Noob DM here -- one of my players is playing a Cleric of Eldath (Forgotten Realms goddess of peace and serenity) and really wants to use the net as her favored weapon.
Story-wise I think that's excellent, but we're both pretty dissatisfied about the way the net is treated mechanically. In the 5e RAW, the net is a ranged martial weapon with unusual range stats that end up giving it disadvantage on all uses (unless you can counteract that disadvantage, e.g. by taking certain feats). There's also a special limitation on attacks for this weapon: once you attack with a net you are disallowed from making any further attacks on this turn.
There's been some discussion on the interwebs of the notion that these limitations make the net very weak. But both of these limitations are fine by me and my player! Our dissatisfaction stems from the mere fact of treating it as a ranged martial weapon to begin with.
Unless I'm missing something, this means that a player casting a net over an opponent makes a ranged attack roll and compares to the target's AC -- just as if using a ranged weapon meant to inflict damage (rather than to restrain the opponent, like the net does). But this means that, as with a conventional weapon, the net is much more likely to succeed against an unarmored character with high Dex (let's say +3 Dex modifier, giving AC 13) than on a low-Dex character who happens to be wearing plate mail (AC 18). Realistically, shouldn't it be the other way around?
Am I missing something? It's entirely possible! If not, does anyone have either: A) a good explanation why it makes sense for the net to work this way; or B) an alternative mechanic we could use instead?
Story-wise I think that's excellent, but we're both pretty dissatisfied about the way the net is treated mechanically. In the 5e RAW, the net is a ranged martial weapon with unusual range stats that end up giving it disadvantage on all uses (unless you can counteract that disadvantage, e.g. by taking certain feats). There's also a special limitation on attacks for this weapon: once you attack with a net you are disallowed from making any further attacks on this turn.
There's been some discussion on the interwebs of the notion that these limitations make the net very weak. But both of these limitations are fine by me and my player! Our dissatisfaction stems from the mere fact of treating it as a ranged martial weapon to begin with.
Unless I'm missing something, this means that a player casting a net over an opponent makes a ranged attack roll and compares to the target's AC -- just as if using a ranged weapon meant to inflict damage (rather than to restrain the opponent, like the net does). But this means that, as with a conventional weapon, the net is much more likely to succeed against an unarmored character with high Dex (let's say +3 Dex modifier, giving AC 13) than on a low-Dex character who happens to be wearing plate mail (AC 18). Realistically, shouldn't it be the other way around?
Am I missing something? It's entirely possible! If not, does anyone have either: A) a good explanation why it makes sense for the net to work this way; or B) an alternative mechanic we could use instead?
