Confused About D&D Combat

[Mafilux]

Some friends and I were going to try playing D&D on Tabletop simulator. I have the books I need to be the DM, however I can't make heads or tails out of a number of rules including combat. So enemies have an AC that you have to beat before you can do damage, right? The players have to roll higher than that to land their hit? How do I calculate damage after this? Is their armor class subtracted from the amount of damage the person deals? What does + to hit mean? What are hit die? The game seems like a lot of fun but with over 100 pages of rules I can see why people get scared off from it. Honestly the guide isn't as clear about some of the things talked about as it could be, at least for people who have never played a tabletop RPG before.

[mcdeadpool97]

Honestly The only thing i can tell you is that you will be supprised how easy it is, just look through the PH (players handbook) under combat and it can put it very clear for you to follow. Just remember before you throw a Monster at your party be sure that the monsters challenge rating is to far above your players level. Always be sure to look at the monsters special abilities, those are what build the monsters personality, and if your players are having trouble you might Just forget about some things they have like damage reduction or spell resistance. Just dive in and you will do fine.

[KnightSteve]

Some friends and I were going to try playing D&D on Tabletop simulator. I have the books I need to be the DM, however I can't make heads or tails out of a number of rules including combat. So enemies have an AC that you have to beat before you can do damage, right? The players have to roll higher than that to land their hit? How do I calculate damage after this? Is their armor class subtracted from the amount of damage the person deals? What does + to hit mean? What are hit die? The game seems like a lot of fun but with over 100 pages of rules I can see why people get scared off from it. Honestly the guide isn't as clear about some of the things talked about as it could be, at least for people who have never played a tabletop RPG before.

I can help here some.

1. AC is meet or beat for damage, so 12 AC means a player rolls an 11 or lower it's a miss.
2. Damage is determined to the monsters by the characters spells, powers or equipment. no damage to the actual armor, just their health.
3. The + to hit means that the characters add their proficiency bonus, corresponding ability score and any bonuses to the d20 roll. I.E. a level 1 ranger rolls a d20 + prof. bonus of 2 + their dex mod, for a bow attack.
4. Hit die are how a character heals outside of spells or potions. They subtract one temporarily from their pool and roll to expend it, giving themselves the HP from that.

I think that about covers what you asked. anything else and I'll gladly help you out.

[Rysto]

Forgot about hit dice for the moment, they're irrelevant for combat.

Attacks in D&D are a lot simpler than they might seem at first glance. Let's break it down into steps:

1) The player/DM declares that their PC/monster is going to be making an attack against a target. This might be a weapon attack or they might be making a spell attack.

2) Determine whether the attack will be made with disadvantage, advantage or neither. Remember that if there are conditions that impose advantage and disadvantage on the attack roll, then they cancel out and it's a normal attack.

3) Roll 1d20 for the attack roll (or 2d20 if it's with advantage or disadvantage)

4) Add any modifiers to the roll. For a weapon attack, this includes the ability modifier for the relevant ability (STR for melee, DEX for ranged, the best for a finesse weapon). If they have proficiency with the weapon, also add the proficiency bonus. The ability modifier + proficiency bonus is often called the "+ to hit", because it applies to every attack made with the weapon.

For a spell attack, add the caster's spell attack modifier to the roll.

Note that there might be other bonuses that apply. For example, the bless spell allows the player to roll an additional 1d4 and add it to their attack roll.

5) If the die roll plus the modifier is equal to or greater than the target's AC, then the attack hits, and you determine damage. If it is less than, then the attack misses and the attack is finished.

6) For a weapon attack, roll the weapon's damage dice to determine the damage dealt. For example, roll 1d4 for a dagger or 2d6 for a greatsword.

For a spell attack, the spell will tell you what dice to roll. For example, a first-level Guiding Bolt spell does 4d6 damage.

7) Add any relevant modifiers to the roll. For a weapon attack, this includes the ability modifier for the ability used to make the attack (but never the proficiency bonus).

Most spells don't add any modifiers, but some do. The spell description will tell you if you should add any modifiers.

Note that the effect of some spells can add additional damage. For example, the Divine Favor spell allows you to add 1d4 damage to each hit made by a weapon attack.

8) Subtract the damage from the current HP of the target.

[Mafilux]

Thanks for the responses, it's a lot clearer now. Since we're all noobs I was just going to set up a quick couple encounters so we can learn how combat works and go from there.

[Mafilux]

On a side note, any advice for beginner character classes? I know human fighter and elven rangers are typically good beginner classes to start with.

