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In a recent discussion, my counterpart was of the opinion that "you" in the PHB applies only to player characters. The argument was that since it is the "Player's Handbook", the rules address specifically the players, so when they say "you" these rules apply to the players, but not other creatures.

I tried to explain the rules in the PHB apply to everyone, PCs, NPCs, monsters alike. It is clear to me that they must apply to other creatures too, because there otherwise would be no rules for those. There is no separate rules section for them in the DMG or MM.

But, unfortunately, when looking for a statement about whom "you" refers to, and checking the front matter and introductory pages of the PHB to support this, I could find no such explanation.

Is there any textual support about whom "you" refers to?

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    \$\begingroup\$ I don't understand these self answer questions which are pretty obvious and don't actually seem to be a problem. This question is basically 'I read half the book and didn't see x' and your answer is to read the rest of the book. It's really odd. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 7 at 21:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ @SeriousBri This was a little while back, and I just found the answer to this in a place I had not expected it. So I thought I’d post this in case someone else runs into the same problem. It is not that obvious where to find this, at least it wasn't to me. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 7 at 21:37
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    \$\begingroup\$ This seems to be a stereotypical "please read the book to me" question. And while real people sometimes don't see the forest for the trees, I don't think that this should be a self-answered question. Isn't the glossary exaxtly where it should be? What would we do if someone self-answered every single glossary term this way? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 8 at 7:56

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"You" in the rules covers all creatures

This is explained not in the front matter of the book (where one would maybe normally expect it), but in the introduction to the Rules Glossary on page 360, PHB near the end of the book (emphasis added):

“You.” The game's rules—in this glossary and elsewhere— often talk about something happening to you in the game world. That “you” refers to the creature or object that the rule applies to in a particular moment of play. For example, the “you” in the Prone condition is a creature that currently has that condition.

This could be any creature, not just a player character.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I don’t disagree, but downvoting because I don’t see a need, concern, or problem being resolved here. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 7 at 23:17

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