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* BeyondRedemption: The Oath of Redemption is one of the Paladin's subclasses, which centers around redeeming sinners. One of the four tenets of the oath is to have the wisdom to acknowledge that there eventually comes a point [[RedemptionRejection where someone can't or won't seek forgiveness for their evil actions]], and to make the careful and grim final judgement that there is no hope of redeeming the subject in question. At that point, the Oath of Redemption Paladin needs to follow through with ending that villain's existence [[TheNeedsOfTheMany for the safety of the world]].
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* FriendlyFireproof: Averted. If you use an area-of-effect spell or ability that damages creatures, it means ''every'' creature in the area, friend or foe. The Sorcerer class has a metamagic option called "Careful Spell" which makes some targets automatically pass a saving throw on spells that require one, but it still affects them.
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** Elven forces with mages can use Sleep spells with impunity, as they are mostly immune to them.
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** Elven forces with mages can use Sleep spells with impunity, as they are mostly immune elves and half-elves can't be put to them.sleep by magic.
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* BeginWithAFinisher: The 5[[superscript:th]]-edition Recharge system incentivizes this by giving certain powerful attacks (such as a dragon's BreathWeapon) a single use, followed by a chance each round for it to recharge. Using it immediately maximizes the chance to use it again in the same fight. Additionally, challenge ratings are calculated with the assumption that a creature will always use the most damaging attack it has.
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* BeginWithAFinisher: The 5[[superscript:th]]-edition Fifth Edition Recharge system incentivizes this by giving certain powerful attacks (such as a dragon's BreathWeapon) a single use, followed by a chance each round for it to recharge. Using it immediately maximizes the chance to use it again in the same fight. Additionally, challenge ratings are calculated with the assumption that a creature will always use the most damaging attack it has.
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** In 5th Edition, certain classes have features that enable them to block charm, fear, mind reading, etc. The Barbarian's Rage ability may also prevent them from being charmed or frightened, since they're too angry for such mind alteration to work.
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** In 5th Edition, certain classes have features that enable them to block charm, fear, mind reading, etc. etc.
*** The Barbarian's Rage ability may also prevent them from being charmed or frightened, since they're too angry for such mind alteration towork.work.
*** Paladins gain the Aura of Courage ability at level 10, which prevents nearby allies from being frightened as long as the Paladin is conscious. Oath of Devotion Paladins also gain the Aura of Devotion at level 7, which does the same thing against being charmed.
*** The Barbarian's Rage ability may also prevent them from being charmed or frightened, since they're too angry for such mind alteration to
*** Paladins gain the Aura of Courage ability at level 10, which prevents nearby allies from being frightened as long as the Paladin is conscious. Oath of Devotion Paladins also gain the Aura of Devotion at level 7, which does the same thing against being charmed.
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* NoiselessWalker: Boots of Elvenkind allow the wearer to walk silently.
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* NoiselessWalker: Boots of Elvenkind allow the wearer to walk silently. The Boots also give advantage on Stealth checks that require moving quietly.
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* PercentBasedValues: In 5[[superscript:th]] Edition, creatures take half the usual {{Hit Point|s}} damage from a damage type they have Resistance against. Previous editions use a fixed amount of DamageReduction instead.
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* PercentBasedValues: In 5[[superscript:th]] Fifth Edition, creatures take half the usual {{Hit Point|s}} damage from a damage type they have Resistance against. Previous editions use a fixed amount of DamageReduction instead.
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* ReducedToDust: This is the result of a [[https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Disintegrate#content Disintegrate spell]] being cast on a creature that is killed by the damage dealt by it.
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* ReducedToDust: This is the result of a [[https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Disintegrate#content Disintegrate spell]] being cast on a creature that if the target is killed by the damage dealt by it.damage. It turns them into dust and prevents regeneration, making it much harder to bring them back to life.
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* SetBonus: The Hammer of Thunderbolts. This is nominally a +3 weapon. But if the wielder is also wearing Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Girdle of Giant Strength, it becomes +5, automatically kills any giant it hits, and (in early editions) was the only case in which the to-hit and damage bonuses from the Gauntlets and Girdle would stack together.
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* SetBonus: The Hammer of Thunderbolts. This Thunderbolts is nominally a +3 weapon. But if the wielder is also wearing Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Girdle of Giant Strength, it the Hammer of Thunderbolts becomes +5, a +5 weapon, automatically kills any giant it hits, and (in early editions) was the only case in which the to-hit and damage bonuses from the Gauntlets and Girdle would stack together.stack.
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* ShapeDiesShifterSurvives: 5[[superscript:th]] Edition Polymorph spells give the target the HitPoints of their new form; they revert if dropped to zero HP, but any extra damage is transferred to their original form. A few effects that can cause instant death, like the [[ReducedToDust Disintegrate]] spell, still kill a polymorphed target outright.
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* ShapeDiesShifterSurvives: 5[[superscript:th]] Fifth Edition Polymorph spells give the target the HitPoints of their new form; they revert if dropped to zero HP, but any extra damage is transferred to their original form. A few effects that can cause instant death, like the [[ReducedToDust Disintegrate]] spell, still kill a polymorphed target outright.
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* SquareRaceRoundClass: 5th Edition brought back attribute penalties from 3rd Edition, but only for kobolds (-2 strength) and orcs (-2 intelligence) as playable monster races from ''Volo's Guide to Monsters''. However, the outcry from fans for the bizarre use of these penalties that doesn't appear on any other race drove Wizards of the Coast to remove the negative modifiers on the races when they were republished in later books.
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* SquareRaceRoundClass: 5th Edition brought back attribute penalties from 3rd Edition, but only for kobolds (-2 strength) and orcs (-2 intelligence) as playable monster races from ''Volo's Guide to Monsters''. However, the outcry from fans for soon followed, arguing that the bizarre use of these penalties that doesn't appear on any other race was bizarre. The backlash drove Wizards of the Coast to remove the negative modifiers on the races when they were republished in later books.books; nowadays, a player character's race only adds increases to certain stats, with no race getting any penalties.
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*** When Hutijin takes damage, he can utter a word of power that can frighten all non-devils within 30 feet of him. *** Moloch uses a BreathWeapon that inflicts psychic damage on everyone it hits and forces them to become frightened, drop whatever they're holding, and run as far from him as they can.
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*** When Hutijin takes damage, he can utter a word of power that can frighten all non-devils within 30 feet of him. him.
*** Moloch uses a BreathWeapon that inflicts psychic damage on everyone it hits and forces them to become frightened, drop whatever they're holding, and run as far from him as they can.
*** Moloch uses a BreathWeapon that inflicts psychic damage on everyone it hits and forces them to become frightened, drop whatever they're holding, and run as far from him as they can.
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* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: "Vicious Mockery" is a bard-exclusive cantrip that inflicts a small amount of damage and imposes a debuff on the target.
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* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: "Vicious Mockery" is a bard-exclusive cantrip that inflicts a small amount of damage and imposes a debuff on the target. The target doesn't even need to speak the same language as the Bard for Vicious Mockery to work.
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** Among cantrips, there is Eldritch Blast, a staple spell of many a Warlock. Eldritch Blast is a simple force-elemental spell where the caster sends out a bolt of magic to damage the enemy, and yet it's one of the most powerful and useful cantrips in the entire game. Eldritch Blast scales well with level -- at its strongest, it's [=4d10=] damage at no cost with an element that practically nothing is immune to. And with Warlocks having so many ways of buffing their spells with Sorcery Points, you can basically make a Warlock who has this cantrip as a go-to spell, even if other spells have stronger effects or more utility.
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** Among cantrips, there is Eldritch Blast, a staple spell of many a Warlock. Eldritch Blast is a simple force-elemental spell where the caster sends out a bolt of magic to damage the enemy, and yet it's one of the most powerful and useful cantrips in the entire game. Eldritch Blast scales well with level -- at its strongest, it's [=4d10=] damage at no cost with an element that practically nothing is immune to. And with Warlocks having so many ways of buffing their spells with Sorcery Points, Eldritch Invocations, you can basically make a Warlock who has this cantrip as a go-to spell, even if other spells have stronger effects or more utility.
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** Among Cantrips, Eldritch Blast. A simple force damage spell where the caster sends out a ball of magic to damage the enemy, and yet it is one of the most powerful and useful Cantrips simply because it scales well, gets very strong as you level (4 beams at max level), and with Warlocks having so many ways of buffing it, you can basically make a character who uses it all the time, and you'll be very powerful still.
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** Among Cantrips, cantrips, there is Eldritch Blast. A Blast, a staple spell of many a Warlock. Eldritch Blast is a simple force damage force-elemental spell where the caster sends out a ball bolt of magic to damage the enemy, and yet it is it's one of the most powerful and useful Cantrips simply because it cantrips in the entire game. Eldritch Blast scales well, gets very strong as you well with level (4 beams -- at max level), and its strongest, it's [=4d10=] damage at no cost with an element that practically nothing is immune to. And with Warlocks having so many ways of buffing it, their spells with Sorcery Points, you can basically make a character Warlock who uses it all has this cantrip as a go-to spell, even if other spells have stronger effects or more utility.
** Also among cantrips, thetime, Bard has Vicious Mockery. Its damage is quite weak -- at its strongest, Vicious Mockery only does [=4d4=] psychic damage, and you'll be there's quite a few high-level monsters that are immune to psychic damage for one reason or another. However, the target doesn't have to understand the Bard for Vicious Mockery to work, and it causes the target to have disadvantage on its next attack roll. And since giving an enemy a very powerful still.good chance at missing with its attack is useful at any level, expect a Bard to always have it in their back pocket.
