D&D 5E Quirks & Exploits

[MightyZehir]

So just reading the PHB and coming across a couple things that seems strange and wanted to see what little things other people are finding and talk about them.

Lance, if you have the Dual Wielder feat you can use two of them at the same time while mounted.

Area effect spells, under targeting section "If you are in the area effect of a spell you cast, you CAN target yourself." so sleep, fireball, any AoE spell you want to drop with yourself in the effect you don't hurt yourself as the caster by default.

So anything else minor that you all are noticing that might not deserve a whole thread to talk about but interesting enough to mention.

Well, that depends on how you read it. Spells like fireball and sleep don't choose targets, they just hit everyone in the area. So it could only work on area of effect spells that allows you to choose targets. Or it is just a poorly worded sentence.

 

[Remathilis]

I don't have the PHB yet, but I got a look at the list of Deities and wow, definitely a lot of stuff that is wacky/strange/dumb there!

Blame Gygax; I'm sure 90% of those alignments come from the first Deities & Demigods.

 

[Starfox]

I don't have the PHB yet, but I got a look at the list of Deities and wow, definitely a lot of stuff that is wacky/strange/dumb there.

I mean, it seems clear that whoever did the Greek deities has literally never seriously read any Greek Mythology. Artemis is NG. Artemis. What... by D&D's own definitions, she's N *at best*, probably CN. Most Greek gods should be CN. They do whatever the hell they personally feel like with no regard for morality or righteousness. Hades, who, frankly, is one of the better ones, is LE. If he's LE, guys, then Zeus is CE, so that's some Hollywood bullcrap right there. Hephaestus is NG. I can't think of anything that he's ever done that would warrant that. Aphrodite is CG. HAH! As if. Hera is CN?! That seems actively sexist and nasty. Hera is, if anything, more rational than most of the gods. Nasty? Yes, but in an organised, logical way. You can't have Zeus, who does whatever the hell he likes to whoever he likes whether they think it's okay or not, as N, and Hera as CN. You just can't. She is far more "lawful" than him. If he's CN, she could be N. LN or even LE might be better for her. I could go on. At least Ares is CE. That's something.

Do I sense a bias against the chaotic alignments here? Chaotic neutral isn't "worse" than lawful neutral, just more unpredictable and driven by individual "honor", "face", "freedom", and such chaotic motivations.

 

[Li Shenron]

The rational behind sneak attack seems to be that a target can't as effectively defend itself against the rogue and another attacker. So, any attacking pets would count. In the case of a mount, such as a warhorse, I think I would consider the mount and rider to be a single entity for the purposes of sneak attack, since the target would be defending against them as a single entity. A comparable example would be a centaur with levels of Rogue. I wouldn't give them sneak attack by default either.

That said, if the Rogue were to jump off of the horse, and both continue to attack the target, then the Rogue would get sneak attack.

Very reasonable ruling.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Do I sense a bias against the chaotic alignments here? Chaotic neutral isn't "worse" than lawful neutral, just more unpredictable and driven by individual "honor", "face", "freedom", and such chaotic motivations.

You do not!

I agree that CN isn't morally worse, and it's clumsy wording on my part if I implied it was, but it is more unpredictable and self-oriented (like most Greek gods).
[MENTION=7635]Remathilis[/MENTION] - I don't think that's right, but I'll check.

 

[Remathilis]

In Legends and Lore (AD&D1e)

Artemis - N
Hades - NE
Zeus - CG
Hephaestus - N
Aphrodite - CG
Hera - N
Ares - CE
Arawn - LE
Odin - NG

So some of those choices have been around for a while, and are probably done to diversify the pantheon (to give them some good and evil deities).

 

[Nebulous]

A Rogue on a warhorse has continual combat advantage in melee, since the horse is an ally.

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