D&D 5E Surprise underrated abilities

[Sacrosanct]

 

[Jester David]

Since this is off topic, I'll reply only this one additional time and then let this drop.

This can happen, though, with just 4 PCs, especially if the PCs can summon more NPC allies (like Conjure Animals), successfully cast AoE spells like Entangle, Web, or Hypnotic Pattern, etc.

Right, but when two PCs are casting hypnotic pattern things get nasty. It's the same as giving the monster disadvantage since they have to make the same save twice.
Or if only one caster drops that AoE spell, it means more crowd control in each encounter rather than every other encounter. More PCs increases the chance someone with have a resource to use.
Plus, you can stack more buff spells.

Solos do not work in 5E due to PC synergies (except Legendary creatures/Lair actions). A simple Bane spell can prevent 50 hit points from occurring by the solo monster regardless of whether there are 4 PCs or 7. And the game is not designed for just 4 PC parties.

Single monsters have always had problems. That's why the "solo" variant was created in 4e, in response to problems in 3e. And why legendary creatures were made in 5e, often with auto-saves. Action denial is always tricky.

From what you just described, it's not fair if the DM throws 4 normal foes and a dozen mooks at a 4 PC party.

Right, which is why the effective xp for each additional opponent is increased during encounter building. Because, when monsters outnumber the PCs, it gets harder.

 

[cmad1977]

One of my players ranger character consistently surprises me with his damage. Another one with her land Druid. The monk is surprisingly effective in melees. The rogue doesn't surprise me at all.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

All of my observations below relate to bounded accuracy:

This one is obvious now, but when I was first reading through the PHB I thought the various Conjure Minor Elementals/Animals/Woodland Creatures spells looked like trash. "8 CR 1/4 creatures? Pshaw, who'd want that." But then when you actually look at the CR 1/4 creatures, the spells are all actually pretty OP. I blame the spell less than the wonky CR system, but in any case the deadliness of CR 1/4 creatures is probably the biggest surprise of 5E. Don't get me started on wolves, cobras, and smoke mephits.

I've been a little surprised how effective poisoned weapons are. When my players first looted the poison off a dead drow patrol, I didn't fully appreciate how many monsters have poorish Con saves, and in practice a DC 13 Con target (applicable multiple times per round) is really good. Other poisons, like Purple Worm venom, are enormously effective compared to magic items.

Maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised by how effective Pass Without Trace is in 5E. The combination of disadvantage on perception checks (in darkness of course) and +10 on Stealth makes even a clanking, heavily-armored Dex 11 Paladin actually pretty good at sneaking up on people, and therefore at getting surprise.

I've also been a little bit surprised how often Athletics is useful. It doesn't look that good on paper since it doesn't apply any directly-helpful effects, but it turns out to be top-notch at exploiting environmental conditions such as a vampire's vulnerability to sunlight, or a wizard's Web/Wall of Fire spells. Frequently Grapple or a Push is actually a better option than an attack--maybe not often enough to build a character around it, but often enough that I'm glad to have a Str-based melee paladin in the party. For this reason, Dex is less of a god-stat than it looks like on paper.

I've also been pleasantly surprised by how tanky Paladins are in this edition, especially with a splash of Sorcerer. The combination of heavy armor, Defense style, Shield of Faith, and Shield (when your hands are free) together with Bonus Action spells like Sanctuary and Quickened Mirror Image is top-notch for standing off hordes of enemies. I initially thought the party was pretty good with just a necromancer, bardlock, and shadow monk, but adding a paladin has been way more transformative than I expected even though he doesn't factor prominently in every fight. See also comments above about Grapple/Push.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

The Cleric ability Invoke Duplicity from the Trickery domain is useful because it extends the range of the cleric's spellcasting by thirty feet. And, at least RAW, does not grant an Investigation check to disbelieve.

