Run by the book· IV
Combat
D&D 5e as written, from SRD 5.2.1, with the fiddly rules enforced rather than remembered.
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Does the AI Dungeon Master actually follow the 5e rules?
Yes, in code rather than in prose. Hit points, armour class, spell slots, concentration, conditions, the action economy, experience and death saves are all tracked and enforced from SRD 5.2.1. The Dungeon Master narrates what the rules produced; it does not decide it.
- 330
- SRD creatures with their printed statblocks
- 339
- SRD spells with slots, concentration and rituals
- 15
- conditions that really change your dice
- 8
- weapon masteries resolved mechanically
What the engine enforces rather than remembers
- Hit points, damage, resistance, vulnerability and immunity, applied per damage type.
- Temporary hit points, which do not stack, and are spent before your real ones.
- Armour class as a computed number: armour, your dexterity within its cap, a shield, a fighting style, magic bonuses. Tap your AC in the app and you can read every line that produced it.
- Spell slots, prepared and known spells, and whether you actually have the action or bonus action to cast.
- Concentration, at the real save DC, broken by the real triggers, on one spell at a time.
- Weapon masteries as live mechanics: a miss with Graze still deals your ability modifier, and a hit with Vex gives advantage on your next attack against that target.
How much of a monster's statblock is real?
All of the numbers that matter. A creature arrives with its actual armour class, hit points, speed, senses, ability scores, saving throws, resistances and immunities. If it has legendary actions, it has them, they are counted, and they refill.
Bugbear Warrior
Medium Fey (Goblinoid), Chaotic Evil
AC 14
HP 33 (6d8 + 6)
Speed 30 ft.
STR
15 (+2)
DEX
14 (+2)
CON
13 (+1)
INT
8 (−1)
WIS
11 (+0)
CHA
9 (−1)
Skills Stealth +6, Survival +2
Gear Hide Armor, Light Hammers (3)
Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 10
CR 1 (XP 200; PB +2)
Traits
Abduct. The bugbear needn’t spend extra movement to move a creature it is grappling.
Actions
Grab. Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 10 ft. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) Bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it has the Grappled condition (escape DC 12).
Light Hammer. Melee or Ranged Attack Roll: +4 (with Advantage if the target is Grappled by the bugbear), reach 10 ft. or range 20/60 ft. Hit: 9 (3d4 + 2) Bludgeoning damage.
One of 330 SRD creatures, run exactly as printed
Multiattack is read from the creature's own description rather than assumed, so something that makes one bite and three claw attacks makes four attacks. At the top of the range, a tarrasque arrives at AC 25 and 697 hit points, with six uses of Legendary Resistance a day and the ability to swallow up to six creatures at once.
Conditions, as printed
| Condition | What it actually does |
|---|---|
| Paralyzed | Any attack that hits you from within 5 feet is a critical hit |
| Restrained | Attacks against you have advantage, and your attacks have disadvantage |
| Frightened | You cannot willingly move closer to the source of fear |
| Grappled | Every foot the grappler moves you costs it an extra foot |
| Prone | Advantage against you in melee, disadvantage at range |
Death, and the edge cases people forget
- A natural 20 on a death save puts you back up at 1 hit point, conscious, with the counters cleared.
- A natural 1 costs two failures.
- Being hit while you are down costs one failure, and two if the hit was a critical.
- Damage reduced to zero by resistance costs you no failure at all.
- Three successes stabilises you, and you come back at 1 hit point after 1d4 hours unless someone heals you sooner.
- Take damage while stable and the wound reopens: death saves resume on your next turn.
- A single hit at or above your hit point maximum kills outright.
And a Champion Fighter at level 18 gets to break the rule: Survivor treats an 18 or a 19 as a natural 20, and the game says so on the card when it happens.
What is not simulated
There is no grid, no map, no measured distances, no facing, no cover and no line of sight. This is theatre of the mind, deliberately. If you want a battle map with counted squares, this is the wrong tool, and we would rather tell you now than have you find out in your third fight.
Encumbrance is not tracked. Multiclassing is not supported. Neither is respeccing a character after the fact. Those are real limits, and knowing them now is better than planning a build around one.
Enforced in code
- Hit points, damage types, resistance, vulnerability and immunity
- Armour class, recomputed from what you are actually wearing
- Spell slots, prepared spells, and the action to cast them
- Concentration, at the real DC, on one spell at a time
- Initiative, the action economy, conditions and death saves
Not simulated at all
- A grid, a map, or measured distances
- Facing, cover and line of sight
- Encumbrance and carried weight
- Multiclassing
- Respeccing a character after the fact
When a fight does go wrong, and software being software it sometimes will, the wrench beside the composer is the way out rather than a restart.
