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Returning 35 results for 'been before derived combat reasons'.
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Magic Items
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
just saw around the corner, grief at the loss of a friend, or happiness derived from pride in your performance in combat. A dark elf has advantage on this check.
Monsters
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
important individuals and locations is entrusted to astral elf honor guards, highly trained warriors who are more than capable of holding their own in combat.
Astral Elves
Long ago, some elves ventured
citadels.
Although the Silver Void is their home, astral elves often venture into Wildspace systems and place their ships and citadels in orbit around stars. Astral elves do this for several reasons
Backgrounds
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
journals or hidden away in someone’s mind. Even you might not be aware of all the reasons behind the missions you carry out. Sometimes a mission’s sole purpose is to conceal the
people’s nightmares.
6
Combat is meant to be quick, clean, and one-sided.
7
I like to stick to the shadows.
8
I never show my anger. I just plot my revenge.
Ideals
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
, and the attack roll — rely on the six ability scores. The Introduction describes the basic rule behind these rolls: roll a d20, add an ability modifier derived from one of the six ability scores, and
compare the total to a target number. This chapter focuses on how to use ability checks and saving throws, covering the fundamental activities that creatures attempt in the game. Rules for attack rolls appear in chapter 9, “Combat.”
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Adjusting Difficulty Many of the same techniques that help keep combat moving can also be useful in situations where a combat encounter is either harder or easier than you anticipated and you want to
defeat its kin (for noble or selfish reasons). A change of terrain can provide characters a chance to escape or give overmatched monsters an edge.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Combat Encounters The following features can make a combat encounter more interesting or challenging: Changes in Elevation. Terrain features that provide a change of elevation (such as stacks of
classes and origins. A diverse force is more powerful. Reasons to Move. Use features that encourage characters and their enemies to move around, such as chandeliers, kegs of gunpowder or oil, and rolling stone traps.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
with Rage, and wade into hand-to-hand combat. Then follow the Path of the Berserker to unleash raw violence. Bard. Perform spells that inspire and heal allies or beguile foes. Then join the College of
, shape-shift, and control the elements. Then join the Circle of the Land to draw on the magic of the environment. Fighter. Master all weapons and armor. Then embody the Champion to strive for peak combat
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
, sickles, slings, spears
Fighter
A master of martial combat, skilled with a variety of weapons and armor
d10
Strength or Dexterity
Strength & Constitution
All armor, shields, simple and martial
nature magic to combat threats on the edges of civilization
d10
Dexterity & Wisdom
Strength & Dexterity
Light and medium armor, shields, simple and martial weapons
Rogue
A scoundrel who
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
below.
Barbarian. Storm with Rage, and wade into hand-to-hand combat. Then follow the Path of the...
Berserker to unleash raw violence.
Wild Heart to manifest kinship with animals.
World
forms.
Sea to channel tides and storms.
Stars to gain powers in a starry form.
Fighter. Master all weapons and armor. Then embody the...
Battle Master to use special combat maneuvers.
Champion
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
character’s most exciting capabilities. This chapter offers twelve classes, each of which contains four subclasses—all summarized below.
Barbarian. Storm with Rage, and wade into hand-to-hand combat
.
Fighter. Master all weapons and armor. Then embody the...
Battle Master to use special combat maneuvers.
Champion to strive for peak combat prowess.
