5E (D&D Next) Q&A

[Jeff]

Sorry, Darren. I'll get to it. I've been cherrypicking at all the sheets, fixing things up when I can. I'll get to the Brooch soon.

[Jeff]

Okay. Brooch of Shielding has been updated, as has Kal's wand of magic missiles.

Mar 14, 2014 16:52:02 GMT -4 Darren said:

Hey, Jeff...two questions:

- Do ranged magic attacks still work like they did in 4E? In other words, Kal's Bracers of the Perfect Shot used to add a bonus to his Lightning Orb attack, because that was considered a ranged weapon. Does that still apply? If not, Kal should give the bracers to someone else....

Okay, so magic attacks are distinct from weapon attacks. Sot he Bracers of the Perfect Shot are indeed less useful for spells. Might want to give that to the boomerang-thrower in the party, or even the arrow-shooter.

[Darren]

Cool. Thanks for the sheet updates.

I assume, based on the above, that you also haven't decided, yet, what dragonmarks do in Next?


So...who wants some magic bracers? Probably does make sense for Shorak, unless someone else thinks it'd be better for them....

[Dave B.]

Shorak would be happy to take them off Kal's hand. Unless someone else feels the bracers would be more useful for them to have.

[Ken]

No, I think Shorak is the best choice. He's our main non-magical ranged attack dude.

[Darren]

Okay. I don't know if we need to do this in-game at some point, or if the next time the two of them are in the same place and not fighting with someone, we can just assume that they switched.

[Jeff]

Sure. The next time you regroup, it'll happen.

[Jeff]

Darren: So familiar rules are a bit different now, but I didn't want to change how we've been playing Tangat (and I do like the old way). So Tangat can continue essentially in the same manner as we've had him, and I've added his stats and notes at the bottom of Kal's sheet. If Tangat is ever killed, his spirit can be returned, and he'll become the more updated version of a familiar—i.e. more of a spirit than a physical being. Think Force ghost Tangat.

In any case, the Find Familiar spell is available to Kal as a ritual in his dragonshard ring, along with the Alarm spell. He can cast these as if he has them on his spell list, but he needs to have the ring on, and he must use the spell slot like normal.

[Darren]

Awesome! So, do Kal and Tangat communicate as though the Find Familiar spell is always active? In other words, while within 100', Kal can communicate telepathically with Tangat and see through Tangat's eyes?

We need to get out of this party. I miss that dog.

[Jeff]

I've given him the ability to deliver Kal's touch spells if you want (Burning Bite!), but no, he doesn't get all the benefits of the modern familiar. You can communicate telepathically within 100 feet, but you can't see through his eyes. He can feed you information on what he senses, but it's filtered through his smarter-than-average dog brain. Only when Darth Vader strikes him down and he becomes more powerful can Kal start getting the more spiritual things.

[Jeff]

The party will be ending soon, one way or another.

[Darren]

Mar 18, 2014 12:38:10 GMT -4 Jeff said:

I've given him the ability to deliver Kal's touch spells if you want (Burning Bite!), but no, he doesn't get all the benefits of the modern familiar. You can communicate telepathically within 100 feet, but you can't see through his eyes. He can feed you information on what he senses, but it's filtered through his smarter-than-average dog brain. Only when Darth Vader strikes him down and he becomes more powerful can Kal start getting the more spiritual things.

That will NEVER happen! You hear me!?! Tangat will live forever!

[Jeff]

Apr 30, 2014 8:02:31 GMT -4 Dave W. said:

So couple of questions...

in 5e we get a move action and a standard action. Is drawing a weapon an action? Is swinging my shield from my back to my arm an action?

btw, Adamant's shield is on his back at present so his AC is 19. Not an issue so far.

Things that take up your action in a combat round include:

Attack
Dash - a second move)
Disengage -allows your move to not provoke opportunity attacks)
Dodge - attacks against you have disadvantage and you make Dex saves with advantage
Help - lend aid to someone (grants them advantage on a check or attack)
Hide - make a Stealth check
Ready
Search
Use an Object - if it's significant enough to warrant an action, or you want to use multiple objects

Whereas most other things require no action and are done in tandem with moving and taking an action, like:

draw or sheathe a sword
open or close a door
withdraw a potion from your backpack
pick up a dropped axe
remove a ring from your finger
stuff some food in yoru mouth
wrap your arms around a column
pull a torch from a sconce
don a mask
put your ear to a door
kick a small stone
turn a key in a lock
tap the floor with a 10-foot pole
hand an item to another character

So Dave, drawing a weapon or moving a shield to or from your back can be done in addition to your move and action, as long as you don't do multiple such things.

