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.

 

[Azurewraith]

This all seemed pretty straight forward to me.

 

[Faenor]

In all this rules lawyering, I think there's something obvious that's missing: Throwing heavy things uses strength. Aiming something that just shoots uses dexterity. We don't have a separate roll to aim and another to hit with enough force to do damage. It also takes strength just to throw something heavy with accuracy.

 

[Hriston]

In all this rules lawyering, I think there's something obvious that's missing: Throwing heavy things uses strength. Aiming something that just shoots uses dexterity. We don't have a separate roll to aim and another to hit with enough force to do damage. It also takes strength just to throw something heavy with accuracy.

How heavy are we talking about here? Most weapons weigh only a few pounds.

Also, as I believe has been noted up-thread, drawing a bow takes strength.

In both of these cases, I would argue, the contribution of strength is negligible, and the primary consideration when making a RWA is accuracy.

 

[Faenor]

The strength analogy with the bow would be just the draw. So it would be a minimum strength requirement. It would be like a constitution check on a blow gun for the lung power.

 

[Hriston]

I would say the same is true for throwing an object. If you have the minimum required strength score to lift the object then you're able to make the attack in the first place. Your dexterity bonus, however, is what helps you throw the object accurately unless the object is a melee weapon with the thrown property, in which case it is specifically designed to allow you to channel your strength into making an accurate shot.

 

[Faenor]

It's about scaling. Damage from a thrown axe scales with how hard you can throw it. Damage from an arrow scales with where on the body you hit. An arrow from Conan's bow is the same as an arrow from tasslehoff's bow, unless you use a different bow. So that's accounted for in short and long bow dice.

 

[jaelis]

The hard separation between Str and Dex is really just a game artifact. Surely attacking with any muscle-based weapon actually involves aspects of both dexterity and strength.

The game rules have to be an abstraction to make things playable... trying to ground them too firmly in reality can't really give a good answer in the end.

 

[Hriston]

It's about scaling. Damage from a thrown axe scales with how hard you can throw it. Damage from an arrow scales with where on the body you hit. An arrow from Conan's bow is the same as an arrow from tasslehoff's bow, unless you use a different bow. So that's accounted for in short and long bow dice.

Right, so assuming both Conan and Tasslehoff have the minimum strength required to lift the object in question, the damage they do will depend on where they hit the target and whether the object is aligned properly when it hits. Of course, an improvised weapon may be given the thrown property at the DM's discretion whenever it seems appropriate, cf the giants' rock attacks.

 

[Faenor]

The hand axe penetration scales with strength. The arrow's penetration scales with the pull strength on the bow. If you want to house rules higher bow damage due to strength, then implement a great bow that does 2d6 with a minimum strength req to draw it or perhaps an exhaustion level. Like heavy armor.

 

[Faenor]

Contrast that with a dagger throw. You can do more damage by sticking it in deeper or sticking it in a better spot. That's why dagger can be versatile. Compared to hand axe which may be to clumsy for getting accurate placement. I don't have my books, so maybe I don't mean dagger. Javelin? Whichever is versatile.