Official D&D Sage Advice Compendium Updated

Sorry if someone already posted this, but yesterday the Sage Advice Compendium got updated: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/sage-advice/sage-advice-compendium.

New things:

[NEW]
[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Can a dragonborn sorcerer with a draconic bloodline have two different kinds of Draconic Ancestry? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]A dragonborn sorcerer can choose a different ancestor for the racial trait and for the Dragon Ancestor feature. Your choice for the racial trait is your actual ancestor, while the choice for the class feature could be your ancestor figuratively—the type of dragon that bestowed magic upon you or your family or the kind of draconic artifact or location that filled you with magical energy.

[NEW]
[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Do the benefits from Bardic Inspiration and the [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]guidance [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]spell stack? Can they be applied to the same roll? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]Yes, different effects stack if they don’t have the same name. If a creature makes an ability check while it is under the effect of a [FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]guidance [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]spell and also has a Bardic Inspiration die, it can roll both a d4 and a d6 if it so chooses.

[NEW]
[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Is the intent that a bard gets to know the number rolled on an attack roll or ability check before using Cutting Words, or should they always guess? If used on a damage roll, does Cutting Words apply to any kind of damage roll including an auto-hit spell like [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]magic missile[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]
You can wait to use Cutting Words after the roll, but you must commit to doing so before you know for sure whether the total of the roll or check is a success or a failure. You can use Cutting Words to reduce the damage from any effect that calls for a damage roll (including [FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]magic missile[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]) even if the damage roll is not preceded by an attack roll.


[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Does the fighter’s Action Surge feature let you take an extra bonus action, in addition to an extra action? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]Action Surge gives you an extra action, not an extra bonus action. (Recent printings of the [FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Player’s Handbook [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]no longer include the wording that provoked this question.)




[NEW]


[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Can a bound and gagged druid simply use Wild Shape to get out? It’s hard to capture someone who can turn into a mouse at will. [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]Transforming into a different size can be an effective way of escaping, depending on the nature of the bonds or confinement. All things considered, someone trying to keep a druid captive might be wise to stash the prisoner in a room with an opening only large enough for air to enter.




[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Can a monk use Stunning Strike with an unarmed strike, even though unarmed strikes aren’t weapons? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]Yes. Stunning Strike works with melee weapon attacks, and an unarmed strike is a special type of melee weapon attack. The game often makes exceptions to general rules, and this is an important exception: that unarmed strikes count as melee weapon attacks despite not being weapons.


[NEW]


[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Can the rogue’s Reliable Talent feature be used in conjunction with Remarkable Athlete or Jack of All Trades? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]No. Each of these features has a precondition for its use; Reliable Talent activates when you make an ability check that uses your proficiency bonus, whereas the other two features activate when you make an ability check that doesn’t use your proficiency bonus. In other words, a check that qualifies for Reliable Talent doesn’t qualify for Remarkable Athlete or Jack of All Trades. And Remarkable Athlete and Jack of All Trades don’t work with each other, since you can add your proficiency bonus, or any portion thereof, only once to a roll.




[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]The Shield Master feat lets you shove someone as a bonus action if you take the Attack action. Can you take that bonus action before the Attack action? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]No. The bonus action provided by the Shield Master feat has a precondition: that you take the Attack action on your turn. Intending to take that action isn’t sufficient; you must actually take it before you can take the bonus action. During your turn, you do get to decide when to take the bonus action after you’ve taken the Attack action. This sort of if-then setup appears in many of the game’s rules. The "if" must be satisfied before the "then" comes into play.




[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Is there a hard limit on how many short rests characters can take in a day, or is this purely up to the DM to decide? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]The only hard limit on the number of short rests you can take is the number of hours in a day. In practice, you’re also limited by time pressures in the story and foes interrupting.

[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]If the damage from [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]disintegrate [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]reduces a half-orc to 0 hit points, can Relentless Endurance prevent the orc from turning to ash? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]Yes. The [FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]disintegrate [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]spell turns you into dust only if the spell’s damage leaves you with 0 hit points. If you’re a half-orc, Relentless Endurance can turn the 0 into a 1 before the spell can disintegrate you.




