D&D Glossary (5E)
Actions
- Death Saving Throws (Roll20)
- D&D 5E – Quick Reference – Combat (2014-07-26)
- D&D 5E Quick Reference sheet
Action
Players’ Handbook, p. 192–196
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Attack | Melee or ranged attack. |
| Cast a spell | Casting Time: 1 action, or 1 bonus action. |
| Dash | Double movement speed. |
| Disengage | Prevent opportunity attacks. |
| Dodge | Increase defenses. |
| Help | Grant an ally advantage. |
| Use an Object | Use your Action for a second Interaction. |
| Hide | —(PHB-177) |
| Search | —(PHB-178) |
| Ready | Choose trigger and action. |
| Grapple | Special melee attack.(PHB-195) |
| Escape | Escape a grapple.(PHB-195) |
| Shove | Special melee attack.(PHB-195) |
| Equip Shield | Equip or unequip a shield.(PHB-146) |
| Use class feature | Some features use actions. |
| Improvise | Any action not on this list.(PHB-193) |
Bonus ActionYou can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or feature states that you can do something as a bonus action.
|
ReactionAn instant response to a trigger of some kind, which can occur on your turn or on someone else’s.
|
Interaction
- max. 1/turn (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:
- don a mask
- draw/sheathe a weapon
- hand an object to another character
- fish a few coins from your belt pouch
- raise/lower the hood of your cloak
- remove a ring from your finger
- withdraw a potion from your backpack
- open/close a door
- put your ear to a door
- throw a lever/switch
- turn a key in a lock
- drink all the ale in a flagon
- extinguish a small flame
- kick a small object
- pick up a dropped object
- plant a banner in the ground
- pull a torch from a sconce
- stuff some food into your mouth
- take an object from a table
- take a book from a shelf you can reach
- tap the floor with a 10-foot pole
Movement
See Travel (5E) for the details of daily (or longer) overland travel.
Travel
| Pace | Minute | Hour | Day | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half | 150 feet | 1½ miles | 12 miles | Advantage on Stealth. |
| Slow | 200 feet | 2 miles | 16 miles | May use Stealth, may search. |
| Normal | 300 feet | 3 miles | 24 miles | — |
| Fast | 400 feet | 4 miles | 32 miles | −5 penalty to passive Perception. |
| Gallop | 800 feet | 8 miles | — | Only one hour/day. |
Tactical
| Movement | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Normal pace | distance | Passive Perception: normal. • May switch between different speeds, such as walking and flying, during movement. When doing so, subtract the distance already moved from the new speed.(PHB-190) • May move through another creature’s space (by treating the space as difficult terrain). If the creature is hostile it must be at least two sizes larger or smaller. Either way, movement may not willingly end in another creatures space.(PHB-190) |
| Fast pace | +10′ to base | Passive Perception: −5 penalty.(PHB-182) |
| Slow pace † | −10′ to base | May use Stealth,(PHB-182) may use Perception/Investigation to search for clues, hidden objects, secret doors, traps, etc.(PHB-166,178,316) |
| Heavy armor | −10′ to base | Unless wearer meets the Str requirement, or has something like dwarven speed. |
| Drop prone | 0′ | Disadvantage on attack rolls. Opponents have advantage for melee attacks, but disadvantage for ranged attacks.(PHB-190,292) |
| Stand up | ½ of base | Only 5′ with the Athlete feat.(PHB-190,165) |
| Jump, Long | distance | Running: Str feet;§ Standing: Str/2 feet. Athletics ᴅᴄ10 to clear a low obstacle. Acrobatics ᴅᴄ10 to land standing in difficult terrain.(PHB-182) § Must move 10′ first (5′ with the Athlete feat). |
| Jump, High | height | Running: Str+3 feet;§ Standing: (Str+3)/2 feet. May reach above the jump height by your stature × 1½.(PHB-182) § Must move 10′ first (5′ with the Athlete feat). |
| Difficult Terrain | +1′/1′ ‡ | E.g. low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow, shallow bogs, etc. Also the space of another creature, hostile or not.(PHB-190) |
| Half pace | +1′/1′ ‡ | Advantage on Stealth using something like Supreme Sneak.(PHB-97) |
| Climbing | +1′/1′ ‡ | May require an Athletics check for difficult conditions.(PHB-182) No extra cost with a Climbing Speed, or the Athlete feat.(PHB-165) |
| Crawling | +1′/1′ ‡ | — |
| Swimming | +1′/1′ ‡ | May require an Athletics check for difficult conditions.(PHB-182) No extra cost with a Swimming Speed. |
| Grappling | +1′/1′ ‡ | Unless the grappled creature is two or more sizes smaller.(PHB-195) (The grappled creature’s own speed is 0′.)(PHB-290) |
| Improvise | varies | Any stunt not on this list.(PHB-193) |
- † Use Half pace (+1′/1′) if base speed is less than 20′.
