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Returning 35 results for 'before bad deciding combat resolve'.
Monsters
Mythic Odysseys of Theros
called stratians, number among the fiercest soldiers on Theros. They train relentlessly and possess unflinching resolve. In the annals of Akros, tales abound of squads of stratians that defended a
glorification of the warrior's spirit, the basis of an ethos that forges an unbreakable bond between members of a military unit. In combat, hoplites typically work in groups and use coordinated tactics to
Equipment
Combat
Utility
Whimsy
1
0
10
This coral is seen as a bad omen by most Obojiman fisher folk. Some say that a new clump of witch’s eye coral grows every time a curse is
Equipment
Combat
Utility
Whimsy
3
1
2
Nobblewort is a fairly common lichen whose bumpy, knobbly texture gives it its name. You can often see a bundle of nobblewort hanging from the
eaves of many village houses as it is said to ward off bad luck and mischievous spirits. Nobblewort can be found clinging to most deciduous trees across the island.
Equipment
Combat
Utility
Whimsy
6
0
9
Spirit root is called such because many Obojimans believe that if you leave it under your pillow at night it will remove any bad spirits&mdash
Magic Items
Storm King's Thunder
used as part of rituals to resolve disputes. The gavel has the following properties.
Arbiter’s Shield. At the start of every combat, attack rolls against you have disadvantage before the start of
Orc
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
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Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
everywhere in the world around them, and the priests of a tribe are entrusted with the responsibility of identifying these signs and omens — both good and bad — and deciding how the tribe should
scythe. Only a skilled and determined hero can hope to survive single combat with an orc.
Savage and fearless, orc tribes are ever in search of elves, dwarves, and humans to destroy. Motivated by their
Monsters
Curse of Strahd
Ambusher. During the first round of combat, Pidlwick II has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't had a turn yet.Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +2;{"diceNotation":"1d20+2","rollType
Ideal. “I wish I could make people happy.”
Bond. “I would like to find someone—anyone—who isn't afraid of me and who enjoys my company.”
Flaw. “When I'm upset, I do bad things.”Poison
Urchin
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
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Backgrounds
Player’s Handbook (2014)
are not in combat, you (and companions you lead) can travel between any two locations in the city twice as fast as your speed would normally allow.
Suggested Characteristics
Urchins are
I eat like a pig and have bad manners.
6
I think anyone who’s nice to me is hiding evil intent.
7
I don’t like to bathe.
8
I bluntly say what other people are hinting at
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
The Middle Path Many DMs find that using a combination of the two approaches works best. By balancing the use of dice against deciding on success, you can encourage your players to strike a balance
bad die roll foiling the character’s plans. By the same token, a bad plan or unfortunate circumstances can transform the easiest task into an impossibility, or at least impose disadvantage.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons
knowledge, but the dragon is cagey on that point. Seeing good and bad in equal measure among the lesser races, Ileuthra recognizes that helping the humanoids is less a case of deciding whether they are worthy
of aid, and more about deciding whether these adventurer ambassadors can be trusted to properly lead the factions. Desire. Ileuthra has no preconceived sense of what might be the best course, and he
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Rise of Tiamat
knowledge, but the dragon is cagey on that point. Seeing good and bad in equal measure among the lesser races, Ileuthra recognizes that helping the humanoids is less a case of deciding whether they are worthy
of aid, and more about deciding whether these adventurer ambassadors can be trusted to properly lead the factions. Desire. Ileuthra has no preconceived sense of what might be the best course, and he
Backgrounds
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus
can find passages through the urban sprawl that others would miss. When you are not in combat, you (and companions you lead) can travel between any two locations in the city twice as fast as your
a pig and have bad manners.
6
I think anyone who’s nice to me is hiding evil intent.
7
I don’t like to bathe.
8
I bluntly say what other people are hinting at or hiding
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Attack Rolls In combat, an attack roll is used to determine whether an attack hits. You can also use attack rolls to resolve noncombat activities that are similar to attacks in combat, such as an
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
and evil are blurred. Choices involve deciding which outcome is least bad. Corruption and suspicion flourish among organizations and individuals. Magic and magic items might be rarer or require a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Running Social Interaction During a social interaction, the adventurers usually have a goal. They want to extract information, secure aid, win someone’s trust, escape punishment, avoid combat
rarely come into play. Other DMs resolve interactions by having characters make Charisma checks. Most games fall somewhere in between, balancing roleplaying with the occasional ability check.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Social Interaction During a social interaction, the adventurers usually have a goal. They want to extract information, secure aid, win someone’s trust, escape punishment, avoid combat, negotiate a
roleplaying exercise, where dice rarely come into play. Other DMs prefer to resolve the outcome of an interaction by having characters make Charisma checks. Either approach works, and most games fall
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
characters don’t need to take turns, but you need to give each player a chance to tell you what their character is doing so you can decide how to resolve everyone’s actions. In combat, everyone takes
chapter 2 offers advice on combat. Spellcasting. If a character casts a spell, you can usually let the player tell you what the spell does and how to resolve it. If questions arise, read the text of
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
bookshelf. Outside combat, the characters don’t need to take turns, but you need to give each player a chance to tell you what their character is doing so you can decide how to resolve everyone’s
actions. In combat, everyone takes turns in Initiative order. Step 3: Describe What Happens After the players describe their characters’ actions, it’s the DM’s job to resolve those actions, guided by the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Casualties Slaying a ship’s crew reduces the number of actions most ships can take, making the crew a tempting target in combat. Resolve individual attacks as normal, using the guidelines for
