D&D 5E The Nature of the Shield Spell

[dco]

No defense is impenetrable so the player need not know the roll, just that they have an much increased chance of avoiding damage with this spell. It sucks when it fails, but it sucks when somebody saves against your charm person spell too. Just because its a limited resource, doesn't mean its guaranteed.

Exactly.

To my knowledge the AC hit by an attack roll is not secret information. Nowhere in the making an attack section of the rules is there a step " Do not reveal the result of the attack roll. " I know this won't sit well with some people who believe the attack roll results need to be secret but there really isn't a reason to hide it.

The Monster Manual talks about monster attacks and says to refer to the rules in the Player's Handbook. So as far as I can tell the players and the DM use the same rules to have characters under their control make attacks. I guess players could not reveal their attack roll results to the DM and all combats stall out after one attack roll but the I honestly believe the roll results are meant to be shared so the game can continue past the first attack.

You can read the DM guide, precisely the book for the DM.

 

[Yardiff]

Play it how you like in your games but the official standing is that the caster knows whether the spell will block the attack or not before casting it.

 

[Hriston]

According to Sage Advice, the caster should know the roll made for the attack before casting Shield.

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/10/11/shield-before/

Tweets from Mike Mearls aren't official rulings. It's up to individual DMs whether to keep their rolls secret or not.

 

[Tanin Wulf]

To my knowledge the AC hit by an attack roll is not secret information. Nowhere in the making an attack section of the rules is there a step " Do not reveal the result of the attack roll. " I know this won't sit well with some people who believe the attack roll results need to be secret but there really isn't a reason to hide it.

The Monster Manual talks about monster attacks and says to refer to the rules in the Player's Handbook. So as far as I can tell the players and the DM use the same rules to have characters under their control make attacks. I guess players could not reveal their attack roll results to the DM and all combats stall out after one attack roll but the I honestly believe the roll results are meant to be shared so the game can continue past the first attack.

This is... not correct (edit: but you did say to your knowledge, so credit there for a good caveat). Or rather, it's missing a data point and making an assumption that's leading it to a conclusion that's pure hogwash. Specifically, Chapter 8 of the DMG, which absolutely "allows" a DM to roll in secret. So, next time... make sure you read ALL the rules in order to interpret the rules. ("Let Rulebook Interpret Rulebook" in honor of All Saint's Day being today?)

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

This is... not correct (edit: but you did say to your knowledge, so credit there for a good caveat). Or rather, it's missing a data point and making an assumption that's leading it to a conclusion that's pure hogwash. Specifically, Chapter 8 of the DMG, which absolutely "allows" a DM to roll in secret. So, next time... make sure you read ALL the rules in order to interpret the rules. ("Let Rulebook Interpret Rulebook" in honor of All Saint's Day being today?)

I still believe that the standard is rolling in full view of everyone. The second line of the dice rolling section is " Rolling in full view of everyone is a good starting point." The bullet points after that are potential reasons a DM might want to hide a roll, but the standard is to roll in full view.

Another reason I believe the standard is to for the rolls to be in plain sight is that the valor bard combat inspiration ability allows the recipient of bardic inspiration to use their reaction to add the bardic inspiration roll to their AC after seeing the roll. I don't think that they intend for everytime that the valor bard uses their inspiration that the recipient has to move their chair over behind the DM screen so only they can see the DM hit rolls but that the base rules assume players can see the rolls.

 

[Tanin Wulf]

The context of the rest of that paragraph makes it clear that line is referring to players, not the DM.

EDIT: the context of the rest of that whole SECTION makes it abundantly clear. Especially the third paragraph, which starts with, "What about you, the DM?" The section clearly indicates the preceding was talking about dice rolling etiquette for the players and setting expectations for the players (which it then follows on by the back half of that section talking about setting expectations of how you, the DM, will roll).

Read the WHOLE section, don't just cherry pick a quote.

 

[Tanin Wulf]

Note that I'm not advocating that the Sage Advice is wrong, or that you're wrong to not roll in secret. I'm saying "the game assumes open rolls" is inaccurate. From the text, it assumes no such thing - it calls out certain rolls as being open (and sometimes does that poorly), but the DMG is clear that's not the norm because THE RULES ARE NOT SETTING A NORM. It's up to you and your table is what the DMG is saying.

 

[cmad1977]

I feel that anyone who uses the term ‘meta-game’ in this context doesn’t actually understand what they are talking about.


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[Warmaster Horus]

I still believe that the standard is rolling in full view of everyone. The second line of the dice rolling section is " Rolling in full view of everyone is a good starting point." The bullet points after that are potential reasons a DM might want to hide a roll, but the standard is to roll in full view.

Another reason I believe the standard is to for the rolls to be in plain sight is that the valor bard combat inspiration ability allows the recipient of bardic inspiration to use their reaction to add the bardic inspiration roll to their AC after seeing the roll. I don't think that they intend for everytime that the valor bard uses their inspiration that the recipient has to move their chair over behind the DM screen so only they can see the DM hit rolls but that the base rules assume players can see the rolls.

I don't. I'll reveal a particular roll (usually a 1 or 20) for dramatics but I don't usually roll in the clear. It's how I played growing up. I think it adds some mystery to the game for the DM to reveal the outcome of a monster's or NPC's action rather than the players seeing a roll and making inferences from that before the DM puts it into words.

 

[Yardiff]

So Sage Advice is not consider 'official' rulings? Sage Advice is a rules question and answer forum on the WotC website and answer by designers and developers.