D&D 5E Was I the only one doing this wrong?

[Fralex]

I only just recently learned that ranged spell attacks do not add your Dexterity modifier to the roll. I've been doing this wrong for like a year, adding both my spellcasting ability AND Dex to my ranged spell attacks (and adding Strength to melee spell attacks). Did anyone else make this mistake? I'm curious.

Edit: Argh, bus Wi-Fi messed up my poll. The rest of the question was, "in addition to the spellcasting ability modifier?"

 

[GMMichael]

This could be a consequence of 5e's similarity to 3e. Many people playing the game assumed that they knew the rules, having played 3e, and didn't bother to read all the 5e rules.

Me, I stopped reading after "a long rest restores all hit points."

Or, it could be a consequence of 5e's simplicity. For example, my players read some of the rules of my game, or just the fast-play rules, and said, "well this is simple. I guess I know it all now." So I have to constantly remind them that Detect is a mental skill...

 

[aramis erak]

I found it pretty clear that there are explicitly 3 kinds.

Melee Attack (Str & Proficiency)
Ranged Attack (Dex & Proficiency)
Spell Attacks (CastingAtt & proficiency)

 

[cmad1977]

Did not make this mistake, but I had a bunch of confusion regarding ranged and melee spell attacks at first and dug through the rules regarding them.

Totally understandable though.

 

[MerricB]

The main confusion will be for people moving from 3E to 5E. From 4E to 5E, that your spellcasting ability modifier affects the attack roll is something you already know.

Cheers!

 

[Saplatt]

"No" to the poll question, but it's something I had to triple-check before I started.

 

[Green1]

I did catch that one. But, the concentration spell rule really got me until I actually read it. I was under the impression it was like concentration worked in 3e. No. It actually limits how many concentration spells you can have going at once.

It is like I heard a great disturbance with screams of millons of CoDzillas everywhere then there was suddenly silence. At first the spellcaster I grimaced at the fact classic buff combos were gone. Then the martial character in me smiled and thought this a good thing for the better. No more buffing to god mode at high levels 3e style.