Round: One round lasts for six seconds.

During which, all players,

friendly creatures and enemies have their turn once.

Turn: When it’s your time to play during the round, it’s your turn.

Initiative: Initiative determines the order in which you play during a

battle. To figure out your initiative, you roll a D20 and you add your
Dexterity modifier. The one with the highest number goes first, the
one with the second highest goes second etc If two players roll the
same number they can either decide between them who goes first
and who goes second, or they can roll a D20 and the one with the
highest number can take the first turn.

Armor Class ( AC ): Armour class symbolizes how difficult it is to

hit someone or how well they can dodge your attacks. To damage
someone with your weapon, you need to roll for their AC first. To
roll for the AC, you roll a D20 and you add your damage modifier to
it. So if you are a Monk or a Ranger, your damage modifier is
Dexterity and so on. If the enemy’s AC is 13 and your number is
lower than that, you cannot damage them. If your number is equal
or higher than the enemy’s AC you can damage them. In case you
are proficient with a weapon, you can also add your proficiency
bonus along with your damage modifier and the D20 roll.

Hit Points ( HP ): Hit points are how much life a character has.
When you damage someone, you lower their hp. If your HP is
reduced to 0, you fall unconscious and you need to roll death
saves. You roll with a D20 and overall you need 3 rolls with a
number equal or higher than 10 to live. With a 10, 4, 6, 14, 15 you
live. With a 10, 4, 5, 14, 9 you die. If you roll a nat1, it is considered
as two “failures”. A nat20 brings you to 1 hp. If you roll three times
equal or above 10 and you live, you are stabilized but you still
remain at 0 hp. If someone does a Medicine check and succeeds
you are also stabilized and do not need to roll for death saves. If
you use a health potion ( the rules say that someone can take an
action to use a health potion on you to heal you; the health potion
heals you 2d4 + 2 hit points BUT, when you’ll play with me, if
someone takes an action to use a healing potion on you it will heal
you 10 hit points, and if they take a bonus action to use the potion
that’s when it will heal you 2d4 + 2 hp ) or if someone heals you,
you regain hit points. Lastly, if the damage that knocks you
unconscious is so big that it reaches minus the number of your total
hit points, you instantly die and you don’t roll for death saves. For
instance, if you currently have 5/22 hp, and the damage that
someone hits you with is 30, it is enough to be -22 so you die. At -
21 hp, you can remain unconscious.

Speed: Your speed is how many feet you can move during one
round. Your speed is determined by your race and sometimes by
your class. Your speed can be broken up in one round. Let’s say,
your overall speed is 30 ft. When it’s your turn, you can use 15 feet
to move towards an enemy, attack him, and then use your
remaining speed, that's 15 feet, to get away from the enemy. Once
you use your speed, it is reduced to 0 for the rest of the round. On
the start of the new round you regain all your speed.

Dash: If you want to move more than your normal speed allows
you, you can take the dash action and move twice your normal
speed. If your speed is 30 ft., the speed action allows you to move
60 ft. in one round.

Hit Dice: The dice that’s your hit dice ( as in; is it a D8? A D10? ) is
determined by your class, and how many you have are determined
by your character level. For instance, a lv. 3 Barbarian has 3D12 hit
dice. You can spend these hit dice during a short rest to regain hit
points. You can regain half of your spent hit dice every time you
have a long rest.

Short rest: During a short rest, which usually lasts for an hour and
is useful after fights, you can regain hit points based on your hit dice
if you wish. More than that, some classes can do different things
during short rest. For instance, a warlock can regain their used spell
slots.

Long rest: A long rest lasts for eight hours or more. During one,
players are supposed to sleep, eat, relax and generally do nothing
more strenuous than keep watch for two hours. After you finish a
long rest, you can regain all of your hit points, half of your hit dice,
and expended things like ki points or spell slots.

Proficiency: When you are proficient at something, you can add

your proficiency bonus to your roll. Your proficiency bonus is
determined by your character level. For instance, a level three
character has a +2 proficiency bonus, and he can add that
proficiency bonus to all abilities he’s proficient at besides the skill
modifier. So if he’s proficient at deception, besides the +2 he has on
charisma, he will also add the +2 from proficiency to make a total of
plus for. Proficiency bonus is added on attack rolls from weapons
you are proficient with, saving throws you are proficient with etc.
You cannot add your proficiency bonus to your damage rolls.

