Reaction: refresh at the start of your next turn
A Reaction responds to a defined trigger and can happen on another creature’s turn. Its availability refreshes at the start of your next turn, not at every round boundary.
Use it at the table
- Identify the rule defining the Reaction and its trigger.
- Spend your available Reaction when that trigger permits it.
- After spending it, wait until the start of your next turn before taking another Reaction.
Make the call
A character spends a Reaction late in round one, after their own turn. A new round begins, but their next turn has not started. Is the Reaction already available again?
The ruling
No; it refreshes at the start of that character’s next turn.
The refresh point is tied to the character’s next turn. A round boundary that occurs earlier does not refresh the resource. A Reaction can also be taken on the character’s own turn if an appropriate trigger occurs; using an action or Bonus Action does not by itself forbid that.
Watch for this mistake
Different triggered abilities can compete for the same Reaction. Do not allow each feature a separate Reaction just because its trigger is different.
Ask the table
When was the last Reaction spent, and has the next turn actually started?
The source rule
SRD 5.2.1, page 186. Read the official PDF.
A Reaction is a special action taken in response to a trigger defined in the Reaction’s description. You can take a Reaction on another creature’s turn, and if you take it on your turn, you can do so even if you also take an action, a Bonus Action, or both. Once you take a Reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn. The Opportunity Attack is a Reaction available to all creatures. See also “Opportunity Attacks” and “Playing the Game” (“Actions”).
Source and reuse
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
The explanation, example and table prompt are Table Ready adaptations; source text has been reflowed. This guide and its printable card are available under the same CC BY 4.0 license. Independent reference; no official affiliation. These rules are optional for our system-neutral adventures.