D&D 5E Disengage

[Pickles JG]

It's meant for both, I think Mearls or Thompson mentioned this a long time ago. But it's ok if your DM restricts it to only retreating.

You only get AOs when you "disengage" from an enemy ie leave its threatened area so the action is only relevant when you are "disengaging" from the one enemy regardless of the postion of other enemies.

@OP. You cannot use bonus actions to attack as a general rule. The bonus attack eg flurry of blows, dual wielding state that you get the bonus when you take an attack action ie not a disengage action.

Rogues (& Goblins) do it the other way around using a bonus disengage then attacking with their action.

It is a good ability but not game breaking - eg to attack a polearm guy you would need to give up your action or be a rogue & that's just like 3e/pathfinder tumble. (& why shouldn't class features trump feats sometimes?)

 

[wedgeski]

It's meant for both, I think Mearls or Thompson mentioned this a long time ago. But it's ok if your DM restricts it to only retreating.

I wouldn't recommend this change unless the game is using a grid/battle-mat. For theatre-of-the-mind stuff, abstracting pinickity movement restrictions away is the best idea, and for more complicated encounters using your Action to effectively slip out of one melee and into another (wherever it might be in the encounter, movement ranges generously permitting) makes the most sense IME.

 

[Pandamonium87]

I've a question about reach, I hope you can help me
Reading from the manual it's said that enemies provoke opportunity attacks only when they exit from my reach, but does this mean they provoke when they exit from all the space I menace with my weapon or just when they exit from one square I menace?

Example: (suppose the table is a grid where every entry is a 5 foot square)

		ENEMY
		ME

Does enemy provoke when it exits from its square to the one in front of me? Or does he just provoke if he move backwards? (to a non-existent square behind him).

Thanks

 

[the Jester]

I've a question about reach, I hope you can help me
Reading from the manual it's said that enemies provoke opportunity attacks only when they exit from my reach, but does this mean they provoke when they exit from all the space I menace with my weapon or just when they exit from one square I menace?

I don't think 5e refers to "squares" even once when talking about the disengage action. EDIT: Or anywhere else in the combat section, excepting when it mentions grid-based play as an option in a sidebar or something. Don't get hung up by what you know from 3e and 4e. In 5e you only provoke when you exit an enemy's reach- that means exactly what it says: you go from within an enemy's reach to outside its reach.

 

[Thaumaturge]

The real problem with ruling Disengage only works when a character is withdrawing is more complex scenarios where a character is leaving one combatant to engage with another. If a goblin is adjacent to the fighter, uses Disengage, and moves to be adjacent to the wizard, is that ok? He's withdrawing from a more lethal combatant to a relative place of safety. It's also, arguably, a more tactical place to be. He might be able to bring the wizard down and then not have to worry about his pesky spells.

It is much simpler to let Disengage just do what it says. If the name "Disengage" is a problem, think of it as the character spending his action actively disengaging from all combatants to prevent exposing any openings.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Thaumaturge]

the Jester is correct. "Squares" aren't a part of the base combat rules. Opportunity attacks occur when combatants leave the reach of other combatants.

Note: this has implications for pole arms and their ability to control the battlefield.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Mistwell]

@OP. You cannot use bonus actions to attack as a general rule. The bonus attack eg flurry of blows, dual wielding state that you get the bonus when you take an attack action ie not a disengage action.

I would not say that is the general rule. If a particular bonus action says that you can only do it when you use the attack action, then sure. But the general rule is you can use a bonus action any time you are not deprived of your ability to take actions.

 

[Kodam]

Hi!

It's meant for both, I think Mearls or Thompson mentioned this a long time ago. But it's ok if your DM restricts it to only retreating.

Thanks for this info! I'll mention it in our next session...

We're still getting used to the new rules, so nothing is absolutely fixed at the moment. Our DM is open to new information so a change is still possible. My Rogue was allowed to disengage from one enemy to (sneak) attack another. I'm not sure what would be if said enemy had reach, however. We're still working on it...

Kodam

 

[Chocolategravy]

the Jester is correct. "Squares" aren't a part of the base combat rules. Opportunity attacks occur when combatants leave the reach of other combatants. Note: this has implications for pole arms and their ability to control the battlefield. Thaumaturge.

Polearms don't increase your reach. They only give you reach during an attack. Yes, that somehow makes sense to people at WotC.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Polearms don't increase your reach. They only give you reach during an attack. Yes, that somehow makes sense to people at WotC.

Actually, no, though it's an easy mistake to make.

It doesn't say "When you take the attack action," which is a specific phrasing the book uses when it's calling something you can only do under those circumstances. It just says "making an attack"--which includes things like opportunity attacks.

The "when you attack" phrasing is meant to prevent a strict rules-lawyer reading that would allow people to argue (however nonsensically) that you have reach with any attack (such as a touch attack spell) while wielding a pole-arm.