Combat

The shriek of blaster fire flying overhead. The clash of a gamorrean's axe striking against a composite shield. The crackle of lightning emenating from a Sith lord's hands. The sharp tang of blood in the air, cutting through the stench of vile monsters. Roars of fury, shouts of triumph, cries of pain. Combat in D&D can be chaotic, deadly, and thrilling.

This chapter provides the rules you need for your characters and monsters to engage in combat, whether it is a brief skirmish or an extended conflict in a dungeon or on a field of battle. Throughout this chapter, the rules address you, the player or Game Master. The Game Master controls all the monsters and nonplayer characters involved in combat, and each other player controls an adventurer. "You" can also mean the character or monster that you control.

A typical combat encounter is a clash between two sides, a flurry of weapon swings, feints, parries, footwork, and force- or tech-casting. The game organizes the chaos of combat into a cycle of rounds and turns. A round represents about 6 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant in a battle takes a turn. The order of turns is determined at the beginning of a combat encounter, when everyone rolls initiative. Once everyone has taken a turn, the fight continues to the next round if neither side has defeated the other.

Surprise#

A band of adventurers sneaks up on a Mandalorian camp, springing from cover to attack them. Kath hounds patrol down a hallway, leashed to their handler, unnoticed by the adventurers until the hound smells one of them. In these situations, one side of the battle gains surprise over the other.

The GM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the GM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter until the end of their first turn.

If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren't.

Your Turn#

On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed and take one action. You decide whether to move first or take your action first. Your speed—sometimes called your walking speed—is noted on your character sheet.

The most common actions you can take are described in the "Actions in Combat" section later in this chapter. Many class features and other abilities provide additional options for your action.

Combat Step By Step

1. Determine surprise. The GM determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised. 2. Establish positions. The GM decides where all the characters and monsters are located. Given the adventurers' marching order or their stated positions in the room or other location, the GM figures out where the adversaries are—how far away and in what direction. 3. Roll initiative. Everyone involved in the combat encounter rolls initiative, determining the order of combatants' turns. 4. Take turns. Each participant in the battle takes a turn in initiative order. 5. Begin the next round. When everyone involved in the combat has had a turn, the round ends. Repeat step 4 until the fighting stops.

The "Movement and Position" section later in this chapter gives the rules for your move.

You can forgo moving, taking an action, or doing anything at all on your turn. If you can't decide what to do on your turn, consider taking the Dodge or Ready action, as described in "Actions in Combat."

Bonus Actions#

Various class features, powers, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. The Cunning Action feature, for example, allows an operative to take a bonus action. You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, power, or other 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 when 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, and anything that deprives you of your ability to take actions also prevents you from taking a bonus action.

Object Interaction#

You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment at any time on your turn, even during your move or your action, as your object interaction. For example, you could open a door as you stride toward a foe, you could stow your weapon as you run, or you could grasp a two-handed weapon you are wielding in one hand with your other hand as you attack with it (releasing it requires no action).

If you want to interact with an additional object, you need to use your action or bonus action (your choice). Some enhanced items and other special objects always require an action to use, as stated in their descriptions.

The GM might require you to use an action for any of these activities when it needs special care or when it presents an unusual obstacle. For instance, the GM could reasonably expect you to use an action to open a stuck door or turn a crank to lower a drawbridge.

Other Activity on Your Turn#

Lastly, your turn can include a variety of flourishes that require neither your action nor your move.

You can communicate however you are able, through brief utterances and gestures, as you take your turn.

Interacting with Objects Around You

Here are a few examples of the sorts of thing you can do with your object interaction:

• draw or stow a weapon
• open or close a door
• withdraw a stim from your pack
• pick up a dropped weapon
• take an item from a table
• remove a ring from your finger
• stuff some food into your mouth
• plant a banner in the ground
• fish a few chits from your belt pouch
• drink all the beer in a glass
• throw a lever or a switch
• pull a glowstick from a sconce
• take a book from a shelf you can reach
• extinguish a small flame
• don a mask
• pull the hood of your cloak up and over your head
• put your ear to a door
• turn a key in a lock
• hand an item to another character

Reactions#

Certain special abilities, powers, and situations allow you to take a special action called a reaction. A reaction, typically an instant response to a trigger of some kind, can occur on your turn or on someone else's. The opportunity attack, described later in this chapter, 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.

