Secret Mechanics (D&D 5E)

I did write it out on the screen briefly but it's worth mentioning again here: You can't take subclasses *of the same class.* I cannot imagine how you would multiclass without taking a subclass in the new class. But also if you could somehow pick and choose subclass features from the same class I think you could probably make a very broken build very quickly.

A neat thing about D&D is that we can ignore things that Crawford says when they don't make sense.

I too despised the "being able to see an invisible creature doesn't negate the advantage/disadvantage" thing. Stinks of them realizing they wrote it poorly but refusing to admit it. Like, it's okay bro, we'd forgive you, it wouldn't even be close to the worst mistake.

I like the idea that the two mechanics at the end walk into their shop, just to find all these people just posing with their stuff and spare overalls for no reason in particular

My favorite "secret" mechanic isn't even a secret. It's just cover. +2 to AC and Dex for half +5 to AC and Dex for 3/4 Cannot be (directly targeted) for full cover, but must step out to take an action. My AC 14 gunslinger was suddenly MUCH harder to hit and I basically forced my DM to learn how to play XCOM

Zee's combination spine-wrench suggests he's some kind of necro-artificer here, and I think that's neat.

"But the DM knows about our optimizations!" "Yes, and now they will have to optimize around our optimizations. And we can optimize around the optimizations that they are optimizing around our optimizations!" "Brilliant!"

I just want to see JCraw actually use that invisibility rule at at table he is DMing. His players would break his legs.

Oh I was hoping this would include the fact that there's a sound propagation range chart that, as far as I can tell, only exists on the later version DM screens (I believe Reincarnated DM Screen was the first to have it) and in NO books in 5e. It's totally wild, but there's actually a table you can roll on to see how far sound travels. I like to mix it in with stealth sequences as a sort of additional fail-forward mechanic. If you succeed your stealth check, no worries, you don't make sound. If you fail you make sound, but then you might get lucky and the sound doesn't travel far enough. The chart breaks sound into three categories: trying to be quiet, normal, and loud as I recall. Though the chart doesn't go into detail I rule that sound traveling through walls will be one tier lower on the chart for every substantial wall it passed through (like say a stone castle wall). This makes it another good fail-forward in stealth situations because it sets a limit on how far the scuffle you got into with a guard might alert other guards. You might attract the attention of the next room over, you might attract the whole dungeon. I also use this as a way for players to attempt quiet casting without subtle spell. If you have subtle spell, congrats, it just works. If not, there's a minimum distance your verbal components can be heard across as determined by the chart. If someone's inside that zone, tough, you were heard. I also rule that certain spells are automatically loud once cast (the verbal components might not be, but the spell itself always is). Fireball here is the obvious candidate, but most hard hitting attack spells like lightning bolt also count. Again great for stealth sequences because it makes the players use their toolkits tactically. It can be used a few other ways like determining ambient noise pollution from environmental stuff (say a nearby waterfall or a warehouse full of magical industrial equipment). It's not something I use all the time, but I like it as a little tidbit to pull out.

Regarding that last one, as a DM I sometimes balk at the Help action just being blurted out by players to grand advantage or negate disadvantage whenever they please, so I often insist that players tell me how their familiars or characters help in those situations. If they can't come up with a plausible way that the Help action could occur, then they don't get it. Maybe that's a bit draconian, but it's a lot less immersion-breaking than "My bunny familiar gives me the Help action so I can hit this Invisible enemy" without any other context.

I used my reaction turn to Instant click for Zee

Just want to say, seeing a Zee Bashew notification on my phone always triggers immediate joy.

Actually the optimal choice is to optimize just enough that it's not worth it to try to rebalance, but you still have an advantage.

Holding an action to cast a spell causes you to drop concentration on any spells you're concentrating on. While holding this spell, you're considered concentrating and if you take damage must roll to maintain concentration, potentially wasting the spell.

First :)

0:53 I recognise that the Council has made a decision. But given that it’s a stupid-ass decision, I’ve elected to ignore it. Seriously, I don't think anyone plays like that.

"Some DM's don't use hitpoints at all"... this is how I played with my kids. Every roll I made behind the screen was fake, fudged, or deemed 'acceptable'. They didn't know how many hitpoints a goblin was supposed to have, so their damage dice were more about determining what 'combat narrative' was coming out of a hit. Case in point; a goblin got hit with the Dragonborn's acid breath attack. It wasn't enough to kill the goblin rules-as-written. But it was a lot of points of acid, so I had the goblin scream "my eyes" and fall off the adjacent cliff.

Wizard that wears a magical chefs hat that makes them immune to disadvantage. It's actually just their familiar pulling their hair Ratatouille-style to help

"... Mechanics..." got me SOOOO bad. I blurted out a laugh in the middle of my quiet office at work.

"...unless your DM is cool" ssssecret to every role playing gaaammmeee