STR

Strength measures bodily power, athletic training, and the extent to which you can exert raw physical force.

A Strength check can model any attempt to lift, push, pull, or break something, to force your body through a space, or to otherwise apply brute force to a situation. The Athletics skill reflects aptitude in certain kinds of Strength checks.

DEX

Dexterity measures agility, reflexes, and balance.

A Dexterity check can model any attempt to move nimbly, quickly, or quietly, or to keep from falling on tricky footing. The Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Dexterity checks.

CON

Constitution measures health, stamina, and vital force.

Constitution checks are uncommon, and no skills apply to Constitution checks, because the endurance this ability represents is largely passive rather than involving a specific effort on the part of a character or monster.

INT

Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason.

An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning. The Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Intelligence checks.

WIS

Wisdom reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents perceptiveness and intuition.

A Wisdom check might reflect an effort to read body language, understand someone's feelings, notice things about the environment, or care for an injured person. The Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Wisdom checks.

CHA

Charisma measures your ability to interact effectively with others. It includes such factors as confidence and eloquence, and it can represent a charming or commanding personality.

A Charisma check might arise when you try to influence or entertain others, when you try to make an impression or tell a convincing lie, or when you are navigating a tricky social situation. The Deception, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Charisma checks.

Acrobatics

Your Dexterity (Acrobatics) check covers your attempt to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as when you're trying to run across a sheet of ice, balance on a tightrope, or stay upright on a rocking ship's deck. The GM might also call for a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts, including dives, rolls, somersaults, and flips.

Animal Handling

When there is any question whether you can calm down a domesticated animal, keep a mount from getting spooked, or intuit an animal's intentions, the GM might call for a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. You also make a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check to control your mount when you attempt a risky maneuver.

Arcana

Your Intelligence (Arcana) check measures your ability to recall lore about spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, the planes of existence, and the inhabitants of those planes.

Athletics

Your Strength (Athletics) check covers difficult situations you encounter while climbing, jumping, or swimming.

Deception

Your Charisma (Deception) check determines whether you can convincingly hide the truth, either verbally or through your actions. This deception can encompass everything from misleading others through ambiguity to telling outright lies. Typical situations include trying to fast- talk a guard, con a merchant, earn money through gambling, pass yourself off in a disguise, dull someone's suspicions with false assurances, or maintain a straight face while telling a blatant lie.

History

Your Intelligence (History) check measures your ability to recall lore about historical events, legendary people, ancient kingdoms, past disputes, recent wars, and lost civilizations.

Insight

Your Wisdom (Insight) check decides whether you can determine the true intentions of a creature, such as when searching out a lie or predicting someone's next move. Doing so involves gleaning clues from body language, speech habits, and changes in mannerisms.

Intimidation

When you attempt to influence someone through overt threats, hostile actions, and physical violence, the GM might ask you to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check. Examples include trying to pry information out of a prisoner, convincing street thugs to back down from a confrontation, or using the edge of a broken bottle to convince a sneering vizier to reconsider a decision.

Investigation

When you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues, you make an Intelligence (Investigation) check. You might deduce the location of a hidden object, discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. Poring through ancient scrolls in search of a hidden fragment of knowledge might also call for an Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Medicine

A Wisdom (Medicine) check lets you try to stabilize a dying companion or diagnose an illness.

Nature

Your Intelligence (Nature) check measures your ability to recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.

Perception

Your Wisdom (Perception) check lets you spot, hear, or otherwise detect the presence of something. It measures your general awareness of your surroundings and the keenness of your senses. For example, you might try to hear a conversation through a closed door, eavesdrop under an open window, or hear monsters moving stealthily in the forest. Or you might try to spot things that are obscured or easy to miss, whether they are orcs lying in ambush on a road, thugs hiding in the shadows of an alley, or candlelight under a closed secret door.

Performance

Your Charisma (Performance) check determines how well you can delight an audience with music, dance, acting, storytelling, or some other form of entertainment.

