81
votes
Accepted
Do Bugbears' arms literally get longer when it's their turn?
They probably don't stretch
The name of the feature: "long-limbed" seems to merely be referring to the length of the arms themselves. If stretchiness was an aspect of bugbear physiology, that is ...
- 67.8k
61
votes
Accepted
What are the consequences for a Warforged that does not spend 6 hours in its inactive state?
You will not receive any benefits of a long rest
This includes Hit Die refresh, Hit Point recovery, spell slots, abilities that refresh on a long rest, etc.
Basically, while you won't suffer the ...
- 125k
58
votes
Accepted
Can the spell Catnap affect elves?
RAW - Yes, catnap can affect elves
Catnap is a bit deceptively named because, despite the name and the fact that one of its effects mimics a short rest, Catnap does not actually technically put ...
- 93k
54
votes
How do I calculate my AC for a Tortle Draconic Bloodline sorcerer with a shield?
You must use one formula for calculating your AC
If your character happens to have multiple given formulas for calculating their armour class, due to their combination of racial traits, class ...
- 64.7k
52
votes
Accepted
What is considered an enemy for an Orc's Aggressive trait?
Rules as written, an enemy is anything your DM allows you to consider an enemy.
What is an Enemy?
Enemy is not clearly defined, so there is no clear definition of what is and is not an enemy. It ...
- 18.5k
51
votes
Accepted
What's the point of a "once per combat" and a "on your first turn" clauses in the same feature?
It is not possible to have multiple "first turns in combat" in a single combat, but you could certainly hit with an attack multiple times during your first turn with the Extra Attack feature or ...
47
votes
Accepted
Can an elf be magically put to sleep using a Wish spell?
It's up to the GM
A wish like this falls under this section:
You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples. State your wish to the DM as precisely as possible. The ...
- 67.8k
44
votes
Accepted
How do the Death Ward spell and the half-orc's Relentless Endurance racial trait interact?
Death Ward will trigger the first time you drop to 0 hit points, and Relentless Endurance won't. Then next time you drop to 0, Relentless Endurance will be ready to go.
Death Ward, emphasis mine:
...
- 143k
43
votes
Accepted
Can a kenku wizard use Expert Forgery when copying a spell scroll into their spellbook?
Your ruling is unlikely to break anything. However, the rules on their own (and the underlying fictional significance of the rules) appear to answer this with a No.
The surface rules difficulty is ...
- 241k
43
votes
Accepted
What is a Centaur Thief's climbing speed?
From logic, one would arrive at:
"Climbing for a thief no longer costs the thief extra movement,"
"Climbing for a centaur costs 4 extra feet,"
"4 extra feet is extra movement," (implied from "instead ...
- 502
41
votes
Is this modified version of the changeling's "Shapechanger" trait fair?
I would simply accept that I am not playing a changeling with this DM.
“Fair” or not doesn’t come into it; it’s not worth the argument. But being able to change their appearance at will is literally ...
- 335k
39
votes
If I become human, do I get retroactive skill points?
Probably yes.
in D&D 3.5 this would definitely not be the case. There were no retroactive calculation of skill points, even if you spent an attribute increase on Int.
But for pathfinder it is ...
- 23.1k
39
votes
Accepted
How do I balance a campaign consisting of four kobold PCs?
Don't nerf the players, buff the challenges
If the entire party consists of kobolds, there is no reason to decrease their power level. Simply adjust the encounters to be a suitable challenge for the ...
- 67.8k
39
votes
Accepted
How does the Athlete feat affect the Centaur playable race?
As of the 2018 Errata, the Athlete feat has been changed
Athlete (p. 165). The third benefit should instead say climbing doesn't cost you extra movement.
—Errata: Player's Handbook, 2018
Because of ...
- 51.7k
38
votes
Does a Firbolg’s Hidden Step count as a spell or cantrip?
Neither.
The ability states that you magically become invisible. You do not have to cast the Invisibility spell to do so.
- 6,083
37
votes
Accepted
What spells and effects are covered by "advantage on saving throws against being charmed" from the Fey Ancestry trait?
