Primer for 5e Players

The purpose of this primer is to explain to a 5e player the differences for 4e so they are able to quickly play.

Action Types

Just like in 5e, you get 3 actions on your turn. In 5e they are Action, Movement and Bonus Action. In 4e they are Standard, Move and Minor.

• Standard Action
  Basically your Action. You can downgrade this action to either a Move or a Minor Action if you wish to take an extra Move or Minor on your turn.
• Move Action
  Your movement. Unlike in 5e you cannot split up movement, once you complete the move action your movement is over. The most common movement actions are Shifting a Square (a 5 foot step), Moving your speed or standing up from Prone (which takes all of your movement instead of hwalf). You can also downgrade your Move Action to a minor action on your turn.
• Minor Action
  This is similar to a Bonus Action although you can take multiple if you downgraded another action to a Minor.
• Opportunity Action
  A character can take one Opportunity Action per TURN if triggered. I.e.EI if 5 goblins try to move past the fighter without shifting, the fighter can Opportunity Attack all 5 of them. Using a Ranged Attack or Spell adjacent to an enemy provokes an Opportunity Attack from that creature unless you have a way to prevent it (Like the Sorcerer’s Staff Expertise)
• Immediate
  This is similar to 5e Reaction and you can take one Immediate per ROUND. In 4e an Immediate can be either an Interrupt (it happens before the thing that triggered it) or a Reaction (It happens after the thing that triggered it).

Combat Modifiers

• Action Points
  Each player has an Action Point and can earn more through play. A player can spend an action point on their turn to take an extra Standard Action. Similar to 5e Fighter’s Action Surge.
• Combat Advantage
  Instead of roll twice and take the higher, it simply gives the attacker +2 to their attack rolls against the target. Flanking is a default rule of 4e and will give Combat Advantage to allies standing on either side of an enemy.
• Second Wind
  Each player has one Second Wind that they can perform per encounter. A player can take a standard action to spend a healing surge and gain +2 bonus to defenses until the start of their next turn.

Character Status

• Defenses and Saves
  There are no ability (Str, Con, Dex etc) saves in 4e. Instead they are defenses like AC that the attacker will attack, these being Fortitude, Reflex and Will. If they meet or exceed that defense, the spell or effect hits, otherwise it misses. Saving Throws are something used to remove harmful conditions you are suffering from, like being poisoned or lit on fire. At the end of each turn that you have a harmful condition on you, you roll 1d20. 10 or higher saves, 9 or lower does not save. Some characters will have bonuses to saves, but they are generally either small (like the Genasi’s Earthsoul ability for +1 to saves) or very specific (Like the Halfling’s Bold ability for +5 to saves vs Fear).
• Healing
  Most Healing will say “Spend a surge”. This means that the target of the healing subtracts one surge from their surges per day and then regains hit points equal to their surge value. For example the cleric healing themselves with Healing Word would regain 6+1d6 hit points. If you are below 0 hit points when healed, go to 0, then start healing.