D&D 5E Shield Master vs Two Weapon Fighting on a rogue

[NotAYakk]

Ah, I figured they where entering melee range. With the talk of TWF and all.

When adjacent, nobody is going to be blocking LOS.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Ah, I figured they where entering melee range. With the talk of TWF and all.

When adjacent, nobody is going to be blocking LOS.

Oh, it could have been (I just skimmed it over, my bad if I'm wrong!)

I think the halfling ability (same with wood elf) is what trumps normal LOS rules, specific over general and all that. If a DM didn't allow it, I'd be a tad bit annoyed but wouldn't argue it too much.

 

[Mistwell]

Barring errata, no. I'd even accept Sage Advice for Adventurer's Guild or some other official clarification.

Until then the guidelines are that the DM decides. It's up to the DM whether or not they take that twitter conversation into consideration.

1) it IS in Sage Advice. 2) you think it's not legitimate for me to post that the lead designer who answers rules questions has extensively answered that you can do this? Seriously, it's not enough that you don't want to use it but when I ask don't you think it's a legit subject for me to raise here you say no?

Oofta my man, you use whatever rulings you want in your game. But this is a perfectly legitimate topic for me to raise in this thread.

 

[Mistwell]

Oh, it could have been (I just skimmed it over, my bad if I'm wrong!)

I think the halfling ability (same with wood elf) is what trumps normal LOS rules, specific over general and all that. If a DM didn't allow it, I'd be a tad bit annoyed but wouldn't argue it too much.

Yes the specific lightfoot halfling ability does trump normal line of sight rules for this. I do think you can hide behind an ally and then attack from hiding in melee to an adjacent space and gain advantage. You just can't go running out into the open to do it.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yes the specific lightfoot halfling ability does trump normal line of sight rules for this. I do think you can hide behind an ally and then attack from hiding in melee to an adjacent space and gain advantage. You just can't go running out into the open to do it.

That's how we do it. Or the halfling makes a ranged attack and doesn't get closer to the target. Either works. The only issue with ranged attack is shooting/throwing into melee and the +2 cover bonus, but sharpshooter can take care of that (or spell-sniper for casters).

 

[Oofta]

1) it IS in Sage Advice. 2) you think it's not legitimate for me to post that the lead designer who answers rules questions has extensively answered that you can do this? Seriously, it's not enough that you don't want to use it but when I ask don't you think it's a legit subject for me to raise here you say no?

Oofta my man, you use whatever rulings you want in your game. But this is a perfectly legitimate topic for me to raise in this thread.

A compilation of tweets is not the official sage advice column that you can find here. Much more thought is put into that document.

I never said you couldn't raise it, but it's up to the DM whether they take it into consideration. Whether it applies to melee attacks (which is what the OP is discussing) is IMHO debatable.

 

[FrogReaver]

Yes the specific lightfoot halfling ability does trump normal line of sight rules for this. I do think you can hide behind an ally and then attack from hiding in melee to an adjacent space and gain advantage. You just can't go running out into the open to do it.

how can you be behind an ally And adjacent to an enemy?

 

[FrogReaver]

A compilation of tweets is not the official sage advice column that you can find here. Much more thought is put into that document.

I never said you couldn't raise it, but it's up to the DM whether they take it into consideration. Whether it applies to melee attacks (which is what the OP is discussing) is IMHO debatable.

Besides, after the shield master debacle who would trust JC on rules?

 

[NotAYakk]

Yes the specific lightfoot halfling ability does trump normal line of sight rules for this. I do think you can hide behind an ally and then attack from hiding in melee to an adjacent space and gain advantage. You just can't go running out into the open to do it.

Again, I feel like I'm missing something here.

If an enemy is in an adjacent space, there isn't room for an ally to be between the enemy and the halfling?

So the halfling isn't obscured by the ally.

.....
.E...
.A2..
.1...
.....

E is enemy, A is ally. If the Halfling is at 1, E is out of reach. If the Halfling is at 2, the E has a clear line of sight to the Halfling, no obscuring.

If the Halfling at 1 moves to 2, LOS is established and stealth fails.

I mean, a whip would work from 1. Ah, I think I want to make an indiana jones halfling rogue.

 

[Oofta]

The halfling can be hidden behind someone and cannot be directly targeted. That doesn't mean the enemy forgets they exist. Hiding doesn't cause short term memory loss.

As far as JC's tweet ... I'm not even sure it applies whether or not I agree with it. It's one thing for someone to be 30 ft away hidden in shadows getting advantage with a ranged attack. Totally different for the halfling to walk out from plain sight and expecting to have advantage.

That kind of stuff was explicitly allowed in 4E for certain powers, in the current version of the game it's up to the DM.