My DM says that the wolf's bite attack causes a Str save or be knocked prone regardless of whether it hits or not.   The attack is:     Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7   (2d4 + 2) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must   succeed on a DC 11 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.   I thought it was implicit in the reading that the attack must first hit?
16397
I'd like to clarify whether were-creatures need to do damage in order to have a chance of inflicting the lycanthropy curse.  Considering the creature stats in isolation it would appear the answer is no. E.g. For the werewolf (all other lycanthropes are similar):     Bite ... Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be cursed  with werewolf lycanthropy.   From the above, the possibility of being afflicted applies whenever the bite attack hits. So if damage reduction or immunities kick in, and the target takes zero damage, there's still a possibility of getting the curse.  However, page 206 of the MM also states:     Curse of Lycanthropy. A humanoid creature can be afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy after being wounded by a lycanthrope.   The keyword here is wounded, which implies that the attack must actually deal damage.  The problem though, is that as far as I can tell: wounding isn't established in game terminology. Can we assume it really is synonymous with damage &gt; 0? Or am I reading a little too much into the explanatory text?
68000
Do the claws of Tabaxi and Tortles change the unarmed attacks of monk to slashing damage, or is the damage separate? Does the unarmed slashing damage increase with the monk's level, as described on the monk table in the PHB?
21883
Scenario 1: A grimlock hits Alice with a Spiked Bone Club, dealing 5 bludgeoning damage, plus 2 piercing damage. Alice's HP was 12.   Using the optional Massive Damage rules on page 273 of the DMG, does this count as more than half the HP from a single source, or less than half, but twice?  Scenario 2: Assume the same grimlock hits Bob with the same attack, this time rolling 6 bludgeoning damage, plus 3 piercing damage. Bob's Max HP is 8, and he had 1 HP remaining before he was hit.  Using the Instant Death rules on page 197 of the PHB, does the character die, or are the two damage types tracked separately? Does the character have to make a death saving throw for the second part of the damage?
110943
The rules for  state:     When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand.   Emphasis mine. Now, under most circumstances you would wield two light melee weapons, attack with at least one of them during your Attack action, and attack again as a bonus action. However, the rules themselves just say "take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon", not specifically "take the Attack action to attack with a light melee weapon" or "attack with a light melee weapon during an Attack action".  In other words, both the requirements "took the Attack action" and "made an attack with a light melee weapon held in one hand" need to be met during a turn, but the light melee weapon could be used to attack separately from the Attack action. Is that correct?  An example for how to accomplish this: An Eldritch Knight Fighter takes the  cantrip and the Dual Wielder feat. That Fighter takes the Attack action, attacking with a Greatsword, then uses Action Surge to take an additional action. He drops the Greatsword (everything I've seen indicates that dropping a weapon doesn't even require an object interaction), then draws two light melee weapons as permitted by Dual Wielder. For the second action, the Fighter casts  (SCAG, p. 142) which states:     As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell’s range   Thus, after those two actions the Fighter would have both taken the Attack action and made an attack with a light melee weapon in the same turn, and I would expect he could use two-weapon fighting to make a bonus action attack with the weapon not used during booming blade.  Note that this scenario is just an example; I'm not 100% certain there's a way to cast booming blade while holding two melee weapons, but I know there are other ways to make an attack outside of the Attack action and I just couldn't find one quickly that was more definitively possible.
81645
The third benefit of the Sentinel feat (PHB, p. 169-170) allows a melee attack when an enemy within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (that doesn't have the feat).   If you kill this enemy with your attack, does their triggering attack still go through?  Same question if say you knock him back or prone, etc.
117495
There are various features that affect "targets within X feet".  For example, the 's  table (PHB, p. 104) has the following result on a d100 roll of 83-84:     Each creature within 30 feet of you takes 1d10 necrotic damage. You regain hit points equal to the sum of the necrotic damage dealt.   Do you take this damage as well and then immediately heal it? (Thanks to user @RallozarX for pointing out that this does matter, say if they are concentrating on a spell)    Below are some examples I've found arguing that you are a creature within X feet:  There is the  cantrip (SCAG, p. 143):     [...] Each creature within range, other than you, must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 force damage [...]   Which seems to imply that you do count as "a creature within range".  Then there is the question "", and  states that "you are always within 30 feet of yourself".    Below are examples I've found arguing that you are not "a creature within X feet":  The Wild Magic Sorcerer's Wild Magic Surge table result on a d100 roll of 95-96:     You and all creatures within 30 feet of you gain vulnerability to piercing damage for the next minute.   This seems to imply that you would not be considered "a creature within 30 feet".  Then there is the  spell (; XGtE, p. 157), which states:     [...] Hit or miss, the shard then explodes. The target and each creature within 5 feet of it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 cold damage [...]   This too seems to imply you do not count as "a creature within 5 feet".  There is also the question "", and  quotes :     The splash damage of lightning arrow affects each creature within 10 ft. of the target, not the target.   Crawford :     If I say, "Each person within 5 feet of me gets a cupcake," an idiomatic reading of that English doesn't lead to me getting a cupcake.     Do you count as "a creature within X feet" of yourself?
76555
A 9 HD Yuan-ti Pureblood can innately cast the poison spray cantrip 3 times per day. The monster description says the save is DC 12, but it does not go into damage. So does it do 1d12 or 2d12 damage?
