D&D: Five Ways to Just Not Get Hit
Hit points are cool and all, but who needs ’em if you just never get hit? Here are five ways you can just not get hit in D&D.
Listen, hit points are cool. But taking damage is a sucker’s game. And sure, I know what I said last week—but if you really try you can not get hit when it really counts. And sometimes, it really, really counts. Here are five ways that your D&D character can decide, “hey you know what, I’m not getting hit today.”
Boost Your AC
The easiest way to not get hit is to just have a good AC. There are plenty of ways to boost your AC in D&D. So many that it’s probably gonna be an article sometime soon – but you can find magic items, cast spells like Shield or Shield of Faith or even just carry a shield. In fact, a lot of these stack. You start layering them on, and you’d be surprised at how high you can get that AC.
But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Make Them Reroll
Another great way to not get hit is to make someone reroll a successful attack. There are a couple of ways to do this. The most common way is to be able to inflict Disadvantage on someone. You make them effectively reroll an attack (roll two and take the lowest) which means they’re not likely to hit you at all. Especially if you have a high AC.
But there are a few spells and abilities out there that let you force the enemy to reroll after they know their attack is a success. These are especially fun, because you actively get to say “no” to the DM—unless they’re lucky and roll a second natural 20. Which happens more often than you’d think. Unless you think it happens one in 400 times, in which case you’re about right.
Reduce Their Attack Roll
Another method for not getting hit is to reduce the attack roll. There are again, many abilities and spells that do this. Blade Ward, for instance, got buffed in a big way and now just subtracts 1d4 from people trying to hit you. The Battlemaster Fighter’s Parry ability lets you do the same thing. You can stack these effects as well, though they’re harder. But again, a great complement to someone with a decent AC.
Redirect That Attack
Of course, you can always just not get hit by making your enemy hit someone else instead. This is a much rarer ability, but it is out there. The Monk can redirect an attack (by reducing the damage) but there are a few other options for doing this. Including the Psychic defense options you can see in the latest Unearthed Arcana. It’s a great way to not get hit AND deal damage, because you often get to retarget the attack so that it hits someone else of your choosing instead.
Make Them Miss
Finally, very few abilities let you decide that someone is just going to miss. The Divination Wizard’s Portent, wherein you get to just swap someone’s die roll for a dice roll you have made at the beginning of your adventuring day. Meaning you can change a hit to a miss (or vice versa, but you know how you roll). These abilities are rarest of all, but absolutely a blast on anyone who can get them.
Happy adventuring!
