RULES COMPENDIUM™

R O L E P L A Y I N G G A M E C O R E R U L E S

Rob Heinsoo ✦ Andy Collins ✦ James Wyatt ✦ Jeremy Crawford

E S S E N T I A L S TM

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Rules Compendium™ Design and CompilationJeremy Crawford

D&D 4th Edition Design

Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins,James Wyatt

Additional Design

Stephen Schubert, Mike Mearls

Editing

Jennifer Clarke Wilkes (lead), Greg Bilsland

Managing Editing

Kim Mohan, Michele Carter

D&D R&D/Book Publishing Director

Bill Slavicsek

D&D Creative Manager

Christopher Perkins

D&D Design Manager

James Wyatt

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Jon Schindehette

D&D Brand Team

Liz Schuh, Kierin Chase, Laura Tommervik, Shelly Mazzanoble, Chris Lindsay, Hilary Ross

Art Director

Mari Kolkowsky

Graphic Designer

Mari Kolkowsky

Cover Illustration

Mike May (front), Adam Paquette (back)

Interior Illustrations

Alexey Aparia, Eric Belisle, Kerem Beyit, Julie Dillon, Emrah Elmasli, Jason A. Engle, Ralph Horsley, Goran Josic, Howard Lyon, David Martin, Lee Moyer, Jim Nelson, William O’Connor, Adam Paquette, Steve Prescott, Eva Widermann, Ben Wootten, James Zhang

Cartographers

Jason A. Engle, Mike Schley

D&D Script Design

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Publishing Production Specialist

Angelika Lokotz

Prepress Manager

Jefferson Dunlap

Imaging Technician

Carmen Cheung

Production Manager

Cynda Callaway

Building on the Design of Previous Editions by

E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, David “Zeb” Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison

CREDITS

987654321

First Printing: September 2010

620-24753000-001 EN ISBN: 978-0-7869-5621-0

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Dungeon Master’s Kit, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, Monster Vault, Rules Compendium, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards

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CONTENTSINTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

A Roleplaying Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5A Fantastic World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7The History of the Game . . . . . . . . . 8

What’s in a Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9The Dungeon Master . . . . . . . . . . . . 9The Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Game Books and Accessories . . . .11

How to Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13Basics of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Taking Turns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Example of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

CHAPTER 1

THE BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Creatures and Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Tiers of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21Milestones and Quests . . . . . . . . . .22

Making Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22Check Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Attack Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Skill Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25Ability Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26Bonuses and Penalties . . . . . . . . . .27Action Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Table Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33The DUNGEONS & DRAGONS World . .38

The Nentir Vale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39The Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41The Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46It’s the DM’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . .54DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Worlds . . .55

CHAPTER 2

ADVENTURERS AND MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . .59

Creature Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61Race. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61Creature Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Ability Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Hit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67Action Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67Senses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67Resistance, Immunity, and

Vulnerability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Special Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Creating an Adventurer . . . . . . . . . . .74Creation Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75Class and Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76Generating Ability Scores . . . . . . .77

Gaining Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85Step by Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86Retraining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

CHAPTER 3

UNDERSTANDING POWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Power Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89Usage Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

At-Will Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90Encounter Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91Daily Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Power Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92Attack and Utility Types . . . . . . . . . . .99

Melee Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99Ranged Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Close Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Area Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Choosing Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Target Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Range and Areas of Effect . . . . . 107Line of Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Areas of Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Blast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Burst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Power Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Schools of Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Damage Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Effect Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

CHAPTER 4

SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Skill Check Modifier . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Skill Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Key Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Using Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Difficulty Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Opposed Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Checks without Rolls . . . . . . . . . 127Aid Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Group Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Knowledge Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Skill Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Skill Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

CHAPTER 5

EXPLORATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT . . . 165

Vision and Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Movement between Encounters . . 168Rest and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Short Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Extended Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Interacting with the Environment 173Environmental Dangers . . . . . . . . . 178Traps and Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

CHAPTER 6

COMBAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187The Combat Sequence . . . . . . . . . . 189

The Surprise Round . . . . . . . . . . . 190Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Action Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194The Structure of a Turn . . . . . . . . . . 197Movement, Distance, and Terrain 199

Creature Size and Space. . . . . . . 199Determining Distance . . . . . . . . 201Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Basic Movement Rules . . . . . . . . 204Terrain and Obstacles . . . . . . . . . 205Falling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Flying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Forced Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Teleportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Making Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Attack Roll Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Damage Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Damage Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Extra Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Ongoing Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Vulnerability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Half Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Durations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226Saving Throws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Actions in Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Action Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Aid Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Aid Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Aid Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Basic Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Bull Rush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Coup de Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241Drop Prone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Grab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243Manipulating Objects . . . . . . . . . 244Opportunity Attack . . . . . . . . . . . 246Ready an Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Second Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248Squeeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Stand Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Total Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Use a Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Use a Skill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Mounted Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Aquatic Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Hit Points and Healing . . . . . . . . . . 255Dying and Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Healing the Dying . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

