As we’ve said before, your turn consists of two main parts: moving and performing an action. Now we’re going to break that down into a little more detail.
Movement
On your turn, you can move up to your character’s speed, usually somewhere between 20 ft. and 40 ft. You can break this move up between your action, so with a 30-ft. move, you could move 10 ft. to a door, open the door, and move 20 ft. through it.
Some areas are difficult to move through in combat: a muddy swamp, a treacherous staircase, a bunch of broken furniture on the floor of a tavern. These spaces are considered “difficult terrain,” and your speed is halved moving through them.
Another area considered difficult terrain is an area that is within reach of hostile characters. A character's reach can be determined by their size and the type of weapon they are holding. For example, a dragon has a 15-ft. reach with its bite attack, a Fighter has a 10-ft. reach if they’re holding a lance. An important thing to remember when moving through spaces hostile characters can reach is that leaving the area they can reach after you have entered it can provoke what’s called an “opportunity attack,” allowing the hostile character to take a free swing at you.
Characters can also fall prone during combat. They can do this without using any of their movement, but standing up from a prone position takes more effort and uses up half of a character movement.
Attack Actions
Melee attacks
So let’s say you want to hit a goblin. On your turn, you’ll announce you want to attack a goblin that’s within your reach. The DM will then determine if there’s any circ*mstances giving you advantage or disadvantage on the roll (if the goblin is behind cover, or flanked by an ally) and then have you make an attack roll.
An attack roll is a d20 plus the attack bonus of the weapon you are using. You are looking to meet or beat the goblins Armor Class, or AC. Let’s say the goblin has an AC of 11. You roll a 7 on the die and add your attack bonus of +5 and end up with a 12, which hits. You’ll then roll the weapons damage. The DM will subtract the amount of damage you did from the goblins hit points until it reaches zero and is knocked unconscious or dies.
The process works essentially the same, but in reverse, if the goblin attacks you.
Two-weapon fighting
You can wield two melee weapons at the same time, as long as the weapon doesn’t say it’s two-handed. If the second weapon is a light weapon, you can make an additional attack with that weapon on your turn as a bonus action (we’ll cover how those work in a minute). This second attack functions identically to the first melee attack you made, except you don’t add your STR or DEX modifier to the damage roll.
Ranged attacks
Weapons like longbows, javelins, knives, and some spells can attack beyond your reach. These ranged weapons will show two distances, the first shows the maximum distance you can attack before having to roll with disadvantage, the second is the maximum distance you can attack with the weapon. Additionally, using a ranged attack when a hostile character is within five feet of you will also cause you to roll with disadvantage.
Note that a weapon’s range is different from its reach. So you can’t use a longbow for opportunity attacks within 150 feet of you, because that would be silly.
Grappling/Shoving
Sometimes in combat, it’s more advantageous to either try and incapacitate a creature or move them against their will.
You can, as an attack action, attempt to grapple a character within 5 feet of you. Instead of rolling an attack, you roll an Athletics check. Your opponent rolls their choice of an Athletics or Acrobatics check. If your roll exceeds theirs, they are grappled and unable to take any actions until they escape your grapple or you release them. You can also move a grappled opponent with you, but moving with a grappled opponent is considered moving over difficult terrain and has the same penalties.
You can also shove an opponent using the same rolls as grappling, but instead of grappling them, you can move them 5 feet in any direction, or make them fall prone.
Non-Attack Actions
Combat isn’t all just moving and attacking. There are a number of other actions which you can take to find better positions, protect yourself, or aid your allies.
Cast a Spell
Casting a spell generally takes up an action. We’ll cover this in more depth later.
Dash
You can use your action to double your movement this turn.
Dodge
You use your action to focus entirely on avoiding danger. Until the start of your next turn, all attacks on you have disadvantage, and you have advantage on all DEX saving throws.
Disengage
You use your action to safely leave a hostile character’s reach without provoking an opportunity attack.
Help
You use your action to aid an ally in an action they’re taking. Their next roll to accomplish the action they are taking is done with advantage. You can also use the help action to aid an ally in attacking a foe you are within 5 feet of. Their next attack on that target is rolled with advantage as long as it is done before the start of your next turn.
Hide
You use your action to hide from opponents. You make a Stealth roll and, if successful, you are unseen by opponents. As long as you are not seen, you get advantage on attack rolls, and opponents have disadvantage on attack rolls on you. As soon as you attack a creature, or take some other action besides hide, you lose this benefit.
Ready
Sometimes you want to wait for a certain set of circ*mstances before you attack. For example, if you’re hiding in a storeroom and want to ambush the skeletons when they come through the door, you can ready an action to fire an arrow at the first skeleton that comes in. Ready actions usually take on an “if, then” structure and usually need to be specific about the action you will take, and what the trigger for that action will be. If the trigger doesn’t happen before the start of your turn, nothing happens, and you’ll need to re-ready the action again.
Using Items
Using some objects (for example, a magic wand of fireballs) takes up an action, as does interacting with others, like opening a door or pulling a lever.
Bonus Actions
Some actions, as the result of a character's expertise, are considered bonus actions. You can perform bonus actions in addition to your normal action, but you can only perform one bonus action per turn. Some spells are bonus actions, as is attacking with a light weapon in your off-hand.
So for instance, let’s say you’re playing a Paladin wielding a longsword and shortsword with a spell that grants you extra damage on your sword attacks as a bonus action. You can either cast the spell and then swing your longsword, or you can swing both the longsword and the shortsword, but you can’t cast the spell and then swing both weapons.
Reactions
Some actions can be performed as reactions. Often these are special class abilities or spells. These are often done in response to something that happens on someone else’s turn.
Opportunity attacks are an example of reactions. There are also spells that can be done as reactions, to heal an ally of damage, or damage a creature that attacks you.
Like bonus actions, you only get one reaction per turn. So once you use an opportunity attack, you can’t use it again until the start of your next turn.
Other Types of Actions
These aren’t the only kinds of action that can be performed in combat, but they are some of the most combat. Your class and race might give you access to others. Also, even with all of the additional rules, combat in DnD is still intended to be freeform, and there’s never a wrong answer to the DM asking you “What do you do?” If there’s something you want to do, ask your DM, it’s their job to fit into the framework of the rules.