Persuasion

When you attempt to influence someone or a group of people with tact, social graces, or good nature, the GM might ask you to make a Charisma (Persuasion) check. Typically, you use persuasion when acting in good faith, to foster friendships, make cordial requests, or exhibit proper etiquette. Examples of persuading others include convincing a chamberlain to let your party see the king, negotiating peace between warring tribes, or inspiring a crowd of townsfolk.

Religion

Your Intelligence (Religion) check measures your ability to recall lore about deities, rites and prayers, religious hierarchies, holy symbols, and the practices of secret cults.

Sleight of Hand

Whenever you attempt an act of legerdemain or manual trickery, such as planting something on someone else or concealing an object on your person, make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. The GM might also call for a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to determine whether you can lift a coin purse off another person or slip something out of another person's pocket.

Stealth

Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check when you attempt to conceal yourself from enemies, slink past guards, slip away without being noticed, or sneak up on someone without being seen or heard.

Survival

The GM might ask you to make a Wisdom (Survival) check to follow tracks, hunt wild game, guide your group through frozen wastelands, identify signs that owlbears live nearby, predict the weather, or avoid quicksand and other natural hazards.

Action Economy

On each turn, a creature can: Move (up to its speed), take one Action, and optionally take one Bonus Action and one Reaction (if triggered).

Free interactions include drawing/sheathing a weapon, opening a door, or speaking briefly.

Attack Action

You can make one melee or ranged attack. Fighters with Extra Attack can make multiple attacks.

Melee: Roll d20 + STR mod + proficiency (if proficient). Ranged: d20 + DEX mod + proficiency.

Rolling a natural 20 is a Critical Hit (double the damage dice). A natural 1 always misses.

Opportunity Attack

When a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach, you can use your reaction to make one melee attack.

You can avoid provoking by taking the Disengage action before moving.

Cover

Half Cover: +2 AC and DEX saves. (low wall, furniture, another creature)

Three-Quarters Cover: +5 AC and DEX saves. (portcullis, arrow slit)

Total Cover: Can't be targeted directly by attacks or spells.

Surprise

If one side is unaware of the other, the DM determines surprise.

Surprised creatures can't move or take actions on their first turn, and can't take reactions until that turn ends.

Initiative

At the start of combat, each participant rolls d20 + DEX modifier.

Combatants act in order from highest to lowest initiative. Ties are broken by the DM.

Dash

You gain extra movement equal to your speed (after applying modifiers) for the current turn.

Dodge

Until the start of your next turn, attack rolls against you have disadvantage (if you can see the attacker), and you make DEX saving throws with advantage.

You lose this benefit if incapacitated or your speed drops to 0.

Help

You give advantage to an ally's next ability check for a task you are helping with.

Alternatively, you can distract a foe: the next attack roll against that target by someone other than you has advantage.

Hide

Make a DEX (Stealth) check. On success, you gain the benefits described in Unseen Attackers.

You can't hide from a creature that can see you clearly.

Grapple & Shove

Grapple: Athletics check vs. target's Athletics or Acrobatics. On success, target's speed becomes 0.

Shove: Same contest. On success, target is knocked prone or pushed 5 feet away.

Concentration

Some spells require concentration. You can only concentrate on one spell at a time.

Taking damage requires a CON save (DC = 10 or half the damage, whichever is higher). Failing ends the spell.

Concentration also ends if incapacitated, killed, or if you cast another concentration spell.

Two-Weapon Fighting

When you take the Attack action with a light melee weapon in one hand, you can use your bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon in the other hand.

You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless it's negative.

Healing & Dying

At 0 hit points you fall unconscious and must make death saving throws.

Each turn, roll d20: 10+ is a success, below 10 is a failure. 3 successes = stabilize, 3 failures = death.

A natural 20 regains 1 HP. A natural 1 counts as two failures.

Any healing brings you back from 0 HP. Stabilized creatures regain 1 HP after 1d4 hours.

