Glossary

The rules words the game underlines; hover one in the game to read it. In this game notes are where it plays differently.

Ability Check

Rule
A d20 plus one ability's modifier against a Difficulty Class, rolled when the outcome of something you try is in doubt. Your Proficiency Bonus is added when a skill or tool you're proficient with applies.

Advantage

Rule
Roll two d20s and keep the higher. Several sources still give only the two dice, and if anything also gives Disadvantage on the same roll, the two cancel out and you roll one d20.

Ammunition

Weapon Property

Armor Class

Rule
How hard a creature is to hit: an attack roll has to equal or beat it. Unarmored it's 10 + your Dexterity modifier; armor, a Shield and some features change the sum.

Attack

Action
Make one attack with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike, or more with Extra Attack. You can draw or stow one weapon as part of each attack.

Attack Roll

Rule
A d20 plus the attack's ability modifier, plus your Proficiency Bonus for a weapon you're proficient with or a spell. It hits if the total equals or beats the target's Armor Class. A 20 on the die always hits, as a Critical Hit; a 1 always misses.

Attunement

Magic Items
Some magic items work only for a creature bonded to them. A creature can be attuned to at most three items at once, and a cursed item won't let go until its curse is lifted.

Blinded

Condition
You can't see and automatically fail any ability check that needs sight. Attack rolls against you have Advantage, and your attack rolls have Disadvantage.

Blindsight

Senses
Within its range a creature perceives everything without needing eyes, so darkness and invisibility hide nothing from it there. Total Cover still does.

Bloodied

Health
A creature is Bloodied while it has half its Hit Points or fewer left. Some features and monsters change what they do once someone is Bloodied.

Bonus Action

Combat
A swift extra deed that some spells and features let you do on your turn besides your action. You get one Bonus Action a turn, and only when something gives you a use for it.

Bright Light

Light
Daylight, or close to a torch or a lantern. Creatures in it can be seen normally.

Cantrip

Spellcasting
A level 0 spell, cast as often as you like with no spell slot. Most cantrips grow stronger at character levels 5, 11 and 17.

Charmed

Condition
You can't attack the creature that charmed you or target it with damaging abilities or magical effects. The charmer has Advantage on ability checks to interact with you socially.

Cleave

Weapon Mastery

Concentration

Spellcasting
Some spells last only while you keep your mind on them. You can concentrate on one spell at a time, so starting another ends the first. It also ends if you're Incapacitated or die, and whenever you take damage you make a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 or half the damage, whichever is higher, up to 30) or lose it.

Cone

Area of Effect
An area that widens as it goes out from its point of origin: at any distance its width equals that distance, and its length is the cone's size.

Cover

Combat
Something between you and whatever attacks you. Half Cover (a low wall, another creature) gives +2 to Armor Class and Dexterity saving throws; Three-Quarters Cover (an arrow slit, a thick tree trunk) gives +5; Total Cover means you can't be targeted directly at all.

Critical Hit

Combat
A 20 on the d20 of an attack roll hits whatever the target's Armor Class, and the attack's damage dice are rolled twice and added together (its modifiers count once). A creature at 0 Hit Points that takes one fails two Death Saving Throws.

Cube

Area of Effect
A cube whose one face touches the point it comes from; its size is the length of each side.

Cylinder

Area of Effect
A circle with a height, given as a radius and a height. It usually rises from the ground or falls from above.

D20 Test

Rule
The three rolls that decide whether an attempt works: ability checks, saving throws and attack rolls. Roll a d20, add your modifiers, and meet or beat the target number: a Difficulty Class for checks and saves, Armor Class for attacks.

Darkness

Light
Night with no moon, an unlit cellar, or magical darkness. Everything in it is Heavily Obscured.

Darkvision

Senses
Within its range you see in Dim Light as if it were Bright Light, and in Darkness as if it were Dim Light, though only in shades of grey.

Dash

Action

Deafened

Condition
You can't hear and automatically fail any ability check that needs hearing.

Death Saving Throw

Health
At the start of each turn you spend at 0 Hit Points, roll a d20 with nothing added: 10 or higher is a success, anything lower a failure. Three successes and you're Stable; three failures and you die. A 1 counts as two failures, and a 20 brings you back with 1 Hit Point. Taking damage at 0 Hit Points is a failure, two if it's a Critical Hit.

Difficult Terrain

Combat
Ground that's hard to cross: rubble, thick undergrowth, deep snow, a crowd. Every foot of movement through it costs an extra foot, so a 5-foot square takes 10 feet of Speed.

Difficulty Class

Rule
The number an ability check or saving throw has to reach. 5 is very easy, 10 easy, 15 medium, 20 hard, 25 very hard and 30 nearly impossible. A spell's DC is its caster's spell save DC.