91916
From reading the current preview of the "Basic Rules" it looks like each ability score is now granted the possibility of being connected to a Saving Throw. In fact, certain classes get proficiency with a saves against a given attribute, such as a Fighter getting proficiency in saves for STR and CON. So instead of Reflex/Fort/Will saves, we have a save for each ability score.  At first glance, I really like this idea. A spell should clearly be able to be "defended" by something other than just DEX/CON/WIS.  However, I looked through the existing spell list and all of spells use only DEX/CON/WIS for saves.  What's going on here? Is this on purpose? Is this an oversight?   Why give Fighters proficiency in STR saves and then not print a single spell that uses that stat? (Note that Web appears to allow an STR "check" but not an STR "save" to escape, though this may be a mistake.)    My driver for this question was the oddity of inventing STR saves or INT saves and then not printing a single spell in the Basic set that used them. Based on the answers below, there are spells printed in the "playtest" set that do use these saves. So there is some reference material for what should be a STR save.  However, the answers below have even more and better information.
81824
While running a session recently, one of the players chose to "assist" his companion who was in melee with a goblin, by firing an arrow at the pair of them. I couldn't find any particular rules for this scenario so just had him roll at a disadvantage, counting a miss as a hit on his companion (damage to be ascertained by a second roll).   This seemed to work okay, and became a running joke for the night as the arrow bounced off the companions back, but are there specific rules for this scenario?
110394
Assuming you enter the spells area of effect and end your turn inside this area on the same turn. Does it trigger twice?     A creature must also make this saving throw when it enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or ends its turn there.   Not a native speaker, so I am not sure whether this means you make a saving throw when entering and when ending your turn in the area, or that you have to make one saving throw when one of this happens and only once.  It seems a bit overpowered when it triggers twice, dealing 8d10 damage is ok for a 5th level one-target spell, not a lasting multi-target AoE spell (DMG p.284)
63301
So, I got intrigued by grappling after reading  for 5e. It didn't mention if wild shape attacks were considered unarmed strikes, especially in regards to the Tavern Brawler feat's last bullet, which enables a grapple attempt after hitting with an unarmed strike.  It doesn't say in the PHB under the Druid section. In the MM, it says that a beast's attacks are Melee Weapon Attacks. However, the Alter Self spell says that the claws, fangs, etc are unarmed strikes. So, are they or are they not considered unarmed strikes?
117952
My friend is 2 weapon fighting a flesh golem. He has one sword that does lightning damage, and one sword that does fire damage. His right hand holds the lightning sword, and his left hand holds the fire sword.  My friend wants to attack with his left hand because lightning heals the golem. However, the DM says that because his left hand is his left hand, he can't use it as his "main" hand, and only attack with it. Is this rules as written/intended?
19783
The PHB entry on Wild Shape states: "You also retain all of your skill and saving throw proficiencies, in addition to gaining those of the creature."  Does this mean you add the character's Proficiency Bonus to the beast's physical attribute modifiers to arrive at the Skill total? For instance, my Druid has a PB of +3, proficiency in Stealth and an 18 Dex, for a total of +7 Stealth in normal form. But in Polar Bear form, her Dex drops to 10...does that mean I'd only be at +3 in Stealth in bear form?
114076
Playing D&amp;D4e, I have a situation in mind where a character could reasonably WANT to get hit with a normally harmful attack. Is there anything in the rules allowing the character to purposefully take the hit, not even bothering to attempt to defend or dodge out of the way of it?  For example, a dragonborn character makes a breath attack that includes an ally in its blast. The dragonborn has the Nusemnee's Atonement feat, which allows a player whose AOE damages an ally to take the ally's damage instead. This can be paired with a dragonborn feat that recharges your racial dragonbreath power when you take damage of the type it deals. This combination lets the dragonborn recharge their dragonbreath as long as they hit an ally with it. Normally you'd want your ally to at least have a chance to dodge your AOE first, but in this combo, it's best if they can allow themselves to get hit!  Can the ally choose not to defend against the attack, purposefully taking the hit, knowing that the character making the attack will take the damage in his place?
86481
Take a simple scenario as an example:  A cleric casts sanctuary An enemy wielding a spear attempts to make a melee attack at the cleric with his spear The enemy fails his Wisdom save, and thus can't attack the cleric  Now what? According to the  spell description:  On a failed save, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack or spell.  No one else is currently in melee range, but others are within move distance. What happens to the enemy's intended attack, after failing the Wisdom save?  Do they simply lose the attack if there is no other target immediately in range, causing that spear attack to be wasted? Does the enemy now get to &quot;hold&quot; the melee spear attack, use movement to get in melee range with someone else, and then resume the same melee spear attack on the new target? Can the enemy choose to make a different kind of attack with the same weapon, and decide to throw the spear instead (at someone else)? Can the enemy choose to attack with a different weapon, such as a shortbow, and attack someone else instead (either before or after moving)? Can the enemy choose to cast a spell instead of making a weapon attack?
104324
When holding a charge, whether because the initial touch attack missed or was not used, does Spellstrike allow for the use of the Magus' weapon for subsequent attempts? For instance,   Casts Shocking Grasp Uses Spellstrike to deliver spell through sword Misses with attack roll   Would the Magus then be forced to deliver the spell via a standard touch attack?
98718
Suppose, as happened last night, a character intends to subdue rather than kill an opponent. She made a melee attack, hit, declared her intent to knock out. The damage roll was enough to reduce the opponent to zero and the remaining damage exceeded the opponent's maximum HP. Now we would seem to have two rules invoked:  Instant Death. Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum. (PHB p.197) Knocking a Creature Out. When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant the damage is dealt. The creature falls unconscious and is stable. (PHB p.198)  So which rule takes precedence? Or is it neither?