Incapacitated condition guide for D&D 5e

Learn how the incapacitated condition works and how you can take advantage of it

Incapacitated rules

The Player’s Handbook explains the rules for the incapacitated condition, explaining that it causes the following effect:

• An incapacitated creature can’t take actions or reactions.

Player’s Handbook, p290

How does the incapacitated condition work in 5e?

Being incapacitated is essentially a quick way for the rules to state you can’t make any actions while it is in effect. This isn’t just normal actions but also bonus actions, reactions and even legendary actions (for creatures with those).

There are a few additional elements of the incapacitated condition that often get confused or come up in games that are worth being aware of:

• You don’t automatically gain advantage when attacking an incapacitated creature (though because the incapacitated condition often is used alongside other effects, you may well have advantage against an incapacitated creature anyway)
• You can continue to move while incapacitated (as long as no other condition prevents movement)
• You don’t fall prone when incapacitated unless stated as an additional effect (like when being made unconscious)
• If you are still able to move, you can make a free object interaction as part of your movement
• You lose concentration on a spell if you become incapacitated
• If you make a ranged weapon attack against an enemy that is incapacitated, you don’t incur disadvantage on the attack roll
• Incapacitated creatures automatically fail grapple and shove ability checks
• You don’t receive the benefits of dodging if you used the dodge action before becoming incapacitated (any actions you were sustaining effectively end)
• While incapacitated, you don’t contribute to flanking an enemy
• While incapacitated, you can’t communicate telepathically

This is obviously very debilitating and essentially only leaves a character with movement and speaking available to do. You can also take saving throws and ability checks but that’s basically it. To make it worse, when incapacitated, it’s typically as part of another condition that will add even more limitations to what you can do. The conditions that impose the incapacitated state on someone are:

• Paralyzed
• Petrified
• Stunned
• Unconscious

What can cause you to be incapacitated?

As explained above, incapacitated often occurs as part of another condition. The most typical way to become incapacitated is by falling asleep as you become unconscious. In combat though, you will typically become incapacitated when you are paralyzed, petrified, stunned or made unconscious as part of some spell or ability.

Spells that cause incapacitated

Most spells cause the incapacitated condition as part of another condition. To see which spells those are, you can check our guides on those conditions. There are a few spells and abilities that cause the incapacitated condition separately from these other conditions in D&D 5e. These spells include:

Spell	Level	Casting Time	Range	Saving Throw	Duration	Classes	Description
Banishing Smite	5th	1 bonus action	Self	None	1 minute concentration	Paladin	5d10 force damage. If target is under 50hp, they are banished to another plane where they are incapacitated
Banishment	4th	1 action	60ft	Charisma	1 minute concentration	Cleric, Paladin, Sorceror, Warlock, Wizard	Banished to another plane where they are incapacitated
Feign Death	3rd	1 action	Touch	None	1 hour	Bard, Cleric, Druid, Wizard	Various including blinded, incapacitated and the appearance of being dead
Hypnotic Pattern	3rd (30ft cube)	1 action	120ft	Wisdom	1 minute concentration	Bard, Sorceror, Warlock, Wizard	Charmed making the targets incapacitated with a speed of 0
Modify Memory	5th	1 action	30ft	Wisdom	1 minute concentration	Bard, Wizard	Modifies a target’s memories, incapacitating it for the duration of the spell
Symbol	7th	1 minute	Touch	Various	Until dispelled or triggered	Bard, Cleric, Wizard	Various including being incapacitated
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter	1st	1 action	30ft	Wisdom	1 minute concentration	Bard, Wizard	Fall prone and become incapacitated
Wind Walk	6th	1 minute	30ft	None	8 hours	Druid	Assume a gaseous form becoming incapacitated during the process of resolidifying

Abilities that cause incapacitated

If you’re a player and don’t have access to the above spells, there are also a few abilities that cause incapacitated separately from other conditions including:

• Arcane archer (banishing arrow) – if a target is banished by banishing arrow, their speed is reduced to 0 and they are incapacitated.
• Wild magic sorcerer (wild magic surge) – one effect of wild magic surge is that you are transformed into a potted plant causing you to be incapacitated.

Creatures that cause incapacitated

The incapacitated condition can also be caused by a handful of enemies (outside of those that cause it by more typical means through other conditions like petrified and paralysis). These creatures are:

• Bheur Hag
• Corpse Flower
• Harpy
• Howler
• Myconid Sovereign
• Red Dragon
• Star Spawn Seer
• Yochlol

The incapacitated condition can also be caused by madness which, while it lasts, causes you to be incapacitated while you scream, laugh or weep.

Incapacitated battle tactics

Being able to impose the incapacitated condition on your enemies is a powerful option though one that’s not easily available. Most such spells cause this condition as part of another condition.

Tasha’s hideous laughter is an effective option at 1st level for bards and wizards as it’s available straight away and also knocks the target prone granting advantage on melee attacks too. Hypnotic pattern is excellent too as it’s a 3rd level spell so available early on, but can affect a large group of creatures.

Paladins have a couple of great options to banish an opponent with banishing smite and banishment which completely separate a creature from combat. On top of this, banishing smite is a bonus action so you still get to attack and do damage (the enemy will turn back up after all).

When a creature is incapacitated, you automatically succeed any grapples against them. In preparation for them ending the condition, you could grapple them with one of your martial characters. This means they won’t be able to move and can be used to drag them off a cliff for example. This tactic can be particularly effective when paired with something like hypnotic pattern as a grapple won’t disturb them from their incapacitated state though they will be awakened if attacked.

You may want to consider targeting spellcasters with incapacitated conditions, especially if they’re concentrating on a problematic spell. While they may perform better on saving throws, the incapacitated condition will end their concentration on the spell.

How to prevent yourself being incapacitated

It’s difficult to have a reliable method of counteracting being incapacitated because there are quite a few reasons why it might happen. In certain instances, you might even want it to happen like when you sleep or end the wind walk spell. In such instances, the better approach is to ensure you’re not incapacitated at a problematic time so not ending wind walk in the middle of an enemy lair or ensuring you have lookouts when resting to wake people up if there’s danger.

In most other cases, protecting against the incapacitated condition really means ensuring your saving throws are more likely to succeed so abilities that grant advantage on saving throws or a boost (such as bardic inspiration for instance) will help you out here.

All condition guides

Conditions are powerful tools or problematic obstacles in D&D 5e. You can learn more about all the conditions of D&D 5e in our guides below:

Blinded	Grappled	Poisoned
Charmed	Incapacitated	Prone
Deafened	Invisible	Restrained
Exhaustion	Paralyzed	Stunned
Frightened	Petrified	Unconscious

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