Conditions and how they function.

[Dungeon-noob]

So for an upcoming campaign and everything that comes with it, i'm looking into the way conditions work across D&D5e. Once i started, i realized i have more questions about it then i thought, and i'm not certain about getting the answers myself.

Are there trends or hard rules on what condition has what kind of source? Is there always a saving throw involved? How do they tend to get removed when there isn't? Basically, i want to understand the whole picture and i don't think i can go through every splatbook, adventure and creature database to cover every base. What advice or perspective can the masters of the playground offer?

[Aett_Thorn]

The source of the condition usually tells you all of these things: how they’re applied (save or not), how to remove them, and how long they last. I don’t think there’s any “standard” for each type, and if there were, there would probably be enough exceptions that you’d have to look everything up anyways.

[Evaar]

There's no single rule you can reference on how conditions work. Instead, each condition has its own rules, and each effect that causes that condition has its own rules.

Some general tips:
For the most part, your players will cause conditions with spells. Rely on the spell description to see how it works exactly.
The poisoned condition is different from poison damage. One does not necessarily imply the other.
Some conditions cause other conditions (being Paralyzed causes you to also be Incapacitated, for example).
Disease is not a condition, but diseases can cause conditions.

[Composer99]

So for an upcoming campaign and everything that comes with it, i'm looking into the way conditions work across D&D5e. Once i started, i realized i have more questions about it then i thought, and i'm not certain about getting the answers myself.

Are there trends or hard rules on what condition has what kind of source? Is there always a saving throw involved? How do they tend to get removed when there isn't? Basically, i want to understand the whole picture and i don't think i can go through every splatbook, adventure and creature database to cover every base. What advice or perspective can the masters of the playground offer?

One of the nice things about the way conditions are set up in 5e is that, as far as I can see, you don't really need to know that kind of stuff.

Each condition is more-or-less modular and self-contained (save for the few that refer to the incapacitated condition). Each effect that imposes a condition on a creature is then free to determine on its own how long it lasts, whether such an imposition can be resisted and, if so, how, and what means, if any, exist to remove the imposed condition before its duration expires (if it expires at all).

If you are running a game, you would be well served to see what abilities the PCs can call upon to impose conditions (mostly spells, but a few other features as well), and when you decide to add some monster or another to the game world, you can see at that time what conditions it is capable of imposing.

(The closest I can think of to there being conditions with universal rules regarding its imposition are the grappled and prone conditions, which are linked to special melee attacks in the combat rules that any creature can, in theory, attempt.)

[Dungeon-noob]

First of, thanks for the replies. What i'd specifically like to check is if there are sources of conditions that do not offer a saving throw, and if those sources have any other ending conditions?

[Crucius]

First of, thanks for the replies. What i'd specifically like to check is if there are sources of conditions that do not offer a saving throw, and if those sources have any other ending conditions?

Do you mean things like "When you take falling damage, you also fall prone (no save)" or the Power Word Stun spell "If the target has 150 Hit Points or fewer, it is Stunned. The Stunned target must make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a successful save, this stunning Effect ends."

Both are examples of conditions that are applied without a save, but always also describe the method of removing said condition, either in the overarching rules (=Prone says that you can end the condition by spending movement) or within the source of the condition (=the spell says when the condition ends and how).

[Avonar]

First of, thanks for the replies. What i'd specifically like to check is if there are sources of conditions that do not offer a saving throw, and if those sources have any other ending conditions?

It's difficult to say for sure without having memorised the Monster Manual but I am pretty certain that there are conditions that can be applied without saving throws. The ones that come to mind are spells: Power Word Stun (Stuns a creature with 150HP or less) and Colour Spray (Blinds creatures based on hit points).

I can't however think of a condition that requires no save to apply and then has no save to end, unless it only last for one round. I could be wrong there of course.

[MaxWilson]

I can't however think of a condition that requires no save to apply and then has no save to end, unless it only last for one round. I could be wrong there of course.

