to hit it with a melee weapon. If you take an action to line up a shot, then melee attacks automatically hit and attack rolls with a ranged weapon have advantage.

Damage Reduction: Each object has damage reduction — a number that represents how well it resists damage. When an object is damaged, subtract its DR from the damage. Only damage in excess of its DR is deducted from the object's hp.

Hit Points: An object’s hp total depends on what it is made of and how big it is. Objects that take damage equal to or greater than half their total hp gain the broken condition (see Appendix). When an object’s hp reach 0, it’s destroyed. Very large objects have separate hp totals for different sections.

Energy Attacks: Most objects have resistance to energy attacks. Divide the damage by 2 before applying the object's DR. Some energy types might be particularly effective against certain objects, subject to GM discretion. For example, fire might do full damage against parchment, cloth, and other objects that burn easily. Sonic might do full damage against glass and crystal objects.

Ranged Weapon Damage: Objects have resistance to ranged weapons (unless the weapon is a siege engine or something similar. Divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the object's DR.

Ineffective Weapons: Certain weapons just can’t effectively deal damage to certain objects. For example, a bludgeoning weapon cannot be used to damage a rope. Likewise, most melee weapons have little effect on stone walls and doors, unless they are designed for breaking up stone, such as a pick or hammer.

Magic Armour, Shields, and Weapons: Each rarity category adds 2 to the DR of armour, a weapon, or a shield, and +10 to the item’s hit points.

Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: Certain attacks are especially successful against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and may ignore the object’s hardness.

Damaged Objects: A damaged object remains functional with the broken condition until the item’s hit points are reduced to 0, at which point it is destroyed. Damaged (but not destroyed) objects can be repaired with the appropriate tool and a number of spells.

Defences: Nonmagical, unattended items never defend themselves. They are considered to have be hit, so they are always fully affected by spells and other attacks. An item attended by a character (being grasped, touched, or worn) defends as the character (that is, using the character’s defences).

Magic items always defend. A magic item's defences are equal to 13 + 1 per rarity category. An attended magic item either defends as its owner or uses its own defence, whichever is better.

Animated Objects: Animated objects count as creatures for purposes of determining their Dexterity defence (do not treat them as inanimate objects).

Substance DR and hp

Substance	DR	hp
Glass	1	1/inch of thickness
Paper or Cloth	0	2/inch of thickness
Rope	0	2/inch of thickness
Ice	0	3/inch of thickness
Leather or Hide	2	5/inch of thickness
Wood	5	10/inch of thickness
Stone	8	15/inch of thickness
Iron or steel	10	30/inch of thickness
Mithril	15	30/inch of thickness
Adamantine	20	40/inch of thickness

Object DR and hp

Object	DR	hp	Break DC
Rope (1 in. diameter)	0	2	23
Simple Wooden Door	5	10	13
Small chest	5	1	17
Good wooden door	5	15	18
Treasure chest	5	15	23
Strong wooden door	5	20	23
Masonry wall (1 ft. thick)	8	90	35
Hewn stone (3 ft. thick)	8	540	50
Chain	10	5	26
Manacles	10	10	26
Masterwork manacles	10	10	28
Iron door (2 in. thick)	10	60	28

Magic Item DR and hp

Magic Item Rarity	DR	hp
Common	+2	+10
Uncommon	+4	+20
Rare	+6	+30
Very Rare	+8	+40
Legendary	+10	+50
Artifact	+12	+60

Size and Dexterity Defence of Objects

Size	Dexterity Defence Modifier
Colossal	-8
Gargantuan	-4
Huge	-2
Large	-1
Medium	0
Small	+1
Tiny	+2
Diminutive	+4
Fine	+8

Breather

A breather is a brief period of rest, at least 5 minutes long, during which a character catches their breath.

A character can spend one or more Hit Die at the end of a breather, up to half of the character's maximum number of Hit Dice (minimum of 1), which is equal to the character's level. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the character can choose to regain hit points or spell points.

To recover hit points, the player rolls the Hit Die and adds the character’s Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total (minimum of 0).

To recover spell points, the player rolls their spell point die (see chapter 10). The character regains spell points equal to the total.

The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character regains some spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest, as explained below.

Short Rest

A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to the character’s maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character’s level. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the character can choose to regain hit points or spell points, as described above for a breather. The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character regains some spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest, as explained below.

At the end of the short rest, if a character has exactly 1 level of Exhaustion, then they may remove that level.

