I’M NOT A DUNGEONS&DRAGONS DESIGNER, I reply if I have a right answer but my answers are not official.
I’m just a librarian that collects and study designer answers.
If you need an official answer you could ask directly via Twitter to Master Jeremy @JeremyECrawford or contact sageadvice@wizards.com
Hi! I’m stuck on how the ranger feature Multiattack Defense works in this situation because the wording leaves it ambiguous to me:
If I take an attack from a creature’s reaction or a legendary action does it give you +4 AC until the end of the creature’s next turn or does it only count for that single reaction/legendary action (ie: a kraken’s lightning storm is 3 attacks)
The wording of the feature says “for the rest of the turn” but a reaction/legendary action isn’t a turn so I don’t know what to do with it
Hello. I think I can answer your question (I’m not a dev or anything, but I have a fair bit of experience with the system).
Reactions and Legendary Actions still take place during Turns, which are the increments that make up Rounds (PHB pg. 189).
Reactions “can occur on your turn or on someone else’s.” (PHB, pg. 190, “Reactions”)
Legendary Actions can be used “only at the end of another creature’s turn.” (MM, pg. 11, “Legendary Actions”)
From the looks of it, while I can understand the confusion from how PHB pg. 189 later uses the term “interrupt” to describe taking a reaction on someone else’s turn, or how you might think MM pg. 11 could mean the end of a creature’s turn might refer to some space between one turn’s end and another’s beginning, I believe the correct interpretation is that both reactions and Legendary Actions take place during the turns in which they occur, rather than creating their own non-turn pockets in the Initiative Order to resolve in.
I would use the Kraken example you gave, but a Kraken’s “Lightning Storm” ability doesn’t actually qualify as an Attack, since it uses a saving throw and no attack roll, and would therefore not trigger “Multiattack Defense”, which only comes into effect when the character with the ability is hit by a Creature’s Attack.
But let’s take a Hydra, for example, since it can get multiple reactions from its “Reactive Heads” ability:
– Say a Ranger with Multiattack Defense is within the 10 ft. reach of a Hyrda’s Bite Attack, and it’s the Ranger’s turn.
– The Ranger moves outside the 10 ft. reach, giving the Hydra a chance to make an Opportunity Attack, which it takes, hitting the Ranger. This activates the Ranger’s Multiattack Defense.
– The Ranger, on the same turn, then moves back into and back out of the Hydra’s reach again, provoking another Opportunity Attack, but this time the Ranger’s AC will have a +4 against the Hydra’s Attack, and any further attacks it might make against the Ranger this turn (So if their AC was normally 15, their AC against the second, third, or even fourth Opportunity Attack would be 19.)
– Note: The reason the bonus to AC from Multiattack Defense doesn’t stack up from multiple attacks is because benefits from the same feat don’t stack, according to this tweet: https://www.sageadvice.eu/can-a-hunters-multiattack-defense-triggergrant-its-bonus-multiple-times-on-the-same-turn/
– Eventually, the Ranger’s turn ends, and they lose their +4 to AC against the Hydra.
– Eventually, it’s the Hydra’s turn. The Hydra moves to attack the Ranger, and hits, activating the Ranger’s Multiattack Defense again.
– The Hydra uses the remainder of its attacks to try and hit the Ranger again. Because of Multiattack Defense, the Ranger’s AC has a +4 bonus against all of these attacks.
– The Hydra’s turn eventually ends, and the Ranger loses their +4 bonus to AC against the Hydra’s attacks again.
I hope this helps. I probably covered some stuff you already knew, but it’s good to be thorough when trying to suss out the details of these rules. Have a nice day.
Regarding the Steel Defender statblock in Tasha’s, would you add the S.D.’s STR mod to their “Force Empowered Rend” damage roll, since it’s a melee weapon attack?
can a Open Hand monk, using their flurry of blows, push/shove a Banshee even with all of their condition immunities?
Should Drow be able to use spell slots with racial magic as all the reprinted races in MOTM are?
Animated Shield/Ioun Stone interaction with Misty Step:
If you have an attuned magic item that hovers or orbits around you but you don’t carry, such as an Animated Shield or Ioun Stone, what happens if you cast Misty Step (or any teleportation ability such as the Echo Knight’s ability to swap places with their echo)? Does the item teleport with you or fall to the ground in the spot you were in?
Force-Empowered Rend (from Battle Smith’s Steel Defender stat block) specifies “one target you can see”. “You” clearly refers to the character, not the Steel Defender as “your” and “it” are used respectively. However, it is stated that “If you are incapacitated, the defender can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge.”
Given that you are incapacitated, can the Steel Defender still use Force-Empowered Rend of it’s own accord?
Idk where to ask question so i will do here, jeremy said that divine smite even if it cost spell splot . doesnt count as one when affecting magic immunity like rakshasa . so does branding smite work the same ??