** Also among cantrips, the
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** The Disintegrate spell. If the target fails the saving throw, they take a large amount of force damage, which not many enemies have resistance or immunity to. In addition, if this damage is enough to reduce the target's HP to zero, their body disintegrates into a pile of ash, rendering them Killed Off for Real and preventing regeneration. However, if the target succeeds on the saving throw, then Disintegrate does nothing at all. On the 'all' side of things, though, Disintegrate is notable in 5e because it only does damage on a fail - this allows it to get around the Rogue, Hunter Ranger, and Monk's Evasion ability, since Evasion only prevents damage from a dexterity saving throw if the ability does half damage on a miss, which Disintegrate doesn't.
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** The Disintegrate spell. If the target fails the saving throw, they take a large amount of force damage, which not many enemies have resistance or immunity to. In addition, if this damage is enough to reduce the target's HP to zero, their body disintegrates into a pile of ash, rendering them Killed Off for Real KilledOffForReal and preventing regeneration. However, if the target succeeds In addition on the saving throw, then Disintegrate does nothing at all. On the 'all' side of things, though, Disintegrate is notable in 5e because it only does damage on a fail - this allows it to get around ignore the Rogue, Hunter Ranger, and Monk's Evasion ability, since Evasion only prevents damage from a dexterity Dexterity saving throw if the ability does half damage on a miss, which and Disintegrate doesn't.always causes full damage. However, the 'nothing' comes in if the target succeeds on the saving throw; if the check is passed, then Disintegrate does nothing at all -- no damage, no effects, no penalties, ''nothing''.
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* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: For most of 5th Edition's official game modules and content, a character starts at level 1 and will end up at around level 15 if they make it all the way to the end without dying. The expectation after that is that the party will want to start another module with new level 1 characters; official published material for parties above level 15 is practically nonexistent. The power level of monsters tends to be [[SchizophrenicDifficulty very erratic at higher levels]], given that high-level monsters have increasing numbers of abilities that simply kill the target outright [[NoSavingThrow that can't be defended against]], on top of having very high HP, armor, and damage outputs. For all these reasons, getting a character to level 20 is vanishingly uncommon.
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* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Like many other editions of ''D&D'', the maximum level for a player character is 20. For most of 5th Fifth Edition's official game modules and content, a character starts at level 1 and will end up at around level 15 if they make it all the way to the end without dying. The expectation after that is that the party will want to start another module with new level 1 characters; official published material for parties characters above level 15 is practically nonexistent. The power level of monsters tends to be [[SchizophrenicDifficulty very erratic at higher levels]], given that high-level monsters have increasing numbers of abilities that simply kill the target outright [[NoSavingThrow that can't be defended against]], on top of having very high HP, armor, and damage outputs. For all these reasons, getting a character to level 20 is vanishingly uncommon.
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** The Elemental Bane spell makes the target more vulnerable to a damage type of the caster's choice. It does this in two ways: it makes the target take an extra 2d6 damage of the chosen type the first time it takes such damage on a turn, and it negates the target's [[DamageReduction resistance]] (if any) to that damage type.
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* FlashyTeleportation: The Cape of the Mountebank lets you teleport once a day. When used, it makes you disappear and reappear within two separate clouds of smoke.
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* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: 'Vicious Mockery' is a bard-exclusive cantrip that inflicts a small amount of damage and imposes a debuff on the target.
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* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: 'Vicious Mockery' "Vicious Mockery" is a bard-exclusive cantrip that inflicts a small amount of damage and imposes a debuff on the target.target.
----
----
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* ''TabletopGame/LostMinesOfPhandelver'' (2014, part of a starter set)
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** Monster Slayer Rangers can designate one enemy as their Slayer's Prey. This makes the Prey take extra damage from one of the Ranger's weapon attacks each turn.
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* DamageIncreasingDebuff:
** The Hunter's Mark and Hex spells both make an afflicted creature take extra damage from the caster's attacks for the duration of the spell. If the victim dies before the spell wears off, the caster can transfer the effect to a new victim.
** Orcus can use a legendary action to create a column of negative energy. Any creature within the column's area gains vulnerability to necrotic damage.
** The Hunter's Mark and Hex spells both make an afflicted creature take extra damage from the caster's attacks for the duration of the spell. If the victim dies before the spell wears off, the caster can transfer the effect to a new victim.
** Orcus can use a legendary action to create a column of negative energy. Any creature within the column's area gains vulnerability to necrotic damage.
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* SphereOfDestruction: Several area of effect spells create powerful damaging effects in the shape of spheres, including Fireball, Circle of Death, Dark Star, Hunger of Hadar, Maddening Darkness, Meteor Swarm, and Ravenous Void.
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''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Fifth Edition'' (2014-current) was developed under the title ''D&D Next'' and officially launched in 2014. Fifth Edition was an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to recapture and unite some of the fractured fanbase after the divisiveness of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition''. The basic mechanics resemble a mixture of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' with some influences by 4th edition. The overall power levels have been reduced: the max level cap is 20 ''period'', magic items are much more rare and do not scale in levels, and the bonuses/penalties to an action seldom, if ever, break double digits.
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''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Fifth Edition'' (2014-current) was developed under the title ''D&D Next'' and officially launched in 2014. Fifth Edition was an attempt by Wizards of the Coast Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast to recapture and unite some of the fractured fanbase after the divisiveness of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition''. The basic mechanics resemble a mixture of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' with some influences by 4th edition. The overall power levels have been reduced: the max level cap is 20 ''period'', magic items are much more rare and do not scale in levels, and the bonuses/penalties to an action seldom, if ever, break double digits.
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* CarryABigStick: The Maul deals the most damage of any single weapon (tied with the Greatsword, which is identical mechanics-wise aside from damage type). It's the heaviest weapon in the game aside from the [[BladeOnAStick Pike]].
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''Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition'' (2014-current) was developed under the title ''D&D Next'' and officially launched in 2014. Fifth Edition was an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to recapture and unite some of the fractured fanbase after the divisiveness of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition''. The basic mechanics resemble a mixture of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' with some influences by 4th edition. The overall power levels have been reduced: the max level cap is 20 ''period'', magic items are much more rare and do not scale in levels, and the bonuses/penalties to an action seldom, if ever, break double digits.
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'''Dungeons & Dragons (Fifth Edition)''' (2014 - Present) was developed under the title ''D&D Next'' and officially launched in 2014. Fifth Edition was an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to recapture and unite some of the fractured fanbase after the divisiveness of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition''. The basic mechanics resemble a mixture of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' with some influences by 4th edition. The overall power levels have been reduced: the max level cap is 20 ''period'', magic items are much more rare and do not scale in levels, and the bonuses/penalties to an action seldom, if ever, break double digits.
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* AllOrNothing
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* AllOrNothingAllOrNothing:
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* WeaponOfChoice: In 5th Edition, this comes into play with "fighting styles" for Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, granting bonuses with either ranged weapons, two-handed weapons, one-handed weapons with a free hand, shields or dual-wielding. Paladins, Rangers, and Fighters can only pick one of these styles, though the Fighter's Champion archetype can pick another style to make it two.
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* WeaponOfChoice: In 5th Edition, this comes into play with "fighting styles" for Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, styles", granting bonuses with either ranged weapons, two-handed weapons, one-handed weapons with a free hand, shields or dual-wielding. The primary classes to get them are Paladins, Rangers, and Fighters Fighters, who can only pick one of these styles, though the Fighter's Champion archetype can pick another style to make it two.two. Other classes can obtain them via Feats, or by certain subclasses like the College of Swords for Bards.
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* CriticalHit: Rolling a nat 20 on a [=d20=] dice is considered a critical hit, causing the attack to have twice as many attack rolls. For instance, if a sword dealt [=1d8=] damage a normal attack, a critical hit would change that to [=2d8=] damage. Also, a nat 20 on an attack roll always hits, regardless of the target's armor class. This was a popular house rule for a while before Fifth Edition made it into an actual mechanic. (This only applies to physical strikes, though; spells can't get critical hits.)
* CriticalHitClass: In D&D 5th Edition, the Champion subclass for the Fighter is twice as likely as everyone else to deal a critical hit with an attack, and thrice as likely at later levels. The Rogue's Assassin subclass deals a critical hit every time they hit an enemy that is surprised, and (combined with Sneak Attack dice) as such have some of the most extreme burst damage in the game.
* CriticalHitClass: In D&D 5th Edition, the Champion subclass for the Fighter is twice as likely as everyone else to deal a critical hit with an attack, and thrice as likely at later levels. The Rogue's Assassin subclass deals a critical hit every time they hit an enemy that is surprised, and (combined with Sneak Attack dice) as such have some of the most extreme burst damage in the game.
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* CriticalHit: Rolling a nat 20 on a [=d20=] dice is considered a critical hit, causing the attack to have twice as many attack damage rolls. For instance, if a sword dealt [=1d8=] damage a normal attack, a critical hit would change that to [=2d8=] damage. Also, a nat 20 on an attack roll always hits, regardless of the target's armor class. This was a popular house rule for a while before Fifth Edition made it into an actual mechanic. (This only applies to physical strikes, though; spells can't get critical hits.)
* CriticalHitClass: In D&D 5th Edition, the Champion subclass for the Fighter is twice as likely as everyone else to deal a critical hit with an attack, and thrice as likely at later levels. The Rogue's Assassin subclass deals a critical hit every time they hit an enemy that is surprised, and (combined with Sneak Attack dice) as such have some of the most extreme burst damage in the game. Barbarians can use Reckless Attack to gain advantage on attack rolls, increasing their chances of dealing a critical hit, and their Brutal Critical feature adds extra damage dice to each critical hit.
* CriticalHitClass: In D&D 5th Edition, the Champion subclass for the Fighter is twice as likely as everyone else to deal a critical hit with an attack, and thrice as likely at later levels. The Rogue's Assassin subclass deals a critical hit every time they hit an enemy that is surprised, and (combined with Sneak Attack dice) as such have some of the most extreme burst damage in the game. Barbarians can use Reckless Attack to gain advantage on attack rolls, increasing their chances of dealing a critical hit, and their Brutal Critical feature adds extra damage dice to each critical hit.
