D&D (2024) Rules that annoy you

[James Gasik]

Actually, I'll jump in on this one. You totally can, as a core rule, without a Feat. It's called "attacking with an Improved Weapon". You're not proficient (without Tavern Brawler or some other such), and it does 1d4 damage (a one-handed improvised weapon - probably bludgeoning, but you might try an edge-on attack for slashing?). Also, it's an attack as part of an Attack Action, not a Bonus Action. [DM call on whether you can off-hand / TWF it.]

Shield Master essentially makes you trained in a variation of this, if you do it with along an attack as a combo. [Of course, then I also quickly house rule that the Shield Master feat makes you proficient in this shield bash option.]

Sure but who would actually want to do that?

 

[rmcoen]

Potions of Healing being common equipment, and the new use of them as a bonus action. I'll continue to replace them with Herbs of Healing, which is a non-magical version that takes 1 minute to apply. Potions of Healing can be found as treasure, just like every other magic item.

My campaign has "Herbal Healing Pots", separate from healing potions. The HHPs have a 0-3 round "onset" time, then heal 2hp a round for 5 rounds. (So yes, a guaranteed 10pts, everytime.) And you can get them cheap (like 6-10gp) or expensive (40gp)... cheap ones are "Fresh", and will expire in 3-7 days!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Thats actually pretty funny

Heal grenade!

 

[R_J_K75]

BG3: Chuck a potion at them from across the room, works just as well!

I know I'm comparing a CRPG to a TTRPG but this seems a little too forgiving for my tastes. For a CRPG I'm sure it's fine but I wouldn't allow this in my tabletop D&D game. If I did, I'd at the very least call for an attack roll, if the attack failed it's definitely going to break and be destroyed, while on the other hand who's to say that if it hit the downed PC that it would break and be administered as desired? This just appears to make the game even easier for players to stay alive. I really hope this is not a rule in the DMG

 

[Micah Sweet]

Also, this made more sense back when the Combat Round was one minute, not 6 seconds. Talked about this in another thread -- many things made more sense on that time scale, and it also allowed for changes in environment (reinforcements, spreading fires, etc.).

This works especially well if you abstract the round to be somewhat flexible (so the assumption for the rules is 1 minute, but in reality it can be a little more or less depending on circumstances.

 

[rmcoen]

Sure but who would actually want to do that?

[that = shield bash as an Improvised Weapon] Well, the thought that came to mind immediately was "Fighter with sword and shield, facing a foe [like a skeleton] that has resistance/vulnerability that you want to avoid/exploit." Is it better to do d8 half damage, or d4 doubled? Maybe - like the fighter/rogue in my campaign - you have a magic shield, but a non-magical (special-material) sword. Hitting the golem with the magic shield does d4+2 damage; hitting it with the nonmagical special silvered sword does... 0 damage.

But... those are niche situations, I agree.

 

[James Gasik]

[that = shield bash as an Improvised Weapon] Well, the thought that came to mind immediately was "Fighter with sword and shield, facing a foe [like a skeleton] that has resistance/vulnerability that you want to avoid/exploit." Is it better to do d8 half damage, or d4 doubled? Maybe - like the fighter/rogue in my campaign - you have a magic shield, but a non-magical (special-material) sword. Hitting the golem with the magic shield does d4+2 damage; hitting it with the nonmagical special silvered sword does... 0 damage.

But... those are niche situations, I agree.

And what's worse is, it really undervalues the effectiveness of a shield bash in real-world combat. So yes, you're correct in saying you can shield bash without Shield Master, but doing so is most often a bad idea.

I was really disappointed that 2024 didn't make Shields actual weapons and give them a Mastery, but apparently any benefit larger than "+2 to AC" would make shields OP or something, lol.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I was really disappointed that 2024 didn't make Shields actual weapons and give them a Mastery

At least Shield Master now explicitly does what 2014 text said it could do all along, until someone started tweet-nerfing things...

Oh yeah, Protection doesn't suck now (shield only, disadv to all attacks against a target for the round), but... It's still not a primary pick. I think it just really suffers from how hard it is to get more fighting styles (there's a surprising lack of synergy between Fighter/Paladin/Ranger).

Best we have is pretending that PAM's bonus attack uses the shield, even though that's not mechanically what happens at all. Beats the mental image of twirling a quarterstaff one-handed, as is the proud 10-year tradition...

 

[Crimson Longinus]

At least Shield Master now explicitly does what 2014 text said it could do all along, until someone started tweet-nerfing things...

Which is?

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Which is?

When you attack, you can push the target prone (and still benefit from the prone for the rest of your attacks). Okay, it only takes place after you've hit with an attack now, but in exchange it doesn't cost you a bonus action any more.

And, to benefit from Prone, you need more attacks. This might be where weapon-juggling things to dual-wield them in your other hand comes in. The new WotC innovation!