Top 10 Commonly Misunderstood Rules in DnD 5E
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-The List-
Intro: (0:00)
10- Maximum Fall Damage: (0:08)
9- Silvered Weapons: (1:03)
8- Ranged Attack rolls in melee: (2:18)
7- Concentration and Spellcasting: (2:18)
6- Variant: More Difficult Identification: (5:18)
5- Spells Cast from items: (6:09)
4- Advantage and Disadvantage stacking: (7:27)
3- Surprise: (8:50)
2- Nat 20's: (11:10)
1- Bonus Action Spell Casting: (12:54)
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Interesting thing about concentration! If you ready an action where you cast a spell, you count as *CONCENTRATING* on the spell until you trigger or it does not trigger before your next turn. This can end your concentration on an actual concentration spell.
This is compounded by the fact that you can ready a spell behind cover, as long as it doesnt require you to see beyond cover (assuming no familiar to borrow sight from)
Then step out from behind cover to cast the spell and be able to avoid counterspell!
BUT if you ready a 1 Action spell this way, you lose the slot even if concentration is broken, which is different than losing concentration on a Longer Than 1 Action spell! Spells are weird…
@@anguspodgorny2283 Actually untrue, you are still counted as "casting a spell" every turn holding onto it (even if you arent performing the cast a spell action but the ready action to set it up) untill its released.
Its why you can counterspell spells that are from spell scrolls, item granted (but not cast by the item itself like blackrazor) or spells that are parts of multiattacks, passives or regional/lair effects that specify the spell originates from the creature (a few adventure liches, some dragons, aboleths, etc).
@@ANDELE3025
When you ready a spell, you *cast it as normal* but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be Readied, a spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell’s magic requires concentration. If your concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect. (PHB p. 192)
When you cast a spell with a casting time longer than a single action or reaction, you must spend your action each turn casting the spell, and must maintain your concentration while you do so. If your concentration is broken, the spell fails, *but you dont expend a spell slot.* (PHB p. 202)
Cast as normal means the spell takes 1 action to “cast” and is therefore “cast” before you release the energy because your Action has ended. The fact that holding the spell uses your action on the next turn is irrelevant because you can still move and use an action, and i never said you could cast two 1 action spells in the same round, only that you can cast the spell 1 round behind cover, and then cast it the next turn to release it and it cant be counterspelled because the spell has already been *cast as normal*. This is also further backed up in Sage Advice by the game’s writer Jeremy Crawford - “Counterspell foils the casting of a spell, not the release of a spell that was cast previously using the Ready action.”
Scrolls and items are irrelevant to that point because the item doesnt change the cast of the spell, it just grants you the ability to cast it.
@@anguspodgorny2283 And the sage advice is wrong. Cast a spell action =/= casting a spell. Counterspell doesnt care about what action itself is used, merely that a spell is being cast and casting a spell is anything that causes a spell to happen.
You can fizzle a readied spell at any point with counterspell assuming the caster is in range and visible to you.
Also the long cast time section has nothing to do with this because its not relevant because RAW a readied spell, no matter how long you keep casting it, has to be one with a regular cast time of 1 action.
@@ANDELE3025 You could have argued that Sage Advice isn’t an official ruling, but youve lost the plot to say that the writer of the game is *wrong*.
You can run your game however you want, but RAW supports what I said. Sage Advice supports what I said, and you are wrong to claim RAW says something it doesnt.
I'm suprised that heavy/light obscurment, invisibility, passive perception, and mounted combat are not on this list, 90% of DMs I have played with didn't seem to know how these work.
And darkvision not actually removing disadvantage in complete darkness. I would add swimming, climbing, borrowing speeds. I think we need a follow up video
@@rubenmon5932 "darkvision not actually removing disadvantage in complete darkness" Yeah that kind of plays into the passive perception you would take a -5 penalty to your passive.
also the fact 99% of DMs don't use passive skills at all and only passive perception. literally not everything needs to be rolled.
@@hopeforescape884 Bold of you to assume people know about disadvantage on passive checks,
But on a serious note, there's so many nested rulings in D&D, that you'd almost think the video games are the original.
Because these rules use programmer logic and state machines instead of reminder text and direct referencing.
I get that it's a lot of redundancy to reference everything, but for unassuming words or rarely applicable rulings it is worth creating clarity.
Because while only using the word incapacitated might be shorter, it's a bit convoluted to use that word without reminder text (it's literally 1 line) when describing the effects of a different condition like paralysed.
I know it's on the same page, but still would it kill them to write it out?
After all it's not like they have a special keyword for "The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws." despite that being more common than incapacitated. And thus would save much more ink.
as as relatively new DM I can confirm Ive had problems with all of these except mounted combat in my first 7 sessions....
And the only reason I Havent had trouble with mounted combat is I havent used it yet
your group stealth check example is also a Commonly Misunderstood Rule, under "Group Checks(PHB,p175)" when a number of individuals are trying to accomplish something as a group only half of the check are needed to succeed for the whole group to succeed.
Exactly, one failure doesn't give away your position,
It just makes a sound that is brushed off as something natural.
So many DMs don't run stealth that way though... Having ONE person with heavier armor, and thus Disadvantage on Stealth, often ruins any attempts to be sneaky for the entire party.
@@XoRandomGuyoX Well all you can do is ask them to use a different way to handle group checks.
This is simply the RAW way of doing it.
A less popular one I've seen is having an impossible DC like 50 or something and subtracting people's rolls from that number,
If you manage to reduce the DC to 0 you succeed,
But if you did not reduce it to 0 everyone automatically fails.
(Used this for the party who wanted to destroy a big statue and they smashed it)
Big one in my group is Opportunity Attacks.
How they think it is: If they move away, I get to use my reaction to Attack, which gives me two attacks because I have the Extra Attack feature
How it actually works: If they move away, you get to use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack. You do not use the Attack action as a reaction.
How it sometimes is even more confused: If they move away, I try to Grapple them
How that actually works: You need to use the Attack action to Grapple (or Shove), and if
This isn't even counting how Dual Wielder is mandatory if you want to draw two weapons in one turn, or everything about how Darkvision interacts with lighting and obscuring, or your teammates providing cover to enemies, or that you can Hide against Blind/Truesight. There's pretty much a whole extra video for this if not two.