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* ''Curse of Strahd'' (2016)
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* ''Curse of Strahd'' ''TabletopGame/CurseOfStrahd'' (2016)
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* ''Waterdeep: Dragon Heist'' (2018)
* ''Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage'' (2018)
* ''Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage'' (2018)
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* ''Waterdeep: Dragon Heist'' ''TabletopGame/WaterdeepDragonHeist'' (2018)
*''Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage'' ''TabletopGame/WaterdeepDungeonOfTheMadMage'' (2018)
*
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* ''Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus'' (2019)
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* ''Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus'' ''TabletopGame/BaldursGateDescentIntoAvernus'' (2019)
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* ''Out of the Abyss'' (2015)
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* ''Out of the Abyss'' ''TabletopGame/OutOfTheAbyss'' (2015)
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* ''Hoard of the Dragon Queen'' (2014)
* ''The Rise of Tiamat'' (2014)
* ''The Rise of Tiamat'' (2014)
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* ''Hoard ''[[TabletopGame/TyrannyOfDragons Hoard of the Dragon Queen'' Queen]]'' (2014)
*''The ''[[TabletopGame/TyrannyOfDragons The Rise of Tiamat'' Tiamat]]'' (2014)
*
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* ''Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden'' (2020)
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* ''Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden'' ''TabletopGame/IcewindDaleRimeOfTheFrostMaiden'' (2020)
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** Humans. [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass "Why play a human in a fantasy game?"]] is a question you will hear a lot, and [[HumansAreAverage humans don't get any cool racial powers or flavour]]. What they do get in 5E is either a +1 to all core stats (standard human) or +1 to any two core stats of your choice, a free skill proficiency and a free feat (variant human). Really, the free feat alone makes the race a top tier choice for ''any'' class.
** Hold Person, especially in 5e. It can't kill anyone on its own and only targets humanoids, but most humanoids lack the high Wisdom that makes it difficult for Hold Monster to work on actual monsters. It also lacks a weakness of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, which does the same thing but gives the target a saving throw every time it takes damage; Hold Person simply paralyzes someone with no chance to break out if they're hit. At 2nd level, it's a cheap spell to use, but it paralyzes an enemy, allowing everyone else to tear them apart while the enemy can do nothing about it.
** Hold Person, especially in 5e. It can't kill anyone on its own and only targets humanoids, but most humanoids lack the high Wisdom that makes it difficult for Hold Monster to work on actual monsters. It also lacks a weakness of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, which does the same thing but gives the target a saving throw every time it takes damage; Hold Person simply paralyzes someone with no chance to break out if they're hit. At 2nd level, it's a cheap spell to use, but it paralyzes an enemy, allowing everyone else to tear them apart while the enemy can do nothing about it.
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** Humans. [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass "Why play a human in a fantasy game?"]] game?" is a question you will hear a lot, and [[HumansAreAverage humans don't get any cool racial powers or flavour]]. What they do get in 5E is either a +1 to all core stats (standard human) or +1 to any two core stats of your choice, a free skill proficiency and a free feat (variant human). Really, the free feat alone makes the race a top tier choice for ''any'' class.
** Hold Person, especially in 5e. It can't kill anyone on its own and only targets humanoids, but most humanoids lack the high Wisdom that makes it difficult for Hold Monster to work on actual monsters. It also lacks a weakness of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, which does the same thing but gives the target a saving throw every time it takes damage; Hold Person simply paralyzes someone with no chance to break out if they're hit. At 2nd level, it's a cheap spell to use, but it paralyzes an enemy, meaning that any physical attacks against it are an automatic crit, allowing everyone else to tear them apart while the enemy can do nothing about it.
** Hold Person, especially in 5e. It can't kill anyone on its own and only targets humanoids, but most humanoids lack the high Wisdom that makes it difficult for Hold Monster to work on actual monsters. It also lacks a weakness of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, which does the same thing but gives the target a saving throw every time it takes damage; Hold Person simply paralyzes someone with no chance to break out if they're hit. At 2nd level, it's a cheap spell to use, but it paralyzes an enemy, meaning that any physical attacks against it are an automatic crit, allowing everyone else to tear them apart while the enemy can do nothing about it.
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** Among Cantrips, Eldritch Blast. A simple force damage spell where the caster sends out a ball of magic to damage the enemy, and yet it is one of the most powerful and useful Cantrips simply because it scales well, gets very strong as you level (4 beams at max level), and with Warlocks having so many ways of buffing it, you can basically make a character who uses it all the time, and you'll be very powerful still.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/players_handbook_5e.jpg]]
'''Dungeons & Dragons (Fifth Edition)''' (2014 - Present) was developed under the title ''D&D Next'' and officially launched in 2014. Fifth Edition was an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to recapture and unite some of the fractured fanbase after the divisiveness of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition''. The basic mechanics resemble a mixture of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' with some influences by 4th edition. The overall power levels have been reduced: the max level cap is 20 ''period'', magic items are much more rare and do not scale in levels, and the bonuses/penalties to an action seldom, if ever, break double digits.
Stacking modifiers have been replaced with a simple advantage/disadvantage system where the character with the advantage/disadvantage rolls two dice for the action and picks the higher/lower die. Magic spells with durations are now 'concentration' type, meaning a magic user can ever only have one such spell active at any time. Most major, world-altering magics are rituals that take minutes if not hours and days to cast. Each class is now firmly wedded to a single character concept, with class archetypes and character backgrounds (representing social class and upbringing) chosen at creation being used to hybridize characters.
Most post-creation exclusives are gone, but multiclassing has been returned to 3rd edition standards and feats are completely optional, although they are fewer in number but much more powerful and robust than before. Roleplaying and flavor have been increased in importance, with the old 2nd edition alignment system restored and canonical D&D characters from related media being used as examples of their respective classes, alignments and backgrounds. Pinning down the primary world for Fifth Edition is a bit dodgy: while the core books are mostly written in a multiverse view and are near-completely adaptable to any setting, all of the official Adventurer's League material for organized play is primarily set in the ''Forgotten Realms''.
Fan response has been very positive, with some praising the return to a more roleplaying-based system based on in-universe-justified abilities as well as its streamlining of overly-complex rules and reducing character options to a more manageable level that makes it easier for newcomers to the hobby to learn it. However, complaints exist about a lack of character options on release, a feeling that the game has returned to LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards, poor and slow post-launch support compared to the prior editions, backlash from Rangers and Sorcerer players due changes from prior editions that make them weaker, and less intricate character building compared to 3rd edition. Despite some complaints, its been seen as a triumph by long time fans, and has been been a major reason for the resurgence in the game in the modern period.
In an effort to get the game in as many hands as possible, Wizards has released "Basic Rules" [=PDFs=] containing a fully functional subset of the full rules for free via their website. The idea is that one can use them to play basic games using the four archetypical races (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human) and classes (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue and Wizard), while the full array of character options, monsters, and variant mechanics are available in the core rule books. It has been praised as a good marketing move.
'''Unearthed Arcana''' made a return in February 2015 as a monthly R&D Workshop article instead of its own supplement book. Just like the "Basic Rules", the ''Unearthed Arcana'' articles are available for free on the Wizards website. The articles are explicitly stated to be "written in pencil, not ink", meaning that the contents are still a work-in-progress until they're officially released in sourcebooks.
As a show of good faith to the digital distribution market and the Open-Gaming License, [=WotC=] started their own storefront, the [[http://www.dmsguild.com/ Dungeon Masters Guild]], which allows the fans to self-publish their own material and [=WotC=] to publish both [=PDFs=] of all the past TSR/[=WotC=] releases from the "Original" Edition through 4th Edition and new Adventurers League content. As of November 2016, they've started a print-on-demand service so people can get physical copies of select TSR products.
[[folder: Official Splatbooks and Campaign Guides]]
* ''Player's Handbook'' (2014)
* ''Monster Manual'' (2014)
* ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' (2014)
* ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' (2015)
* ''Volo's Guide to Monsters'' (2016)
* ''Xanathar's Guide to Everything'' (2017)
* ''Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes'' (2018)
* ''Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica'' (2018)
* ''Acquisitions Incorporated'' (2019)
* ''Eberron: Rising from the Last War'' (2019)
* ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' (2020)
* ''Mythic Odysseys of Theros'' (2020)
* ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'' (2020)
* ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'' (2021)
* ''Fizban's Treasury of Dragons'' (Not yet released, anticipated 2021)
* ''Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos'' (Not yet released, anticipated 2021)
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Official Adventures]]
* ''Hoard of the Dragon Queen'' (2014)
* ''The Rise of Tiamat'' (2014)
* ''Princes of the Apocalypse'' (2015)
* ''Out of the Abyss'' (2015)
* ''Curse of Strahd'' (2016)
* ''Storm King's Thunder'' (2016)
* ''Tales from the Yawning Portal'' (2017)
* ''Tomb of Annihilation'' (2017)
* ''Waterdeep: Dragon Heist'' (2018)
* ''Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage'' (2018)
* ''Ghosts of Saltmarsh'' (2019)
* ''Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus'' (2019)
* ''Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden'' (2020)
* ''Candlekeep Mysteries'' (2021)
* ''The Wild Beyond The Witchlight'' (Not yet released, anticipated 2021)
[[/folder]]
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!!Tropes in this game include:
* AbilityDepletionPenalty: Many {{Magic Wand}}s' and staff's powers draw on a pool of charges that regenerates over time. However, whenever the charges are completely emptied, there's a small chance that the item will be permanently ruined.
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: For most of 5th Edition's official game modules and content, a character starts at level 1 and will end up at around level 15 if they make it all the way to the end without dying. The expectation after that is that the party will want to start another module with new level 1 characters; official published material for parties above level 15 is practically nonexistent. The power level of monsters tends to be [[SchizophrenicDifficulty very erratic at higher levels]], given that high-level monsters have increasing numbers of abilities that simply kill the target outright [[NoSavingThrow that can't be defended against]], on top of having very high HP, armor, and damage outputs. For all these reasons, getting a character to level 20 is vanishingly uncommon.
