@JeremyECrawford Interesting point in Dragon Talk today, you mentioned the “natural melee weapon” language of the minotaur’s horns means it works with Divine Smite (and magic weapon?).
That seems at odds with previous answers regarding bite attacks. Is this a revision? Or are PC minotaur horns/centaur hooves somehow mechanically different from a monster minotaur's horns/monster centaur's hooves?
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 15, 2018
Specifically thinking about this one here: That was part of a discussion about the magic weapon spell. I stated that it was meant to be cast on weapons that are objects, but that casting it on natural weapons would break nothing.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) May 15, 2018
Gotcha. So paladins can smite with whatever natural weapons by intent, and magic weapon at DM's discretion?
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 15, 2018
That’s right! I guess it was the "the system doesn't consider their body parts weapons" part that throws me.
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to clarify, and shed some insight on the design process. I find it invaluable!
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 15, 2018
I’m still so confused by this because there’s tweets from Jeremy saying “weapons” in the Divine Smite language means official weapons tables. Why smite with a claw but not a fist? Natural weapons are treated differently than unarmed strikes in the rules.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) March 18, 2020
So smite with all natural weapons even though the conversation seemed to hover over just the special “natural melee weapon” language of minotaurs? Yes. Natural weapons are considered weapons.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) March 18, 2020
Though there’s also the whole “we didn’t actually mean natural weapons when we specified weapons when we wrote the PHB” thing going on. So you kinda gotta play it by ear. Smite? Sure, claw is a weapon. Weapon Bond? Lolnah. Correct.
— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) March 18, 2020