Simple RAW for 5e V: The Disadvantage Strikes Back

[TheCleverGuy]

Q383

Do you add your STR or DEX modifier to the damage you deal with Shadow Blade? The spell says it creates a simple melee weapon with the finesse, light, and thrown properties, which deals 2d8 psychic damage on a hit.

[Dualight]

A383
Either, just as you would with any other weapon with the finesse property. Usually whichever is higher, but not necessarily.

[No brains]

Q 384
I am a little confused about when a creature saves vs Symbol. Would a creature have to potentially save against the same effect multiple times? For example, If a creature saves or fails vs the Stunning effect, would it need to leave the area immediately or else have to save against the effect again for the 10 minutes the glyph remains active?

[Dualight]

A384
from the spell description on page 280 of the PHB:
"... as is a creature that enters that enters the sphere for the first time on a turn or that ends its turn there."
So yes, a creature will need to save against the same effect for as many turns as it ends inside the sphere, since none of the effects specify that a successful save confers any protection from repeat saves.

This is a 7th level spell, and it is appropriately nasty.

[Inevitability]

Q 385:

Sickening Radiance

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

Dim, greenish light spreads within a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range. The light spreads around corners, and it lasts until the spell ends.

When a creature moves into the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, that creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 4d10 radiant damage, and it suffers one level of exhaustion and emits a dim, greenish light in a 5-foot radius. This light makes it impossible for the creature to benefit from being invisible. The light and any levels of exhaustion caused by this spell go away when the spell ends.

If a caster casts Sickening Radiance in an area that already contains enemies, do they:

-Make a saving throw when the spell appears and then whenever they start their turn in the area.
-Make a saving throw whenever they start their turn in the area.

[Narbaculus]

Q 385:
If a caster casts Sickening Radiance in an area that already contains enemies, do they:

-Make a saving throw when the spell appears and then whenever they start their turn in the area.
-Make a saving throw whenever they start their turn in the area.

A385: The latter.

[No brains]

Q 386a Does casting the spell Wish in ways that produce no immediate effect, such as storing it in a Glyph of Warding, cause Wish to stress the caster as it does when it is used to create an effect other than duplicating a spell?

Q 386b Can a spellcaster who has suffered the stress that prevents them from casting Wish ever again still create a scroll or magic item that can cast Wish?

[Hairfish]

386a Does casting the spell Wish in ways that produce no immediate effect, such as storing it in a Glyph of Warding, cause Wish to stress the caster as it does when it is used to create an effect other than duplicating a spell?

Q 386b Can a spellcaster who has suffered the stress that prevents them from casting Wish ever again still create a scroll or magic item that can cast Wish?

Q386a: Yes, unless you're reproducing a spell of 8th level or lower to be stored. Per the text of Glyph, you're still casting the spell to be stored (Wish) as part of casting Glyph. There's nothing in the text of Wish that indicates that an effect that stresses the caster must be an immediate effect.

Q386b: Under the base rules, there are no provisions for creating magic items, so it's up to the DM. However, Xanathar's introduces optional rules for creating magic items, including spell scrolls. Those rules only require that the spell be known (Sorc) or prepared (Wiz) to be scribed and failing Wish's 33% check doesn't appear to prevent either of those.

It's also worth noting that the person casting a spell through a scroll or magic item is still casting the spell (unless the item specifically states otherwise) themself, so a caster who lost the ability to cast Wish couldn't use a scroll or item to get around that restriction. The scroll writer could give the scroll to someone else, of course. Though as a DM, I'd be inclined to be extra pernicious in my interpretation of any Wish cast from a scroll created by a PC who could no longer cast it themself.

[Corran]

Q387a Is an unarmed attack different to a weapon attack? If yes, does anything change if I have tavern brawler or the unarmed fighting style? (Basically, I want to see if I can use the disarming attack maneuver of the battlemaster to disarm an enemy while my character is unarmed.)

Q387b If a weapon is dropped on the ground within my character's reach, what type of action do I use to pick it up? Is it a use-object action, a free-object interaction, or something else?

Thank you in advance.

[Psyren]

A387a: Even though unarmed strike is not a weapon, unarmed strike attacks count as melee weapon attacks. Yes, it's confusing.

A387b: Picking up a weapon is an object interaction, while dropping it is not an action at all - you can do both on a turn (once each) without using your action.

[Chronos]

Re 387a:
An unarmed strike is a "melee weapon attack", but it is not an "attack with a weapon". Confusingly, sometimes the rules depend on one, and sometimes on the other. Read carefully for whatever interaction you're interested in.

[Oramac]

Q388: With regards to language such as "this damage cannot be reduced or prevented in any way", as in the wish spell and other places. How does this affect Temp Hit Points? If I take this damage while having 10 THP, for instance, does the damage bypass that THP (which is to say, the THP would effectively "reduce" the damage and therefore doesn't count) or does THP still work normally? The PHB says they "are a buffer against damage" and "When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first". But it's not clear on whether or not this is reduction, prevention, or something else.

What say you?

[PhoenixPhyre]

Q388: With regards to language such as "this damage cannot be reduced or prevented in any way", as in the wish spell and other places. How does this affect Temp Hit Points? If I take this damage while having 10 THP, for instance, does the damage bypass that THP (which is to say, the THP would effectively "reduce" the damage and therefore doesn't count) or does THP still work normally? The PHB says they "are a buffer against damage" and "When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first". But it's not clear on whether or not this is reduction, prevention, or something else.