* AllOrNothing
** All but a handful of cantrips have no effect if the target succeeds on the saving throw against them. This is done for the sake of game balance, since cantrips can be cast an infinite number of times a day; if they did damage on a successful saving throw, players could just resort to Cherry Tapping. Higher-level spells can only be cast a few times, but usually cause half damage if a target succeeds on a saving throw instead.
** The Disintegrate spell. If the target fails the saving throw, they take a large amount of force damage, which not many enemies have resistance or immunity to. In addition, if this damage is enough to reduce the target's HP to zero, their body disintegrates into a pile of ash, rendering them Killed Off for Real and preventing regeneration. However, if the target succeeds on the saving throw, then Disintegrate does nothing at all. On the 'all' side of things, though, Disintegrate is notable in 5e because it only does damage on a fail - this allows it to get around the Rogue, Hunter Ranger, and Monk's Evasion ability, since Evasion only prevents damage from a dexterity saving throw if the ability does half damage on a miss, which Disintegrate doesn't.
** The "Power Word" spells have NoSavingThrow because they're dependent on how much HP the target has left. If they have below a certain threshold of HP (which depends on the spell), the spell works to its full effect; if the target's HP is at or above the threshold, then it does nothing at all. These can result in disadvantage on saving throws, making the target lose turns, or instantly killing them. But the HP threshold means keeping careful track of the target's status for them to be useful. (The only exception to this is Power Word Heal; it doesn't depend on how much HP the target has, but that's because it completely restores a target's health and cures most negative status effects.)
* AllSwordsAreTheSame: 5th Edition encourages this as a way to incorporate unlisted weapons, with the Dungeon Master's Guide using an example of implementing a katana as a reflavoured longsword.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
** Resurrection mechanics mean DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist for a Player Character that's been around long enough for the player to get attached to. 5th Edition downgraded the ResurrectionSickness side effect from previous editions from a LevelDrain to a temporary penalty on dice rolls. 3rd and 5th Editions also have the ''Revivify spell'', which avoids most Resurrection Sickness penalties as long as it's cast immediately after the character dies.
** Earlier editions' VancianMagic limited low-level spellcasters to a handful of spells per day, after which they became a Squishy Wizard that was all Squishy and no Wizard. 4th and 5th editions mitigated the low-level weakness of spellcasting classes by putting the most basic of spells into their own "Level 0" tier of spells called cantrips. These cantrip spells can be cast an infinite number of times per day, and often have effects that scale with character level to prevent them from being Useless Useful Spells.
* AntiHoarding: The game has encumbrance determined by a character's strength score. Obviously, the higher said strength score, the more they can carry. Certain factors such as size and form alter this number. Then, when the character exceeds this encumbrance, they start suffering penalties the more they carry over the limit. Eventually, if the total weight they're carrying is too high, they can't lift it.
* ArbitraryMinimumRange: In 5th Edition, a ranged attack has no minimum range. However, if it is performed within 5 ft of any enemy, then the attack is made with disadvantage, meaning that you roll to hit twice and take the lowest score, so the effective minimum range is 5 ft.
* ArmorAndMagicDontMix: 5th Edition retains the "no arcane spell failure" ruling from 4th Edition and the mechanic has been simplified to "if you're not proficient in the armor you're wearing, you can't cast magic while wearing it". Druids are still restricted to using "natural"/nonmetal armors and shields, but the ''Player's Handbook'' doesn't give a reason. The March 2016 [[http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-answers-march-2016 Sage Advice]] column finally said that it's taboo, but that the player and DM can discuss how flexible said taboo is to the point of breaking it. That said, [=DMs=] can also house-rule a number of the esoteric materials from the 3.x Edition supplement books as well.
* AscendedMeme:
** The "green flame" RunningGag from the ''Podcast/AcquisitionsIncorporated'' games has become popular enough that the Fifth Edition ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' includes a cantrip called "Greenflame Blade". In addition, the adventures "Out of the Abyss" and "Curse of Strahd" have a mace that emits green flame and a gateway filled with green flame, respectively.
** After years of fans joking about making a [[HughMann "human"]] PC or NPC that's actually [[TotemPoleTrench three kobolds in a trench coat]], the "Rime of the Frostmaiden" module actually canonized kobolds doing just that, taking advantage of the frigid region's need for heavy coats.
* AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe: A melee attack can be declared beforehand as lethal or nonlethal. The latter just knocks the target unconscious rather than outright killing them if it reduces the enemy to zero HP, as if they were a player character that had gone down to zero HP instead.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Fireball in 5E. Yes, the spell does obscene damage over a big blast radius, but when you first get it you have few spell slots to use it when you also have the more ubiquitously useful Counterspell and Dispel Magic. After Level 10, many monsters have fire resistances and immunities which cut into the poorly scaling damage, so it becomes not really worth it.
** The Deck of Many Things. Ostensibly, drawing the right card can be a GameBreaker; drawing the Sun card grants fifty thousand experience and a free Wondrous Item, the Moon card grants one to three uses of Wish, and the Star card increases any one of your ability scores by two. At the same time, you might also pull cards that summon an Avatar of Death which you [[DuelBoss have to fight alone]], destroy all your magic items, permanently lower your Intelligence, or trap your soul in some random gem somewhere in the world. Pulling a card from the Deck almost certainly makes a campaign go OffTheRails, for better or for worse. For this reason, it's almost never worth it to try a draw [[GodzillaThreshold unless you're really desperate]].
* BeginWithAFinisher: The 5[[superscript:th]]-edition Recharge system incentivizes this by giving certain powerful attacks (such as a dragon's BreathWeapon) a single use, followed by a chance each round for it to recharge. Using it immediately maximizes the chance to use it again in the same fight. Additionally, challenge ratings are calculated with the assumption that a creature will always use the most damaging attack it has.
* BoringButPractical:
** 5e has a few feats that don't do anything flashy, but WILL save your bacon when it counts.
*** Alert, which gives you a much higher chance of going first in combat (a massive advantage for most classes) and ''also'' prevents you from being hit with sneak attacks, even if you get ambushed.
*** Observant gives a big bonus to passive Perception and Investigation so you'll hardly ever miss any important clues while dungeon crawling.
*** Tough gives +2 HP for every level you have when you take it, as well as increasing HP by an additional two points every level up. These feats are especially good at low levels when it is quite easy to die.
** Most Wizards and Sorcerers swear by Magic Missile. The damage is low, but it's an AlwaysAccurateAttack that ignores damage resistance. Plus it's a 1st level spell, so you have plenty of slots for it. There are a few spells that can block Magic Missile, but they tend to [[CripplingOverspecialization only block Magic Missile and nothing else]].
** Many "utility" spells, like Water Breathing and Transmute Rock, have no use against enemies in battles but are absolutely useful in solving problems the party faces outside combat. Very basic spells like Light and Detect Magic are vital even at high level play.
** Humans. [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass "Why play a human in a fantasy game?"]] is a question you will hear a lot, and [[HumansAreAverage humans don't get any cool racial powers or flavour]]. What they do get in 5E is either a +1 to all core stats (standard human) or +1 to any two core stats of your choice, a free skill proficiency and a free feat (variant human). Really, the free feat alone makes the race a top tier choice for ''any'' class.
** Hold Person, especially in 5e. It can't kill anyone on its own and only targets humanoids, but most humanoids lack the high Wisdom that makes it difficult for Hold Monster to work on actual monsters. It also lacks a weakness of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, which does the same thing but gives the target a saving throw every time it takes damage; Hold Person simply paralyzes someone with no chance to break out if they're hit. At 2nd level, it's a cheap spell to use, but it paralyzes an enemy, allowing everyone else to tear them apart while the enemy can do nothing about it.
** Going more into combat utility spells, Fog Cloud, Sleet Storm, and most of the various Wall spells don't directly do damage, but utterly change the battlefield, mostly to the caster's favor. Simply obscuring an enemy's sight goes a long way towards stopping them from attacking you and as Fog Cloud and Sleet Storm produce 'heavily obscured terrain,' enemies who taunt you with Darkvision or Truesight suddenly find themselves ''completely clueless'' as to what to do. Other good battle utility spells include Erupting Earth for the difficult terrain produced, Reverse Gravity for the fact it sticks enemies in specific spots, and Maelstrom, which pulls enemies towards a whirlpool.
** Force damage. Very few creatures across the entire cosmology resist force damage, and some spells like Magic Missile are designed to be an ArmorPiercingAttack that hits no matter what. However, nothing is weak to force damage, you can't get critical hits with it, and there tends to be some sort of caveat to spells that use it -- Magic Missile does very little damage, and [[AllOrNothing Disintegrate will do absolutely nothing if the target passes the saving throw]]. The result is an element that gives casters spells which provide unremarkable but consistent damage.
* CannotCrossRunningWater: 5th Edition vampires are similar to 1st and 2nd Edition vampires: they can cross running water but take a flat 20 hit points of acid damage if they end their turn in it.
* {{Cap}}: In 5th Edition, every stat has a "soft cap" of 20. This soft cap means you can't increase it without using rare magic items or exceptional circumstances (such as the Barbarian's level 20 feature). Each stat also has a "hard cap" of 30; under the rules, a stat cannot go beyond 30, no matter what.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Having 20 in a stat is implicitly superhuman. You can easily train two stats to 20 through [=ASI=]s (especially if you min-max).
* ColdFlames: The ''Continual Flame'' spell creates a permanent fire that doesn't burn or use oxygen and is used to make ''Everlasting Torches''.
* CompellingVoice: The spell ''Suggestion'' enables the caster to influence the mind of their target towards a given action. It has to be a reasonable action, thus a "suggestion".
