Battle often erupts when adventurers face their foes, whether the enemies are savage monsters or cunning villains. This chapter provides the rules you need for such combat. The rules address you, the player or Dungeon Master. The Dungeon Master controls all the monsters and nonplayer characters involved in combat, and each other player controls an adventurer. “You” can also mean the character or monster that you control.

OKAY, MORTY. WE’RE PAST THE BEGINNER S***.

This is where the dice really hit the table, and you get to kick ass or watch your ass get kicked.

Pay close attention, because I’m gonna teach you how to D with some D: die with some dignity.

The Order of Combat

A typical combat encounter is a clash between two sides, a flurry of weapon swings, feints, parries, footwork, and spellcasting. The game organizes the chaos of combat into a cycle of rounds and turns. A round represents about 6 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant in a battle takes a turn.

The order of turns is determined at the beginning of a combat encounter, when everyone rolls initiative. Once everyone has taken a turn, the fight continues to the next round if neither side has defeated the other.

Six seconds doesn’t sound like much, but life is cheap, Morty. By the time you can count to “six,” I could use a tri-laser monofilament to cut a half-dozen Gromflomites into space-kibble.

Combat Step by Step

1. Determine surprise. The DM determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised.

2. Establish positions. The DM decides where all the characters and monsters are located. Given the adventurers' marching order or their stated positions in the room or other location, the DM figures out where the adversaries are—how far away and in what direction.

3. Roll initiative. Everyone involved rolls initiative, determining the order of combatants' turns.

4. Take turns. Each participant in the battle takes a turn in initiative order.

5. Begin the next round. When everyone involved in the combat has had a turn, the round ends. Repeat step 4 until the fighting stops.

Surprise

The DM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the DM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.

If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.

Remember before when I mentioned stuff about messing with player expectations? Combat and non-combat surprises are a crucial part of that, Morty.} If one of your players is wasting too much time searching for s*** that doesn’t matter, or getting weepy about their character’s backstory, just yell {@b “SURPRISE!" and drop a random encounter on their asses.

In fact, here’s a SURPRISE Table I j-j-just whipped up that you can use. Roll a d12 and consult the results over here.

Initiative

Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. The DM makes one roll for an entire group of identical creatures, so each member of the group acts at the same time.

The DM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Dexterity check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round.

If a tie occurs, the DM decides the order among tied DM-controlled creatures, and the players decide the order among their tied characters. The DM can decide the order if the tie is between a monster and a player character. Optionally, the DM can have the tied characters and monsters each roll a d20 to determine the order, highest roll going first.

This is why Dexterity is so important, Morty. You’ve gotta be fast to get what you want in life and in D&D.

I know jumping in feet-first isn’t exactly your strong suit, Morty, but when the chips are down and the stakes are high, you just gotta roll with it!

LIFE’S A TIGHTROPE, MORTY!

Your Turn

On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed and take one action. You decide whether to move first or take your action first. Your speed—sometimes called your walking speed—is noted on your character sheet.

The most common actions you can take are described in the “Actions in Combat” section later in this chapter. Many class features and other abilities provide additional options for your action.

The “Movement and Position” section later in this chapter gives the rules for your move.

You can forgo moving, taking an action, or doing anything at all on your turn. If you can’t decide what to do on your turn, consider taking the Dodge or Ready action, as described in “Actions in Combat.”

Bonus Actions

Various class features, spells, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. The Cunning Action feature, for example, allows a rogue to take a bonus action. You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or other feature of the game allows you to do something as a bonus action. You otherwise don’t have one to take.

You can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.

You choose when to take the bonus action during the turn, unless the bonus action’s timing is specified.

Not that you would ever have this problem, Morty, but deciding on a bonus action is actually pretty tough when you’ve got the ability to see all possible outcomes in all possible timelines.

My favorite bonus action is called “taunting a creature I just killed."

Remind ‘em who’s boss.

Other Activity on Your Turn

Your turn can include a variety of flourishes that require neither your action nor your move.

You can communicate however you are able, through brief utterances and gestures, as you take your turn.

You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to attack.