Long Rest

A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity (at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity) the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

At the end of a long rest, a character regains all lost hit points. The character also regains spent Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of the character's total number of them (minimum of one die). For example, if a character has eight Hit Dice, he or she can regain four spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest. Finishing a long rest also reduces a creature's exhaustion level by 1, provided that the creature has also ingested some food and drink.

A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period and a character must have at least 1 hit point at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.

Full Rest

A full rest is a period of downtime, at least 24 hours long, during which a character sleeps at least 8 hours and otherwise performs only light activity, such as reading, talking, or eating.

A full rest cannot be attempted while in the wilderness, sleeping on dirt or stone, or wearing armour. You must be in a safe location where you do not feel the need to keep watch or constantly be on guard. You must also consume food and drink. If these conditions are met you lose up to 2 levels of exhaustion. At the end of a full rest, you recover all lost hit points and regain all spent Hit Dice.

A full rest also counts towards recovering from headaches, internal injuries, neuralgia, or systemic damage, as described in Chapter 9.

Extended Rest

An extended rest requires a week of downtime, usually at your home, base of operations, or other secure place where you can truly let your guard down and relax. Typically, this means touching base with your family, friends, or acquaintances and attending to your affairs.

An extended rest is required to recharge stronghold abilities and reset any accumulated death saves.

Sleep

Just as in the real world, characters spend many hours sleeping, usually as part of a long, full, or extended rest. Most monsters also need to sleep. While a creature sleeps, it is subject to the unconscious condition.

Food and Water

Characters who don't eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can't be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.

Water

A character needs one gallon of water per day, or two gallons per day if the weather is hot. A character who drinks only half that much water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. A character with access to even less water automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day.

If the character already has one or more levels of exhaustion, the character takes two levels in either case.

Resources

Training requires you to first find a learning resource (such as a book) or a teacher who is willing and capable of teaching you. It then takes a varying amount of time and money, depending on what you're learning. Costs are paid at the beginning of each training period.

Language, Subskill or Weapon Group

Learning a new language or subskill, upgrading a subskill, or training to use a new weapon group takes 400 hours and a teacher's services cost 6 sp per hour. Sufficient learning resources to study alone should cost a total of approximately 250 gp. During resolution, training in a language calls for an Intelligence check, while a subskill calls for an ability check with that subskill's governing skill and a weapon requires an attack roll with that weapon. If you are proficient in the corresponding defence, you add your proficiency bonus to the roll.

Tool Proficiency

Learning to use a new tool takes 400 hours and a teacher's services cost 1/40th of the value of the tool per hour. Sufficient learning resources to study alone should cost a total of approximately 10 times the value of the tool. During resolution, training in a new tool calls for an ability check appropriate to that tool, as determined by the GM. If you are proficient in that defence, you add your proficiency bonus to the roll.

Tool Expertise

Gaining expertise in a tool in which you are proficient takes 800 hours and a teacher's services cost 1/40th of the value of the tool per hour. Sufficient learning resources to study alone should cost a total of approximately 20 times the value of the tool. During resolution, gaining expertise in a tool in which you are proficient requires an ability check with that tool.

Skill Proficiency

Learning a new skill takes 800 hours and a teacher's services cost 12 sp per hour. Sufficient learning resources to study alone should cost a total of approximately 1000 gp. During resolution, training in a new skill calls for an ability check with that skill’s governing ability score. If you are proficient in that defence, you add your proficiency bonus to the roll.

Skill Expertise

Gaining expertise in a skill in which you are proficient takes 1200 hours and a teacher's services cost 25 sp per hour. Sufficient learning resources to study alone should cost a total of approximately 3000 gp. During resolution, gaining expertise in a skill in which you are proficient requires an ability check with that skill.

Feat

Learning a new feat takes 2400 hours and a teacher's services cost 5 gp per hour. Sufficient learning resources to study alone should cost a total of approximately 8000 gp. During resolution, training in a new feat calls for an ability check appropriate to that feat, as determined by the GM. If you are proficient in that defence, you add your proficiency bonus to the roll.

Resolution

At the end of each day, a character makes an ability check depending on their training, and then consults the Training Roll Results table. A natural 1 results in no progress for that day and a complication. A character that rolls a natural 20 may immediately roll again for that day, adding the result to the progress from the first roll.

Complications

Complications that arise while training typically involve the teacher. For every 200 hours spent in training, or for each failure during resolution, a character has a 10% chance of a complication. Examples of which are on the table below:

Complications

When a complication occurs, make a roll on the Spell Research Complications table:

Research Credits

During your experiments and adventures, you may find research notes made by other spellcasters. These research credits can help you during your studies.