Crew in Combat Managing a ship’s entire crew in combat can prove cumbersome, especially as larger ships often host dozens of sailors. Typically the crew is too busy managing the ship to do anything
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
prosperity, sharing their good fortune with friends and strangers alike. Vistani resolve disagreements through contests that end with reconciliatory singing, dancing, and storytelling. Vistani families can
believe that ravens carry lost souls within them. Hence, killing a raven is considered bad luck in Vistani culture.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
around them, and the priests of a tribe are entrusted with the responsibility of identifying these signs and omens — both good and bad — and deciding how the tribe should react to them. As a race, orcs
stones, mushrooms, or any other kind of circle. Seeing a shooting star before a battle is bad luck. To ward it off, you must swallow a stone. A tribute of elf ears brings favor from Gruumsh. If you bury
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
creature’s efforts. In a contest, the ability checks are compared to each other, rather than to a target number. When you call for a contest, you pick the ability that each side must use, deciding
crowd, lie to someone convincingly INTELLIGENCE CHECK VS. WISDOM CHECK
If you have trouble deciding whether to call for an Intelligence or a Wisdom check to determine whether a character notices
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Large Groups The biggest considerations with large groups are maintaining order at the table and keeping combat from becoming too slow. Structured Turns If you find yourself in a situation where
individual players are having trouble getting a chance to do things during exploration or social interaction, have the characters roll Initiative and act in Initiative order, just as you do in combat
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
subtlety and precision over simply busting heads. Add in your knowledge of the more cerebral aspects of combat, including all-important insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, and it’s
look at the balance sheet. But there’s one exception to that nonrule that can make a big difference in the successful operation of a franchise — the focused, no-frills approach to combat of the champion
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
resolve their activity. In combat, the characters take turns. The DM Narrates the Results of the Adventurers’ Actions. Sometimes resolving a task is easy. If an adventurer walks across a room and
Rhythm of Play The three main pillars of D&D play are social interaction, exploration, and combat. Whichever one you’re experiencing, the game unfolds according to this basic pattern: The Dungeon
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
resolve their activity. In combat, the characters take turns. The DM Narrates the Results of the Adventurers’ Actions. Sometimes resolving a task is easy. If an adventurer walks across a room and
Rhythm of Play The three main pillars of D&D play are social interaction, exploration, and combat. Whichever one you’re experiencing, the game unfolds according to this basic pattern: The Dungeon
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
heroes to spirits in ways they won’t predict, such as revealing that a phantasmal villain was a hero’s ancestor. Heroes are pure-hearted or unsuspecting individuals whose resolve is shaken by the story’s
events. Look for ways to test heroes’ psychology with your hauntings. Heroes need agency—a way to put spirits to rest. Once the story is revealed, ensure the way to combat the haunting is clear. Spirits are often evil, but they need not be. A spirit might appear to warn heroes of impending doom.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
Interacting with Objects Interacting with objects is often simple to resolve. The player tells the DM that their character is doing something, such as moving a lever or opening a door, and the DM
as in combat, interactions with objects are limited: one free interaction per turn. That interaction must occur during a creature’s movement or action. Any additional interactions require the Utilize
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Interacting with Objects Interacting with objects is often simple to resolve. The player tells the DM that their character is doing something, such as moving a lever or opening a door, and the DM
as in combat, interactions with objects are limited: one free interaction per turn. That interaction must occur during a creature’s movement or action. Any additional interactions require the Utilize
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Spelljammer Academy
: 20 tons Hit Points: 300 Crew: 13 Damage Threshold: 15 Keel/Beam: 250 ft./25 ft. Speed: Fly 30 ft. (3½ mph) Cost: 25,000 gp Using Roles in Combat During each round of combat, a ship has its own turn
and the members of its crew resolve its actions. Actions available to each crew member are dependent upon their assigned roles.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
road, or a situation the characters are asked to resolve. You decide the scope of the decision the characters must make. You can ask them to make a simple choice (“Do you want to take the path along
small dungeon or an encounter (which might involve multiple ability checks or even combat). Let the character of the player who flipped the card be the focus of the day’s events and make any required
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
Immersive Storytelling Waterdeep is threatened by political turmoil. The adventurers must convince the Masked Lords, the city’s secret rulers, to resolve their differences, but can do so only after
both the characters and the lords have come to terms with their differing outlooks and agendas. This style of gaming is deep, complex, and challenging. The focus isn’t on combat but on negotiations
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Lost Laboratory of Kwalish
bad for it in combat, it might choose to do so in order to escape (if you wish to preserve the Grand Master as a future villain), or to summon an ally (if the fight against it proves too easy).
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
Morgrave’s bad reputation. They seek fame, wealth, and power by plundering the secrets of ancient civilizations and claiming the magic and money they find for themselves. On the other hand, if the
characters solve this problem by breaking the curse rather than killing the rivals, but either way, these foils no longer trouble the characters after they resolve this situation. (A rival group at these levels might consist of an Archmage, an Archpriest, a Spy Master, and a Warrior Commander.)
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
while a second examines an esoteric symbol engraved on a wall and a third keeps watch for monsters. The players don’t need to take turns, but the DM listens to every player and decides how to resolve
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






