D&D (2024) Sage Advice column is live

[Minigiant]

This one is interesting. I did not know this and allowed it. I think most of the time the cleric would attack and then bonus action to healing word, but I was allowing it to be cast as the action if they wanted.

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It's mostly futureproofing and QA.

Bonus Actions were specifically created to let people do some special task once per turn without spending an action. Then BA stuff were designed with this in mind.

This is different from 4e were minor actions can be traded up with a standard action. Minor action were always designed to be worse than an equal cost standard action.

Letting people use a bonus action aspect as an action lets them do 2 bonus actions a turn. There are likely some BA stuff that is too powerful or shenanigany to be allowed to be done twice a turn or combined with another BA.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Yeah, you also see this in Shadowdark where halflings can turn themselves invisible each day for three rounds.

I guess stealth is hard to codify in a way that prevents abuses.

 

[Minigiant]

Yeah, you also see this in Shadowdark where halflings can turn themselves invisible each day for three rounds.

I guess stealth is hard to codify in a way that prevents abuses.

Or go the other way like Pathfinder 2e that has

Hidden
Concealed
AND Undetected

in order to make stealth "logical".

 

[Atomoctba]

If you read invisible as "you cannot be seen" rather than "you cannot be seen in plain sight", the condition makes sense for hiding. So invisible is just a word to "not visible at that circumstances". The invisibility spell just make "that circumstances" be any circumstance.

 

[Reynard]

Yeah, you also see this in Shadowdark where halflings can turn themselves invisible each day for three rounds.

I guess stealth is hard to codify in a way that prevents abuses.

Except in Shadowdark, "invisible" actually means "invisible." It's not the kind of game that facts around with language to try and avoid, I don't know, saying "hidden."

Halflings in SD have 3 rounds a day of invisibility, exactly as you think what that word means.

 

[pukunui]

How does Barkskin work with Shields, cover, and other modifiers to AC?
The target of Barkskin has an Armor Class of 17 if its AC is lower than that. This means the target effectively ignore any modifiers to its AC—including any armor, a Shield, or cover—unless its AC is higher than 17. For example, if you’re the target of a Barkskin spell and your AC is normally 14, your AC is 17 while under the effects of the spell; however, if your AC is normally 16 and you have Half Cover, your AC is 18, and Barkskin’s effect isn’t relevant.

While this interpretation is consistent with the wording of the spell, reading it has made me realize that I don't like how the 2024 version of Barkskin works.

I like that the 2024 version is a bonus action to cast and doesn't require concentration, but I prefer the 2014 version's mechanical benefit, which is that your AC "can't be lower than 16". That makes it so you can benefit from things like shields and cover.

 

[Kinematics]

Does the benefit of the Savage Attacker feat apply to additional effects like the Rogue’s Sneak Attack or the Paladin’s Divine Smite?​

No. The benefit of Savage Attacker applies only to rolls of the weapon’s damage dice, not to any extra damage that a feature or other ability might grant.

Disappointed in this, as the possibility of combining Savage Attacker with other dice sources made it potentially useful.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's basically says Invisibility the spell and Hide the action are essentially giving you the same Invisible condition with different triggers to remove it.

Hiding doesn't make you transparent. Enemies just can't see you until they find you, they see you in some other way, or you reveal yourself.

It doesn’t make you literally transparent in the narrative, but it does seem to make you functionally transparent, mechanically speaking. You can’t be seen without special senses, unless they succeed a Perception check, which uses an action.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, you also see this in Shadowdark where halflings can turn themselves invisible each day for three rounds.

I guess stealth is hard to codify in a way that prevents abuses.

Not really. 4e did it just fine.

 

[Charlaquin]

If you read invisible as "you cannot be seen" rather than "you cannot be seen in plain sight", the condition makes sense for hiding.

Yes, if you read something the text doesn’t say and the developer clarifications counter-indicate, it works just fine!