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Returning 35 results for 'before both deciding combatants rules'.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Divine Contention
Running the Battle This quest is an epic battle involving hundreds of rival combatants. Use the following rules to resolve the conflict.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Initiative Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. The combat rules in “Playing the Game” explain how to roll Initiative. Sometimes a DM might have combatants use their Initiative
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
Initiative Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. The combat rules in chapter 1 explain how to roll Initiative. Sometimes a DM might have combatants use their Initiative scores
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
single tournament has twelve combatants and consists of three fights with short rests in between. Failure to heed the following rules result in a combatant’s disqualification: All tournament
combatants must wait in area X7 until they’re called to area X6 to fight. During a fight event, no combatant can leave the arena or attack anyone who isn’t a combatant in that event. Tournament Structure Noska
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
between relying on their bonuses and abilities and paying attention to the game and immersing themselves in its world. Remember that dice don’t run your game — you do. Dice are like rules. They’re
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
session and for creating situations that facilitate fun. Improviser. A big part of being the DM is deciding how to apply the rules as you go and imagining the consequences of the characters’ actions in a
way that will make the game fun for everyone. Referee. When it’s not clear what ought to happen next, the DM decides how to apply the rules. Storyteller. The DM crafts adventures, setting situations in
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
session and for creating situations that facilitate fun. Improviser. A big part of being the DM is deciding how to apply the rules as you go and imagining the consequences of the characters’ actions in a
way that will make the game fun for everyone. Referee. When it’s not clear what ought to happen next, the DM decides how to apply the rules. Storyteller. The DM crafts adventures, setting situations in
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
challenge the monarch for the right to rule. The grounds are 20 feet in diameter. Combatants are shackled by one wrist or ankle to a 10-foot length of chain attached to the tree. Each chain has AC 19
, 11 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Using an action, a creature can pull a chain free of the tree with a successful DC 17 Strength (Athletics) check. Combat Rules. A trial by
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Chapter 1: This Is Your Life The character creation rules in the Player’s Handbook provide all the information you need to define your character in preparation for a life of adventuring. What they
experience before deciding to become an adventurer? What were the circumstances of your birth? How large is your family, and what sorts of relationships do you have with your relatives? Which people
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
it has several different abilities, but simply deciding that an item is always active or can be used a fixed number of times per day is easier to manage. Power Level If you make an item that lets a
column suggests an appropriate bonus based on the item’s rarity. Attunement Decide whether the item requires a character to be attuned to it to use its properties. Use these rules of thumb to help you
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
the rules glossary for more about Speed as well as about special speeds, such as a Climb Speed, Fly Speed, or Swim Speed. Difficult Terrain Combatants are often slowed down by Difficult Terrain. Low
, you can move a distance equal to your Speed or less. Or you can decide not to move. Your movement can include climbing, crawling, jumping, and swimming (each explained in the rules glossary). These
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
noted in the monster’s stat block. See the Rules Glossary for more about Speed as well as about special speeds, such as a Climb Speed, Fly Speed, or Swim Speed. Difficult Terrain Combatants are often
explained in the Rules Glossary). These different modes of movement can be combined with your regular movement, or they can constitute your entire move. However you’re moving with your Speed, you deduct
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
capabilities. Imps are used as spies and messengers rather than combatants, and they are the infernal agents most often encountered on the Material Plane. Lesser devils rarely command other devils, aside
all. Rules for Everything Devils are evil schemers by nature, but they must operate within the bounds of the Nine Hells’ intricate legal code. A devil’s attitude toward the law is in part driven by its
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
adversaries are—how far away and in what direction. Roll Initiative. Everyone involved in the combat encounter rolls Initiative, determining the order of combatants’ turns. Take Turns. Each participant in the
their Initiative count, or Initiative for short. The DM ranks the combatants, from highest to lowest Initiative. This is the order in which they act during each round. The Initiative order remains the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
adversaries are—how far away and in what direction. Roll Initiative. Everyone involved in the combat encounter rolls Initiative, determining the order of combatants’ turns. Take Turns. Each participant in the
their Initiative count, or Initiative for short. The DM ranks the combatants, from highest to lowest Initiative. This is the order in which they act during each round. The Initiative order remains the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
that reason, there's a limit to the number of creatures that can surround another creature in combat. Assuming Medium combatants, eight creatures can fit in a 5-foot radius around another one
miniatures or other tokens, follow these rules.
Squares. Each square on the grid represents 5 feet.
Speed. Rather than moving foot by foot, move square by square on the grid. This means you use your speed
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel
Angels in the Outlands CoupleOfKooks “If you think you’re prepared for the ultimate struggle between good and evil, the deciding contest between all that is righteous and all that is foul, then to
is called Spireball. The modron happily explains the game’s rules, its stakes, and the two teams, all of which are detailed below. Good versus Evil Two teams—the Noxious Stampede and the Righteous
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Some attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage.
If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing
chapter.
If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC.