Certain features, such as the scholar's Multitasker, might grant you an additional reaction. If you have two or more reactions, you can only take one per turn.

In combat, characters and monsters are in constant motion, often using movement and position to gain the upper hand.

On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed. You can use as much or as little of your speed as you like on your turn, following the rules here.

Your movement can include jumping, climbing, and swimming. These different modes of movement can be combined with walking, or they can constitute your entire move. However you're moving, you deduct the distance of each part of your move from your speed until it is used up or until you are done moving.

The "Special Types of Movement" section in Chapter 8 gives the particulars for jumping, climbing, and swimming.

Actions That Grant Movement#

If an action, bonus action, or reaction allows you to move as part of its effects, this additional movement does not count towards your speed. If it does not require an action, however, it does count towards your speed.

Breaking Up Your Move#

You can break up your movement on your turn, using some of your speed before and after your action. For example, if you have a speed of 30 feet, you can move 10 feet, take your action, and then move 20 feet.

Moving Between Attacks#

If you take an action that includes more than one weapon attack, you can break up your movement even further by moving between those attacks. For example, a fighter with the Extra Attack feature who has a speed of 25 feet could move 10 feet, attack, move 15 feet, and then attack again.

Using Different Speeds#

If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you've already moved from the new speed. The result determines how much farther you can move. If the result is 0 or less, you can't use the new speed during the current move.

For example, if you have a flying speed of 30 and a walking speed of 40 because a Jedi cast the burst of speed power on you, you could walk 20 feet, then fly 10 feet, and then land to walk 10 feet more.

Difficult Terrain#

Combat rarely takes place in bare rooms or on featureless plains. Boulder-strewn caverns, briar-choked forests, treacherous staircases—the setting of a typical fight contains difficult terrain.

Every foot of movement in difficult terrain costs 1 extra foot. This rule is true even if multiple things in a space count as difficult terrain.

Low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow, and shallow bogs are examples of difficult terrain. The space of another creature, whether hostile or not, also counts as difficult terrain.

Being Prone#

Combatants often find themselves lying on the ground, either because they are knocked down or because they throw themselves down. In the game, they are prone, a condition described in appendix A.

You can drop prone without using any of your speed. Standing up takes more effort, costing an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you must spend 15 feet of movement to stand up. You can't stand up if you don't have enough movement left or if your speed is 0.

To move while prone, you must crawl or use powers that teleport. Every foot of movement while crawling costs 1 extra foot. Crawling 1 foot in difficult terrain, therefore, costs 3 feet of movement.

Moving Around Other Creatures#

You can move through a nonhostile creature's space. In contrast, you can move through a hostile creature's space only if the creature is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you. Remember that another creature's space is difficult terrain for you.

Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can't willingly end your move in its space.

If you leave a hostile creature's reach during your move, you provoke an opportunity attack, as explained later in the chapter.

Flying Movement#

Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover.

Creature Size#

Each creature takes up a different amount of space. The Size Categories table shows how much space a creature of a particular size controls in combat. Objects sometimes use the same size categories.

Size Categories#

Space#

A creature's space is the area in feet that it effectively controls in combat, not an expression of its physical dimensions. A typical Medium creature isn't 5 feet wide, for example, but it does control a space that wide. If a Medium gamorrean stands in a 5-foot-wide doorway, other creatures can't get through unless the gamorrean lets them.

A creature's space also reflects the area it needs to fight effectively. For that reason, there's a limit to the number of creatures that can surround another creature in combat. Assuming Medium combatants, eight creatures can fit in a 5-foot radius around another one.

Because larger creatures take up more space, fewer of them can surround a creature. If five Large creatures crowd around a Medium or smaller one, there's little room for anyone else. In contrast, as many as twenty Medium creatures can surround a Gargantuan one.

