[[],[],[],[],[],[{"id":335,"name":"Sage Advice: Feats","full_text":"

Charger<\/a><\/h2>

If you have the Charger feat, can you make your charge attack when your mount takes the Dash action? <\/strong><\/em>The Charger feat relies on you, not your mount, taking the Dash action.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Crossbow Expert<\/a><\/h2>

Is it intentional that the second benefit of Crossbow Expert helps ranged spell attacks?<\/strong><\/em> Yes, it’s intentional. When you make a ranged attack roll within 5 feet of an enemy, you normally suffer disadvantage (PH, 195). The second benefit of Crossbow Expert prevents you from suffering that disadvantage, whether or not the ranged attack is with a crossbow.<\/p>

When designing a feat with a narrow use, we consider adding at least one element that can benefit a character more broadly—a bit of mastery that your character brings from one situation to another. The second benefit of Crossbow Expert is such an element, as is the first benefit of Great Weapon Master. That element in Crossbow Expert shows that some of the character’s expertise with one type of thing—crossbows, in this case—transfers to other things.<\/p>

Do the first and third benefits of Crossbow Expert turn a hand crossbow into a semiautomatic weapon?<\/strong><\/em> The short answer is no.<\/p>

The first benefit of the feat lets you ignore the loading property (PH, 147) of the hand crossbow if you’re proficient with that weapon. The upshot is that you can fire it more than once if you have a feature like Extra Attack. You’re still limited, however, by the fact that the weapon has the ammunition property (PH, 146). The latter property requires you to have a bolt to fire from the hand crossbow, and the hand crossbow isn’t going to load itself (unless it’s magical or a gnomish invention). You need to load each bolt into the weapon, and doing so requires a hand.<\/p>

To dig deeper into this point, take a look at the following sentence in the definition of the ammunition property: “Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack.” The sentence tells us two important things. First, you’re assumed to be drawing— that is, extracting with your hand—the ammunition from a container. Second, the act of drawing the ammunition is included in the attack and therefore doesn’t require its own action and doesn’t use up your free interaction with an object on your turn.<\/p>

What does that all mean for a hand crossbow? It means Crossbow Expert makes it possible to fire a hand crossbow more than once with a feature like Extra Attack, provided that you have enough ammunition and you have a hand free to load it for each shot.<\/p>

Does Crossbow Expert let you fire a hand crossbow and then fire it again as a bonus action?<\/strong><\/em> It does! Take a look at the feat’s third benefit. It says you can attack with a hand crossbow as a bonus action when you use the Attack action to attack with a one-handed weapon. A hand crossbow is a one-handed weapon, so it can, indeed, be used for both attacks, assuming you have a hand free to load the hand crossbow between the two attacks.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Elemental Adept<\/a><\/h2>

Is Elemental Adept the only feat you can take more than once?<\/strong><\/em> Elemental Adept is the only feat in the Player’s Handbook that you can take more than once.<\/p>

  <\/p>

Great Weapon Master<\/a><\/h2>

With the Great Weapon Master feat, do you have to take the bonus action immediately, or could you move and then use it on the same turn?<\/strong><\/em> The intent is that you can move before taking the bonus action in the Great Weapon Master feat.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Lucky<\/a><\/h2>

How does the Lucky feat interact with advantage and disadvantage?<\/strong><\/em> The Lucky feat lets you spend a luck point; roll an extra d20 for an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw; and then choose which d20 to use. This is true no matter how many d20s are in the mix. For example, if you have disadvantage on your attack roll, you could spend a luck point, roll a third d20, and then decide which of the three dice to use. You still have disadvantage, since the feat doesn’t say it gets rid of it, but you do get to pick the die.<\/p>

The Lucky feat is a great example of an exception to a general rule. The general rule I have in mind is the one that tells us how advantage and disadvantage work (PH, 173). The specific rule is the Lucky feat, and we know that a specific rule trumps a general rule if they conflict with each other (PH, 7).<\/p>

 <\/p>

Magic Initiate<\/a><\/h2>

If you’re a spellcaster, can you pick your own class when you gain the Magic Initiate feat? <\/strong><\/em>Yes, the feat doesn’t say you can’t. For example, if you’re a wizard and gain the Magic Initiate feat, you can choose wizard and thereby learn two more wizard cantrips and another 1st-level wizard spell.<\/p>