[Millstone85]

Honestly the guide isn't as clear about some of the things talked about as it could be, at least for people who have never played a tabletop RPG before.
just look through the PH (players handbook) under combat and it can put it very clear for you to follow.Yeah, if you are talking about the Dungeon Master's Guide, that is probably the wrong book to learn the game. The Player's Handbook is your answer.

[Mafilux]

Yeah, if you are talking about the Dungeon Master's Guide, that is probably the wrong book to learn the game. The Player's Handbook is your answer.

I've read the entire player's handbook... My problem was with clarity.

[Rysto]

For a caster, Warlock is probably the simplest? At low levels they basically should just sit in the back row and cast Eldritch Blast every turn (and use their small number of spell slots). Wizards don't look too bad either. They start off with a small list of spells available in the spellbook, and hopefully the player gets the hang of the class by the time that their spell list gets big.

If they're nervous about the complexity, maybe stay away from Clerics and Druids, as their spell lists are gigantic and they get to choose their spells from the whole list every day. It's nice for flexibility but giving too much choice to a new player too often might be overwhelming.

[Rhaegar]

I've read the entire player's handbook... My problem was with clarity.

Things can start to make more sense after you play a little, after you play once or twice, try going back and reading some of the more pertinent sections, and you may find them a bit easier to understand.

[Mafilux]

In terms of experience, do I divide them up between players or do they all get the full amount (Like for a goblin, would every player get 50 exp or should I divide it between them?).

[Daishain]

In terms of experience, do I divide them up between players or do they all get the full amount (Like for a goblin, would every player get 50 exp or should I divide it between them?).
That's up to you, but XP is usually divided among the party. The basic formula for how much an individual gets goes like this: A*B/C, where A is the total XP for the encounter, B is a multiplier that accounts for how many individual enemies there were, and C is the number of party members. (B is 1 for one enemy, 1.5 for two, 2 for 3-6, 2.5 for 7-10, 3 for 11-14, and 4 for 15+) It is also entirely up to you to adjust xp rewards, deny xp entirely, or even give xp where none is expected depending on what you think is appropriate. (For instance, if you shoved 50 goblins in a hole and nuked them all to death from a completely safe position, I might give some XP for strategy, but none for the "combat")

For the time being however, until you get the feel of the system, you may want to stick to milestone leveling. Using this variant, you don't have to worry about XP at all, players level up when it is appropriate from a thematic or balance standpoint (like right after beating a miniboss)

I highly suggest that you and your players take a gander through the link in my signature. It is a lengthy listing of guides and resources covering everything from a player's guide to setting up a characters of certain classes to tools that help DMs create combat encounters of appropriate strength.

[Mafilux]

That's up to you, but XP is usually divided among the party. The basic formula for how much an individual gets goes like this: A*B/C, where A is the total XP for the encounter, B is a multiplier that accounts for how many individual enemies there were, and C is the number of party members. (B is 1 for one enemy, 1.5 for two, 2 for 3-6, 2.5 for 7-10, 3 for 11-14, and 4 for 15+) It is also entirely up to you to adjust xp rewards, deny xp entirely, or even give xp where none is expected depending on what you think is appropriate. (For instance, if you shoved 50 goblins in a hole and nuked them all to death from a completely safe position, I might give some XP for strategy, but none for the "combat")

For the time being however, until you get the feel of the system, you may want to stick to milestone leveling. Using this variant, you don't have to worry about XP at all, players level up when it is appropriate from a thematic or balance standpoint (like right after beating a miniboss)

I highly suggest that you and your players take a gander through the link in my signature. It is a lengthy listing of guides and resources covering everything from a player's guide to setting up a characters of certain classes to tools that help DMs create combat encounters of appropriate strength.

Cool I'll take a look, thank you.

[MaxWilson]

That's up to you, but XP is usually divided among the party. The basic formula for how much an individual gets goes like this: A*B/C, where A is the total XP for the encounter, B is a multiplier that accounts for how many individual enemies there were, and C is the number of party members.

Slight correction: Daishain, you've fallen prey to a common misconception. The most recent version of the Basic Rules (0.4) goes out of its way to clarify that you are not supposed to multiply by "B" (difficulty multiplier) when awarding XP. This means that if you're building encounters by feel and by eyeballing difficulty you will never use the multipliers at all.


