Gameplay

Rhythm of Play

The three main pillars of D&D play are social interaction, exploration, and combat. Whichever one you're experiencing, the game unfolds according to this basic pattern:

1. The Game Master Describes a Scene. The GM tells the players where their adventurers are and what's around them (how many doors lead out of a room, what's on a table, and so on).

2. The Players Describe What Their Characters Do. Typically, the characters stick together as they travel through a dungeon or another environment. Sometimes different adventurers do different things: one adventurer might search a treasure chest while a second examines a mysterious symbol engraved on a wall and a third keeps watch for monsters. Outside combat, the GM ensures that every character has a chance to act and decides how to resolve their activity. In combat, the characters take turns.

3. The GM Narrates the Results of the Adventurers' Actions. Sometimes resolving a task is easy. If an adventurer walks across a room and tries to open a door, the GM might say the door opens and describe what lies beyond. But the door might be locked, the floor might hide a trap, or some other circumstance might make it challenging for an adventurer to complete a task. In those cases, the GM might ask the player to roll a die to help determine what happens. Describing the results often leads to another decision point, which brings the game back to step 1.

This pattern holds during every game session (each time you sit down to play D&D), whether the adventurers are talking to a noble, exploring a ruin, or fighting a dragon. In certain situations--particularly combat--the action is more structured, and everyone takes turns.

Exceptions Supersede General Rules

General rules govern each part of the game. For example, the combat rules tell you that melee attacks use Strength and ranged attacks use Dexterity. That's a general rule, and a general rule is in effect as long as something in the game doesn't explicitly say otherwise.

The game also includes elements--class features, feats, weapon properties, spells, magic items, monster abilities, and the like--that sometimes contradict a general rule. When an exception and a general rule disagree, the exception wins. For example, if a feature says you can make melee attacks using your Charisma, you can do so, even though that statement disagrees with the general rule.

Actions

When you do something other than moving or communicating, you typically take an action. The Action table lists the game's main actions, which are defined in more detail in "Rules Glossary."

Actions

Action	Summary
Attack	Attack with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike.
Dash	For the rest of the turn, give yourself extra movement equal to your Speed.
Disengage	Your movement doesn't provoke Opportunity Attacks for the rest of the turn.
Dodge	Until the start of your next turn, attack rolls against you have Disadvantage, and you make Dexterity saving throws with Advantage. You lose this benefit if you have the Incapacitated condition or if your Speed is 0.
Help	Help another creature's ability check or attack roll, or administer first aid.
Hide	Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check.
Influence	Make a Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion) or Wisdom (Animal Handling) check to alter a creature's attitude.
Magic	Cast a spell, use a magic item, or use a magical feature.
Ready	Prepare to take an action in response to a trigger you define.
Search	Make a Wisdom (Insight, Medicine, Perception, or Survival) check.
Study	Make an Intelligence (Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, or Religion) check.
Utilize	Use a nonmagical object.

Player characters and monsters can also do things not covered by these actions. Many class features and other abilities provide additional action options, and you can improvise other actions. When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the Game Master tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of D20 Test you need to make, if any.

One Thing at a Time

The game uses actions to govern how much you can do at one time. You can take only one action at a time. This principle is most important in combat, as explained in "Combat" later in "Playing the Game."

Actions can come up in other situations, too: in a social interaction, you can try to Influence a creature or use the Search action to read the creature's body language, but you can't do both at the same time. And when you're exploring a dungeon, you can't simultaneously use the Search action to look for traps and use the Help action to aid another character who's trying to open a stuck door (with the Utilize action).

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, a spell, or another feature of the game states that you can do something as a Bonus Action. You otherwise don't have a Bonus Action to take.

You can take only one Bonus Action on your turn, so you must choose which Bonus Action to use if you have more than one available.

You choose when to take a Bonus Action during your turn unless the Bonus Action's timing is specified. Anything that deprives you of your ability to take actions also prevents you from taking a Bonus Action.

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 "Playing the Game," is the most common type of Reaction.

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.

In terms of timing, a Reaction takes place immediately after its trigger unless the Reaction's description says otherwise.