* {{Counterspell}}:
** While technically not a spell, bards in 5th Edition have the ''countercharm'' ability that grants the bard and any allies within a 30 foot radius advantage on saving throws against becoming charmed or frightened.
** And in 5e there's the literal spell Counterspell, which requires a check based on the level of the spell being countered. Noteworthy is that you ''can'' use Counterspell on another caster's Counterspell, saving the original spell from being countered. Dispel Magic is similar, but only for continuous magical effects and can't be used as a reaction.
** 5e also has the spell Antimagic Field, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Spells can't be cast in the field, all magic stops working in the field, any magic that tries to enter it instantly vanishes, teleportation to and from the field is impossible, and magic-summoned creatures briefly wink out of existence while they're within the field. Of course, this also prevents the caster from using anything else, since the field is focused on them. And since it can only be cast by a Wizard or a Cleric, this means depriving yourself of black magic and white magic until the field goes away. But if you're up against an enemy who's throwing out magic left and right, it's startlingly effective.
* CriticalHit: Rolling a nat 20 on a [=d20=] dice is considered a critical hit, causing the attack to have twice as many attack rolls. For instance, if a sword dealt [=1d8=] damage a normal attack, a critical hit would change that to [=2d8=] damage. Also, a nat 20 on an attack roll always hits, regardless of the target's armor class. This was a popular house rule for a while before Fifth Edition made it into an actual mechanic. (This only applies to physical strikes, though; spells can't get critical hits.)
* CriticalHitClass: In D&D 5th Edition, the Champion subclass for the Fighter is twice as likely as everyone else to deal a critical hit with an attack, and thrice as likely at later levels. The Rogue's Assassin subclass deals a critical hit every time they hit an enemy that is surprised, and (combined with Sneak Attack dice) as such have some of the most extreme burst damage in the game.
* DamageOverTime: The "Heat Metal" spell, which is damage every turn that a creature is in contact with whatever's been super-heated by magic.
* DangerousPhlebotinumInteraction: 5th Edition includes a variant rule based on the 1st Edition Potion Miscibility Table. Worst case scenarios being the previously mentioned explosion and various poisonings, with the "best" case scenario being either one of the potions having their effect and duration doubled or one of the potions becoming a permanent effect. Although said permanent effect can be removed at the DM's discretion.
* DeathOfPersonality: Several artifacts can have this effect, most infamously the hand and eye of Vecna. The Sword of Zariel from the 5th Edition adventure ''Descent into Avernus'' is notable for being absolutely bonkers powerful, but also changing your personality permanently to one fitting a Celestial without a save. At the very least, you do have to choose to attune to it.
* DeadlyForceField: A Scroll of Protection against creatures plays with this. It acts as a force field, preventing certain types of creatures from entering the protected area. If the user of the Scroll tries to use it to push the creature(s) around or trap them, the protection immediately fails (precisely to prevent players from invoking this trope with those spells).
* DiscOneNuke: The common saying goes in regards to the Sleep spell that when it puts 28HP's worth of monster to sleep, that 28HP can mean five kobolds or zero trolls. Sleep is incredibly useful in the very early game, but its usefulness drops off quickly.
* DifficultButAwesome: Non-damaging Cantrips, such as Minor Illusion, Thaumaturgy, Mold Earth, and so on, seem to be pathetically weak in order to justify being able to cast them for free. If you're creative, however, they can be insanely powerful for such minor effects (such as using Mold Earth to trap someone in dirt from the neck up, or combining Light with a coin in someone's face for a makeshift flash bang). This is especially so with more lenient [=DM=]s who, even if a Cantrip shouldn't technically be usable in that context, will usually reward your creativity by going with it anyways.
* ElixirOfLife: Drinking a Potion of Longevity reduces the drinker's age by seven to twelve years. However, each time one is drunk there's a 10% cumulative chance that the effect will be reversed, causing the drinker to age seven to twelve years.
* ExploitedImmunity:
** Intelligent, spell-using [[TheUndead undead]] (such as [[OurLichesAreDifferent liches]]) can use spells that produce persistent effects over a large area (such as Cloudkill, Sleep, Stinking Cloud, etc) without worrying about being caught in the area of effect, as undead are immune to these effects.
** Elven forces with mages can use Sleep spells with impunity, as they are mostly immune to them.
** Dragons who use the spellcasting variant in the ''Monster Manual'' can freely cast spells that inflict damage the same type as their breath weapon over large areas, as they are immune to it, such as a Red Dragon casting a point-blank fireball centered on itself to roast the pesky adventurers swarming it.
* ExtradimensionalEmergencyExit:
** The Gate spell opens a magical portal to another plane of existence where a powerful entity waits. A person who acts quickly can pass through the Gate to the other plane. Problem: when you get to the other plane you're in the presence of the powerful entity, who may not be pleased by your arrival.
** The spell Plane Shift allows the caster or a targeted creature to journey to another plane of existence.
** The spell Rope Trick allows anyone to climb a rope and enter into an extradimensional space, where they can hide in safety.
* ExtraDimensionalShortcut: The "Dimension Door" spell is a teleportation spell whose name suggests that it works this way. And one version of the fluff text for teleportation in general states that all such spells work by jumping in and out of the Astral Plane.
* FlamingMeteor: Played with by the Meteor Swarm spell, which conjures small "meteors" that deal bludgeoning damage on impact and ''then'' explode for fire damage.
* ForceFieldDoor: The Prismatic Wall spell creates one of these. While it's technically possible to pass through the wall, it's ill-advised; the wall causes all kinds of damage while attempting to pass through it, and it could potentially kill a hostile entity who tries by turning them to stone. It's also immune to the effects of anti-magic.
* {{Geas}}: The ''Geas'' spell forces the target to fulfill a certain condition or take 5d10 psychic damage. There's also a divine equivalent named 'quest', which pretty much functions the same way.
* GenericistGovernment: Complex political intrigue is seldom a priority in this game, although 5th Edition does include an entry for political intrigue campaigns with the Ravnica setting book.
* GoldSilverCopperStandard: D&D is one of the early trope codifiers. Prices are usually listed in g.p., unless they're small prices, in which case they're listed in s.p. or c.p.. The exchange rates are as follows:
** 10 c.p. = 1 s.p.
** 5 s.p. = 1 e.p.
** 2 e.p. = 1 g.p.
** 10 g.p. = 1 p.p.
* GrapplingWithGrapplingRules: 5e settles into a middle ground between previous editions — grappling becomes a simple opposed check, and there are a few maneuvers that can be done on a success.
* HealingPotion:
** A Potion of Healing is the most basic kind, refilling your hit points by a variable amount -- the rarer the potion, the more it heals.
** A Potion of Heroism gives you ten temporary hit points and makes you more resistant to damage for a set time.
** A Potion of Vitality cures physical exhaustion, disease and poison, and maxes out your hit points as well.
* HighlySpecificCounterplay: In the 5th edition, Shield is a spell that greatly increases defense/evasion for a single turn. It also specifically blocks Magic Missile (which is otherwise an AlwaysAccurateAttack).
* HijackingCthulhu:
** A character may attempt to control a [[SphereOfDestruction Sphere of Annihilation]] with her will (Willpower check). Doing so successfully results in her temporarily controlling a tear in the reality that is capable of destroying pretty much anything in the universe on contact, NoSavingThrow allowed.
** The spell Dominate Monster. Provided you succeed, you now have complete control over whatever's in front of you, which can be anything from a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent true dragon]] to a [[OurGiantsAreBigger Hekatonkheires.]]
** There is also the [[BodySurf Magic Jar]] spell, which can be used to takeover the body of a mighty beast, while its soul is sealed in a jar.
* HypnosisProofDogs: ''Charm'' or ''Hold'' spells that only work on humanoids are lower level than those which affect other creature-types.
* ImmuneToMindControl:
** Plants, slimes, insects, {{Golem}}s and TheUndead are immune to hypnosis and all other mind-effecting magic for various reasons.
** In 5th Edition, certain classes have features that enable them to block charm, fear, mind reading, etc. The Barbarian's Rage ability may also prevent them from being charmed or frightened, since they're too angry for such mind alteration to work.
* InstantDeathRadius: 5e altered the rules of attacks of opportunity, and they now only trigger on ''leaving'' an enemy's threatened space, and the Disengage action allows you to leave their area without triggering an opportunity attack, but at the cost of taking an action (although rogues can use their cunning action ability to do so as a bonus action instead). However, the "Sentinel" feat allows you to make opportunity attacks even if the target uses Disengage to get away from you.
* InvisibilityWithDrawbacks: Most forms of invisibility available to [=PC=]s have some drawbacks to prevent abuse. The basic ''invisibility'' spell ends right after you make an attack or target someone with a spell, and items you pick up remain visible unless you can fit them in a pocket or bag.
* LaughingMad: The ''Tasha's Hideous Laughter'' spell inflicts a temporary form of this, as it prevents the target from doing anything but laughing. It ends if they succeed on a saving throw, which triggers when the creature is either attacked or reaches the end of its turn.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfRules: 5th Edition subverts this. It also has the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. There's two expansions called Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, which provide updates and new options for monsters and player characters without really changing the rules of the game.
* LuckManipulationMechanic: In 5th edition, halflings can reroll any 1 on a d20 roll, wild magic sorcerers have a Bend Luck ability to add or subtract to others' rolls, while fighters and paladins have access to a weapon ability that lets them reroll any 1 or 2 when calculating damage. There's also the "Lucky" feat, which lets you reroll a d20 three times a day.
* MagicStaff: Staffs allow their wielders to cast a selection of spells without drawing from their personal magic reserves -- although each staff only has a set a set number of uses and will need time to recharge when these are used up -- and typically require attunement by a magic-user such as a wizard, sorcerer or warlock before being usable.
