ActionEdit
[1] On your turn, you can take one Action. Choose which action to take from those below or from the special actions provided by your features. See also “Playing the Game” (“Actions”). These actions are defined elsewhere in this glossary:
[2] When you do something other than moving or communicating, you typically take an action. The Action table lists the game’s main actions, which are defined in more detail in “Rules Glossary.”
| Actions [3] | |
|---|---|
| Action | Summary |
| Attack | Attack with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike. |
| Dash | For the rest of the turn, give yourself extra movement equal to your Speed. |
| Disengage | Your movement doesn’t provoke Opportunity Attacks for the rest of the turn. |
| Dodge | Until the start of your next turn, attack rolls against you have Disadvantage, and you make Dexterity saving throws with Advantage. You lose this benefit if you have the Incapacitated condition or if your Speed is 0. |
| Help | Help another creature’s ability check or attack roll, or administer first aid. |
| Hide | Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. |
| Influence | Make a Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion) or Wisdom (Animal Handling) check to alter a creature’s attitude. |
| Magic | Cast a spell, use a magic item, or use a magical feature. |
| Ready | Prepare to take an action in response to a trigger you define. |
| Search | Make a Wisdom (Insight, Medicine, Perception, or Survival) check. |
| Study | Make an Intelligence (Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, or Religion) check. |
| Utilize | Use a nonmagical object. |
[4] Player Characters and monsters can also do things not covered by these actions. Many class features and other abilities provide additional action options, and you can improvise other actions. When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the Game Master tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of D20 Test you need to make, if any.
One Thing at a TimeEdit
[4] The game uses actions to govern how much you can do at one time. You can take only one action at a time. This principle is most important in combat, as explained in “Combat”.
Actions can come up in other situations, too: in a social interaction, you can try to Influence a creature or use the Search action to read the creature’s body language, but you can’t do both at the same time. And when you’re exploring a dungeon, you can’t simultaneously use the Search action to look for traps and use the Help action to aid another character who’s trying to open a stuck door (with the Utilize action).
Bonus ActionsEdit
[4] Various class features, spells, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a Bonus Action. The Cunning Action feature, for example, allows a Rogue to take a Bonus Action. You can take a Bonus Action only when a special ability, a spell, or another feature of the game states that you can do something as a Bonus Action. You otherwise don’t have a Bonus Action to take.
You can take only one Bonus Action on your turn, so you must choose which Bonus Action to use if you have more than one available.
You choose when to take a Bonus Action during your turn unless the Bonus Action’s timing is specified. Anything that deprives you of your ability to take actions also prevents you from taking a Bonus Action.
ReactionsEdit
[4] Certain special abilities, spells, and situations allow you to take a special action called a Reaction. A Reaction is an instant response to a trigger of some kind, which can occur on your turn or on someone else’s. The Opportunity Attack is the most common type of Reaction.
When you take a Reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn. If the reaction interrupts another creature’s turn, that creature can continue its turn right after the Reaction.
In terms of timing, a Reaction takes place immediately after its trigger unless the Reaction’s description says otherwise.
AttackEdit
[5] When you take the Attack action, you can make one attack roll with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike.
Equipping and Unequipping Weapons. You can either equip or unequip one weapon when you make an attack as part of this action. You do so either before or after the attack. If you equip a weapon before an attack, you don’t need to use it for that attack. Equipping a weapon includes drawing it from a sheath or picking it up. Unequipping a weapon includes sheathing, stowing, or dropping it.
Moving between Attacks. If you move on your turn and have a feature, such as Extra Attack, that gives you more than one attack as part of the Attack action, you can use some or all of that movement to move between those attacks.
DashEdit
[6] 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. If your Speed of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, you can move up to 30 feet this turn if you Dash.
If you have a special speed, such as a Fly Speed or Swim Speed, you can use that speed instead of your Speed when you take this action. You choose which speed to use each time you take it. See also “Speed.”
DisengageEdit
[7] If you take the Disengage Action, your movement doesn’t provoke Opportunity Attacks for the rest of the current turn.
DodgeEdit
[7] If you take the Dodge Action, you gain the following benefits: 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 these benefits if you have the Incapacitated condition or if your Speed is 0.
HelpEdit
[8] When you take the Help Action, you do one of the following.
Assist an Ability Check. Choose one of your skill or tool proficiencies and one ally who is near enough for you to assist verbally or physically when they make an ability check. That ally has Advantage on the next ability check they make with the chosen skill or tool. This benefit expires if the ally doesn’t use it before the start of your next turn. The GM has final say on whether your assistance is possible.
Assist an Attack Roll. You momentarily distract an enemy within 5 feet of you, giving Advantage to the next attack roll by one of your allies against that enemy. This benefit expires at the start of your next turn.
