This section builds on the combat rules in the Player’s Handbook and offers tips for keeping the game running smoothly when a fight breaks out.
Combat starts when—and only when—you say it does. Some characters have abilities that trigger on an Initiative roll; you, not the players, decide if and when Initiative is rolled. A high-level Barbarian can’t just punch their Paladin friend and roll Initiative to regain expended uses of Rage.
In any situation where a character’s actions initiate combat, you can give the acting character Advantage on their Initiative roll. For example, if a conversation with an NPC is cut short because the Sorcerer is convinced that NPC is a doppelganger and targets it with a Chromatic Orb spell, everyone rolls Initiative, and the Sorcerer does so with Advantage. If the doppelganger rolls well, it might still act before the Sorcerer’s spell goes off, reflecting the monster’s ability to anticipate the spell.
You can get to the action of combat more quickly by using Initiative scores instead of rolling. You might use Initiative scores just for characters, just for monsters, or for both.
Initiative Scores for Characters. A character’s Initiative score is typically 10 plus all modifiers to the character’s Initiative roll (including their Dexterity modifier and any special modifiers). If you want your players to use Initiative scores, have them record those scores on their character sheets, and keep your own list of those scores.
Initiative Scores for Monsters. A monster’s stat block in the Monster Manual includes its Initiative score after its Initiative bonus.
Advantage and Disadvantage. If a creature has Advantage on Initiative rolls, increase its Initiative score by 5. If it has Disadvantage on those rolls, decrease that score by 5.
The following sections describe different methods for keeping track of who goes when in combat.
You can track Initiative on a list your players can’t see using any of the following tools:
A hidden list allows you to track combatants who haven’t been revealed yet, and you can use the list as a place to record the current Hit Points of monsters, as well as other useful notes.
If you use this approach, you tell the players when it’s their characters’ turn. When you call out the character whose turn is starting, consider also mentioning who’s next, prompting that character’s player to think ahead.
You can track Initiative on a list that is visible to the players using any of the following tools:
An open list makes everyone aware of the order of play. Players know when their characters’ turns are coming up so they can plan their actions in advance. An open list also lets the players know when the monsters act in the fight, although you can hold off on adding monsters to the list until they take their first turns.
During a combat encounter, you or a player should track how much damage each monster takes. Most DMs track damage in secret so their players don’t know how many Hit Points a monster has remaining.
It helps to have a system to track damage for groups of monsters. If you aren’t using miniatures or other visual aids, one way to track your monsters is to assign them unique features. For example, imagine that you’re running an encounter with three ogres. You might attach descriptions such as “the ogre with a big scar” and “the ogre with the helmet” to help you and your players track which monster is which. Once Initiative is rolled, jot down each ogre’s Hit Points and add notes (and even a name, if you like) to differentiate each one:
Krag (ogre w/ scar): 68
Thod (ogre w/ helm): 71
Mur (ogre smeared w/ dirt): 59
If you use miniatures to represent monsters, one way to differentiate them is to give each one a unique miniature. If you use identical miniatures to represent multiple monsters, you can tag the miniatures with small stickers of different colors or stickers with different letters or numbers on them.
For example, in a combat encounter with three ogres, you could use three identical ogre miniatures tagged with stickers marked A, B, and C, respectively. To track the ogres’ Hit Points, you can sort them by letter, then subtract damage from their Hit Points as they take it. Your records might look something like this after a few rounds of combat:
Ogre A: 68 59 53 45 24 14 9 dead
Ogre B: 71 62 54 33
Ogre C: 59
Some DMs prefer to track how much damage a monster has taken, adding to that number as characters deal damage (instead of subtracting from the monster’s Hit Points). Adding is generally easier than subtracting, and you can track damage on a visible list of Initiative (such as a whiteboard) without revealing to the players how many Hit Points the monsters have. The tracking might look like this:
Ogre A: 9 15 23 44 54 59 dead
Ogre B: 9 17 38
Ogre C:
Three ogres block a narrow mountain pass.
Many rules and features in the game apply conditions to creatures. You can also apply conditions on the fly when it makes sense to do so. For example, the Poisoned condition can reflect a variety of impairments, from influenza to intoxication.
You can track monsters’ conditions wherever you track their Hit Points. Players should track any conditions affecting their characters. Character conditions can also be marked on index cards or a whiteboard.
