search_rule

Look up D&D 5e game rules, conditions, and reference information.

This comprehensive reference tool provides access to core rules, special conditions, damage types, skills, and game mechanics. Essential for resolving rules questions during play or character building. All data is sourced from official D&D 5e materials. Uses the repository pattern with database caching for improved performance.

Examples: - search_rule(rule_type="condition", search="grappled") - Find grappled condition rules - search_rule(rule_type="skill", search="stealth") - Find stealth skill details - search_rule(rule_type="damage-type", search="fire") - Find fire damage rules - search_rule(rule_type="rule", section="combat") - Find all combat rules - search_rule(rule_type="ability-score") - Get all ability score info - search_rule(rule_type="alignment") - Find alignment descriptions - search_rule(rule_type="magic-school", search="evocation") - Find evocation school info - search_rule(rule_type="rule", documents=["srd-5e"]) - Find rules from SRD only - search_rule(rule_type="condition", search="grappled", documents=["srd-5e", "tce"]) - Filter conditions by documents

Semantic search (natural language queries):
 - search_rule(rule_type="condition", search="movement restricted") - Find conditions affecting movement
 - search_rule(rule_type="damage-type", search="burning heat") - Find fire-related damage
 - search_rule(rule_type="skill", search="sneaking hiding") - Find stealth-related skills

Hybrid search (search + filters):
 - search_rule(rule_type="condition", search="cannot see", documents=["srd-5e"]) - Find blindness/vision conditions

Args: rule_type: REQUIRED. Type of game reference to lookup. Must be one of: - "rule": Core game rules and mechanics (combat, spellcasting, movement, etc.) - "condition": Status effects (grappled, stunned, poisoned, unconscious, etc.) - "damage-type": Damage categories (acid, bludgeoning, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, piercing, poison, psychic, radiant, slashing, thunder) - "weapon-property": Weapon special properties (finesse, heavy, light, reach, two-handed, versatile, ammunition, loading, thrown, etc.) - "skill": Ability-based skills (Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Arcana, Athletics, Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Religion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Survival) - "ability-score": Core abilities (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) and their uses - "magic-school": Schools of magic (Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation) - "language": Languages available in D&D (Common, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Gnomish, Goblin, Orc, Primordial, Sylvan, Undercommon, Celestial, Draconic, Deep Speech, Infernal) - "proficiency": Character proficiency types (armor, weapon, tool, saving throw, skill) - "alignment": Character alignment axes (Lawful/Chaotic, Good/Evil, Neutral options) section: For rule_type="rule" only. Filter rules by section/chapter. Examples: "combat", "spellcasting", "movement", "actions-in-combat" Ignored for other rule types. documents: Filter to specific source documents. Provide a list of document names/identifiers from list_documents() tool. Examples: ["srd-5e"] for SRD only, ["srd-5e", "tce"] for SRD and Tasha's. Use list_documents() to see available documents. search: Natural language search query for semantic/vector search. When provided, uses vector similarity to find rules matching the conceptual meaning rather than exact text matches. Can be combined with other filters for hybrid search. Examples: "movement restricted", "fire burning damage", "stealth hiding sneaking" limit: Maximum number of results to return. Default 20 for performance. Examples: 1, 10, 50

Returns: List of rule/reference dictionaries. Structure varies by rule_type:

For rule_type="rule":
    - name: Rule name/title
    - desc: Full rule description and examples
    - section: Section/chapter this rule belongs to

For rule_type="condition":
    - name: Condition name
    - desc: Effects and duration of this condition

For rule_type="damage-type":
    - name: Damage type name
    - desc: Description of damage type and uses

For rule_type="weapon-property":
    - name: Property name
    - desc: How the property affects weapon use

For rule_type="skill":
    - name: Skill name
    - ability_score: Associated ability (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA)
    - desc: How skill is used and common checks

For rule_type="ability-score":
    - name: Ability name
    - desc: What ability represents and how it's used
    - skills: Related skills

For rule_type="magic-school":
    - name: School name
    - desc: Philosophy and types of spells in this school

For rule_type="language":
    - name: Language name
    - type: Language type (common, exotic, etc.)
    - script: Writing system if any

For rule_type="proficiency":
    - name: Proficiency type
    - class: What type of proficiency (class, background, race)
    - desc: Details about this proficiency type

For rule_type="alignment":
    - name: Alignment
    - desc: Alignment description and common character types

Raises: ValueError: If rule_type is not one of the valid options APIError: If the API request fails due to network issues or server errors