While the D&D Quickstart Rules are linked in the sidebar, the sheer breadth and depth of game mechanics can be very overwhelming for new and returning players.
To that end the dungeon master has written up this handy and primer on the key aspects of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition that will help introduce players both new and old to the mechanics of the game. This document is long and it is not advised for players to try and read through it all in one go!
Please note that a full and complete knowledge of the rules is very much not required to play and enjoy the Pawns of Prophecy campaign! When in doubt, describe what you would like your character to do and we’ll figure out the mechanics for it.
In many cases our virtual table-top handles many of the “crunchier” parts of the system for us, including what bonuses or penalties different condititions or circumstances grant, to help you focus on playing your character and telling your story!
Inside the game world there is a special journal article detailing these and many (many) more aspects of the 5E system; please feel free to peruse it at your leisure and familiarize yourself on aspects of the ruleset that are most relevant to your character. When in doubt, feel free to ask for help!
“Roll a D20”
For most interactions where a roll is required, whether it’s convincing a shopkeeper that your used dagger really is worth all the gold you’re asking for or hitting an ogre in the head with a club, you will roll a twenty-sided die, shorthanded to a “d20”.
Usually there are bonuses—and sometimes penalties—to this roll, but they’re fairly logical: your natural prowess (e.g. Strength score) may help you in combat, while your willpower (e.g. Wisdom score) may help you avoid falling under a Compulsion spell.
Characters are also “proficient” in different skills and checks as
well—usually determined by their class and background—and if
you’re trying something your character is practiced in, you get another
bonus that grows as your character levels up.
Putting this all together, if Dirk the sneakthief were trying to stab someone
with a quick dagger, a weapon they are most certainly proficient in, their
roll would look something like this: Dexterity modifier + proficiency bonus + d20.
If Dirk rolls higher than the target set by the DM (either based on the situation, the enemy’s armour, or other rules), they hit! If not, they miss and life goes on.
While there are plenty of mechanics around dice rolling, including important notes mentioned in the following sections, most checks largely come down to rolling a d20 and adding a bonus.
Critical Hits and Failures
When making an attack roll or saving throw, rolling a 20 has special meaning—you’ve made a “critical hit” and that means you automatically succeed, no questions asked! In addition, any damage dice you would roll as part of an attack are also doubled, meaning that 1d6 damage sword crits for 2d6! This also applies to any bonus damage dice (e.g. a rogue’s Sneak Attack or paladin’s Divine Smite abilities), which makes crits extra exciting!
Unfortunately the inverse is true, and rolling a 1 on an attack roll or saving throw means you fail, no matter how high your bonuses are or how easy the check is. Better luck next time!
Critical hits and failures do not apply to skill checks; with those you always calculate your roll + bonuses normally.
Advantage and Disadvantage
Sometimes circumstances overwhelmingly favor you: you get the drop on an unaware enemy, the pouring rain muffles your sneaking footsteps, the climbing rope has convenient knots tied into it, et cetera. In these situations you may find yourself rolling an ability check (skill test), attack, or saving throw “with advantage”. This means you will roll two 2d20 (two twenty-sided dice) instead of just one, and will use the higher of the two, making you much more likely to get a good result!
Alternatively, sometimes things just aren’t going your way: you’re poisoned and feeling sluggish, it’s pouring rain while you’re trying to climb a slick wall, you’re fumbling around in the dark, and so forth. In these situations you may find yourself rolling “with disadvantage,” which is the exact opposite of advantage: roll 2d20 rather than just one and take the lower of the two, which makes lower results more likely.
Advantage and Disadvantage are key concepts within 5E and are an easy way to represent the relative ease or difficulty of a check without playing around with complex die roll modifiers or the like which define other RPG systems.
Actions in Combat
Unlike in normal role-play, once weapons get drawn things get very tactical. Every character has the same pool of action types to draw from, and it is up to them to decide how best to utilize them to the greatest effect. Each character, whether player-controlled or not, gets the can take the following during the combat turn: 1 standard action, 1 bonus action, 1 free action, 1 reaction, and movement.
Standard Actions
Most things your character will do during combat take up your standard action—usually shortened to just “action.” This primarily includes attacking with a weapon, casting most spells, and so forth. Using most skills in combat, such as trying to hide or intimidate someone, is also a standard action.