You might also mark index cards or sticky notes with conditions and their effects or use tokens or some other tangible reminder. Then hand the cards, notes, or tokens to players when their characters have a condition. Putting a sticky note with a condition’s rules on a player’s character sheet can help that player remember the effects of the condition. You can also place tokens or colored plastic rings (the rings from soda bottle caps work well) on a creature’s miniature, helping everyone remember which creatures are affected by conditions.
Often, players can rely on your descriptions to imagine where their characters are in relation to their surroundings and their enemies. Certain combat encounters, however, can benefit from having visual aids or physical props, the most common of which are miniatures and a battle grid. Miniatures are typically used in conjunction with model terrain, modular dungeon tiles, or maps drawn on large vinyl mats. Most virtual tabletops for online play simulate miniatures and grids in a digital environment.
The following sections expand on the rules in the Player’s Handbook for depicting combat using miniature figures on a grid.
You can draw tactical maps with colored markers on an erasable vinyl mat with 1-inch squares or a similar flat surface. Preprinted poster-sized maps, maps assembled from cardboard tiles, and terrain made of sculpted plaster or resin are other options. If you’re playing on a virtual tabletop, you can find abundant tactical maps in digital form online.
The most common unit for tactical maps is the 5-foot square, and maps with grids are readily available and easy to create. However, you don’t have to use a grid at all. You can track distances with a tape measure, string, rulers, or pipe cleaners cut to specific lengths. Another option is a play surface covered by 1-inch hexagons (often called hexes), which makes movement more flexible while keeping the easy counting of a grid. Dungeon corridors with straight walls and right angles don’t map easily onto hexes, though.
A creature’s size determines how much space it occupies on squares or hexes, as shown in the Creature Size and Space table and the accompanying diagrams.
If the miniature you use for a monster takes up an amount of space different from what’s in the table, that’s fine, but treat the monster as its official size for all rules. For example, you might use a miniature that has a Large base to represent a Huge giant. That giant takes up less space on the battlefield than its size suggests, but it is still Huge for the purposes of rules like grappling.
An area of effect must be translated onto squares or hexes to determine which potential targets are in the area. If the area has a point of origin, choose an intersection of squares or hexes to be the point of origin, then follow its rules as normal. If an area of effect covers at least half a square or hex, the entire square or hex is affected.
To determine whether there is line of sight between two spaces, pick a corner of one space and trace an imaginary line from that corner to any part of another space. If you can trace a line that doesn’t pass through or touch an object or effect that blocks vision—such as a stone wall, a thick curtain, or a dense cloud of fog—then there is line of sight.
The accompanying diagrams illustrate cover on squares or hexes. To determine whether a target has cover against an attack or other effect, choose a corner of the attacker’s space or the point of origin of an area of effect. Then trace imaginary lines from that corner to every corner of any one square the target occupies. If one or two of those lines are blocked by an obstacle (including a creature), the target has Half Cover. If three or four of those lines are blocked but the attack or effect can still reach the target (such as when the target is behind an arrow slit), the target has Three-Quarters Cover.
On hexes, use the same procedure as above, drawing lines between the corners of the hexagons. The target has Half Cover if one, two, or three lines are blocked by an obstacle, and Three-Quarters Cover if four or more lines are blocked but the attack or effect can still reach the target.
The Player’s Handbook presents a simple method for counting movement and measuring range on a grid of squares: count every square as 5 feet, even if the creature is moving or counting diagonally. While fast in play, this rule breaks the laws of geometry.
If you want more accuracy, use the following rule: the first diagonal square counts as 5 feet, but the second diagonal square counts as 10 feet. This pattern of 5 feet and then 10 feet continues whenever you’re counting diagonally, even if the creature moves straight between different bits of diagonal movement. For example, a character might move 1 square diagonally (5 feet), then 3 squares straight (15 feet), and then another square diagonally (10 feet) for a total movement of 30 feet.
If combat erupts between two groups that are hundreds of feet away from each other, try the following techniques to keep track of who’s where:
Note Paper. List all combatants on a piece of paper, and keep a running tally of each creature’s distance from the party’s starting point (the party starts at 0 feet). As the characters advance, increase their numbers; as the monsters advance toward the characters, decrease their numbers.
Adjust the Grid Scale. If you’re using a battle grid, take a section of that grid and use it to track position, changing the scale so that each square is 30 feet. You don’t need to be precise about creatures’ positions, just their distance from each other.