CHAPTER 7

EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Coins and Other Currency . . . . . . . 263Carrying, Lifting, or Dragging . . . . . 265Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265Shields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Implements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

APPENDIX 1

BUILDING A COMBAT ENCOUNTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Monster Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

APPENDIX 2

REWARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289Gaining Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290Experience Point Rewards . . . . . . . 291Treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

APPENDIX 3

TERRAIN FEATURES . . . 303Mundane Terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303Fantastic Terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

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INTRODUCTIONThis book presents the core rules of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® GAME, the premier roleplaying game of fantasy adventure. Whether you’re new to the game or a veteran, you’ll fi nd rules, guidelines, and examples herein that will help you and your friends play through tales of high fantasy. The game is vast, as are its rules. This book focuses on the rules that nearly all groups need, and it is structured so that you can read it front to back or hop from one topic to another using the index. Intended for both players and Dungeon Masters, the rules collected in the fol-lowing chapters are the most up-to-date versions, refl ecting refi ne-ments since the current edition was released in 2008. These rules are in service to your group’s fun. Experiment with them, and make them your own. In the 1979 Dungeon Master’s Guide® rulebook, Gary Gygax, the game’s cocreator, introduced the main principles of the rules, many of which have been evident in all of the game’s editions. What he said about the game still applies today:

As a realistic simulation of things from the realm of make-believe, or even as a refl ection of medieval or ancient warfare or culture or society, it can be deemed only a dismal failure. Readers who seek the latter must search elsewhere. Those who desire to create and populate imaginary worlds with larger-than-life heroes and villains, who seek relaxation with a fascinating game, and who generally believe games should be fun, not work, will hope-fully fi nd this system to their taste.

A ROLEPLAYING GAMEThe DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game is a roleplaying game. In fact, this game invented roleplaying games and started an industry. A roleplaying game is a storytelling game that has elements of the games of make-believe that many of us played as children. However, a roleplaying game provides form and structure, with robust gameplay and endless pos-sibilities. While the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game uses dice and miniatures or other tokens, the action takes place in the imagination. There, players have the freedom to create anything they can imagine, with an unlimited special-eff ects budget and the technology to make anything happen. In the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game, each player creates a hero (also called a character or an adventurer), teams up with other adventurers (played by friends),

Whether you’re new to the game or a veteran, you’ll find rules, guidelines, and examples that will help you and your friends play.

5A ROLEPLAYING GAME

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explores a magical world, and battles monsters. One player takes on the role of the Dungeon Master (DM), the game’s lead storyteller and referee. The DM creates adventures for the characters and narrates the action for the players. Having a DM makes the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game infi nitely fl exible; he or she can react to any situation—any twist suggested by the players—to make each adventure vibrant, exciting, and unexpected. An adventure is the heart of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game. It’s like a fantasy movie or novel, except that the players’ group of characters (often referred to as the adventuring group, or the party) are the stars of the story. The DM sets the scene, but no one knows what’s going to happen until the adventurers do something, and then anything can happen! The group might explore a dark dungeon, a ruined city, a lost temple deep in a jungle, or a lava-fi lled cavern beneath a mysterious moun-tain. The adventurers can solve puzzles, talk with other characters, battle all kinds of fantastic monsters, and discover fabulous magic items and other treasure. The DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game is a cooperative game in which a group of friends works together to complete each adventure and have fun. It’s a storytell-ing game where the only limit is a player’s imagination. It’s a fantasy-adventure game, building on the traditions of the greatest fantasy stories of all time. The game has no real end; when one story or quest wraps up, another one can begin, woven in an ongoing story called a campaign. Many people who play the game keep their campaigns going for months or years, meeting with their friends every week or so to pick up the story where they left off . The adventurers grow in might as the game continues. Each monster defeated, each adventure completed, and each treasure recovered not only adds to the continuing story, but also earns the adventurers new powers and other abilities. This increase in might is refl ected by an adventurer’s level. There’s no winning and losing in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game—at least, not the way those terms are usually understood. The DM and the players

TRY IT!When you play an adventurer, you put yourself into his or her boots and make

decisions as if you were that person. You decide which door your adventurer

opens next. You decide whether to attack a monster, to negotiate with a villain,

or to attempt a dangerous quest. You can make these decisions based on your

adventurer’s personality, motivations, and goals, and you can even speak in char-

acter if you like. Within the boundaries set by the Dungeon Master, you control

what your adventurer can do and say in the game.

Your hero can attempt anything you can think of. Want to talk to the dragon

instead of fighting it? Want to disguise yourself as an orc and sneak into the foul

lair? Go ahead and give it a try. An adventurer’s actions might work, or they

might fail spectacularly, but either way the player contributed to the unfolding

story and had fun.

6 INTRODUCTION

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