When you make a research check, you can spend one research credit to add +1d4 to the result. For every additional research credit you spend, you increase the size of the die by one step (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12) to a maximum of 1d12.

A typical combat encounter is a clash between two sides, a flurry of weapon swings, feints, parries, footwork and spellcasting. The game organises 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 every one has taken a turn, the fight continues to the next round if neither side has defeated the other.

Initiative

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. If you roll a natural 20 on initiative you gain one free Hit Die, which may be spent on exertion (as described under Hit Points) without loss of hit points.

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 combatants who are tied act in order of total initiative modifier (highest first). If the tied characters and monsters have the same initiative modifier, then they can each roll a d20 to determine the order, highest roll going first.

Delaying Initiative

By choosing to delay, you take no action and then act normally on whatever initiative count you decide to act. When you delay, you voluntarily reduce your own initiative result for the rest of the combat. When your new, lower initiative count comes up later in the same round, you can act normally. You can specify this new initiative result or just wait until some time later in the round and act then, thus fixing your new initiative count at that point.

You never get back the time you spend waiting to see what’s going to happen. You also can’t interrupt anyone else’s action (as you can with a readied action).

Initiative Consequences of Delaying

Your initiative result becomes the count on which you took the delayed action. If you come to your next action and have not yet performed an action, you don’t get to take a delayed action (though you can delay again).

If you take a delayed action in the next round, before your regular turn comes up, your initiative count rises to that new point in the order of battle, and you do not get your regular action that round.

Your turn can include a variety of flourishes that require neither your action nor your move.

You can communicate however you are able, through brief utterances and gestures, as you take your turn.

You can also interact with one object, paired set (twin blades/sword and shield) or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to attack. When switching weapons, if both weapons are easily accessible, this counts as a single item interaction.

If you want to interact with a second object, you need to use your action. Some magic items and other special objects always require an action to use, as stated in their descriptions.

The GM might require you to use an action for any of these activities when it needs special care or when it presents an unusual obstacle. For instance, the GM could reasonably expect you to use an action to open a stuck door or turn a crank to lower a drawbridge.

Items carried by a character are considered to either be Readied or Stowed:

• Readied items are those that the character is wearing at all times, or that they have conveniently to hand in sheaths, holsters, or belt pouches. A character can draw or produce a Readied item using their item interaction.
• Stowed items are carried in backpacks, in carefully-balanced leg or arm pockets, or otherwise packed away where they will least encumber the character. If a character needs to get out a Stowed item in a hurry, they must use their Action to dig it out of their pack or pockets.

Breaking Up Your Move

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.

Difficult Terrain

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 or Supine

Combatants often find themselves lying on the ground, either because they are knocked down, or because they threw themselves down. In the game, they are considered to be either prone (lying on their front) or supine (lying on their back). Whether a character is prone or supine can be derived from context and is determined by the GM. These conditions are 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.

If you are supine, then standing requires that you either succeed at a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check, or you must turn from supine to prone, which costs 5 feet of movement.

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

You can move through a non-hostile creature's space. However, you can only move through a hostile creature's space 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 must succeed at a defence check vs the hostile creature's weapon skill (10 + their attack bonus), or be hit by 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.

Creature Size

Each creature takes up a different amount of space. The Size Categories table shows how much space a creature of a particular size controls in combat. Objects sometimes use the same size categories.

Size Categories

Size	Space
Tiny	2½ by 2½ ft.
Small	5 by 5 ft.
Medium	5 by 5 ft.
Large	10 by 10 ft.
Huge	15 by 15 ft.
Gargantuan	20 by 20 ft. or larger

Space

A creature's space is the area in feet that it effectively controls in combat, not an expression of its physical dimensions. A typical Medium creature isn't 5 feet wide, for example, but it does control a space that wide. If a Medium hobgoblin stands in a 5-foot-wide doorway, other creatures can't get through unless the hobgoblin lets them.

A creature's space also reflects the area it needs to fight effectively. For that reason, there's a limit to the number of creatures that can surround another creature in combat. Assuming Medium combatants, eight creatures can fit in a 5-foot radius around another one.

Because larger creatures take up more space, fewer of them can surround a creature. If four Large creatures crowd around a Medium or smaller one, there's little room for anyone else. In contrast, as many as twenty Medium creatures can surround a Gargantuan one.

Squeezing into a Smaller Space

A creature can squeeze through a space that is large enough for a creature one size smaller than it. Thus, a Large creature can squeeze through a passage that's only 5 feet wide. While squeezing through a space, a creature must spend 1 extra foot for every foot it moves there, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage while it's in the smaller space.

