D&D 5E D&D 5e Basic Set: Things that make you go "what?!"

[evileeyore]

Something that made me go "what?!" was seeing every demihuman get +2/+1 to ability scores but mountain dwarves get +2/+2. I couldn't figure out the reasoning.

They have crappy other benies, so to compensate they get an excellent STR bonus.

 

[steeldragons]

Welp, the one I just found is that silence is no longer mobile. Can't, for example, cast it on a stone to throw at enemy spellcasters or directly cast it on someone (such as the rogue) so it moves with them. It has a static area.

Ooo. Hadn't noticed that. Not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, I see how it would curb abuse...but on the other, tossing a coin or stone into a room of guards to silence any alarms and the noise of combat was standard operating procedure back in the day. Using it on a coin or stone tossed in the general area of enemy spellcasters, also...I dunno...good thing?

 

[Sadrik]

What exactly does having proficiency in Int Saves do for you? Are there any Int saves? Much to my suprise, most of the Illusion spells I've seen are Wis Saves.

Blur, silence offer no save
Invisibility and Greater Invisibility only offer Perception (WIS) skill checks and I had to look all around the book in multiple sections for this, I think passive perception comes into play with it too if I am reading it right.
Dream is a WIS save, the one spell you must have read. This also deals Psychic damage...
Minor Image and Major Image both are Investigation (INT) skill checks.

They have a lot of skills doubling as saves. So Investigation (INT) for disbelieving illusions. For the illusions what if you have proficiency in INT saves? I guess the answer is sorry.

Personally am not surprised that illusion saves as wisdom based, that's what I expected.

I'm speaking entirely from memory, but I believe an example for things that require int saves were things that attack the brain, like a save vs a feeble mind spell. With that basis as the given example, we'll probably see more int saves versus some psychic effects from monsters and psionic brain attacks

Actually there is only one that offers a save and it is an atypical illusion. It looks like the typical illusions are a no-save affair. Instead a skill check is used.

 

[Nebulous]

Ooo. Hadn't noticed that. Not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, I see how it would curb abuse...but on the other, tossing a coin or stone into a room of guards to silence any alarms and the noise of combat was standard operating procedure back in the day. Using it on a coin or stone tossed in the general area of enemy spellcasters, also...I dunno...good thing?

I think a higher level "mobile" silence spell would be interesting. Or, if integrated into the spell itself, casting it two or three levels higher offered more versatility.

 

[Sadrik]

Mass Cure Wounds and Prayer of Healing. Oops.

 

[Particle_Man]

Mass Cure Wounds and Prayer of Healing. Oops.

Indeed. Well at least Clerics with the Life domain get the former for free on their "prepares spells for the day" list.

 

[Li Shenron]

What exactly does having proficiency in Int Saves do for you? Are there any Int saves? Much to my suprise, most of the Illusion spells I've seen are Wis Saves.

A long pet peeve of mine, but nobody at WotC seemed to care about having a more "balanced" representation of the 6 abilities in spells save.

The funny thing, Mearls just recently wrote this on Twitter (while talking about perception vs investigation): "illusions are a good example. wisdom (perception) let's you spot it. Int lets you deduce that it's an illusion." Unfortunately, in 5e it doesn't. Wisdom still does.

 

[Sadrik]

A long pet peeve of mine, but nobody at WotC seemed to care about having a more "balanced" representation of the 6 abilities in spells save.

The funny thing, Mearls just recently wrote this on Twitter (while talking about perception vs investigation): "illusions are a good example. wisdom (perception) let's you spot it. Int lets you deduce that it's an illusion." Unfortunately, in 5e it doesn't. Wisdom still does.

There are not 6 saves (in basic at least), there are only the three DEX, CON, & WIS. See this thread.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?356511-Saving-Throws-design-choice

Then there are things like perception to notice Invisibility, or investigation to pierce an illusion, athletics to dig out of ruble etc. These are secondary effects of the spells.

 

[Droogie]

Mass Cure Wounds and Prayer of Healing. Oops.

Well, mass cure wounds has a casting time of 1 action. Prayer of healing, 10 minutes.
One is a combat spell, the other is not.

 

[occam]

Mass Cure Wounds and Prayer of Healing. Oops.

Whoa, that's weird. That looks like a straight-up error. Since the playtest, they nerfed mass cure wounds and boosted prayer of healing, and must've missed the interaction. Unless an extra 30 feet of range is considered that valuable.

Why even have both spells? Just dump mass cure wounds, and rely on casting prayer of healing with higher-level spell slots.

EDIT: Whoops, missed the casting time. Never mind!