For the Rogue, the description of the Ability Score Improvement (PHB, p.96) says:     When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th, and 19th   level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2...   and the Feats description says (PHB, p165):     At certain level, your class gives you Ability ScoreImprovement   feature. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking that   feature to take a feat of your choice instead.   Using logic you have the oportunity to receive a feat each 4 levels. So if I up my character to level 24, 28, 32... I can still take new feats?
120600
Context: the last version I played was AD&amp;D (ie. 1e) where characters could (technically) progress to unlimited levels. Looking at the 5e PHB I get a sense that 20th level is now a concrete ceiling in terms of character level, and no progression beyond that is possible -- but I can't find it explicitly stated anywhere. Is this the case?   (NB. I'd have no objection to a Lvl20 limit, but I'd like to know for definite, since of course it has a major impact on how one plans a multi-class character).
30296
The  rule says:     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. You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus   attack, unless that modifier is negative.      If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon,   instead of making a melee attack with it.   With Two-Weapon Fighting, I can only add my ability modifier to the damage of the first attack. Even if I get the  feat (PHB, p. 165), it doesn't say anything about adding the ability score to the damage.  The  feat (PHB, p. 165) says:     Thanks to extensive practice with the crossbow, you gain the following   benefits:         You ignore the loading quality of crossbows with which you are proficient.   Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn’t impose disadvantage   on your ranged attack rolls.   When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon,   you can use a bonus action to attack with a loaded hand crossbow you   are holding.      When I attack using the bonus action granted by Crossbow Expert, do I add my ability modifier to the damage? I don't know whether I should follow the Two-Weapon Fighting rules, or roll damage as for a normal weapon attack.
90286
WotC recently released the Basic Rules for the DM, and with it came a few items like the Amulet of Health:     Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)      Your Constitution is 19 while you wear this amulet. The amulet has no   effect on you if your Constitution is already 19 or higher.   The Basic Rules state at the end of Chapter 1, under "Beyond 1st Level":     When your Constitution modifier increases by 1, your hit point maximum   increases by 1 for each level you have attained. For example, when   Bruenor reaches 8th level as a fighter, he increases his Constitution   score from 17 to 18, thus increasing his Constitution modifier from +3   to +4. His hit point maximum then increases by 8.   But it doesn't explain what happens when the Constitution modifier decreases!  My players will soon get the Amulet as a reward, and I fear that they will just pass the item around to increase everyone's max HP; I want to prevent that. Are the HP lost when a character is no longer attuned to the Amulet?
19115
I was looking at the Player's Handbook and I saw that there are 3 different types for Spell Sniper.   Simply put, does choosing all three of them create an 8 times multiplier?  For example, say that a Level 10 Arcane Trickster rogue were to use the three Ability Score Improvements they had to take three feats instead.   The feats taken (in no particular order) are Spell Sniper (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock), Spell Sniper (Cleric, Druid), and Spell Sniper (Wizard).  Does the range benefit of each version of the feat stack, multiplying the range of any spell that requires an attack roll by a total of 8?  (I just inputted the values on D&amp;D Beyond, and it seem like they added the multipliers together for 6 times multiplier. Fire Bolt has a range of 720 ft and Thorn Whip has a range of 180 ft. This is increased from 120 ft and 30 ft. Is this correct on their part?)
41665
The fighter's  feature (PHB, p. 72) says:     Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.   Assuming I am holding two different weapons, and don't want to spend my bonus action on Two-Weapon Fighting, can I attack once with each weapon?
122013
For example, a character takes the Magic Initiate feat at level 4, picking spells from the Wizard spell list, because they have been researching and learning all they can about magic (such as a Sorcerer studying their inborn magic or a High Elf expanding on their Cantrip feature). It stands to reason that they would continue their research of magic over their next 16 levels, which indicates that they should learn new spells.  At any point, can the spells chosen through the Magic Initiate feat be swapped out for other spells, according to the same Magic Initiate spell selection rules of two cantrips and one 1st-level spell?
