Death Saves
If a player is downed or falls unconscious and needs to make Death Saving Throws, these will be made via secret command to the DM. The player should attempt to not react or inform the other players of the outcome.
Further, failed death saves are not cleared until you have had a short or long rest.
Downed Condition
If you are reduced to 0 hp, but have not failed a death saving throw, you are Downed rather than Unconscious.
Downed Condition
A downed creature is knocked prone.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature.
The creature can move no more 5 feet, and any movement it does take provokes attacks of opportunity.
If the creature takes additional damage or fails a death saving throw, it is no longer downed and falls unconscious
If the creature takes an action, bonus action or reaction, it immediately fails a death saving throw.
Flanking
If you and an ally flank an enemy, you get +2 on attack rolls against that enemy, rather than advantage. This bonus stacks with advantage or disadvantage.
This bonus may also be conferred for environmental or positioning bonuses roughly on par with flanking, such as fighting from above on a thin staircase, or firing an arrow from a height. In these cases, the bonus would not stack with a Flanking bonus, in the same way that multiple Advantages do not stack.
Healing Strain
The healing magic typically employed by adventurers is not a pleasant experience, essentially rapidly speeding up the body's natural healing processes with little in the way of pain reduction or other side effects. For this reason, many common folk prefer slower means, magical otherwise. Adventurers, of course, seldom have this luxury.
When an adventurer falls in combat, they will often be yanked back from the brink of death. The sensation of being struck down, then awakening to feel blood clotting, bones cracking back into place and scabs and scars forming in mere seconds before having to leap back into the same combat can be traumatic.
If your character is returned to consciousness by healing magic that takes a single round or less to take effect, you gain a level of exhaustion. In this way, being knocked down in combat always has an effect, even with a healer nearby.
Sprinting
A combatant may use its entire round (action, movement and bonus action) to sprint. A sprinting creature moves five times its movement speed in a straight line, but every step of that movement provokes attacks of opportunity.
Weapon Maneuvers
Most weapons have one or more special maneuvers. These can be used by any character wielding such a weapon, so long as they are proficient with that weapon. If the maneuver requires a save, the is 8 + the attacker’s proficiency bonus + the attacker’s modifier for the ability used in the attack (usually Strength or Dexterity).
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