D&D 5E Re-gripping your weapon uses an object interaction?


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James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Supporter
i'm assuming you calculated this by averaging the difference between one-handing and two-handing a longsword for comparing against the greatsword?
Yeah so, longsword is 4.5 average damage one-handed (6.5 with duelist style), longsword is 5.5 average damage two-handed, and the greatsword is 7 average damage.

I know a lot of people look at the maximum damage to see how effective their attacks are, but even in this case, the numbers aren't exactly that much different: 8 damage for one-handed longsword, 10 damage with duelist style, 10 damage two-handed vs. 12 damage greatsword.

It's not the weapon that's really doing the damage for melee characters, but the special abilities, fighting styles, feats, and their Strength score, so fiddly rulings like this don't really "balance" anything. It might effect your verisimilitude, but I put this in the same camp as forcing Clerics, who are intended to use shields to survive in melee with lower hit points so they can use their touch spells, who are also supposed to smack things with a blunt instrument when conserving spell slots*, to take a (optional!) feat with Warcaster, just so they aren't stuck in this endless loop of sheathe weapon, cast spell, unsheathe weapon, melee attack, which wrecks my verisimilitude (because just think about what that would look like, in reality, with a guy readying and unreadying his weapon every 6 seconds), just so the Cleric can't make an opportunity attack every now and then.

*Sure, Xanathar's gave us Toll the Dead, but from my experience with poison spray on my Yuan-Ti, give me an attack roll cantrip over a saving throw one any day. Especially on a Cleric, who has reasons to have ability scores other than a maxed-out Wisdom.
 



James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Supporter
I don't actually have Tasha's yet, lol, so that's a new one for me. And here I thought I'd learned everything in the book by osmosis from hearing people gripe about it on the forums!
 

tetrasodium

Legend
Supporter
Epic
I don't actually have Tasha's yet, lol, so that's a new one for me. And here I thought I'd learned everything in the book by osmosis from hearing people gripe about it on the forums!
If he's talking about what I think he's talking about they are more like thematically appropriate versions of the rod of the pact keeper plus a mundane sprllbook focus item
. If not I can't think of anything in tcoe that has any significant overlap with the old implements. I don't think it's something that you missed.
 

James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Supporter
If he's talking about what I think he's talking about they are more like thematically appropriate versions of the rod of the pact keeper plus a mundane sprllbook focus item
. If not I can't think of anything in tcoe that has any significant overlap with the old implements. I don't think it's something that you missed.
Oh if it's just more magic items, then yeah, I can't really count those. I mean it's nice, sure, but until the game changes to making magic items core, or giving DM's better guidance about how or when to let players acquire them, I really can't call that a plus to the game overall.

You can't count on an optional subsystem as a player.
 

EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way
we got those in Tasha's for every class, so that's something
I don't actually have Tasha's yet, lol, so that's a new one for me. And here I thought I'd learned everything in the book by osmosis from hearing people gripe about it on the forums!
If he's talking about what I think he's talking about they are more like thematically appropriate versions of the rod of the pact keeper plus a mundane sprllbook focus item
. If not I can't think of anything in tcoe that has any significant overlap with the old implements. I don't think it's something that you missed.
Yeah, I'm afraid I have to side with Tetrasodium on this one: the magic foci in Tasha's are at best only a pale shadow of 4e's implements. They're all class-specific and have one daily benefit, e.g. the Bloodwell Vial (a Sorcerer focus) lets you regain 5 spell points once a day, while the Amulet of the Devout gives you one free usage of Channel Divinity per day. (AFAICT, all of the items are reusable at dawn specifically.)

By comparison to 4e implements, these are...shall we say, rather thinner.
 


James Gasik

We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Supporter
Yeah, I'm afraid I have to side with Tetrasodium on this one: the magic foci in Tasha's are at best only a pale shadow of 4e's implements. They're all class-specific and have one daily benefit, e.g. the Bloodwell Vial (a Sorcerer focus) lets you regain 5 spell points once a day, while the Amulet of the Devout gives you one free usage of Channel Divinity per day. (AFAICT, all of the items are reusable at dawn specifically.)

By comparison to 4e implements, these are...shall we say, rather thinner.
But even then, they would be fine if anyone could guarantee they could acquire one. Unfortunately, that's not how the game works, so it's just one of those things you can wish you had, but might not ever get.

I bet they require attunement too!

Why WotC keeps publishing magic items when they basically told DM's "hey use 'em if you want, but don't blame us if they destroy your game, lol!" sometimes feels like a big kid taunting a little kid with a piece of candy he can't reach.
 

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