If a square costs extra movement, as a square of difficult terrain does, you must have enough movement left to pay for entering it. For example, you must have at least 2 squares of movement left to enter a square of difficult terrain.

Squeezing into a Smaller Space#

A creature can squeeze through a space that is large enough for a creature one size smaller than it. Thus, a Large creature can squeeze through a passage that's only 5 feet wide. While squeezing through a space, a creature must spend 1 extra foot for every foot it moves there, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage while it's in the smaller space.

Variant: Playing on a Grid

If you play out a combat using a square grid and miniatures or other tokens, follow these rules. Squares. Each square on the grid represents 5 feet. Speed. Rather than moving foot by foot, move square by square on the grid. This means you use your speed in 5-foot segments. This is particularly easy if you translate your speed into squares by dividing the speed by 5. For example, a speed of 30 feet translates into a speed of 6 squares. Entering a Square. To enter a square, you must have at least 1 square of movement left, unless the square is diagonally adjacent to the square you're in (discussed below). Corners. Diagonal movement can't cross the corner of a wall, large tree, or other terrain feature that fills its space. Ranges. To determine the range on a grid between two things—whether creatures or objects—start counting squares from a square adjacent to one of them and stop counting in the space of the other one. Count by the shortest route. Diagonals. When measuring range or moving diagonally, the first diagonal square counts as 5 feet, but the second diagonal square counts as 10 feet. This pattern of 5 feet and then 10 feet continues whenever you're counting diagonally, even if you move horizontally or vertically between different bits of diagonal movement. For instance, a character might move one square diagonally (5 feet), then three squares straight (15 feet), and then another square diagonally (10 feet) for a total movement of 30 feet.

When you take your action on your turn, you can take one of the actions presented here, an action you gained from your class or a special feature, or an action that you improvise. Many creatures have action options of their own in their stat blocks.

When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the GM tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.

Attack#

The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a vibrosword, firing a blaster, or brawling with your fists. With this action, you make one melee or ranged attack. See the "Making an Attack" section for the rules that govern attacks.

Certain features, such as the Extra Attack class feature, allow you to make more than one attack with this action.

Cast a Power#

Force- and tech-casters such as consulars and engineers, as well as many creatures, have access to powers and can use them to great effect in combat. Each power has a casting time, which specifies whether the caster must use an action, a reaction, minutes, or even hours to cast the power. Casting a power is, therefore, not necessarily an action. Most powers do have a casting time of 1 action, so a force- or tech-caster often uses his or her action in combat to cast such a power. See chapter 10 for the rules on force- and tech-casting.

Dash#

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.

Any increase or decrease to your speed changes this additional movement by the same amount. If your speed of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, for instance, you can move up to 30 feet this turn if you Dash.

Disengage#

If you take the Disengage action, your movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn.

Dodge#

When you take the Dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks. 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 this benefit if you are incapacitated (as explained in appendix A) or if your speed drops to 0.

Guard#

You can defend an ally within 5 feet of you. When you take the Guard action, you focus entirely on preventing attacks from reaching your ally. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll made against the guarded ally has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, as long as the ally is within 5 feet of you.

Additionally, if an attack would hit the guarded ally, you can instead have it hit you (no action required). If you do so, the attacker chooses the maximum amount of damage instead of rolling.

Help#

You can lend your aid to an ally in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the ally you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.

Alternatively, you can aid an ally in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally's attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage.

Hide#

When you take the Hide action, you make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide, following the rules in chapter 7 for hiding. If you succeed, you gain certain benefits, as described in the "Unseen Attackers and Targets" section later in this chapter.

Improvising an Action

Your character can do things not covered by the actions in this chapter, such as breaking down doors, intimidating enemies, sensing weaknesses in defenses, or calling for a parley with a foe. The only limits to the actions you can attempt are your imagination and your character's ability scores. See the descriptions of the ability scores in chapter 7 for inspiration as you improvise. When you describe an action not detailed elsewhere in the rules, the GM tells you whether that action is possible and what kind of roll you need to make, if any, to determine success or failure.

Ready#

Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your 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 soldier steps on the trapdoor, I'll pull the lever that opens it," and "If the gamorrean 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. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.

