D&D 5.5e Tactics MOST Players Never Learn — Transcript

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1. 0:00Combat on a 5-ft based 1-in grid map in
2. 0:03D&D is almost standard nowadays.
3. 0:0760% of my audience always use it and
4. 0:10only 4% of over 1,600 respondents don't
5. 0:13ever.
6. 0:14Which is why it's weird there's so
7. 0:16little advice for using it well.
8. 0:19Instead, we get build videos. But, if
9. 0:21your tactics are bad, your build doesn't
10. 0:24matter. Whereas if your tactics are
11. 0:26great, your build can truly shine. So,
12. 0:29today I'm giving away grid-based
13. 0:30tactical tips for the players in my
14. 0:32eight-weekly games to use against me.
15. 0:34Hopefully, you will use them against
16. 0:36your DM, too.
17. 0:38We'll touch We'll talk reach
18. 0:39shenanigans, cover tricks, area denial,
19. 0:42flanking without rules, and other
20. 0:44tricks. My name is Timothy, though there
21. 0:46are those who call me Tim. Welcome to
22. 0:49the channel.
23. 0:50As much as possible, these tactics are
24. 0:52decidedly rules as written. Anytime they
25. 0:54enter gray areas and need DM buy-in,
26. 0:57I'll try to call it out.
27. 0:59First up, did you know that you can
28. 1:01trivially add two to your allies' armor
29. 1:03class or take it from a friend on your
30. 1:06own turn? Because cover is determined by
31. 1:08drawing a line from an attacker's most
32. 1:10advantageous corner and testing against
33. 1:12every corner of a square occupied by
34. 1:14their target.
35. 1:16And the entire space of an ally or enemy
36. 1:18counts as in the way, especially since
37. 1:21monsters don't have sharpshooter.
38. 1:23Literally, none of them I could find.
39. 1:25Anyway, that means standing near
40. 1:27anything that obscures just one corner
41. 1:30of your square from a straight line to
42. 1:32your opponent's best corner is plus two
43. 1:34to armor class, whether with a reach
44. 1:36attack or a ranged attack. And, of
45. 1:39course, you can use walls and objects
46. 1:42for the same purpose.
47. 1:43Aggressively using cover against your
48. 1:45enemies is probably the most
49. 1:47underutilized tactic in Dungeons &
50. 1:49Dragons. When used well, DMs can't even
51. 1:52attack you because walls block targeting
52. 1:55completely. So, like, leave the room
53. 1:58more or move around the corner. Don't
54. 2:00just stand there right in their face and
55. 2:02take it. In fact, don't even do that if
56. 2:04you're a melee combatant because
57. 2:07flanking isn't dead even though it's no
58. 2:09longer a rule in 5.5. It's just about
59. 2:12pinning people's movement down instead
60. 2:14of getting bonuses to hit.
61. 2:16The temptation to stand squared up with
62. 2:18your opponent on a grid is real, but not
63. 2:21all squares on a grid are equal.
64. 2:24Whenever possible, claim a diagonal. By
65. 2:28taking a diagonal position, any one ally
66. 2:30on the far side forces an opportunity
67. 2:33attack if the enemy moves away from you
68. 2:35or two if the if if you've both followed
69. 2:38this rule.
70. 2:39And if you're stuck as the only
71. 2:41close-range combatant, it's
72. 2:43counterintuitive, but your best position
73. 2:45to block someone is not always right in
74. 2:48front of them.
75. 2:49In an open situation where there's room
76. 2:51to circle you, you need to maintain at
77. 2:53least 10 ft between you and your allies
78. 2:56versus a medium opponent because they
79. 2:58can freely circle to a better target
80. 3:00with no consequences otherwise. So, if
81. 3:03you're the tank, get distance from your
82. 3:05mates.
83. 3:06If the enemy are already close to your
84. 3:08squishy, that means protection might
85. 3:10mean moving past an enemy and
86. 3:12threatening them with your opportunity
87. 3:14attacks if they try to move any closer.
88. 3:16Especially if you hit like a truck or
89. 3:19have something like sentinel to shut
90. 3:21down their escape.
91. 3:23In tight quarters, however, it's much
92. 3:25harder to move around an enemy and
93. 3:28moving through an occupied square is
94. 3:30harder than people think.
95. 3:32Standing in the doorway or in a tight
96. 3:34corridor, even if you're knocked prone,
97. 3:36you cannot be moved through without a
98. 3:39special trait or being tiny, anyway.
99. 3:42It's a very strong defensive position
100. 3:44that gets overlooked a lot, especially a
101. 3:46bit the bit about being prone, but still
102. 3:49in control. In our head, it makes sense
103. 3:51to hop the prone guy, but only if you're
104. 3:54incapacitated can your square be passed
105. 3:56through. And even then, you count as
106. 3:59difficult terrain, which applies to
107. 4:01monsters, too.
108. 4:02Dead monsters are likely considered
109. 4:04incapacitated ones. Would make sense.
110. 4:07Creating little bloody pools of
111. 4:08difficult terrain. But stunned and
112. 4:11paralyzed opponents also stop blocking
113. 4:14your movement aside from the difficult
114. 4:16terrain thing.