[Dave W.]

Just to be clear, Addy could move and ready is shield and then draw his sword as part of his attack? Or only one per round?

Also, some of my spells have casting time of 1 action, That's pretty clear, it takes my standard action. Some though say "swift" can I:
a) cast the swift spell and attack in one round.
b) move, cast the swift spell, and attack in one round

I guess I'm asking what swift means...

Thanks!

[Jeff]

Yup, swift spells take an action to cast but they then grant you a bonus action as long as it's not another spell (unless it's a cantrip that requires 1 action to cast). So you can move, cast a swift spell, and then attack.

He could move his shield into place, draw his sword, sheathe his sword, or move his shield back to his back as part of his move and action, but he can't do more than one of those things without spending said action to do it. Just one object can be interacted with freely.

[Dave W.]

Cool, thanks!

[Dave W.]

A quick question hopefully for next round...

When you cast a spell and you're in melee, are there attacks of opportunity? or some other penalty?

[Brian]

On my weapons, I see something called "Versatile" with 1d10 listed. What is that? Also, my sword used to have a special bonus on critical hits, but that isn't listed anywhere. Has the critical hit thing gone away?

[Jeff]

May 1, 2014 21:05:02 GMT -4 Dave W. said:

A quick question hopefully for next round...

When you cast a spell and you're in melee, are there attacks of opportunity? or some other penalty?

Only if you cast a ranged spell (as opposed to one that just blasts fire like burning hands, or is defensive, or is something you cast on yourself). And it's not an opportunity attack, it's just that if you cast it within 5 feet of an enemy you have disadvantage on the attack roll you'll make with it.

May 2, 2014 5:32:42 GMT -4 Brian said:

On my weapons, I see something called "Versatile" with 1d10 listed. What is that? Also, my sword used to have a special bonus on critical hits, but that isn't listed anywhere. Has the critical hit thing gone away?

I think the special die for critical hits has gone away, yeah. Versatile means it's one-handed, but if you use it two-handed you use this designated die for damage instead. So a longsword is 1d8 one-handed, or 1d10 damage if you use it two-handed.

[Dave W.]

Thanks! Adamant will most definitely be casting on himself next round... Or possible having an ogre/magic missile inspired nap... Hey, we want to explore how 5e does deaths door, right?

I like the versatile notation, very clean. That's what Addys been doing with his longsword for the first two rounds...

[Dave B.]

So to be clear on the 20/60 range of the boomerang. Shorak would need to be 35 feet or closer to his target to avoid disadvantage due to distance?

Also, I'm still not entirely clear what conditions cause advantage/disadvantage. It seems that it is not always obvious and though I like the concept of the double roll in general, with our dice roller, it will often make no difference whatsoever. Is there a list of advantage/disadvantage examples somewhere?

Just a bit frustrating not having access to a PHB.

[Jeff]

May 2, 2014 10:36:31 GMT -4 Dave W. said:

Thanks! Adamant will most definitely be casting on himself next round... Or possible having an ogre/magic missile inspired nap... Hey, we want to explore how 5e does deaths door, right?

I like the versatile notation, very clean. That's what Addys been doing with his longsword for the first two rounds...

And actually, Dave, I've added new stuff under Adamant's racial features. Check it out. 5E's warforged stuff is boring. I tweaked it to make it match up better with the original 3rd edition version. With some pros and cons.

One such pro is that if Adamant is brought to 0 hit points, a single successful death roll will stabilize him. Everyone else takes 3 rolls to stabilize on their own (or 3 rolls to die). The main con is that healing magic is half as effective on warforged, because artificer-style "repair" infusions work better for them. I won't, however, make this apply to Adamant's own healing magic. That will be fully effective on him, as will any healing spells cast by a Dol Arrah servant on him.

Meanwhile, other can repair him and restore hit points if they've got some kind of craft ability.

[Jeff]

I hear you, Dave (B). There's no straight-up list of what causes advantage/disadvantage. It usually comes about through the use of some special ability, action, or spell. It's generally very fluid. But one starting point would be to look at the list of Conditions that a creature could be in. Go to the DE Stats file, look at the Quickstats tab (the first one) and scroll down.