Eldritch Knight to learn spells to aid in
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron
. An exceptional wandslinger may know up up to three spells of up to 3rd level. A wandslinger’s spells and cantrips are almost always combat spells with an immediate effect, such as fire bolt, ray of
you primarily view your magic as a weapon, or do you hate being forced into combat? Do you have a diverse range of spells, or is your magic largely oriented around combat? A player character is never
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Netheril’s Fall: Tales of Terror, Treasure, and Time Travel
prizes to those whose ideas net the most spectators. Reasons to Visit. Adventurers might visit the Coliseum of Karsus for one of the following reasons: Combat and Spectacle. Adventurers might come to
foremost of all. In the center of the acropolis stands Karsus’s Sanctum, a pillared pavilion that looks out over the city. Reasons to Visit. Adventurers might visit the acropolis for one of the following
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Keeping Combat Moving Sometimes even the best-planned combat encounter can turn into a slog, where no one’s moving and neither side is hitting or dealing much damage to the other. When that happens
chase the character. Move the monsters somewhere else. Hasten a Monster’s Demise If a combat has gone on long enough and the characters’ victory is almost certain, you can simply have the monster drop
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tomb of Annihilation
tabaxi use the same names, and most use nicknames derived from or inspired by their full names. Tabaxi clan names are usually based on a geographical feature located in or near a clan’s territory
., passive Perception 14
Languages Common plus any one language
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Feline Agility. When the tabaxi moves on its turn in combat, it can double its speed until the end of the turn. Once
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
of better understanding the workings of the multiverse. A Gnome’s Role Gnomes are valuable members of an adventuring party for a number of reasons, derived from both their innate abilities and their
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel
rather than having incarnations rejoin the party on their own. Incarnations have no memory of how they came to be wherever they’re found. If a character dies during combat, their next incarnation shouldn’t
appear until after the combat encounter ends. Threatening the Unkillable When a glitch character dies, they return as another incarnation. Let characters enjoy their unique situation. If a character
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
ranged attacks, but giants never perceived a need for mechanical assistance. Even in places where giants have adapted bows or javelins for use in combat, they’ve never neglected the straightforward
accurately with both arms as with one, a feat most humans would find impossible. These attacks are effective only at shorter ranges, however, for obvious reasons. When they hunt by rock throwing, giants
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
. The Social Contract of Adventures You must provide reasonably appealing reasons for characters to undertake the adventures you prepare. (See “Draw In the Players” in chapter 4 for advice on this
out of the game for as long as it takes. Monsters don’t attack the character, and the character takes the Dodge action in combat until the player rejoins the group. This solution allows the other
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
. The Social Contract of Adventures You must provide reasonably appealing reasons for characters to undertake the adventures you prepare. In exchange, the players should go along with those hooks
character, and the character takes the Dodge action in combat until the player rejoins the group. This solution allows the other players to keep playing instead of letting one player stop the game
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Combat Encounters Chris Seaman Otto's conversation with a magic mirror
is an exciting social interaction encounter The following features can make a combat encounter more interesting or
can combine their abilities—just like characters with different classes and origins. A diverse force is more powerful. Reasons to Move. Use features that encourage characters and their enemies to
compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
, sickles, slings, spears
Fighter
A master of martial combat, skilled with a variety of weapons and armor
d10
Strength or Dexterity
Strength & Constitution
All armor, shields
A warrior who uses martial prowess and nature magic to combat threats on the edges of civilization
d10
Dexterity & Wisdom
Strength & Dexterity
Light and medium armor, shields, simple
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer: Adventures in Space->Light of Xaryxis
palace on the Rock of Bral. Hastain is a longtime ally of the Xaryxian Empire, which holds a grudge against Commodore Krux (for reasons described in chapter 7). Hastain’s spies have been watching the
combat. While the reigar and the duplicate attack the characters, the esthetic uses Jammerscream against the Second Wind, then moves close enough to the ship to attack with its tentacles if it isn’t
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragons of Stormwreck Isle
Individual Quests As described on the character sheets, the characters have their own reasons for visiting Dragon’s Rest. The Cleric The cleric was led here by a recurring dream involving the shadow
the character has no answer, she suggests, “Perhaps your adventures here have shown you a way to combat evil on your own terms. Perhaps other such adventures await you.” The Rogue The rogue comes to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
, which brings the flow of the game right back to step 1.
