Sage Advice: Sneak Attacks, Breath Weapons, and Magic Weapons

The month's Sage Advice column by WotC's Jeremy Crawford covers the rogue's sneak attacks, ability modifiers to use with attack roles, and answers the questions "does anti-magic field work on a dragon's breath weapon?" (no), and "do magic weapons automatically give you bonus to both attack and damage rolls?" (only if it says so in the description).

The Sage Advice Compendium PDF has been updated to include this information. You can read the current column here.

 

[Faenor]

phb 146 every weapon is classified as a melee weapon or a ranged weapon.
phb 147 if a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use to make a melee attack with that weapon.
phb 195 when you make a ranged attack, you fire a bow or a crossbow, hurl a handaxe, or otherwise send projectiles to strike a foe at a distance.
phb 195 Melee Attacks. Used in hand to hand combat, a melee attack allows you to attack a foe within your reach...A few spells also involve making a melee attack.... When you are unarmed, you can fight in melee by making an unarmed strike.

No melee weapon attack and no ranged weapon attack. And no table. Just read the instructions and do what they say.

 

[Hriston]

PHB, p 194, under Attack Rolls, Modifiers to the Roll, "Ability Modifier. The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that have the finesse or thrown property break this rule. "

 

[Faenor]

Deleted.

 

[Faenor]

Right. Under the headings Attack Rolls, Modifiers to the Roll. Not under the headings Ranged Attacks or Melee Attacks. All the words together in order matter when reading instructions.

Although i actually don't think we are in disagreement about what the rules mean in gameplay. I apply str bonus to thrown handaxes and dex to longbow attacks.

 

[Hriston]

Right. Under the headings Attack Rolls, Modifiers to the Roll. Not under the headings Ranged Attacks or Melee Attacks. Read everything it says, not just the parts you want to read. I won't try to put it a different way because the phb explains it very clearly if you'd just read all the words.

But I want to read all of it, and I have. What is it exactly you're saying I missed?

 

[Faenor]

The headings. I won't re-word them because they are very clear. What do the words in the heading say?

 

[Hriston]

The headings. I won't re-word them because they are very clear. What do the words in the heading say?

You mean Ranged Attacks and Melee Attacks? What problem with my reading of the rules do you think those headings bring to light? I'm sure you noticed I included those types of attacks in the table I posted, so I certainly couldn't have been unaware of them.

 

[Faenor]

The heading for the thing defines where you find out about the thing. There's nothing more to it than that. So making your own definition of a thing and and making arguments about rules for a thing based on words that don't appear in the part of the book that describes the thing is false. Ranged weapon attack and melee weapon attack is terminology that is only relevant to the roll you make, not the activity, because they are not words that appear in the part of the book that describes the activity, only in the part of the book describing the modifications to the rolls.

 

[Hriston]

Aside from improvised, your table just isn't how it works because you can make a ranged attack with a melee weapon. There's the weapon type, and there's the kind of attack you make with it. You can make a ranged attack with a melee weapon if you throw it. It doesn't become a ranged weapon when you throw it, but it is a ranged attack. Its because weapon type and attack type are described in two different places in the PHB.

I agree with everything you say here except for the part where you say my table isn't how it works. My table doesn't make reference to weapon type, so most of what you say here is missing the point.

 

[Hriston]

The heading for the thing defines where you find out about the thing. There's nothing more to it than that. So making your own definition of a thing and and making arguments about rules for a thing based on words that don't appear in the part of the book that describes the thing is false. Ranged weapon attack and melee weapon attack is terminology that is only relevant to the roll you make, not the activity, because they are not words that appear in the part of the book that describes the activity, only in the part of the book describing the modifications to the rolls.

Let's see if I have this right. You're saying that ranged attacks and melee attacks have nothing to do with attack rolls because they're found under separate headings. Is that right?