Dim Light

Light
Twilight, moonlight, the outer reach of a torch's glow. Everything in it is Lightly Obscured.

Disadvantage

Rule
Roll two d20s and keep the lower. Several sources still give only the two dice, and any Advantage on the same roll cancels it, however many sources each side has.

Disengage

Action

Dodge

Action

Emanation

Area of Effect
An area that spreads out in every direction from a creature or object and moves with it. The creature at its centre isn't affected unless the effect says so.

Exhaustion

Condition
Exhaustion is cumulative: each time you get it you gain a level. Every D20 Test you make is reduced by 2 times your Exhaustion level, and your Speed is reduced by 5 feet times your level. You die at level 6. A Long Rest removes one level; at level 0 the condition ends.

Expertise

Rule
For a skill you have Expertise in, add twice your Proficiency Bonus to its checks instead of once.

Finesse

Weapon Property

Frightened

Condition
While the source of your fear is within line of sight, you have Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls. You can't willingly move closer to the source of your fear.

Grapple

Action

Grappled

Condition
Your Speed is 0 and can't increase. You have Disadvantage on attack rolls against any target other than the grappler. The grappler can drag or carry you, paying 1 extra foot per foot moved unless you are Tiny or two or more sizes smaller than it.

Graze

Weapon Mastery

Heavily Obscured

Senses
Darkness, thick fog or dense foliage blocks sight entirely: anyone trying to see something there is effectively Blinded.

Heavy

Weapon Property

Help

Action

Heroic Inspiration

Rule
While you have it, you can spend it to reroll any one die right after you roll it, and you must use the new roll. You can hold only one at a time. A Human gains it after each Long Rest, and some feats and features give it out.

Hide

Action

Hit Point Dice

Resting
One per character level, their size set by your class (a d8 for a Cleric, a d10 for a Fighter). During a Short Rest you can roll as many as you like, adding your Constitution modifier to each, and regain that many Hit Points. A Long Rest gives back every one you've spent.

Hit Points

Health
How much harm a creature can take. Damage lowers them and healing restores them, never above the Hit Point maximum. A character who drops to 0 falls Unconscious and starts making Death Saving Throws; most monsters simply die.

Immunity

Damage
Damage of that type, or the named condition, doesn't affect the creature at all.

Incapacitated

Condition
You can't take any action, Bonus Action or Reaction, and you can't speak. Your Concentration is broken. If you are Incapacitated when you roll Initiative, you have Disadvantage on the roll.

Influence

Action
Try to change a creature's mind with words or presence: a Charisma check (Deception, Intimidation, Performance or Persuasion), or Wisdom (Animal Handling) for a beast, against a DC set by how it feels about you.

Initiative

Combat
When a fight starts, everyone rolls Initiative (a Dexterity check), and the totals set the order of turns from highest to lowest. The order holds for every round of the fight.

Invisible

Condition
If you are Invisible when you roll Initiative, you have Advantage on the roll. Effects that need to see their target don't affect you unless their creator can see you, and neither does anything that targets your gear. Attack rolls against you have Disadvantage and your attack rolls have Advantage, except against a creature that can somehow see you.

Light

Weapon Property

Lightly Obscured

Senses
Dim Light, patchy fog or light foliage. Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight have Disadvantage there.

Loading

Weapon Property

Long Rest

Resting
Eight hours, most of them asleep. You regain all your Hit Points and every spent Hit Point Die, your spell slots and most features, and your Exhaustion drops by one level. Only one Long Rest a day.

Magic

Action
Cast a spell whose casting time is an action, or use a magic item or a magical feature that calls for the Magic action.

Nick

Weapon Mastery

Opportunity Attack

Combat
When a creature you can see leaves your reach, you can use your Reaction to make one melee attack against it. A creature that took the Disengage action doesn't provoke one, and neither does one moved without spending its own movement (pushed, pulled or teleported).

Pact Magic

Spellcasting
A Warlock's spellcasting: only a few spell slots, but all of them at the Warlock's highest slot level, and every spent one returns after a Short or Long Rest.

Paralyzed

Condition
You have the Incapacitated condition and your Speed is 0 and can't increase. You automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against you have Advantage, and any attack that hits you is a Critical Hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of you.

Passive Perception

Senses
10 + your Wisdom (Perception) bonus: how alert you are without searching. A hidden creature or trap whose DC it meets is noticed without a roll.

Petrified

Condition
You and the nonmagical things you wear and carry turn into an inanimate substance, usually stone; your weight is multiplied by ten and you stop aging. You have the Incapacitated condition, your Speed is 0 and can't increase, attack rolls against you have Advantage, and you automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws. You have Resistance to all damage and Immunity to the Poisoned condition.