If you want to interact with a second object, you need to use your action. Some magic items and other special objects always require an action to use, as stated in their descriptions.

The DM might require you to use an action for any of these activities when it needs special care or when it presents an unusual obstacle. For instance, the DM could reasonably expect you to use an action to open a stuck door or turn a crank to lower a drawbridge.

Time doesn’t stop for players’ self-indulgent bulls**t here, Morty.

Six seconds per round.

{@i KEEP IT SNAPPY.}}

Reactions

Certain special abilities, spells, and situations allow you to take a special action called a reaction. A reaction is an instant response to a trigger of some kind, which can occur on your turn or on someone else’s. The opportunity attack, described later in this chapter, is the most common type of reaction.

You can take only one reaction per round. When you take a reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn. If the reaction interrupts another creature’s turn, that creature can continue its turn right after the reaction.

“Reactions” is the technical term and it’s okay, I guess, but I prefer the term,

“AW HELL NO, SON!"

because that’s really what it is.

Some evil spellcaster tries to set something off when you’re standing right there and you get to say “AW HELL NO, SON!" and do your thing instead.

It’s how I try to live my life.

Movement and Position

In combat, characters and monsters are in constant motion, often using movement and position to gain the upper hand. On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed. You can use as much or as little of your speed as you like on your turn, following the rules here. Your move can include jumping, climbing, and swimming, as described in chapter 3.

Breaking Up Your Move

You can break up your movement on your turn, using some of your speed both before and after your action. For example, if you have a speed of 30 feet, you can move 10 feet, search for a trap door, and then move 20 feet.

Similarly, if you take an action that includes more than one weapon attack, you can break up your movement even further by moving between those attacks.

If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you’ve already moved from the new speed. The result determines how much farther you can move. For example, if you have a speed of 30 and a flying speed of 60 because a wizard cast the fly spell on you, you could fly 20 feet, then walk 10 feet, and then leap into the air to fly 30 feet more.

This is a terrible example, Morty.

If you got a wizard to cast the fly spell on you, then you should never set your feet on the ground until that spell expires.

WHAT KIND IF A$$HOLE IS GONNA

WALK

ANYWHERE WHEN THEY CAN F***ING FLY?!

Waste of a good spell, Morty.

Difficult Terrain

Combatants are often slowed down by difficult terrain. Low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow, and shallow bogs are examples of difficult terrain. The space of another creature, whether hostile or not, also counts as difficult terrain.

Every foot of movement in difficult terrain costs 1 extra foot. This rule is true even if multiple things in a space count as difficult terrain.

Another good example of “difficult terrain?” This right here!

faaaaaaaaart

See, if you were flying, you could have avoided that fart.

Being Prone

Combatants often find themselves lying on the ground, either because they are knocked down or because they throw themselves down. In the game, they are prone, a condition described in appendix A.

You can drop prone without using any of your speed. Standing up takes more effort; doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you must spend 15 feet of movement to stand up. You can’t stand up if you don’t have enough movement left or if your speed is 0.

To move while prone, you must crawl or use magic such as teleportation. Every foot of movement while crawling costs 1 extra foot. Crawling 1 foot in difficult terrain, therefore, costs 3 feet of movement.

Moving Around Other Creatures

You can move through a nonhostile creature’s space. In contrast, you can move through a hostile creature’s space only if it is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you (creature sizes are detailed in the adventure book). Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can’t willingly end your move in its space.

If you move out of an enemy’s reach, you provoke an opportunity attack, as explained later in the chapter.

Actions in Combat

When you take your action on your turn, you can take one of the actions presented here, an action you gained from your class or a special feature, or an action that you improvise. When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the DM tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.

Casting a Spell

Spellcasters such as wizards and clerics, as well as many monsters, have access to spells and can use them to great effect in combat. Each spell has a casting time, which specifies whether the caster must use an action, a reaction, minutes, or even hours to cast the spell. Most spells have a casting time of 1 action, so a spellcaster often uses his or her action in combat to cast such a spell. See chapter 4 for the rules on spellcasting.

Attack

The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your fists.

With this action, you make one melee or ranged attack. See the “Making an Attack” section for the rules that govern attacks.

Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature that the fighter gets at 5th level, allow you to make more than one attack with this action.

Just imagine for a second that you’re not a 14-year-old weakling with crushing anxiety and low intellect. This is roleplaying, remember? Okay, so imagine that you’re cool like your character is supposed to be cool, and then {@i DESCRIBE THE COOL THINGS YOU THINK THEY SHOULD DO.}

If you just drop the dice on the table and say “I swing my sword” or “I cast magic missile” or whatever….

Look. Your daily life is a futile merry-go-round of crushing repetition, and every single moment is another tick of the clock that carries you closer to the grave. This game is meant to help you escape that futile reality for just a little while.

this is your opportunity to describe something fun and then do it.

Pretend you’re cool, roll a big number, paint a gorgeous word-picture, and watch as your friends cheer… over a stupid die roll! It’s ridiculous, but it’s also kind of beautiful, you know?

Dash

When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn. The increase equals your speed, after applying any modifiers. With a speed of 30 feet, for example, you can move up to 60 feet on your turn if you dash.

Any increase or decrease to your speed changes this additional movement by the same amount. If your speed of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, for instance, you can move up to 30 feet this turn if you dash.

Disengage

If you take the Disengage action, your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn.

“Disengage” is also w-what I do whenever Jerry starts talking.

Just stare at his left eye or right nostril or whatever, and let your eyesight lose focus. Unwrap your mind from the world.

Let his stupid, milquetoast words turn into mush and just…

DISENGAGE

Dodge

When you take the Dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll made against you has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity saving throws with advantage. You lose this benefit if you are incapacitated (as explained in appendix A) or if your speed drops to 0.

Help

You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.

Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally’s attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage.

HELP

You want to make this game a living hell, Morty. Make them weep for the help of their comrades as they scramble to keep themselves alive.

Hide

When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the rules in chapter 1 for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the “Unseen Attackers and Targets” section later in this chapter.

Ready

Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.

First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the goblin steps next to me, I move away."

When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.

A spell must have a casting time of 1 action to be readied, and holding onto the spell’s magic until you release it with your reaction requires concentration (explained in chapter 4). For example, if you are concentrating on the web spell and ready magic missile, your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release magic missile with your reaction, your concentration might be broken.

READY If a player steps away from a goblin instead of killing it, they’re a useless little weasel who deserves what’s coming to ‘em, Morty.

Search

When you take the Search action, you devote your attention to finding something. Depending on the nature of your search, the DM might have you make a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Use an Object

You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.

Making an Attack

Whenever you make an attack roll, you’re making an attack. Whether you’re striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a spell, an attack has the following structure:

1. Choose a target. Pick a target within your attack’s range: a creature, an object, or a location.

2. Determine modifiers. The DM determines whether the target has cover and whether you have advantage or disadvantage against the target. In addition, spells, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties, bonuses, advantage, or disadvantage to your attack roll.

2A**. Describe your attack in a cool way**. Why are you even playing this game if you’re just going to be your normal, boring-ass self?

3. Resolve the attack. You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack specifies otherwise.

3A.Curse your luck. When you roll like s***, and trust me, you will sometimes, curse the polyhedron gods who look down and laugh at your misery. We all do it when the dice go to hell. This time, it’s your turn. But lucky for you, this is a great time to use those fancy cuss words you learned online.

Attack Rolls

When you make an attack, your attack roll determines whether the attack hits or misses. To make an attack roll, roll a d20 and add the appropriate modifiers. If the total of the roll plus modifiers equals or exceeds the target’s Armor Class (AC), the attack hits. Each character’s AC is shown on the character sheet, and each monster’s AC is in the monster’s stat block.

Modifiers to the Roll

When a character makes an attack roll, the two most common modifiers to the roll are an ability modifier and the character’s proficiency bonus. A monster uses whatever modifier is provided in its stat block.

Ability Modifier

The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.

Some spells also require an attack roll. The cleric uses Wisdom when making a melee or ranged spell attack, and the wizard uses Intelligence.

Proficiency Bonus

If you are proficient with the weapon you are attacking with, you can add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll.

When you make a spell attack, you add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll.