This pattern holds whether the adventurers are cautiously exploring a ruin, talking to a devious prince, or locked in mortal combat against a
mighty dragon. In certain situations, particularly combat, the action is more structured and the players (and DM) do take turns choosing and resolving actions. But most of the time, play is fluid and
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
problem-solving in such a spot is likely to end in tragedy for the characters. When combat does occur in one of these nightclubs, it’s usually because the instigators have brought enough strength of
View Player Version Shady Nightclub Adventures The Shady Nightclub Adventures table offers reasons for the characters to enter one of these dangerous places. If the characters have a Boromar patron
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Monster Behavior The attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the monsters in an encounter help determine how a social interaction plays out (and whether it might erupt into combat) and influence the
course of combat. Brian Valeza Kobolds build a barricade to keep adventurers at bay Initial Attitudes A published adventure typically notes or implies whether a creature’s initial attitude toward the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sage Advice Compendium
Combat Does surprise happen outside the initiative order as a special surprise round? No, here’s how surprise works. The first step of any combat is this: the DM determines whether anyone in the
combat is surprised (reread “Combat Step by Step” in the Player’s Handbook). This determination happens only once during a fight and only at the beginning. In other words, once a fight starts, you can’t
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
reptiles. You know, reasonable options.
Tasha
Your group serves as a team of soldiers in a larger military force, one dedicated to combat missions or other dangerous tasks. You could be a band of
-scarred officer who experienced horrors in combat. They rely on something to dull the pain of their memories or wounds, from a favorite writer’s prose to a distracting vice. 2 Taskmaster. This angry
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
, immense icebergs drift on the unpredictable currents. Levistus is trapped within one of these bergs, imprisoned there by Asmodeus for reasons that few can even guess about. As part of Levistus’s
that need to sharpen their combat skills or improve their endurance before reporting to Avernus for duty in the Blood War spend time in Stygia. The cruelly cold environment, combined with the constant
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
a bond of loyalty, gratitude, or love. You can delegate decisions about an NPC’s actions to one of the players, especially in combat, but you can override the player’s decisions to reflect the NPC’s
Loyalty Score by 2d4 if the NPC is abused, misled, or endangered by other party members for purely selfish reasons. A Loyalty Score can never drop below 0. Meaning of Loyalty. An NPC with a Loyalty Score
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
eager to get their hands on such spoils for a wide variety of reasons. Battlefields and the Field of Ruins Cyre was the site of incessant battles during the Last War, from the first extended campaign
proving grounds of the Cannith creation forges, cadres of newborn warforged learned the combat skills that would prepare them for active duty. Eston began as a successful mining settlement, extracting
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
reasons. This character does the order’s dirty work and clears away its problems. It’s entirely possible for an entire party to be made up of Fixers, but rogues and fighters are especially well suited to
entertainer background into the service of their faith. Zealot. Dedicated to smiting the foes of the faith, the Zealot focuses on combat above all. Clerics, druids, and paladins make iconic Zealots, but
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
Enterprises’ true headquarters is an expensive and well-appointed flagship called The Maverick. The ship sails constantly, rarely putting into port for security reasons. But the organization has a much
combat, Arla’s shortsword attacks take the form of either her sharpened leg hook or a retractable blade attached to her arm peg. Hoffman is backed up by three operatives named Pieter, Marks, and
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
. They also can’t trust the moronic squidlings to accomplish such a delicate task. For these reasons, the gnome ceremorphs need help. They have built a device that can detect the presence of psi
threatened, the ceremorphs react with deadly intent; otherwise, they shun combat. Roleplaying the Gnome Squidlings The gnome squidlings have a blind hunger for brains that often overrides their common sense
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
dragon’s eggs, but once every few years a kobold hatches with an innate version of the dragonshield’s abilities. Accomplished at hand-to-hand combat, it bears many scars from desperate fights and carries a
, builds improvised weapons in the hope of gaining some new advantage in combat. An inventor captures bugs, scoops up exotic dungeon slimes, and claims the best stolen goods as ingredients in its