There is actually a legit RAW counter to situation 2 (and situation 1 if a enemy can move during your turn e.g. monsters with move as legendary action), since the attack of opportunity explanation is actually in the "action" section of the PHB (after attack rolls, ranged attack and melee attack descriptions), a DM can easily rule it the reaction allowing you to take the attack action with the movement out of reach trigger, equally so it would mean (as long as its the players turn) they could extra attack on it.
Personally i simply rule AoO as per old rules and ready action gives full round attack/you took it on your turn if readied, just didnt unleash it yet.
And idk how the darkvision bit gets mistaken when it almost outright states: lighting has 3 states, darkivision makes it count as 1 stage lighter. For the blindsight bit its understandable since most cases when its brought up, the creature is already on the lookout for players in which case the only exception of blindsights "you dont need sight to detect creatures/creatures are never unseen" is already gone (being before the creature is aware of the presence of other creatures in the first place AND its passive perception is lower than the passive stealth of the entire party).
There's also the ruling of allies count as rough terrain when you pass through them, whereas a lot of DMs just ignore that and let you pass through without issue.
Bonus Action Spell Casting is such a weird rule that it honestly should just be mentioned in the description of bonus action spells and abilities like Quickened Spell,
Similar to how damaging cantrips all scale linearly at the same levels, but still define this in their official text.
It also kinda nonsense that you can do it with action surge but not quickened spell. Like the thing you're trying to prevent is being done BETTER with action surge.
You missed one thing about Concentration with Spells. When you use the "Ready" action to cast a spell and hold it, holding the spell requires Concentration, so you can't Hold a spell and Concentrate on a spell at the same time. (PHB p.193 under Ready)
uuuuh this one, this one people always get wrong!
The Gunner feat in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything actually gives you the same benefit as Crossbow Expert with regards to removing the 5ft disadvantage for ranged attacks
One fun tidbit about spell Concentration is that EVERYONE has the ability to do it, even those that normally cannot cast spells. If you find a way for them to use an item, or with some classes create something for them, every party member present can be Concentrating on a spell.
On Sorcerer Quickened Spell metamagic, you can still use your Action to activate effects listed on certain spells, such as using a Quickened Sunbeam and then immediately using your action to fire a second beam of radiant energy on the same turn.
10:36 Actually, there are things like group checks, which are specifically mentioned for sneaking around, meaning that if at least 50% of the group passes the stealth check, the whole group passes.
In my experience the thing about surprise is nobody I've found actually likes the 5e ruling, surprise rounds are just easier and more sensible to manage in general. And there is an ( i think) optional rule where stealth checks can be group checks vs the Perception of the enemy which I also prefer as it doesn't gimp the entire party because 1 person isn't a dex build. Gotta admit though I don't think I'd ever heard about the identifying magic items! Though ironically that seems to make the identify spell almost useless, as in my experience most of the time the group uses identify during a long rest to see what the item does anyway.
I think there would be less confusion regarding Surprise if they had actually listed it as a condition. As it functions, it is basically a condition that lasts until the end of your first turn of combat if you were surprised.
I would've knocked the misconception on advantage and disadvantage stacking down a few spots because I wouldn't be surprised if there are DMs out there who DO understand the RAW, but choose to have the misconception as a house rule since the misconception makes so much more sense than the RAW.
Yep! I just house rule it.
#1 was one of those rules that has so many ways for there to be exceptions that it was bound to be misunderstood. I actually didn't know about the Eldritch Knight getting to use two spells that way!
This is why this ruling should be on the abilities and spells that trigger it,
They went out of their way to put the scaling rule on every damaging cantrip,
So why not do the same for this much more necessary rule?
to #1 RAW: Eldritch Knight can go for BA: Misty Step, A: Booming Blade and R: Shield or A. Fireball, Action Surge, A: Fireball and R: Absorb elements (maybe Attacks in addition depending on level).
So you can cast 2 Spells with BA and R and one Cantrip or 3 Spells with 2A and R by using Action Surge.
This is, because you usually take your Reaction before or after your TURN.
@@type3rror273 You should clarify that that casting as a bonus action inhibits your reaction casting on your turn but not the round.
@@williammeek4078 for sure.
it comes down to the sentence in the casting time description for Bonus Action:
You can't cast another spell during the same TURN, EXCEPT FOR A CANTRIP with a casting time of 1 action.
For example:
While fighting a giant Spider you cast HEX (Spell, Bonus Action) and than FIREBOLT (Cantrip, Action), which setting the webs on fire ==> you than can not cast ABSORB ELEMENTS (Spell, Reaction) because it is still in your turn.
BUT
If you cast another CANTRIP and someone else set the web on fire during the same round outside your turn, you can cast ABSORB ELEMENTS.
The same came up, if you use the Fighters Action Surge:
If you for Example cast HUNTERS MARK (Spell, Bonus Action) you can only cast two CANTRIP (Action) by using Action Surge, because you get on additional action on the same Turn and not an additional Turn.
And... if someone ask for the "Ready" maneuver... you can although not readying a FIREBALL(Spell, Action) to attack the first creature which leaves the house and cast MISTY STEP (Spell, Bonus Action) to get on the rooftop. This is written on the "Actions in Combat" section: When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs.
I hope this examples help clarifying the dependency's to "Turn" if casting a spell with a bonus action.
5:54 - this is for 3 reasons: 1) Logic 2) Some items dont give you full info even on attunement as part of their attunement effect/condition 3) it mostly worked that way in editions prior to 3.5 and thus why its also a RAW variant/optional rule that you need identify (and legend lore) per page 136 of the DMG.
Magic missile does not count as 3 instances of damage. It specifies the missiles hit simultaneously, and it has been officially confirmed.
3 missiles on one target are a single instance of 3d4+3 damage
Well, if we’re going to be litigious about it, that is also incorrect. Since Magic Missile is technically closest to being an AoE (think Fireball), it doesn’t deal 3d4+3... it deals (1d4+1) x (number of Missiles appropriate to spell slot level). It’s a bit weird, but you only roll the d4 once, and multiply that times the number of Missiles. If you roll a 4, all Missiles deal max; if you roll a 1, all Missiles deal min. Same way that you only role Fireball damage once, and apply that singular total to all targets hit. If you were in fact to roll the dice for each Missile, that would mean it operates like Scorching Ray, with each successful beam having its own damage roll. Which also means it’d count as multiple instances of damage.