Poisoned

Condition
You have Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Proficiency Bonus

Rule
A bonus that grows with character level: +2 at levels 1 to 4, +3 from 5, +4 from 9, +5 from 13 and +6 from 17. It's added to attacks with weapons you're proficient with and with spells, to the saves and skills you're proficient in, and to your spell save DC.

Prone

Condition
Your only movement options are crawling or spending half your Speed (rounded down) to stand up, which ends the condition; with Speed 0 you can't stand. You have Disadvantage on attack rolls. An attack roll against you has Advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of you, and Disadvantage otherwise.

Push

Weapon Mastery

Range

Weapon Property

Reach

Weapon Property

Reaction

Combat
An instant response to a trigger, such as an Opportunity Attack or the Shield spell, and it can happen on someone else's turn. You have one per round; it comes back at the start of your turn.

Ready

Action

Resistance

Damage
Damage of that type is halved, rounded down. Several sources of Resistance to the same type count as one.

Restrained

Condition
Your Speed is 0 and can't increase. Attack rolls against you have Advantage and your attack rolls have Disadvantage. You have Disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.

Ritual

Spellcasting
A spell with the Ritual tag can be cast without a spell slot if you take 10 minutes longer over it. You need the spell prepared; a Wizard can read it from the spellbook instead.

Sap

Weapon Mastery

Saving Throw

Rule
A d20 roll to resist something done to you: a spell, a trap, a poison. Add the named ability's modifier, plus your Proficiency Bonus if your class makes you proficient in that save, and meet the effect's Difficulty Class. Every class is proficient in two.

Search

Action

Short Rest

Resting
An hour of downtime: eating, binding wounds, reading. You can roll Hit Point Dice to heal, and features that recharge on a Short Rest come back.

Shove

Action
One of your attacks, made with an Unarmed Strike: a target no more than one size larger than you makes a Strength or Dexterity saving throw against 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus, or is pushed 5 feet away or knocked Prone (you pick which).

Slow

Weapon Mastery

Speed

Combat
How many feet a creature can move on its turn; each square is 5 feet. You can split the move around your actions. Difficult Terrain, standing up from Prone and several conditions eat into it.

Spell Attack

Spellcasting
An attack roll made with a spell: a d20 + your spellcasting ability modifier + your Proficiency Bonus against the target's Armor Class.

Spell Save DC

Spellcasting
8 + your spellcasting ability modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. A creature resisting one of your spells has to meet it with its saving throw.

Spell Slot

Spellcasting
What a spellcaster spends to cast a spell of level 1 or higher. A spell takes a slot of its own level or higher, and a higher slot often makes it stronger. Spent slots come back after a Long Rest.

Sphere

Area of Effect
An area spreading in every direction from a point, its size given as a radius. Total Cover blocks it.

Stable

Health
A creature at 0 Hit Points that has stopped dying. It makes no more Death Saving Throws but stays Unconscious until it regains Hit Points, and any damage sets it dying again.

Study

Action

Stunned

Condition
You have the Incapacitated condition. You automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws, and attack rolls against you have Advantage.

Surprise

Combat
A combatant caught off guard as a fight breaks out has Disadvantage on its Initiative roll.

Temporary Hit Points

Health
A cushion that takes damage before your Hit Points do. They don't add up: if you'd gain more while you still have some, you keep one amount or the other. Healing can't restore them, and they're gone after a Long Rest unless they run out or a feature ends them sooner.

Thrown

Weapon Property

Topple

Weapon Mastery

Tremorsense

Senses
Within its range a creature can tell where others are and what moves, as long as they touch the same ground or liquid it does.

Truesight

Senses
Within its range a creature sees through normal and magical darkness, sees Invisible creatures and objects, sees through visual illusions, and sees a shapechanger's true form.

Two-Handed

Weapon Property

Unarmed Strike

Combat
A punch, kick or headbutt made in place of a weapon attack. It can deal damage (an attack roll with Strength and your Proficiency Bonus, for 1 + your Strength modifier in Bludgeoning damage), or instead Grapple or Shove the target, which then makes a saving throw rather than you rolling to hit.

Unconscious

Condition
You have the Incapacitated and Prone conditions and drop whatever you are holding; when this ends you are still Prone. Your Speed is 0 and can't increase. Attack rolls against you have Advantage, you automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws, any attack that hits you from within 5 feet is a Critical Hit, and you are unaware of your surroundings.

Utilize

Action
Use an object that takes an action to use, such as pulling a lever or working a Healer's Kit.

Versatile

Weapon Property

Vex

Weapon Mastery

Vulnerability

Damage
Damage of that type is doubled. Several sources count as one.

Weapon Mastery

Weapons
Every weapon has a mastery property: Cleave, Graze, Nick, Push, Sap, Slow, Topple or Vex. A character whose class grants Weapon Mastery can use the property of a few chosen kinds of weapon, and can change those picks after a Long Rest.