Top 10 Commonly Misunderstood Rules [Part 2] DnD 5E 

Another misunderstood part is that disadvantage of any kind negates Sneak Attack. Say you're invisible/hidden and attacking something that took the Dodge action. While you have a straight roll to attack, but it's actually having both advantage and disadvantage, so you do not get Sneak Attack, even if you have an ally next to the target or the Swashbuckler one-on-one thing.

Well it actually states that Advantage and Disadvantage Cancel each other out thus giving you neither so Sneak Attack would still go off if an enemy of the enemy is withing five feet.

@@SquIDGAmiG62 Technically, yes, they cancel out, but it's not like you can have anything after that. All the DMs I've had rule that since you have any Disadvantage, even if cancelled out, you still don't get Sneak Attack.

@@Dw7freak which i would argue is dumb, because its a straight roll now with neother, so its now redundant. For disadvantage to cancel sneak attack, it would need to be an attack made at disadvantage, which is how all of MY DMs have ruled it. Just another thing of "the rules are just guidelines".

I just used a shorter word than "enemy of the target". There's no real misunderstanding, ally isn't exactly a key term. And people know what I'm talking about.

That honestly feels a little wrong to me, and I'd love to test it or see it being tested, but extra attack should be an option for ready, if at least only for one-handed weapons or ranged without Loading. Compared to casters, weapon users waste a huge part of their action when readying an attack. A cleric can ready a 5th level guiding bolt, while a fighter can only ready a single swing or shot. Readying attacks seems to me to be heavily favouring the casters, and the only weapon users that aren't as hard hit is the paladin, purely because they can put some magical damage behind the hit.

@@misterdayne2792 if anything it's more of a negative to casters as they must use their concentration, which means it can be interrupted also disrupts any other ongoing concentration Spell. Also if the specified action is not triggered on that round they loose the spell slot without casting the spell even though it never fully went off. They may end up loosing a spell slot for nothing, meanwhile a fighter looses nothing but a turn.

Yeah, I think the language states, "Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again." If multiple party members are doing the same task you might give Advantage to the character with the best score, adding 5 to their Passive result. So your character with a passive of 15 could succeed on a DC20 check in that kind of case.

Yeah passive perception is something i see even major dms like matt mercer biffing a bit. Specifically the "you cant roll lower than passive" Personally I kind of like the moments that come from someone rolling awfully on perception narratively. Like it feels more real to maybe space out or get distracted. Have some dust get in your eye.. or bird poop. But at the same time sometimes its really hard on the party if they just keep rolling bad on perception that session

Welcome to being a DM! I have been DMing for close to 6 years now and I am still learning things about the system! As long as you are consistent or let your players know you are changing/updating rulings everything should be okay. Make sure you communicate and work with your players whenever you learn a new rule. The biggest example of my game needing multiple rereads and rule adjustments is as follows (I'm sorry about all the text, but i am hyperfixating and needed to talk about the rules): Also if a change in ruling negatively effects a player offer fixes to that player if they are super unhappy with the change. One of my players was a Sorcerer and their character was built around firing as many Fireballs as possible in a turn. Well turns out I didn't read the rules when they made their character. At first they were Twin Spelling Fireball and when they managed to kill like 10 enemies in one turn I reread the rule and found it needs to be specifically a spell that targets a single creature (you cannot twin spells if targeting objects). So I let them pick a different Metamagic, they picked Quicken Spell. WELL TURNS OUT I didn't read the interaction of Quicken Spell and the rules of Spellcasting in the PHB. So quicken spell turns a spell that has a casting time of 1 Action into a casting time of 1 Bonus Action. So no problem Make one Fireball a Bonus Action and then drop a second one as an Action.... EXCEPT IN THE SPELL CASTING SECTION THE FOLLOWING IS STATED ABOUT BONUS ACTION SPELLS: "A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. *You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.*" So they literally could not do what they wanted to do as a build. At this point I offered to let them change their Metamagic again. Instead they asked me if they could make a custom spell using the 'Creating a Spell' rules from chapter 9 of the DMG. I said sure and they made an mini cantrip fireball off the base of Thunderclap. The new custom Cantrip worked as follows: *Compact Combustion* Casting Time: 1 Action Range(Area): 30ft(5ft Sphere) [4 Squares] Components: V,S,M* (*a pinch of Bat Guano or sulfur) A bright streak flashes from your pointing finger to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame. Each creature in a 5-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a Dexterity saving throw. A target takes 1d6 fire damage on a failed save. The spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6). This is a picture of all the sphere templates: i.stack.imgur.com/AoXda.gif So now their turn was Cast Fireball as a Bonus action using Quicken Spell and then casting Compact Combustion as an action. It wasn't exactly casting 2 fireballs in a turn but we worked together as player and DM and came to a happy ending!