** A Staff of Charming is good at {{Mind Control}}ing opponents and helping you resist MindControl.
** The Staff of Power and Staff of the Magi allow you to cast a very broad variety of spells, and the Staff of the Magi can absorb enemy spells to recharge its own powers on the fly. They also share the Retributive Strike power: when deliberately broken, the staff explodes like a bomb, almost certainly killing all nearby opponents. The wielder has a 50% chance of traveling to another plane and a 50% chance of being annihilated.
** A Staff of the Python/Adder turns into a snake to attack your enemies. It comes in python (constriction) and adder (poisonous bite) versions.
** A Staff of Swarming Insects can summon swarms of flying insects or individual giant ones.
** A Staff of Thunder and Lightning can be used to throw lightning bolts or create peals of thunder.
** A Staff of Withering can cause the victim to age ten years and suffer a withered arm or leg.
** A Staff of the Woodlands can cast a number of plant- and anima-related spells, and can be planted into the ground to turn into a tree that can be turned back into the staff on command.
** A Voyager Staff can cast a number of teleportation and travel-related spells.
* MakeSomeNoise: The BoringButPractical "Silence" spell suppresses all sound in an area. It serves as the poor man's AntiMagic, since it makes {{Magical Incantation}}s impossible. In Fifth Edition, it has the extra benefit of making the area immune to thunder damage, since [[LogicalWeakness thunder damage is based on sound, which naturally wouldn't work in an area that's been made to be magically silent]].
* MaximumHPReduction:
** Some attacks deal "ability damage" that reduces the target's stats but heals when the character rests and "ability drain" which can only be healed magically. Constitution drain is essentially this trope, because a character's maximum hitpoints are calculated from it. A dead first level character who's resurrected (most resurrections cost the resurrected character at least one CharacterLevel to avert DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist) also permanently loses a point of constitution.
** The Vargouille monster can do this. If the victim of its attack fails a saving throw vs. poison, the {{Hit Point}}s of damage inflicted are lost permanently and can only be recovered by using a Wish spell. No form of healing magic will bring them back.
* [[invoked]] SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: In 5th Edition, there's a mechanic called "inspiration", which is intended as something the DM can give a PC who does something particularly awesome. The player can then use this inspiration token to give themselves advantage on something one time.
* MultiplePersuasionModes: The Diplomacy/Persuasion and Intimidation skills. Although they have to be role-played very differently, they are quite similar mechanically: both skills are Charisma-based and their main difference is that the former can improve the [=NPCs'=] attitude to the speaker on a successful check, while the latter always worsens it. There is also the Deception skill, which lets characters tell convincing lies, but unlike the other two social skills, its checks are always opposed by the target's Insight skill.
* MysticalCityPlanning: Present in the module [=FR6=]: ''Dreams of the Red Wizards''. The city of Eltabbar in Thay is built in the shape of a huge glyph to confine a demon prince called Eltab. Making maps of Eltabbar is forbidden, because if the city is accurately mapped and the map is then destroyed, it reduces the power of the restraining glyph. If this occurs enough times Eltab could be freed, which would be a disaster.
* MythologyGag: The [[https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/talisman-of-the-sphere Talisman of the Sphere]] item found inside the 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide has the titular talisman looking [[https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BBcq976kqmk/WJ4GbJ3PFNI/AAAAAAAAAdE/0kVCLPJE1HgIyCck5FlG4Y2ZYjj8Pr03wCLcB/s1600/Illustration%2B%25236.png almost exactly like the infamous large engraved face and mouth]] containing [[spoiler:a Sphere of Annihilation DeathTrap]] from the {{TabletopGame/Tomb of Horrors}}.
* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Fifth Edition lists the good and neutral deities up front in the character creation section, while setting the evil gods firmly in the 'know your enemy' part of the book. This, of course, has no effect on some players and [=DMs=], who create all-evil campaigns frequently and with panache.
* NoGearLevel: Stripping gear tends to occur if you get captured or contained. In 5th Edition this reduces characters to their most basic, infinitely-usable spells and attacks unless the character has gone out of its way to learn, prepare, or equip abilities that don't require gear, but the game is designed around those basic abilities being reasonably viable in combat and navigation.
* NoiselessWalker: Boots of Elvenkind allow the wearer to walk silently.
* NonCombatEXP: The game has various rules for [=DMs=] to give out EXP for completing tasks outside combat, such as talking one's way out of a fight or for superb roleplaying. Long before there were official rules for it, this was a very popular house rule; come Fifth Edition, various guidebooks started giving suggestions for the amount of non-combat experience that players should get for thinking outside the box. A few adventure modules give suggestions for things like getting a hostile NPC to back off without killing them, saving someone from a grisly fate even at expense to the party, or using stealth to find out important information without being detected.
* PercentBasedValues: In 5[[superscript:th]] Edition, creatures take half the usual {{Hit Point|s}} damage from a damage type they have Resistance against. Previous editions use a fixed amount of DamageReduction instead.
* PhlebotinumHandlingRequirements: Spell scrolls can usually only be activated by characters who can also access the spell through their class spell list (e.g. only a wizard or sorcerer can use a scroll of ''{{magic missile|Storm}}'', only a cleric or druid can use one of ''[[DeathFromAbove flame strike]]'', et cetera). This restriction can be overcome by a high-level Thief with the Use Magic Device ability. Use Magic Device also lets Thieves overcome several other restrictions on magical items, most of which fall under LevelLockedLoot.
* PsychicPowers: 5th edition has a different take on psionics than previous editions. Spellcasting enemies from the 5E Monster Manual labeled as psionic don't require spell components in order to cast spells. While a version of a class centered around psionic powers, the Mystic, was playtested, it was eventually scrapped for being both too powerful and too versatile. Instead, psionics are implemented as subclasses of Rogue (Soulknife), Fighter (Psi Warrior) and Sorcerer (Aberrant Mind) classes, with feats available to all classes that grant limited telepathic and telekinetic powers.
* PurposelyOverpowered: The Sword of Zariel, as mentioned above, is ''bonkers'' powerful, beating out even the Hand and Eye of Vecna in terms of power. The wielder becomes an angel in everything but name, gaining Celestial as a language, a massive boost to charisma, resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, wings, advantage on insight checks and Truesight. The sword itself, among other things, sheds light that weakens fiends around it and grants massive damage boosts, with no mechanical downsides aside from an alignment change and new personality. By the time the players get their hands on it, pretty much only the final boss remain, who's either an archdevil or demon lord. Even with the sword, the battle will be tough.
* QuicksandSucks: It's considered difficult terrain, which slows your movement down. And if you get stuck there too long without help, you start to drown.
* ReducedToDust: This is the result of a [[https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Disintegrate#content Disintegrate spell]] being cast on a creature that is killed by the damage dealt by it.
* SacredFlames:
** The Cleric spell ''Flame Strike'' calls down a bolt of fire from the heavens that does half fire damage and half divine damage. The divine half is not subject to damage resistance to fire-based attacks.
** There is also a cantrip for Clerics literally called Sacred Flame, which deals both [[LightEmUp radiant]] and fire damage as part of the [[ReligionIsMagic magic priest's]] arsenal.
* SetBonus: The Hammer of Thunderbolts. This is nominally a +3 weapon. But if the wielder is also wearing Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Girdle of Giant Strength, it becomes +5, automatically kills any giant it hits, and (in early editions) was the only case in which the to-hit and damage bonuses from the Gauntlets and Girdle would stack together.
* ShadowWalker: The "Plane Shift" spell lets you travel to another dimension, where you can't target or be targeted unless you're also on the same plane.
* ShapeDiesShifterSurvives: 5[[superscript:th]] Edition Polymorph spells give the target the HitPoints of their new form; they revert if dropped to zero HP, but any extra damage is transferred to their original form. A few effects that can cause instant death, like the [[ReducedToDust Disintegrate]] spell, still kill a polymorphed target outright.
* ShapeshiftingHealsWounds: In 5th edition, a druid can shapeshift into an animal form with full hit points (some can even heal themselves once per transformation), but any damage that reduces the animal form's HP to below zero reverts the druid and is carried over to the druid's regular form, and while the druid can shapeshift again to a form for more hit points, the damage to the druid's body isn't healed. The strategy is known as "the onion" by some since each form must be defeated individually to beat the druid once and for all. For most of the game, a druid is limited to two transformations a day, but at the highest levels the druid can transform as often as he wants.
* SpellBlade: Many spells exist solely to power up other items.
** The Shillelagh spell causes a club to become (temporarily) magical, allowing the wielder to attack using their Wisdom instead of Strength.
** Flame Arrow, a Ranger-exclusive spell, can set a quiver of arrows on fire.
** Green-Flame Blade wreathes a melee weapon in green fire, dealing additional fire damage if you land a hit with it.
** Booming Blade puts an enchantment on a melee weapon that causes the next thing it hits to be surrounded by a shell of energy that deals Thunder damage if it moves from its spot.
** Magic Weapon slightly increases a weapon's damage and allows non-magical weapons to harm creatures that otherwise are immune to conventional weapons. Elemental Weapon does the same thing, but also causes the weapon to deal a small amount of addition damage of an elemental type.
* SpellLevels: Wizards, sorcerers, clerics, bards, and druids still have ten spell levels (cantrips and 1-9). The eldritch knight and arcane trickster archetypes have cantrips and spell levels 1-4. Paladins and rangers have five spell levels (1-5). Warlocks are the strange one in this edition: while they have access to all 10 spell levels, their 6-9 level "Mystic Arcanum" spells are only limited to one spell for each spell level and can only be cast once per long rest.
* SquareRaceRoundClass: 5th Edition brought back attribute penalties from 3rd Edition, but only for kobolds (-2 strength) and orcs (-2 intelligence) as playable monster races from ''Volo's Guide to Monsters''. However, the outcry from fans for the bizarre use of these penalties that doesn't appear on any other race drove Wizards of the Coast to remove the negative modifiers on the races when they were republished in later books.