Playing on a Grid

If you play out a combat using a square grid and miniatures or other tokens, follow these rules.

Squares. Each square on the grid represents 5 feet.

Speed. Rather than moving foot by foot, move square by square on the grid. This means you use your speed in 5 foot segments. This is particularly easy if you translate your speed into squares by dividing the speed by 5. For example, a speed of 30 feet translates into a speed of 6 squares.

If you use a grid often, consider writing your speed in squares on your character sheet.

Entering a Square. To enter a square, you must have at least 1 square of movement left.

If a square costs extra movement, as a square of difficult terrain does, you must have enough movement left to pay for entering it. For example, you must have at least 2 squares of movement left to enter a square of difficult terrain.

Corners. Diagonal movement can't cross the corner of a wall, large tree, aor other terrain feature that fills its space.

Ranges. To determine the range on a grid between two things (whether creatures or objects) start counting squares from a square adjacent to one of them and stop counting in the space of the other one. Count by the shortest route.

Flanking

Flanking gives combatants a simple way to gain advantage on attack rolls against a common enemy.

A creature can't flank an enemy that it can't see. A creature also can't flank while it is incapacitated. A Large or larger creature is flanking as long as at least one square of its space qualifies for flanking.

When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides or corners of the enemy's space, they flank that enemy, and each of them has advantage on melee attack rolls against that enemy.

When in doubt about whether two creatures flank an enemy on a grid, trace an imaginary line between the centers of the creatures' spaces. If the line passes through opposite sides or corners of the enemy's space, the enemy is flanked.

Optionally, a flanked creature may choose one of the attackers that are flanking it and deny them the benefit of flanking. However, all other attackers receive an additional die of advantage. The chosen attacker may be changed as part of the creature's movement on its turn.

Attack

The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, shooting an arrow fram 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 for attacks.

Certain features, such as the Extra Attack class feature, allow you to make more than one attack with this action.

Cast a Spell (Varies)

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 bonus action, 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 their action in combat to cast such a spell. See chapter 10 for the rules on spellcasting.

Charge ( and )

If you spend your movement for a turn to move at least 20 feet towards a target and finish your movement within reach of it, then you may declare a charge attack as an action. You must have a clear path towards your target, and nothing may hinder your path (such as difficult terrain or obstacles). Choose one of these options:

Strike. You may make a single melee attack with advantage. The attack deals additional damage equal to the distance you charged divided by 5, up to your Strength or Constitution modifier (your choice, minimum of 1). If you are riding a mounted animal that provides the movement instead of you, you must use its Strength or Constitution instead.

Slam. You may perform a shove attack with advantage. If you fail, you provoke an attack of opportunity from your target. If you succeed, the creature is shoved twice the normal distance, or shoved as normal and then knocked prone. You may choose to move up to five feet in the direction you are shoving your target.

Tackle. You may make a single grapple attempt with advantage. If the grapple fails, you provoke an attack of opportunity from your target and are knocked prone. If you succeed, both you and your opponent are knocked prone and your target is subjected to the Grappled condition.

Dash

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.

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. You lose this benefit if you are incapacitated (as explained in appendix A) or if your speed drops to 0.

Guard

You can defend a creature within 5 feet of you. When you take the Guard action, you focus entirely on preventing attacks from reaching your ally. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll targeting the guarded ally has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, as long as the ally is within 5 feet of you.

Additionally, when you take this action, you can declare that, if an attack would hit the guarded ally, you will instead have it hit you (no action required). If you do so, the attacker chooses the maximum amount of damage instead of rolling.

Help

As an Action, you can aid an ally's next ability check, helping them achieve success on their ability check by making the same kind of ability check in a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on your check, the character that you are helping receives advantage on their own check. You can't take 10 on an ability check to Help.

Multiple creatures can help the same target and similar bonuses stack.

Hide

When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the rules in chapter 7 for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the "Unseen Attackers and Targets" section later in this chapter.

Hold On

You can use your object interaction to hold on to a solid object as an anchor. This requires the use of both hands. As long as you maintain your grip, any attempts to move you or knock you prone are made with disadvantage.

Once you are holding on, you can continue to do so as long as you do not release your grip or use your hands for anything else. If you are moved further than 5 feet away from the object, or knocked prone, the effect ends.

Object Use

You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.

Overrun ( or )

When a creature tries to move through a hostile creature’s space, the mover can try to force its way through by overrunning the hostile creature. As an action, or a bonus action, the mover makes a Strength (Athletics) check against the higher of the hostile creature’s weapon skill and passive Strength (Athletics) score. The creature attempting the overrun has advantage on this check if it is larger than the hostile creature, or disadvantage if it is smaller.

