Reference

Glossary

71 terms, the same glossary the app uses, with notes on how Fantasy RPG applies them.

A

Ability Check: A roll to see if a character succeeds at a task, like picking a lock or spotting a hidden door.
Ability Score: A number describing one basic quality of a character, such as strength or agility; higher is better.
AC — Armor Class: How difficult a creature is to hit. Higher is better: an attack hits when its total is equal to or higher than this number.
Action: The main thing you do on your turn, such as attacking, casting a spell or using an item.
Advantage: When luck is on your side: roll two dice and keep the higher one.
AOE — Area of Effect: A spell or effect that covers a whole area, hitting everything inside it instead of one target.
Armor and Shields: Protective gear such as leather, chain mail or a shield that makes its wearer harder to hurt.
Attack Bonus: What gets added to your attack roll, shown like "+5 to hit".
Attack Roll: The roll to see if an attack hits its target.

Campaign: A whole story played over many game sessions, with the same characters and world.
Cantrip: A simple spell that can be cast again and again without using up any magical energy.
CHA — Charisma: Force of personality. Persuading, deceiving and inspiring others.
CON — Constitution: Toughness. More hit points and better at shrugging off poison and fatigue.
Concentration: Keeping your focus to hold a spell going; getting hurt can break it and end the spell.
Condition: A lasting state that changes what a creature can do, such as Poisoned, Prone or Stunned.
Cone: A fan-shaped area that starts at the caster and widens as it goes out, like a blast of flame.
Cover: Something between an attacker and the target, like a wall or bush, that makes the target harder to hit.
CR — Challenge Rating: A rough measure of how dangerous a creature or encounter is compared with the player characters.
Critical Hit: An especially good hit, usually from the best possible roll, that deals extra damage.

Damage Roll: The roll that decides how much health a successful attack takes away.
DC — Difficulty Class: The target number used to decide whether an attempt succeeds: your roll plus modifiers must reach it.
DEX — Dexterity: Helps with ranged attacks, stealth and avoiding danger.
Dice Notation: How dice are written: "d20" is one twenty-sided die, "2d6" is two six-sided dice added together.
Difficult Terrain: Ground that is slow to cross, such as shallow water or rubble, so moving through it uses up extra movement.
Disadvantage: When things are against you: roll two dice and keep the lower one.
DM — Dungeon Master: Another name some fantasy games use for the Game Master, the person who runs the game.
Duration: How long a spell or effect lasts, such as instantaneous, one minute or one hour.

Encounter: A planned scene, usually a fight, such as a group of goblins waiting in a room.

GM — Game Master: The person who runs the game: describes the world, plays every monster and extra character, and makes the final rulings.
GM Override: The Game Master changing a result the app worked out, such as turning a miss into a hit.

HD — Hit Dice: The dice used to work out how much health a character or creature has, written like 2d8 + 2.
HP — Hit Points: How much damage a character or creature can take before it is knocked out, dying or defeated.

Immunity: Taking no damage at all from one kind of harm, or being unaffected by a condition.
Initiative: Decides the order in which characters and creatures take their turns during combat.
INT — Intelligence: Knowledge and reasoning. The source of a Mage's spells.

Join Code: The eight-character code a Game Master reads out so players anywhere can join their game over the internet.

Level: A measure of how experienced and powerful a character is. Higher levels bring more health and abilities.
Line: A long, narrow area, like a bolt of lightning, that hits everything along its path.
LOS — Line of Sight: Whether one creature can see another, with nothing solid in between.

Max HP — Maximum Hit Points: The most health a character or creature can have when fully healed.
Modifier: A number the rules add to or take away from a roll, such as +3 for being strong or -2 for a bad position.
Morale: How willing a creature is to keep fighting instead of running away or surrendering.
Movement: How far a character or creature can move on its turn, in feet.

Natural 1: When the twenty-sided die itself shows 1, before any modifiers. Some games treat it as an automatic failure.
Natural 20: When the twenty-sided die itself shows 20, before any modifiers. Many games treat it as a special success.
NPC — Non-Player Character: Any character in the story who is not controlled by a player: shopkeepers, guards, villains and allies are all played by the Game Master.

Party: The group of player characters adventuring together.
PC — Player Character: A character controlled by one of the players, not by the Game Master.
Proficiency: Being trained in something. Trained characters add an extra bonus to rolls with it.

Radius: A round area measured from its centre to its edge, such as a 20-foot blast around a point.
Range: How far away a weapon, spell or ability can reach its target.
Reach: How far a close-up weapon or creature can strike, usually the next square.
Reaction: A quick response made outside your own turn, such as a sudden spell to block a blow.
Resistance: Taking less damage from one kind of harm, such as fire.
Roll: The number the die actually showed, before anything is added or taken away.
Round: One full pass through the turn order, where every creature in the fight gets one turn.

Saving Throw: A roll to avoid or lessen something bad happening to you, such as a trap, poison or a spell.
Session: One sitting of play, from when the group starts until they stop for the day.
Skill: Something a character can be good at, such as noticing things, climbing or persuading people.
Spell: A magical effect a character can create, such as a healing touch or a ball of fire.
Spell Save DC: The number a target has to reach on a saving throw to resist your spell.
Spell Slot: A limited supply of magical energy; casting most spells uses one up until you rest.
Square: One space on the map grid, normally 5 feet across.
STR — Strength: Helps with melee attacks, lifting, breaking objects and other physical actions.

Target Number: The number a total has to reach for an attempt to succeed.
Temp HP — Temporary Hit Points: An extra buffer of health that is used up first when you are hurt, and cannot be healed back.
Total: The final result: the roll with every modifier added. This is the number compared with the target.
Turn: Your moment to act in combat: move and take an action, then the next creature goes.

WIS — Wisdom: Awareness and good judgement. Noticing things, reading people, and the source of a Cleric's spells.

XP — Experience Points: Points earned for defeating enemies and completing adventures; enough of them lets a character grow more powerful.