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I was right about Shield Master
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7509940" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Like I said upthread, there's nothing at stake for me in this ruling. I'm just intrigued by the discussion over interpretive method.</p><p></p><p>Page 69 gives me this relevant text on bonus actions:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or other feature of the game states that you can do something as a bonus action. . . . You choose when to take a bonus action during your turn, unless the bonus action’s timing is specified . . .</p><p></p><p>There is no mention there of scope, trigger or nesting. There is a description of the conditions that permit a bonus action, and the rule for when it can occur. The interpretive question around Shield Mastery is entirely about whether or not it's timing is specified - by an interpolated <em>then</em> as in <em>If you take the attack action, <u>then</u> you can shove as a bonus action</em>.</p><p></p><p>I think that the most natural reading is to take the "then" as implicit. But I also think that the most natural reading of <em>taking the attack action</em> is <em>making an attack</em> - not <em>making all the attacks one is going to make in a turn</em>.</p><p></p><p>Those interpretations are obviously open to dispute, but I don't see how brining in external notions of "trigger", "scope", "nesting" etc helps with that. Those notions aren't part of the rules and don't seem to be implied by them either.</p><p></p><p>Well, the closest thing in the rules I quoted to the idea of a "trigger" is that <em>a game feature states that you can take a bonus action</em>. And as far as Cunning Action is concerned, the <em>game feature</em> in question is being a 2nd level rogue who is taking a turn in combat. So if the notion of "trigger" is going to be deployed, it's hard for me to see that in this case it does not include <em>taking a turn</em>. Even accepting for the sake of discussion that you can't not take your turn, I don't see why that would debar it from being a "trigger", or as the rules put it, a <em>game feature</em> that permits a player to take a bonus action on his/her turn.</p><p></p><p>I don't see how. Page 64 says that a bonus action is an additional action that you take on your turn. And taking the Attack Action - which is what enlivens the Shield Master bonus action - is something that happens on your turn. I don't see anything there that comes within cooee of implying that the bonus action is in fact a Reaction.</p><p></p><p>Whereas I'm prepared to accept that "taking the attack action" is open to being read as "having completed all your attacks from the attack action", although I myself don't think that's the most natural reading, I'm at a complete loss to see how anyone could read Shield Master as permitting a Reaction shove. And I don't see how settling on one rather than another reading of <em>taking the attack action</em> contributes to the avoidance of any such misreading.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7509940, member: 42582"] Like I said upthread, there's nothing at stake for me in this ruling. I'm just intrigued by the discussion over interpretive method. Page 69 gives me this relevant text on bonus actions: [indent]You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or other feature of the game states that you can do something as a bonus action. . . . You choose when to take a bonus action during your turn, unless the bonus action’s timing is specified . . .[/indent] There is no mention there of scope, trigger or nesting. There is a description of the conditions that permit a bonus action, and the rule for when it can occur. The interpretive question around Shield Mastery is entirely about whether or not it's timing is specified - by an interpolated [I]then[/I] as in [I]If you take the attack action, [U]then[/U] you can shove as a bonus action[/I]. I think that the most natural reading is to take the "then" as implicit. But I also think that the most natural reading of [I]taking the attack action[/I] is [I]making an attack[/I] - not [I]making all the attacks one is going to make in a turn[/I]. Those interpretations are obviously open to dispute, but I don't see how brining in external notions of "trigger", "scope", "nesting" etc helps with that. Those notions aren't part of the rules and don't seem to be implied by them either. Well, the closest thing in the rules I quoted to the idea of a "trigger" is that [I]a game feature states that you can take a bonus action[/I]. And as far as Cunning Action is concerned, the [I]game feature[/I] in question is being a 2nd level rogue who is taking a turn in combat. So if the notion of "trigger" is going to be deployed, it's hard for me to see that in this case it does not include [I]taking a turn[/I]. Even accepting for the sake of discussion that you can't not take your turn, I don't see why that would debar it from being a "trigger", or as the rules put it, a [I]game feature[/I] that permits a player to take a bonus action on his/her turn. I don't see how. Page 64 says that a bonus action is an additional action that you take on your turn. And taking the Attack Action - which is what enlivens the Shield Master bonus action - is something that happens on your turn. I don't see anything there that comes within cooee of implying that the bonus action is in fact a Reaction. Whereas I'm prepared to accept that "taking the attack action" is open to being read as "having completed all your attacks from the attack action", although I myself don't think that's the most natural reading, I'm at a complete loss to see how anyone could read Shield Master as permitting a Reaction shove. And I don't see how settling on one rather than another reading of [I]taking the attack action[/I] contributes to the avoidance of any such misreading. [/QUOTE]
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