D&D 5E October 2016 Sage Advise

[Valetudo]

Barbarians use axes. Swords are for civilized people. D&D is not a game of subtleties.

thats a very ignorant view. "barbarians used two handed swords against the romans while almost naked I might add for no reason.

 

[Horwath]

Um... d14s exist, I have like a dozen of them. At a distance you might mistake one for a d10, but once you get close you see the days of the week written (twice) next to the numbers and there is no mistaking it.

Also, the brutal critical ruling of only adding 1d6 to a 2d6 weapon isn't to "penalize" anyone - it's to incentivize use of a great axe to people that would otherwise consider 1d12 weapons entirely inferior to 2d6 weapons.

I reworked great axe as 2d6 also and brutal critical adds weapon damage once again on a crit. Tham means +2d6 extra.

longsword/battle axe/warammer are 1d8/1d12 versatile. This helps little bit small races that want to be heavy hitters.

 

[Chaosmancer]

That change to alert is brutal, and honestly, I might ignore it since it cancels out all types of concealment giving advantage to the attacker.

I'm also ignoring the change to Glyph of Warding, because it breaks what I see to be the purpose of the spell. For example, my cleric placed a glyph of warding on a magic chest we found, which at the time was located on our boat. As soon as the boat left port, the box would have technically moved from where it was and the glyph destroyed. Even if it didn't, we needed to move the chest to a wagon some time later because we were going overland, and again, my glyph would have been broken, and then I might have to cast it everytime we stopped, because technically the glyph is moving with the wagon.

Heck, the SCAG and PHB hint that glyphs of warding are placed on spellbooks, I guess spellbooks that a wizard never moves from their pedastal?

I don't know what spell grenade exploit there is, but I'd rather deal with it if someone ever abused it rather than have my glyphs broken and made useless because the thief decided not to open the box until after they had carried it to the other side of the room

 

[ThePolarBear]

That change to alert is brutal, and honestly, I might ignore it since it cancels out all types of concealment giving advantage to the attacker.

I'm also ignoring the change to Glyph of Warding, because it breaks what I see to be the purpose of the spell. For example, my cleric placed a glyph of warding on a magic chest we found, which at the time was located on our boat. As soon as the boat left port, the box would have technically moved from where it was and the glyph destroyed. Even if it didn't, we needed to move the chest to a wagon some time later because we were going overland, and again, my glyph would have been broken, and then I might have to cast it everytime we stopped, because technically the glyph is moving with the wagon.

Heck, the SCAG and PHB hint that glyphs of warding are placed on spellbooks, I guess spellbooks that a wizard never moves from their pedastal?

I don't know what spell grenade exploit there is, but I'd rather deal with it if someone ever abused it rather than have my glyphs broken and made useless because the thief decided not to open the box until after they had carried it to the other side of the room

Going to be the one that breaks eggs here. The object moving part was always part of the spell. No matter what, your chest was always going to be unprotected. The change affects only surfaces. As in there where people that actually tought that removing the section of the floor with Glyph of Warding actually meant you could move the Glyph, somehow.

Now, i know you could have cast the Glyph on the top of the lid of the chest (oddly specific, i might add)....

I'm more concerned about the removal of the "harmful" part. While i see why it was done, i smell cheese.

By the way, DM fiat. Does an immovable rod locked into place on a boat stand still in relation to the boat or to the world? Yeah, same thing. Basically, DM aware of intention and not stubborn = fun.

 

[Pauper]

The Spiked Armor only being a weapon for Battleragers bit is very strangely worded.

The 'strangely worded' part is likely an attempt to point out that the battlerager rules are in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide and not part of the 'core' D&D rules.

I envision it as a sort of fighting style that gives proficiency in spiked armor, the ability to bonus attack with it, and/or grapple damage with it. I would assume everyone else could "main-hand" the armor as a improvised weapon.

The confusion comes from the ability to use the spiked armor to deal damage as a class ability of the battlerager sub-class, not an attribute of the armor itself. The armor stats for spiked armor only specify the armor bonus, max Dex bonus and other traits, just as if it were on the armor list in the Player's Handbook. The various 'tricks' you can do to deal damage with the spiked armor are battlerager class abilities, which is why only they can do them (kind of the same way that only rogues can speak Thieves' Cant).

--
Pauper

 

[Chaosmancer]

Now, i know you could have cast the Glyph on the top of the lid of the chest (oddly specific, i might add)....

I'm more concerned about the removal of the "harmful" part. While i see why it was done, i smell cheese.

I don't remember reading that as part of the spell, but I'll double check when I have access to my books again. Even if it does, that seems strange to me, because I remember for a fact you can cast it on an object that can be closed (which was weirdly specific). The problem then is, why would you ever bother? All the thief has to do is carry the box or scroll or whatever 10 ft to the left and your magic is gone and wasted.

Also, why is casting it on the lid oddly specifc? That seems to be one of the default places to cast it if you want to prevent someone from opening the chest.

 

[ThePolarBear]

I don't remember reading that as part of the spell, but I'll double check when I have access to my books again. Even if it does, that seems strange to me, because I remember for a fact you can cast it on an object that can be closed (which was weirdly specific). The problem then is, why would you ever bother? All the thief has to do is carry the box or scroll or whatever 10 ft to the left and your magic is gone and wasted.

Also, why is casting it on the lid oddly specifc? That seems to be one of the default places to cast it if you want to prevent someone from opening the chest.

The default places to cast is actually given as "inside the chest". More of as a trap than anything. That is how i always read the spell... a trap, more than a true warding tool.
But yeah you are right, it was "inside an object that can be closed". I always skipped the "that can be closed" part while reading. Dunno why. Reading it as a trap probably helped me understanding the intent behind unconsciously. Dunno.

Anyway, the thief had to "manipulate" the object, so the right condition could be met before he could actually move, since picking it up would still be manipulating it.

Edit: Wiiii first level up!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

glyph of warding can now be used to place concentration defensive spells on you without the need of concentration... for a medium high amount of money... I am not sure that this is a good idea...

 

[Chaosmancer]

glyph of warding can now be used to place concentration defensive spells on you without the need of concentration... for a medium high amount of money... I am not sure that this is a good idea...

With the inability to move it (which I'm still against) how?

You cast a buff on your armor, move 10ft and lose the spell.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I don't know what spell grenade exploit there is, but I'd rather deal with it if someone ever abused it rather than have my glyphs broken and made useless because the thief decided not to open the box until after they had carried it to the other side of the room

Fundamentally that you can put a glyph on something throwable and then attack people with it (and you can potentially have a large number of glyphs on a single throwable object, too). Or on something small and portable and it acts like a potion.