Hidden Bonus. If no one is looking, add something like +1 or +3 to your roll—depending on how much you think you can get away with. Never pull this when I’m the DM, though. If I catch you cheating, I’ll saw your hands off and attach them to your butt so you clap every time you fart.

Rolling 1 or 20

Sometimes fate blesses or curses a combatant, causing the novice to hit or the veteran to miss.

If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC. This is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this chapter.

If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target’s AC.

Rolling a natural 20 is always exciting, Morty.

Yes, it’s just one number out of twenty and it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it feels awesome.

Lord your randomly-generated superiority over everyone else.

Take a photo of it and send it to your mom.

Unseen Attackers and Targets

I know you like rogues, Morty. Just remember they’re not meat-shields. Rogues gotta do it fart-style…

SILENT BUT DEADLY.

Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, casting the invisibility spell, or lurking in darkness.

When you attack a target that you can’t see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the DM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly.

When a creature can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it.

If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard—when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.

Ranged Attacks

When you make a ranged attack, you fire a bow or a crossbow, hurl a handaxe, or otherwise send projectiles to strike a foe at a distance. A monster might shoot spines from its tail. Many spells also involve making a ranged attack.

Range

You can make ranged attacks only against targets within a specified range. If a ranged attack, such as one made with a spell, has a single range, you can’t attack a target beyond this range. Some ranged attacks, such as those made with a longbow or a shortbow, have two ranges. The smaller number is the normal range, and the larger number is the long range. Your attack roll has disadvantage when your target is beyond normal range, and you can’t attack a target beyond the long range.

Ranged Attacks in Close Combat

Aiming a ranged attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a spell, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn’t incapacitated.

I’m with Wizards of the Coast on this one, Morty. Anybody trying to shoot an arrow at a dude less than 5 feet away deserves disadvantage. This is why we invented swords.

Melee Attacks

Used in hand-to-hand combat, a melee attack allows you to attack a foe within your reach. Most creatures have a 5-foot reach and can thus attack targets within 5 feet of them. Certain creatures (typically those larger than a human) have greater reach, as noted in their descriptions.

You can make a melee attack without a weapon by making an unarmed strike: a punch, kick, head-butt, or other forceful blow. You add your proficiency bonus and Strength modifier to the attack roll. On a hit, it deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.

In real life, it can be fun to punch someone in the squishy bits or jam an elbow in their eye, but not in D&D.

Killing monsters and enemies is a time-honored tradition, Morty.

{@b DON’T F*** WITH THAT SIMPLE LIFE-DEATH ECOSYSTEM.}

When a player announces they’re going to use “unarmed combat,” everyone at the game table retreats into the darkest part of their mind and starts praying for death.

No one wants to watch you play through a 1 damage + Strength bonus per hit slapfest.}

It’s boring and stupid.

JUST USE A DAMN WEAPON OR A SPELL.

Opportunity Attacks

In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for enemies to drop their guard. You can rarely move heedlessly past your foes without putting yourself in danger; doing so provokes an opportunity attack.

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack interrupts the provoking creature’s movement, occurring right before it leaves your reach.

You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the Disengage action. You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction. For example, you don’t provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls you out of a foe’s reach or if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy.

Good advice. If you ever need to retreat from combat, make sure you do it by {@i RIDING AN EXPLOSION.}

Two-Weapon Fighting

When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you gain a bonus action you can use to attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.

If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.

Cover

If you’re looking for cover in the middle of a particularly nasty combat, you need to get creative, Morty.

Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.

There are three degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies; the degrees aren’t added together.

A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body. The obstacle might be a low wall, a large piece of furniture, a narrow tree trunk, or a creature, whether that creature is an enemy or a friend.

A target with three-quarters cover has a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has three-quarters cover if about three-quarters of it is covered by an obstacle. The obstacle might be a portcullis, an arrow slit, or a thick tree trunk.

A target with total cover can’t be targeted directly by an attack or a spell, although some spells can reach such a target by including it in an area of effect. A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.

I had a magic-user back in the day named Alakazaar. (Yeah, we used to call wizards “magic-users,” which is weird, I know. We don’t call fighters “weapon-users.")

