Actions in Combat
On your turn, you typically have an action, a bonus action, and your movement. You can use one of the following actions, an action gained from your class, magic item, or trait, or an action that you improvise. Monsters have their own action options in their statistics.
When you want to perform an action not detailed here, the Narrator determines whether the action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make to determine if you succeed or fail.
Attack
Making an attack can be anything from swinging a sword, firing an arrow, or punching or kicking. Attacks are either melee attacks or ranged attacks. See the Making an Attack section for the rules that govern attacks. In addition to regular attacks, you may choose to use a special melee attack such as a shove, a disarm, or a grapple. These special melee attacks are described later in this chapter.
Certain class and monster features, like Extra Attack or Multiattack, allow you to make more than one attack with a single action.
Cast a Spell
Many spells have a casting time of an action. Some, though, use a reaction, bonus action, minutes, or hours to cast. See Chapter 11: Spellcasting for the rules that govern spells.
Dash
When you take the Dash action, you can use your action to move your speed (in addition to the movement you can make every turn).
Disengage
When you take the Disengage action, you take a defensive, guarded retreat and your movement does not provoke opportunity attacks during that turn.
Dodge
When you take the Dodge action, instead of attacking you focus on avoiding attacks. Until the start of your next turn, attacks against you are made with disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity saving throws with advantage. You cannot take the Dodge action when your Speed is reduced to 0.
Fall Back
Whenever a creature takes the Press the Attack action against you, you can use your reaction to yield ground. You move backwards 5 feet, and your attacker does not gain an expertise die against you from using Press the Attack. As part of its action, your attacker can move 5 feet towards you.
Neither you nor the attacker provoke opportunity attacks from this movement.
A creature using the Rage class feature cannot choose to Fall Back.
Help
When you take the Help action, you aid another creature in completing a task. The creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with before the start of your next turn.
You can also help a friendly creature in attacking a creature. You must be able to target the creature with a melee attack, or otherwise threaten it. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, its next attack roll against the target is made with advantage.
Hide
When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check opposed by the passive Perception scores of creatures able to observe you. If you succeed, you gain the benefits described in the Unseen Attackers and Targets section later in this chapter.
Press the Attack
Before you take the Attack action, you can use a bonus action to designate one creature within your reach which is not currently the target of a Press the Attack action. Until the beginning of your next turn, your melee attacks against that creature gain an expertise die, and all attacks against you are made with advantage. You cannot gain expertise dice in this way on attacks made at disadvantage.
When you Press the Attack, your target can use its reaction to Fall Back.
Ready
When you take the Ready action, you prepare an action to be used when a certain trigger comes to pass. You first choose a perceivable circumstance that will trigger your reaction. Then you choose an action you will take in response to that trigger (such as making an attack, or using Dash to move your speed). When the trigger occurs, you can use your reaction immediately after, or you can decide to ignore the trigger, wasting your readied action.
Only spells with a casting time of 1 action can be readied. When you take the Ready action to cast a spell, you first cast it normally and then concentrate on the spell to be released when the trigger is met.
Search
When you take the Search action, you focus your attention on finding something. Without using the Search action, your passive Investigation and passive Perception scores determine whether you notice a hidden creature or object. Using the Search action gives you an additional chance. Depending on the nature of your search, the Narrator may call for a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Sprint
When you take the Sprint action, you focus all your effort on moving as fast as possible to the exclusion of everything else.
- You may not take any other actions, bonus actions, or reactions other than your move Speed for the turn.
- If you are unencumbered, your Speed is quadrupled for one turn; if you are encumbered or wearing heavy armor, your Speed is tripled for one turn.
- You must Sprint in a straight line each turn, although you can change direction each time you Sprint.
- You may Sprint for a number of turns equal to your Constitution modifier. Each turn you Sprint after that, you make a Constitution (Athletics) check (DC 10 + 1 per previous check made in the last minute) or you suffer a level of fatigue from either tiredness or a minor sprain or injury. You recover fatigue suffered from sprinting at a rate of one level per minute.
- You cannot Sprint if you are suffering from one or more levels of fatigue.
- Attacks against you are made with advantage until the start of your next turn.
Tumble
You can use an action or bonus action to Tumble through a hostile creature’s space by deftly diving or rolling past. Make a Dexterity saving throw against the target’s combat maneuver DC. On a success, you can move through the hostile creature’s space once this turn. If you have proficiency with Acrobatics, you gain an expertise die on the save (or you gain a 1d6 expertise die if you also have the tumbling specialty.) The creature can choose to just let you pass instead of rolling.
If you are smaller than the target, you have advantage. If you are larger than the target, you have disadvantage (though if you are two or more sizes larger than the target, you can move through the hostile creature’s space without making a save). You still provoke opportunity attacks if you move beyond a creature’s reach.
Use a Basic Maneuver
You can always choose to Disarm, Grapple, Knockdown, Overrun, or Shove as a basic maneuver instead of making an attack. See Chapter 10: Combat Maneuvers for the rules that govern basic maneuvers.
Use a Combat Maneuver
Many combat maneuvers are used alongside making an attack, but some have their own action costs. See Chapter 10: Combat Maneuvers for the rules that govern combat maneuvers.
Use an Object
Normally, you use an object while performing another action, such as drawing a sword while running forward. You are also able to interact with one object for free on your turn without spending an action (like opening an unlocked door, undoing a peace bond on a weapon, or tearing down a wanted poster). When an object otherwise requires your action for its use (like administering or drinking a potion), you take the Use an Object action, which can also be useful when you need to interact with more than one object on your turn.