In fairness, this is a “gooey” spell all around, and is acknowledged by the developers to be so. It’s both targetable and AoE, with no save or attack roll required. The only reason it isn’t broken to high heaven is that it deals such pitiful damage. However, some developers have stated (conversationally) that it really does not change much to have the spell be treated any of the ways mentioned.
The way I look at it, since each Dart is in fact a unique instance of damage, Concentration would have to be rolled for each Missile. My personal reason for this is increasing the value of both Magic Missile AND Shield spells, making Mage duels require a bit more thought and strategy. (I’d argue that the changes ONLY matter in those cases, because frankly, a Martial creature or character doesn’t care either way, damage is damage)
@@tempname3308 thats absolutely fine and I do It like this, but RAW its considered a single instance of damage. Making this kind of "mistake" in a video about common rules misconceptions is just kind of ironic, since its kind of a common misconception in itself, if not the most common one.
@@VoidplayLP
Ya know, fair enough. I’d just say, it’s also worth taking RAW with a grain of salt in regards to spells, they can tend to not directly translate.
Most significant example that I know is that technically, RAW, Revivify cannot work, because no appropriate targets exist. This relates to the different status of something living vs something dead. Anything that has actions is a Creature, anything that has no “life” is an Object (shorthand explanation), and they are targeted differently with many features and abilities (think Siege Monster, double damage to Objects). The spell specifies that it targets a “Creature”... but a corpse is not a creature, it is an Object. Since no appropriate target for the spell exists, RAW, the spell is wasted and nothing happens.
Since the developers obviously intended for the spell to work, the conclusion is that language is complex and life is messy. It’s why, despite being rules-oriented myself for these kind of games, I’m also freely willing to ignore RAW when it contradicts even basic reasoning.
(I encourage you to find your own glitches, it’s honestly really fun sometimes)
@@tempname3308 yeah I know, i usually wouldnt mind this kind of thing either but on this specific video its very ironic, since in this case it has been officially clarified.
Wow, that sponsor came so out of nowhere that it gave me the surprised condition and forced me to lose my first turn of combat to remove the condition.
Also, videos like this are great even (especially) for people who love to tinker and homebrew and change rules, because it's very important to know what the RAW is and why it's designed the way it is before you start messing with things. That's why any time I change a rule in my game I tell my players "this is how the rule works in the book, this is what I'm doing to change it and here's why".
With the nat 20s not being an auto succeed - the other side of this issue is that if a DC is high enough that there is no way for the player to succeed, they should not be rolling in the first place.
As someone above commented, a natural 20 is still the best possible outcome, even if it doesn’t accomplish the goal. That makes it worthwhile to roll. In the example of persuading a king to hand over his kingdom or whatever, it’s the difference between offending him/embarrassing yourself or amusing/impressing him. He’s not going to hand over the kingdom either way, but it will inform his attitude toward you. Roll those dice!
@@JustOneEarth D&D does not have degrees of success. You either succeed an action or fail. So no, there is absolutely no reason to roll for impossible actions. Whether the king in the example would be offended or not should come as the consequence of how the players are talking to him, not an arbitrary "closeness" to the DC.
Other often misunderstood rule. Readying actions. These take your reaction to do and you can only do an action (no bonus action) and if you take the attack action it is just one attack if you have extra attack. As extra attack is only on your turn.
While the "Nat 20 is always a sucess" is a common misconception, I kinda often like using it as a GM. I'm not saying that the players can now accomplish literally everything with a 20, but rather that a thing that has literally 0% chance of succeeding should not warrant a roll
But then you create something really toxic when you allow nat20 to succeed all the time and suddenly you change the rule to not always succeed because you wouldnt like the out come of the situation you created..
@@freefrag1910 not necessarily success. A Nat 20 at my table grants the best possible outcome, though that may not always be success but rather the best worst, if that makes sense.
@@aidanpeterson1001 Like instead of getting executed, your stay in the brig is much longer.
@@freefrag1910 but Patagon said something very different: they said that if something cannot happen even with a Nat20, then they do not make the players roll at all and just state "This cannot be done". Basically, when something can be accomplished with a Nat20, it means that it has a DC, when it cannot happen at all, it has none and just ruled as "not happening".
@@MrReset94 this is how I DM and it works for me
For the Identify ruling, in previous editions, you needed to cast Identify to know the properties of a magic item. Even in 5e, there are some modules and hardcovers that mention where you can get items identified for a cost and it's listed in the spellcasting services of churches, so you can rule that you need to Identify a magic item to know what it does. Another thing is that Identify isn't omnipotent. Cursed and Sentient equipment may either give you false results or no results. And example of the former is an Armor of Vulnerability will read as an Armor of Resistance or Armor of Invulnerability or a Bag of Devouring misread as a Bag of Holding. An example of the latter would be the Soul Monger from Tomb of Annihilation wouldn't give any readings. For these, you'd need a stronger divination spell, like Divination or Legend Lore.
Also its a direct variant rule in the DMG.
I usually rule that the first person to find it
And anyone who has a solid backstory reason to have come across information about an item,
Can roll an arcana check to identify if it is magical and what kind of effect your character would deduce it has.
For instance if they found imbued wood, the druid might notice it's got a lot of cold magic at its core,
But might not know if it will lose its magical properties if you try to release it.
@@BramLastname I tend to let them know if it's magical via an Arcana or other relevant knowledge check, as long as they have proficiency in the relevant skill, but not what it can do.
@@Dw7freak That's fair,
I just like giving these vague clues
To incentivise players just trying out magic items they can't identify.
When I posted my Scrolls video, people were so upset that I said that scrolls can't be counterspelled. lol
BUT KOBOLD- ....
For surprise and one person ruining the stealth check, there is the optional rule of group checks in which you merely need the number of successes to equal or exceed the number of fails
This afternoon, i was with nothing to do, so what i did? I grabbed my Mordekainen Tome of Foes(PDF, sadly) and begun to read about the Blood War. Very instructive to my next fiend-themed campaigns, and a surprisingly nice reading
The advantage and disadvantage stacking always made sense to me. Even if you have 3 instance of advantage to an attack, but are in complete darkness, you still suffer the negative of not being able to fully see the target.
