D&D 5E Little rules changes that still trip you up

[machineelf]

Except my DM has stated that the BA cannot be used to attack - I must have an ability which allows 2 attacks when I choose the Attack for my Action.

Yeah, your DM is wrong. This is often the problem with playing with DMs who don't know the rules well or (more importantly) aren't humble enough to consider that they may be wrong and take some time to research that rule.

There have been multiple occasions where I thought for sure I knew a rule perfectly, but one of my players corrected me. And I think one of my strengths as a DM is that if a player is adamant about a rule, I will will listen to what they say and take another look at it to see if I have had it wrong this whole time. It really burns me when DMs are too hard-headed to do that.

The whole point of dual wielding is that it allows the character to attack with the off-hand weapon using their bonus action.

 

[akr71]

He's explicitly a 4th level Rogue. He cant attack twice as an action. Dual Weilder feat or no.

I mean he can use his bonus action and his action to do so, but then he isnt disengaging with cunning action.

His DM is right.

PHB pg 195
"Two Weapon Fighting
When you take the attack action and and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon weapon that you're holding in the other hand. You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative."

I never said I wanted to attack with my action and bonus action and disengage. I want to attack with my bonus action OR disengage. However, I also said I was OK with his ruling - he is the DM, maybe it a houserule or preference I am not aware of - the campaign is still a lot of fun, dual wielder or not.

 

[Flamestrike]

PHB pg 195
"Two Weapon Fighting
When you take the attack action and and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon weapon that you're holding in the other hand. You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative."

I never said I wanted to attack with my action and bonus action and disengage. I want to attack with my bonus action OR disengage. However, I also said I was OK with his ruling - he is the DM, maybe it a houserule or preference I am not aware of - the campaign is still a lot of fun, dual wielder or not.

Ah OK. I was confused when you said you wanted to retain the cunning action disengage and attack twice.

Yeah, your DM is wrong.

 

[Ath-kethin]

The one that gets me: surprise. Even after reading this thread and knowing how the rules work, I still mess it up - at least twice just in the 3-hour session I ran yesterday evening.

Twice. Which means I realized I messed it up, apologized, backtracked, redid the section of the encounter, then did it again an hour or so later. Luckily I have a great group and the narrative tension in the second case was great enough that nobody noticed/minded, but it still bugs me a bit.

Been playing D&D since late '94, DMing since early '95. Old habits die hard I guess.

 

[Arial Black]

Old habits die hard I guess.

True dat.

I see some DM's still asking us to roll a miss chance for invisibility/dim light.

Some still allow the Delay action even though it doesn't exist any more. Not because they've houseruled it back in but because they don't realise it's gone.

 

[green_destiny]

There are still DMs who 'celebrate' natural 1's with a fumble, despite it never being the rule in any edition of D&D!

It turns the most experienced fighters into laughing stocks, 'fumbling' far more often than inexperienced combatants, just because the more attacks you have the more opportunities for a nat 1. A guy who's such an amazing fighter that he gets 5 attacks every six seconds is likely to cut his own head off twice a minute, when it would take an hour for a peasant to lose his head.

Meanwhile, those magic-types who are messing with Forces Man Was Not Meant To Know, cast spell after spell with nary a hiccup (unless the spell has an attack roll; easy to avoid).

I hate 'fumble' (house)rules.

Yeah understood. I think we're sadistically weird? We just take those fumbles as light moments for fun.... until someone stabs someone from their party!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The thing we still do the most is forgetting to roll concentration checks when damage is taken. We play on Roll20 so I've started marking my token with a dot to indicate whenever I'm concentrating on things. As the others in the group notice how hard it is to remember I find they have started to do the same.

Wow...I just realized that I've been completely forgetting to have our warlock do that with hex, which he casts fairly regularly. We've been playing for over 6 months. *facepalm*

The funny part is that I am 100% familiar with that rule, and I've always known that hex is a concentration spell. It just somehow always has slipped my mind in the midst of combat.

 

[Zimitri Reindhart]

Originally Posted by MonkeezOnFire
The thing we still do the most is forgetting to roll concentration checks when damage is taken. We play on Roll20 so I've started marking my token with a dot to indicate whenever I'm concentrating on things. As the others in the group notice how hard it is to remember I find they have started to do the same.



Wow...I just realized that I've been completely forgetting to have our warlock do that with hex, which he casts fairly regularly. We've been playing for over 6 months. *facepalm*

The funny part is that I am 100% familiar with that rule, and I've always known that hex is a concentration spell. It just somehow always has slipped my mind in the midst of combat.

I feel you both, and being a DM it's embarassing to admit. Only one of us in the group always remembers there's concentration and that you have to roll a save to keep it. Most of the time we just read the duration and we take it like it automatically lasts that much time, even when we all know the rule.

Thankfully, like everyone else we follow the roles as much as we can, so casters are usually away from any harm, usually (I do remember times were that one player who remembers the rule recalled "hey, wasn't a hit just two rounds before? Twice, and I was concentrating on this one buff ..."). If we ever play with a 1/3 we may overlook it even more.

 

[Croesus]

Wow...I just realized that I've been completely forgetting to have our warlock do that with hex, which he casts fairly regularly. We've been playing for over 6 months. *facepalm*

The funny part is that I am 100% familiar with that rule, and I've always known that hex is a concentration spell. It just somehow always has slipped my mind in the midst of combat.

For some time now, my group has used small plastic chips (like those in a Yahtzee or Axis and Allies game). Green means concentration, white means positive effect, red means negative effect. Place a chip under the mini as necessary. It's not perfect, but it does help a bit, especially to remind a character that already has one concentration spell active to not cast another. Oh how many times I've done that as a GM...

 

[KahlessNestor]

At our tables we often forget that moving through friendlies is now difficult terrain and that friendlies now provide cover penalties.

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