Level Up (A5E) How do these maneuvers function - New GM

Throwaway22

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My group has run a few sessions of Advanced 5E now, with pretty much everyone new or inexperienced with both 5E and A5E. We've been enjoying it for the most part, but we're all stumped as to how certain skill checks work.

The maneuvers Painful Pickpocket

When a creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make a Sleight of Hand check against it.

Anticipate Spell

Until the start of your next turn, when you see a creature within 5 feet of you cast a spell you can use your reaction to make either an opportunity attack or a Sleight of Hand check against it.

Mugging Hit

Choose a creature you can see. On a hit with your next melee attack against it before the start of your next turn, you can also make a Sleight of Hand check against the creature.

Pickpocket

When a creature is within your reach, you can use your reaction to make a Sleight of Hand check against it.

Deceptive Stance

You gain an expertise die on Deception and Sleight of Hand checks made in combat.

What do these skills do, and what target DC's should be used when using them? Are there any typical limits I should be aware of when adjudicating their use?
 

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My group has run a few sessions of Advanced 5E now, with pretty much everyone new or inexperienced with both 5E and A5E. We've been enjoying it for the most part, but we're all stumped as to how certain skill checks work.

The maneuvers Painful Pickpocket



Anticipate Spell



Mugging Hit



Pickpocket



Deceptive Stance



What do these skills do, and what target DC's should be used when using them? Are there any typical limits I should be aware of when adjudicating their use?
Basically... steal stuff from the bad guys. The best thing I can recommend here is (it's a little extra work) give your baddies stuff, so it can be stolen. Pretty often the baddies will get killed and looted anyway- so stealing a potion is nice, because the PC has denied the baddie from drinking said potion.
Of course, not every enemy is going to have stuff to pickpocket, or worthwhile stuff to pickpocket. To save your sanity, either keep tables of random trinkets etc. that goblins/bandits/etc might have on them, or make it clear to the player that they can ask "does it look like there's anything good on them to steal?" (though I can't say that'll help your sanity).

Mechanically? Yeah, sleight of hand vs. perception checks.
 

Not sure if it's outside of the scope of what Sleight of hand can do, but maybe you can also consider things like:
  • pulling the hood/cape of the enemy on their eyes (counts as "distraction" for me), for a 1d4 penalty on their attacks until they use an object interaction
  • unfasten their belt, halves their movement until they spend an object interaction to pull up their pants
  • tie/stab someone's sleeve/cape against a fixed object or another enemy, so that they either cannot move/attack until they use the object interaction, or the two enemies must move together

Etc. Basically, unless there is something useful to steal, these combat maneuvers only make sense if they can at least apply some penalty to the target. The rest is just flavor
 

Not sure if it's outside of the scope of what Sleight of hand can do, but maybe you can also consider things like:
  • pulling the hood/cape of the enemy on their eyes (counts as "distraction" for me), for a 1d4 penalty on their attacks until they use an object interaction
  • unfasten their belt, halves their movement until they spend an object interaction to pull up their pants
  • tie/stab someone's sleeve/cape against a fixed object or another enemy, so that they either cannot move/attack until they use the object interaction, or the two enemies must move together

Etc. Basically, unless there is something useful to steal, these combat maneuvers only make sense if they can at least apply some penalty to the target. The rest is just flavor
I like these. They're fairly minor and flavorful.
 

Special note for the "Anticipate Spell":

If your players got this you should check which of the enemy spellcasters use/need material components for their spells that could be stolen. Things like emblems on their shields might not be easy "steal" but a spell component pouch could be.

If they are prepared for the case (for example because they have seen it used) they might even use slight of hand to put something in the caster's hand the exact moment when they try to touch their focus tattoo hence keeping them from the use of their material component.
 

Special note for the "Anticipate Spell":

If your players got this you should check which of the enemy spellcasters use/need material components for their spells that could be stolen. Things like emblems on their shields might not be easy "steal" but a spell component pouch could be.

If they are prepared for the case (for example because they have seen it used) they might even use slight of hand to put something in the caster's hand the exact moment when they try to touch their focus tattoo hence keeping them from the use of their material component.
Personally I wouldn't let them putting something in the casters free hand to prevent the spell from being cast that turn- dropping an item is a free action. Unless it's superstick goo or something 😆

But yeah stealing the component pouch holy symbol etc is totally possible, as long as it's not in their hands- because that's the demesne of Disarm.
 

Okay, so it sounds like you just use the basic skill check system with these for effects determined by the GM and no defined difficulty checks or guidelines on what should be done depending on the level of the opponent. I'll file these under the "GM adjudication" heading and not bother with them because none of us have the experience to figure out the balance ourselves and I'm likely to either set the DC's as too high or too low, and it would suck for the players to not have any understanding of how well their abilities will function.
 

Okay, so it sounds like you just use the basic skill check system with these for effects determined by the GM and no defined difficulty checks or guidelines on what should be done depending on the level of the opponent. I'll file these under the "GM adjudication" heading and not bother with them because none of us have the experience to figure out the balance ourselves and I'm likely to either set the DC's as too high or too low, and it would suck for the players to not have any understanding of how well their abilities will function.
The DC is the target's Passive Perception. 10+Wis(+Prof if they're proficient).

Basically turns the Sleight of Hand check into an attack roll against their "Perception AC".

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Every monster in the Menagerie has it's passive perception listed under Senses.
 

Thanks for the response. I'm a new GM, so I probably overlooked an obvious bit of text. Where do you see that I should use the passive perception score as the skill DC against Sleight of Hand checks? Since this is in combat, I would think it would be more like a dexterity saving throw or targeting the enemy's AC. What about Deception checks? I see some suggestions that Insight is used as an opposed check (so not passive if my reading is right), but that you'd want to use an Insight (Dexterity) instead of Insight (Wisdom)?

I notice that some of the maneuvers define the DC, such as Armor Lock

Make a Sleight of Hand check against the AC of a creature within reach that is wearing armor, paralyzing it on a success.

Which makes me think there's a general rule for this, but I can't find anything under the general skills heading, Passive Checks, or the specifics for how to handle this.

I really appreciate the help, since I basically don't have any knowledge of 5E or D&D other than the A5E rules and a bit of Baldur's Gate 2 modding back in the day (which used a modified version of the 2nd edition system and pretty much didn't have skill checks other than flat ability score checks when they were rarely used to open up additional dialogue options).

Also, I really like the Esper as a more fantasy take on a psionic character. It was a perfect fit for how to handle psionics in my group's homebrew setting and consistent with the little bits and pieces of psionics adjacent content we already had (psionics is rare and mostly unknown, but certain species are able to make use of it).
 
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