[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]What happens if a druid using Wild Shape is reduced to 0 hit points by [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]disintegrate[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]? Does the druid simply leave beast form? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]The druid leaves beast form. As usual, any leftover damage then applies to the druid’s normal hit points. If the leftover damage leaves the druid with 0 hit points, the druid is disintegrated.




[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Using 5-foot squares, does [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]cloud of daggers [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]affect a single square? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Cloud of daggers [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT](5 ft. cube) can affect more than one square on a grid, unless the DM says effects snap to the grid. There are many ways to position that cube.




[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]What actions can monsters use to make opportunity attacks? Are Multiattack and breath weapon actions allowed? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]A monster follows the normal opportunity attack rules ([FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]PH[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT], 195), which specify that an attack of opportunity is one melee attack. That means a monster must choose a single melee attack to make, either an attack in its stat block or a generic attack, like an unarmed strike. Multiattack doesn’t qualify, not only because it’s more than one attack, but also because the rule on Multiattack ([FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]MM[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT], 11) states that this action can’t be used for opportunity attacks. An action, such as a breath weapon, that doesn’t include an attack roll is also not eligible.



[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]The [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]stinking cloud [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]spell says that a creature wastes its action on a failed save. So can it still use a move or a bonus action or a reaction? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]Correct. The gas doesn’t immobilize a creature or prevent it from acting altogether, but the effect of the spell does limit what it can accomplish while the cloud lingers.



[NEW]

[FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania]Does a creature with Magic Resistance have advantage on saving throws against Channel Divinity abilities, such as Turn the Faithless? [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][FONT=Bookmania,Bookmania][/FONT][/FONT]Channel Divinity creates magical effects (as stated in both the cleric and the paladin). Magic Resistance applies.

I wish the reply on stinking cloud had been more precise - since losing action loses you your bonus action too. Movement and reactions are fine but *technically* spending your action stretching is not the same as losing your action or cannot take action so this reply means...

Inside stinking cloud with failed save, I can still use bonus action abilities and spells that are otherwise legal.

If that's the actual intent, fine, but it seems off.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Nobody is a bigger pedant than [MENTION=16814]Ovinomancer[/MENTION] !

I'm not even in this thread, pot.

/kettle

 

[Mistwell]

I'm not even in this thread, pot.

/kettle

I was just white knighting your honor as King Pedant.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I was just white knighting your honor as King Pedant.

Did I pee in your cereal, lately? I mean, if we often had banter, sure, yukyuk, but this is left field, especially since I'm wasn't even in the thread. Did I do something or is this just a misfired joke?

 

[Mistwell]

Did I pee in your cereal, lately? I mean, if we often had banter, sure, yukyuk, but this is left field, especially since I'm wasn't even in the thread. Did I do something or is this just a misfired joke?

Well it was definitely intended as a joke. As to a misfire? So it would seem, as I thought you'd find it funny.

 

[Sadras]

These pretzels are making me thirsty!

 

[Arial Black]

Moving Between Attacks
If you take an action that includes more than one weapon attack, you can break up your movement even further by moving between those attacks.

This also means for example that you can't dash between attacks (it's an action) or any other action you might want to do if you use an action surge or your PC is hasted.

???

What do you mean, "You can't Dash between attacks"? Even if you accept the totally unwritten 'rule' of not being able to interrupt action at the same time as ignoring the actually printed rule of being able to take bonus action whenever you like during your turn, 'Dash between attacks' is just nonsense!

Okay, it's my turn. My movement is 30 feet. I 'take the Dash action'. What happens to my mini on the grid? Where does it go?

Nothing happens. My mini goes nowhere. This is because the Dash action does not 'move my mini 30 feet'. What the Dash action does is increase my movement from 30 feet to 60 feet. Since I can break up my move however I like, I can take the Dash action first, not move anywhere! take the Attack action, execute my first attack, move a bit (using some of my now 60 feet), attack again, move some more, attack again, etc.