If the mover succeeds, it can move through the hostile creature’s space once this turn and does not provoke an opportunity attack when leaving the reach of the hostile creature who's space it passed through.

If the mover fails by less than 5, it may still choose to pass through the hostile creature's space. However, it treats the space as difficult terrain and provokes an opportunity attack from the hostile creature.

If the mover fails by 5 or more, it cannot move through the hostile creature's space.

A creature that attempts to overrun more than one hostile creature in a single turn suffers disadvantage on all successive Strength (Athletics) checks to overrun.

Ready (Varies)

Readying lets you prepare to take an Action later, after your turn is over, but before your next turn has begun. To do so, specify the Action that you will take and the circumstances under which you will take it. Then, any time before your next turn, you may take the Readied Action in response to those circumstances (assuming they occur).

Search

When you take the Search action, you devote your attention to finding something. Depending on the nature of your search, the GM might have you make a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Tumble ( or )

A creature can try to tumble through a hostile creature’s space, ducking and weaving past the opponent. As an action or a bonus action, the tumbler makes a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the higher of the hostile creature’s weapon skill and passive Dexterity (Acrobatics) score.

If the tumbler succeeds, it can move through the hostile creature’s space once this turn and does not provoke an opportunity attack when leaving the reach of the hostile creature who's space it passed through.

If the mover fails by less than 5, it may still choose to pass through the hostile creature's space. However, it treats the space as difficult terrain and provokes an opportunity attack from the hostile creature.

If the mover fails by 5 or more, it cannot move through the hostile creature's space.

A creature that attempts to tumble past more than one hostile creature in a single turn suffers disadvantage on all successive Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks to tumble.

Attack Rolls

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 Dexterity defence, the attack hits. The Dexterity defence of a character is determined at character creation, whereas the Dexterity defence of a monster is in its stat block.

Unseen Attackers and Targets

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.

Melee Reach

Most creatures have a 5-foot reach and can thus attack targets within 5 feet of them when making a melee attack. Certain creatures (typically those larger than Medium) have melee attacks with a greater reach than 5 feet, as noted in their descriptions.

Unarmed Attacks

When you are unarmed, you can fight in melee by making an unarmed strike, as shown in the weapon table in chapter 5. Unarmed strikes, be they punches, kicks, head-butts, or any similar forceful blow, count as weapons.

Opportunity Attacks

In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for enemies to drop their guard. You can rarely move heedlessly past your foes without putting yourself in danger. If you do so, you must make a defence check to avoid being hit by an opportunity attack.

An opportunity attack is a single melee attack that a creature makes when a hostile creature that it can see moves out of its reach. Each creature may do this once per round and will do so at the first opportunity, unless declared otherwise on its turn. Additionally, a creature may declare on its turn that its opportunity attack will be a grapple attempt. The attack interrupts the movement of the moving creature, occurring right before the moving creature leaves the attacking creature's reach.

To avoid being hit by the opportunity attack, the moving creature must make a defence check vs the attacking creature's weapon skill (10 + their attack bonus), or their passive Strength (Athletics) score, in the case of an opportunity grapple. The moving creature may choose whether it wishes to use Strength defence to block the attack, or whether it wishes to use Dexterity defence to evade the attack.

A creature can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the Disengage action. Teleportation or being rapidly moved by someone or something else without using your own movement or action also does not provoke an opportunity attack. For example, a creature does not provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls it out of a foe's reach or if gravity causes it to fall past an enemy. However, slow, uncontrolled movement, such as being shoved does provoke an opportunity attack.

Melee Attack Options

Actions marked with replace one of your Attacks. Actions marked with can be taken as a bonus action.

Distract

You can aid another character's attack by forcing an enemy to avoid your own attacks, making it more difficult for them to avoid your ally. Select an enemy and make an attack against a Dexterity defence of 10 (modified by cover). If you succeed, you grant advantage to allied attack rolls against that opponent until the start of your next turn.

Multiple creatures can distract the same target and similar bonuses stack.

Drive Back

Using one of your attacks, you attempt to force back a standing creature. The target must be no larger than you in size. Make an attack roll vs the target's weapon skill. If you win the contest, the target backs away from you by 5 feet. As part of this attack, you can move 5 feet in the direction of the target.

Feint (not Unwieldy)

Before you make an attack with a melee weapon that you are proficient with, you can spend your bonus action and perform a feint to deceive your target.