When you attack with a weapon you roll the dice the weapon tells
you it uses. A longsword uses a D8 if you hold it with one hand,
D10 if you hold it with two hands. To that, you will add your strength
modifier ( or whatever damage type bonus the weapon needs,
some weapons need the dexterity modifier ). When you read the
description of a weapon, it tells you what kind of weapon it is,
simple, martial etc. If your character is proficient with that kind of
weapon, you can add your proficiency bonus to your attack roll.
Depending on what class you’re playing, you might need to add
some other kind of damage to your roll. For instance, when raging,
a Barbarian will add a certain amount of damage depending on
what level he is ( a lv. 3 Barbarian adds +2 as a rage bonus ).
Another example is that rogues do more damage if they manage to
do a sneak attack. So:
Attack Roll: D20 + DAMAGE TYPE MODIFIER + PROFICIENCY
BONUS IF APPLICABLE

Damage roll: DAMAGE DICE + DAMAGE TYPE MODIFIER +

BONUS DAMAGE IF APPLICABLE.
Normal range: When a weapon can be thrown, it has a normal
range which will be written. When you look at a description and it
says 20/60 ft. range, the normal range is the smallest one.

Max range: Besides normal range, a weapon that can be thrown

can also be thrown further than normal but because it is thrown so
far away, if it exceeds the normal range, when you roll to see if you
will hit the enemy’s AC you have disadvantage. A weapon
automatically misses if it exceeds its max range.

Characters that use bows or guns have a limited number of

arrows and ammunition. If you run out during a battle, you can’t use
that weapon anymore. After a battle, the player can take one minute
to search the battlefield, and find half of their arrows and
ammunition. To get more arrows and ammunition you need to buy
them.

Advantage: When you have advantage, you roll a D20 two times
and pick the bigger number. So, if you roll a 17 and a 6, you will use
the 17.

Disadvantage: You roll twice and choose the smaller number.

You can have Advantage or Disadvantage for various reasons.

Let’s say you’re fighting in the dark, and you don’t have Dark Vision
which allows you to see in the dark. If you want to attack someone
and roll for their AC or if you want to roll an Ability check based on
sight ( Perception, Investigation etc ) you will have Disadvantage
because you cannot see. If, on the other hand, you want to try to
steal something from someone in the dark who doesn’t have Dark
Vision, you will have Advantage on your Sleight of Hand check
because the other person cannot see.

If you have both Advantage and Disadvantage at the same time,

they cancel each other out and you roll straight. You also can’t add
up Advantage or Disadvantage. Even if two different things were
giving you Advantage on something, you would still roll as if you
only had Advantage from one.

When someone takes the Help action, you can lend your aid to
another creature in the completion of a task. That creature gains
advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task
you are helping with.

You can also aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5

ft. of you. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the
first attack roll is made with advantage.

The help action needs to be justified by roleplay. So, if you’re trying

to help someone find a book in a library, you need to specify that
you’re also looking for that book with them instead of declaring that
you’re giving the help action. During battle, you can describe how
you’re distracting the target to make your ally’s attack more
effective.

Not always can the help action be granted.

Difficult terrain: When you are traversing through a place which is

not easy to walk through, such as shallow water, mud, thick
plantation etc it is considered difficult terrain. Difficult terrains halves
your movement speed. If you would normally move 30 ft. during a
round, you can now move 15 ft. If you take the dash action, you
would be able to move 30 ft. during your round.
When you cast a spell, sometimes you don’t need to roll to see if
you surprass the enemy’s AC. Some of these spells hit the enemy
instantly like magic missile and you roll for damage, and some of
these spells require the enemy to make a saving throw.

To make a saving throw, you roll a D20 and you add the
appropriate ability modifier. Let’s say a spell requires a charisma
saving throw. You roll the d20 and you add your charisma modifier.
You can be proficient at saving throws ( so you also add your
proficiency bonus ) and you can also have advantage or
disadvantage on them.

When you roll a saving throw, it competes with the spell’s DC.
A spell’s DC is: 8 + THE CASTER’S PROFICIENCY BONUS +
YOUR SPELLCASTING ABILITY MODIFIER. For instance, a bard
and a warlock’s spellcasting ability modifier is their charisma.

Let’s say that someone is casting a spell and their spell dc is 13. If
the enemy rolls below 13, then they take full damage ( let’s say the
spell does 3d8 damage ), but if they roll equal or above to 13 then
the spell specifies whether they take half damage or no damage at
all.