I guess the DM could make it a house rule in a way that when the disadvantages are too big and realistically make more sense, it stays at disadvantage.
You should make a video about obscured vision/lighting and Stealth/Perception checks, if you haven't already.
I have had difficulty in figuring out exactly how stealth works. I've had players roll stealth and then try to walk out into the open as if they were invisible. I don't think it should work that way, but I haven't found a clear reference to how it is supposed to work.
As of now, I'm requiring them to maintain some sort of cover in order to stay in stealth. (Or to have the NPC be distracted in some way.) I'm not sure if that is correct though.
I'd love to see a video on this subject.
BTW, I also didn't know that they could identify a magic item by concentrating on it over a short rest. That is a great tip since nobody in my group has the Identify spell. Thanks!
I distinctly remember stealth being a nightmare when I still DM'd 5e. Unless it's been updated, RAW it's absurdly difficult for a rogue to function without allies and it basically comes down to "if your DM's nice, they might let you stay hidden as you close the gap from cover to someone's back".
I had a similar issue playing my first ever campaign and playing a rogue with their ability to hide as a bonus action. after a series of bad fortune in combat i wanted to 'hide' behind some rubble while my party kept fighting. it worked, but primarily becuase the rubble existed within travel range, and my party could distract them. I don't think it actually had anything to do with the hide feature, and she didn't make me roll stealth or anything else. so i'm not very clear on how useful having hide as a bonus action actually is for rogues. now disengage or dash, those are nice bonus actions!
The rules say you cannot take the hide action if you are in line of sight of anything. So technically you can't just hide out in the open. This isn't skyrim, its not a videogame. You can only take the hide if you're obscured by something, usually dim light, darkness, or cover. It is only a suggestion to the DM in the PHB to allow a character to sneak up to a target while remaining hidden.
Seems like there’s enough comments pointing out more things to make a part two to this video, which I personally would enjoy as this one was great!
I play regularly in 2 groups, and neither have ever had any misunderstanding with any of these rules. It is exciting to realize that we are entering new and undiscovered realms of messing up rules every session, rather than making the common mistakes. We still suck, but rare.
When you have an Assassin rogue in the party the best application of the surprise rule I have found is as follows:
"If the Assassin Rogue succeeds in their sneak attempt, but then then rolls low for initiative, during the first round of combat move their turn to 1st place in the order, but do not change their actual initiative score. Then for subsequent rounds, give them the spot in the turn order that they rolled."
Example; Assassin Rogue tries to sneak up on a guard: They roll 19 for stealth and succeed in their attempt to sneak. Now they want to initiate combat and so everyone rolled for initiative. The guard gets a 17, the Rogue gets a 4. Rules as written, the guard takes their turn and is 'surprised' but then at the end of that guard's turn, they are no longer affected by the surprised condition (and have taken a turn in combat, another thing that affects the Assassin Rogue's abilities). So the Assassin Rogue has missed out on multiple class abilities, which are possibly/probably the reason they picked the class in the first place. Not fun for them or anyone else at the table, and also silly. So instead, say that the Assassin rolled the 4, and it will be in effect as their initiative for combat rounds 2 and beyond. But for the first round, automatically give them the first go because they succeeded in their sneak attempt and therefore their actions will be what 'surprise' the enemies.
They get to use their abilities, the enemy can't be 'surprised', and then immediately not be before the arrow that would have surprised them has hit them and the initiative roll is still respected and important.
about the identification of magic objects - my old dm used a homebrew rule like this:
to see whether a random object was or was not magical in the first place, one needs to be within 5 feet of it and pass a dc10 arcana check. during the combat, this takes an action. handy to spot out cash worthy stuff in a loot pile, or check some rando npc for a presence of "shinies"
to see what kind of magic enchantment the object had, one needed to either cast the identify spell or to spend an hour trying to figure it, ritual-ish style. if done during the short rest, the character can't benefit from the short rest as they are fully focused on the item
legendary or cursed items could be only properly identified by casting the spell and also spending an hour figuring the enchantment.
so imagine. in the middle of a tomb we found a long dead corpse and looted it. we found a dagger. arcana check. there's something magical about it. party ranger went to scout ahead with her pet blink dog. the rest of the party took a short rest waiting for her, wizard is trying to identify the dagger. the enchantment is especially complicated and powerful, something to do with evocation school of magic. spending the spell slot. it's a legendary item that once belonged to Ioun's high priest capable of bla bla bla
I love how, when you fireball, and they counter it, you can counter-counter it. But if you misty step, and they counter it, then you're out of luck :D
Also lots of people forget that there are bonus action cantrips out there, like shillelagh, which also proc the bonus action spellcasting ruling.
We need another for some of the other rulings like diffrent speeds,darkvison in darkness not removing dis,mounted combat,etc plz
"as long as you dont cast a spell using your bonus action, you are good" *immediately looks it up...omg the way its worded you are totally right! this is mind blowing 🤯
I'm a bit late to the party, but thank you for this video. Item #8 was especially useful... I've been making that same mistake myself regarding Disadvantage on ranged attacks & attackers within 5" of you. Thanks for clearing that up. The "spell concentration" clarification was also REALLY helpful!
With #1 I knew this rule but at my table we prefer to be able to cast two fireballs with quickened spell. That is just an example but my players really enjoy being able to cast two leveled spells per turn. Thanks for the great content!
Lost count of how many times I heard a story entirely based on a nat20, and it always feels like a lie.
I knew pretty much every ruling except the one about ranged spells. I've been playing for more than three years and I had no idea. It blew my mind.
The two I would add to the list are the area of thunderwave, and that being invisible does not actually conceal your position in combat.
Please do top 10 skill/tool proficiencies!
6:40 The brazier (and other similar items) reads; "AS IF you had cast..." It doesn't actually cast (let you cast) the spell, it uses that spell as a guide to tell you how it works, so concentration isn't needed.
#1 genuinely was new to me, so I'm definitely grateful for this video. Thanks, D&DLogs!
Theres also one more element he glossed over.
You can’t cast another spell during the same **turn** except for a cantrip with a Casting Time of 1 action.
However, if after your **turn** ends, you get a chance to cast Counterspell, you 100% can!
You can also use your Reaction to ready a Action spell as well!
This is true also with a rogues Sneak Attack, if they get a chance to somehow make an attack on another (N/)PC’s turn, such as an Opportunity Attack, they can apply sneak attack as long as it meets another requirement
@@anguspodgorny2283 I mean the counter spell off your turn is something everyone knows, and it’s a reaction so it doesn’t apply. And ready actions are more obscure rules, not “rules people got wrong”
@@MomijiHVods But it *isnt* something everybody knows. Honestly, seems kind of a weird claim to make after you yourself openly admit to not being versed in an aspect of a rule.
And while, yes, ready action spells are more obscure than just incorrect, 1) People do sometimes get it wrong *specifically* in the context of Bonus Action spells, and even Sneak Attack. And 2) I assumed, reasonably so, that if one part of spell casting in this specific context is unknown to you, that you may be perhaps unaware of other aspects and therefore decided to help.
@@anguspodgorny2283 yes I knew I could cast reaction spells because it’s not part of my turn, but I didn’t get the “you can cast as many spells as you want as long as it isn’t part of your turn. I thought it was just one leveled spell a turn like a fair bit of people.
@@MomijiHVods Sorry for trying to help. Congrats on knowing already.
Top 10 best subclasses in the PHB.
Working on it
When an ability check is unwinable it is a saving throw against the consequences of your actions, Grognak with negatives on all his mentals tries to play chess against a sphinx? roll an Int save to not receive psychic damage from the mental strain.
The way I rule Nat20's on ability checks is that a Nat20 doesn't guarantee success or always give you what you wanted from the check, it just means you get the best possible outcome for that check. Like if you try to convince a shopkeeper to sell you an expensive item for free, he would maybe just give you a discount instead. Or a Nat20 on ta stealth check doesn't make you completely invisible or undetectable even if someone walks by and looks at you (*cough* Skyrim), you just hid yourself very well
A beneficial thing that might be misunderstood: A Rogue's sneak attack is limited to once per TURN, and not per Round. This means if you get attacks on other turns you can get multiple sneak attacks in a single round if the conditions are right. An example would be a Battle Master Fighter using Commander's Strike, or an enemy that triggers an Attack of Opportunity from the Rogue.
Sentinel feat on rogue's is so much fun. Especially as arcane trickster with mirror image hehe. As if they hit the mirrors it does trigger sentinel.
The Riposte maneuver is another great way to do this with a duelist sort of feel. Acquired via multiclass or feat.
wait so how many sneak attacks can a rouge deal with 4 teammates
@@junconglin typically 2 in a round, regardless of the number of teammates. Once in their turn and possibly once on another creature’s turn using their reaction.
The Scout subclass can get 2 sneak attacks on their turn with one of their features, so they could get 3 in a round.
This is false because an oppertunity attack uses your reaction and is therefore part of your previous turn. So if you sneak attacked in that turn, you can't also use it in your oppertunity attack.
One other thing about the bonus-action spells:
If you intend to cast a leveled spell and a cantrip on your turn, you *must* cast the leveled spell as a bonus-action; if you cast a cantrip on your bonus-action, it still counts to lock you out from casting leveled spells for the rest of your turn.
I know it's silly and choose to ignore it and think most people who understand the rule do so too.
Fun fact you can cast at most 3* leveled spells in one single turn and 4* mix of leveled and cantrip spells in one turn. The asterisk is referencing how the spell contingency allows a spell to be put into affect from up to as many as 10 days prior to activation but it is the statute used in the component of the spell that is casting the spell with a target of you with your prior used class resources and spell slots so technically it isnt you casting a spell. Contingencies by nature of not having vsm components when they "proc" also can't be counterspelled!
My variant/house rule for identifying magic items:
You can use the identify spell for safe identification OR you can use a short rest to identify the item by attuning to it. This means that you risk attuning to a cursed item, so its up to the player whether they want to take the risk or find an NPC with identify (providing no1 in the party has the spell)
Commonly misunderstood. Attacks from the "Extra Attack" class feature do not have to be made with the same weapon. RAW You can have a Longsword in one hand and a Warhammer in the other and you can attack with each without the Feat or Class features and suffer no penalties for 'Dual Wielding'. Dual Wielding restrictions only apply to specifically the bonus attack. You can even shoot a bow, move your movement draw your sword as part of an attack action (per rules) and attack the same guy with a sword.
4:33 i always thought that since Magic Missile has all missiles strike simultaneously that would mean you would have to do only one concentration check against the total damage and not one per missile, treating all missiles hitting simultaneously as one source of damage rather than each missile being it's own source of damage. This was how we all played it considering at was a lot easier then rolling concentration for each missile (at advantage due to some ability, feat, or spell effect) and also prevents players from being instantly dead if they take all shots from a magic missile after reaching 0HP. Seems a lot more fair as getting hit by a level 2 or 3 Magic Missile while your health is at 1 would not mean your character automatically fails 3 death saves and dies.
You are correct. It is a single instance of damage as they all strike simultaneously. Scorching Ray could cause you to have to make multiple saves on one turn.
I've always ruled it the same in my games. Crazy how people think it's "different instances of damage" when simultaneously pretty much means the opposite
People, myself included, think of it as separate damage instances because you can literally spread your darts to different targets. So even if it's not 3 damage instances causing 3 concentration saves on a single target, you can absolutely cause 3 concentration saves if you hit one target per dart.
That's entirely situational and a very rare situation at that. You'd need to be fighting 3 spellcasters all concentrating on a spell and all within range of your magic missile. I've never had this come up in a game and not to mention this comment and video was specifically talking about the ruling on multiple concentration checks on a single target not multiple. I agree though that it can used in they way you describe against multiple concentrators.
@@AnaseSkyrider I wasn't really talking about for multiple targets, just Single Target. Cause say you get knocked down and the enemy has a spellcaster with magic missile, You're instantly dead if each missile counted as different damage instances. This reason being why I think It should only cause 1 concentration check or death save if hit by multiple missiles.
Spells that take an action to cast but have a casting period longer than immediate require your action every single turn until it has been fully cast. You can still do things with your bonus action, reaction, movement, and free action.
