D&D 5e Conditions Explained: What Each One Actually Does

D&D 5e conditions explained the fast way: a condition is a fixed status, like blinded, frightened, or restrained, that changes what a creature can do or how easily it gets hit, and it works the same regardless of which monster, spell, or trap caused it. Once you know the condition's name, you know exactly what happens next, no table debate required.

This is the list to bookmark for exactly that moment mid-combat when someone asks "wait, what does restrained even do?" and the table goes quiet.

What exactly is a condition in D&D 5e?

A condition is a standardized rules effect, not a story description. The Basic Rules define fifteen of them, and every spell, trap, or monster ability that says "the target is frightened" or "the target is restrained" is pointing at the exact same rule text.

That consistency is the whole point. A green dragon's fear breath and a low-level cause fear spell both just apply "frightened," and the mechanical effect never changes.

A few conditions also build on each other. Several, like paralyzed, petrified, stunned, and unconscious, include being incapacitated as part of their definition, so it helps to know incapacitated first.

What does each condition actually do?

Here is the full list, plain and mechanical:

• Blinded — Can't see, and automatically fails any check that requires sight. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and its own attack rolls have disadvantage.
• Charmed — Can't attack the charmer or target them with harmful abilities or spells. The charmer has advantage on any social ability check to interact with the charmed creature.
• Deafened — Can't hear, and automatically fails any check that requires hearing.
• Exhaustion — Tracked in levels from 1 to 6, each one stacking a worse penalty on top of the last: disadvantage on ability checks, halved speed, disadvantage on attack rolls and saves, halved max hit points, speed reduced to 0, and finally death. A long rest removes one level, as long as the creature also has food and drink.
• Frightened — Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of fear is within line of sight, and the creature can't willingly move closer to that source.
• Grappled — Speed becomes 0. Ends if the grappler is incapacitated or the grappled creature is moved out of the grappler's reach.
• Incapacitated — Can't take actions or reactions. This shows up as a building block inside several other conditions below.
• Invisible — Impossible to see without special senses like truesight. Attack rolls against the creature have disadvantage, and its own attack rolls have advantage.
• Paralyzed — Incapacitated, and can't move or speak. Automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws. Attacks against it have advantage, and any hit that lands within 5 feet is an automatic critical.
• Petrified — Turned to inert stone, incapacitated, unaware of its surroundings, and can't move or speak. Attacks against it have advantage, it auto-fails Strength and Dexterity saves, and it gains resistance to all damage plus immunity to poison and disease.
• Poisoned — Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
• Prone — Can only crawl to move, unless it stands up first. Has disadvantage on attack rolls. Attackers within 5 feet have advantage against it, but attackers farther away have disadvantage.
• Restrained — Speed becomes 0. Disadvantage on attack rolls and on Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against it have advantage.
• Stunned — Incapacitated, can't move, and can only speak falteringly. Automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saves. Attack rolls against it have advantage.
• Unconscious — Incapacitated, can't move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings. Drops whatever it's holding and falls prone. Automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saves, attack rolls against it have advantage, and any hit within 5 feet is an automatic critical.

That's the full official list from the SRD, and it covers every condition you'll see referenced by a spell, trap, or stat block. (Parchment & Dice is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast; this is SRD 5.1 rules content only.)

How do multiple conditions stack together?

Most conditions don't get "worse" if applied more than once, the creature is just frightened, or just restrained, and that's it. Exhaustion is the outlier, since its levels genuinely accumulate and compound.

Conditions do combine with each other freely, though. A creature can be prone and poisoned and frightened all at the same time, and you resolve each condition's rules independently rather than trying to merge them.

A couple of practical notes worth keeping in mind at the table:

• If the same condition comes from two different sources, track each source's duration separately. The condition only fully ends once every source has expired.
• Advantage and disadvantage from conditions don't stack extra advantage on top of advantage, they just cancel out with any disadvantage present, per the normal advantage/disadvantage rule.
• Immunity beats everything. If a creature is immune to the frightened condition, no spell or effect can apply it, full stop.

How do you get rid of a condition once it's applied?

Every condition ends one of three ways: its stated duration runs out, a specific trigger described by the spell or ability occurs, or it gets removed early by another effect.

• Duration-based: Many spells state a duration like "1 minute" or "until the end of your next turn." The condition simply expires when that time is up.
• Trigger-based: Frightened ends when the source leaves line of sight (subject to the specific spell's wording). Grappled ends if the grappler is incapacitated or the target is moved away.
• Removed early: Spells like lesser restoration clear paralysis, poison, and a handful of others. A saving throw at the end of each turn is common for things like being restrained by certain spells.

When you're running combat, it helps to just ask "what ends this?" the moment you apply a condition, rather than digging for it three rounds later. If your group is still getting combat timing down in general, How Long Should a D&D Turn Take? Speeding Up Combat has more on keeping rounds moving while conditions are in play.

Where can I keep all fifteen conditions handy at the table?

Honestly, the best fix is just not having to recall any of this from memory mid-fight. Once a player asks "what does grappled do again," the table stalls, and that's exactly the moment a laminated reference earns its keep.

If you'd rather glance at a wall than flip through a rulebook, our DnD Conditions Cheat Sheet lays out all fifteen conditions with their mechanical effects in one instant-download print, built for exactly this kind of table lookup. It's one of several references in the shop if you're also after character sheet or DM prep printables.

Conditions get a lot easier to run once they're written down where you can see them instead of buried in a PDF. Pair that habit with a solid DM binder and combat slows down a lot less than you'd expect.