Dice as Range Counters. Do away with the grid and put miniatures in their relative positions, using dice next to each miniature to show how far they’ve traveled. You can use percentile dice (or three d10s, with each die representing a digit in a three-digit number, if the encounter begins at a range between 100 and 1,000 feet), or use one or more d20s to show how many 5-foot or 10-foot squares the creature has advanced.
Although it’s important that the players understand what’s going on in terms of the rules, the game can get dull if everyone uses only “gamespeak”: “That’s an 18 to hit,” “You hit; now roll damage,” “11 points,” and “OK, now we’re to Initiative count 13.” Instead, use the rules and your knowledge of the scene to help your narration. If 18 is barely a hit, but the 11 points of damage is a bad wound for the enemy, say: “You swing wildly, and the knight brings his shield up just a second too late. Your blade catches him along the jaw, drawing a deep gash. He recoils, bleeding badly!”
As the characters fight monsters, you can reveal information to help the players make good choices, as described in the sections that follow.
You can give players a sense of how well they’re doing against a creature by describing, in narrative terms, how hurt the creature is. For example, if the creature is Bloodied, you might say the creature has visible wounds and appears beaten down. Such information gives the players a sense of progress and might spur them to press the attack. On the other hand, if the characters aren’t damaging the creature much, let the players know the creature doesn’t look hurt. That might encourage the players to change their plan.
Share information with the players about the characteristics of creatures they fight as those characteristics become apparent. For example, if a Wizard casts Fire Bolt against a Fire Elemental (a creature that has Immunity to Fire damage), let the players know the spell doesn’t seem to bother the creature at all. Players might correctly guess that a creature made of fire probably wouldn’t harmed by Fire Bolt; feel free to confirm their guesses.
When a monster takes an action in combat, the players need to have some idea what’s going on both in the fictional reality of the game and in terms of the rules of the game. This means that when an enemy with a Crossbow takes the Ready action to cover the area in front of a door, the players should have a pretty good idea that if their characters move in front of that door, the enemy will shoot them. A monster’s description in the Monster Manual often explains what’s happening in the world while the monster is using its special actions. The Describing Actions table has descriptions you can use to explain what’s going on when a creature takes one of the common actions available to all creatures.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Dash | “Dispensing with attacks, your foe hurries across the room.” |
| Disengage | “Careful not to drop its guard, your foe edges away from you.” |
| Dodge | “Your foe watches you closely and tries to parry your attacks.” |
| Help | “While its ally attacks, your foe darts around, causing a distraction.” |
| Magic | “Your foe gestures in a deliberate manner and utters an invocation.” |
| Ready | “Your foe seems to be waiting for something, ready to act.” |
You can combine those narrative descriptions with game rules: “Dispensing with attacks, your foe hurries across the room, taking the Dash action.”
Awarding Heroic Inspiration
As discussed in the Player’s Handbook, Heroic Inspiration is a reward you can give to characters when their players make the game more fun, exciting, and memorable for everyone at the table. Any player who makes the whole table erupt in laughter, cheers, or howls of surprise probably deserves Heroic Inspiration.
You can also use Heroic Inspiration to reward roleplaying, immersion in the game, and heroism. Use it to incentivize the kind of behavior you want to see in your game, such as acting in character, taking risks, thinking strategically, cooperating well, or embracing the tropes of a particular genre. Make sure your use of Heroic Inspiration is aligned with the expectations you set out at the start of your game (see “Ensuring Fun for All” in chapter 1).
It’s important that players can tell when their characters’ opponents are casting spells, giving the characters the opportunity to cast Counterspell or otherwise interfere with the spellcasting.
When a monster casts a spell, check the components it’s using and describe its activity appropriately. If the spell has Verbal components, the monster might chant, boldly proclaim, or hiss the mystic syllables of the spell. Somatic components involve the monster moving its hands (or similar appendages) in graceful patterns, shaping them into angular positions, or thrusting them sharply forward. Finally, the monster might be holding a Spellcasting Focus or some other Material component.
Some monsters have the special ability to ignore some or all of a spell’s normal components, which might prevent characters from recognizing what the monster is doing. Similarly, when monsters use magical abilities that don’t involve casting spells, make sure it’s clear to the players that the monster is drawing on its unique magical abilities, not casting a spell their characters could counter.
A dragon’s arrival makes a simple fight against zombies much more interesting.