D&D is really a trial and error process huh?

I still say you can roll lower than your passive. If your passive doesn't notice something then rolling lower than your passive wouldn't find anything anyway right?

Sounds like a good rule

@@rodrigocampos1302 its worked for me so far

I was looking through the comments to see if anyone mentioned this. Ending your turn mid-jump is crazy fun!

@@dukejaywalker5858 Indeed

I would just have them make the full movement (in this case because it would be wierd if the player just freeze mid air and as the distance is not like longer then the total movement length). that said if the player movment was 20ft and they jumped 30 ft whit the 10 ft run start then I would have them freze in mid air. but if its as in this case 30 ft movements. 10 feet used for the running start and jumps 30 feet I let them do the whole trip in one go.

According to pure RAW, blind creatures with Blindsight are technically constantly blinded, and incapable of “sight.” However, Jeremy Crawford has stated that the intent of Blindsight is that it functions as “sight” for the purposes of spells and other abilities. So the short answer: By straight RAW, you technically can’t, but a reasonable DM will allow you to

Tough one. So many spells require you to "see" the target, and blind sight isn't technically sight. But if you can see magical auras, then it sounds to me like you have some sort of imitation of draconic truesight. I would say that you can do it because you see the magic being weaved, maybe even subtle spells at a disadvantage, but it's up to the DM.

Cool to hear I will double back with him and work a solution, it should be fine as I usually use a gun anyways

I actually had a character that was very similar. It was very interesting. The way me DM and I went with was after I got my blind sight I had a weaker version of detect magic always on so if someone was casting magic I could see what kind of spell it was. Any creature intuned with magic or holding a magic item I could see them. But anything that didn't have any magic I couldn't see them. But at later levels where I actually had this ability that was rather rare

Sounds like a good idea, it's not like that many people actively ride around on war horses.

DM ruled RAW. Advantage and disadvantage from invisibility arent related to the obscurement invis grants, even if obscurement itself can grant advantage and disadvantage. Unless you have a feature that lets you ignore/treat creatures as if they werent invisible (truesight, tremorsense, blindsight, mummy/undead lifesense, etc but notably not blindsense of rogue) they still have advantage on attacks and you disadvantage on trying to hit it. Treat it as being unsure if you are hitting a things carapace or shins when trying to swing rather than wiffing at air where it might be.

What might be frustrating is that jabbing the rod into the ground was a mostly pointless action. Because as long as the invisible boss monster didn't take the hide action, they'd already be able to know exactly where it was, but still have disadvantage on the attack.

@@99sonder It isnt, it avoided auto misses from their passive perception possibly being lower than the bosses passive stealth thus having absolutely no clue where the boss is at any point after attacking.

@@ANDELE3025 Passive rules don't work for hiding and making stealth checks in combat. Once a creature makes an attack while being hidden, their position is revealed unless the stat block/creature has something that specifically states their position isn't revealed. Like if they have the Skulker feat and they miss on their attack.

@@99sonder Its literally the example for passive scores so yes they do. Passive perception is the floor of what one typically notices. Passive stealth is how subtle a character can be when not trying to hide. And no. A characters current location becomes known when they attack. They only cease being hidden until they do the check again. That has nothing to do with them being unseen and unheard. A creature such as the invisible stalker or a green hag disappears and effectively ceases to even exist as far as senses are concerned by moving after a attack any creature without ways to pierce invis or a passive perception of 20+ or 14+ respectively.