* SupernaturalFearInducer:
** Various spells such as Fear and Cause Fear can temporarily frighten an opponent or group of people.
** ''All'' adult dragons have access to an aura of fear that can send characters within 120 feet of them into a panic.
** Demons:
*** The demon princes Demogorgon and Yeenoghu can cast the spell Fear as one of their innate abilities, as can the lesser demons Babau and Bar-Igura.
*** When three or more rutterkin are within 30 of someone, they can induce fear in them that renders them completely unable to move- the more rutterkin there are, the harder it is for the target to resist the effect.
** Many devils have the ability to engender fear in living things. The exact details are different for each devil.
*** Bael can make himself appear terrifying and force everyone within 10 feet of him to become frightened.
*** Titivilus can [[BrownNote speak something so horrible]] that a person within 10 feet of him becomes frightened and has to spend their turns running as far from him as they can.
*** When Hutijin takes damage, he can utter a word of power that can frighten all non-devils within 30 feet of him. *** Moloch uses a BreathWeapon that inflicts psychic damage on everyone it hits and forces them to become frightened, drop whatever they're holding, and run as far from him as they can.
*** Pit fiends shed fear in a 20 foot radius to all creatures they're hostile towards.
** Liches can fix their gaze on any creature within 10 feet of it and force them to become frightened.
** Mummys can star at any creature with 60 feet and cause them to become frightened. If the creature fails the saving throw to resist the effect by 5 or more, they're outright paralyzed with terror and can take no actions.
** A satyr can play music with its pipes to inflict fear on any opponent that hears it.
** The first roar of an androsphinx can create fright in any creature within 500 feet.
** The Phantasmal Killer spell forces the target to save, or immediately die of fright.
* TechnicianVsPerformer:
** Wizards (Technician) vs. Sorcerers (Performer). In Fifth Edition, Wizards have more versatility in regards to having many more spells to choose from, but they can only cast them in static and consistent ways. Sorcerers have fewer spells but they also use a separate Metamagic system to alter their spells in various ways, like increasing the range or duration of effect. As Wizards use Intelligence as their spellcasting attribute, they tend to fit the role of TheSmartGuy in the party, having extensive knowledge of multiple fields; Sorcerers use Charisma as their attribute and so are better suited to being TheFace and using illusion magics.
** Fighters (Technician) vs. Barbarians (Performer). Fighters enjoy access to heavy armour, a fighting style, extra feats and ability score increases, an Action Surge that allows them to make an addition action in a turn, and depending on the archetype chosen, an additional fighting style and enhanced crit range (Champion), battle manoeuvres (Battlemaster) or rudimentary spellcasting (Eldritch Knight). Barbarians have more HP (the only class to use d12 as hit die), [[TheBerserker Rage]] and all the benefits with it, Reckless Attack, bonuses to saving throws from enhanced senses, extra movement and the bonuses of their chosen primal path. Barbarians fight harder, but Fighters fight ''smarter''.
* TeleportSpam:
** Every edition has the blink dog, a monster who teleport spams as a free action.
** 5e Conjuration School Wizards live off this and SummonMagic. At 6th level, they get an ability called Benign Transposition, the only economical and easy way to swap places with a party member in the game, that costs an action to use. It can also be used as a straight teleport. Here's the kicker, though; it recharges on a long rest or whenever you cast a conjuration spell of 1st level or higher. This can be combined with the 2nd level spell ''Misty Step'' to teleport all around a given area with near impunity, especially because ''Misty Step'' is a bonus action. This becomes truly spammable once you hit 18th level, if you choose to make ''Misty Step'' one of the spells you've Mastered; since Benign Transposition is one of ''very'' few abilities to recharge on the use of a type of spell but not ''specifically'' when a slot is expended, you can cast ''Misty Step'' an infinite amount of times to recharge Benign Transposition an infinite amount of times.
** The 5e spell ''Far Step'' works on this principle. You teleport once 60 feet as a bonus action, and then for the next minute you can use another bonus action to teleport again.
* TruthSerums: The Zone of Truth spell for the Cleric and the Paladin. Within it, anyone who's talking can only tell the truth when speaking if they fail a charisma saving throw. However, there are ways around it: after all, while everyone might have to tell the truth, there's nothing that compels them to speak.
* UnknownItemIdentification: The game has a number of options depending on the item to be identified:
** ''Detect magic'' is a common, low-level spell that tells you if an item is magic or under the effect of a spell, and if it is under the effect of a spell what school of magic that spell is.
** ''Identify'' is a 1st-level spell usable by wizards, artificers, bards, and some subclasses. It identifies all properties of a single magic item, excluding any curses placed on the item. You can scribe a scroll of the spell with the proper item creation feat. Another option is to use a Knowledge skill check to deduce the item's properties.
** The rulebooks suggest that a character who frequently uses potions can learn to identify them by sampling the contents; just enough to taste but not enough to activate the magic.
** 5th Edition follows from 4th Edition in allowing characters to identify magic items over a short rest. There is also a variant rule to make magic item identification more difficult by forbidding the "short rest examination" and requiring the use of either the ''identify'' spell, experimentation, or both to find out a magic item's properties.
* WeaponOfChoice: In 5th Edition, this comes into play with "fighting styles" for Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, granting bonuses with either ranged weapons, two-handed weapons, one-handed weapons with a free hand, shields or dual-wielding. Paladins, Rangers, and Fighters can only pick one of these styles, though the Fighter's Champion archetype can pick another style to make it two.
* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: 'Vicious Mockery' is a bard-exclusive cantrip that inflicts a small amount of damage and imposes a debuff on the target.
'''Dungeons & Dragons (Fifth Edition)''' (2014 - Present) was developed under the title ''D&D Next'' and officially launched in 2014. Fifth Edition was an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to recapture and unite some of the fractured fanbase after the divisiveness of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition''. The basic mechanics resemble a mixture of ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'' and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' with some influences by 4th edition. The overall power levels have been reduced: the max level cap is 20 ''period'', magic items are much more rare and do not scale in levels, and the bonuses/penalties to an action seldom, if ever, break double digits.
Stacking modifiers have been replaced with a simple advantage/disadvantage system where the character with the advantage/disadvantage rolls two dice for the action and picks the higher/lower die. Magic spells with durations are now 'concentration' type, meaning a magic user can ever only have one such spell active at any time. Most major, world-altering magics are rituals that take minutes if not hours and days to cast. Each class is now firmly wedded to a single character concept, with class archetypes and character backgrounds (representing social class and upbringing) chosen at creation being used to hybridize characters.
Most post-creation exclusives are gone, but multiclassing has been returned to 3rd edition standards and feats are completely optional, although they are fewer in number but much more powerful and robust than before. Roleplaying and flavor have been increased in importance, with the old 2nd edition alignment system restored and canonical D&D characters from related media being used as examples of their respective classes, alignments and backgrounds. Pinning down the primary world for Fifth Edition is a bit dodgy: while the core books are mostly written in a multiverse view and are near-completely adaptable to any setting, all of the official Adventurer's League material for organized play is primarily set in the ''Forgotten Realms''.
Fan response has been very positive, with some praising the return to a more roleplaying-based system based on in-universe-justified abilities as well as its streamlining of overly-complex rules and reducing character options to a more manageable level that makes it easier for newcomers to the hobby to learn it. However, complaints exist about a lack of character options on release, a feeling that the game has returned to LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards, poor and slow post-launch support compared to the prior editions, backlash from Rangers and Sorcerer players due changes from prior editions that make them weaker, and less intricate character building compared to 3rd edition. Despite some complaints, its been seen as a triumph by long time fans, and has been been a major reason for the resurgence in the game in the modern period.
In an effort to get the game in as many hands as possible, Wizards has released "Basic Rules" [=PDFs=] containing a fully functional subset of the full rules for free via their website. The idea is that one can use them to play basic games using the four archetypical races (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human) and classes (Cleric, Fighter, Rogue and Wizard), while the full array of character options, monsters, and variant mechanics are available in the core rule books. It has been praised as a good marketing move.
'''Unearthed Arcana''' made a return in February 2015 as a monthly R&D Workshop article instead of its own supplement book. Just like the "Basic Rules", the ''Unearthed Arcana'' articles are available for free on the Wizards website. The articles are explicitly stated to be "written in pencil, not ink", meaning that the contents are still a work-in-progress until they're officially released in sourcebooks.
As a show of good faith to the digital distribution market and the Open-Gaming License, [=WotC=] started their own storefront, the [[http://www.dmsguild.com/ Dungeon Masters Guild]], which allows the fans to self-publish their own material and [=WotC=] to publish both [=PDFs=] of all the past TSR/[=WotC=] releases from the "Original" Edition through 4th Edition and new Adventurers League content. As of November 2016, they've started a print-on-demand service so people can get physical copies of select TSR products.
[[folder: Official Splatbooks and Campaign Guides]]
* ''Player's Handbook'' (2014)
* ''Monster Manual'' (2014)
* ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' (2014)
* ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' (2015)
* ''Volo's Guide to Monsters'' (2016)
* ''Xanathar's Guide to Everything'' (2017)
* ''Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes'' (2018)
* ''Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica'' (2018)
* ''Acquisitions Incorporated'' (2019)
* ''Eberron: Rising from the Last War'' (2019)
* ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' (2020)
* ''Mythic Odysseys of Theros'' (2020)
* ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'' (2020)
* ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'' (2021)
* ''Fizban's Treasury of Dragons'' (Not yet released, anticipated 2021)
* ''Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos'' (Not yet released, anticipated 2021)
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Official Adventures]]
* ''Hoard of the Dragon Queen'' (2014)
* ''The Rise of Tiamat'' (2014)
* ''Princes of the Apocalypse'' (2015)
* ''Out of the Abyss'' (2015)
* ''Curse of Strahd'' (2016)
* ''Storm King's Thunder'' (2016)
* ''Tales from the Yawning Portal'' (2017)
* ''Tomb of Annihilation'' (2017)
* ''Waterdeep: Dragon Heist'' (2018)
* ''Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage'' (2018)
* ''Ghosts of Saltmarsh'' (2019)
* ''Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus'' (2019)
* ''Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden'' (2020)
* ''Candlekeep Mysteries'' (2021)
* ''The Wild Beyond The Witchlight'' (Not yet released, anticipated 2021)
[[/folder]]
----
!!Tropes in this game include:
* AbilityDepletionPenalty: Many {{Magic Wand}}s' and staff's powers draw on a pool of charges that regenerates over time. However, whenever the charges are completely emptied, there's a small chance that the item will be permanently ruined.