Even if you rule that actions cannot interrupt other actions, there is never a need to take the Dash action between attacks! You would just take the Dash action first, and then actually move whenever you like.

 

[Arial Black]

Stunned that no-one's called this out yet!

Is the intent that a bard gets to know the number rolled on an attack roll or ability check before using Cutting Words, or should they always guess?
You can wait to use Cutting Words after the roll, but you must commit to doing so before you know for sure whether the total of the roll or check is a success or a failure.

He totally fails to answer the question!

We want to know whether the bard can/should see the number rolled on the d20 so he can get a clue whether or not to use Cutting Words.

We still don't know.

How hard can it be? How hard can it be to answer the darn question?

 

[DEFCON 1]

At some point Jeremy just decided to tell people to go back and re-read the books as the answers tend to be right there if you just think about it for a second. How have you been playing Bardic Inspiration and Cutting Words these past four years? If no players have questioned you on your comprehension of the rule yet, my guess is you've been playing it correctly.

 

[Oofta]

???

What do you mean, "You can't Dash between attacks"? Even if you accept the totally unwritten 'rule' of not being able to interrupt action at the same time as ignoring the actually printed rule of being able to take bonus action whenever you like during your turn, 'Dash between attacks' is just nonsense!

Okay, it's my turn. My movement is 30 feet. I 'take the Dash action'. What happens to my mini on the grid? Where does it go?

Nothing happens. My mini goes nowhere. This is because the Dash action does not 'move my mini 30 feet'. What the Dash action does is increase my movement from 30 feet to 60 feet. Since I can break up my move however I like, I can take the Dash action first, not move anywhere! take the Attack action, execute my first attack, move a bit (using some of my now 60 feet), attack again, move some more, attack again, etc.

Even if you rule that actions cannot interrupt other actions, there is never a need to take the Dash action between attacks! You would just take the Dash action first, and then actually move whenever you like.

One of the "clarifications" by JC was that actions cannot be interrupted unless specifically stated. It's specifically stated that you can take your movement between the attacks of an attack action, but it's an exception to the general rule. Therefore you can't take any bonus actions (or bonus actions) while completing your attack action except move. The bonus action for shield master can only be taken after the attack action is completely done and over.

If you read the rules in a very technical way, if they have an exception anything that does not also have that exception is not allowed. It is a logical conclusion, just one I ignore. To me it goes against the whole spirit of 5E and dredges up the worst aspects of 3.x rules lawyering.

So like I said, I totally ignore it at my table. Saying "I'm attacking ___" is enough for me to say you've trigger the shove.

 

[5ekyu]

One of the "clarifications" by JC was that actions cannot be interrupted unless specifically stated. It's specifically stated that you can take your movement between the attacks of an attack action, but it's an exception to the general rule. Therefore you can't take any bonus actions (or bonus actions) while completing your attack action except move. The bonus action for shield master can only be taken after the attack action is completely done and over.

If you read the rules in a very technical way, if they have an exception anything that does not also have that exception is not allowed. It is a logical conclusion, just one I ignore. To me it goes against the whole spirit of 5E and dredges up the worst aspects of 3.x rules lawyering.

So like I said, I totally ignore it at my table. Saying "I'm attacking ___" is enough for me to say you've trigger the shove.

"When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn. "

"With this action, you make one melee or ranged attack. "

The difference is (what I think AB was bringing up) the attack action *is* make an attack. The Dash action is gain extra movement, not use extra movement.

So, my dash action is *done* in toto as soon as I "take it" and I now have the extra movement to use or not. The "action" is resolved. So the "indivisible action" does not apply.

For the "take attack action" with extra attacks the indivisible action applies (JEC) to everything but movement. But there is no additional limit on what that movement is or where it came from.

You seem to be wanting to see dash action as "making the move" like the attack action is "make an attack" but they are distinctly different.

I dont go with the Indivisible action either btw unless the situation makes it so. But Dash and Attack would be different either way.