And as for Shorak's sneak attack, gaining advantage (which you get if you attack an enemy who doesn't know you're there—à la stealth/hiding) is just one possible criterion. He can also sneak attack if one of his allies is simply right next to your enemy. Flanking is gone, but this is better than flanking for a rogue. He could be fighting a bad guy side by side with Adamant and sneak attack every round so long as Adamant's in fighting order.

[Dave W.]

May 2, 2014 11:47:41 GMT -4 Jeff said:

One such pro is that if Adamant is brought to 0 hit points, a single successful death roll will stabilize him. Everyone else takes 3 rolls to stabilize on their own (or 3 rolls to die). The main con is that healing magic is half as effective on warforged, because artificer-style "repair" infusions work better for them. I won't, however, make this apply to Adamant's own healing magic. That will be fully effective on him, as will any healing spells cast by a Dol Arrah servant on him.

Meanwhile, other can repair him and restore hit points if they've got some kind of craft ability.

Neat! I actually would not be put out if Adamant's healing still does half on him. If the argument is that divine healing just can't get a proper purchase on the warforged, that would add a bit of color.

Soooo... can Adamant learn to repair himself? (Warforged! Repair thyself! with apologies to Luke...)

[Jeff]

Unfortunately, Adamant doesn't really have repair skills. Most warforged units in the war had people specifically for that, magewrights or artificers who were essentially warforged medics. But any blacksmith, armorsmith, or similarly crafty people can do repairs on him if he puts in the time. Of course, the fast version is artificer magic.

Nahh, Adamant can heal himself fine with his own magic. Healing magic can't get a proper purchase on the living construct, true, but Adamant's magic comes from his faith; it's already aligned through him.

By the way, now that they've brought back the paladin's ability to detect evil (sort of)—via Divine Sense—have fun with that.

[Jeff]

Just a reminder, in combat, you can do various things with your action. Attacking is just one of them. I have this list in the Quickstats tab of the DE Stats document. But here it is, too.

Attack - Make an attack. Some class features allow you to make a second attack.

Dash - Move your speed (i.e. double-move).

Disengage - Movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn.

Dodge - Focus on defense. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll against you has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity saving throws with advantage. You lose this advantage if you are incapacitated or your speed drops to 0.

Help - A creature you aid gains advantage on the next relevant ability check before the start of your next turn. Or you can aid an ally in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the attack roll is made with advantage.

Hide - Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide.

Ready

Search - Make a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Use an Object - Interact with an object in some significant way.

[Brian]

May 2, 2014 15:55:15 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Just a reminder, in combat, you can do various things with your action. Attacking is just one of them. I have this list in the Quickstats tab of the DE Stats document. But here it is, too.

Attack - Make an attack. Some class features allow you to make a second attack.

Dash - Move your speed (i.e. double-move).

Disengage - Movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for the rest of the turn.

Dodge - Focus on defense. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll against you has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity saving throws with advantage. You lose this advantage if you are incapacitated or your speed drops to 0.

Help - A creature you aid gains advantage on the next relevant ability check before the start of your next turn. Or you can aid an ally in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the attack roll is made with advantage.

Hide - Make a Dexterity (Stealth) check in an attempt to hide.

Ready

Search - Make a Wisdom (Perception) check or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.

Use an Object - Interact with an object in some significant way.

Um, I don't see the most useful one: Nosh - Eat a burrito while your enemies run in fear of your awesomeness.

[Dave W.]

So if I cast as a swift action that gives me a bonus action. And I see "Ready" as an option for a standard action. Can I use Ready to say "Attack the next orc that tries that gets in melee range?"

[Jeff]

Right. A swift spell is one you can cast and still get a regular action. You just can't use it to cast another spell except a cantrip-level spell. And yup, you can use that action as a ready. Then you set the trigger, then when that trigger comes up, you can do what you readied in place of your reaction (such as the reaction that allows Adamant to impose disadvantage against an enemy attacking an ally next to him).

[Dave W.]

May 16, 2014 14:13:43 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Right. A swift spell is one you can cast and still get a regular action. You just can't use it to cast another spell except a cantrip-level spell. And yup, you can use that action as a ready. Then you set the trigger, then when that trigger comes up, you can do what you readied in place of your reaction (such as the reaction that allows Adamant to impose disadvantage against an enemy attacking an ally next to him).

Oh, cool. That all makes sense.

One more question... since a standard attack for Addy is actually two attacks (he gets an extra attack when he chooses to attack) would that count here too? Would Addy actually get two attacks on the first orc that gets in sword-range?