D&D 5E Turns and Rounds; it's what my brain's doing!

[acorn_stasis]

I was reading the weekly Q&A on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/7hiyda/weekly_questions_thread_134/
There is a question down a little about a Hexblade with Polearm Master where the questions revolve around the mechanics of "turns per round". It already took me some sessions to get used to a round has a time duration, within which turns are taken. (If you're interested I thought each *turn* lasted 6 secs).

From reddit I took away that really I can have multiple turns per round, all depending on reactions, attacks of opportunity and bonus actions.

Can I ask, is this right? "Once per turn" could mean up to three times per round? Or more? Are there mechanics which favour or exploit this? Seems like it could be important...

 

[Sunseeker]

I was reading the weekly Q&A on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/7hiyda/weekly_questions_thread_134/
There is a question down a little about a Hexblade with Polearm Master where the questions revolve around the mechanics of "turns per round". It already took me some sessions to get used to a round has a time duration, within which turns are taken. (If you're interested I thought each *turn* lasted 6 secs).

From reddit I took away that really I can have multiple turns per round, all depending on reactions, attacks of opportunity and bonus actions.

Can I ask, is this right? "Once per turn" could mean up to three times per round? Or more? Are there mechanics which favour or exploit this? Seems like it could be important...

No, it does not give you extra turns.

It is talking about other combatants turns.

Everyone has ONE turn per round. Reactions can happen on someone else's turn.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

To the best of my knowledge the only way to act outside your turn is with a reaction, which you get one a round in nearly every case as reactions 'renew' at the start of your turn. Nearly all reactions occur on another entity's turn during a given round.

 

[Charlaquin]

Correct, “once per turn” can theoretically happen as many times in a round as there are creatures participating in the combat, as each of them takes a turn. In practice though, you can’t really do something more than once or twice per round because of the action economy. You only get one action and potentially one bonus action on your own turn, and acting when it’s not your turn requires you to use your Reaction, of which you only get one per round. So, for example, a rogue can use Sneak Attack once per turn; this means on her own turn a Rogue could use her Action to Attack with a shortsword in one hand and a Bonus Action to Attack with a shortsword in her other hand, but only one of those attacks could benefit from Sneak Attack, since both are happening on the same turn. If a creature provokes an Opportunity Attack from her on its turn, she could use her Reaction to Attack it, and that Attack could benefit from Sneak Attack, since she hasn’t used Sneak Attack yet on the creature’s turn. If a different creature later provoked an Opportunity Attack from her on its own turn, she could theoretically Attack it and that Attack could theoretically benefit from Sneak Attack, but she couldn’t actually do it because she already used her Reaction, and won’t get another until the start of her turn.

 

[jaelis]

I guess you are asking about this one:

Can I Smite on an attack on my turn, then Smite on an opportunity attack on a provoking enemy's turn, then Smite again when my turn rolls around? The language of the invocation limits it on a per turn basis, but not on a per round basis. I'm especially uncertain about this one.

This doesn't suggest _you_ get multiple turns per round. It does correctly imply that there are multiple turns in a round.

Starting with your turn, you can smite. Then your opponent takes her turn, and if you have the chance to attack her as a reaction, then you can smite again, since it is not your turn any more. Later on, the round ends, and then it is your turn again.

(NB these are hexblade smites, not paladin smites. Paladin smites aren't limited to 1/turn.)

 

[acorn_stasis]

But the answers in that reddit Q&A are saying that something which is "once per turn" for my character can be used again on an opportunity attack, which is a reaction right? So, they are wrong...?

In which case, I have to ask, does "once per turn" really mean "once per round"?

EDIT just read the above.... more clear now.

So once per turn does not mean once on my turn, but once on any turn in the round when it applies?

 

[jaelis]

But the answers in that reddit Q&A are saying that something which is "once per turn" for my character can be used again on an opportunity attack, which is a reaction right? So, they are wrong...?

They are correct; the OA happens during someone else's turn, not yours.

So once per turn does not mean once on my turn, but once on any turn in the round when it applies?

Right!

 

[redrick]

So once per turn does not mean once on my turn, but once on any turn in the round when it applies?

That's correct. This might be one of the more legalistic and less clearly stated rules in 5e. I'm leaving aside rules like Stealth which leave room for interpretation and controversy. The interpretation of "once per turn" to mean "once per any combatant's turn" is clearly the only correct interpretation, it's just not the immediately obvious one when you read the rules without consulting a forum for clarification.

 

[jaelis]

That's correct. This might be one of the more legalistic and less clearly stated rules in 5e. I'm leaving aside rules like Stealth which leave room for interpretation and controversy. The interpretation of "once per turn" to mean "once per any combatant's turn" is clearly the only correct interpretation, it's just not the immediately obvious one when you read the rules without consulting a forum for clarification.

Hmm, the rules say

The game organizes the chaos of combat into a cycle of rounds and turns. A round represents about 6 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant in a battle takes a turn.

I feel like that is pretty clear, how would you improve it?

Or maybe just a question of repeating it more often so people don't miss it?

 

[acorn_stasis]

... it's just not the immediately obvious one when you read the rules without consulting a forum for clarification.

Yes, very true for me. I only just got it by posting here after reading the reddit Q&A.

In my brain, once per turn meant once on my turn. Thanks everyone for the clarity.

Does this imply that reactions are highly significant, because only they can grant another use of all these "once per turn" effects per round? And I guess from what everyone has said, they are they only mechanic that does this? So "once per turn" really means possibly twice per round dependent upon reactions? Not more than twice?