When you ready a power, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a power must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding onto the power's effect requires concentration (explained in chapter 10). If your concentration is broken, the power dissipates without taking effect. For example, if you are concentrating on the knight speed power and ready shock, your knight speed power ends, and if you take damage before you release shock with your reaction, your concentration might be broken.

Search#

When you take the Search action, you devote your attention to finding something. Depending on the nature of your search, the GM might have you make a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Use an Object#

Many objects and items, such as grenades or medpacs, require your action to use. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. If you would normally have to use your object interaction to draw the item you are using, you can instead do so as part of the Use an Object action.

Whether you're striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a power, an attack has a simple structure.

1. Choose a target. Pick a target within your attack's range: a creature, an object, or a location.

2. Determine modifiers. The GM determines whether the target has cover and whether you have advantage or disadvantage against the target. In addition, powers, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonuses to your attack roll.

3. Resolve the attack. You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Some attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage. If there's ever any question whether something you're doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you're making an attack roll, you're making an attack.

Attack Rolls#

When you make an attack, your attack roll determines whether the attack hits or misses. To make an attack roll, roll a d20 and add the appropriate modifiers. If the total of the roll plus modifiers equals or exceeds the target's Armor Class (AC), the attack hits. The AC of a character is determined at character creation, whereas the AC of a creature is in its stat block.

Modifiers to the Roll#

When a character makes an attack roll, the two most common modifiers to the roll are an ability modifier and the character's proficiency bonus. When a creature makes an attack roll, it uses whatever modifier is provided in its stat block.

Ability Modifier. The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.

Some powers also require an attack roll. The ability modifier used for a power attack depends on the force- or tech-casting ability of the force- or tech-caster, as explained in chapter 10.

Proficiency Bonus. You add your proficiency bonus to your attack roll when you attack using a weapon with which you have proficiency, as well as when you attack with a power.

Rolling 1 or 20#

Sometimes fate blesses or curses a combatant, causing the novice to hit and the veteran to miss.

If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC. In addition, the attack is a critical hit, as explained later in this chapter.

If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC.

Choosing to be Hit#

Sometimes, an attack might miss you when you wanted it to hit. You can choose to allow a miss to hit you (no action required). If you do so, the attacker chooses the maximum amount of damage instead of rolling.

Unseen Attackers and Targets#

Combatants often try to escape their foes' notice by hiding, casting the force camouflage power, or lurking in darkness.

When you attack a target that you can't see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you're guessing the target's location or you're targeting a creature you can hear but not see. If the target isn't in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the GM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target's location correctly.

When a creature can't see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it.

If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard—when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.

Melee Attacks#

Used in hand-to-hand combat, a melee attack allows you to attack a foe within your reach. A melee attack typically uses a handheld weapon such as a vibrosword, a lightsaber, or a vibrowhip. A typical monster makes a melee attack when it strikes with its claws, horns, teeth, tentacles, or other body part. A few powers also involve making a melee attack.

Most creatures have a 5-foot reach and can thus attack targets within 5 feet of them when making a melee attack. Certain creatures (typically those larger than Medium) have melee attacks with a greater reach than 5 feet, as noted in their descriptions.

Regardless of whether or not you are armed, you can fight in melee by making an unarmed strike. Your unarmed strikes are a weapon with which you are proficient and, unless otherwise indicated, they do 1 + your Strength modifier kinetic damage.

Opportunity Attacks#

In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for enemies to drop their guard. You can rarely move heedlessly past your foes without putting yourself in danger; doing so provokes an opportunity attack.

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking creature. The attack interrupts the provoking creature's movement, occurring right before the creature leaves your reach.

You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the Disengage action. You also don't provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something unwillingly moves you without using your movement, action, bonus action, or reaction. For example, you don't provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls you out of a foe's reach or if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy. However, you do provoke an opportunity attack if a power such as force jump, or an ally's Formation fighting style feature, causes you to move out of an enemies' reach, unless that feature says otherwise.

Grappling#

When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.

Contests in Combat

Battle often involves pitting your prowess against that of your foe. Such a challenge is represented by a contest. This section includes the most common contests that require an action in combat. The GM can use these contests as models for improvising others.