Yeah I've made some big mistakes in past videos. I can only try to do better, or take down a video if its really bad. The way I do surprise is just by full RAW, making everyone do a stealth check, and checking it against all the enemies Passive Perception scores. I dont think group checks really work with surprise tbh

That is actually a perfect example for how passive perception actually does work. Otherwise anybody with 20 perception the moment they walk into a room knows about the key hanging from the hook behind the dresser. Players still need to describe and be active in how they are searching.

To be fair, playing on a grid is also an optional rule, but I don't know of anybody not doing so

@@JonathanMandrake I mean, imagine movement that isn't in a straight line on a non-grid based format. I think the best way to do things would be to have like a 2ft string marked every inch or so. Everything else would be relatively in a straight line, so not much of a worry. Would be interesting to play honestly.

Yeah in that case momentum beats movement. Jumping is also so rarely used its not like I'm worried my party will go around abusing it too much. If they do I'll talk with them about balancing rules. Taking the extra movement out of their next turn or causing them to lose their reaction on landing beyond their movement or something

Then next round you get -10ft cus reasons, balanced as all things should be

That is a common houserule on it. However the reason they limit jumps is so you cant abuse jumps to get extra movement. Because otherwise you can always get an "extra" 10 feet of movement if you just jump with the rest of your movement on your turn. "I run 30 feet towards my target, then jump an extra 10 feet, landing right in front of the target that was 40 feet away".

Yes

But if you ready an attack action, you only get a single attack with it, regardless of how many attacks you would normally have.

@@Klaital1 correct!

@@Klaital1 all you gotta do is be a paladin then wappow. Dmg

@@Klaital1 umm actually, that is not correct. Ready actions allow you take an **action** you held, which mean you can take the multi-attack action. Only Attack of Opportunity allow you to make **one** melee attack.

It does state you can add an athletics check if say theres a small wall or fence on the other side of your jump (doing both a vertical and horizontal jump) but I like it because it honestly just speeds up combat and stops those ridiculous shenanigans like jumping across the grand canyon with my natural 20 athletics.

@@The-0ni There's still a limit. Natural 20 doesn't guarantee success on an ability check. Similarly a 1 isn't an instant fail.

Athletics checks can be used to jump over your max distance, if you needed to roll just to jump 10 ft (which even kids can do) that would be really annoying.

The mounted combatant feat, which anyone focusing on that should probably be picking up, let's you force an an attack targeting the mount to target you instead... But the dodge ruling makes that probably the worse option most of the time? I'm with ya, it really makes no sense

Yeah but lets be honest, If they are trying to sneak, that heavy armor should be a nuisance. No way I'm allowing someone in full plate to sneak about if they don't show skill (roll). I agree that group stealth should have leniency but some things a DM shouldn't tolerate. That characters can doff his armor and sneak with the rest. His choice should impact their gameplay.

@@remzzo The way I see it, if the characters are laying in wait the penalty is a lame nuisance. If they're trying to actively creep up on something, or directly around it, then you might consider the jingle-jangle of heavy armor. The problem mostly comes from the core mechanics of 5e, where Disadvantage on Stealth really screws over certain character classes which generally use Heavy Armor.

@@XoRandomGuyoX there are actually two types of stealth. Hiding and moving silently. Heavy armor only gives disadvantage on moving silently. No way does it hurt you for hiding.

@@robertmore703 RAW doesn't make such a distinction. It simply states that you make a Stealth Check, on which certain armor types impose Disadvantage. What you're suggesting is then a reasonable homebrew compromise, at least compared to RAW.

@@XoRandomGuyoX nope, look at Boots of Elvenkind and Cloak of Elvenkind if you don't believe me. Stealth and hiding are different but they both use stealth.

By default there are no checks for jumps. However your right that the rules do give advice about how you "might" add a skill check if the jump is more difficult than usual, like obstacles in the way or something. If there isnt anything making it more difficult, there's no reason to have a skill check.

@@TheDDLogs thats true, i guess it is more of an optional rule of sorts or rather dm discretion actually. just most players these days dont realize checks can be make even to walk from point a to point b. you know might make a neat vid explaining this in greater detail

Those situations still work with the sneak wording kinda, you're sneaking past their guard while they're distracted or when you're in a better position or something I guess

@@torunsmok5890 that's actually a better way of putting it

Like a sucker punch except it's not a punch lol

1 solution is to just specify at what point you want to fire at someone when you see them.