 

[Sacrosanct]

All of my observations below relate to bounded accuracy:

This one is obvious now, but when I was first reading through the PHB I thought the various Conjure Minor Elementals/Animals/Woodland Creatures spells looked like trash. "8 CR 1/4 creatures? Pshaw, who'd want that." But then when you actually look at the CR 1/4 creatures, the spells are all actually pretty OP. I blame the spell less than the wonky CR system, but in any case the deadliness of CR 1/4 creatures is probably the biggest surprise of 5E. Don't get me started on wolves, cobras, and smoke mephits.

I've been a little surprised how effective poisoned weapons are. When my players first looted the poison off a dead drow patrol, I didn't fully appreciate how many monsters have poorish Con saves, and in practice a DC 13 Con target (applicable multiple times per round) is really good. Other poisons, like Purple Worm venom, are enormously effective compared to magic items.

Maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised by how effective Pass Without Trace is in 5E. The combination of disadvantage on perception checks (in darkness of course) and +10 on Stealth makes even a clanking, heavily-armored Dex 11 Paladin actually pretty good at sneaking up on people, and therefore at getting surprise.

I've also been a little bit surprised how often Athletics is useful. It doesn't look that good on paper since it doesn't apply any directly-helpful effects, but it turns out to be top-notch at exploiting environmental conditions such as a vampire's vulnerability to sunlight, or a wizard's Web/Wall of Fire spells. Frequently Grapple or a Push is actually a better option than an attack--maybe not often enough to build a character around it, but often enough that I'm glad to have a Str-based melee paladin in the party. For this reason, Dex is less of a god-stat than it looks like on paper.

I've also been pleasantly surprised by how tanky Paladins are in this edition, especially with a splash of Sorcerer. The combination of heavy armor, Defense style, Shield of Faith, and Shield (when your hands are free) together with Bonus Action spells like Sanctuary and Quickened Mirror Image is top-notch for standing off hordes of enemies. I initially thought the party was pretty good with just a necromancer, bardlock, and shadow monk, but adding a paladin has been way more transformative than I expected even though he doesn't factor prominently in every fight. See also comments above about Grapple/Push.

Yeah, pretty much all of these were a surprise too. Let's just say that in the flying castle in HotDQ, we defeated the vampire and spawn using grappling and throwing them out of the tower. Oh sure, they would grapple me (shadow monk) on every turn, but I'd just shadowstep out

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

The 5E version of the Faerie Fire spell surprised me, and I actually overlooked it for quite a while because it didn't impress me at all in previous editions. In 5E, however, it's improved to the point of being a game-changing spell.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'll second faerie fire. Unexpectedly powerful.

Our wild mage in LMoP tried to get a wild surge pretty much every time she cast a spell by granting herself advantage on something (even if it's just a Dex (Acrobatics) check to do some irrelevant tumbling during her move) first. What was surprising was how non-dangerous to the party the wild surges actually ended up being. They were positive more often than negative, and rather neutral much of the time. If she had actually been using her advantage on initiative, attacks, saves, etc, rather than just using it for nothing to prep a wild surge the subclass would have been much more effective than it looks.

Other than that, I can't think of any major surprises so far that I couldn't tell from the PHB. It will be fun when a player manages to surprise me with one though.

 

[Jester David]

The 5E version of the Faerie Fire spell surprised me, and I actually overlooked it for quite a while because it didn't impress me at all in previous editions. In 5E, however, it's improved to the point of being a game-changing spell.

Wow, I'm swapping out a spell for that next time I level.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Oh, and Evard's Black Tentacles is surprisingly effective too. Especially when someone runs into it on their turn for some reason--if they've already used their action to attack or something, or if they get knocked into it off-turn by a Repelling Blast or Shove, then failing the Dex save and getting snared is an automatic 6d6 points of damage (because 3d6 happens when you first get caught, and 3d6 happens at the start of every turn you're ensnared). That makes it almost as good as Fireball at AoE damage. I ran a whole squad of 8 umber hulks into Evard's Black Tentacles (in a chokepoint) over the course of 2-3 rounds and it was really painful and demoralizing for them.