D&D 5E Combat Explained in 5 Minutes

combat and Dungeons & Dragons is one of the three pillars of the game you know swing swords casting spells slaying beasts the fun stuff but once initiative has rolled in the action begins things can get bogged down with rules questions tactical decisions and D&D math so we're here to give you the basics of D&D combat in about 5 minutes but what even is initiative and why should you be rolling it dd5 in D&D a combat encounter is essentially a conflict where your DM asks everyone to roll initiative to begin initiative is a stat used to determine the order each character involved in the combat takes their turn it can be found at the top center of your character sheet simply roll a d20 and add your initiative number and that's your initiative turns go in order from highest to lowest when your initiative is reached you get to take your turn once all turns have been taken that is considered a full round of combat the next round starts back at the top of the order each round of combat represents 6 seconds in real time for the characters on your characters turn you can take an action and you can move your character's action can be a number of things but essentially it is the major thing you get to do on your turn most often you use it to make a weapon attack or to cast the spell other things you can do that counters your action include dashing to double your movement speed disengaging to move away from an enemy dodging to become harder to hit helping an ally with their action hiding using an item or object searching the area and reading or stalling your action to occur at a later time on a trigger that you designate your movement is limited up to a distance equal to your character's speed noted on your character sheet you can move before or after taking your action you also have the option of breaking up your movement using some of your speed before and after your action keeping track of movement and position is commonly done in either the theater of the mind or on one-inch square grid paper with each square representing a 5 by 5 foot area there's also a special kind of action called a bonus action various class features spells and other abilities let you take this bonus action for example of our Burien entering their rage a druid transforming via their wild shape feature or dual wielding character's offhand attack all count as bonus actions if your character does not have an ability or feature that specifically uses a bonus action then your character effectively does not have a bonus action to take for those that do you're only allowed one bonus action per turn your turn can also include a variety of flourishes that require neither your action nor your movement simple things like speaking opening a door or dropping an item for things that don't fall into your action bonus action or movement your DM will have to decide what is allowed characters also have a limited way of acting when it's not their turn called a reaction you're only allowed one reaction for combat round much like your bonus action only special abilities spells and situations allow you to take your reaction a reaction is an instant response to a trigger of some kind the most common use of reaction is an opportunity attack you can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach unless the creature has used its action to disengage with you this goes both ways though to make the attack be it a weapon or spell attack a character rolls a d20 and adds their attack modifier to the role if the number ties or is higher than the targets armor class it is considered a hit on a hit you roll the damaged eye associated with your weapon or spell and add your damage modifier the total is subtracted from the targets hit points if the d20 roll for an attack is a 20 the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the targets AC in addition the attack is considered a critical hit on a critical hit you will damage dice twice and add them together for your damage if the d20 role for an attack is a 1 the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the targets AC attacks come in two general flavors melee and ranged melee attacks are generally done with hand-to-hand weapons such as swords or pole arms but typically monsters also make melee attacks when they strike with their claws horns teeth tentacles or other body parts most creatures and weapons have a 5-foot reach and can less attack targets within 5 feet of them when making a melee attack some have a reach greater than the 5 feet as noted in their descriptions ranged attacks are usually performed with ranged weapons such as bows and throwing axes or spell attacks you can make range attacks only against targets within a specified range if a ranged attack such as one made with a spell has a single range you can't attack a target beyond this range some ranged attacks such as those made with the longbow or short bow have two ranges the smaller number is the normal range and the larger number is the long range your attack role has disadvantage when your target is beyond normal range and you can't attack a target beyond the long range now for the scary part if your characters hit points drop to zero that can either die outright or fall unconscious when damage reduces you to zero hit points and there is damage remaining you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum if damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you you fall unconscious this ends though if you regain any hit points whenever you start your turn with zero hit points you must make a special saving throw called a death saving throw roll a d20 if the roll is 10 or higher you succeed otherwise you fail three successes will stabilise your character but three failures equals death when you make a death saving throw and roll a one on your d20 it counts as two failures if you roll a 20 on the g-20 you regain one hit point well there you go that's the basics of D&D combat there's more to it but we'll have to cover that in a future episode so get out there and slay some monsters just just try not to die if you enjoyed this video and want to know more about the fantastic world of Dungeons & Dragons then check out our main podcast the dungeon cast where we dive into the detailed lore and gameplay of all things D&D

Channel: The Dungeoncast

Views: 511,896

Keywords: d&d, dnd, combat, rules, explained, 5e, How to, dungeons, dragons, dungeoncast, dungeon cast, dungeons and dragons, D&D, lore, podcast, character build, creation, gameplay, d20, DM, PC, player, advice, tips, roleplaying

Id: 7tnrATiclg4

Length: 5min 35sec (335 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 25 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/aBerneseMountainDog]

(Another) small correction: 4:57, you state that "whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points" you must make a death saving throw. It would be worth adding that a creature can be stabilized at 0 hit points (with a DC 10 medicine check). A stable creature does not regain a hit point, but also does not need to make death saving throws.

This is important, because almost any party can make one such check, but many parties won't always have at least 1 hit point of healing available. It is an important tool in the beginner's level 1 combat-arsenal.

Otherwise great video! Tools like this are helping make 5e the most accessible D&D ever! :)

[u/[deleted]]

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[u/[deleted]]

Didn't properly cover interaction with an object, it's not a DM call on what you can do. It's that you get one interaction with object per turn and do it as part of your move or attack action. Draw a sword or open a door and so on. The dual wielding feat lets you draw two weapons at once and Rogue Thieves I believe can use their bonus action to interact with an object a second time, for anyone else it's an action.

[u/Comedyfight]

I just watched all 3 of these, and thank you for the great resource. These should serve as an excellent primer for new players.

I have a similar idea for videos kind of like this. My plan is to do 3 10-minute videos with the basics a new player would need to jump right in and start playing without feeling lost. They're different enough from what you've done to where I don't feel like I'd be stepping on your toes, but if they ever become more than an idea, I'll be sure to link to you in the description.

[u/tear4444a]

Thanks and subscribed,

[u/gardengoblin]

I found the images more distracting than helpful. They were obviously chosen thoughtful and were related to what was being spoken about, but I generally feel like the images should be more than reference, and should further the understanding of what's being discussed. For example, when discussion initiative and turn order, having some kind of visual representation of that would help a lot.

You also move quickly and it wasn't always entirely obvious to me that you'd moved on to a new topic. It felt like the information in general could have been organized more clearly. Again, I understand how hard it is to get through so much information so quickly, but I think adding some breaks and downtime, to emphasize when new topic is being introduced, would help a lot with... whatever you call legibility when it's spoken.

Not trying to pick on you, I think it's overall a good video. Just some (hopefully constructive) criticism.

[u/Quincy396]

Definitely a good idea for introducing new characters. I would suggest also covering advantage and disadvantage

[u/iamidiotidiot]

Kinda off topic, but where is the image on 1:13 from?

The dude running away with a woman on his shoulder, I've seen it somewhere else before, but I don't remember. Maybe in some adnd book?

Thanks for any help jogging my memory.