When you cast spells that ask you to roll for the enemy’s AC, you
roll a D20 and you add to that your attack bonus. Your attack
bonus is: YOUR SPELLCASTING ABILITY MODIFIER + YOUR
PROFICIENCY BONUS.

ALL RANGED ATTACKS, WHETHER THEY BE SPELLS OR

ATTACKS MADE FROM A BOW/GUN ETC. ROLL FOR AC WITH
DISADVANTAGE IF THEY ARE WITHIN 5 FEET OF THE ENEMY
UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ABILITY OR FEAT THAT STATES SO
OTHERWISE. THE ENEMY ROLLS WITH ADVANTAGE FOR
THEIR AC.
Some spells need concentration to be cast. If your character is
concentrated, they cannot cast another spell that needs
concentration and they cannot take damage. If they take damage,
they need to roll a constitution saving throw to retain their
concentration. The saving throw’s dc is 10 or half of the damage
they’ve taken, whichever is the highest number. If the player loses
concentration, the spell and the spell slot is lost. If the spell takes
more than one action to cast and has not taken effect yet and you
lose your concentration, the spell slot is not lost.

Some spells need time to be cast while others can be cast in one
action. During battle, you have to keep in mind that one round lasts
six seconds, so a spell that needs a minute to be cast, well it cannot
really be cast unless you have started casting it before battle begun

Spell slots: Spellcasters have spell slots. Spell slots are basically
how many spells you can cast ( you may know more spells than
your spell slots ). How many spell slots you have depend on your
class and your level. You can regain all your spell slots every time
you finish a long rest. If you try to cast a spell but you miss the
enemy’s AC, the spell slot is still consumed.

Spells have different levels. They go from 1 to level 9. Level 1

being the weaker spells and level 9 being the strongest. Each spell
tells you in each description what level it is. Your spell slots also tell
you what level spells you can use. If, let’s say, you have 5 spell
slots in total, you will be told that 3 are level 1 spell slots and 2 are
level 2 spell slots. You can cast spells of lower level with a higher
spell slot level. So a level 1 spell can be cast with a level 2 spell
slot, but a level 2 spell cannot be cast with a level 1 spell slot.
Sometimes, spells specify in their description that if you cast them
with a spell slot that’s higher of their level, their damage increases.

Depending on your class, spellcasters have known and prepared

spells. Known spells are how many spells you know overall, and
prepared spells are a list of spells that you prepare every day and
you can only use these during the day. Your known and prepared
spells are determined by your class and level.

For example, clerics, paladins and druids know all of the spells and
prepare a subset of them each day.

Sorcerers, bards and rangers know a subset of all the spells, but
can cast all the ones they know without preparing them each day.

Wizards know a subset of all the spells which are written in their
spellbook, and they also have to prepare a subset of them to cast
each day.

Cantrips: Cantrips are like “Level 0” spells and they do not require
spell slots to cast. They can be cast at will at any point.

Exhaustion: Some Special Abilities and environmental Hazards,

such as starvation and the long-term Effects of freezing or
scorching temperatures, can lead to a Special condition called
exhaustion. Exhaustion is measured in six levels. An Effect can give
a creature one or more levels of exhaustion, as specified in the
effect’s description.

Level Effect
1 Disadvantage on Ability Checks
2 Speed halved

3 Disadvantage on Attack rolls and Saving Throws

4 Hit point maximum halved

5 Speed reduced to 0

6 Death

If an already exhausted creature suffers another Effect that causes

exhaustion, its current level of exhaustion increases by the amount
specified in the effect’s description.

A creature suffers the Effect of its current level of exhaustion as well

as all lower levels. For example, a creature suffering level 2
exhaustion has its speed halved and has disadvantage on Ability
Checks.

An Effect that removes exhaustion reduces its level as specified in

the effect’s description, with all exhaustion Effects Ending if a
creature’s exhaustion level is reduced below 1.

Finishing a Long Rest reduces a creature’s exhaustion level by 1,

provided that the creature has also ingested some food and drink.

DURING BATTLE:

- Bonus Actions:
Various class features, spells, and other abilities let you take an
additional action on your turn called a bonus action. The Cunning
Action feature, for example, allows a rogue to take a bonus action.
You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or
other feature of the game states that you can do something as a
bonus action. You otherwise don’t have a bonus action to take.
You can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must
choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one
available. You choose when to take a bonus action during your
turn, unless the bonus action’s timing is specified, and anything that
deprives you of your ability to take actions also prevents you from
taking a bonus action.

