Part of an ongoing series of 5e (2014) Rules notes.  See the end of the post for notes on 5.5e (2024) rules.

Everybody wants to be the hero.

Every character wants to be the one to land the killing blow.

But sometimes, it’s better to ask for — or give — some help.

A lot of player characters, especially in the support classes, have spells that will enhance other people’s rolls, which is very cool.

But in a sense, everyone has that ability, through the Help action (PHB 192):

Helping with Ability Checks

You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains Advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.

This mechanic is explained more under “Working Together.”

Sometimes two or more characters team up to attempt a task. The character who’s leading the effort–or the one with the highest ability modifier–can make an ability check with advantage, reflecting the help provided by the other characters. In combat, this requires the Help action.

A character can only provide help if the task is one that he or she could attempt alone. For example, trying to open a lock requires proficiency with thieves’ tools, so a character who lacks that proficiency can’t help another character in that task.

Moreover, a character can help only when two or more individuals working together would actually be productive. Some tasks, such as threading a needle, are no easier with help.

So it’s not enough to Help by holding the thief’s tool kit while they are picking the lock, or shouting encouragement to the guy trying to climb a cliff wall. You have to be able to do the thing you are assisting, and describe how you are helping.

What is the difference between Help and Working Together? The former is an action type during combat. As GM, I might be a little lenient on combat-setting “how are you helping?” actions, e.g., “I stand there, looking menacing at the attacking goblins, while screening the Rogue from view as she tries to pick the lock so we can get out of here” (you’re not directly assisting with the lockpicking, but you are sacrificing your action to let the Rogue focus on their without worrying about being stabbed = Advantage!).

Helping with Combat Rolls

More frequently, Help is applied directly to combat situations.

Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally’s Attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first att⁠ack roll is made with Advantage.

This might be a way, for example …

• If you know the opponent has resistance or immunity to your flaming sword, maybe you can be more effective Helping the other fighter who uses a cold-based weapon.
• If you know the opponent will be hit harder and more effectively by an ally (because of the nature of their weapon, or just because they have a huge damage bonus on strength), you might consider whether its worth effectively giving up your attack(s) for them to get an attack at Advantage.
• If your Rogue wants to get Advantage for their Sneak Attack.  Your standing within 5 feet of the target automatically allows the Rogue to Sneak Attack for extra damage; giving them Advantage on the roll through Help is icing on the cake. (See also below, “A Moving Distraction.”)

Note that this not a matter of Reach, but a 5 foot limit. So if someone with a Glaive (a Reach weapon that can attack at 10 feet) wants to provide Help, they need to step in to 5 feet from the opponent.

Also note that Help is just for the first attack (To Hit) roll. That makes it somewhat more useful at lower levels, when you are only sacrificing one attack to make that happen, and the bonus is going to the only attack the attacker has to use.

Help is also usable to assist with spell attacks, granting Advantage on any sort of spell attack roll against that target. Again, the Helper needs to call whom they are helping.

Finally, Help is an action frequently assigned to familiars and animal companions and the like — these often cannot attack, but can be commanded (or urged) to “Help the Fighter!” (“Bark bark!”)

As a GM, I like to encourage players to give me some idea of what they are doing to “help” in this way. “I wave my hands and attract the orc’s attention.” “I feint toward her to grab her attention.” “I shout, ‘Ashtuk, is that you?'” No mechanical effect is applied except the Advantage it provides, but it’s nice color regardless.

Am I Helping a specific attacker?

Yes. Probably. “I am going to Help the Rogue with their attack on the goblin I’m next to,” Not “I’m going to help someone on our side attack the goblin, whoever gets in their blow first.” That seems to be the standard read.  In which case, if the Paladin goes after the goblin first, they do not get the Advantage bonus. And if the Rogue decides on a different target, the Help has been wasted.

This has been a matter of dispute, though, even among the game designers, with Jeremy Crawford asserting that you don’t have to identify a specific ally to Help, and Mike Mearls suggesting you do.  I read the language (above) as being about “a friendly creature” and “an ally,” which I interpret as being “in particular”; I could see, though, interpreting it “in general.” … so ask your DM!

A Moving Distraction

One final note:  It is quite arguably the case that you don’t need to end your movement next to a target in order to use the Help action. You could, in theory, run up to the  monster, “Help,” then backpedal away. This has been confirmed by a WotC Sage Advice Compendium:

If you use the Help action to distract a foe, do you have to stay within 5 feet of it for the action to work?
No, you can take the action and then move away. The action itself is what grants advantage to your ally, not your staying next to the foe.

How does that work? Because each round is 6 seconds long, and a lot happens in that 6 seconds. You don’t need to keep standing next to someone to have effectively distracted or feinted toward them within that six seconds.

True, you’ll still an Opportunity Attack unless you can get a Disengage in there some way, like through a Rogue’s Cunning Action.  But this can be a handy tactic for Helpers like a familiar owl using its Flyby ability.

(Note that Sneak Attack makes it very clear that the 5-foot proximity alternative to getting Advantage, to allow a Sneak Attack, needs to be measured at the time the Rogue is attacking.  So you can’t just run by a target and have them suited for a Sneak Attack on the Rogue’s later turn … but you can run by, doing as Help as you pass, and the Rogue will then have Advantage and therefore be able to Sneak Attack the target even if nobody is standing next to them.)

So is this different in 5.5e?

Why, yes, yes it is.

The basics are much the same in 5.5e (2024) as in 5e.  Info on the Help action can be found under Actions in the PHB and Basic Rules “Playing the Game.” The Summary for Help is short, sweet, and to the point:

Help another creature’s ability check or attack roll, or administer first aid.

In more detail, in the Vocabulary “Help [Action]” item talks about these.

Helping on a task

Assist an Ability Check. Choose one of your skill or tool proficiencies and one ally who is near enough for you to assist verbally or physically when they make an ability check. That ally has Advantage on the next ability check they make with the chosen skill or tool. This benefit expires if the ally doesn’t use it before the start of your next turn. The DM has final say on whether your assistance is possible.

The main difference here from 5e is being more precise about when you are qualified to Help someone — the answer being, if you have Proficiency with the skill or tool they are using (rolling on).

Again, you don’t have to be standing next to them: you can yell advice to someone using Athletics to climb that rock wall (“Don’t grab that brown rock — go for the black one next to it!”) as well as help your Rogue pick a lock … if you have Proficiency in doing the activity yourself.

Helping in Combat

Assist an Attack Roll. You momentarily distract an enemy within 5 feet of you, giving Advantage to the next attack roll by one of your allies against that enemy. This benefit expires at the start of your next turn.

The notes written about 5e above still pertain except that you are clearly not helping a specific ally with the attack, but any “one of your allies” (the next one who attacks that target).

That might in turn argue that if you are playing in 5e (2014) still, this new, clearer read should be treated as a clarification of, not a change to, the 5e ambiguity about this. Ask your DM.

Anything else?

It’s not mentioned in the Vocabulary, but the Summary mentions “administer first aid”. This actually refers to Stabilizing a Character, which reads:

You can take the Help action to try to stabilize a creature with 0 Hit Points, which requires a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check.

Stabilizing is the lowest level of medical care, basically stopping the still-unconscious person to stop bleeding out. Using a medical kit or or administering first aid (which will bring someone back to consciousness) takes more time.

There’s additional (or parallel) information in the Group Checks article.