Like the video said, per the rules, you would actually only be able to jump 20ft. That said if I was DMing; I'd just let you jump the full 30ft or whatever unless a player starts meta-gaming the spell for extra movement in combat. The spell already sucks outside of specific situations at low levels and I see it more as a fun flavour option.

@@matthewhenke2167 Yep basically this. If you have the ability to jump 30ft, but only have 20ft of movement left after the 10ft running start, you simple jump 20ft. Theres no hanging in the air because you dont jump 30ft at all, and instead make a shorter 20ft jump.

@@matthewhenke2167 But...the rules don't actually say that at all. In fact they don't say anything about what happens.

Yeah it counts for going up and down too. Just like fly speed

Okay, had to reread the rules a few times on this one. Each type of AoE on a spell has a point of origin, and the magic expands from that point in straight lines. To be considered Total Cover, no lines may reach a creature. In such a case the creature wouldn't be a Target for that particular spell. E.g. you launch a fireball into a closed room and an enemy is behind a shut door at the end of that room then they are not a valid target. Otherwise you measure a line from the point of origin to the Target to determine cover values.

Only some spells like cloudkill specifically mention their effect spreads around cover. So yeah fireball with a full cover barrier just wont hurt the dude behind it, this can be used to create situations where you can fireball a room without cooking your allies. So its worth taking care on

You can't be targeted with a dex save behind full cover, Unless the spell says so (like Sacret Flame)

@@BramLastname Got it.

I recently re-read the rules about cover as well and noticed as well that full cover doesn't provide any bonus to dexterity saving throws, but you can't be targeted by direct spells. Many spells that require saving throws are targeted, so it would make sense that if you can see the spell being thrown at you, that you can attempt to dodge it (hence the bonus to dexterity). If you are behind full cover, you can't be targeted by a spell that relies line of sight (targeted), but if the spellcaster saw you just running behind the corner and tries a lucky shot by using an AoE spell like fireball that spreads around that corner, they do NOT directly target you, and since you don't see the spell coming, there is no way for you to anticipate it and attempt to dodge it, hence no dexterity saving throw bonus behind full cover.

You still attack with disadvantage, tho.

@@MrReset94 Oh, yeah, definitely. You just shouldn't get caught up in a 20 minute 'guessing game' where the enemy's location is masked after each attack due to a DM making Hide a free action for their creature.

You can take any normal action you'd be able to do with an Action with a readied action. The thing with the "Extra Attack" feature that most martials get, is that it restricts the extra attack to your turn only. So if your trigger happens during your turn, you can attack more than once with a readied action if your readied action was the Attack Action and meats the conditions for Extra Attack. Also a controlled mount shares your initiative, but not your turn. There is a difference, and thats why you cant do the "move, attack, then move again" thing since you have to resolve a full turn before a new creatures can start its actions and movement.

@@TheDDLogs Ah, yeah, I just looked little bit deeper and realized you're totally right about both things. I always thought that the logic for why readying an attack only gives one attack, even if u have extra attack, is because it attacking with your REACTION, not your action. But I guess it's more accurate to say it's because extra attack only applies on YOUR turn. The shared initiative thing is also something I've always been playing with wrong, always thought sharing intiative = sharing a turn. I guess it only works that way when it explicitly says "share a turn," like with the Beastmaster Ranger Primal Companion feature. Thanks for helping clear things up for me lol.

The act of using the item is what gives it away. Sephek Kaltro doesn't cast his misty step through an item nor with any other components, so it just happens without notice.

Yes, and yes

Globe of invulnerability states that spells and the like can't target things within the barrier whereas dispell magic is targeting the barrier itself so you can dispell the barrier. Now since it specifies that even if you up at lower level spells they still can't get through so you couldn't dispell magic anything inside the barrier no matter what even at 9th lvl. you could find other spells to do it for you technically you could use the wish spell to replicate dispell magic at 8th level and since it's technically the wish spell in effect it would work. There are other ways to go about this as well just a few suggestions.