Make an attack roll or a Charisma (Deception) check opposed by the higher of the target's passive insight or weapon skill.

If you succeed, you have advantage on your next attack. If you fail you have disadvantage on the next attack roll and you cannot succeed a Feint against this target for the rest of the encounter.

Fight Dirty (Free Hand)

Fighting dirty refers to a number of dishonourable tricks that exploit common weaknesses.

You can change one of your attacks into a dirty move from the list below. Make a Strength (Athletics) check vs your target's passive Wisdom (Insight) score. If you fail, you provoke an attack of opportunity from your opponent. If you succeed, apply the dirty move effect.

Head lock. The target is grappled by you and suffocating (see Chapter 8) until the grapple is broken.

Eye jab. The target is Blinded until the end of its next turn. You may also shove the creature as part of the Dirty Trick, but at disadvantage.

Groin shot. The target is Stunned until the end of its next turn. You may also shove the creature as part of the Dirty Trick, but at disadvantage.

Once you use a dirty move against a target, you cannot succeed with the same move again vs that target during the same encounter.

Grapple

When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.

The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you, and it must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making an unarmed attack roll vs the target's Strength or Dexterity defence (the target chooses the defence to use). If the target is proficient in athletics, then it is considered to be proficient in Strength defence for the purposes of grappling. If the target is proficient in acrobatics, then it is considered to be proficient in Dexterity defence for the purposes of grappling. If your target is smaller than you, you have advantage. If the target is larger than you, you have disadvantage. If you succeed, you subject the target to the grappled condition (see Appendix A). The condition specifies the things that end it, and you can release the target whenever you like (no action required).

Grapple Continued

Lunge (Piercing, not Unwieldy or Light)

You can make a special melee weapon attack that extends the reach of your weapon by 5 feet. You provoke opportunity attacks from enemies within 5 feet of you.

Power Attack

Before you make an attack with a melee weapon using your Strength modifier, you can choose to suffer disadvantage on the attack roll and attempt to put more of your raw strength behind a powerful blow. If the attack hits, you roll the damage dice twice and take the better result.

Shove

Using the attack action, you can make a special melee attack to either knock a creature prone or to push it away from you. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.

The target of a shove must be no more than one size larger than the attacker and must be within their reach. The attacker makes an unarmed attack roll vs the target's Strength or Dexterity defence (the target chooses the ability to use). If the target is proficient in athletics, then it is considered to be proficient in Strength defence. If the target is proficient in acrobatics, then it is considered to be proficient in Dexterity defence. If you hit, you either knock the target prone or push it 5 feet away from you.

Alternatively, the attacker can attempt to force a target to the side, rather than away from them. They have disadvantage on their Strength (Athletics) check when they do so. If the check is successful, they move the target 5 feet to a different space within your reach.

Stagger (Bludgeoning)

Before you make a melee attack with a bludgeoning weapon, you can choose to suffer disadvantage on the attack roll and try to disrupt the movement of your target while attacking.

If the target takes damage, the target's movement speed
is reduced by 10 until the end of its next turn. If its speed is reduced to 0 in this way, it immediately drops prone. Until the target recovers its movement speed to full it cannot use the Dash, Disengage and Dodge actions.

Sunder (Martial Axe or Sundering)

You can attempt to sunder an item held or worn by your opponent in place of a melee attack. If your attack is successful, you deal damage to the item normally. Damage that exceeds the object's Damage Reduction is subtracted from its hit points. If an object has equal to or less than half its total hit points remaining, it gains the broken condition. If the damage you deal would reduce the object to less than 0 hit points, you can choose to destroy it. If you do not choose to destroy it, the object is left with only 1 hit point and the broken condition.

When sundering armour, only the outermost layer is the one that gains the broken condition.

If an item is magical, add +2 to its DR and +10 to its hp for for each rarity category (see Chapter 8).

Common Armour, Shield & Weapon DR & hp

The hp value given is for armour and shields sized for a medium creature. Divide this number by 2 for each size category of the item smaller than Medium, or multiply it by 2 for each size category larger than Medium.

Suppress

You can keep the pressure on an enemy, making their attacks more difficult. Select an opponent and make an attack against a Dexterity defence of 10 (modified by cover). If you succeed, that opponent suffers disadvantage on its attack rolls until the start of your next turn.

Multiple creatures can suppress the same target and similar bonuses stack.

Cover

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, then the target has three-quarters cover.

A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to Dexterity defence. 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 Dexterity defence. 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.