Unseen Attackers and Targets Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
involved.” Sometimes the rules allow for any one of two or more proficiencies to apply to a check. When deciding what check a character should make, be generous in determining if the character’s
each ability is used for. (Constitution checks are rare, as tests of a character’s endurance are usually passive or reactive, making a saving throw more appropriate.) Proficiency When the rules or a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Running Combat This section builds on the combat rules in Playing the Game and offers tips for keeping the game running smoothly when a fight breaks out. Rolling Initiative Combat starts when—and
and each group of identical monsters, placed in Initiative order in a stack you cycle through A hidden list allows you to track combatants who haven’t been revealed yet, and you can use the list as a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sage Advice Compendium
, initiative is rolled as normal. Then, the first round of combat starts, and the unsurprised combatants act in initiative order. A surprised creature can’t move or take an action or a reaction until its
factor. You can still try to hide from your foes and gain the benefits conferred by being hidden, but you don’t deprive your foes of their turns when you do so. Surprise rules work for two opposing
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Halaster’s gates (see “Gates”). Carved into the arch’s keystone is a hand-shaped indentation with a sigil representing magic scribed into the palm. Its rules are as follows: Casting the mage hand
until the item is washed. The stench is not as potent as a troglodyte’s Stench trait and imposes no conditions on those who catch a whiff of it.
The drow mage is deciding whether to kill the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
should also consider using miniatures. The Player’s Handbook offers simple rules for depicting combat using miniature figures on a grid. This section expands on that material. Tactical Maps You can draw
monster takes up an amount of space different from what’s on the table, that’s fine, but treat the monster as its official size for all other rules. For example, you might use a miniature that has a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player's Handbook (2014)
space also reflects the area it needs to fight effectively. For that reason, there’s a limit to the number of creatures that can surround another creature in combat. Assuming Medium combatants, eight
GRID
If you play out a combat using a square grid and miniatures or other tokens, follow these rules.
Squares. Each square on the grid represents 5 feet.
Speed. Rather than moving foot by foot
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Ghosts of Saltmarsh
cart filled with stolen art through the middle of a battlefield while singing sea shanties to confuse the combatants. 3 The Recruit. You enlisted in another nation’s navy for the purpose of smuggling
Wealth. Heaps of coins in a secure vault is all I dream of. (Any) 2 Smuggler’s Code. I uphold the unwritten rules of the smugglers, who do not cheat one another or directly harm innocents. (Lawful) 3
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
those conventions. Players and Inspiration. Remember that a player with inspiration can award it to another player. Some groups even like to treat inspiration as a group resource, deciding collectively
your campaign is one where you let the dice fall where they may. It’s a good option for gritty campaigns or ones where the DM focuses on playing an impartial role as a rules arbiter. Variant: Only
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
of the characters’ reaction to this revelation, learning it counts as a secret for the purposes of the Power of Secrets rules. At your discretion, if the characters help Naxa return to her sister and
troops fighting elsewhere, and Jallizanx is deciding how to give directions the dim-witted kakkuus can be reasonably expected to convey. When they see the characters, the kakkuus rush into melee while
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Netheril’s Fall: Tales of Terror, Treasure, and Time Travel
, oversees the coliseum’s operations and approves all combatants bound for the arena. The pitmaster is constantly seeking new and creative contest rules for the coliseum battles, and she often awards
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse->Turn of Fortune’s Wheel
spacefaring pirates in the Astral Sea. The rules are as follows: Each participant’s player chooses any number of d6s (known as “bones”) and shakes them in a cup. You choose any number of d6s as well
Bounty. Named after a god of revelry, this game is played on a long table embroidered with a flat pattern of an unfolded, twenty-sided die. The game’s dealer is also its deciding piece: a spectator
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
players and the DM. Group Design When selecting a feature, the characters must make decisions together — meaning the players must do the same. Deciding on the features of a headquarters should be a team
the rules in this book should be treated as a high magic campaign, with the DM and the players understanding that the difficulty of encounters and other tasks might need to be ramped up to offer a real
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
emanating from within. Sleeping in a pile to the north are twelve goblins. Their weapons and shields lie in a heap to the south. The goblins are reluctant combatants, easily intimidated by shows of
”). The keystone of this arch is carved to look like a gold dragon wyrmling, its mouth agape. The rules of this gate are as follows: The gate opens for 1 minute when a gemstone worth at least 100 gp is
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
hostile, Lysan and Zastra shout for help and attack the characters. After all combatants have taken a turn, all five sailors in the upper crew quarters (area Z2) join the fight. Talking with Lysan and
traverse. Regardless of the characters’ reaction to this revelation, learning it counts as a secret for the purposes of the Power of Secrets rules in this book’s introduction. Ward Rune. The ward rune is
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
already prepared. This results in a certain degree of corruption, naturally, which is compounded by the proxy judge’s near-absolute discretion in deciding whether to accept a conviction or exonerate a
, bearded man named Heltur “Ribbons” Ribbond, a neutral evil male human assassin, rules the Undercellar with an oily, too-affable manner and a wide grin that only makes his scar-seamed face more menacing
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer
already prepared. This results in a certain degree of corruption, naturally, which is compounded by the proxy judge’s near-absolute discretion in deciding whether to accept a conviction or exonerate a
man named Heltur “Ribbons” Ribbond, a neutral evil male human assassin, rules the Undercellar with an oily, too-affable manner and a wide grin that only makes his scar-seamed face more menacing. Ribbons
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
releases arena combatants from area X7. Ten human bandits and five bugbears (all members of the Xanathar Guild) guzzle ale and heckle combatants from the bleachers, while two goblins serve up salted rat
while Xanathar watchessilently. Rules for running a tournament are described at the end of this chapter (see “Blood and Fortune”). If a character joins the tournament and wins, or defeats its