D&D Combat Rules: Actions in Combat

In my previous post (D&D Combat Rules: Turn Based Combat) I mentioned some of the things a player character can do during combat, such as movement, melee or ranged attacks and Casting a Spell. In this post I will go into more detail about the previously mentioned actions (and more) that a character can take during combat.

Every player character gets to take at least 1 action on their turn, in certain circumstances, they will get to use a Reaction. A player character can’t use a reaction on their turn, they can however use a reaction during another creatures turn. The reaction of a player character can be triggered by an enemy actions or movement on their turn, for example an enemy moving into a player characters melee range could trigger a reaction from the character. Enemies in the game also have a chance to “react” during your turn, as a player for example, if you move out of an enemies attack range on your turn they could use their reaction to make an attack against you.

Movement – Movement does not cost an action in combat. A character can both move, and use an action in a turn. Most characters can move 30ft in each turn.

Actions in Combat

Attack – A character can use their action in order to make a melee or ranged attack against an enemy.

Spellcasting – A character can use their action to cast a spell in combat. Some spells target enemies and do damage, whereas other spells can target allies and give them various bonuses, specific to the individual spell.

Dash – Most characters can move 30ft in a round and still take an action on their turn. Taking the Dash action allows you to travel twice as far on your turn, in this case 60ft, whilst using up your action in the process.

Disengage – Usually if you move out of an enemies attack range during your turn, they have the option to use their Reaction to make an attack against you. This is called an Opportunity Attack. If you use the disengage action however, you can safely move out of the melee range of an enemy without the danger of being hit.

Dodge– The Dodge action allows a player character to prepare to avoid attacks from enemies from the end of their turn to the start of their next turn. When you take this action it imposes disadvantage on any attack roll an enemy makes against your character. (disadvantage means the enemy has to roll two 20 sided dice and take the lower of the two dice rolls. Remember that the attack roll must be higher than your characters Armour Class to hit successfully.)

Help – You use your action to give advantage to an ally during an ability check. An Ability Check occurs when you tell the Game Master how you want your player character to interact with the in game environment or an NPC. The GM will then call for a d20 dice roll and decide how high the player will have to roll to succeed for example the GM will decide that the player has to roll a 15 or higher. When you use the Help action you help that player by allowing them to roll the dice an additional time, giving them a higher chance of success.

Ready – The ready action is for when you want to take an action in between your turns when another character, friend or foe, does a specific set of actions. When you take the Ready action you need to decide what it is that will trigger your action, for example “when the goblin reaches the middle of the rope-bridge”. You also need to decide the action you will take when the previous trigger occurs, for examples “when the goblin reaches the middle of the rope-bridge, I cut the support ropes”. If the GM allows it then your character will take the action when the trigger occurs.