If an attack misses a creature only due to a Dexterity Defence bonus from cover, the attack hits said cover. If that cover was another creature, that creature suffers the effects of the attack.

Damage and Healing

Injury and the risk of death are constant companions of those who explore the world of Arden. The thrust of a sword, a well-placed arrow, or a blast of f1ame from a fireball spell all have the potential to damage, or even kill, the hardiest of creatures.

Hit Points

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 O hit points.

Exertion

Sometimes, hit points can be deliberately spent to put extra effort into a specific action. When a player wishes to do this, they roll a hit die, apply this number as a modifier to an associated roll and take the same amount of damage, which cannot be reduced in any way. Although this is generally a matter for GM fiat, here are some examples and suggested cases:

• Adding to the to attack roll of a weapon attack.
• Adding to the damage of an attack or spell.
• Adding to the effect of a healing spell.
• Adding a number of five foot squares to a move.

Spellcasting is a special case. When rolling a HD to boost the attack roll of a spell, the player must multiply the damage they take by the spell's level (1 for cantrips).

A HD rolled by a half caster or subclass caster to boost a spell's attack roll provides only one half or one third of the benefit, respectively.

Damage Types

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 and constriction) deal bludgeoning damage. Melee attacks that deal bludgeoning damage have advantage to hit targets defending with Strength defence and disadvantage to hit targets defending with Dexterity defence.

Cold. The infernal chill 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, axes and monsters' claws deal slashing damage. Melee attacks that deal slashing damage have advantage to hit targets defending with Dexterity defence and disadvantage to hit targets defending with Strength defence.

Thunder. A concussive burst of sound, such as the effect of the thunderwave spell, deals thunder damage.

Describing The Effects Of Damage

Game Masters describe hit point loss in different ways. When your current hit point total is half or more of your hit point maximum, you typically show no signs of injury. When you drop below half your hit point maximum, you show signs of wear, such as cuts and bruises. An attack that reduces you to 0 hit points strikes you directly, leaving a bleeding injury, or knocking you unconscious.

Critical Hits

When you score a critical hit, you get a bonus to the attack's damage against the target. Roll all of the attack's damage dice and add them to the maximum possible roll for a normal attack. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal.

For example, if you score a critical hit with a dagger, roll 1d4+4 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 add the maximum value of those dice as well.

Massive Damage

When a creature takes damage from a single source equal to or greater than half its hit point maximum, the attacker makes an additional attack roll with a bonus of +5 vs the creature's Constitution defence. On a hit, the creature suffers a random effect determined by a roll on the System Shock table. For example, the Constitution defence of a creature that has a hit point maximum of 30 is attacked if it takes 15 damage or more from a single source.

Resistance and Vulnerability

Some creatures and objects are exceedingly difficult or unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage.

If a creature or an object has resistance to a damage type, damage of that type is halved against it. If a creature or an object has vulnerability to a damage type, damage of that type is increased by 50% against it.

Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after all other modifiers to damage. For example, a creature has resistance to bludgeoning damage and is hit by an attack that deals 25 bludgeoning damage. The creature is also within a magical aura that reduces all damage by 5. The 25 damage is first reduced by 5 and then halved, so the creature takes 10 damage.

Multiple Instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type stack as follows:

Injuries

Damage normally leaves no lingering effects. However, if a player wishes to take no hit point damage from a given attack, then they may instead check for a lingering injury.

To determine the nature of the injury, roll on the injury table of the corresponding damage type. These tables assume a typical humanoid physiology, but the results can be adapted for creatures with different body types.

If you roll a 1-3 and have no more body parts of the given type to lose, or if you roll a 4-13 and have already suffered this injury, then you suffer the next worst injury on the table. If you cannot sustain any further injuries, you are dying.

Resistance to the damage type causing the injury grants advantage on the roll. Vulnerability to the damage type causing the injury imparts disadvantage on the roll. If the roll falls within the range defined by the coverage of your armour, then you may reroll and take the better result.

Fresh injuries are at risk of festering. The first time that you take a long rest after suffering an injury, make a DC 11 Constitution defence check. If your injuries have been cleaned with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Medicine) check, then you have advantage on this check. If you fail, then you suffer a festering wound in addition to your injury.

Sometimes, a character suffers from an injury that requires a period of natural healing to be removed, such as an internal injury. Days on which a character suffering from such an effect receives magical healing while at maximum hit points, count as two days for the purposes of determining the duration of such injuries.

Instant Death

Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum.

For example, a cleric with a maximum of 13 hit points currently has 6 hit points. If they take 19 damage from an attack, they are reduced to 0 hit points, but 13 damage remains. Since the remaining damage equals their hit point maximum, the cleric dies.