- ‡ Combining multiple +X′/1′ modifiers adds the extra cost for each. E.g. crawling in difficult terrain is +2′/1′ (using 15′ of speed to move 5′).
Resting
Player’s Handbook, p. 186
Heroic though they might be, adventurers can’t spend every hour of the day in the thick of exploration, social interaction, and combat. They need rest-time to sleep and eat, tend their wounds, refresh their minds and spirits for spellcasting, and brace themselves for further adventure.
Adventurers, as well as other creatures, can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it.
Short Rest
Player’s Handbook, p. 186
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 player rolls the die and adds the character’s Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total (minimum of 0). 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.
Long Rest
Player’s Handbook, p. 186
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.
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.
Sage Advice
- Will participating in 1 round of combat break a short/long rest?
- Any amount of fighting breaks a short rest. A long rest can withstand an interruption of up to 1 hour. —Jeremy Crawford (2016-08-12)
- Does the Trance trait allow an elf to finish a long rest in 4 hours?
- If an elf meditates during a long rest (as described in the Trance trait), the elf finishes the rest after only 4 hours. A meditating elf otherwise follows all the rules for a long rest; only the duration is changed. —Compendium (2020, v2.6)
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.
Cover
Obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm.
| Cover | Benefit | Granted by |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | +2 to AC and Dex saves | Low walls, large furniture, a narrow tree trunk, another creature, etc. |
| 3/4 | +5 to AC and Dex saves | A portcullis, an arrow slit, a thick tree trunk, etc. |
| Total | Cannot be targeted (but AoE might reach) |
Any obstacle/condition providing complete concealment. |
Obscuration
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured.
- Lightly obscured
- An area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
- Heavily obscured
- An area—such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature in a heavily obscured area effectively suffers from the blinded condition.
Light
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.
Vision
Blindsight
A creature with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius. Creatures without eyes, such as oozes, and creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as bats and true dragons, have this sense.
Darkvison
Many creatures in the worlds of D&D, especially those that dwell underground, have darkvision. Within a specified range, a creature with darkvision can see in dim light as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if were dim light. So areas of darkness (within range) are only lightly obscured as far as that creature is concerned. However, the creature can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Tremorsense
A creature with tremorsense can detect and pinpoint the origin of vibrations within a specific radius, provided that the creature and the source of the vibrations are in contact with the same ground or substance. Tremorsense can’t be used to detect flying or incorporeal creatures. Many burrowing creatures have this special sense.
Truesight
A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic, Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.
Conditions
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ? | – | Deafened |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | A | – | – | – | – | – | – | ? | D | Blinded |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | No | Charmed |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ? | D | D | Frightened |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | – | – | Grappled |
| – | D | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | A | Invisible |
| – | – | – | No | – | – | – | – | No | No | Incapacitated |
| – | A | – | No | FAIL | FAIL | – | – | No | No | Stunned |
| – | A† | No | No | FAIL | FAIL | – | 0 | No | No | Paralyzed |
| – | A† | No | No | FAIL | FAIL | – | 0 | No | No | Unconscious |
| – | A? | No | No | FAIL | FAIL | – | 0 | No | No | Petrified |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | D | D | Poisoned |
| – | A/D | – | – | – | – | – | ? | – | D | Prone |
| – | A | – | – | – | D | – | 0 | – | D | Restrained |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | D | – | Exhaustion |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ½ | D | – | Exhaustion 2 |
| – | – | – | – | D | D | D | ½ | D | D | Exhaustion 3 |
| ½ | – | – | – | D | D | D | ½ | D | D | Exhaustion 4 |
| ½ | – | – | – | D | D | D | 0 | D | D | Exhaustion 5 |
| 0 | – | No | No | D | D | D | 0 | No | No | Exhaustion 6 |
Dying
|
Flying
|
Hasted
|
Slowed
Deafened
|
Blinded
|
Charmed
|
Frightened
|
Grappled
|
Invisible
|
Incorporeal
|
Incapacitated
|
Stunned
|
Paralyzed
|
Unconscious
|
Petrified
|
Poisoned
|
Prone
Restrained
|
Exhaustion
| Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Disadvantage on ability checks |
| 2 | Speed halved |
| 3 | Disadvantage on attack rolls & saving throws |
| 4 | Hit point maximum halved |
| 5 | Speed reduced to 0 |
| 6 | Death |
- If an exhausted creature suffers another exhaustion effect, its current exhaustion level increases by the amount specified in the effect’s description.
