Combat is a major part of Dungeons and Dragons which is - at its core - an escapist fantasy game where you get to embody heroes who do battle against evil, or villains or - at the very least - antagonists.

This post is intended to provide a guide to how combat works - for absolute beginners. Reading this guide before your first session may help you to feel less lost when your Dungeon Master first utters those ominous words "roll for initiative" (you'll know what that means soon).

Some useful terms to know

• Round: A round represents 6 seconds of real time, during which time each character and enemy gets a turn.
• Turn: A turn is one character, creature, or enemy's chosen actions during a round.
• d: Shorthand for die, so - for example - a d6 is a 6-sided die, or a d12 is a 12 sided die.

A set of dice consists of a d4, a d6, a d8, a d10, a percentile d10*, a d12 and a d20.

* A percentile d10 is a 10-sided die which has its numbers shown in 10s (so 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 00). Occasionally you may need to make a percentage roll; when called to do so, you roll the percentile d10 and the normal d10. The percentile d10 represents the 10s digit of your roll, while the normal d10 represents the 1s digit. So if you role a 70 on the percentile d10, and a 3 on the normal d10, you rolled 73. If you roll 00 on the percentile d10 and 2 on the normal d10, you rolled a 2. The only exception is if you roll 00 and 0, which is a roll of 100.

Step 1: Determine the position of all combatants

The first step during combat is to establish the position of all players and characters during combat. Often this is done either with miniatures and a battle map (or model terrain), or with a digital map and digital tokens. DnD Beyond has a virtual tabletop which can be used in this way, or even something as simple as MS PowerPoint or a painting program could be used to display and move tokens around a map.

Step 2: Roll for Initiative

Initiative determines the order in which the characters and enemies in the combat encounter take their turns. At the beginning of combat, your DM will ask you to roll for initiative. To do this, you roll a 20-sided die (D20) and add your initiative bonus (if any - this can be found on your character sheet). Each player declares their initiative result to the DM, who keeps a record of the order in which the characters will act (with the highest values going first). If there is a tie between players, they can decide the order in which they take their turns. If there is a tie between enemies, or enemies and players, then the DM decides the order in which turns are taken.

Step 3: Take your turn

On your turn - unless subject to some effect which specifically states otherwise - you can take an action, a bonus action, and move up to your movement speed.

• Action: An action is typically the main thing you will do on your turn and can include making a weapon attack, casting a spell, using a feature or ability etc. Your character sheet should list the standard actions available to your character, but you can also get creative with it and come up with something completely different (though it will be up to the DM to determine what (if any) dice rolls are required, the degree of difficulty, and the outcomes in the event of success or failure).
• Bonus Action: A bonus action is typically a small, supplemental action that you can take in addition to your action. It may include something like drawing a weapon, drinking a potion, or another feature ability or spell. Again, these will typically be listed on your character sheet.
• Movement: In your round you can move up to your movement speed. While movement speeds do differ, and will be affected by spells, items, effects, terrain, features or traits, the 'standard' base movement is 30 feet per turn for most characters.

On your turn, you can use your movement, action and bonus action in any order, and you can break up your movement into smaller parts, so long as the total doesn't exceed your movement speed. So, for example, a rogue might move 10 feet to a dark space, use a bonus action to hide, move another 10 feet to get behind an enemy, attack by firing an arrow, then move 10 more feet to hide behind cover.

Finish combat

Combat finishes when either you or your enemies die, flee, surrender, parley or otherwise cause the fight to end.

Death occurs when characters are reduced to 0 hit points. However, when player characters are reduced to 0 hit points they start something called 'Death Saving Throws.'

Death Saving Throws

When your character is reduced to 0 hit points, they fall prone and unconscious. On each of their turns thereafter, they must roll a death saving throw. Three failed death saving throws means the character dies, three successes means the character stabilizes - they remain unconscious, prone and on 0 hit points, however they are no longer fighting for life, so long as they take no further damage. A death saving throw is made by rolling a d20, with the result of the roll as follows:

• 1: Two failures
• 2-9: One failure
• 10-19: One success
• 20: Regain 1 hit point

Companions can help to stabilize another character by taking an action on their turn to roll a Medicine check (roll a d20, add your Medicine skill modifier (on your character sheet) and try to roll a 10 or higher).

Personally, I like for Death Saving Throws to be kept secret from other players, such that only the DM and the player knows the result. In this way, characters don't just automatically know whether their companion is on death's door, stable, or still fighting for life.

Other things during combat

Reactions

One last type of action that you will encounter is the 'reaction'. A reaction happens at any time, usually not on your own turn, as a response to something that has happened. The most common type of reaction is the 'opportunity attack', which occurs when you are holding a melee weapon and an enemy moves from within range of your weapon, away from you, in which case you get a free melee attack. Each character and enemy has only one reaction per turn, and it must be used immediately upon the triggering event.

Saving Throws

A saving throw is a d20 roll, using one of your six ability modifiers (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma) and any additional modifiers, in an attempt to avoid an effect such as a spell or ability. For example, if an enemy wizard casts a fireball, you would roll a Dexterity saving throw to avoid some of the damage. If a Succubus tried to use its Charm effect to control your actions, you would roll a Wisdom saving throw to resist the effects. The saving throw required is almost always listed against the relevant spell or ability, or if not it will be asked for by your DM. Your saving throw modifiers for each ability are displayed on your character sheet.

Advantage and Disadvantage

At various times throughout the game (not exclusively combat), you may receive either advantage or disadvantage on an attack roll or d20 check. In these cases, you roll two die (usually d20). If you have advantage, you take the higher of those rolls as your rolled number, and if you have disadvantage you take the lower of the rolls as your rolled number. Therefore, if you were to roll a 4 and a 16 on your two d20, then with advantage your roll would be taken as 16, while with disadvantage it would be taken as 4 - you then add or subtract any relevant modifiers from the rolled number.

Conditions

Characters can be subject to conditions which can be either positive or negative. Each condition has its own impacts on your actions or ability to perform tasks. There are numerous conditions, but they include:

• Blinded: You can't see and automatically fail any checks that require sight. Attack rolls against you have advantage, and your attack rolls have disadvantage.
• Poisoned: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
• Prone: Unless you stand up (which uses half your movement for your turn), your only available option for movement is to crawl. You have disadvantage on attack rolls. Attack rolls against you have advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of you, or disadvantage if the attacker is more than 5 feet away from you.