If you have spell slots, can you use them to cast the 1st-level spell you learn with the Magic Initiate feat?<\/strong><\/em> Yes, but only if the class you pick for the feat is one of your classes. For example, if you pick sorcerer and you are a sorcerer, the Spellcasting feature for that class tells you that you can use your spell slots to cast the sorcerer spells you know, so you can use your spell slots to cast the 1st-level sorcerer spell you learn from Magic Initiate. Similarly, if you are a wizard and pick that class for the feat, you learn a 1st-level wizard spell, which you could add to your spellbook and subsequently prepare.<\/p>

In short, you must follow your character’s normal spellcasting rules, which determine whether you can expend spell slots on the 1st-level spell you learn from Magic Initiate.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Polearm Master<\/a><\/h2>

Can I add my Strength modifier to the damage of the bonus attack that Polearm Master gives me?<\/strong><\/em> Yep! If you have the feat and use the Attack action to attack with a glaive, halberd, or quarterstaff, you can also strike with the
weapon’s opposite end as a bonus action. For that bonus attack, you add your ability modifier to the attack roll, as you do whenever you attack with that weapon, and if you hit, you add the same ability modifier to the damage roll, which is normal for weapon damage rolls (PH, 196).<\/p>

A specific rule, such as the rule for two-weapon fighting (PH, 195), might break the general rule by telling you not to add your ability modifier to the damage. Polearm Master doesn’t do that.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Savage Attacker<\/a><\/h2>

Does the Savage Attacker feat work with unarmed strikes?<\/strong><\/em> No. Savage Attacker relies on a weapon’s damage dice, and an unarmed strike isn’t a weapon (a point that was clarified in the Player’s Handbook errata).<\/p>

 <\/p>

Sentinel<\/a><\/h2>

Does the attack granted by the third benefit of the Sentinel feat take place before or after the triggering attack?<\/strong><\/em> The bonus attack takes place after the triggering attack. Here’s why: the feat doesn’t specify the bonus attack’s timing, and when a reaction has no timing specified, the reaction occurs after its trigger finishes (DMG, 252). In contrast, an opportunity attack specifically takes place before its trigger finishes—that is, right before the target creature leaves your reach (PH, 195).<\/p>

 <\/p>

Tough<\/a><\/h2>

Class features and feats sometimes affect a shapechanged druid. Does the Tough feat have an effect while shifting?<\/strong><\/em> The intent is no. The Tough feat affects a druid’s hit points, which are replaced by the beast’s hit points while using Wild Shape.<\/p>","reference":"Usergen"},{"id":336,"name":"Sage Advice: Combat","full_text":"

Does surprise happen outside the initiative order as a special surprise round?<\/strong><\/em> No, here’s how surprise works.<\/p>

The first step of any combat is this: the DM determines whether anyone in the combat is surprised (reread “Combat Step by Step” on page 189 of the Player’s Handbook). This determination happens only once during a fight and only at the beginning. In other words, once a fight starts, you can’t be surprised again, although a hidden foe can still gain the normal benefits from being unseen (see “Unseen Attackers and Targets” on page 194 of the Player’s Handbook).<\/p>

To be surprised, you must be caught off guard, usually because you failed to notice foes being stealthy or you were startled by an enemy with a special ability, such as the gelatinous cube’s Transparent trait, that makes it exceptionally surprising. You can be surprised even if your companions aren’t, and you aren’t surprised if even one of your foes fails to catch you unawares.<\/p>

If anyone is surprised, no actions are taken yet. First, initiative is rolled as normal. Then, the first round of combat starts, and the unsurprised combatants act in initiative order. A surprised creature can’t move or take an action or a reaction until its first turn ends (remember that being unable to take an action also means you can’t take a bonus action). In effect, a surprised creature skips its first turn in a fight. Once that turn ends, the creature is no longer surprised.<\/p>

In short, activity in a combat is always ordered by initiative, whether or not someone is surprised, and after the first found of combat has passed, surprise is no longer a factor. You can still try to hide from your foes and gain the benefits conferred by being hidden, but you don’t deprive your foes of their turns when you do so.<\/p>

If a wizard casts a spell like <\/strong><\/em>fireball<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>during a surprise round, do the enemies get disadvantage on their saving throw?<\/strong><\/em> Being surprised has no effect on saves. If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends (PH, 189).<\/p>

Can you delay your turn and take it later in the round?<\/strong><\/em> Nope. When it’s your turn, either you do something or you don’t. If you don’t want to do anything, consider taking the Dodge action so that you’ll, at least, have some extra protection. If you want to wait to act in response to something, take the Ready action, which lets you take part of your turn later.<\/p>

For a variety of reasons, we didn’t include the option to
delay your turn:<\/p>