Combat mechanics are a core part of every Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Characters will face enemies and obstacles that test their attacking and defending skills, while also driving the story forward and helping characters grow in both experience and personality.
Although it is one of the most tactical and mathematical based parts of the role-playing game, combat mechanics in DnD also define the character’s personality on how they move, attack, and defend themselves during the battle.
Following our series on DnD for Newbies, we’ve prepared a tutorial on the combat mechanics every player should know.
Roll for Initiative: Basic Concepts of Combat Mechanics
Before throwing any spells, arrows, and counterspells we must first go through some essential concepts that must be clear to both the players and the Dungeon Master when it comes to combat in DnD. As you may already know, a Dungeons and dragons campaign is一 or it can be一 mostly role-play, focusing on interactions between characters and NPCs that rely on dialogue, imagination, and ability checks.
However, when it comes to combat, positioning enemies at clear distances. Visualising the scenario or battlefield and understanding movement and range are key elements of running combat smoothly.
Combat Boards and Gridded Scenarios
The use of combat boards and gridded scenarios is not required to describe a battle; however, they can be valuable tools for helping players stay in context and better visualise the battlefield and threat posed by their enemy. Following the DM’s choose for the representation of the battle, we can find different types of D&D combat:
- Five-Foot-per-Square grid maps: one of the most widely used methods for representing combat encounters and battlefields in DnD. Each square on the map represents a five-foot area in the game, making it easier for players to measure movement, spell ranges and attack distances at a glance.
- Abstract of minimalistic maps: these maps focus on conveying only the key information needed for combat, such as key terrain features 一rocks, walls, holes, etc.一, general distances and relative positioning. These maps often use simple shades, symbols, or loose sketches.
- Theater of the mind: method in which the DM describes the situation and the players describe their attacks, movement, and defense in response. This is a completely narrative combat style, there is no need for miniatures and/or tokens, or any other visual representation.
Initiative
You’ve sure already heard the phrase “roll for initiative”. Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. Before combat begins, every participant in the battle makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. The Dungeon Master may make a roll for an entire group of identical creatures.
This is, for example, if your group of adventurers encounters five goblins and two wolves, each adventurer rolls a Dexterity check as their initiative, while the DM makes one Dexterity check for all five goblins and another for the two wolves.
Then, the Dungeon Master ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest dexterity to the one with the lowest, this is the order in which they will act during each round.
What happens in case of a tie? In that case, the Dungeon Master will decide the order among the DM-controlled creatures, and the players decide the order among their tied characters.
Surprise
Dungeons and Dragons’ combat mechanics include surprise, when one or more creatures are caught off guard at the start of the encounter, due to stealth, ambush or distraction. A surprised creature cannot move, take actions or use reactions on its first turn. A surprised creature still rolls initiative and acts normally on subsequent turns.
The Dungeon Master determines who might be surprised, if neither side tries to be stealthy, they notice each other. However if a creature is hiding the DM compares de Dexterity with the passive wisdom score of each creature on the opposing side.
Movement
In combat, creatures and adventurers are in constant movement and can position themselves to gain the upper hand. This includes jumping, climbing, running and swimming and these can be combined, or constitute a player’s entire turn. When a character or creature moves, they deduct the distance of each part of their move from their speed.
Movement if not affected by the creature’s action or needs to be used in a certain order. A character or creature can break up their move between actions and bonus actions.
For example, a character can move, cast a spell and move again.
Difficult terrain❗
Combat rarely takes place in empty rooms or plains; it usually occurs in environments with obstacles, hiding places, or slippery surfaces. In difficult terrain, every foot of movement costs one extra foot, even if multiple obstacles occupy the same space.
Actions
In Dungeons and Dragons combat mechanics, an action is the main event of a character’s turn, besides moving. Actions include attacking with a weapon, spells dogging, helping or even hiding. During each turn, a character or creature can take an action plus movement, and sometimes 一depending on the characters abilities一 a bonus action or reaction if available.
Attack
“Making an attack” is the most common action during a character or creature’s turn.
Casting spells
Each spell has a casting time and context in Dungeons and Dragons. A spell can take an action, a bonus action or even minutes or a number of turns. During combat, most spells have a casting time of one action, so spellcasters often use their main action each turn to cast a spell.
However, some spells can be cast as a bonus action or reaction, allowing spellcasters like wizards or clerics to combine spells with movement.
Dash
A dash action grants the character extra movement during their turn. The increase matches the character speed after adding any modifiers. This makes a useful action for closing gaps, escaping danger, or repositioning during combat.
Disengage
Disengage is an action that allows a character to move away from enemies without provoking opportunity attacks. When a character moves out of a creature’s reach , that creature can use its reaction to make a melee attack.
The character that takes disengage as an action, avoids the risk of a melee attack, making it easier to reposition, retreat or reach a safer spot.