Another reason for all the misunderstandings is house rules. So many rules are already misunderstood that some DMs embrace the misunderstanding and just have it be that way at their tables.
And some more authoritarian DMs might even take offense in you trying to use a rule as written, like you are supposed to know which rules they have homebrewed...
I'd add to the concentration rule, if you cast a spell that takes longer then your turn (including readying) this does require concentration. Even if the spell is non concentration. I think you missed out on tied initiative. With a lot of groups going by dex modifier. This is home brew and not the official rule. True rule is if tied in initiative the players decide. If the DM tied anything then DM decides first.
On p.187 of the PHB (under Crafting) it says that only 5 gp worth of progress can me made in one 8 hr workday, so Silvering a weapon would also take 20 days on top of the 100 gp.
The Close Combat Ranged Attack bit, XP to Lv3 explained why: they can hit the weapon away
Also the part of combat that's more simulation. It's assumed people are dodging, swinging, etc. constantly in battle. The number of attacks can be seen as reacting to an opening. Ranged weapons are poor at parrying compared to melee, and try aiming while dodging something else.
That might have sense if you consider the time it requires you to fire a bow, maybe even a crossbow....But a firearm? Unless you trying to full on snipe someone, if you just shoot, you should not have disadvantage. Even more if you are shooting the same target that is at 5 ft from you.Try to do that to a man pointing a gun at you point blank lmao, let's see if you can knock the weapon away before they shoot you.
@@MrReset94 The rules weren't made with guns in mind. From there it's simple balance to not give them additional bonuses vs. other ranged.
The misunderstanding if bonus action spellcasting I usually see is: "You can't cast 2 level 1 or higher spells in one turn," sometimes with "except reactions."
This leads them to believe they can quicken a cantrip then cast a leveled spell with their action, but can't use action surge to cast 2 leveled spells with their actions even if they didn't use a bonus action.
I've also seen some try to say that order of casting matters. That if you cast the bonus action spell last, whatever you cast with your action doesn't matter.
the magic missile proc for concentration checks. I think that was covered by Crawford a while back as the 3 magic missile attacks only cause one instance of damage as they hit at the same time or some such nonsense. Alternatively, scorching ray with 3 separate rolls to hit causes 3 separate instances of damage.
You can theoretically cast 3 spells in a round. You can cast 2 on your turn: BA spell (misty step) + cantrip (fire bolt). Then, same round, cast a reaction spell but not on your turn (enemy casts fireball and you reaction cast counterspell).
I may have misunderstood what he you were saying but it seemed like you could only do 2 on a turn if you didn’t cast a BA. One action spell and then a reaction. If that is what you were saying, that would still be only one spell on your turn as the reaction counterspell was on the enemies turn during the same round. Also, you can still cast a cantrip spell with an action. So you’re back up to 2 spell in one turn BA leveled spell + Action cantrip) then you can cast a reaction anytime during the same round as long as it’s not your turn. Reactions are almost never used on your turn though. However, if it did arise (player cast X spell that triggered Y trap and was attacked or started falling), as a DM I would allow it. I personal believe it’s an oversight though I could be wrong. It may be intentional. Regardless I don’t think it would break anything to allow it. But RAW, you cannot use a reaction on your turn if you cast a BA spell.
Thank you finally someone says it.
Getting Nat20 doesn't means Magical sh*t happen and you get to do anything you want, consequences still applies and NPCs still act like they normally would be
The Players Handbook says the following about Concentration: 'If you take damage from multiple sources, such as an arrow and a dragon's breath, you make a separate saving throw for each source of damage.' Since multiple missiles from a single Magic Missile attack come from the same source, you only need 1 concentration check.
Also just as a friendly tip for dming. Don't be afraid to change rules with your friends. Some rules can feel opressive to some groups and the game is meant to have fun telling a story together. So if you feel a ruling is getting in the way of your group having fun, work on some changes! For example in my 5e games i dm for my personal group i took the crit damage rules from 4e where the additional dice from the crit are auto maxed out. I.e. a 3rd level rogue gets a sneak attack with a shortsword. Gets a crit so he rolls 3d6+3+18(crit)
My reasons are I've had so many crits end with min damage and end up doing less damage than a normal hit and nothing feels worse then getting that rush from critting a boss and then doing 9 damage instead of the potential 35 damage then next turn doing 15 with a normal hit.
Oh, here's one: Magical Flight and Prone. When using normal non-magical flight going prone or getting knocked prone causes you to fall. Magical flight does nit have this restriction. You can in fact go prone in mid-air while you are flying with magical flight, and it does indeed give ranged attacks disadvantage to hit you. Normal movement penalties also apply so you can only fly at half speed as you... crawl through the air.
If the source has a fixed speed that is extrinsic to the creature (ex: You cast Levitate on yourself). You can, and of course forced, to use that speed (ex: Levitate allows you to move an object up or down 20 feet as an action. This movement would not be halved due to the target being prone.)
Magical flight is usually denoted with (Hover) in monster stat blocks. A good example of a monster with magical flight would be a ghost, but it should be noted that creatures immune to the prone condition can not go prone (such as the aforementioned ghost).
This was very informative thank you.
On the last rule (Bonus Action Spell Casting) there is one more misunderstanding of the rule. Rules As Written (or RAW), if you cast a Bonus Action Cantrip, you still need to use your Action to cast a Cantrip as well. Meaning that you cannot cast a spell of 1st level or higher as your Action and a Bonus Action Cantrip (like shillelagh) on the same turn.
Also, a common misunderstanding is that unless a spell states that it affects objects (like Fire Bolt), you cannot use them (spells like Ray of Frost) to damage objects.
Objects have armor classes and HP, you're allowed to target them with most spells.
@@bren8511 You'd think so, and you'd be wrong. Is it stupid? Yes. And don't get me wrong, it's EXTREMELY stupid. As are a looooooot of the rules. But, you're technically wrong if you follow the Rules as Written and ONLY the Rules as Written.
@@smallolive No, I'm pretty sure that any targeted damaging spell would be able to hit a door just like a weapon would. If anything, the "of sharpness" weapon series sets a precedent for that. More specifically, they state that anytime you hit an object with them, you automatically deal maximum damage. It's up to the DM to establish how durable said object is, though. It would go for any other object that can reasonably have hit points, like a structure.
