D&D (2024) What is 5th editions Spiked chain?

[darjr]

Mike Mearls would talk about 3rd editions spiked chain, an exploit that wasn’t really leveraged by most until after the edition had been out. Something that could leverage a ton of rather cheesy optimizations and yet discovered by groups only after they’d been playing.

Does 5e have any of them? I tried to think of one but nothing really satisfies. I was thinking maybe the optional rule flanking.

Is it more dependent upon the group?

 

[TerraDave]

Well, since a certain someone is no longer here to say it...

The spiked chain of 5e is obviously the bard.

 

[Mecheon]

Double knockback eldritch blast warlocks maybe? Only one I can think of that got well known, though I haven't heard too much noise about repelling blast lately

 

[Mind of tempest]

Well, since a certain someone is no longer here to say it...

The spiked chain of 5e is obviously the bard.

wait what?

 

[Minigiant]

Well, since a certain someone is no longer here to say it...

The spiked chain of 5e is obviously the bard.

The Bard is the Greatsword of 5e. The Thing buffed so the popular fantasy is actually played but got buffed too much.

The Hexladin is the Spiked Chain of 5e.

 

[TerraDave]

So every answer so far involves CHA casters...that might be it, cross CHA caster multiclassing.

Its common, and yes, can be a bit annoying given how common it is.

 

[Zardnaar]

Polearm master and gwm combo.

 

[Oofta]

Heavy crossbow with crossbow expertise and sharpshooter.

 

[Yaarel]

I read the original post as asking: what unexpected combo breaks the game.

Certainly there are many unexpected combos. But none of them break the game.

The stuff that disrupts the game are fairly straightforward. Too many long rests at the expense of short rest classes − or viceversa.

Forcecage might be a broken spell − but not surprisingly so.

Paladins are extreme damage dealers − but not breakingly so.

I consider feats like Sharpshooter, Crossbow Expertise, and Polearm Master, to be among the few feats that are worth swapping an ability score improvement for, and to be the correct amount of design space that all feats should strive for. It isnt that these few feats are so good − its that way too many feats are so bad.

Maybe 5e doesnt have a "spiked chain" yet?

 

[Parmandur]

I read the original post as asking: what unexpected combo breaks the game.

Certainly there are many unexpected combos. But none of them break the game.

The stuff that disrupts the game are fairly straightforward. Too many long rests at the expense of short rest classes − or viceversa.

Forcecage might be a broken spell − but not surprisingly so.

Paladins are extreme damage dealers − but not breakingly so.

I consider feats like Sharpshooter, Crossbow Expertise, and Polearm Master, to be among the few feats that are worth swapping an ability score improvement for, and to be the correct amount of design space that all feats should strive for. It isnt that these few feats are so good − its that way too many feats are so bad.

Maybe 5e doesnt have a "spiked chain" yet?

I agree with this analysis. 5E did get much heftier playtesting than 3E, to be fair.