Help
During their turn, a character or creature can assist another in a task or attack, this is called help. Using help allows a friendly creature to gain advantage on their ability check or attack roll against a target within 5 feet of the helper.
Search
For a search action during the turn, the Dungeon Master might have the player make a wisdom or intelligence check. An action devoted to finding something in order to obtain more information from the combat scene.
Improvising an Action
A character can do things not necessarily covered by the actions, the only limit to this action is the player’s imagination and the character’s ability scores.
The player will describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the Dungeon Master will tell them whether that action is possible and what kind of roll they need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.
Bonus Action
Additional actions a character can take during their turn, only available a class feature, spell or other ability specifically allows it. A character or creature can only take one bonus action per turn. The players decide when to take the bonus action during their turn unless the ability specifies a particular timing.
Reaction
An instant response to a trigger of some kind, which can occur during the player’s turn or someone else’s. Counterspell or opportunity attacks are some of the most common types of reaction.
When a player takes a reaction, they can take another one until the start of the next turn. If the reaction interrupts another creature’s turn, that creature can continue its turn right after the reaction.
Cover
Obstacles in a battlefield can also act as cover for the players. Trees, rocks or even other creatures can make the covered player more difficult to harm. In terms of cover, there are three levels.
- Half cover: the target with half cover gains a +2 bonus to AC and dexterity saving throws. A character has half cover if the obstacle blocks at least half of their body.
- Three-Quarters Cover: the target with half cover gains a +5 bonus to AC and dexterity saving throws. A character has three-quarters cover if about three-quarters of their body is covered by an obstacle.
- Total Cover: a character with total cover can’t be targeted directly by a spell or an attack.
Damage and Hit Points
Let’s move on to hit points, how much damage a creature, weapon or spell can inflict and how to keep track of them.
Types of damage in D&D
- Bludgeoning: force attacks, falling, weapons like hammers, maces, and falling.
- Piercing: damage by puncturing attacks, like arrows, pears, or daggers.
- Slashing: damage inflicted by weapons like swords or axes.
- Fire: damage by fire, explosions, or magical fire.
- Cold: extreme cold, frost or ice magic.
- Lightning: damage by electrical spells, energy or storms.
- Thunder: damage dealt by a powerful sound and concussive force of thunder.
- Acid: damage dealt by corrosive substances.
- Poison: damage from toxins,venoms or venomous spells.
- Necrotic: drains life energy, often from dark magic.
- Radiant: damage from holy energy or a divine power.
- Force: pure magical energy damage.
- Psychic: damage that affects the mind, causing fear, pain, or confusion.
Each weapon attack or spell specifies the type and amount of damage it deals. To determine the damage inflicted to a creature, the player rolls the appropriate dice, adds the modifiers and applies the total to the target.
When attacking with a weapon, the player adds their ability modifier to the damage. In the case of spells, these indicate which dice to roll and whether any modifiers apply.
Critical hits
Critical hits occur when an attack roll meets the conditions for its maximum damage. Usually by rolling a natural 20 on the d20. When it happens, the player rolls extra dice for the attack’s damage. The player rolls the attack’s dice twice and adds them together, along any ability modifiers.
Damage resistance
Damage resistance does not mean that the character or creature is completely resistant to a kind of damage. What it means is that a creature takes half damage from a specific type of damage. Resistance applies after all the modifiers and bonuses are added to the damage roll.
Damage resistance does not reduce damage to 0, unless the total damage is already zero.
0 Hit Points Situation
When a character drops to 0 hit points they either fall unconscious or die.
In case of an instant death, the damage falls to 0 points and the damage after reaching 0 points equals or exceeds the creature’s maximum hit points.
However, when a character falls to 0 points and falls unconscious, they must make a death saving throw at the start of their turn to determine whether they fall to death or survive. the player rolls a d20: a 10 or higher counts as a success, while lower is a failure. with three successes the creature is stabilised. Rolling a nat.1 counts as two failures and rolling a nat 20 restores 1 hit point.
If the character or creature receives damage at 0 hit points, this causes an automatic failure or two failures if it’s a critical hit.
Healing
Restoring hit points and recovering from damage can come from rest, magical spells or items like potions. When a character or creature receives healing, the restored hit points are added to their current hit point. However, the creature’s hit points cannot exceed their maximum, so any extra healing is lost.
A creature or character that has dropped to 0 hit points and died cannot regain hit points through ordinary healing, only by powerful magic.
Get ready for battle! You now understand combat mechanics in D&D
Now you know how combat mechanics work in Dungeons & Dragons. We know it is a lot to take in and remember while trying to strategise and win battles, but don’t worry一your Dungeon Master is always there to answer your questions or clarify any doubts. Keeping the Dungeons and Dragons Player’s handbook close can also be a helpful reference as you learn and practise.
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