The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you, and it must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, which is occupied for the duration of the grapple, you try to seize the target by making a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you succeed, you subject the target to the grappled condition (see appendix A). The condition specifies the things that end it, and you can release the target whenever you like (no action required).

Escaping a Grapple. A grappled creature can use its action to escape. To do so, it must succeed on a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by your Strength (Athletics) check.

Moving a Grappled Creature. When you move, you can drag or carry the grappled creature with you, but your speed is halved, unless the creature is two or more sizes smaller than you.

Shoving and Tripping#

Using the Attack action, you can make a special melee attack to shove a creature to push it away from you, or to trip a creature to knock it prone. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.

The target of your shove or trip must be no more than one size larger than you, and it must be within your reach. You make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you win the contest, you either shove the target 5 feet away from you or trip it prone.

Ranged Attacks#

When you make a ranged attack, you fire a blaster, hurl a vibrodagger, or otherwise strike a foe at a distance. A creature might have a natural ranged weapon. Many powers also involve making a ranged attack.

Range#

You can make ranged attacks only against targets within a specified range. If a ranged attack, such as one made with a power, has a single range, you can't attack a target beyond this range. Some ranged attacks, such as those made with a blaster, have two ranges. The smaller number is the normal range, and the larger number is the long range. Your attack roll has disadvantage when your target is beyond normal range, and you can't attack a target beyond the long range.

Ranged Attacks in Close Combat#

Aiming a ranged attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a power, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn't incapacitated.

Double-Weapon Fighting#

When you take the Attack action and attack with a weapon with the light and double properties that you're wielding in two hands, you can use a bonus action to attack with the other end of the weapon. You don't add your ability modifier to the attack roll of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.

Two-Weapon Fighting#

When you take the Attack action and attack with a weapon with the light property that you're wielding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light weapon that you're wielding in the other hand. You don't add your ability modifier to the damage roll of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.

If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.

Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.

There are four degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies, not added together.

A target with one-quarter cover has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has one-quarter cover if an obstacle blocks at least one-fourth of its body, such as a thin pillar or a creature of one size category smaller.

A target with half cover has a +3 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body, such as a low wall or a creature of the same size category.

A target with three-quarters cover has a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has three-quarter cover if about three-quarters of it is obstructed, whether by an obstacle or a creature of one size category larger.

A target with total cover can't be targeted directly by an attack or a power, although some powers can reach such a target by including it in an area of effect. A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.

Variant: Creatures Providing Cover#

Sometimes, creatures in close proximity create a veritable mess of bodies, potentially causing attacks targeting one to hit another. Using this variant, if an attack would miss a creature by an amount less than or equal to the bonus to AC granted by the cover of another creature, and the attack would hit that other creature, the GM might consider having that other creature take the attack's damage.

Injury and the risk of death are constant companions of those who explore the worlds of D&D. The thrust of a vibrosword, a well-placed blaster shot, or a shock of lightning from a shock power all have the potential to damage, or even kill, the hardiest of creatures.

Hit Points#

Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.

A creature's current hit points (usually just called hit points) can be any number from the creature's hit point maximum down to 0. This number changes as a creature takes damage or receives healing.

Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points. The loss of hit points has no effect on a creature's capabilities until the creature drops to 0 hit points.

Damage Rolls#

Each weapon, power, and harmful monster ability specifies the damage it deals. You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. Modified weapons, special abilities, and other factors can grant a bonus to damage.

When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll—to the damage. A power tells you which dice to roll for damage and whether to add any modifiers.

If a power or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them. For example, when an engineer casts explosion, the power's damage is rolled once for all creatures caught in the blast.

Critical Hits#

When you score a critical hit, you get to roll all of the attack's damage dice twice, including any additional damage dice, and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal. To speed up play, you can roll all the damage dice at once.

Critical Hit Range. The critical hit range of an effect determines on what d20 results that effect scores a critical hit. Typically, an effect has a critical hit range of 1, meaning it only scores a critical hit on a 20. A critical hit range of 2, however, would mean the effect scores a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. A critical hit range cannot exceed 5, scoring a critical hit on 16-20.

