CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
I've been playtesting the butt-thunder out of this feat, trying to find as many possible exploits and game-breaking combinations that I can. So far, these are the big ones that I've uncovered. I'm sure there will be more as we learn more about the other feats, spells, and weapons...but these are the ones that really need to be addressed as the design process moves forward.
1. Punching your opponent in the face deals nonlethal damage* if you hit, but lethal if you miss. This assumes the rules for unarmed combat are unchanged in 5E.
2. The Ray of Frost spell does more damage on a miss than it does on a hit.
3. Tossing a healing potion to your buddy does no damage on a hit, but damages them on a miss (since it requires an attack roll). This assumes the rules for throwing an object to a companion have not changed.
4. Throwing a pebble or a coin at a target deals no damage if you hit, but damages the target if you miss. (Clarification: "any object can serve as a weapon," and the DM determiines the damage type based on the object used. [pg. 18] For tiny objects, this damage would probably be zero...meaning the Reaper feat deals more damage on a miss than a hit.)
5. Crusader's Strike, as it is written, stacks with the Reaper feat since it does not indicate the attack must hit its target to get bonus damage.
6. Spiritual Hammer, as it is written, stacks with the Reaper feat since it always requires the character to make an attack with it.
Many of these bugs can be fixed by giving us a better definition of what is and is not considered an attack, and/or restricting the Reaper feat to melee weapon attacks only.
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*I really don't want to get into yet another debate on what is/is not "damage" these days. It doesn't matter. So every time you read this word, just mentally substitute the phrase "damage, or whatever you want to call the effect that makes the DM subtract hit points from the target." Mkay?
**This too.
1. Punching your opponent in the face deals nonlethal damage* if you hit, but lethal if you miss. This assumes the rules for unarmed combat are unchanged in 5E.
2. The Ray of Frost spell does more damage on a miss than it does on a hit.
3. Tossing a healing potion to your buddy does no damage on a hit, but damages them on a miss (since it requires an attack roll). This assumes the rules for throwing an object to a companion have not changed.
4. Throwing a pebble or a coin at a target deals no damage if you hit, but damages the target if you miss. (Clarification: "any object can serve as a weapon," and the DM determiines the damage type based on the object used. [pg. 18] For tiny objects, this damage would probably be zero...meaning the Reaper feat deals more damage on a miss than a hit.)
5. Crusader's Strike, as it is written, stacks with the Reaper feat since it does not indicate the attack must hit its target to get bonus damage.
6. Spiritual Hammer, as it is written, stacks with the Reaper feat since it always requires the character to make an attack with it.
Many of these bugs can be fixed by giving us a better definition of what is and is not considered an attack, and/or restricting the Reaper feat to melee weapon attacks only.
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*I really don't want to get into yet another debate on what is/is not "damage" these days. It doesn't matter. So every time you read this word, just mentally substitute the phrase "damage, or whatever you want to call the effect that makes the DM subtract hit points from the target." Mkay?
**This too.
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