Adventurers interact with doors often in a D&D campaign. This section gives rules for most of the doors the adventurers encounter.
The Doors table provides the AC and Hit Points for common doors, which are Medium objects.
With the Utilize action, a creature can try to force open a door that is barred or locked, doing so with a successful Strength (Athletics) check. The table provides the DC of the check. For bigger doors, double or triple the Hit Points and increase the DC of the check by 5.
A barred door has no lock. A creature on the barred side of the door can take the Utilize action to lift the bar from its braces, allowing the door to be opened.
Characters who don’t have the key to a locked door can try to pick the lock using Thieves’ Tools. The Lock Complexity table tells you how long it takes to try to pick a lock based on its complexity. At the end of that time, the character picks the lock by making a successful Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check using Thieves’ Tools. The DC is determined by the lock’s quality, as shown in the Lock Quality table.
A secret door is crafted to blend into the wall that surrounds it. Sometimes faint cracks in the wall or scuff marks on the floor betray the secret door’s presence. Other than the fact that it’s hidden, a secret door is similar to a common door.
With the Search action, a character can search for a secret door along a 10-foot-square section of wall and make a Wisdom (Perception) check. On a successful check, the character finds any secret door hidden in that section of wall as well as the mechanism to open the door. The DC of the check depends on how well the secret door is hidden, as shown in the Secret Doors table.
You can instead call for an Intelligence (Investigation) check if the challenge involves deducing that a door is present from noticeable clues, rather than spotting those clues in the first place. See “Perception” in chapter 2 for more advice.
Adventurers often fail to locate secret doors. For this reason, don’t hide important treasures or locations behind secret doors unless you’re comfortable with the characters not finding them, and don’t risk letting your adventure grind to a halt because the only path forward is hidden behind a secret door.
Typically made of iron or wood, a portcullis blocks a passage or an archway until it is raised into the ceiling by a winch and chain. Creatures within 5 feet of a lowered portcullis can make ranged attacks or cast spells through it, and they have Three-Quarters Cover against attacks, spells, and other effects originating from the opposite side. A portcullis can also be attacked and destroyed, using the AC and Hit Points of a metal door (if iron) or a wooden door (if wood).
Winching a portcullis up or down requires the Utilize action. If a creature can’t reach the winch (usually because it’s on the other side of the portcullis), lifting the portcullis requires the Utilize action and a successful Strength (Athletics) check. The DC of the check depends on the type of portcullis, as shown in the Portcullises table.