D&D 5E Rules questions...

[Phoenix8008]

1. The Restoration, Lesser spell says that one of the uses to neutralize poison "If the creature is suffering from any poisons, choose one of them and neutralize it". Our party was fighting a Green Dragon last night and it used it's breath weapon on them multiple times which promted the question of using the Lesser Restoration to neutralize the poison damage. That's when I discovered that all instances of poison damage I could find were instantaneous HP damage. No lingering effects that could be removed by neutralizing the poison. (I didn't check EVERY monster in the Bestiary, but the 3 or 4 I found that had poison damage and the poison in the equipment section of the rules all do straight up instant HP damage). So my question is this: is that use of the spell there for something that is going to be added in later with more complex poison rules, or should the neutralize poison effect of the Lesser Restoration spell actually cure HP damage that was done by poison?

2. Reloading times for crossbows. I can't seem to find anywhere in the equipment section or the DMG section on reloading times. Does it take an action to reload that prevents attacking, or not? Or can you substitute a move action to load? Or is it a free action? I didn't see it listed as an example under incidental tasks in the DM guide section so I felt the need to ask here to verify. I could easily see it being incedental, but unsure.

3. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[GX.Sigma]

1. The Restoration, Lesser spell says that one of the uses to neutralize poison "If the creature is suffering from any poisons, choose one of them and neutralize it". Our party was fighting a Green Dragon last night and it used it's breath weapon on them multiple times which promted the question of using the Lesser Restoration to neutralize the poison damage. That's when I discovered that all instances of poison damage I could find were instantaneous HP damage. No lingering effects that could be removed by neutralizing the poison. (I didn't check EVERY monster in the Bestiary, but the 3 or 4 I found that had poison damage and the poison in the equipment section of the rules all do straight up instant HP damage). So my question is this: is that use of the spell there for something that is going to be added in later with more complex poison rules, or should the neutralize poison effect of the Lesser Restoration spell actually cure HP damage that was done by poison?

I don't think it should cure HP damage, just end an ongoing effect. For example, the Drow use poisoned crossbow bolts that reduce movement rate.

2. Reloading times for crossbows. I can't seem to find anywhere in the equipment section or the DMG section on reloading times. Does it take an action to reload that prevents attacking, or not? Or can you substitute a move action to load? Or is it a free action? I didn't see it listed as an example under incidental tasks in the DM guide section so I felt the need to ask here to verify. I could easily see it being incedental, but unsure.

In previous packets, it took an action to reload. Apparently now there's no reload time, and the "loading" property just means you can only shoot one bolt when you attack with it. That doesn't mean anything for most characters, but it does mean a Fighter can't do a Volley multiattack with a crossbow--even though the Volley action specifically says it requires a longbow or shortbow, making the "loading" property redundant. Actually, now that I think of it, the Drow has a crossbow multiattack. Hmm. That's going on the list.

 

[Phoenix8008]

1. Okay, as long is there is some instance of ongoing poison damage I can point to in the rules that justifies the existence of the Neutralize Poison effect of the spell, then that is fine. It's a piece that they will likely add more into the rules for as things go along.

2. re: Drow breaking the 'LOADING' rule with their multiattack: Yay for the monsters not being built by the same rules the PC's are engineered by! That's fine by me. So PC's can't multiattack with a crossbow, but could do so with a longbow or shortbow.

 

[JamesonCourage]

2. re: Drow breaking the 'LOADING' rule with their multiattack: Yay for the monsters not being built by the same rules the PC's are engineered by!

I just hate the inconsistency. Not even the inconsistency between PC and NPC rules, but the "we want people to be able to look at a bad guy in chainmail and be able to guess his AC" (because it just about follows the PC rules) coupled with "drow can shoot a crossbow volley because drow can shoot a crossbow volley, and no, PCs can't" (because we're ignoring the PC rules completely).

Why worry about the former if you're not going to keep that philosophy the entire time? If the upside to following PC rules as guidelines for AC is "the player's can fairly accurate assess how hard the enemy is to hit based on their armor in-game," then shouldn't the upside to looking at a weapon be "the player's can fairly accurately assess how the enemy can attack, and what kind of damage or abilities they might have"?

I mean, if we know that full plate on an NPC = high AC, and that's a good thing, shouldn't we extend that same thinking to 'if we know that an enemy has a crossbow, I should only expect one attack from that NPC'? Either stick to the "NPCs follow PC guidelines so the player's can get an idea of what the enemies can do" concept consistently, or drop it completely. I hate the waffle back and forth. As always, play what you like

 

[Gorgoroth]

Agreed, I don't want some silly difference between PC and NPC rules. Guess the enemy's AC because of their armor is GREAT, but you still don't know if they have a special class or racial feature like IronHide or bracers of protection, that could make you guess the wrong value. Anyway, PCs after a round or two always figure out the enemy AC, it's just good to have a rational way to eyeball their defenses other than handwaving "I do a monster knowledge check". That pigeonholes all monsters of that type to that the exact same stats, which leads to boredom and repetitive game play. Orcs loaded out with plate should have plate-level AC on the battlefield, e.g. look at the battle for Minas Tirith, even the Trolls had plate armor on!!! Why would the enemy spend all that time and resources chopping down trees and making huge armor when you could just handwave it and say these are higher level trolls with tougher skin. No. The same orc or troll, wearing plate armor, should have plate-level protection ADDED to their default natural AC. So again, there's an easy, mechanically and logically and narratively coherent way to guess the enemy defenses.

If drow have an ability to multi-attack with crossbows, just make it a special item, or feat that only they have access to, by default, but if you infiltrated their society or spied on them, you should be able to find a way to replicate their tech / know-how. I want feats to have limitations. No, generic halfling or elf society never bothered to optimize their crossbow skills to such an extent, so they do not deserve to have access to that by default. I think the best way to mimic the drow ability is a combination of feat + building a crossbow a certain way, i.e. a masterwork crossbow.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Personally i prefer if NPC/Monsters do not follow PC creation rules and instead follow their own parameters, so that they may attacks as envisoned and/or have AC or Hit/Damage value deemed appropriate regardless of actual PC creation guidelines.

 

[JamesonCourage]

Personally i prefer if NPC/Monsters do not follow PC creation rules and instead follow their own parameters, so that they may attacks as envisoned and/or have AC or Hit/Damage value deemed appropriate regardless of actual PC creation guidelines.

I certainly don't mind this in some games. It's not how I designed my RPG (though I have a handy "bonus by level, depending on investment" chart section in the back, for quick reference on NPCs / monsters / whatever), but I like playing things like Mutants and Masterminds, where they have minion rules, etc. I just wish that, whichever way 5e decides to go (which is probably separate rules for PCs / non-PCs), they were consistent. As always, play what you like

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

The nice thing about Drow is that you can give them silly weapons and if the PCs pick them up to use them you can impose non-proficiency penalties, and they'll disintegrate above ground later anyway!

Now I have this idea that they use spider glands to create handheld webslingers, or some other bio-hacked organ that generates and fires poisoned spines (effectively bolts).

 

[Weather Report]

That's basically what Monster Multiattacks are (special monster attacks/qualities), characters can't attack like that.

Look at the Death Knight, it can attack 3 times with its' longsword for 2d8 each (Fighters can't do that).

 

[cmbarona]

Huh... Glad I looked at this, this actually seems to make the crossbow worthwhile. Not for multiple attacks, but as a default ranged weapon.