D&D 5E Sage Advice August 17th

[TheCosmicKid]

Do they really want cleric/druids (or life clerics with magic initiate) to be able to heal 40 hp with a first level spell? They went out of their way to stop sorcerers and evokers from multiplying their damage bonus on spells like scorching ray, but they're fine with life clerics multiplying their healing bonus on spells like goodberry? What gives?

Remember, Sage Advice is explicitly and emphatically not errata. It's about interpreting the rules, not about "what they want".

 

[Falling Icicle]

Remember, Sage Advice is explicitly and emphatically not errata. It's about interpreting the rules, not about "what they want".

Jeremy Crawford is the co-lead designer of 5e. He doesn't just interpret the rules, he makes them.

 

[Minigiant]

Most of the Sage Advice rulings are sensible, but sometimes I am left scratching my head.

Would it really be game-breaking for monk/rogues to be able to sneak attack with their fists? I don't know what problem they're trying to prevent here by jumping through all of these semantic hoops.

They soloed power to unarmed strike to the monk class and possibly race.
It seems like they don't want any monk unarmed features and rogue or fighter features to overlap.

Do they really want cleric/druids (or life clerics with magic initiate) to be able to heal 40 hp with a first level spell? They went out of their way to stop sorcerers and evokers from multiplying their damage bonus on spells like scorching ray, but they're fine with life clerics multiplying their healing bonus on spells like goodberry? What gives?

It seems like there are some multiclass combos they'll allow and some they won't.

In 5th edition, multiclassing more that 1 or 2 levels nerfs your PC or drags them behind. So if you aren't taking full advantage of it or at worse abusing something, multiclassing is a bad idea except in a "softcore" game. So some cheese seems to be left in on purpose if not done on purpose.. Sorlocks, EK/wizards, fighter/rogues and cleric/druid healbots.

However some mutlticlass would be very powerful without checks. I think the designers feared what a monk could stack onto their FoB unarmed strikes if those counted as weapon attacks. Attempts at sneak Attack + full dual wielding for 2 levels dip? Not so bad. But you add in feats and variants and maybe something cracks.
Same with Archery Style and thrown daggers and axes.

It seems like everything was siloed off first. Then they carefully throught about what stacking they'd allow.

 

[Remathilis]

What is going on with the spell list and rituals? Which list (or spells) was/were inaccurate before?

The fifth level rituals were listed under fourth and the sixth under fifth. Page 6 is the only change (and it didn't change pagination if you printed it like I did)

 

[pukunui]

What is going on with the spell list and rituals? Which list (or spells) was/were inaccurate before?

Most of the 4th level rituals had been erroneously labelled as 5th level rituals, which in turn made the 5th level rituals be erroneously labelled as 6th level ones.

EDIT: Ninja'd!

 

[Falling Icicle]

It seems like they don't want any monk unarmed features and rogue or fighter features to overlap.

Yeah, I'm just curious why that's the case. Maybe they're aware of some broken combination that I'm not. Or maybe they just hate monks.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Or maybe they just hate monks.

Rogues. It's rogues they hate.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Would it really be game-breaking for monk/rogues to be able to sneak attack with their fists? I don't know what problem they're trying to prevent here by jumping through all of these semantic hoops.

Maybe Assassinate is the problem, rather than sneak attack? I can imagine that if you allowed this then an Assassin/Monk could do staggering amounts of damage in the first round of a combat, every single combat, all day, with no short-rest or long-rest restriction.

Do they really want cleric/druids (or life clerics with magic initiate) to be able to heal 40 hp with a first level spell?

The spell essentially lets the Cleric/Druid create ten healing potions each day. That does seem extreme.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Rogues. It's rogues they hate.

I think you might be on to something!

First, those darned rogues went and stole the wizards' spotlight by picking the locks before those poor wizards could finish casting knock. And then they thought they could take levels in monk and assassinate creatures with their bare hands? Showing up wizards is one thing, but ninja karate chops of doom? Clearly, something had to be done!

 

[MerricB]

Maybe Assassinate is the problem, rather than sneak attack? I can imagine that if you allowed this then an Assassin/Monk could do staggering amounts of damage in the first round of a combat, every single combat, all day, with no short-rest or long-rest restriction.

It's a lot simpler than that:

Sage Advice does not give out errata. Sage Advice clarifies the written rules. The written rules do not allow Sneak Attack to work with Monk Attacks, so Sage Advice supports this interpretation.

Furthermore, 4E taught Wizards how careful they had to be with errata. 4E had large sections of the PHB changed by errata, so a player could create a character with it and then find it was wrong. This is not a good place to be.

So, if people are misinterpreting a rule, they'll change its wording. But if the rule is basically working, they're not going to change it lightly.

Cheers!