- A creature suffers the effect of its current exhaustion level 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.
Improvising an Action
| Task Difficulty | DC |
|---|---|
| Very easy | 5 |
| Easy | 10 |
| Medium | 15 |
| Hard | 20 |
| Very hard | 25 |
| Nearly impossible | 30 |
Your character can do things not covered by the actions in this section, such as breaking down doors, intimidating enemies, sensing weaknesses in magical defenses, or calling for a parley with a foe. The only limits to the actions you can attempt are your imagination and your character’s ability scores. See the descriptions of the ability scores in chapter 7 for inspiration as you improvise.
When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the DM tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.
Ability checks
ᴰ Some groups consider these skills and tool proficiencies especially training dependent, and so impose disadvantage on those not proficient to reflect this in play.
Strength
- Athletics skill.
- Push, Drag, or Lift: ≤ Str×15 lb. (or ≤ Str×30 lb. at speed 5′).
- Break something.
- Force your body through a space.
- Force open a stuck, locked, or barred door.(DMG-103) (POTA-Wood ᴅᴄ10, Iron ᴅᴄ20) (XGE-80)
- Break free of bonds.(XGE-78)
- Break free of manacles.(PHB-152)
- 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.
Dexterity
- Acrobatics skill.
- Craft an object.(XGE-78–85)
- Musical Instrumentᴰ proficiencies.(XGE-83)
- Sleight of Hand skill.
- Stealth skill.
- Vehicle proficiencies.(XGE-82)
- Thieves’ Toolsᴰ proficiency.(XGE-84)
- Pick a lock.(PHB-152)(XGE-84)
- Disable a trap.(DMG-120–123)
- Securely tie up a prisoner.(XGE-78)
- Wriggle free of bonds.(XGE-78)
Constitution
- Hold your breath.(PHB-183)
- Forced March or labor.(PHB-181)
- Go without sleep.(XGE-77–78)
- Survive without food or water.(PHB-185)
- Quaff an entire stein of ale in one go.
Intelligence
- Appraise an item. A magnifying glass grants advantage.(PHB-152)
- Arcanaᴰ skill.
- Communicate without using words.
- Disguiseᴰ proficiency.(XGE-81)
- Forgeryᴰ proficiency.(XGE-81)
- Gaming proficiency.(XGE-81)
- History skill.
- Investigation skill.
- Nature skill.
- Religionᴰ skill.
- Recall lore about a craft/trade.
Wisdom
- Animal Handling skill.
- Insight skill.
- Medicineᴰ skill.
- Perception skill.
- Survival skill.
- Get a gut feeling for a course of action.
- Discern whether a creature is undead.
Charisma
- Deception skill.
- Intimidation skill.
- Performanceᴰ skill.
- Persuasion skill.
- Find the best source for news/rumors/gossip.
- Blend in a crowd to get key topics of conversation.
Creatures
Type (monster)
A monster’s type speaks to its fundamental nature. Certain spells, magic items, class features, and other effects in the game interact in special ways with creatures of a particular type. For example, an arrow of dragon slaying deals extra damage not only to dragons but also other creatures of the dragon type, such as dragon turtles and wyverns.
The game includes the following monster types, which have no rules of their own.
Aberration
Utterly alien beings. Many of them have innate magical abilities drawn from the creature’s alien mind rather than the mystical forces of the world. The quintessential aberrations are aboleths, beholders, mind flayers, and slaadi.
Beast
Nonhumanoid creatures that are a natural part of the fantasy ecology. Some of them have magical powers, but most are unintelligent and lack any society or language. Beasts include all varieties of ordinary animals, dinosaurs, and giant versions of animals.
Celestial
Creatures native to the Upper Planes. Many of them are the servants of deities, employed as messengers or agents in the mortal realm and throughout the planes. Celestials are good by nature, so the exceptional celestial who strays from a good alignment is a horrifying rarity. Celestials include angels, couatls, and pegasi.
Construct
Made, not born. Some are programmed by their creators to follow a simple set of instructions, while others are imbued with sentience and capable of independent thought. Golems are the iconic constructs. Many creatures native to the outer plane of Mechanus, such as modrons, are constructs shaped from the raw material of the plane by the will of more powerful creatures.