Anyway, my point is, during those nascent levels of experience, a stiff breeze could knock a wizard dead, so I learned to improvise some extra protection.

Alakazaar wasn’t allowed to wear armor, but there was no rule stopping him from hiding behind a bunch of dead bodies that happened to be wearing armor themselves. It’s a little loophole there that most people don’t think about.

When things are going bad and you need a barrier between you and a half-dozen flaming arrows, hug a corpse, Morty.

{@i HUG IT TIGHT.}

Damage and Healing

Injury and the risk of death are constant companions of those who explore the worlds of D&D.

“Constant companions” makes it sound all sweet, like it’s no big deal that this game has a stat for how alive you are. That’s dark as f***, Morty.

Hit Points

Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.

A creature’s current hit points (usually just called hit points), can be any number from the creature’s hit point maximum down to 0. This number changes frequently as a creature takes damage or receives healing.

Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points. The loss of hit points has no effect on a creature’s capabilities until the creature drops to 0 hit points.

Clarification: Low hit points have no physical effect on a creature’s capabilities, but they sure as hell cause mental damage to players, Morty!

All their ambitions hang on their flimsy HP, and the Dungeon Master can yank on that little choke chain any time they want.

Damage Rolls

Each weapon and spell notes the damage it deals on a successful attack. You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. Magic weapons, special abilities, and other factors can grant a bonus to damage. In addition, certain special abilities give extra damage represented by bonus dice.

When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll—to the damage. A spell tells you which dice to roll for damage and whether to add any modifiers. If a spell or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them.

Sometimes I’ll just silently stare at the players and keep rolling damage dice, over and over, until they beg me to just get it over with and kill their characters.

That’s a D&D Rickth Edition p-p-power move, Morty.

Critical Hits

When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack’s damage against the target. Roll all of the attack’s damage dice twice and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal. To speed up play, you can roll all the damage dice at once.

For example, if you score a critical hit with a dagger, roll 2d4 for the damage, rather than 1d4, and then add your relevant ability modifier. If the attack involves other damage dice, such as from the rogue’s Sneak Attack feature, you roll those dice twice as well.

{@b CRITICAL FAIL}

Notice that there aren’t any critical fails here in the rules. That’s because the math is completely ridiculous.

You roll a d20 over and over each session, so if 5 percent of the time it caused a lethally stupid mistake, you’d be dead faster than Jerry’s sex drive.

{@i BUT-}

If you’re the DM and want your players to go to brown town in their shorts, tell them that a specific roll you just assigned them has a Critical Fail Condition, which I pronounce “CuFuC."

Tell them that getting a 1 on this particular roll is the worst possible thing they could ever do.

Then, on the rare occasion it actually happens, roll a d12 and consult this special Critical Fail Table I put together just for you:

CRITICAL FAIL CONDITION TABLE

Damage Types

Different attacks and damaging spells deal different types of damage. Damage types have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as damage resistance, rely on the types.

The types are acid, bludgeoning, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, piercing, poison, psychic, radiant, slashing, and thunder.

D&D Rickth Edition has a new d-d-damage type I just came up with, Morty.

No saving throw.

No resistance.

Hits the character right in b-b-BURP-breadbasket and makes ‘em fold over like Jerry after realizing his marriage was a meaningless sham.

Hilarious

Damage Resistance and Vulnerability

Some creatures and objects are exceedingly difficult or unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage.

If a creature or an object has resistance to a damage type, damage of that type is halved against it. If a creature or an object has vulnerability to a damage type, damage of that type is doubled against it.

Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after all other modifiers to damage. For example, a creature has resistance to bludgeoning damage and is hit by an attack that deals 25 bludgeoning damage. The creature is also within a magical aura that reduces all damage by 5. The 25 damage is first reduced by 5 and then halved, so the creature takes 10 damage.

Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance. For example, if a creature has resistance to fire damage as well as resistance to all nonmagical damage, the damage of a nonmagical fire is reduced by half against the creature, not reduced by three-quarters.

Like I said before, Shut Up damage has no resistance, so apply liberally.