Modify Total XP for Multiple Monsters. If the
encounter includes more than one monster, apply
a multiplier to the monsters’ total XP. The more
monsters there are, the more attack rolls you’re making
against the characters in a given round, and the more
dangerous the encounter becomes. To correctly gauge
an encounter’s difficulty, multiply the total XP of all
the monsters in the encounter by the value given in the
Encounter Multipliers table.
For example, if an encounter includes four monsters
worth a total of 500 XP, you would multiply the total XP
of the monsters by 2, for an adjusted value of 1,000 XP.
This adjusted value is not what the monsters are worth
in terms of XP; the adjusted value’s only purpose is to
help you accurately assess the encounter’s difficulty.
When making this calculation, don’t count any
monsters whose challenge rating is significantly below
the average challenge rating of the other monsters in the
group unless you think the weak monsters significantly
contribute to the difficulty of the encounter.

Italics in original.

You can of course choose to award the difficulty multiplier anyway. I did that for the first few weeks I played 5E, and then I decided that I didn't like some of the ramifications of that system (advancement was too fast; and I didn't have the option of ignoring the DMG encounter-building system and eyeballing because I needed the DMG system to calculate XP awards; there are environmental adjustments to encounter difficulty like +1 difficulty for fighting magma mephits in building that's on fire, but they don't increase the adjusted XP so you still have the same problem as ever that players don't always get rewarded for tougher fights).

So to answer the OP: if you fight 10 monsters with 1000 XP each, that's 10,000 XP. Then that 10,000 XP gets split among the players as the DM decides, and typically that's just an even split. 4 players would each receive 2500 XP of that 10,000.

[Rysto]

That's up to you, but XP is usually divided among the party. The basic formula for how much an individual gets goes like this: A*B/C, where A is the total XP for the encounter, B is a multiplier that accounts for how many individual enemies there were, and C is the number of party members. (B is 1 for one enemy, 1.5 for two, 2 for 3-6, 2.5 for 7-10, 3 for 11-14, and 4 for 15+) It is also entirely up to you to adjust xp rewards, deny xp entirely, or even give xp where none is expected depending on what you think is appropriate. (For instance, if you shoved 50 goblins in a hole and nuked them all to death from a completely safe position, I might give some XP for strategy, but none for the "combat")

The suggested method in the DMG is to adjust the XP to determine the encounter difficulty, but not when actually awarding XP (I'm honestly not sure why, but that's how they lay it out IIRC).

[R.Shackleford]

If possible go to a D&D Public Play event and learn there. Usually there will be a DM that helps I produce new players.

Meetup.com typically will have D&D groups.

You can learn to play before you try to run a game.

[MaxWilson]

The suggested method in the DMG is to adjust the XP to determine the encounter difficulty, but not when actually awarding XP (I'm honestly not sure why, but that's how they lay it out IIRC).

I think because tradition: monster kill XP in D&D has always just been a certain amount per monster, not a representation of "true difficulty". Some early editions did reduce the XP award for fighting stuff that is too easy (8th level fighter vs. 4 HD creature got only half XP), but they never gave you extra XP for fighting stuff that was too hard.

Also, multiplying XP awards by difficulty is a pain for the DM and doesn't add much to the game. If you want them to have extra XP, just give them extra XP. If on the other hand you want to punish them for resting too much, give them a 50% chance per half hour of encountering a pack of 2d10 giant rats, which give negligible XP or treasure but are a pain to kill if your party doesn't have good at-will attacks. 20 rats at 25 XP per rat divided among 4 players is only 125 XP per player, which is small enough to make any evil DM chortle with glee. (Implicit message: "Quit wasting time already and go do something important!")

[djreynolds]

Sounds crazy, but google Adventurer's league, find a group near you and go play. They will have pre generated character for you possibly. Watch and learn and play. Someone will say cast this or do that, and do it. Next time maybe you have an idea of your own. But you will learn from experienced players and bring it back to your table.

[NNescio]

Alright, here how it works:

-Doing something trivially easy (like say, reading a simple message in the language that the player character knows, assuming he's neither blind nor illiterate, and isn't reading in the middle of a storm or something) is an automatic success. Player says his character does it, he succeeds automatically.

-Most tasks in DnD are supposed to present a challenge however. The challenge has an associated difficulty class, or DC, represented by a numeral figure (e.g. DC 15). To succeed in the task, the player character has to roll a twenty-sided die. He then adds a relevant ability modifier that the task is keyed to (say, Strength if he's trying to force upon a door, or hack an enemy in melee). The ability modifier is dependent on the ability score, as follows:



Ability Score
Ability Modifier


1
-5


2-3
-4


4-5
-3


6-7
-2


8-9
-1


10-11
0


12-13
+1


14-15
+2


16-17
+3


18-19
+4


20-21
+5


22-23
+6


24-25
+7


26-27
+8


28-29
+9


30
+10



So you take a penalty if your relevant stat is below 10. Also, 20 is a soft cap for stats (PCs cannot exceed this without the help of certain class features or items), while 30 is the hard cap.