- Other Activity on Your Turn:

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 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. 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 DM 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 DM could
reasonably expect you to use an action to open a stuck door or turn
a crank to lower a drawbridge.

- Interacting with Objects Around you:

Here are a few examples of the sorts of thing you can do in tandem
with your movement and action:
• draw or sheathe a sword
• open or close a door
• withdraw a potion from your backpack
• pick up a dropped axe
• take a bauble from a table
• remove a ring from your finger
• stuff some food into your mouth
• plant a banner in the ground
• fish a few coins from your belt pouch
• drink all the ale in a flagon
• throw a lever or a switch
• pull a torch from a sconce
• take a book from a shelf you can reach
• extinguish a small flame
• don a mask
• pull the hood of your cloak up and over your head
• put your ear to a door
• kick a small stone
• turn a key in a lock
• tap the floor with a 10-foot pole
• hand an item to another character

- Actions in Combat:
When you take your action on your turn, you can take one of the
actions presented here, an action you gained from your class or a
special feature, or an action that you improvise. Many monsters
have action options of their own in their stat blocks. When you
describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the DM tells
you whether that action is possible and what kind o f roll you need
to make, if any, to determine success or failure.

- Attack:
The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action,
whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or
brawling with your fists. With this action, you make one melee or
ranged attack.Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature
of the fighter, allow you to make more than one attack
with this action.

- Cast a Spell:
Spellcasters such as wizards and clerics, as well as many
monsters, have access to spells and can use them to great effect in
combat. Each spell has a casting time, which specifies whether the
caster must use an action, a reaction, minutes, or even hours to
cast the spell. Casting a spell is, therefore, not necessarily an
action. Most spells do have a casting time of 1 action, so a
spellcaster often uses his or her action in combat to cast such a
spell. You cannot cast more than one spell in your round even as a
bonus action.

- Disengage:
If you take the Disengage action, your movement doesn’t
provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn.

- Dodge:
When you take the Dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding
attacks. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll made
against you has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you
make Dexterity saving throws with advantage.

- Hide:
When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity
(Stealth) check in an attempt to hide. If you succeed and you find
partial cover, you gain a +2 to your AC. If you’re at least ¾ covered,
you gain a +5 to your AC. If you’re fully covered, the enemy cannot
target you.

- Ready:
Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular
circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready
action on your turn so that you can act later in the round using your
reaction. First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will
trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in
response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in
response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor,
I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the goblin steps next to me,
I will move away.” When the trigger occurs, you can either take your
reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger.
Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.
When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy,
which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be
readied, a spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding
onto the spell’s magic requires concentration. If your concentration
is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect. For example, if
you are concentrating on the web spell and ready magic missile,
your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release
magic missile with your reaction, your concentration might be
broken.

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

- Attack Opportunity:
An attack of opportunity is when you use your reaction to make a
free melee attack against a foe ( and vice versa ). An attack of
opportunity is provoked when a hostile creature leaves your reach.
Most melee weapons in D&D 5e have a reach of 5 feet which is
usually one standard square on a battle map. So your reach would
be defined as the 8 squares surrounding your character.
A single creature can provoke multiple opportunity attacks from
different characters if you and another character are within reach of
the target. But the same goes for the reverse. If you try to flee from
multiple attacking enemies, they will all get opportunity attacks.

Improvised weapon: Sometimes characters don’t have their

weapons and have to attack with whatever is at hand. An
improvised weapon includes any object you can wield in one or two
hands, such as broken glass, a table leg, a frying pan, a wagon
wheel, or a dead goblin. Often, an improvised weapon is similar to
an actual weapon and can be treated as such. For example, a table
leg is akin to a club. At the GM’s option, a character proficient with a
weapon can use a similar object as if it were that weapon and use
their proficiency bonus. An object that bears no resemblance to a
weapon deals 1D4 damage. If a character uses a ranged weapon to
make a melee attack, or throws a melee weapon that does not have
the thrown property, it also deals 1D4 damage. An improvised
thrown weapon has a normal range of 20 ft. and a long range of 60
ft.

Damage resistance, vulnerability and immunity: Each weapon

and spell describe what kind of damage they do in their description
( piercing, bludgeoning, fire etc. ). Some creatures have resistance
to some kinds of damage. When you have resistance to a certain
type of damage, you take half the damage that you should. When
you have a vulnerability, you take double the damage and when
you’re immune to a type of damage, you can’t be damaged by it.