1
\$\begingroup\$

According to page # 194 "If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you’re making an attack roll, you’re making an attack."

Then on page # 192 "Attack The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your fists. With this action, you make one melee or ranged attack. See the “Making an Attack” section for the rules that govern attacks. Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature of the fighter, allow you to make more than one attack with this action."

So back to Making an attack Pages # 193 and 194 " Making An Attack Whether you’re striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a spell, an attack has a simple structure.

  1. Choose a target. Pick a target within your attack’s range: a creature, an object, or a location.
  2. Determine modifiers. The DM determines whether the target has cover and whether you have advantage or disadvantage against the target. In addition, spells, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonuses to your attack roll.
  3. Resolve the attack. You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Som e attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage.

If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you’re making an attack roll, you’re making an attack."

So by the rules so far any attack made is an attack action.

Go to page #92 "Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn."

Ok, that is straight forward, any time you attack as an action you can do it twice.

Now go to page # 93 "Multiattack At 11th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.

Volley. You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see within your weapon’s range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.

Whirlwind Attack. You can use your action to make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target."

So based on the rules as written, any action made as an attack are an attack action. Page #192-194

Volley is an attack feature of the ranger class, making it a single action instead of multiple as is writen and attacks are attack actions.

Extra attack allows you to take two attack actions in a single turn.

So by the rules extra attack gives you two attack actions, volley uses an action, that is an attack making it an attack action automatically meaning you can use it twice according to the rules as written.

I know that was not what Mike Mearls on Sage Advice (http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/08/01/hunters-volley/) intended for the rules when he helped create them.

However, that is not how it is written in the rule book and stated as hard fact ruling for in game use.

In addition the Sage advice website has this disclaimer "This is an unofficial site of Wizards of the Coast about Dungeons&Dragons, a collection of all the tweets sent by players to the designers."

So it is not official rule interpretation.

So... I contacted a representative named Jake at Wizards of the coast Phone number 1 (800) 324-6496 and Wizards of the coast's official response is to go by the written rules or DM's discretion. Jake stated that you should follow as it is written in the book, making the use of the two volley attacks permittable as stated in rule book. My DM was present during the phone call.

Was it an oversight on the part of the team making the rules? and if so are the rules and the methodology of my line of thought what should be used until a rewrite of the core rule books is made?

Does the rangers 5th LV (Extra attack) make it so the 11th LV (Volley) can be used twice in the same turn RAW allowing for a total of 50 arrows launched at the max? With 10' away from a central spot being a 15' length and when extended to all four sides that length becomes 25', so a 25'x25' square x2 = 50 arrows launched in one turn.

\$\endgroup\$
14
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ Where do you get the number 50 from? \$\endgroup\$ Aug 21, 2017 at 1:52
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @IronHide77777 It does look like the same question to me, and the answer applies here equally. \$\endgroup\$
    – kviiri
    Aug 21, 2017 at 8:19
  • 5
    \$\begingroup\$ I recommend we leave this question open; it isn't the same question and its answer isn't found straightforwardly in the other question's answer. It may also be useful to have a canonical D&D 5e question explaining the difference between the capital-A Attack and lowercase-a attack. Also, Ironhide, please avoid escalating to accusing people of avoiding your question in bad faith -- they are trying to help in good faith. If they wind up doing something problematic (like actually closing the question) you can bring it up on Role-playing Games Meta and request a different course of action be taken. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 21, 2017 at 9:56
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ I'm not sure where you're seeing the RAW says that. Both the answers to your question and that of the original duplicate cite the RAW and show you which way to go. You can always ignore the votes and do what you want, but Jake from WoTC (as opposed to Jake from State Farm) is not an official rules source. \$\endgroup\$
    – NotArch
    Aug 21, 2017 at 20:45
  • 6
    \$\begingroup\$ Re: “My question is attempting to challenge the answer in…”: that makes it a duplicate, by definition. The way to challenge another answer is to provide an alternative answer that's better. If the voters don't think the alternative answer is better, then that's the end of the story — opening a duplicate question to re-litigate another question isn't an option we permit, sorry. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 22, 2017 at 2:03

2 Answers 2

25
\$\begingroup\$

No, that won't work. This is what Extra Attack says:

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

And this is what Volley says:

You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures with in 10 feet of a point you can see within your weapon’s range.

If you use your action to Volley, you aren't using your action to take the Attack action. Extra Attack only works when you take the Attack action, not whenever you attack.

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. \$\endgroup\$ Jul 31, 2019 at 21:58
7
\$\begingroup\$

What prevents this is the wording. Using volley is making AN attack. Using your bow to attack a single creature and making use of extra attack on that or another creature is using THE Attack Action. The way it is worded is not that it allows an extra action but an extra singular strike when you take your action to strike a single foe.

Volley though it may be AN attack is not ruled by the book as the Attack Action, it is using a separate action to make an attack. Since that action has been filled with the Volley action and not the Attack Action, a Extra Attack cannot be triggered.

To clear up some confusion here, an attack is when you must make a roll to hit against an opponents armor class. This is separated into Weapon attacks and Spell attacks. The Attack action is specifically using your action to make a singular weapon attack against a foe, which is modified by extra attack stating specifically the Attack Action not when you make an attack.

Page 192 further clarifies this under Attack action:

The most common action to take in combat is the Attack action, whether you are swinging a sword, firing an arrow from a bow, or brawling with your fists. With this action, you make one melee or ranged attack. See the “Making an Attack” section for the rules that govern attacks. Certain features, such as the Extra Attack feature of the fighter, allow you to make more than one attack with this action.

"One melee or ranged attack" and "with this action" makes it clear the Attack action is not any time you attack a weapon, but specifically using your action to attack a singuluar foe once. As volley uses your action to attempt to hit several creatures all within an area all at once, they are considered attacks but not the Attack action.

**Edit: I just decided to check Sage advice. According to designer Mike Mearls on Sage Advice (http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/08/01/hunters-volley/) using Extra attack to copy Volley a sceond time is not allowed, but you can indeed use extra attack after you volley for one more singular attack.

\$\endgroup\$
6
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ So does the Sage Advice contradict @Minimans answer? Extra attack is not only usable when you take an Attack action. I'm a bit confused here. \$\endgroup\$
    – JollyJoker
    Aug 21, 2017 at 10:56
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ His answer is rules as written. Sage advice is rules as intended. Easiest way to explain it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Elgagard
    Aug 21, 2017 at 11:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ "This is an unofficial site of Wizards of the Coast about Dungeons&Dragons, a collection of all the tweets sent by players to the designers."sageadvice.eu/2015/08/01/hunters-volley Thank you Elgagard for bringing up the crux. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 21, 2017 at 11:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @IronHide77777 At least the issue isn't as clear as I would have thought before reading the Sage Advice post. \$\endgroup\$
    – JollyJoker
    Aug 21, 2017 at 11:44
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ @Meta4ic It's not the Mearls said he wasn't official, but that Wizards has stated that only Jeremy Crawford is official. Mearls and Perkins give recommendations on their intent and how they'd run their table. \$\endgroup\$
    – NotArch
    Aug 21, 2017 at 13:08

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .