How does combat 5e work?
In Dungeons and Dragons combat 5e is a complicated process, with so many elements that can change at any time, and it all starts with initiative. Initiative determines the order of turns for all players during combat. If someone has a high initiative, they will go first; if someone has a low initiative, they will go last. Each player rolls a d20, which is the base number for their initiative roll. They add to that number based on their dexterity modifier, as well as any bonuses they have from feats, classes, and such. After the initiative order is set the combat is divided into rounds. A round represents 6 in-game seconds, during which characters can use their actions to perform certain activities. Each player has its turn in one round that we said is by initiative order.
Each turn consists of:
Movement – represents moving across the battlefield by your character’s allowed speed which is usually 25ft for a small creature or 30ft for a medium.
Free action – speak short phrases, draw a weapon or open a door, end spell concentration.
An action:
- Attack
- Cast a spell (can be a bonus action depending on the casting time)
- Dash
- Disengage
- Dodge
- Help
- Hide
- Ready
- Search
- Use an object
Some actions are estimated by your DM.
A reaction – is an instant response to a trigger of some kind. It can happen during your or someone else’s turn.
Bonus action – Various Class Features, Spells, and other Abilities let you take an additional Action on Your Turn called a bonus Action.
Roleplay during combat 5e
Dungeons and Dragons is a game that can be played in many different ways. Some players prefer to focus on roleplay and some on combat, but how do you connect the two?
We have already talked about roleplay in DND but we haven’t talked about roleplay during combat. What I have been experiencing lately in my home games is that my friends and I are easy to roleplay when traveling, in-game shopping, or deciding on our next quest but what happens when we get to combat is a different side of the coin. Combat destroys the magic of roleplay and all of a sudden everyone is concentrating on the mechanical aspects of their character. Thus enters metagaming.
Also, combat is the best time for players to get into an argument if someone tries the „That’s what my character would do“ technique. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Combat 5e as we explained above is a detailed course of action. And as such is not so easy to follow and certainly not easy to get right. Even the slightest oversight can result in your friends or your own death. And when you invest, not hours, but years in playing a campaign each and every character becomes important. Thus you want to take the best and most optimized steps to help your party win that fight.
Metagaming in combat
Coming back to metagaming. In combat 5e players often metagame or simply put use knowledge as a player to make in-game decisions. It happens all the time. The most common thing that happens with experienced players is that after a while they get to know the stats and abilities of a monster. Then they use that knowledge to make decisions as if the character knows this monster’s abilities. A lot of the time players don’t do it intentionally. Take death saves for example. Players know that when their character drops from an attack they have 3 death saves to stabilize or their character dies. More than often players calculate in which round they will heal the character that dropped, especially if there is more than one life-threatening thing happening at once. So we decide that our friend can roll for two death saves before we help him. If we try to do it in this round maybe a dragon would target us but if we do it in the 3rd round we can still save him from dying.
It is hard to avoid metagaming happing at the table but there are ways to reduce it.
„That’s what my character would do“ technique
Commonly used phrase to make shit up at the table by players who wish to do idiotic moves and then justify it by using the phrase. And the combat is the best time to use it. Better yet, this is the expression that usually starts the combat and the impossible one. But this is not the reason I mentioned it. This phrase is an excellent tool to practice your combat roleplaying skills. As I said it is easy to turn from thinking of how your character interacts with someone, to calculating action economy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should completely disregard optimizing your character and your actions in combat but you shouldn’t disregard roleplay either. And then I would advise turning this sentence into a question for yourself. Is this what my character would do? Answering this question for yourself can help you stay in character during combat and ultimately reduce metagaming at the table.
Would my character who is a coward and has had a previous experience almost dying in a fight with a dragon run in the middle of the battlefield just to get the glory and fame? Probably not, but would he do it to save his friend. Maybe. Or maybe not. These are the questions for you to answer.
How to incorporate roleplay into combat?
There are many ways to incorporate roleplay into combat. And one of them is in agreement with your DM.
If you watched Critical Role Campaign 2 you’ll understand what I’m talking about. And to avoid too many spoilers let’s just say that in Mighty Nein, Caleb, Liam’s character had a tragic backstory. His backstory involved a burning fire that left a deep scar in his memory. And as a wizard Caleb uses fire spells most of the time but the player and the DM have worked out a system where Caleb has to roll for wisdom saving throws every time he uses a fire spell. It is a great way to keep roleplay integrated into combat. Not just as a mechanical solution but as an encouragement for other players to react to this event.
Dungeon Master can also help in reducing metagaming and thus provoking roleplay during combat by setting some custom rules. Using the death-saving throw example, the DM can set a rule for the players to roll for the death saves in secret or simply roll for them. In this way, other players have no basis for decision-making other than to make their choices as their character would i.e. roleplay.
Lastly, the players themselves need to focus on playing their characters as they are real and react realistically to the situations. Make sure that your character’s personality matches up with their actions during combat and consider describing certain situations or describing their thoughts during these situations. Players can also help each other by not disclosing certain information to each other, in this way the choices can be based on the character’s motives.