115. 4:17Just beware of 10-ft and taller ceilings
116. 4:21because anyone capable of a 20-ft long
117. 4:24jump can leap right over a medium or
118. 4:26small foe, potentially with a DC 10
119. 4:28Athletics check.
120. 4:30Because we get 1/4 of long jump distance
121. 4:32as height to clear obstacles by the
122. 4:34rules.
123. 4:36Rules don't cover where in your jump
124. 4:38that height caps out, so ask your DM.
125. 4:41You'll also have to ask your DM about
126. 4:42jumping dead creatures. Most dead
127. 4:44creatures are probably low enough
128. 4:46obstacles that a 10-ft jump will clear
129. 4:48them, but the rules don't specify.
130. 4:51Weirdly, your DM will probably rule
131. 4:53against this, but by raw, there's
132. 4:55nothing stopping you from repeatedly
133. 4:57jumping for your whole movement, which
134. 5:00allows you to clear a lot of difficult
135. 5:02terrain without the usual penalty to
136. 5:03movement costs. Though you need a DC 10
137. 5:06Acrobatics to land safely in difficult
138. 5:09terrain along the way.
139. 5:10But Mario Brothers movement mode, I
140. 5:12guess.
141. 5:14Speaking of weird things like that, half
142. 5:16squares. Half squares are weird. Because
143. 5:19the rules don't actually acknowledge
144. 5:20that you can stand somewhere but exactly
145. 5:24on a square. So you'll need to clear it
146. 5:26with your DM.
147. 5:27But standing in a half square allows
148. 5:29your 5-ft reach to cover a wider front
149. 5:31line and potentially block path down a
150. 5:3410-ft wide hall to medium-size
151. 5:36creatures.
152. 5:37Because in 5.5, there are no rules for
153. 5:40squeezing through half squares, either.
154. 5:43But since you're already off book, your
155. 5:45DM will have to sort that out if they
156. 5:47allow it. I call half squares squeezing
157. 5:49and use the 2014 rules. Essentially, the
158. 5:52penalties are restrained but moving
159. 5:54through difficult terrain instead of
160. 5:55restricting the squeezers speed to zero.
161. 5:58Your mileage may vary.
162. 6:00One place where half squares do have
163. 6:02rules is that area of effect spells hit
164. 6:05a creature if they half cover a target
165. 6:07square, which means you have some wiggle
166. 6:09room for targeting spells.
167. 6:11Lightning bolts can cover a 10-ft path
168. 6:13in a straight line. 20 by 20-ft squares
169. 6:16like the web scale spell can actually
170. 6:18cover 20 by 25 when you need them to.
171. 6:22And a 5-ft cube like cloud of daggers
172. 6:24can cover two adjacent squares, not just
173. 6:27one.
174. 6:28Though amusingly, uh affects no squares
175. 6:31if you target a corner
176. 6:33uh
177. 6:34to cover a quarter of four different
178. 6:36squares, which would be less awesome
179. 6:38targeting.
180. 6:39Polearms, on the other hand, are
181. 6:42awesome.
182. 6:43Though the reach property does one weird
183. 6:45thing that people see as a weakness.
184. 6:48Because you only provoke opportunity
185. 6:50attacks when you leave a creature's
186. 6:51reach. So, with a halberd, someone only
187. 6:54provokes if they go from 10 ft to 15 ft
188. 6:57away, right?
189. 6:59No, wrong. Because rules for unarmed
190. 7:01strikes allow you to use any body part
191. 7:04and specifically have a 5-ft range. So,
192. 7:07you can double your opportunity attack
193. 7:09options by remembering unarmed strikes,
194. 7:12which combines with sentinel quite
195. 7:14nicely.
196. 7:15Incidentally, this potentially applies
197. 7:17to monsters, too, but also means they
198. 7:20and you can only grapple someone within
199. 7:225 ft even if they normally have 10 ft
200. 7:25natural reach.
201. 7:27While you're at it, remember unarmed
202. 7:29strikes can be grapples to stop
203. 7:31movement.
204. 7:32>> Speaking
205. 7:34>> Speaking of grappling. But sometimes,
206. 7:36there's a better option. Specifically,
207. 7:38if they have spent half or more of their
208. 7:41speed. Like if they just stood up from
209. 7:43you toppling them with your maul on your
210. 7:45turn.
211. 7:46>> [snorts]
212. 7:46>> Because you can use the shove action to
213. 7:48knock them prone again, leaving them
214. 7:50ready for beating. And depending on your
215. 7:52DM's interpretation, if allies provoke a
216. 7:56shove for 5 ft extra movement might be
217. 7:58exactly what your friend needs to reach
218. 7:59the front lines of battle. So, don't
219. 8:01forget teamwork.
220. 8:03And remember, provoking opportunity
221. 8:04attacks is not always a bad choice.
222. 8:08If you'd like to know when you should
223. 8:09offer up that free attack, check out
224. 8:11this next video. Thanks for watching and
225. 8:13happy adventuring.