Introduction

In my time playing 5th edition, I've found that combat is severely lackluster for melee combatants. Besides simply not having many options during their turn other than elaborately lengthening the phrase "I hit the enemy", I am of the opinion that the martials are too rooted, too afraid to try to move around the enemy, for fear of attacks of opportunity. Thus, melee fights devolve into stalemates where one creature sees if they can out-damage the other, all while verbosely describing just how well they hit their enemy with their sword.

These extra reaction options are intended to elegantly aid both DM's and players alike in not only moving around during combat, but to allow players to think and participate in combat outside of their turns, and to give mechanical backing to some of the descriptions of clashing swords and the like.

The following reactions are available to all characters, both NPCs and player characters alike. Thanks to /u/aeyana for helping balance these out.

Chase When a creature would provoke an opportunity attack from you, you may use your reaction to, instead, move up to half of your speed, stumbling after them. You must end this movement closer to the creature that triggered this reaction than you started. Design Notes The intention behind chase is to give the ability to keep a fleeing foe from simply being able to escape a fight by simply having a flat speed advantage.

Defend When a creature hits you with an attack, you may use your reaction to attempt to perform some maneuver to grant yourself safety; ducking behind your shield, deflecting a weapon with a well timed blade, or something else entirely. Roll 1d20, and add a modifier equal to your Armor Class minus 10 to the roll. If the result is equal to or higher than the attack roll made against you, the attack misses instead. If the result is lower, the attack is considered a critical hit instead. Design Notes Defending, as a reaction, grants you not only the ability to give mechanical backing to your description of a missed attack, but also allows those who really cannot take that next hit to take a gamble to avoid it instead, with fairly serious consequences for gambling wrong.