xanathars guide to everything

CHAPTER 2

DUNGEON MASTER'S TOOLS

S THE DUNGEON MASTER, YOU OVERSEE
the game and weave togethe r the story ex-
perienced by your players. You're the one
who keeps it all going, a nd this ch a pter is
for you. It gives you new rules options, as
well as some re fined tools for creating and
running adventures and campaigns. It is a
supple ment to the tools and advice offered
in the Dungeon Master's Guide.
The chapter opens with optiona l rules mean t to help
you run cer tain parts of t he gam e more smoothly. The
chapte r the n goes into g reater depth on several topics-
e ncounter building, random e ncounte rs, traps, magic
items, and downtime-which la rgely relate to how you
c reate a nd stage your adventures.
The material in this chapter is meant to make your
life easie r. Ignore anything you find here that doesn't
he lp you, a nd don't hesita te to cus tomize the things that
you do use. The game's rules exist to ser ve you and the
games you run. As a lways, make them your own.

S imultaneous Effects

Most effects in the game h appe n in s uccession, follow-

ing an order set by the rules o r the DM. In ra re cases,

effects can happen at the same time, especiaUy at t he

start or e nd of a creature's turn. If two or more things

happe n a t the sam e time on a character or monste r's

turn, the pe rson at the game table-whethe r player or

DM-who controls that creature dec ides the order in

which those things happen. For example, if two effects

occur at the end of a player c ha racter's turn, the player

decides whic h of the two effects happens firs t.

Falling

Falling fro m a great he ig ht is a significant ris k for ad-

venturers and their foes. The rule given in the Player 's

Handbook is s imple: at the end of a fall, you take ld6

bludgeoning damage for every^10 feet you fell, to a maxi-

mum of 2 0d6. You a lso land prone, unless you somehow

avoid taking damage from the fall. Here a re two optional

rules that expand on that s imple r ule.

Rate of Falling

The rule for fa lling assumes that a creature immediately

drops the entire distance w he n it falls. But what if a

creature is at a high altitude when it falls, perhaps on

the back of a g riffon or on board an airs hip? Realisti-

cally, a fall fro m such a he ight can take more than a few

seconds, extending past the end o f t he turn when the fall

occurre d. If you'd like hi gh-altitude falls to be properly

ti me-consuming, use the following o ptio na l rule.

When you fall from a great height, you instantly de-

scend up to 500 feet. If you're still^ fa lling on your next

turn, you descend up to^500 feet at the end o f that turn.

This process continues untiJ the fall ends, either be-

cause you hit t he ground o r the fall is otherwise halted.

F lying Creatures and Falling

A flying creature in flight falls if it is knocked prone, if

its speed is reduced to^0 feet, or if it otherwise loses t he

ability to move, unless it can hover or it is being he ld

aloft by magic, s uc h as t he fly spell.

If you'd like a flying c reature to have a better chance of

surviving a fall tha n a no n-flying creature does, use this

rule : subtract the creature's current flying speed fro m

the distance it fell before calculating falling damage.

T his r ule is helpful to a flier that is knocked prone but

is still conscious and has a curre nt flying speed that is

greater than 0 feet. T he rule is designed to s im ulate t he

c reature flapping its w ings furiously o r taking s imilar

measures to slow the velocity of its fa ll.

If you use the rule for rate of fa lling in the previous

section, a flying creature descends^500 feet on the turn

w he n it falls, just as other c reatures do. But if tha t c rea-

ture starts any of its la ter turns s till falling and is prone,

it can ha lt the fall on its turn by s pending half its flying

speed to counte r the prone condition (as if it were stand-

ing up in midair).

SLEEP

Just as in the real world, D&D characte rs spend ma ny

hours sleeping, most often as part of a long rest. Most

mons te rs also need to sleep. While a creature sleeps,

it is subjected to t he unconscious condition. Here a re a

few rules that expand o n that basic fact.

WAKING SOMEONE

A c reature that is naturally s leeping, as opposed to be-

ing in a magically or chemically induced sleep, wakes

up if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an ac-

tion to shake or slap t he c reature awake. A sudden loud

noise - s uc h as yelling, thunder, or a ringing bell-also

awakens someone that is s leeping naturaUy.

Whisper s do n't disturb sleep, unless a sleeper's pas-

s ive Wisdom (Perception) score is^20 or higher and t he

whispers a re within 10 feet of the s leeper. Speech a t a

norma l volume awakens a s leeper if th e environme nt

is otherwise silent (no wind, birdsong, c ric kets, street

sou nds, or the like) and the sleeper has a passive Wis-

dom (Perception) score of^15 o r higher.

SLEEPING IN ARMOR

Sleeping in light armor has no a dverse effect on the

wea re r, but sleeping in medium or heavy armor makes it

difficult to recover fully during a long rest.

CHAPTER 2 DUNCl!01' MASTER'S TOOLS