@@azuredragoon2054 Yeah, I mean, I'm telling you, you may think you're pretty sure about that, but, RAW, you're wrong. Just because an object has HP and an AC doesn't mean it qualifies. Yes, there are effects that deal "Siege" or something adjacent to it-that doesn't change the fact that unless a spell specifies objects, or at least if it specifies "creature" (most of them) you can't attack an object with it. A common example is Eldritch Blast. It's dumb, it's bad, it's stupid, but it's what WOTC wrote.
My favorite dumb, bad, stupid spell casting rule is that you can't cast a spell through a spell focus unless that focus is providing the M component in said spell. This means you must have an additional free hand to perform Somatic components of spells if they have no Material cost. WOTC printed an entire subclass dedicated to they themselves misunderstanding that rule (College of Spirits Bard's "Spiritual Focus" applies exclusively to the spell "Regenerate" for healing from the Bard's list of spells).
@@smallolive Rules lawyer time: RAW also states that objects can take damage (per dm choice when its applicable/relevant, but as a baseline they can), RAW also gives the option that attacks can be intercepted by surrounding creatures AND objects used as cover. As such you can RAW target a bacteria on a object, which has the object as cover, hitting it dealing improvised table damage (which is typically higher than spell damage directly).
Still cant hurt a statue with vampiric touch in that case but id say overall much more reasonable while still raw.
11:31 I feel like #2 is probably one of the easiest rules to make sense of as long as you consider real-world applications.
One great example would be to imagine you are walking into a store and say a very convincing speech to the manager on why he/she should give you all of the store's merchandise for free. Unless the manager is very dumb, there is no way he/she would fall for this as no amount of persuasion would be worth the hundreds to thousands of dollars lost in this exchange.
Another way to look at it would be that if the player characters can rip people off through persuasion, there is no reason the NPCs can't also do the same and strip, for example, all of the armor off of the barbarian just by rolling a nat 20 in persuasion.
The surprised rules in 5e were not worded or explained very well. It reads as though you can sneak up on a monster, but before you shoot at it, you both roll initiative, and if the monster gets a higher initiative, it comes out of surprise before your turn, even though it isn't even aware that you are there. If the idea is supposed to be that you can take your shot first before rolling initiative, that makes more sense--after all, if you're just reading book and have no idea a rogue is hiding there, you're not in a state of surprise, you're just relaxed and into your book. Alas, the rules say nothing about this, so most DMs do a surprise round, because it makes sense.
I already knew all of these. And yet I still waited until I finished a long rest to get spell charges back so I could cast Identify on some unknown magic items.
Re; BA spellcasting, it probably also worth pointing out that casting a cantrip as a BA still locks you out of casting a leveled spell with your action. So you can BA cast a leveled spell, then action cast a cantrip, but you can't BA cast a cantip, then action cast a leveled spell.
wait, there is no mention of dim light/Darkvision??
even if they read the rules loud out, many ppl simply don't undrstand those rules and ignore them entirely, because they are confusing and can complicate the game state drastically
I dont know if you covered this before. But my biggest pet peeve for my players is when and where Hit Points apply in D&D. They're not "health points" but an abstraction of fighting readiness. HP isnt for every situation and I have had many players try to argue its application.
I did not know the identify rule fully. This makes it a lot less punishing to have a group without identify. Good to know!
So a Sorcerer with a few levels of Fighter can cast two Fireballs and a Counterspell all in the same round? Damn... I'll have to remember that.
Another commonly misunderstood rule is Chasing. Most people treat it exactly like combat but in the DMG it tells you how to run Chases which are actually pretty fun and has fun rules like ending your turn by rolling a d20 to trigger the complication for the next creature in the turn order, and being able to Dash 3+Con modifier times. It's commonly misunderstood because you roll initiative for it so it's just seen as exactly the same as combat and therefore usually avoided altogether.
This isn't a Varient rule, it's just how chases are supposed to be played.
Does the bonus action spellcasting rule come into effect if you use your Action spell first?
So with the Fireball example you Action cast Fireball first, then Quicken your second Fireball to a Bonus Action - as the ruling only effects "the rest of your turn" once you've cast the Bonus Action spell?
Great video! Do you make your own spell cards or pull them off of somewhere? Would love to link them for players if there is a database of them
"Hey, these look kind of like the thumbnails that TheDuelLogs does."
*2 Seconds In*
"Oh, that makes sense."
Yeah I didn't know he had a D&D channel too, but it did sound familiar. I know him from his WoW channel.
I really don't like how you can't cast a leveled spell on both your bonus action and your action. Who doesn't love that epic moment when your Sorcerer/Fighter uses Action Surge and Quickened Spell to nuke the enemy with 3 Fireballs in a row?!
Sorry, two fireballs in one turn max
Can someone please just tell me what is the classical music piece playing during the "Maximum fall damage" chapter? I've been looking for it for a while and can't find it.
If I cast Hex (BA) then cast Eldritch Blast, then the enemy counterspells my EB. Can I counterspell the counterspell (since I cast a spell with my BA)?
This guy has a channel for every one of my hobbies.
Does anyone know if you can use a bonus action spell AFTER casting a spell normally? Or would casting the spell lock you out of using a bous action spell?
Part 2: darkness and darkvision, ready a spell, the jump ruling, difference of "interaction" and "use a item" action, use the spellcasting focus to give the somatic component, use of temporary hp, also spells can do a critical hit, magic initial feat can use the spell with yours spell slots because you pick up spell in your list, rule of tremorsense, ruling of unarmed strike, difference of ability checks and non ability checks, improvised weapon, mounted combat, increase the con score and obtain more hp, different way to have an AC score...
I mean, there still are people who don't know that Jack of All Trades applies to Initiative and every single roll in the game that is not specifically listed as an attack roll or saving throw, including counterspell
Edit: yes, you heard that right, the only thing better at counterspell than a bard is an Abjuration Wizard, and even then Lore Bard gets Peerless Skill which also applies to Counterspell. Oh, Guidance also applies to ability checks so it counts towards initiative and counterspell too.