HideEdit
[9] With the Hide Action, you try to hide yourself. To do so, you must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check while you’re Heavily Obscured or behind Three-Quarters Cover or Total Cover, and you must be out of any enemy’s line of sight; if you can see a creature, you can discern whether it can see you.
On a successful check, you have the Invisible condition while hidden. Make note of your check’s total, which is the DC for a creature to find you with a Wisdom (Perception) check.
You stop being hidden immediately after any of the following occurs: you make a sound louder than a whisper, an enemy finds you, you make an attack roll, or you cast a spell with a Verbal component.
InfluenceEdit
[10] With the Influence Action, you urge a monster to do something. Describe or roleplay how you’re communicating with the monster. Are you trying to deceive, intimidate, amuse, or gently persuade? The GM then determines whether the monster feels willing, unwilling, or hesitant due to your interaction; this determination establishes whether an ability check is necessary, as explained below.
Willing. If your urging aligns with the monster’s desires, no ability check is necessary; the monster fulfills your request in a way it prefers.
Unwilling. If your urging is repugnant to the monster or counter to its alignment, no ability check is necessary; it doesn’t comply.
Hesitant. If you urge the monster to do something that it is hesitant to do, you must make an ability check, which is affected by the monster’s attitude: Indifferent, Friendly, or Hostile, each of which is defined in this glossary. The Influence Checks table suggests which ability check to make based on how you’re interacting with the monster. The GM chooses the check, which has a default DC equal to 15 or the monster’s Intelligence score, whichever is higher. On a successful check, the monster does as urged. On a failed check, you must wait 24 hours (or a duration set by the GM) before urging it in the same way again.
| Influence Checks | |
|---|---|
| Ability Check | Interaction |
| Charisma (Deception) | Deceiving a monster that understands you |
| Charisma (Intimidation) | Intimidating a monster |
| Charisma (Performance) | Amusing a monster |
| Charisma (Persuasion) | Persuading a monster that understands you |
| Wisdom (Animal Handling) | Gently coaxing a Beast or Monstrosity |
MagicEdit
[11] When you take the Magic Action, you cast a spell that has a casting time of an action or use a feature or magic item that requires a Magic action to be activated.
If you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 minute or longer, you must take the Magic action on each Turn of that casting, and you must maintain Concentration while you do so. If your Concentration is broken, the spell fails, but you don’t expend a spell slot. See also “Concentration.”
ReadyEdit
[12] You take the Ready Action to wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you take this action on your turn, which lets you act by taking a 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 zombie 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.
When you Ready a spell, you cast it as normal (expending any resources used to cast it) but hold its energy, which you release with your Reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a casting time of an action, and holding on to the spell’s magic requires Concentration, which you can maintain up to the start of your next turn. If your Concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect.
SearchEdit
[13] When you take the Search Action, you make a Wisdom check to discern something that isn’t obvious. The Search table suggests which skills are applicable when you take this action, depending on what you’re trying to detect.
| Search | |
|---|---|
| Skill | Thing to Detect |
| Insight | Creature’s state of mind |
| Medicine | Creature’s ailment or cause of death |
| Perception | Concealed creature or object |
| Survival | Tracks or food |
StudyEdit
[14] When you take the Study Action, you make an Intelligence check to study your memory, a book, a clue, or another source of knowledge and call to mind an important piece of information about it.
The Areas of Knowledge table suggests which skills are applicable to various areas of knowledge.
| Areas of Knowledge | |
|---|---|
| Skill | Areas |
| Arcana | Spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, planes of existence, and certain creatures (Aberrations, Constructs, Elementals, Fey, and Monstrosities) |
| History | Historic events and people, ancient civilizations, wars, and certain creatures (Giants and Humanoids) |
| Investigation | Traps, ciphers, riddles, and gadgetry |
| Nature | Terrain, flora, weather, and certain creatures (Beasts, Dragons, Oozes, and Plants) |
| Religion | Deities, religious hierarchies and rites, holy symbols, cults, and certain creatures (Celestials, Fiends, and Undead) |
UtilizeEdit
[15] You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of the Attack action. When an object requires an action for its use, you take the Utilize action.
[ Previous: Proficiency ] [ Next: Social Interaction ]
Sources and NotesEdit
- ↑ Wizards RPG Team (22 April 2025). SRD 5.2. (5e 2024) Wizards of the Coast. p. 176. Licensed: CC-BY.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.9
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.9-10
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 SRD 5.2 p.10
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.177.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.180.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 SRD 5.2 p.181.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.182-183.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.183.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.184.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.185.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.186-187.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.187.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.189.
- ↑ SRD 5.2 p.191.
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