122200
Assume two 1st level Rogues, Alice and Beatrice. Alice gained 3 levels of Rogue and on her 4th level of Rogue, instead of an ability score increase she picked up the Martial Adept feat. She later gained 3 levels in Fighter, and chose the Battle Master archetype. Beatrice gained 3 levels of Fighter, and chose the Battle Master archetype. She then gained 4 levels of Rogue, and instead of an ability score increase she picked up the Martial Adept feat. Alice and Beatrice each now total four Rogue levels and three Fighter levels, obtained via different paths. Is the superiority dice gained from the Martial Adept the same dice for both Alice and Beatrice? (The text above was posted as an example in  that was closed as too broad. After talking to a moderator, it was decided the best thing would be to post the example as a separate question.) The second bullet point of the Martial Adept feat says (PHB, p. 168):   If you already have superiority dice, you gain one more; otherwise, you have one superiority die, which is a d6. [...]   The already have implies that you need to have superiority dice when you acquire the feat, otherwise it is a d6. Beatrice is safe. RAW, she already has superiority dice when she gets the feat. Is Alice stuck with a d6 superiority die for the rest of her career?
95155
Recently I heard a friend saying that melee combatants had fewer options than 4e or 3.x:     Ranged combat was somewhat interesting in that you could deal with   cover, aiming, and so forth. Fighters had no options other than "I attack". Rogues   ended up in a cycle of "Turn 1: hide. Turn 2: Sneak Attack. Repeat   till it's dead." You can dash, but that's only once. You can try to get Advantage, but chances are you won't get the opportunity (!). So basically a melee fight boils down to charging up to an enemy, then standing there and saying "I attack" every turn.   He went on to say that in 4e, Fighters and Rogues had as many options as Wizards in terms of Powers and in 3.x they had more options where you could trade attack for damage and so forth, but there were no such options in 5e.   I haven't played any melee classes in D&amp;D 5e, so I'd like to know: is he right? Are melee combatants pretty much just limited to running up to an enemy and saying "I attack"? Or do they have other options that my friend didn't consider?
43107
I'm a new DM. One of the PCs obtained , which raise the Strength score of the creature wearing and attuned to them to 19. Does this increase the modifier or any of the skill checks or damage rolls as well?  I'm not sure how having higher Strength is helpful if it doesn't.
59277
Let's say I'm a multiclass rogue/ranger and I have taken Expertise in survival checks. Now, if a ranger is in their favored terrain it says they double their proficiency bonus in intelligence and wisdom checks relating to you environment. If I am in my favored terrain and use my already doubled survival check, will it double again?
14887
Suppose I have a ranger with the style Archery, and I take a one level dip into fighter and also pick Archery. Do I get an additional +4 to my attack rolls, or just +2? More generally, does the same Fighting Style stack with itself in other cases, like dueling with Paladin and dueling with Fighter?
33253
Can the same character take a given feat multiple times to gain the benefits all over again?  It seems obviously stupid that you can't, but I can't find anywhere in the RAW that actually states that.  The closest I get is Elemental Adept's "You can select this feat multiple times" sentence, which implies that most feats can only be taken once.  The feat I'm eyeing very specifically is Magic Initiate, which lets you add a splash of magic from other classes to a given character.  If I've read online documents correctly, I can use my core class (sorcerer) spell slots to cast the 1st-level spell I gain access to, which means I could grab shield of faith, use Twinned Spell on that, then turn around and grab the bard's spell list to grab healing word and turn my sorcerer into a semi-support caster.
120198
Are there rules for creating level 0 characters in 5e? I've been running a campaign where the players begin sub-standard and 1st Level characters are generated in-game as the story unfolds. I just made them all begin with a couple of hp and 9's across the board for ability scores (since I wanted them at a disadvantage compared to the average human, and to fail at a generic DC10 task more often than succeed).  It was a real grind, with many opportunities for TPK (total party kill) when faced with even a single challenge rating 1/2 adversary (obviously I fudged the dice a little to prevent this). Are there published rules for this?  If there aren’t published rules for this, has anyone tried doing something like this? Any first hand experience on how it has played out would be welcome.
90970
When I Wild Shape, I take a beast's STR, DEX, and CON scores. I  and my INT, WIS, and CHA scores. I will focus this question on the assumption I'm proficient in Athletics, and I'm turning into a beast also proficient with Athletics.    I have +0 STR and +3 Proficiency, so +3 in Athletics Beast has +2 STR and a +4 bonus in Athletics   What is my Athletics bonus now?  On one hand, I keep my +3 proficiency bonus (so if I calculated things from scratch, I should have Athletics = +2 STR + 3 Prof = +5). On the other, tweets like  claim I should just use the beast's modifier, a +4, since it is higher than my Druid's +3.     A druid in beast form uses his or her proficiencies, except when the beast has the same proficiency with a higher bonus.   But in this case, I'm now a creature with +2 STR, +3 Prof, and a +4 in an Athletics skill I'm proficient with. Can anyone confirm if I do or do not recalculate proficiency bonuses when I Wild Shape (or Shapeshift)? The rules are not explicit, and the way I've interpreted them is that you take the new STR, DEX, CON scores, and recalculate modifiers for your skills. After this, if the Beast had a better bonus than you now have, you then take its bonus.    Similar , but it mostly refers to interactions with Expertise and other edge-cases. I'm looking for an (preferably backed-up by RAW or official comment) answer on whether I should recalculate my stats to accommodation my Proficiency Bonus with my new STR, DEX, or CON modifiers.  Also keep in mind, from this , it seems a reasonable opinion that we should recalculate bonuses when scores change. But if you don't recalculate any proficiencies, how would this be affected? You could be cursed to negative STR and keep a massive athletic bonus.