If it is possible to be skilled in the task, and the player character is proficient in it, he gets to add his proficiency bonus to the roll. He doesn't take penalties if he's nonproficient. The proficiency bonus is based on the total number of character levels, as follows:



Total Character Levels
Proficiency Bonus


1-4
+2


5-8
+3


9-12
+4


13-16
+5


17-20
+6



Characters start with a proficiency bonus of +2, and gain a +1 increase for every 4 additional levels. All classes follow the same progression, and multiclass characters just add all their class levels together to determine their proficiency bonus.

Characters may also gain additional bonuses (like a +1 weapon) on top of that, in which case they get to add another number on top. Some such bonuses are variable, like the +1d4 from Bless and Guidance. In that case, the player rolls another die (a four-sided one in the case of Bless and Guidance) on top of that, and adds that to his total. If this total equals or exceeds the Difficulty Class, the character succeeds in the task; otherwise, he fails.

Sometimes, the character can gain Advantage or Disadvantage on a task, whether because of environmental factors (trying to see something in dim light), circumstantial factors (hitting a downed opponent), or because of certain class features, spells or abilities. When you have Advantage, you roll two d20s and take the higher result (discarding the lower one). When you have Disadvantage, you roll two d20s and take the lower result instead.

So, to recap, most tasks have a DC. To attempt the task, the player has to roll d20 + relevant ability modifier + proficiency bonus (if proficient) + misc. bonuses (if any). If the total result equals or exceeds the DC, the character succeeds; otherwise he fails. If you have Advantage, instead of rolling just one d20, you roll two d20s and take the higher one. If you have Disadvantage, you roll two d20s and take the lower one.

Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other. They also don't stack with themselves; two sources of Advantage and one source of Disadvantage will cancel out to a normal roll, for example.

Most such rolls can be divided into three categories; attacks, skills, and saves.

1) Attacks

When attacking, the defender's AC is the Difficulty Class. To succeed, the attacker has to roll d20 + relevant ability modifier + proficiency bonus (if he's proficient in the weapon) + misc. bonuses. If the attack roll equals or exceeds the defender's DC, the attack hits; otherwise it misses.

Melee weapons usually use Strength as the relevant ability modifier. Attackers using finessable weapons have to option use Dexterity instead (they can choose not to). Also, thrown weapons also use Strength (finessable thrown weapons like daggers can use Dex instead).

Ranged weapons usually use Dexterity as the relevant ability modifier.

Spell attacks use the relevant spellcasting ability modifier as the ability modifier. A Wizard, Eldritch Knight (Fighter subclass), or Arcane Trickster (rogue subclass) spell uses Intelligence. Sorcerers, Bards, Warlocks and Paladin use Charisma. Clerics, Druids, Rangers, and Monk (spell-likes) use Wisdom. Racial spell-likes are usually based on Intelligence or Charisma

(A spell's spellcasting modifier is determined by the class [or race] it is acquired from. A multiclass Wizard/Sorcerer, for example, would use Intelligence for Wizard spells and Charisma for Sorcerer spells).

If an attack hits, the attacker rolls damage. All weapons have damage dice associated with them. e.g. 1d4 for daggers, 1d6 for shortswords, 2d6 for greatswords. Consult pages 149-150 to determine the relevant damage dice for most player weapons (For monsters, the damage dice is written next to their attack under their entries in the Monster Manual). To determine damage, you roll the weapon damage dice + the relevant ability modifier (the same ability modifier you used for the attack roll earlier) + misc. bonuses.

Example: John the Level 1 Fighter attacks Goblin #13 with a greatsword. He has a Strength of 16, the goblin has an AC of 15, and 7 hp. He makes an attack roll, rolling 14 on his d20. This is not enough to meet the goblin's AC, but wait, since John is making a melee attack, and he's proficient with greatswords (as are all fighters), he gets to add his strength modifier and proficiency bonus on top of that. 14 + 3 + 2 = 19 ≥ 15, so he hits the goblin.

John now rolls for damage. It's a greatsword, so the damage dice is 2d6. John rolls a 4 and a 3. He deals a total of 4 + 3 + 3 (his STR mod) = 10 damage. This goblin takes 10 damage, killing him (since he only had 7 hp).

Spell attacks are a notable exception in that spellcasters don't get to add their spellcasting modifier to the damage (despite adding it to their attacks earlier). Instead they just roll the damage dice as described under the spell entry.

(Some spellcasting classes, especially the more damage-oriented subclasses, do get the ability to add their spellcasting modifier to damage later on when they level up enough.)

Unlike skills and saves, attacks (including spell attacks) can also CRITICALLY HIT or MISS. Rolling a 20 on the d20 (Natural 20) during an attack roll is an automatic hit (regardless of the target's AC), and deals additional damage. In this case, you roll all damage dice twice (so, for a greatsword, 4d6 instead of 2d6), including those from other sources like a Rogue's sneak attack or a Paladin's smite. Static modifiers remain unchanged.

Rolling a 1 on the d20 (Natural 1) is an automatic miss, even if the total exceeds or equals the defender's AC.

If the defender is resistant to the type of damage dealt (e.g. slashing for greatswords, or fire for a Firebolt spell), he takes half damage (rounding down). If he's vulnerable, he takes double damage. If he's immune, well, he takes no damage.

2) Skills

Most tasks that don't involve hitting a target are considered skills. Examples include climbing a wall or persuading an NPC. In this case, the DM sets a DC depending on how hard he thinks the challenge is. Generally you use an unskilled commoner as the baseline (so if you think a task can be successfully performed 50% of the time by an average, untrained person, the DC is DC 10). The player then rolls a d20 + relevant ability modifier + proficiency bonus (if proficient in the skill) + misc. bonuses. Apply Advantage or Disadvantage as relevant. Again, if the character's combined total equals or exceed the skill DC, he succeeds in the task. Otherwise, he fails.

Unlike attacks, skills do not automatically succeed or fail when rolling a natural 20 or 1.

3) Saving throws

Saving throws (Saves) are called for when a character (or monster) is expected to defend against most things that don't count as attacks. Examples include avoiding (partially) an AoE spell like Fireball, to avoiding traps, to resisting mental influence (like a Dominate spell) . Generally, most spells that don't call for an attack roll for force the defender to roll a save instead.

The DC of a saving throw is generally determined by the DM. Saving throws to defend against monster abilities are usually defined under the relevant monster entry. To succeed on a saving throw, a player rolls a d20 + relevant ability modifier (e.g. Dexterity for a Dexterity saving throw) + proficiency bonus (if he's proficient in the save) + misc. bonuses. If his combined total equals or exceeds the DC, he succeeds on the save. Otherwise; he fails and takes full effect from the spell/trap/ability/etc.

Unlike attacks or skills, a defender who succeeds on a saving throw may still suffer partial effects. This is usually defined under the spell/trap/ability/etc which triggered the saving throw. Usually AoE spells still deal half damage on a successful saving throw.

Player characters, especially spellcasters, also have offensive abilities that are keyed to Saving Throws. Save for player abilities are usually determined by the following formula: 8 + Relevant Ability Modfier (spellcasting modifiers for spellcasters) + Proficiency Bonus

Like skills, saving throws do not automatically succeed on a natural 20, or automatically fail on a natural 1 (unlike in previous editions of DnD).

Death Saving Throws are a notable exception. Unlike most Saves, Death Saves are not keyed to any ability (so you never get to add any ability modifier), and no character is proficient in Death Saves. You generally just roll a straight d20 against DC 10 (once every round when you're brought to 0 HP and are not stabilized yet). You may, however, add bonuses from certain spells (such as Bless) or class features to the saving throw result (if it applies to all saves).

Also, Death Saving Throws are the only Saves whee you can critically succeed or fail. Nat 1 counts as two failures (3 failures kills a character), while a Nat 20 heals the character for 1 hit point (implicitly stabilizing him and returning him to full consciousness).

[old school man]

I can help here some.

1. AC is meet or beat for damage, so 12 AC means a player rolls an 11 or lower it's a miss.
2. Damage is determined to the monsters by the characters spells, powers or equipment. no damage to the actual armor, just their health.
3. The + to hit means that the characters add their proficiency bonus, corresponding ability score and any bonuses to the d20 roll. I.E. a level 1 ranger rolls a d20 + prof. bonus of 2 + their dex mod, for a bow attack.
4. Hit die are how a character heals outside of spells or potions. They subtract one temporarily from their pool and roll to expend it, giving themselves the HP from that.

I think that about covers what you asked. anything else and I'll gladly help you out.

Well said sir.




John