Action economy

This is a term used to discuss the options a player has available in a single turn.

$$ YourTurn = 1Action + moveUpToSpeed + ( 1BonusAction + 1FreeObjectInteraction)
$$

Outside your turn you may get 1 Reaction per round (if a trigger occurs).

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Turn at a glance

• Action: do one big thing.
• Bonus Action: only if a rule/feature says so; max 1/turn.
• Movement: up to your Speed; you can split it around other parts of the turn.
• Free Object Interaction: one simple interaction (draw/sheathe, open a door, pick up, etc.).
• Reaction: one between your turns; refreshes at the start of your turn.

Speak and other tiny “free” bits happen at DM’s discretion.

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Dungeons & Dragons allows abilities to be used in any order that the player wishes:

• (Regular) Action. 

  These are the major things a character gets to do: Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Help, Hide, Influence, Magic, Ready, Search, Study, Utilize.

  Quick rulings

  • Attack: includes features like Extra Attack (only on your turn).
  • Dodge: until your next turn, attacks vs you have Disadvantage and you have Advantage on Dex saves; you lose this if Incapacitated or your Speed = 0.
  • Help: in combat, if you’re within 5 ft of the target, you grant Advantage on the next ally attack vs that creature before your next turn; also works for ability checks.
  • Hide: Dex (Stealth) to become Hidden per the new hiding rules (DM sets circumstances).
  • Influence: social ask vs default DC 15 or target’s INT score (higher); DM picks the check (Persuasion/Deception/Intimidation/Performance; Animal Handling for beasts). Creature attitude (Willing/Hesitant/Unwilling) matters.
  • Magic: cast a spell or activate a magical feature/item that uses the Magic action.
  • Search: Wisdom-based (Perception/Insight/Medicine/Survival) to discover hidden info.
  • Study: Intelligence-based (Arcana/History/Investigation/Nature/Religion) to recall or interpret info; can identify ongoing spells (e.g., DC 15 Arcana) or probe illusions per spell text.
  • Utilize: interact with gear/objects beyond a simple free interaction (vehicles, traps, devices).

• Bonus action. 

  • You have a Bonus Action only if something says you do (class, feat, spell, item).
  • You can’t take more than one Bonus Action on a turn.
  • Many tables allow for 'Drinking a potion' to be a Bonus Action

While every character can take each, actions are basic and broad enough for anyone to take, but bonus actions are limited in scope and not something granted by default.

• Movement

  • This is the distance a character can move before or after taking their action or any bonus action.
  • It can be distributed and divided at will around any other parts of the turn.
  • Split movement before/after/between actions.

• Free Item Interaction

  Once per each turn, not considered a proper action, you have One free object interaction.
  Every character can interact with one object during their turn.
  This means that a character can be in the middle of combat and still:

  • Drawing a saber
  • Sheathe a sword
  • Pick up a hammer
  • Open a chest
  • Close a door
  • Light a torch
  • Throw a potion
  • Drop a crossbow
  • Throw a potion to another character
  • etc

Complex uses of items/objects = Utilize (costs your Action).

Reactions & Actions Out Of Turn

• One Reaction per round, triggered by something the rules specify.
• Opportunity Attack: when a creature you can see leaves your reach, you can make one melee attack as a Reaction (no OA if the creature took Disengage).

There are a handful of ways for an action to occur outside of the player's turn via initiative.

One sort of out-of-turn action would be reactions. These are reflexive options that a character can take in response to some triggering incident like being attacked or near someone trying to cast a spell. 

While some classes, feats, and races give access to certain reactions, everyone has access to an “attack of opportunity".

For example, should a character willingly move from inside of your character's melee reach and beyond that distance, your character could use a reaction to make an attack of opportunity and attack with a melee weapon.

There are other actions that, while they are announced during the player's turn, have effects that linger until the beginning of their next turn. The most prominent example of this sort of action would be Dodge, which raises the PC's Armor Class, or Disengage, which is actively trying to leave combat.

Lastly, there are readied actions. A readied action is an action that a player declares happens under certain circumstances. Should the declared trigger fail to occur before the player character's turn comes up on the following round, then the action does not occur. 

Ready (preparing to act later)

• On your turn, take the Ready action: choose a trigger you can perceive and either:

  • Take one Action when it triggers (no Extra Attack; that’s only on your turn), or
  • Move up to your Speed when it triggers.

• Ready a Spell: the spell must have casting time = 1 action; you cast now, hold via Concentration, and release with your Reaction when the trigger happens. If the trigger doesn’t happen by the start of your next turn, the spell slot is spent.

• You can’t Ready a Bonus Action.

Spellcasting economy

• One Spell with a Spell Slot per Turn: “On a turn, you can expend only one spell slot to cast a spell.”

  • You can still cast cantrips freely.
  • If a spell is cast without expending a slot (feature, item, free casting), it doesn’t count against this limit.

• Action Surge can’t be Magic (Fighter 2024): the extra action from Action Surge can’t be the Magic action. (You can still Attack, Dash, etc.)

Does Wielding Two Weapons Grant a Bonus Action?

$Yes.$

You do get a specific bonus action that allows you to make an attack roll with the secondary weapon, considered an “off-hand attack.” Off-hand attacks do not gain the benefit of the wielder's Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever may be relevant, to the attack's damage roll upon a successful hit.

• If you take the Attack action and attack with a Light melee weapon in one hand, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action with a different Light melee weapon.
• You don’t add your ability mod to the damage of that Bonus Action attack (unless negative) unless you have the Two-Weapon Fighting Fighting Style feat.
• If either weapon has Thrown, you can throw it instead of making a melee attack.
• Ready doesn’t give you Extra Attack; that only applies when you take the Attack action on your turn.
• You can’t ready a Bonus Action. You can ready an action or movement only.