Dungeons & Dragons: A Beginner's Guide To Conditions

Quick Links

• What Are The Conditions In D&D?

• How Does Exhaustion Work In D&D?

• Which Conditions Should I Use?

• How Can I Cure Conditions?

• Species Traits And Conditions

Status conditions are one of many tools in your arsenal in Dungeons & Dragons that are useful in both role-playing and combat. Need to sneak around or get someone to tell you something? The right status condition can help you. If you're in combat, then it's a good way to keep your enemies busy or make the waste turns, so your party can focus on healing or ganging up on a specific enemy.

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On the other hand, certain status conditions are a menace when they're used on you, and it's important to be prepared to get rid of them quickly, as they'll prevent you from fighting as effectively as you'd like to. Whatever the case, every self-respecting adventurer should keep conditions in mind while playing.

What Are The Conditions In D&D?

Provided your Dungeon Master doesn't decide to home-brew something, there are 13 regular conditions you'll encounter. These conditions may be afflicted by spells, other creatures, or simply the environment.

For regular conditions, effects do not stack, so if you're poisoned and poisoned again, you won't receive twice as much damage. These conditions all have different effects and depending on your character's build, some may be worse for you personally, so it's good to have a decent idea of what all of them do.

The Player's Handbook lists incapacitated as its own condition, but you'll never be incapacitated without it being part of another condition, so it's not worth listing on its own.

Condition

Effects

Can Be Caused By...

Blinded

The creature cannot see, ability checks that require sight automatically fail, makes attack rolls with disadvantage, and attack rolls against the creature have advantage.

Being blindfolded, Color Spray

Charmed

The charmed creature cannot attack or otherwise harm the charmer, and the charmer has advantage on ability checks in social situations with the charmed.

Charm Person, Fast Friends

Deafened

The creature cannot hear and automatically fails ability checks that require healing.

Blindness/Deafness, Divine Word

Frightened

The creature has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of its fear is within light of sight, and it cannot willingly move towards the source of its fear.

Antipathy/Sympathy, Cause Fear

Grappled

The grappled creature's speed is reduced to zero.

Making a Strength check to grapple

Invisible

The creature is impossible to see without magic (though it can be spotted by sound or tracks). They are heavily obscured, and can make attacks with advantage while attacks against them are made with disadvantage.

Greater Invisibility, Invisible (spell)

Paralyzed

The creature cannot take actions or reactions, cannot move, and cannot speak. They automatically fail Dexterity and Strength saving throws. Attack rolls against this creature have advantage and if the enemy is within five feet the attack automatically crits.

Hold Monster, Hold Person

Petrified

The creature is turned to stone and cannot take actions or reactions. They have immunity to poison and disease, and resist all forms of damage. However, attack rolls made against the creature have advantage.

Flesh to Stone

Poisoned

The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Ray of Sickness, Contagion

Prone

The creature falls over and can only crawl or has to use half their movement to stand up. They have disadvantage on attack rolls. Attack rolls against this creature have disadvantage unless the creature attacking them is within five feet.

Command, Hideous Laughter

Restrained

The creatures speed becomes zero, and has disadvantage on attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against this creature have advantage.

Entangle, Web

Stunned

The creature cannot make actions or reactions, automatically fails Dexterity and Strength saving throws, and attacks against the creature have advantage.

Power Word Stun, Stunning Strike

Unconscious

The creature cannot make actions or reactions, drops whatever it's holding and falls prone, automatically fails Dexterity and Strength saving throws, and attack rolls against the creature have advantage and automatically crit if the attacking creature is within five feet.

Reaching zero hit points, Sleep

How Does Exhaustion Work In D&D?

Exhaustion is a special condition that's more complicated than the others. It can be inflicted by harsh environments or certain class abilities, such as a Path Of The Berserker Barbarian's frenzy.

Exhaustion is the only condition that can stack, with progressively more severe effects being added with each level, culminating in death.

Level

Effects

1

You receive disadvantage on ability checks.

2

Your speed is halved.

3

You have disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws

4

Your maximum number of hit points is reduced by half

5

Your speed is reduced to zero.

6

You die.

You reduce your level of exhaustion by one whenever you take a long rest, or with spells such as Greater Restoration.

The fourth level evocation spell Sickening Radiance from the sorcerer list is currently the only official way to directly inflict exhaustion on a creature.

Which Conditions Should I Use?

When considering which conditions you want to use, you'll usually end up choosing between reliability and potency.

For example, petrification is hard to heal and effectively removes an enemy from the field, but it also takes three turns to take effect and the opposing creature can stop it with a good role.

That's not to say you can't use it, it can certainly make for a dramatic moment in a campaign, it's just that it won't happen often unless you're really lucky.

With that in mind, frightened, stun, and charmed are in that sweet spot of being reliable and harming your opponents.

If you can learn invisibility, that can also come in handy for stealth and early rounds of combat.

How Can I Cure Conditions?

If you're on the receiving end of a condition, there are several ways to cure even the most devastating ones.

In addition to various healing potions, here are spells that can cure or mitigate the effects of a condition.

If you're afflicted with the same condition twice, such as being frightened by multiple enemies, you have to resolve them one at a time.

Spell

List

School

Removes

Heal

Cleric, Druid

Evocation

Blindness, Deafness

Lesser Restoration

Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger

Abjuration

Blindness, Deafness, Paralysis, Poison

Greater Restoration

Bard, Cleric, Druid

Abjuration

Petrification, Charm, One level of exhaustion

Calm Emotions

Bard, Cleric

Enchantment

Suppresses effects of fear and charm

Branding Smite

Paladin

Evocation

Invisibility

Faerie Fire

Bard, Druid

Evocation

Invisibility

Species Traits And Conditions

Some Species have traits that interact with certain conditions. Here are some notes for sticking points that may come up while building a character.

• Creatures with fey ancestry — such as elves, half-elves, and bugbears — are immune to being put to sleep through magic. This does not make them immune to the unconscious condition. They can still be knocked out by other means such as blunt force trauma or having their hit points reach 0.
• Yuan-ti currently only have resistance to poison as of Monster of the Multiverse. They previously had immunity in Volo's Guide To Everything, so make sure you double-check with your DM about which rule set you're using.
• Be sure to keep in mind the difference between having a resistance to a condition and simply having advantage against a saving throw. Dwarves get advantage on saving throws against being poisoned and if they are poisoned, only take half damage. Halflings have advantage against being frightened but if they fail their saving throw, they will still feel the full effects of being frightened

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