There are other ways your character can spend their action, however. Each of the following options are also available:
- Assist: rather than taking an action yourself, you can help someone else. Spending your action Assisting someone gives them advantage on their roll
- Dash: in addition to your normal movement, you may move up to your movement rate again. Older editions called this a “double move”
- Disengage: if you want to retreat from melee combat without provoking “opportunity attacks” (see later on this page), you must spend your action to do so
- Delay: if you’d like to do something later in the combat turn, be it swing on an enemy when they emerge from a door or run and jump when platforms align, you spend your action to “delay”. When the conditions you specify are met, your delayed standard action—or bonus action, or movement (choose just one)—takes place.
- Dodge: all attacks against you until your next turn are made with disadvantage; you’re spending all your energy on avoiding being hit
Standard actions can only be taken on a character’s own turn in the initiative order, except as part of a delay.
Bonus Actions
Not everything is a full turn worth of effort, and can be done quickly or off-the-cuff. Abilities which explicitly describe that they take a bonus action can be used in conjunction with, or at least during the same turn, as a standard action. Examples include drawing a weapon, casting some select spells, attacking with one’s off-hand, or select rogue abilities. The dungeon master may decide that some skill uses fall under bonus actions, most often uses of Perception or Insight.
Bonus actions may only be taken on a character’s own turn, unless part of a delay (see above).
Free Actions
Each character can do one singular thing that takes no effort “freely” during their turn. This includes dropping what is in their hand, falling prone, manipulating a simple item (e.g. a switch on a wall), or saying a short phrase. An additional free action can be taken in lieu of a Bonus Action on one’s turn.
Free actions may only be taken on a character’s own turn.
Reaction
Unless they are surprised, characters in combat get one opportunity to react to something someone else is doing, even if it’s not the character’s turn in the initiative order. Most characters will use their reaction to make an opportunity attack (see the next major section for details), but select spells and abilities also make use of a character’s reaction. Note that characters only receive one reaction per combat round.
Movement
Each character may move up to their total movement during their turn. For most characters this is 30’, represented by 6 squares on most combat maps. Difficult terrain—such as mud, steep inclines, or other unsure footing—costs twice normal movement to pass through, meaning each square represents 10’ of movement. See the movement section of Using FoundryVTT for more information.
Characters may only move on their own turn, except as a delay (see above).
Opportunity Attacks
Movement can be dangerous in combat, particularly when engaged at melee range—generally when your token is right next to another on the combat grid. Each character holding a melee weapon “threatens” an area around them 5’ (one square) in all directions, though some long or large weapons convey even greater reach.
If another combatant attemps to leave that threatened area, the threatening character may spend their reaction, if available, to make a single melee attack against them. This does not trigger if a character moves within but stays inside the threatened area, only if they actually exit it.
Barring special circumstances, ranged weapons never threaten an area and neither they nor spells can be used to make opportunity attacks.
Magic
Magical spells all require at least one of three key components to cast: a spoken word, a material focus, and/or hand gestures. If a character is bound or their hands are otherwise occupied, they usually won’t be able to cast spells that require gestures (called somatic components); if they’re gagged or underwater they won’t be able to cast spells with verbal components; and if they are without their gear they likely won’t be able to cast spells with material components.
Trying to subtlely cast spells with somatic and/or verbal components may require a Stealth or Sleight of Hands check, depending on circumstances.
Some spells require the caster to concentrate in order to maintain an ongoing magical effect. While this doesn’t impact their ability to do anything else—swing a sword, make a jump check, even cast other non-concentration spells—if they cast a second spell that requires concentration, the effects of the first spell stop. In short, you can only maintain concentrate on one spell at a time.
If you take damage while concentrating on a spell, you must make a Constitution saving throw in order to keep your focus.
DM Inspiration
Sometimes the stars align in a moment of brilliance and your character has a better than average chance of meeting their goal. “DM Inspiration”—not to be confused with the inspiration Bards can give—allows you to roll with Advantage (see above) on a single check where you wouldn’t otherwise get such a bonus.
The DM may grant individual characters inspiration as a reward for good role-play, engaging with the world at large, coming up with a clever idea, acts of selfless heroism, or perhaps overcoming a challenging obstacle. It’s a way to reward contributions to the gaming experience.
You can’t “save up” multiple uses of DM Inpsiration—either you have it available or you don’t—and it vanishes once used, whether the roll succeeds or fails. The in-game character sheets have a convenient tracker for DM inspiration next to your class level in the upper-right.
You can declare that you’re using inspiration after the d20 is rolled, but only before the resultss are announced (i.e. pass or failure).
While it can be tempting to hoard the on-demand Advantage for when it will be “most” useful, the dungeon master is hoping to regularly give out inspiration and so hopes it will be used when the story or circumstance demands, not solely on “crucial” rolls.