Charmed is a specific game condition. From Appendix A of the PHB (page 290):
Charmed
A charmed creature can’t attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful abilities or magical ...
- 143k
36
votes
Accepted
Is the flight that a variant Tiefling (SCAG) has game breaking?
While it may not be "game breaking", it is unbalancing enough that it is disallowed for Adventurers League play (same as the Aarakocra PC race, which also grants flight):
All sidebars and ...
- 28k
36
votes
Accepted
Does the kobold player race feature, Pack Tactics, give ranged attacks advantage?
Your reasoning is correct
Indeed, Pack Tactics only requires that you have an ally within 5 feet of the target so this would work with any attack, including ranged spell or weapon attacks.
If the ...
- 36.1k
36
votes
Can the DM override racial traits?
The Direct Answer
The direct answer is yes, the DM can override racial traits and absolutely anything else they want to override.
Your Specific Situation
This would be an odd thing to override. First, ...
- 31.6k
36
votes
Accepted
Can the Half-Orc's Relentless Endurance trait protect them from things that would normally kill someone instantly?
No, Relentless Endurance cannot save you from instant death
The half-orc feature specifically mentions this in the text of the Relentless Endurance racial feature (PHB, p. 41):
Relentless Endurance. ...
- 77.7k
35
votes
Accepted
Does the Wisdom modifier apply on a lizard-monk's armor class?
The lizard-monk's armour class would be:
10 + Dexterity mod + Wisdom mod
or
13 + Dexterity mod,
not
13 + Dexterity mod + Wisdom mod.
Page 14 of the PHB says:
Some spells and class features ...
- 56.5k
35
votes
Accepted
What are the mechanical consequences of a Centaur's Fey trait?
Many small consequences, some with class features, others with spells.
Mechanically speaking, yes, the only consequence of them having the Fey trait is that they cannot be affected by spells and ...
- 45.2k
35
votes
What is a Centaur Thief's climbing speed?
The way to reconcile these, IMHO, is to realise that the Thief ability is written assuming that the character is an ordinary humanoid biped. They would pay one extra foot of movement for each foot of ...
- 16.1k
35
votes
Accepted
Create the most broken race that is 'balanced' according to Detect Balance
Offsetting Vulnerability and Resistance traits allows you to start with -236 points for almost no net effect.
Rather than submit an actual build here, I will sketch the start of a build upon which you ...
- 135k
34
votes
Do the Zariel tiefling's subrace bonuses stack with the tiefling's regular racial bonuses?
Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes introduces tiefling subraces which have a special link to one of the Lords of the Nine Hells, one of which is Zariel. Below the Subrace Traits heading (MToF, p. 21), it ...
- 60.9k
33
votes
Accepted
Does a PC aarakocra add their Strength bonus to the damage roll for their unarmed strikes?
You add your Strength bonus to any melee weapon damage you do unless a rule specifically states otherwise.
As per the rules on what Strength does for you:
You add your Strength modifier to your ...
- 64.7k
33
votes
Accepted
Is a mount considered an "ally" for the purpose of Pack Tactics?
Yes, as long as the mount is within 5 feet
An ally is not clearly defined in 5e, so we can use the English definition:
a person, group, or nation that is associated with another or others for some ...
- 67.8k
33
votes
Accepted
Can I change my choices for racial ability scores after play has started?
There are no written mechanics for doing this after character creation.
Unfortunately, there aren't any mechanics (even optional ones) which allow for rearranging the racial ASI after character ...
- 135k
32
votes
Accepted
Can you cast a racial spell if you do not have access to the spell slot required?
Yes! A drow's darkness spell does not use spell slots (PHB, p. 24, emphasis mine):
When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per long rest.
That's easy enough to overlook ...
- 241k
31
votes
Can I employ Relentless Endurance while in Wild Shape?
Yes you can
The rules for wildshape clearly state that you retain any benefits of features from your race if the new form is capable of using them. Since the Relentless Endurance feature does not ...
- 23.1k
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