Well, grappling for example does not involve saves. You typically get out of a grapple by using your action to "make an ability check" (meaning: to try to wriggle out of the grapple, with an Acrobatics or Athletics ability check telling whether you succeeded or not), or more-sophisticated -but-better methods like using your action to Shove the grappler out of range, or incapacitate the grappler (e.g. via Stunning Strike or Tasha's Hideous Laughter), or by teleporting out of range.

@OP, I think you're looking at things backwards. Trying to understand conditions by looking at all the things that can inflict them is the wrong way around. Instead, study monster tactics and spell effects and refer to the conditions list in order to understand what things do.

Quick list of things that are tricky (non-obvious) about conditions:

(1) Incapacitated creatures can still move, but many things that incapacitate (such as an Enchanter's Hypnotic Gaze) also prevent movement at the same time. They cannot take actions, bonus actions, reactions, legendary actions, or lair actions.

(2) Petrified creatures are still alive, even though they're now rock, so things like Clone don't trigger.

(3) Attacks against paralyzed or unconscious creatures will auto-crit on a hit if and only if the attacker is within 5'.

(4) Charmed does not do what you may think it does. It doesn't even make the target like you. It prevents the target from directly attacking you (targeting you with attack rolls or hostile spells), but does not prevent the target from Fireballing the area you are standing in (for example). It also gives you advantage on Persuasion/Deception/Insight/etc. ability checks involving the target, but advantage is easy to get in other ways (e.g. Enhance Ability). Charmed is mostly interesting as a target discriminator: certain spells like Hypnotic Pattern, Geas, and Dominate Monster only affect targets that can be charmed. But it's usually not the charmed condition you care about, it's the extra stuff that comes along with the spell.

(5) Attacks against a prone target 5' away have advantage (which can cancel out disadvantage for e.g. using ranged weapons while an enemy is nearby), but attacks against a prone target 10' away have disadvantage. This can be useful against monsters with 10'+ reach sometimes--another PC may be taking up enough space that the monster can't approach to within 5' of you, only 10', and if so you can drop prone to discourage it from attacking you, if you are squishier than the PC who's blocking the monster. It does cost you movement to get back up though, so it will be slightly harder to react quickly to changes in the tactical situation, like the arrival of more monsters or a PC going down.

Of the commonly-applied conditions, restrained or blinded are very helpful conditions to inflict on your enemies to aid both your offense and defense; frightened and poisoned aid only your defense; and grappled doesn't directly aid your defense but does combine well with prone to prevent enemies from standing back up, and thereby aid both your offense and defense. (It can also let you control enemy positioning, which can help both offense and defense indirectly.)

[Aett_Thorn]

It's difficult to say for sure without having memorised the Monster Manual but I am pretty certain that there are conditions that can be applied without saving throws. The ones that come to mind are spells: Power Word Stun (Stuns a creature with 150HP or less) and Colour Spray (Blinds creatures based on hit points).

I can't however think of a condition that requires no save to apply and then has no save to end, unless it only last for one round. I could be wrong there of course.

The Sleep spell is the only one I know of, but that has its own set of things that can break the effect. No save to apply the effect, and no save every round to wake back up.

[MrStabby]

Some are actually quite common. The blindness condition is imposed by the darkness spell for example (and a number of other sight reducing effects). Grappled is a result of grapples - which can be a save per some monster stat blocks but often also an ability check. Prone is sometimes a result of a hit (I think, though some also have saves attached) and sometimes a result of a failed ability check.

[Dungeon-noob]

Thanks everyone, this has helped me clear up some of my doubts about what i was going to get into. I'm probably going to be able to handle what i'm going forward with. Thanks for all your quick advice and reassurance.

[MaxWilson]

Some are actually quite common. The blindness condition is imposed by the darkness spell for example (and a number of other sight reducing effects).

Well, it used to do that, pre-PHB errata. Now it works like darkness in real life: only prevents you from seeing things that aren't in an area of light. No longer does a single candle let you see all the monsters in a huge underground cave, without them seeing you back because they're in the dark.

See errata for PHB page 183: https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/PH-Errata.pdf