Dragon
Large reptilian creatures of ancient origin and tremendous power. True dragons, including the good metallic dragons and the evil chromatic dragons, are highly intelligent and have innate magic. Also in this category are creatures distantly related to true dragons, but less powerful, less intelligent, and less magical, such as wyverns and pseudodragons.
Elemental
Creatures native to the elemental planes. Some creatures of this type are little more than animate masses of their respective elements, including the creatures simply called elementals. Others have biological forms infused with elemental energy. The races of genies, including djinn and efreet, form the most important civilizations on the elemental planes. Other elemental creatures include azers, invisible stalkers, and water weirds.
Fey
Magical creatures closely tied to the forces of nature. They dwell in twilight groves and misty forests. In some worlds, they are closely tied to the Feywild, also called the Plane of Faerie. Some are also found in the Outer Planes, particularly the planes of Arborea and the Beastlands. Fey include dryads, pixies, and satyrs.
Fiend
Creatures of wickedness that are native to the Lower Planes. A few are the servants of deities, but many more labor under the leadership of archdevils and demon princes. Evil priests and mages sometimes summon fiends to the material world to do their bidding. If an evil celestial is a rarity, a good fiend is almost inconceivable. Fiends include demons, devils, hell hounds, rakshasas, and yugoloths.
Giant
Tower over humans and their kind. They are humanlike in shape, though some have multiple heads (ettins) or deformities (fomorians). The six varieties of true giant are hill giants, stone giants, frost giants, fire giants, cloud giants, and storm giants. Besides these, creatures such as ogres and trolls are giants.
Humanoid
The main peoples of the D&D world, both civilized and savage, including humans and a tremendous variety of other species. They have language and culture, few if any innate magical abilities (though most humanoids can learn spellcasting), and a bipedal form. The most common humanoid races are the ones most suitable as player characters: humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings. Almost as numerous but far more savage and brutal, and almost uniformly evil, are the races of goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears), orcs, gnolls, lizardfolk, and kobolds.
A variety of humanoids appear throughout this book, but the races detailed in the Player’s Handbook—with the exception of drow—are dealt with in appendix B. That appendix gives you a number of stat blocks that you can use to make various members of those races.
Monstrosity
Monsters in the strictest sense—frightening creatures that are not ordinary, not truly natural, and almost never benign. Some are the results of magical experimentation gone awry (such as owl bears), and others, are the product-of terrible curses (including minotaurs and yuan-ti). They defy categorization, and in some sense serve as a catch-all category for creatures that don’t fit into any other type.
Ooze
Gelatinous creatures that rarely have a fixed shape. They are mostly subterranean, dwelling in caves and dungeons and feeding on refuse, carrion, or creatures unlucky enough to get in their way. Black puddings and gelatinous cubes are among the most recognizable oozes.
Plant
In this context, vegetable creatures, not ordinary flora. Most of them are ambulatory, and some are carnivorous. The quintessential plants are the shambling mound and the treant. Fungal creatures such as the gas spore and the myconid also fall into this category.
Undead
Once-living creatures brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse. Undead include walking corpses, such as vampires and zombies, as well as bodiless spirits, such as ghosts and specters.
Tags
A monster might have one or more tags appended to its type, in parentheses. For example, an orc has the humanoid (orc) type. The parenthetical tags provide additional categorization for certain creatures. The tags have no rules of their own, but something in the game, such as a magic item, might refer to them. For instance, a spear that is especially effective at fighting demons would work against any monster that has the demon tag.
Speed
A monster’s speed tells you how far it can move on its turn. For more information on speed, see the Player’s Handbook.
All creatures have a walking speed, simply called the monster’s speed. Creatures that have no form of ground-based locomotion have a walking speed of 0 feet.
Some creatures have one or more of the following additional movement modes.
- Burrow
- A monster that has a burrowing speed can use that speed to move through sand, earth, mud, or ice. A monster can’t burrow through solid rock unless it has a special tra it that allows it to do so.
- Climb
- A monster that has a climbing speed can use all or part of its movement to move on vertical surfaces. The monster doesn’t need to s pend extra movement to climb.
- Fly
- A monster that has a flying speed can use all or part of its movement to fly. Some monsters have the ability to hover, which makes them hard to knock out of the air (as explained in the rules on flying in the Player’s Handbook). Such a monster stops hovering when it dies.
- Swim
- A monster that has a swimming speed doesn’t need to spend extra movement to swim.