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Actions in Combat Dodge

When you take your action on your turn, you can When you take the Dodge action, you focus entirely
take one of the actions presented here, an action you on avoiding attacks. Until the start of your next turn,
gained from your class or a special feature, or an any attack roll made against you has disadvantage if
action that you improvise. Many monsters have you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity
action options of their own in their stat blocks. saving throws with advantage. You lose this benefit
When you describe an action not detailed if you are incapacitated (as explained in appendix
elsewhere in the rules, the GM tells you whether that PH- A) or if your speed drops to 0.
action is possible and what kind of roll you need to
make, if any, to determine success or failure. Help

Attack You can lend your aid to another creature in the
completion of a task. When you take the Help action,
The most common action to take in combat is the the creature you aid gains advantage on the next
Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, ability check it makes to perform the task you are
firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your helping with, provided that it makes the check
fists. before the start of your next turn.
With this action, you make one melee or ranged Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in
attack. See the “Making an Attack” section for the attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint,
rules that govern attacks. distract the target, or in some other way team up to
Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature make your ally’s attack more effective. If your ally
of the fighter, allow you to make more than one attacks the target before your next turn, the first
attack with this action. attack roll is made with advantage.
Cast a Spell Hide

Spellcasters such as wizards and clerics, as well as When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity
many monsters, have access to spells and can use (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the
them to great effect in combat. Each spell has a rules for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain
casting time, which specifies whether the caster benefits, as described in the “Unseen Attackers and
must use an action, a reaction, minutes, or even Targets” section.
hours to cast the spell. Casting a spell is, therefore,
not necessarily an action. Most spells do have a Ready
casting time of 1 action, so a spellcaster often uses Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait
his or her action in combat to cast such a spell.
for a particular circumstance before you act. To do
Dash so, you can take the Ready action on your turn,
which lets you act using your reaction before the
When you take the Dash action, you gain extra start of your next turn.
movement for the current turn. The increase equals First, you decide what perceivable circumstance
your speed, after applying any modifiers. With a will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the
speed of 30 feet, for example, you can move up to 60 action you will take in response to that trigger, or
feet on your turn if you dash. you choose to move up to your speed in response to
Any increase or decrease to your speed changes it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the
this additional movement by the same amount. If trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the
your speed of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, for goblin steps next to me, I move away.”
instance, you can move up to 30 feet this turn if you When the trigger occurs, you can either take your
dash. reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the

Disengage trigger. Remember that you can take only one
reaction per round.
If you take the Disengage action, your movement When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but
doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of hold its energy, which you release with your
the turn. reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a
spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and

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