@Tyler Anderson No it's just a 8th lvl dispell magic in effect. You'd actually have to use wish and take the downsides like exhaustion and the chance to never cast it again

I think of it as not just being "sneaky" but using underhanded tactics in general. So the idea is your ally is in front of an enemy, distracting them, and you as the rogue stab them in the back in their distraction. It's about being duplicitous and taking advantage of enemy distraction, not just being in shadows or invisible or something

On your second part, simply walking makes noise. So unless the enemies are deaf they'll know something is up. If you want to walk quietly, well, that's what the stealth check is for.

I guess so. I would still rule that it depends on the terrain and what kind of shoes you’re wearing though. And again, they might think something weird is going on, but an invisible person wouldn’t always be their first instinct necessarily. It just comes down to how you’re going to rule it. Stealthing is a good idea when you’re invisible, for all of your reasons but I just don’t always think it’s necessary to stay hidden.

@@TheDDLogs so if my character is in total darkness without darkvision, he/she can see nothing but still knows automatically the exact location of every creature that is not hidden? Seems weird to me

@@derDrache1988 If those creatures aren't specifically making Stealth checks, yes. The Stealth rules are pretty clearly bare-bones so DMs have to rule things however they feel it should make sense. Like if the creature specifically doesn't move, it probably makes a stealth roll with advantage or something. But yes you automatically know the location of any creature you can't see for any reason if it's not trying to be sneaky.

I think that too, if not I allow my players to do it anyway even without the readied action, as the mount's round is mixed with the rider's and the player can mix and mash the order of stuffs happening....as long as is logically possible ahahah

@@MrReset94 agreed.

RAW, the mount can only Dash, Dodge, or Disengage while being controlled. It can’t take the Ready action, as that is technically a separate action option.

Honestly the Disengage action already works in conjunction with movement(if you do not move while disengaging, you’re hindering yourself), I’d rule that you can have the horse disengage from the start of its movement, resulting in it actively disengaging after you hit and run

Both of those features specifically state "on your turn", and the triggers for them wouldn't happen on your turn - so you're doing it correctly.

Yes

Yeah, it would make a gloom stalker 3, fighter 2, monk 5, rogue x really helpful. The reason why I went with monk 5 was for extra ki for flurry of blows.

I see some people pointing this point out, and I can only assume its because they're doing a 1 for 1 equating subtle spell with magic items or innate casting. The big difference (as explained in the video), is that you have to use the item, which can be seen, and thus counterspelled.

That's not how that works. If the attack roll doesn't meet or exceed the enemy's AC, it still misses.

@@norandomnumbers we had it where if you miss because of the added AC from cover, it hits the cover. It was used against the players that way so we used it against the enemies the same way. DM allowed it because he's cool, and then promptly removed the rule

@@lukenator115 automatic hits on anything but crits or very specific NPCs are a bad mechanic. Attack roll of 15 "hits" the cover but if the cover has 18 AC, there's no damage. Bypassing the cover's AC is just lazy, and breaks game mechanics like in your example.

So basically everyone in such a group despises characters that use Heavy Armor or certain Medium Armor, to the point where such characters might as well not exist if the party wants to employ stealth in any way, shape or form? Because from a plain mechanics standpoint that is the result. Having one person with Disadvantage on Stealth from armor simply invalidates stealth as an option in an overwhelming number of cases. If you want to run that I'd highly suggest providing a longterm method for the party to eliminate the armor penalty.

@@XoRandomGuyoX Guidance, Pass without trace, Silence, Disguise, Minor/Major Illusion, Invisibility, Magic items, the Help action... it requires only a little imagination and planning. 😉

@@brunoethier896 No, in combat Hide is an enumerated action, alongside other actions like Attack, Dash, or Disengage. You don't get to Hide as a free action simply because you're invisible. After the initial ambush there is no 'guessing' a location, except in cases were all senses are dulled or bypassed.

@@XoRandomGuyoX we were talking about stealth checks here, as in; should we average all the team member's roll or should one failure means everyone fails. I'm of the oppinion that it's the same thing as jumping a chasm, it's every individual success or failure, yet you can help team members with cleverness, tools, helping out or magic.

@@XoRandomGuyoX besides, since I've managed to sneak up on a goblin NPC (that was waiting for us) while in full plate in a LARP, I can comfortably allow an armored character to be silent if he's moving super extra slowly. He might need a second or third roll but it's doable, adds tension and is more fun this way. Isn't that the point of the game? 😉