Sep 9

Sep 9 I've Got Nothing

There is no worse feeling than when your turn rolls around, and you have no idea what to do. Hopefully, you've been paying attention to what is happening around the table because if you haven't and your turn comes up, you have no one to blame but yourself. But that's not what I am talking about here. Not knowing what to do or thinking you have no options is frustrating for you and everyone else as you'll be slowing down gameplay trying to figure it out.

Sometimes you've been wracking your brain for ideas to survive a horrible situation you have found yourself in. You could be a wizard out of spell slots and are desperately trying to contribute on your turn. If you're unlucky, maybe you were knocked unconscious, and now you find yourself on the ground prone with five hit points after someone shoved a potion of healing down your throat. I'd advise getting up and running away, but with my luck, the bad guy would hit me on their attack of opportunity, sending me to dreamland again.

Whatever the reason, realize you have plenty of options. Too often, we rely just on movement and attacking during our turn. How many times has your line of sight been blocked, so you purposefully put your character in harm's way just to try and hit a monster? On the flip side, I've known many a wizard become wholly bewildered when the tank runs up to attack the oncoming horde, thus preventing them from launching a fireball.

Here are some actions to remember when you think your only option is to hide and sob gently to yourself.

Communicate - Everything starts with communication. Sure, plans often go off the rails. If you don't know what to do, be the one communicating the most, trying to re-establish or devise a plan to get a handle on things. Talking is a free action, so the question remains; What do I do with my action? There are several things, and we'll discuss some of them in a minute. At the very least, you can yell over the frenzied scream of the attacking kobolds that you are about to do X and want to know what everyone else is planning on.

Make a Perception Check - Battlefield control can be the difference between life and death. It's always nice to know if an ankheg's mate is burrowing towards you. Some DMs may ask you to make a Perception check without asking for it. If not, it's worth using your turn to see if the ground is moving, and you need to get ready to fight two monsters instead of one.

Use a Cantrip - Higher-level spellcasters may loathe wasting a turn to only use a cantrip (unless it's an eldritch blast cantrip). If half your party is in the area of effect of a fireball, maybe it's better to cast a ray of frost and not piss everyone off.

Make an Insight Check - Insight is underrated. By making a Wisdom (Insight) check, you have a chance of determining the true intentions of a creature. Predicting their next move and communicating it to the rest of the party is one way to set everyone up for success. If you're a glory hound, put yourself in a position to possibly land the last hit and be able to describe in great detail how you decapitated the mean old mind flayer.

Ready an Action - This is the default action most people take. Unfortunately, it usually falls into the category of "When creature X is in range, I will attack." There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, remember when we asked everyone what they were doing? If someone else has a grand plan and yells back at you (most DMs will allow a response on your turn), you can hold an action to assist in making the goal a reality.

Make an Arcana/History/Nature/Religion Check - Don't overlook the remaining Intelligence checks. Knowing lore can let you learn everything from a creature's strengths, weaknesses, resistances, and whether or not they'd leave you alone if you just gave them the party's gnome for their dinner.

Aid - It's hard to resist the fight or flight instinct. This can be especially true if you're a wizard with no good spells left. Sure, you could use a cantrip and attempt to do minor damage, or maybe you have a burning desire to stab someone with the dagger you never use. I urge you to Aid a comrade instead, especially if their turn comes before the creature's standing before you. Would you rather do 1d4 damage or give the flanking and raging barbarian advantage on their first attack? I'm confident their average damage will be much more than your dagger's maximum of four.

This list doesn't even include the action variants found in the DMG, which include Disarm, Overrun, and Shove. If those are allowed in your campaign, I guarantee knocking a Gith's silver sword from their hand will make them sad. So if you're at a loss, take a breath and consider all your choices. Hitting a creature may still be your best option, but know you have several other options in your arsenal.

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