Damage Types#

Different attacks, damaging powers, and other harmful effects deal different types of damage. Damage types have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as damage resistance, rely on the types.

The damage types follow, with examples to help a GM assign a damage type to a new effect.

Acid. Vials of corrosive liquid or the acid splash tech power deal acid damage.

Cold. The chill energy of carbonite and cryogenesis deal cold damage.

Energy. Energy damage is the damage dealt by blaster weapons, lightweapons, and other powers or abilities.

Fire. The concussive damage of an explosion or an open flame deal fire damage.

Force. Certain force powers that channel the pure energy of the Force deal force damage.

Ion. Ion damage is a special damage type that is most effective against droids and constructs. Simple electronics dealt ion damage are disabled until rebooted, unless that damage would destroy them outright.

Kinetic. Kinetic damage encompasses all physical damage commonly dealt by vibroweapons.

Lightning. The electrifying energy of the force lightning power deals lightning damage.

Necrotic. Necrotic damage, dealt by powers like death field, withers matter and even the soul.

Poison. Venomous stings and the toxic poison spray power deal poison damage.

Psychic. The crippling agony causes by powers like feedback deal psychic damage.

Sonic. Debilitating noises cause sonic damage.

True. True damage is not dealt by any specific source. Instead, effects that prevent or redirect damage cannot be used to counter the loss of life caused by true damage.

Damage Resistance and Vulnerability#

Some creatures and objects are exceedingly difficult or unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage. If a creature or an object has resistance to a damage type, damage of that type is reduced by half against it. If a creature or an object has vulnerability to a damage type, damage of that type is doubled against it.

Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance. For example, if a creature has resistance to lightning damage as well as resistance to all force power damage, the damage of a force lightning is reduced by half, not reduced by three-quarters.

Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after passive modifiers to damage, but before active modifiers. For example, a creature with resistance to kinetic damage, a proficiency bonus of +4, and the Defense fighting mastery is hit by an attack that deals 22 kinetic damage. The 22 damage is first reduced by 4 and then halved, so the creature takes 9 damage. The creature also has the Shield fighting mastery, and uses its reaction to further reduce the damage taken by 4, finally taking only 5 damage.

Describing the Effects of Damage

Game Masters describe hit point loss in different ways. When your current hit point total is above half your hit point maximum, you typically show no signs of injury. When you drop below half your hit point maximum, you show signs of wear, such as cuts and bruises. An attack that reduces you to 0 hit points strikes you directly, leaving a bleeding injury or other trauma, or it simply knocks you unconscious.

Healing#

Unless it results in death, damage isn't permanent. Rest can restore a creature's hit points (as explained in chapter 8), and methods such as a benevolence force power or a medpac can remove damage instantly.

When a creature receives healing of any kind, hit points regained are added to its current hit points. A creature's hit points can't exceed its hit point maximum, so any hit points regained in excess of this number are lost. For example, a consular grants an operative 8 hit points of healing. If the operative has 14 current hit points with a maximum of 20, the operative regains 6 hit points from the consular, not 8.

A creature that has died can't regain hit points until a power such as revitalize has restored it to life.

Hit Dice#

Resting (explained in chapter 8), as well as certain special traits such as the trandoshan's Regenerative, consume Hit Dice to restore hit points. Whenever a creature rolls a Hit Die to restore hit points, they add their Constitution modifier to the roll.

Dropping to 0 Hit Points#

When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or fall unconscious, as explained in the following sections.

Instant Death#

Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum.

For example, a consular with a maximum of 12 hit points currently has 6 hit points. If she takes 18 damage from an attack, she is reduced to 0 hit points, but 12 damage remains. Because the remaining damage equals her hit point maximum, the consular dies.

Falling Unconscious#

If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious (see appendix A). This unconsciousness ends if you regain any hit points.

Death Saving Throws#

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life. Unlike other saving throws, this one isn't tied to any ability score. You are in the hands of fate now, aided only by powers and features that improve your chances of succeeding on a saving throw. Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself. On your third success, you become stable (see below). On your third failure, you die. The successes and failures don't need to be consecutive; keep track of both until you collect three of a kind. The number of both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or become stable.

Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.

Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points (for example, by catching fire because your limbs were all chopped off next to a pit of lava), you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.

Stabilizing a Creature#

The best way to save a creature with 0 hit points is to heal it. If healing is unavailable, the creature can at least be stabilized so that it isn't killed by a failed death saving throw.

You can use your action to administer first aid to an unconscious creature and attempt to stabilize it, which requires a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check, or an Intelligence (Technology) check for a droid or construct.

A stable creature doesn't make death saving throws, even though it has 0 hit points, but it does remain unconscious. The creature stops being stable, and must start making death saving throws again, if it takes any damage. A stable creature that isn't healed regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours.

Monsters and Death#

Most GMs have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 hit points, rather than having it fall unconscious and make death saving throws.

Mighty villains and special nonplayer characters are common exceptions; the GM might have them fall unconscious and follow the same rules as player characters.

Knocking a Creature Out#

Sometimes an attacker wants to incapacitate a foe, rather than deal a killing blow. When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee weapon attack, or blaster weapon that deals ion or energy damage, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable.

Some powers and special abilities confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren't actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury.

When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to your normal hit points. For example, if you have 5 temporary hit points and take 7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then take 2 damage.

Because temporary hit points are separate from your actual hit points, they can exceed your hit point maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full hit points and receive temporary hit points.

Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a power grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

If you have 0 hit points, receiving temporary hit points doesn't restore you to consciousness or stabilize you. They can still absorb damage directed at you while you're in that state, but only true healing can save you.

Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points has a duration, they last until they're depleted or you finish a long rest.

Temporary Force and Tech Points#

Similar to temporary hit points, some powers, abilities, or features grant temporary force or tech points to a creature. When you would expend force or tech points—whether through a power, ability, or feature—the temporary points are spent first.

You can only have one source of temporary force or tech points. If you have temporary force or tech points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or gain the new ones.

Unless a feature that grants you temporary force or tech points has a duration, they last until they're depleted or you finish a long rest.

When adventurers pursue karkarodons back to their undersea domain, fight off gungans in an ancient shipwreck, or find themselves in a flooded dungeon room, they must fight in a challenging environment. Underwater the following rules apply.

When making a melee weapon attack, a creature that doesn't have a swimming speed (either natural or granted by a power) has disadvantage on the attack roll unless the weapon is a vibrodagger or vibrospear.

A ranged weapon attack automatically misses a target beyond the weapon's normal range, but functions normally against a target within normal range.

Creatures and objects that are fully immersed in water have resistance to fire damage.

A trooper charging into battle on a dewback, an engineer casting powers from the seat of a speeder, or a consular soaring through the sky on shuttle all enjoy the benefits of speed and mobility that a mount can provide.

An appropriately sized vehicle or a willing creature that is at least one size larger than you and that has an appropriate anatomy can serve as a mount, using the following rules.

Mounting and Dismounting#

Once during your move, you can mount or dismount a vehicle or willing creature that is within 5 feet of you. Doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you must spend 15 feet of movement to mount a dewback. Therefore, you can't mount it if you don't have 15 feet of movement left or if your speed is 0.

If an effect moves your mount against its will while you're on it, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall off the mount, landing prone in a space within 5 feet of it. If you're knocked prone while mounted, you must make the same saving throw.

If your mount is knocked prone, you can use your reaction to dismount it as it falls and land on your feet. Otherwise, you are dismounted and fall prone in a space within 5 feet it.

Controlling a Mount#

While you're mounted, you have two options. You can either control the mount or allow it to act independently. Intelligent creatures act independently.

You can control a mount only if it has been trained to accept a rider. Domesticated animals, such as dewbacks or kaadu, and similar creatures are assumed to have such training. The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it. All vehicles are considered controlled mounts, unless a feature says otherwise.

An independent mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts as it wishes. It might flee from combat, rush to attack and devour a badly injured foe, or otherwise act against your wishes.

In either case, if the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you're on it, the attacker can target you or the mount.