And assassin rogue wants to take two levels in bard for jack of all trades, just sayin, or play a Harengan (which is currently UA) that just gets full proficiency in initiative
I also always house-ruled to allow Bonus Action spells and action spells cause multiple action spellcasting and reaction spellcasting was allowed and I found it kinda silly that an action surge sorcerer could cast fireball twice and counterspell but a sorcerer who uses metamagic to bonus action fireball and wanted to level into fighter for action surge could only firebolt twice and could still reaction cast, which gets worse if they are a war caster and can cast a levelled spell that is single target as a reaction.
I just find it kinda silly how specific that restriction is when casting 2 or 3 levelled action spells a turn is pretty possible already that all of a sudden a single bonus action spell (which is supposed to be quick and easy to cast, just not as quick and easy as a reaction spell; which War Casters can already cast Action spells with reaction effort) throws a wrench in it.
I may adjust that houserule so War Casters can ignore the Bonus Action spell rule though, cause as much as the rule can be justified with the strain of casting that many levelled spells in one turn repeatedly, it does not make sense for a War Caster to be hindered by such a rule.
That #1 is HUGE! That means that eldritch knights are more powerful than I thought, as well as spellcasters who dip into fighters or who have Haste on themselves
Haste has explicit limitations on what is allowed: one weapon attack, dash, hide, disengage, or use an object. You can't even Dodge with it; which would step on the toes of something Monks can do. But yeah, anything with Action Surge could fire two major spells in one turn.
Regarding fall damage, I remember hearing that the damage scaled exponentially, not linearly. Like it was fall 10 ft, +1d6 damage, fall 10 more feet (total 20ft) +2d6 damage, etc. Fall damage capped out at around a 60ft fall.
Edit: Regarding concentration and spellcasting, this misconception is because it Did work like this in older editions. Messed me up for my first 5e campaign, and I was only new to the edition.
Nicely done friend
Your videos helped me play yugioh! So thank you for helping me DnD! Keep up the good work.
You missed that Nat 1s are probably misunderstood just as much as Nat 20s, since they work the same way.
Surprisingly i know about no 9 because Matt pointed that out in one of Collage humour's gameshow about rule lawyering.
Ok, the ranged attack rule I legit misunderstood, but I suppose it makes sense. The hostile isn't just gonna let you shoot their buddy at range, so you have disadvantage.
Just to add to the Identifying rule, Curses are not revealed when an item is identified.
The average lv 2 half orc barbarian can fall from orbit and walk away.
20d6 average is 70, rage to half it to 35, with a health of 19 takes them to minus 16 which does kill them outright so they can use the half orc ability to instead be reduced to 1 health.
I've had this debate. Part of the argument is that you have to be raging, which requires attacking or being attacked. There can be situations where your Rage would end while falling. Technically, you can maintain Rage by attacking yourself or the ground. The rule on Rage doesn't specify that your target has to be hostile.
@@bryanwoods3373 Rage can be started at any time, just has to be maintained with attacks. So as long as the Orc rages just before hitting the ground (within 6 seconds), the Rage will halve the damage.
Spellcasting when having both hands full.
When a spell is cast and it has the somatic or material components, you have to use a free hand to handle the materials or make the necessary gestures. If the spell has both, you can use a single free hand to do both. If you have a spellcasting focus, such as an orb for a wizard for instance, you can use it instead of the material requirement for anything without a gold cost and do your hand motions provided that you use your hand to interact with the orb. However if both your hands are full, maybe you are a warlock armed with a sword and a shield, you cannot cast a spell with a material or somatic component without freeing one of your hands first. A cleric might have its holy symbol engraved on her shield and would be fine because shes using her holy symbol shield as a spellcasting focus. A character with the war caster feat can perform the somatic requirements of a spell even when having both hands full.
There is still the part about having one free object interaction per round for changing weaponry and stuff, such as drawing a sword instead of a shortbow when a creature comes within range, so it is possible for the aforementioned warlock to put away his shield and then cast a spell, but then would have no way of equiping the shield again until his next turn, lowering his AC for the duration.
bonus thing: If you have a spellcasting focus in hand for a spell that doesnt require material components but does require somatic components, you cannot use the hand which you have your focus in for the somatic components as it can only be used in this way if there is a material requirement and if you have warcaster and cast a spell that requires material components, you still need a free hand or a focus because the feat only allows you to perform somatic requirements, not material ones.
Yoooo, I didn't know about the number 1 spot. I've got changes to make with one of my players. THANK YOU
The first rule stating how far you fall in a turn depends on which book you look at. The phb says you fall the full distance in a round. Xanathars is what says 500ft in a round.
As a DM, I often require Identify, but only for particularly important, powerful, or strange magical artifacts. Alternatively, I make sure there are experts the party can talk to who are capable of identifying items without a spell slot. I'd recommend this for all DMs, just to keep some amount of mystique or hide plot-relevant details until they're important. I've also once kept secrets about a magical item even after the party used Identify, but that was an Artifact. I'd never do it to a mundane magic item.
the way ive always known identifing an item is to make a lore (knowledge or w/e) check and if you scored high enough you identify it. if not you'd need the spell. i think this was 3.5e rules, not sure about 5e since ive not had the chance to play it yet
question. in the bonus action fireball scenario, could i use an action to prepar the casting of my spell and use it when the next turn start?
You could Ready a Fireball on your turn, concentrate on it, then release it with your Reaction on the next turn. If someone doesn't Counterspell your initial casting on the first turn, the spell has already been cast so there's nothing to counter on the next turn
I sometimes overrule the rules as written on the melee vs ranged attack thing. For example if you are fireing a spell point blank at an opponent and it doesn't make sence that he would be interfering with your spellcasting, I allow to roll without the disadvantage. Same for if you are shooting a crossbow while standing next to an opponent who wouldn't be interacting with you as he is occupied by fighting somebody else or as he maybe isn't aware of the situaion.
What's the classical music that's playing during the "Maximum Fall Damage" chapter?
Can you double cast in reverse order, so action fireball and bonus action fireball
The misunderstanding of range spell while having an enemy in melee saved my entire group a ton of times. We thought it was only if your target is the one in melee range
It is possible to action hold a fireball and bonus action another fireball, then end your turn and reaction cast fireball immediately, or is it impossible?