Net and disintegrate synergy(?)

[Corran]

First, a quick question about the net. The net has a range of 5/15. And it is classified as a ranged weapon with the trown property. Does that mean that I attack with disadvantage no matter what?

I was wondering if any of you find combining a net attack with a quickened disintegrate something worth doing. The net restrains the target if the attack hits, and restrained targets suffer disadvantage on their dex saves. Quickening a disintegrate on the same round the net hits, means that you wont risk the restrained enemy breaks free of the net, so at the cost of 2 sp (quickened) you impose disadvantage on the dex save of the enemy you plan disintegrating, assuming ofc that the net attack hits.

I am currently playing a dex 16, cha 14 character, who will have access to disintegrate in the near future. Should I buy a net?

[krugaan]

First, a quick question about the net. The net has a range of 5/15. And it is classified as a ranged weapon with the trown property. Does that mean that I attack with disadvantage no matter what?

I was wondering if any of you find combining a net attack with a quickened disintegrate something worth doing. The net restrains the target if the attack hits, and restrained targets suffer disadvantage on their dex saves. Quickening a disintegrate on the same round the net hits, means that you wont risk the restrained enemy breaks free of the net, so at the cost of 2 sp (quickened) you impose disadvantage on the dex save of the enemy you plan disintegrating, assuming ofc that the net attack hits.

I am currently playing a dex 16, cha 14 character, who will have access to disintegrate in the near future. Should I buy a net?

Doesn't quickening spell cost scale with the level of the spell? Also, I think restrained creatures just automatically fail their dex saves.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Doesn't quickening spell cost scale with the level of the spell? Also, I think restrained creatures just automatically fail their dex saves.No and no.

The net seems like an interesting idea, though because it's unlikely to actually work you may be better off spending one extra SP to Heighten the spell instead, assuming you can.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

The net seems like an interesting idea, though because it's unlikely to actually work you may be better off spending one extra SP to Heighten the spell instead, assuming you can.

Yeah, though it's a fairly decent substitute if you don't have Heighten Spell for some reason.

Now, if we could find a way of paralysing the target, we'd be cooking with petrol. Poison, maybe? Though that has a higher chance of whiffing.

[Hrugner]

A stunning blow would really do the trick to make disintegrate sing.

Crossbow expert and sharpshooter would both allow you to attack with the net without disadvantage.

[MaxWilson]

Crossbow expert and sharpshooter would both allow you to attack with the net without disadvantage.

Yes. Also, you can knock the target prone and then advance to within 5' before using the net.

Or, use the net from inside of a Darkness spell or Fog Cloud. If you're both inside the darkness, neither you nor the target can see each other, so you have disadvantage + advantage = nothing. But you already had disadvantage on the net, and yet disadvantage doesn't stack, so it's still disadvantage + advantage = nothing, so effectively Darkness or other heavy obscurement simply cancels your disadvantage.

Or, you can have your familiar (or a summoned mud mephit/whatever, or a Beastmaster's beast) Help you attack with the net to cancel disadvantage.

That's about all the ways I can think of.

@OP, do you have proficiency in the net? (If you don't, you can pick up proficiency as a perk of the Gladiator background.)

[Markoff Chainey]

can you apply poison to a net? I would think so, because a net is not just a "net" - it has metal balls on the end and maybe even razors and hooks so that the target does not get out easily, its not a fishing net but a weapon after all... that could make the combination even more nasty.

I totally agree that 5/15 for a ranged weapon is just stupid and would rule that you can use it as a melee weapon at a range of 5 or as a ranged weapon with a range of 15, but with disadvantage as such.

[Corran]

Thaks for the replies everyone!

Messed up with the copy paste and lost my long detailed answer to every post, so I will try to sum up.

After some calculations (and assuming that disintegrate has an initial chance of landing of 50%, and that the net has a 65% chance of hitting if I can cancel out the disadvantage - most probably darkness, as was suggested among other things), I found that you get better average damage using the heighten spell metamagic, but you get better damage per sp using the net. Which means that the net is a better use of resources (assuming ofc a not very optimised sorc build like mine - mediocre charisma, and decent dex), but with heighten you can do better when you need to bring something down quickly.

Poison seems like a good idea, I would say it would be up to the DM to allow it or not, as the net does not inflict any damage. Still, some poisons in the DMG only required touch if I remember correctly.

I could see the gladiator background being really useful for a dex based FS sorcerer, as they lack in weapon proficiencies.

And yeah, the disadvantage seems a bit harsh, especially since using a net takes up your whole action and not one attack, but I am far from an expert regarding game mechanics and game balance.

Oh, almost forgot, about CE and SS. It seems a bit odd to me that thse feats which generally increase dpr, also favor using a net, as increasing dpr makes the use of a net less appealing. I guess it is still a very good situational benefit.

[Zalabim]

Comparing a Net and the Heighten metamagic, the net can be used separately and also would leave the target still restrained if it hit, instead of only boosting a single spell and that's it.


@OP, do you have proficiency in the net? (If you don't, you can pick up proficiency as a perk of the Gladiator background.)

The Galdiator background doesn't give any weapon proficiencies. It can give you the weapon, though.