Healing

Unless it results in death, damage isn’t permanent, and even death is reversible through powerful magic. Rest can restore a creature’s hit points (as explained in chapter 3), and magical methods such as a cure wounds spell or a potion of healing can remove damage in an instant.

When a creature receives healing of any kind, hit points regained are added to its current hit points. A creature’s hit points can’t exceed its hit point maximum, so any hit points regained in excess of this number are lost. A creature that has died can’t regain hit points until magic, such as a revivify spell, has restored it to life.

this here is why D&D is so great, morty.

Damage is an abstraction.

It’s all just those little HP numbers goin’ up and down, up and down.

Y-y-y-you don’t have to worry about pulling groin muscles, or plugged sinuses, or cranial deterioration from experimenting on your own b-b-brain, or liver damage from the drinking, o-o-or the emotional toil on your soul from abandoning your family multiple times across infinite dimensions… it’s… it’s just a number.

Just a little number.

Dropping to 0 Hit Points

When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or fall unconscious, as explained in the following sections.

Most DMs have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 hit points, rather than having it fall unconscious and make death saving throws.

Mighty villains and special nonplayer characters are common exceptions; the DM might have them fall unconscious and follow the same rules as player characters.

Instant Death

Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum. For example, a cleric with a maximum of 12 hit points currently has 6 hit points. If she takes 18 damage from an attack, she is reduced to 0 hit points, but 12 damage remains. Because the remaining damage equals her hit point maximum, the cleric dies.

The universe doesn’t care about any of us, Morty.

I-I-I checked! I-I-I searched for a really long f***ing time to see if there was any point to any of this at all, and the honest answer is…

NOPE!

Death just happens, Morty. The whole thing is just cells changing states. Composing and decomposing. Over and over.

Th-th-the sooner you accept that, Morty, the sooner you’ll see why we play games… w-w-why we distract ourselves from the meaningless reality of entropic f-f-forces acting all around us.

everything’s a game, morty; but here you get to be a god.

A god your mom created—and I created your mom, so what does that make me, Morty?!

I’m your grandgod, Morty!

Falling Unconscious

If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious (see appendix A). This unconsciousness ends if you regain any hit points.

And th-th-that’s why you gotta be {@i NUMB}… numb to the universe ‘cause it’s numb to you… numb… num… number one!

We’re number one, Morty!

Nuuuuummber ooo-BURP-oone!

Death Saving Throws

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life. Unlike other saving throws, this one isn’t tied to any ability score. You are in the hands of fate now, aided only by spells and features that improve your chances of succeeding on a saving throw.

Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself. On your third success, you become stable (see below). On your third failure, you die. The successes and failures don’t need to be consecutive; keep track of both until you collect three of a kind. The number of both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or become stable.

Rolling 1 or 20

When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.

Damage at 0 Hit Points

If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.

Stabilizing a Creature

The best way to save a creature with 0 hit points is to heal it. If healing is unavailable, the creature can at least be stabilized so that it isn’t killed by a failed death saving throw.

You can use your action to administer first aid to an unconscious creature and attempt to stabilize it, which requires a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check.

A stable creature doesn’t make death saving throws, even though it has 0 hit points, but it does remain unconscious. The creature stops being stable, and must start making death saving throws again, if it takes any damage. A stable creature that isn’t healed regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours.

Knocking a Creature Out

Sometimes an attacker wants to incapacitate a foe, rather than deal a killing blow. When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable.

Aw geez, Rick! Say something! A-a-are you seriously dying… AGAIN?!

I-I-I’m sick of this garbage, Rick! I c-c-can’t just pretend everything’s okay when you’re drunk and depressed a-a-and messing things up with stupid power gamer advice!

i know how d&d works, rick!

Y-y-you showed me when you were almost sober! We went on a bunch of adventures, Rick!

It was cool, and we were cool…. SIGH

Th-th-this better not require an epidural, Rick. I-I-I don’t wanna stab you in the spine! I don’t wanna stab anyone in the spine ever again!

OW, F***!!

I’m up! I’m up! I’m up!

Wh-wh-wh-what’d I miss?! What the f***’s goin’ on?!