What say you?

A388, provisional I'd say that taking damage is taking damage. So THP loss is taking damage, and if you (somehow) had enough THP to handle taking the entire amount, great. Your underlying HP hasn't changed, but your total pool has (THP + HP). You're still taking any effects, you weren't immune, you didn't reduce the damage (via resistance, absorption by someone else, ignoring the effects, etc).

[JohnDaBarr]

Q389:

Can Steady Aim be used if movement is already set to 0?

[Psyren]

A389: Yes, all Steady Aim cares about is that you haven't moved before using it and that you don't move afterward. (Note that you can move after your turn is over, e.g. using the Scout's Skirmisher ability, provided that nothing else is keeping your speed at 0 after your turn ends.)

[No brains]

Q 390
Would a Kenku Druid be able to use its Mimicry trait while using Wildshape?

[Ortho]

A: 390

No. Your game stats are replaced by the beast stats, so you wouldn't have the Mimicry trait while in Wildshape. You also can't speak while in Wildshape in the first place unless your beast form accommodates that.

[Psyren]

A390 addendum: your DM is the final arbiter on what racials you keep, so you'd need to check with them - with that said, speech ability is explicitly gated by your form, so you would at a minimum need to transform into an animal (i.e. a bird) capable of mimicking sounds in order for your Kenku racial to carry over. But I'd say it wouldn't be completely forbidden given the above.

[No brains]

Q 391 Copying a spell scroll into a wizard's spell book explicitly destroys the scroll, as described in the DMG's entry on spell scrolls. But does copying a spell scroll into a Ritual Book or a Book of Shadows destroy a spell scroll?

[Psyren]

A391: As written this drawback only applies to wizards.

[No brains]

Q 392 If, with favorable rolls in height, a Goblin Rune Knight grows in size from their 10th-level Great Stature feature so that they surpass the minimum height and weight of a Kenku from Volo's, does the Goblin become a medium creature?

[Chaos Jackal]

Q 392 If, with favorable rolls in height, a Goblin Rune Knight grows in size from their 10th-level Great Stature feature so that they surpass the minimum height and weight of a Kenku from Volo's, does the Goblin become a medium creature?

A392 No. The feature does not say anything about changing your size in a mechanical sense (and considering it's a subclass all about that, you'd think it would mention it if that was the case), it doesn't say anything about increasing weight, there's no such thing as a minimum height or weight for a given size category (the amount of space a creature takes on the grid can be described in many different ways)... essentially, there are no mechanical terms and language in the wording of Great Stature and neither does it interact with anything mechanical described elsewhere. It's a ribbon.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Q393: I'm just a few gold short of buying a needed piece of starting equipment. Is there anything stopping me from using the customized background rules to choose a wealthier background, and then swapping in the other features I want from a different background?

[Psyren]

A393: You mean the coin purse alongside the equipment whose contents range from 5-25 gp? Nothing but your DM.

[Dmdork]

Q394 if you for some reason have advantage on wis checks, does your passive perception become +5?

[Psyren]

A394: That's correct. Conversely, with disadvantage you would subtract 5 from your passive check.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Q395: Another question, sorry, I'm making a lot of characters lately.
A) If I'm playing for my supper, or otherwise entertaining, can I apply either my Performance proficiency or my instrument proficiency to my check?
B) Does Performance let you play instruments you're not proficient in? "Your Charisma (Performance) check determines how well you can delight an audience with music, dance, acting, storytelling, or some other form of entertainment."

[Hairfish]

Q395: Another question, sorry, I'm making a lot of characters lately.
A) If I'm playing for my supper, or otherwise entertaining, can I apply either my Performance proficiency or my instrument proficiency to my check?
B) Does Performance let you play instruments you're not proficient in? "Your Charisma (Performance) check determines how well you can delight an audience with music, dance, acting, storytelling, or some other form of entertainment."

A395
A: The RAW are rather poorly defined when it comes to checks where multiple proficiencies could reasonably equally apply. As a DM, I'd allow it.

B: This gets further away from the RAW, but I believe the most reasonable interpretation is to consider instrument/tool proficiency vs Performance proficiency as the difference between art and entertainment.

Someone with only Performance proficiency is not great with the lute or the sackbutt or whatever, but they can perform simple tunes in a crowd-pleasing way. Think of it as the fantasy equivalent of modern pop music.

Someone who is proficient with an instrument, but not Performance, is technically skilled. They can play difficult pieces without messing up, but they might not make it fun. Think of a modern day jazz musician that only jazz fans have ever heard of, but can still command premium ticket prices.

The innkeeper would probably prefer you were the former rather than the latter, but they'd probably still hire you for the evening, especially if they're a fan of the instrument in question.

[Chronos]

A 395 continued:
Xanathar's Guide to Everything expands the proficiency rules to several cases where both a skill and a tool would reasonably apply to a check, including the case of proficiency in both Perform and in an instrument. If you have both proficiencies, you roll with advantage.

[No brains]

Q 396
What vehicles are eligible to be capsized by Control Water? Are there any huge or smaller vehicles?