57025
The Sharpshooter feat includes an interesting feature: you can choose to take -5 penalty to hit with a ranged weapon attack to increase its damage by 10. Normally, I'd dismiss the trade-off as too situational, but I've only just thought of combining it with the Archery fighting style (+2 to hit with ranged weapon attacks).  After building a sample character using these features, the end result looks quite effective. My questions are: Is this build valid? Have I interpreted the rules correctly? If so, how well does it compare against other damage-focused builds?  5th level variant Human Fighter:   Ability Scores (via point buy): Str 10, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 10 HP: 47, AC: 17 (or 18 with disadvantage on Stealth) Weapons: Hand Crossbow x 2 Fighting Style: Archery Martial Archetype: Battle Master (with the Precision Attack maneuver) Feat (variant Human): Crossbow Expert Feat (4th level ability score improvement): Sharpshooter   The end result is a fighter capable of hitting targets 120' away, behind 1/2 or 3/4 cover, or engaged in melee with him, all without penalty. Normally, he can make 3 such attacks per round (Attack action + Extra Attack + Crossbow Expert's bonus attack). Once per short rest he can make 5 attacks per round via Action Surge (Attack action 1 + Extra Attack, Attack action 2 + Extra Attack, Crossbow Expert's bonus attack).  His normal attack bonus is +8 (3 proficiency, 3 Dexterity, 2 Archery fighting style), and normal damage is 1d6+3. Not amazing damage, but nice accuracy and flexibility (attacks can be focused on one target, or spread around; works equally well in melee and ranged combat).  The real winner is his ability to take -5 on any of these attack rolls to increase the damage by 10, to an average of 16.5 per shot (excluding crits). If he lands his usual 3 attacks, that's ~47 damage; 5 attacks is ~83. While the -5 to hit seems imposing, he's still got superiority dice: he can increase his attack roll by 1d8 after seeing the result, up to 4 times per short rest. And even without the superiority dice, his attack bonus is still an acceptable +3; ok for hitting low AC targets, or those granting advantage on attack rolls (e.g. surprised or prone + adjacent).  With a decent AC, a Fighter's HP, and the Second Wind feature, he can also take a decent amount of damage. He'll also have decent Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws.  This build seems almost too well rounded. Unlike a blaster, he only requires short rests to recover his big hitters. Unlike a brawler, he can target just about anything on the field at a moment's notice. Have I missed any rules, or overlooked any drawbacks?
119840
The third benefit of the  feat says (PHB, p. 165):  When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.  I am aware that in general, .  However, does the wording of Crossbow Expert's third benefit mean that it requires taking the Attack action before the bonus action?  Compare/contrast that wording with that of:  the third benefit of the monk's  feature:  When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.   the monk's Flurry of Blows option for the  feature:  Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.   and the  feat (PHB, p. 170):  If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try to shove a creature within 5 feet of you with your shield.  Relevant Q&amp;A:
54100
I'm new to D&amp;D. There seems to be a discrepancy between the 5e Starter Set Rulebook and the associated character sheets. The Rulebook says that a passive wisdom (percep) score is "10 + the creature's wisdom modifier, as well as any bonuses."  In the example they have a 1st-level character (with a proficiency bonus of +2) Wisdom of 15 (+2) and a  proficiency in Perception, he or she has a passive Wisdom (Perception) of 14 (10+2+2).  But the Human Fighter Folk hero character has a WIS mod of +1, and a +3 written beside perception, and a passive Wis percep of 13 (not 14?).  The Dwarven Cleric has Wis mod of +3 and a +3 written beside perception, and only a 13 passive wisdom.  I guess this has to do with proficiency in the skill, but I'm confused. Can someone explain these instances and maybe also when proficiency is used, vs when just the modifier or just the skill without proficiency?