Actions

On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed and perform one **action**. You can choose to move before or after your action, or even break up your movement using some before your action and the rest of your movement after it. Actions are used by characters to do things during a combat round. By default, a character can perform one action on his turn. There is a host of default actions available to everyone, but characters can also gain additional options through various class features.

Various class features, spells and other abilities let you take additional special actions on your turn called bonus actions and reactions.

## List of available default actions

* **Attack**. Not surprisingly, this is the most common action to take in combat. A character that takes an attack action, makes an attack roll and attacks with his equipped melee or ranged weapon.
* **Cast a Spell**. Each spell has a specified casting time – for most spells it’s an action, but some are cast as a bonus action or reaction. As an action, any spellcaster (Wizard, Cleric, Paladin, Sorcerer, Ranger) can cast a spell that he has prepared and that has a casting time of 1 action.
* **Dash**. When a character takes a dash action, he gains additional movement points equal to his speed (including any modifiers). So, in essence, by taking a dash action, a character will be able to move twice as far as he normally would.
* **Disengage**. When a character takes a disengage action, his movement does not provoke any opportunity attacks for the rest of his turn. It’s a great way to back away from the enemies without risking damage.
* **Dodge**. When a character takes a dodge action, he focuses on avoiding being hit. Until the start of his next turn, this character has an advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and any attacks made against him have disadvantage (provided he can see the attacker).
* **Hide.** When a character takes a hide action, he makes a Dexterity (Stealth) check. If he succeeds, he is hidden – enemies cannot see him, and he can perform surprise attacks from Stealth or just use that moment of respite to heal up.
* **Ready.** Ready action is useful if a character wants to delay acting for a bit, wait for specific circumstances to occur before attacking. For example, there is nobody in the melee range for the Paladin to attack, even after moving, so he can just ready his melee attack and wait for the enemies to come to him in their turn to execute it. A character can ready a melee attack, a ranged attack or a spell attack (a cantrip spell with a casting time of one action).
* **Shove.** A character can shove a creature to knock it prone or push it away. The target of a shove has to be no more than one size larger (so a Halfling cannot shove a Minotaur) and has to be within reach. A character makes a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. If he succeeds, he successfully pushes the target prone or pushes it one cell away.
* **Use an Object.** A character can interact with one object on his turn for free (without spending any actions). This way he can e.g. draw a different weapon than the one he has currently equipped or drink a potion placed in his utility slot. To interact with more objects, Use an Object action needs to be used.