Glossary.md

Glossary

These terms are general to the DnD community, and may or may not be used in the campaign. No need to study or memorize them.

Abbreviations

Term	Definition
D&D	Dungeons & Dragons
DnD5e	Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the tabletop roleplaying game we're playing.
XdY	A way of showing how many of a certain die to use, where X is the number of dice and Y is the type. For example, 3d6 is three 6-sided die.
AC	Armor Class, or how hard you are to hit with attack rolls. An enemy attack roll of equal to or higher than your AC hits you.
AoE	Area of Effect, an RPG term for actions or abilities targeting a large area, instead of individuals.
ASI	Ability Score Increase, a class feature available to every class at certain levels that allows you to increase your ability scores or take a feat.
CR	Challenge Rating, a system for rating enemy difficulty.
DC	Difficulty Class, the number that needs to be met or exceeded to succeed at something. This relates to saving throws or skills.
DM/GM	Dungeon Master / Game Master, the player in charge of the world, the NPCs that inhabit it, the story, and the rule arbitrater.
HP	Hit Points, the life force of your character.
NPC	Non-Player Character, any character controlled by the DM, not another player.
OP	Overpowered
PC	Player Character, a character you created and control.
PHB	Player's Handbook, the core reference material for DnD.
PvP	Player vs. Player. Some DMs forbid this, or require consent from all parties involved before allowing PvP conflict.
RAI	"Rules As Intended", the interpretation of rules based on how they're meant to be used.
RAW	"Rules As Written", the interpretation of the rules based strictly on how they're written.
RP	Roleplay
ST	Saving Throw, a roll attempt to avoid an effect.
TPK	Total Party Kill, where everyone in the party is dropped to 0 HP or outright killed.
TTRPG	Tabletop Role Playing Game
UA	Unearthed Arcana, playtest material that's released for free on the official DnD website.
WotC	Wizards of the Coast, the company that owns and creates DnD and Magic: The Gathering content.
XP	Experience points, a method of leveling up.

Terms / Slang

Term	Definition
Action Economy	Term covering all available things you can do on (or off) your turn: action, bonus action, movement, reaction, interaction.
Advantage	Game mechanic allowing players to roll two d20s and take the higher roll.
Adventure	A story arc your characters play through that can be the whole game, or put together with other adventures to comprise a campaign.
Arcane Magic	Magic that doesn't come from a divine source. See this video for more details.
Backstory	What has happened to your character prior to the beginning of the game.
Battlemap	A map used for combat, usually with a 5ft square grid overlaid.
Bonus Action	Used by certain abilities or spells, as categorized in their descriptions. May be used along with an action on your turn in combat, along with movement. More restricted in use than a normal action.
Buff	A benefit to a creature that's not healing, such as granting increased movement speed or advantage.
Campaign	The wider story you play with your character and party.
Cheese	Tactics that rely on known overpowered abilities, combining features that weren't intended to be combined, or interpreting rules favorably to the character, among other behaviors.
Core / Core Rules	Referencing content found in Player's Handbook (PHB), Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), and Monster Manual (MM).
Crit	Short for Critical hit, where you roll a 20 on a d20 during an attack roll. Criticals only exist in attack rolls by RAW, not saving throws or ability checks.
Debuff	An effect that imposes a hindrance on a creature, opposite of a buff.
Dirty 20	When the number you roll on a d20 and your modifier(s) add up to 20.
Disadvantage	Game mechanic allowing players to roll two d20s and take the lower roll.
Divine Magic	Magic that doesn't come from an arcane source. See this video for more details.
Dungeon Crawl	A style of combat-heavy gameplay where a party work through a dungeon / hostile environment together, killing monsters and gathering loot. More common in earlier editions of the game.
Encounter	A situation where players need to solve a problem in order to proceed. Combat is the most common type of encounter, but social and exploration encounters also exist.
Fudge	When a DM ignores the result of a dice roll and chooses the result instead, only possible when rolling privately. This may be done to raise or lower game difficulty in the moment.
Glass Cannon	A character with strong offense but weak defense.
Homebrew	A game option or setting created by the DM or a player, not published by WotC.
House Rule	A rule decided by the DM or table that's different than rules-as-written or rules-as-intended.
Melee Range	The range a creature can use a melee attack against another creature, typically but not always 5ft.
Metagaming	Using knowledge available to you as the player to make or influence decisions in-game, when your character may not have the knowledge. An example is reading a monster's statblock to understand its weaknesses. Perceived negatively by the DM and other players.
Modifier	Also known as Mod. The number you add to your rolls, determined by your ability score.
Movement Speed	How far a character or creature can move in a single turn, affected by spells, abilities, and items.
Murderhobo	A style of player behavior that focuses on killing and looting everything. Almost universally viewed negatively by DM and player alike.
Nat1 / Fumble	Rolling a 1 on a d20.
Nat20	Rolling a 20 on a d20.
Nerf	To reduce the power or effectiveness of something, often in response to perceived game imbalance.
Powergaming	To build a character to be as powerful / mechanically effective at something as possible, usually combat. Can be used derogatively for players that enjoy creating effective and powerful characters.
Proficiency	A bonus determined by character level, sometimes enhanced by class features, used in ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls.
Rage	A core Barbarian class ability.
Round	An in-combat measurement of time, in which every combatant has has their turn. In terms of time, a round is 6 seconds.
Rules Lawyer	A player that will argue rules-as-written or rules-as-intended with the DM, usually for personal / party benefit, sometimes out of the perception that the DM or another player is getting something wrong.
Ruling	An interpretation of the rules by the DM to resolve a situation.
Save	Short for Saving Throw, a type of defense against effects that don't target your AC (Armor Class).
Session 0	The first session of a new campaign, used to discuss expectations, safety tools, character / party, setting, and perhaps roll stats. It's common for this session to not include any gameplay, but there may be a small amount of roleplaying or combat at the end.
Stunlock	A term to describe a situation in which a player or enemy is stunned repeatedly, "locking" them out of combat.
Tank	A character with high defenses / survivability.
Vanilla	A game using no homebrew / 3rd party content and trying to keep as close to RAW (rules as written) / RAI (rules as intended) as possible.