Can Sharpshooter be used with a Net?

Can Sharpshooter be used with a net?

My initial thought was no, but, upon review of how things are worded, it appears that "maybe" might be the more accurate answer.

Sharpshooter states that it requires taking a penalty to the attack roll. Hitting with a net does indeed require an attack roll, so that condition can be met.

Sharpshooter further states that success means the attack deals +10 damage. There is no mention of the damage boost requiring dice rolling or anything of that nature, simply +10 damage. 0 + 10 = 10

Since they have said sneak attack doesn’t apply to a net, I doubt you’d get much traction arguing for Sharpshooter.

Source:
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/02/sneak-net/

Johnny3D3D said:

Can Sharpshooter be used with a net?

My initial thought was no, but, upon review of how things are worded, it appears that "maybe" might be the more accurate answer.

Sharpshooter states that it requires taking a penalty to the attack roll. Hitting with a net does indeed require an attack roll, so that condition can be met.

Sharpshooter further states that success means the attack deals +10 damage. There is no mention of the damage boost requiring dice rolling or anything of that nature, simply +10 damage. 0 + 10 = 10

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RAW maybe. RAI definitely no. Go with RAI on this one.

I don't see why not. You could say the damage is "strangling" or painful twisting caused by being caught in the net, such as an ankle, arm, or leg being pulled out of joint. As a DM you could rule the damage is "non-lethal" and will possibly cause a victim to pass out from the pain, but is otherwise akin to subduing damage.

But as others have stated, if the DM ruled against the extra damage, as a player I wouldn't be upset by that either. An alternative to extra damage would be increasing the DC to escape the net if you used the Sharpshooter feat and took the -5 to your attack roll. Maybe an increase to DC 15 or even 20. Just a thought.

Another thought occurred to me. As DM I might create a Net Expert feat akin to Crossbow Expert and allow the player to take that instead of Sharpshooter (or even with it at later levels):

Net Expert
Thanks to your extensive practice with the net, you gain the following benefits:
1. You ignore the restriction limiting you to only one net attack per turn. You cannot entangle more than one creature at a time, however.
2. Being with 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
3. When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use your bonus action to attack with a net you are holding.

This would allow the classic trident/net gladiator combo.

If you don't like option 1, consider this alternative:

1. You impose disadvantage on a creature (including the target) trying to release a creature you have restrained by your net.

I actually like that idea, but would have to get feedback and test it a bit before I used it.

My gut says no. A net is less a weapon (does no damage) than a tool to entangle an opponent (or impose other similar condition) IMO. Granted a net may have hooks that does minimal damage, but I see such an inclusion more of a deterrent to those caught in a net to making attempts to break free, than just to add some form of damage.

The trident/net combo (as mentioned by dndvr) is what I had in mind.

Voort said:

Since they have said sneak attack doesn’t apply to a net, I doubt you’d get much traction arguing for Sharpshooter.

Source:
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/02/sneak-net/

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I hadn't seen that before now. I suppose it would boil down to whether or the +10 counts as "extra damage." I lean toward thinking yes, but sometimes D&D categorizes things differently than how I would use language. I think, for consistency, it wouldn't work because ruling otherwise would (in a rules-lawyery way) mean that taking sharpshooter would allow a rogue to sneak attack with a net by providing a base damage upon which to stack the extra damage.

If it doesn't work, perhaps I should shift my attention to the blowgun, as it does 1 damage.



To some extent, it was a thought experiment I had to try to make a normally weak weapon do the most damage. Kensei didn't work with a net because of the special property, but that lead me to thinking about how a net might be useful.

It has a save instead of damage. I second letting it add +5 to the save dc to get out

Johnny3D3D said:

The trident/net combo (as mentioned by dndvr) is what I had in mind.

I hadn't seen that before now. I suppose it would boil down to whether or the +10 counts as "extra damage." I lean toward thinking yes, but sometimes D&D categorizes things differently than how I would use language. I think, for consistency, it wouldn't work because ruling otherwise would (in a rules-lawyery way) mean that taking sharpshooter would allow a rogue to sneak attack with a net by providing a base damage upon which to stack the extra damage.

If it doesn't work, perhaps I should shift my attention to the blowgun, as it does 1 damage.

To some extent, it was a thought experiment I had to try to make a normally weak weapon do the most damage. Kensei didn't work with a net because of the special property, but that lead me to thinking about how a net might be useful.

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It seems a bit sad you would switch to using a blowgun because it does 1 damage. How could you justify it doing 1000% more damage because of Sharpshooter? When you consider the net does no damage, does 1 measly little point really justify the feat boost ability?

I would rather try to work with my player to bring about the concept they want instead of worrying so much about the rules, but that is me.

If I had a rogue using a net to sneak attack with, the damage can be warranted by reasons I've already outlined, but if that doesn't work for your game, I hope you find something that does.

Sharpshooter is good with nets in that it allows you to ignore penalties for long range. But that's about it. My beastmaster ranger Red Creek Rufus does this to throw nets at a distance then has his boar companion Belvedere charge and knock prone.

Roadkill101 said:

My gut says no. A net is less a weapon (does no damage) than a tool to entangle an opponent (or impose other similar condition) IMO. Granted a net may have hooks that does minimal damage, but I see such an inclusion more of a deterrent to those caught in a net to making attempts to break free, than just to add some form of damage.

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I also feel that net should have been listed under equipment, like alchemist's fire and acid, rather than as a weapon. The only reason I think they kept it a weapon is for martial weapon proficiency (which they simply could have added in the text).