Falling Unconscious

If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious (see Appendix). This unconsciousness ends if you regain any hit points.

Death Saving Throws

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special check, called a death saving throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life. Unlike other checks, this one isn't tied to any ability score. You are in the hands of fate now, aided only by spells and features that improve your chances of succeeding on ability checks.

Roll a d20. If the roll is 11 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself. On your third success, you become stable (see below). On your third failure, you die. The successes and failures don't need to be consecutive; keep track of both until you collect three of a kind.

The number of successful death saving throws is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or become stable. The number of failed death saving throws is reset to zero when you take an extended rest. Alternatively, the spell lesser restoration can remove one failed death saving throw, or the spell greater restoration can remove all failed death saving throws from a creature.

Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, it counts as two successes.

Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.

Stabilising a Creature

The best way to save a creature with 0 hit points is to heal it. If healing is unavailable, the creature can at least be stabilised so that it isn't killed by a failed death saving throw.

You can use your action to administer first aid to an unconscious creature and attempt to stabilise it, which requires a successful Wisdom (Medicine) check of DC 15, +5 for every death save that that creature has failed.

A stable creature doesn't make death saving throws, even though it has 0 hit points, but it does remain unconscious. The creature stops being stable, and must start making death saving throws again, if it takes any damage. A stable creature that isn't healed regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours.

Monsters and Death

Most GMs have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 hit points, rather than having it fall unconscious and make death saves.

Mighty villains and special non-player characters are common exceptions; the GM might have them fall unconscious and follow the same rules as player characters.

Knocking a Creature Out

Sometimes an attacker wants to incapacitate a foe by making a non-lethal attack, rather than deal a killing blow. The attacker must make this choice before dealing damage.

All melee weapons may be used to make non-lethal attacks, but they deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1 plus Strength instead of their typical value. Only weapons with the non-lethal property deal their full damage with a non-lethal attack. All improvised weapons have this property if they deal bludgeoning damage.

When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a non-lethal attack, the attacker knocks the creature out. The creature falls unconscious and is stable.

Temporary Hit Points

Some spells and special abilities confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren't actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury.

When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first and any left over damage carries over to your normal hit points. For example, if you have 5 temporary hit points and take 7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then take 2 damage.

Since temporary hit points are separate from your actual hit points, they can exceed your hit point maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full hit points and receive temporary hit points.

Healing can't restore temporary hit points and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

If you have 0 hit points, receiving temporary hit points doesn't restore you to consciousness or stabilise you. They can still absorb damage directed at you while you're in that state, but only true healing can save you.

Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points has a duration, they last until they're depleted or you finish a long rest.

Mounting and Dismounting

Once during your move, you can mount a creature that is within 5 feet of you or dismount. Doing so costs an 5 feet of movement, plus an additional 5 for every size category of the mount above tiny. For example, you must spend 15 feet of movement to mount a large horse. Therefore, you can't mount it if you don't have 15 feet of movement left or if your speed is 0.

A horse (not a pony) is a Large creature and thus takes up a space 10 feet (2 squares) across. For simplicity, assume that you share your mount's space during combat.

Controlling a Mount

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.

Attacking While Mounted

With a DC 5 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check, you can guide your mount with your knees so as to use both hands to attack or defend yourself. This is a free action.

When you attack a creature smaller than your mount that is on foot, you have advantage on melee attacks for being on higher ground. If your mount moves more than 5 feet, then you can only make a single melee attack as you pass your target. Essentially, you have to wait until the mount gets to your target before attacking, so you can't make multiple attacks vs a single target. However, if you have the Extra Attack class feature, you may attack multiple targets by moving in between. Even at your mount's full speed, you don't take any penalty on melee attacks while mounted.

If your mount charges and you make an attack at the end of the charge, you receive the bonus gained from the charge.

You can use ranged weapons while your mount is dashing, but you suffer disadvantage on the attack roll. You make the attack roll when your mount has completed half its movement. You can use the Extra Attack class feature with a ranged weapon while your mount is moving.

Casting Spells While Mounted

You can cast a spell normally if your mount moves up to a normal move (its speed) either before or after you cast. If you have your mount move both before and after you cast a spell, then you're casting the spell while the mount is moving, and you have to make a concentration check due to the vigorous motion (DC 10 + spell level) or lose the spell. If the mount is dashing, you can cast a spell when your mount has moved up to twice its speed, but your concentration check is more difficult due to the violent motion (DC 15 + spell level).

Underwater Combat

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.