Sometimes even the best-planned combat encounter can turn into a slog, where no one’s moving and neither side is hitting or dealing much damage to the other. When that happens, here are a few techniques you can use to get things moving again or bring the encounter to a speedy close.
When characters do something to change the tactical situation, don’t respond by putting things back to the way they were before. For example, if a character takes the Disengage action to move away from a group of monsters, don’t respond by having those same monsters chase the character. Move the monsters somewhere else.
If a combat has gone on long enough and the characters’ victory is almost certain, you can simply have the monster drop dead. The players don’t ever need to know that it still had 15 Hit Points left after the characters’ last attack.
Most monsters can see when a fight’s not going their way (or not going anywhere at all). A sapient monster might parley with the characters in an effort to get out of the situation alive. Suddenly a combat encounter turns into a social interaction as the monster and characters negotiate an end to their hostilities. A nonsapient monster might play dead to try to get the characters to stop attacking it, only to get up and run away as soon as it has the opportunity. See “Fight or Flight” later in this chapter for more suggestions.
To add excitement to a battle, consider adding a combatant. Maybe a monstrous predator wanders onto the scene where the characters are locked in battle with another foe. Or maybe the noise of the ongoing combat attracts the attention of nearby dungeon denizens. The new combatant might attack both the characters and their foes, or it might join one side or the other. Each time one or more new combatants join the encounter, roll Initiative for them and weave them into the Initiative order.
Consider changing a battle’s terrain to introduce a new element and give combatants reasons to move around. Perhaps a powerful attack or an explosive spell topples a column, shatters a wall, or breaks up the floor. Maybe a fissure opens in the floor, releasing noxious vapors, obscuring smoke, or lava. Magic could tear open the boundaries between planes of existence, unleashing raw elements or other planar energy. Or perhaps a monster’s desperation causes wild magic to warp the fabric of reality. You can use the environmental effects, hazards, and traps in chapter 3 to represent these effects.
You can transform one monster into another to keep a fight interesting. Maybe a worg splits open, and a gibbering mouther spills out to take its place. Or a cultist is consumed in a pillar of infernal flame, and a devil erupts from the ashes. You can also alter a monster’s stat block in subtle ways in the middle of combat; for example, you might decide that a monster flies into a frenzy when it’s Bloodied, giving it Advantage on its attack rolls—and giving the characters Advantage on their attack rolls against it as well, speeding the fight to an end.
Many of the same techniques that help keep combat moving can also be useful in situations where a combat encounter is either harder or easier than you anticipated and you want to adjust it. Monsters might initiate negotiations when they’re winning, allowing overmatched characters a chance to surrender or retreat. One of the monsters might switch sides and help the characters defeat its kin (for noble or selfish reasons). A change of terrain can provide characters a chance to escape or give overmatched monsters an edge.
Few creatures fight to the death. Nearly all creatures have survival instincts that cause them to reevaluate their tactics in the face of their own destruction. Sapient creatures confronted by obviously more numerous or powerful opponents usually try to avoid battle. But brave, desperate, or devoted creatures might never retreat from a battle.
If you can’t decide whether a creature is willing to fight, have it make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw before Initiative is rolled. You can set the DC higher or lower if you like. On a failed save, the creature either flees or tries to parley with the enemy (see “Avoiding or Ending a Fight” below). On a successful save, the creature is willing to fight. When dealing with a group of creatures, the leader makes this saving throw on behalf of the group.
When creatures that are already engaged in battle realize they’re likely to lose, they usually try to exit that battle. A monster is likely to flee if either of the following is true:
In those circumstances, you can decide the monster flees, or you can have it make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw and flee or parley on a failed save. In general, if it is obvious to you that a creature is going to lose, assume it’s obvious to that creature as well.
A creature that wishes to end or avoid a fight has two options:
Flight. The creature can retreat or run away on its turn. Select a destination for the fleeing party, such as a known place of safety (perhaps a room with a door that can be closed and barred). If the opponents pursue, you can use the “Chases” section in chapter 3 to help adjudicate what happens.
Parley. A parley is an attempt to settle a conflict nonviolently. The side that wishes to end or avoid combat offers to surrender or proposes some sort of exchange. If one side wants to parley in the middle of combat and the other side agrees, you can suspend the Initiative order for some interaction. If the two sides don’t come to an agreement, pick up the Initiative order where it left off.