D&D for Kids: Combat

Combat

Adventures often involve heroes fighting evil monsters, and the same can happen to your character! The Dungeon Master will control the monsters, and your character will be able to use his or her abilities to fight with sword, shield, or sorcery to rid the world of them. You don’t have to fight monsters; you can try reasoning with them or sneaking past them. But in the event that combat begins, here’s what you need to know.

The Order of Combat

Combat is made up of rounds and turns, like a board game. Each player and the Dungeon Master takes a turn, and then a new round begins. The combat ends when one side defeats the other.

Initiative

In order to decide which character goes first, each character makes an initiative roll. Whoever rolls highest goes first and gets to decide what direction the turn order goes: clockwise or counterclockwise. If you roll highest, remember that you also get to decide when the Dungeon Master goes!

Your Turn

Each character gets 3 actions on his or her turn. When it’s your turn in combat, you need to decide how to spend those actions. When you’ve spent all of your actions or if you decide you’re done without using all of them, your turn ends and a new round begins.
Actions can be used for almost anything you can think of, as long as your chosen class allows it, but here are some specific actions you should be aware of:

Movement

You can spend 1 action to walk. If you’re using a board to play this game, 1 action can allow you to walk 3 spaces in any direction. You can spend 2 actions to instead run, dashing double your walking speed (6 spaces on a board). Some classes are faster, allowing you to move more spaces on your turn.

If you fell down on the ground, you must spend 1 action to get up before you move. Otherwise, you must crawl, which only allows you to move 1 space on a game board.

Fighting

You can spend 2 actions to make an attack against a monster. This is a special kind of roll that you make, gaining bonuses depending on the equipment you have. Some races and classes always gain a bonus when fighting. The order of resolving an attack against a monster is as follows:

1. You make a fighting roll.
2. If you succeed, you hurt the monster and it gets a wound (see “Health and Getting Hurt”)
3. If you get an awesome success on the roll, you score a critical hit, and the monster gets two wounds! 
4. If the monster gets enough wounds, you defeat it!

Monsters will try to fight with you as well. If a monster attacks you, this is what happens:

1. A monster makes a fighting roll against you.
2. You make a defense roll. If your defense roll is higher than the monster’s fighting roll, you block or dodge the attack. Otherwise, you get a wound.

Wrestling

Instead of trying to hurt a monster, you can spend 2 actions to try and wrestle it. You and the monster you’re targeting each make a fighting roll. If you succeed, then you can push the monster away from you, grab a hold of it so that it can’t move, or trip it so it falls down (see “Conditions”).

Spellcasting

If your class can cast spells, you use your actions to cast them. There are three kinds of spells: Level 1 spells, Level 2 spells, and Level 3 spells. A spell costs as many actions as its level; for example, a Level 2 spell costs 2 actions to cast. (See “Spells”)

Defense

You can spend 2 actions to defend until your next turn, preparing to block or dodge attacks. You can choose to defend yourself or one of your friends. While defending, if a monster fights you or the friend you’re protecting, you or your friend gets a +2 bonus to the defense roll against the attack.

Helping

You can spend 2 actions to help one of your friends. You choose one of your friends. The next time they make a roll until your next turn, they get a +2 bonus to whatever they roll.

Searching

You can spend 1 action to make a roll to search for something. Perhaps a monster is hiding and you’re trying to find it, or maybe there’s some treasure hidden in the room.

Hiding

You can spend 2 actions to make a roll to try and hide from a monster. If you are successful, the monster can’t see you unless it successfully searches for you. You must be able to hide behind something.

Health and Getting Hurt

Monsters and heroes can’t fight forever if they get hurt too badly. If you and your friends hurt a monster enough with your weapons and magic, then you will defeat it and the battle will be over. On the other hand, if you get too hurt, you’ll get knocked out.

Wounds

If you get hurt, you get a wound, such as a cut from a sword or a dragon’s tooth, a black eye, or a broken bone. Healing magic and spells can heal wounds, making you feel better. When you take a rest, you wake up feeling all better with no wounds.

Knocked Out

Your character can stand getting hit with a few wounds, but if you get one wound, plus as many wounds as you have experience levels, you get knocked out. For example, if your character is a level 3 adventurer and you get 4 wounds, you get knocked out. Getting knocked out means you fall unconscious and can’t fight anymore until you wake up. You can wake up if you get healed. Otherwise, you’ll wake up a few hours later.

Resting

After your character spends a lot of time adventuring, he or she will get tired. This is when you need to take a rest. This can be a simple rest, like taking a nap and eating lunch, or it can be a long rest like eating dinner around a campfire and sleeping in a tent or inn for the night. After you finish a rest, you get Racial Traits and Class Abilities back, and you lose any wounds that you have.