D&D 5E D&D 'frequently asked' questions?

[Zaukrie]

#1 question I got over and over, every time, every roll......"which dice do I use?". Every. Single. Roll.

 

[ECMO3]

"A creature you touch..." - you the caster are a creature, right? You are, one must assume, always within your own reach, right? You thus can always cast "touch" range spells on yourself, end of story.

Any other interpretation is beyond ridicule.

Mage Armor is worded the same way and that is obviously something intended for a caster to cast on himself.

 

[Zaukrie]

More questions:
Can I move before and after I attack?
Why can't I do that (which was really, why can't I do more than 1 opportunity attack, or reaction, or bonus action on someone else's turn)
Can I shoot at someone I can't see (which was really them trying to shoot at someone that was around a corner, or in another room, just not understanding the context of walls and stuff at all)
How do I calculate that (anything D&DBeyond didn't do, or if they wanted to know how to apply proficiency bonuses on their own)

 

[Laurefindel]

Recently.for me, there has been a lot of "when I conjure a creature, summon a familiar, find a steed, ride a horse, direct an animal companion, or just release my hounds...

does that creature take it's own place in the initiative or acts on mine?
which action can it take on it's own?
do I have to take an action to command it, or a bonus action, or does it requires no action from me?
if I gave it a command the previous round, does it keep doing it this round?
if it's acting on its free will, do I play the creature or is the DM playing it?
who decides if the creature refuses to obey my command, or acts against my will or that of my group?
when I fall unconscious, do I still have to command it or does it acts on it's own? Does it disappear?
can someone else command my creature?

While I know most of it, it takes an effort to make sense of it all. I can't wait for 6e's unified theory of sidekick/summons controlling.

 

[Maxperson]

Agree. Can a caster cast invisibility on themselves? As a DM I'd rule yes but RAW I'd say no. Greater Invisibility says you or a target...little things like this really confuse things sometimes.

Invisibility

A creature you touch becomes [condition]invisible[/condition] until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is [condit...

www.dndbeyond.com

RAW Says,

"TARGETING YOURSELF
If a spell targets a creature of your choice, you can choose yourself, unless the creature must be hostile or specifically a creature other than you. If you are in the area of effect of a spell you cast, you can target yourself."

A creature you can touch is also a creature of your choice. The difference in wording is just one more example of 5e being vague and inconsistent.

 

[Nikosandros]

Prepared/known spells and spell slots. I've seen this trip a few players.

 

[R_J_K75]

A creature you can touch is also a creature of your choice. The difference in wording is just one more example of 5e being vague and inconsistent.

I think Invisibility is a good example of the sometimes poor and confusing writing of 5E. If the spell description opened with "The target...it would be alot clearer. I would never have even considered "wait the caster has to pick a target and cant cast it on themselves?"

For me 5E is difficult to remember the rules sometimes because as someone who played previous editions the subtle changes they made were hard to even recognize on first reading.

 

[The Green Hermit]

What are the areas of D&D that new players would find a short article explaining how it works useful?

Like -- "How do Opportunity Attacks work?" and so on. What are the pain points for new players, which they might google an answer for?

(I ask, because I plan to commission an article series doing exactly this - already lined up are opportunity attacks, exhaustion, concentration, and stealth).

Really, how combat goes in general. They Player's Handbook does an extremely poor job of explaining this.

 

[R_J_K75]

Really, how combat goes in general. They Player's Handbook does an extremely poor job of explaining this.

IDR, does the PHB give an example? Pretty sure in previous editions they usually include a " DM, and players x, y, & z" step by step example of what their players do and how their players describe it.

 

[jayoungr]

What are the areas of D&D that new players would find a short article explaining how it works useful?

Darkness (and other vision-impairing spells).