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No, I did not read all 1824 posts, so apologies if this is ground already covered. I wanted to note that I think the earliest editions of D&D are the most simulationist, as are the war games that spawned them. Miniature historical war gamers typically have two goals when they play: reenact a...

Thanks for lots of interesting replies. I’ll note that Crawford has said that creatures Commanded to flee would provoke OAs (not disengage and move), which adds another wrinkle to parsing “direct harm.” Assuming the target has to be aware of the harm, and that Spike Growth does represent direct...

Command cannot cause a creature to do something “directly harmful” to itself. If I cast command on a creature standing in the area of a spike growth spell and tell it to flee, will it run through the area, taking 2d4 damage per five feet? Or is fleeing in this case considered to be something...

But the effects of the frightened condition are determined by whether or not the source of the fear is within line of sight. So, yes, you need to hear the SMA to become frightened, but my question is whether invisibility of the SMA negates the disadvantage on rolls for the target that would...

While that sounds right, it has some implications for things like the frightened condition and creatures that impose it. If a shadow mastiff alpha uses its Terrifying Howl to cause creatures within 300 feet to have the frightened condition and uses a bonus action to become invisible with Shadow...

I was looking at the gloom stalker ranger subclass and was wondering how Umbral Sight and the Fear spell, which gloom stalkers get at 9th level, interact. Fear imposes the frightened condition, which affects creatures while the source of their fear is within line of sight. In darkness, a gloom...

I was thinking about a ranger with the Druidic Warrior fighting style from Tasha’s who would use a quarterstaff with shillelagh and the Polearm Master feat. I noticed that the wording of the feat does not specify that you make your attack with two hands, and a quarterstaff is versatile. Does...

Thanks everyone for the responses. The bonus action is of course an additional cost for HM.

Summary: My interpretation of Favored Foe is that it is worse than Hunter’s Mark, but I’ve seen some comments that make me wonder if I’ve missed something. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything includes Favored Foe as a replacement for Favored Enemy. Basically, you can add +1d4 damage to one attack...

Spiked armor is included in SCAG as a box with the battle rager subclass description.

Our party has a battle rager barbarian with +1 spiked armor, and her go-to move is grappling and doing automatic damage from the spikes on the armor. The question has come up as to how this affects creatures that have resistance or immunity to piercing from non-magic weapons. Does the armor...

To clarify, I do understand that you only get one reaction per round. In fact, that was what prompted my question regarding two features that both use reactions triggered by similar events. The responses spelling out the trigger condition language make a compelling argument that the feat and the...

Let’s say an eldritch knight is hit with a fireball. The character has the Shield Master feat and the Absorb Elements spell. The feat allows them to take no damage if they save, while the spell gives them resistance to the damage. Both features require a reaction. Does the EK have to choose...

When selecting spells with Magical Secrets, can you select spells of a higher level than what your bard level would allow? For instance, if a Sorcerer 5/Bard 9 takes another level of bard, could the character select two 8th level spells, or are they limited to spells of 5th level or lower...

Thanks for all of the helpful replies. I think one reason this bothered me was that Acrobatics really wasn’t very good for...acrobatics. I mean, a lot of that involves jumping before you get to the balancing and tumbling. I’m also thinking of the super-agile, bounce-off-all-the-walls rogue or...

I’ve noticed in our games that Acrobatics doesn’t seem to get used much. I know it can be used to escape or avoid grapples and similar effects, and that there’s the DMG tumble action. I’m interested in creative ways that players (or DMs) have used this skill—or even just obvious ways to use it...

I actually think 5e had the right idea in folding companion actions into those of their masters, both to limit power and to avoid adding length to combats. In this case, I think the issue is that the wording interferes with another avenue for the ranger to pursue (TWF), and my guess is that was...

Can a beast master fighting with two weapons make an offhand attack after commanding the beast companion to attack? Two-weapon fighting allows you to make an offhand attack as a bonus action when you use the Attack action. Extra attack allows you to make a second (or more) attack when you use...

Thanks for these responses and clarifications. What got me on this was considering the benefits of etherealness for perpetrating crimes without detection, and moving rapidly between locations. Sounds like it’s great for the former, but for the latter it is only marginally better (since you move...

Can creatures that have the ability to enter the Ethereal Plane re-enter the Material Plane at another point, perhaps using the Ethereal to travel faster? The Etherealness spell specifically says you come back at the point that you left, but what about something like a succubus that simply can...