Acid

The corrosive spray of a black dragon's breath and the dissolving enzymes secreted by a black pudding deal acid damage.

Bludgeoning

Blunt force attacks, falling, constriction, and the like deal bludgeoning damage.

Cold

The infernal chill radiating from an ice devil's spear and the frigid blast of a white dragon's breath deal cold damage.

Fire

Red dragons breathe fire, and many spells conjure flames to deal fire damage.

Force

Force is pure magical energy focused into a damaging form. Most effects that deal force damage are spells, including magic missile and spiritual weapon.

Lightning

A lightning bolt spell and a blue dragon's breath deal lightning damage.

Necrotic

Necrotic damage, dealt by certain undead and a spell such as chill touch, withers matter and even the soul.

Piercing

Puncturing and impaling attacks, including spears and monsters' bites, deal piercing damage.

Poison

Venomous stings and the toxic gas of a green dragon's breath deal poison damage.

Psychic

Mental abilities such as a psionic blast deal psychic damage.

Radiant

Radiant damage, dealt by a cleric's flame strike spell or an angel's smiting weapon, sears the flesh like fire and overloads the spirit with power.

Slashing

Swords, axes, and monsters' claws deal slashing damage.

Thunder

A concussive burst of sound, such as the effect of the thunderwave spell, deals thunder damage.

Common

Dwarvish

Elvish

Giant

Gnomish

Goblin

Halfling

Orc

Abyssal

Celestial

Draconic

Deep Speech

Infernal

Primordial

Sylvan

Undercommon

Ammunition

You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon).

At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield. If you use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a melee attack, you treat the weapon as an improvised weapon (see "Improvised Weapons" later in the section). A sling must be loaded to deal any damage when used in this way.

Finesse

When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.

Heavy

Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon's size and bulk make it too large for a Small creature to use effectively.

Light

A light weapon is small and easy to handle, making it ideal for use when fighting with two weapons.

Loading

Because of the time required to load this weapon, you can fire only one piece of ammunition from it when you use an action, bonus action, or reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.

Reach

This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it.

Special

A weapon with the special property has unusual rules governing its use, explained in the weapon's description (see "Special Weapons" later in this section).

Thrown

If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon. For example, if you throw a handaxe, you use your Strength, but if you throw a dagger, you can use either your Strength or your Dexterity, since the dagger has the finesse property.

Two-Handed

This weapon requires two hands when you attack with it.

Versatile

This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property--the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Monk

Monks gain several benefits while unarmed or wielding only monk weapons while they aren't wearing armor or wielding shields.

Abjuration

Abjuration spells are protective in nature, though some of them have aggressive uses. They create magical barriers, negate harmful effects, harm trespassers, or banish creatures to other planes of existence.

Conjuration

Conjuration spells involve the transportation of objects and creatures from one location to another. Some spells summon creatures or objects to the caster's side, whereas others allow the caster to teleport to another location. Some conjurations create objects or effects out of nothing.

Divination

Divination spells reveal information, whether in the form of secrets long forgotten, glimpses of the future, the locations of hidden things, the truth behind illusions, or visions of distant people or places.

Enchantment

Enchantment spells affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. Such spells can make enemies see the caster as a friend, force creatures to take a course of action, or even control another creature like a puppet.

Evocation

Evocation spells manipulate magical energy to produce a desired effect. Some call up blasts of fire or lightning. Others channel positive energy to heal wounds.

Illusion

Illusion spells deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, to miss things that are there, to hear phantom noises, or to remember things that never happened. Some illusions create phantom images that any creature can see, but the most insidious illusions plant an image directly in the mind of a creature.

Necromancy

Necromancy spells manipulate the energies of life and death. Such spells can grant an extra reserve of life force, drain the life energy from another creature, create the undead, or even bring the dead back to life.

Transmutation

Transmutation spells change the properties of a creature, object, or environment. They might turn an enemy into a harmless creature, bolster the strength of an ally, make an object move at the caster's command, or enhance a creature's innate healing abilities to rapidly recover from injury.