Actions in Combat

When you take your action on your turn, you can take one of the actions presented here, an action you gained from your class or a special feature, or an action that you improvise. Many monsters have action options of their own in their stat blocks.

When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the GM tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.

### **Attack**

The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are firing a rifle, swinging a bat, or throwing punches with your fists.

With this action, you make one melee or ranged attack.

### **Dash**

When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn. The increase equals your speed, after applying any modifiers. With a speed of 30 feet, for example, you can move up to 60 feet on your turn if you dash.

Any increase or decrease to your speed changes this additional movement by the same amount. If your speed of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, for instance, you can move up to 30 feet this turn if you dash.

### **Disengage**

If you take the Disengage action, your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn.

### **Dodge**

When you take the Dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll made against you has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity saving throws with advantage. You lose this benefit if you are incapacitated or if your speed drops to 0.

### **Help**

You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.

Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally’s attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage.

### **Hide**

When you take the Hide action, you make a Stealth check in an attempt to hide, following the rules for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the “Unseen Attackers and Targets” section.

### **Hunker Down**

When you take the Hunker Down action, your movement drops to zero, and your tier of cover is increased by 1. If you are already in Full Cover, the enemy also has disadvantage to hit you.

### **Overwatch**

When you take the Overwatch action, your movement drops to zero, and you enter Overwatch Mode until the beginning of your next turn. While in Overwatch Mode, if a creature moves within your field of vision, you may make an attack of opportunity against them as a reaction. Unlike ordinary attacks of opportunities, multiple reactions can be made if multiple characters are in Overwatch.

### **Ready**

Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.

First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the terrorist steps next to me, I move away.”

When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.

### **Search**

When you take the Search action, you devote your attention to finding something. Depending on the nature of your search, the GM might have you make a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.

### **Use an Object**

You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you unholster a pistol as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.