Playing the Game — page 10

Action Summary 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.

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 Time 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" later in "Playing the Game."

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 Actions 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. Reactions 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, described later in "Playing the Game," 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. Social Interaction During their adventures, player characters meet many different people and face some monsters that would rather talk than fight. In those situations, it's time for social interaction, which takes many forms. For example, you might try to convince a burglar to confess to wrongdoing or try to flatter a guard. The Game Master assumes the roles of any nonplayer characters who are participating.

An NPC's attitude toward your character is Friendly, Indifferent, or Hostile, as defined in "Rules Glossary." Friendly NPCs are predisposed to help, and Hostile ones are inclined to hinder.

Social interactions progress in two ways: through roleplaying and ability checks. Roleplaying Roleplaying is, literally, the act of playing out a role. In this case, it's you as a player determining how your character thinks, acts, and talks. Roleplaying is part of every aspect of the game, and it comes to the fore during social interactions.

As you roleplay, consider whether you prefer an active approach or a descriptive approach.

The GM uses an NPC's personality and your character's actions and attitudes to determine how an