D&D 5E New Errata & Advice For D&D Issued

WotC has issued an update to the 'Sage Advice' compilation, including new errata documents and amendments to racial attributes.

Compendium: October 2020 | Sage Advice | Dungeons & Dragons

This Sage Advice Compendium includes updates to Curse of Strahd, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Storm King’s Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation, and Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

dnd.wizards.com

"The PDF contains answers to a collection of new questions. To find the latest answers, search for “[New]” in the PDF.

The compendium includes links to new errata documents for Curse of Strahd, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Storm King’s Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation, and Volo’s Guide to Monsters."

Racial attributes have been altered (thanks to @dave2008 for pointing that out).

 

[Kobold Stew]

So no races have any penalties anymore.
And Orcs are errata'd from Volo's to match Eberron.

Neither is surprising.

 

[Weiley31]

New House Rule: Orcs gets both Menacing and Prime Intuition.

 

[cbwjm]

New House Rule: Orcs gets both Menacing and Prime Intuition.

Was just thinking the same thing.

 

[Weiley31]

So a lizard-man paladin could smite with their bite?

I mean, if you had such a good Dentist, you'd feel bad about not being able to use those pearly whites to Smite-Bite Strahd.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I agree DM should make the rules, but for organized play it makes sense they need answers on familiars.

The imp holding those healing potions dies you need to know what happens to the potions.

Eh, no, I disagree. Firstly, because AL and OP have their own documents already for covering the rulings they have had to make affecting play. One of which at one point literally said, "You as the DM are empowered to make decisions." Secondly, this is the exact same game where the stealth and hiding rules are actually, "Eh, it works when your DM says it works? ¯\(ツ)/¯ " The same game can't care so much about familiar sequestering of objects and then turn around and be lax about the specifics of hiding from someone looking for you.

 

[pukunui]

I kind of expected Grovel, Cower, and Beg to be changed too.

This was one of the things I advocated changing in my Volo's playtest feedback. I was disappointed when I saw that the playable races in the print version of Volo's were virtually unchanged from their playtest versions, despite knowing they received some good feedback on those. WotC just couldn't be bothered trying to balance the races properly, hence the "use at your own discretion" disclaimer. Sigh ...

 

[Weiley31]

So wait: does Kobold only get the +2 to DEX and that's it? I mean not a prob with the Lineage system rules, but still.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Can a paladin use Divine Smite when they hit using an unarmed strike? No. Divine Smite requires a melee attack using a weapon. The rules don’t consider unarmed strikes to be weapons.

Are natural weapons considered weapons? Things designated as weapons by the rules, including natural weapons, are indeed weapons. In contrast, unarmed strikes are not weapons. They are something you do with an unarmed part of your body.

I mean, at least it's consistent with the dumbness of this distinction, but at least it closes the terrifying loophole of a Paladin with magic weapon cast on fists, which has dominated play since 2014.

Really? I have never allowed that unless there is a specific exception that makes the hands count as a natural weapon, in any version of D&D.

 

[pukunui]

So wait: does Kobold only get the +2 to DEX and that's it? I mean not a prob with the Lineage system rules, but still.

Looks like it!

 

[Flamestrike]

''Which action is used to activate a Spell-Storing Item? - Activating a Spell-Storing Item uses the Use an Object action.''

Thief Rogues rejoice!!