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: For most of 5th Edition's official game modules and content, a character starts at level 1 and will end up at around level 15 if they make it all the way to the end without dying. The expectation after that is that the party will want to start another module with new level 1 characters; official published material for parties above level 15 is practically nonexistent. The power level of monsters tends to be [[SchizophrenicDifficulty very erratic at higher levels]], given that high-level monsters have increasing numbers of abilities that simply kill the target outright [[NoSavingThrow that can't be defended against]], on top of having very high HP, armor, and damage outputs. For all these reasons, getting a character to level 20 is vanishingly uncommon.
* AllOrNothing
** All but a handful of cantrips have no effect if the target succeeds on the saving throw against them. This is done for the sake of game balance, since cantrips can be cast an infinite number of times a day; if they did damage on a successful saving throw, players could just resort to Cherry Tapping. Higher-level spells can only be cast a few times, but usually cause half damage if a target succeeds on a saving throw instead.
** The Disintegrate spell. If the target fails the saving throw, they take a large amount of force damage, which not many enemies have resistance or immunity to. In addition, if this damage is enough to reduce the target's HP to zero, their body disintegrates into a pile of ash, rendering them Killed Off for Real and preventing regeneration. However, if the target succeeds on the saving throw, then Disintegrate does nothing at all. On the 'all' side of things, though, Disintegrate is notable in 5e because it only does damage on a fail - this allows it to get around the Rogue, Hunter Ranger, and Monk's Evasion ability, since Evasion only prevents damage from a dexterity saving throw if the ability does half damage on a miss, which Disintegrate doesn't.
** The "Power Word" spells have NoSavingThrow because they're dependent on how much HP the target has left. If they have below a certain threshold of HP (which depends on the spell), the spell works to its full effect; if the target's HP is at or above the threshold, then it does nothing at all. These can result in disadvantage on saving throws, making the target lose turns, or instantly killing them. But the HP threshold means keeping careful track of the target's status for them to be useful. (The only exception to this is Power Word Heal; it doesn't depend on how much HP the target has, but that's because it completely restores a target's health and cures most negative status effects.)
* AllSwordsAreTheSame: 5th Edition encourages this as a way to incorporate unlisted weapons, with the Dungeon Master's Guide using an example of implementing a katana as a reflavoured longsword.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
** Resurrection mechanics mean DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist for a Player Character that's been around long enough for the player to get attached to. 5th Edition downgraded the ResurrectionSickness side effect from previous editions from a LevelDrain to a temporary penalty on dice rolls. 3rd and 5th Editions also have the ''Revivify spell'', which avoids most Resurrection Sickness penalties as long as it's cast immediately after the character dies.
** Earlier editions' VancianMagic limited low-level spellcasters to a handful of spells per day, after which they became a Squishy Wizard that was all Squishy and no Wizard. 4th and 5th editions mitigated the low-level weakness of spellcasting classes by putting the most basic of spells into their own "Level 0" tier of spells called cantrips. These cantrip spells can be cast an infinite number of times per day, and often have effects that scale with character level to prevent them from being Useless Useful Spells.
* AntiHoarding: The game has encumbrance determined by a character's strength score. Obviously, the higher said strength score, the more they can carry. Certain factors such as size and form alter this number. Then, when the character exceeds this encumbrance, they start suffering penalties the more they carry over the limit. Eventually, if the total weight they're carrying is too high, they can't lift it.
* ArbitraryMinimumRange: In 5th Edition, a ranged attack has no minimum range. However, if it is performed within 5 ft of any enemy, then the attack is made with disadvantage, meaning that you roll to hit twice and take the lowest score, so the effective minimum range is 5 ft.
* ArmorAndMagicDontMix: 5th Edition retains the "no arcane spell failure" ruling from 4th Edition and the mechanic has been simplified to "if you're not proficient in the armor you're wearing, you can't cast magic while wearing it". Druids are still restricted to using "natural"/nonmetal armors and shields, but the ''Player's Handbook'' doesn't give a reason. The March 2016 [[http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-answers-march-2016 Sage Advice]] column finally said that it's taboo, but that the player and DM can discuss how flexible said taboo is to the point of breaking it. That said, [=DMs=] can also house-rule a number of the esoteric materials from the 3.x Edition supplement books as well.
* AscendedMeme:
** The "green flame" RunningGag from the ''Podcast/AcquisitionsIncorporated'' games has become popular enough that the Fifth Edition ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' includes a cantrip called "Greenflame Blade". In addition, the adventures "Out of the Abyss" and "Curse of Strahd" have a mace that emits green flame and a gateway filled with green flame, respectively.
** After years of fans joking about making a [[HughMann "human"]] PC or NPC that's actually [[TotemPoleTrench three kobolds in a trench coat]], the "Rime of the Frostmaiden" module actually canonized kobolds doing just that, taking advantage of the frigid region's need for heavy coats.
* AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe: A melee attack can be declared beforehand as lethal or nonlethal. The latter just knocks the target unconscious rather than outright killing them if it reduces the enemy to zero HP, as if they were a player character that had gone down to zero HP instead.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Fireball in 5E. Yes, the spell does obscene damage over a big blast radius, but when you first get it you have few spell slots to use it when you also have the more ubiquitously useful Counterspell and Dispel Magic. After Level 10, many monsters have fire resistances and immunities which cut into the poorly scaling damage, so it becomes not really worth it.
** The Deck of Many Things. Ostensibly, drawing the right card can be a GameBreaker; drawing the Sun card grants fifty thousand experience and a free Wondrous Item, the Moon card grants one to three uses of Wish, and the Star card increases any one of your ability scores by two. At the same time, you might also pull cards that summon an Avatar of Death which you [[DuelBoss have to fight alone]], destroy all your magic items, permanently lower your Intelligence, or trap your soul in some random gem somewhere in the world. Pulling a card from the Deck almost certainly makes a campaign go OffTheRails, for better or for worse. For this reason, it's almost never worth it to try a draw [[GodzillaThreshold unless you're really desperate]].
* BeginWithAFinisher: The 5[[superscript:th]]-edition Recharge system incentivizes this by giving certain powerful attacks (such as a dragon's BreathWeapon) a single use, followed by a chance each round for it to recharge. Using it immediately maximizes the chance to use it again in the same fight. Additionally, challenge ratings are calculated with the assumption that a creature will always use the most damaging attack it has.
* BoringButPractical:
** 5e has a few feats that don't do anything flashy, but WILL save your bacon when it counts.
*** Alert, which gives you a much higher chance of going first in combat (a massive advantage for most classes) and ''also'' prevents you from being hit with sneak attacks, even if you get ambushed.
*** Observant gives a big bonus to passive Perception and Investigation so you'll hardly ever miss any important clues while dungeon crawling.
*** Tough gives +2 HP for every level you have when you take it, as well as increasing HP by an additional two points every level up. These feats are especially good at low levels when it is quite easy to die.
** Most Wizards and Sorcerers swear by Magic Missile. The damage is low, but it's an AlwaysAccurateAttack that ignores damage resistance. Plus it's a 1st level spell, so you have plenty of slots for it. There are a few spells that can block Magic Missile, but they tend to [[CripplingOverspecialization only block Magic Missile and nothing else]].
** Many "utility" spells, like Water Breathing and Transmute Rock, have no use against enemies in battles but are absolutely useful in solving problems the party faces outside combat. Very basic spells like Light and Detect Magic are vital even at high level play.
** Humans. [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass "Why play a human in a fantasy game?"]] is a question you will hear a lot, and [[HumansAreAverage humans don't get any cool racial powers or flavour]]. What they do get in 5E is either a +1 to all core stats (standard human) or +1 to any two core stats of your choice, a free skill proficiency and a free feat (variant human). Really, the free feat alone makes the race a top tier choice for ''any'' class.
** Hold Person, especially in 5e. It can't kill anyone on its own and only targets humanoids, but most humanoids lack the high Wisdom that makes it difficult for Hold Monster to work on actual monsters. It also lacks a weakness of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, which does the same thing but gives the target a saving throw every time it takes damage; Hold Person simply paralyzes someone with no chance to break out if they're hit. At 2nd level, it's a cheap spell to use, but it paralyzes an enemy, allowing everyone else to tear them apart while the enemy can do nothing about it.
** Going more into combat utility spells, Fog Cloud, Sleet Storm, and most of the various Wall spells don't directly do damage, but utterly change the battlefield, mostly to the caster's favor. Simply obscuring an enemy's sight goes a long way towards stopping them from attacking you and as Fog Cloud and Sleet Storm produce 'heavily obscured terrain,' enemies who taunt you with Darkvision or Truesight suddenly find themselves ''completely clueless'' as to what to do. Other good battle utility spells include Erupting Earth for the difficult terrain produced, Reverse Gravity for the fact it sticks enemies in specific spots, and Maelstrom, which pulls enemies towards a whirlpool.
** Force damage. Very few creatures across the entire cosmology resist force damage, and some spells like Magic Missile are designed to be an ArmorPiercingAttack that hits no matter what. However, nothing is weak to force damage, you can't get critical hits with it, and there tends to be some sort of caveat to spells that use it -- Magic Missile does very little damage, and [[AllOrNothing Disintegrate will do absolutely nothing if the target passes the saving throw]]. The result is an element that gives casters spells which provide unremarkable but consistent damage.
* CannotCrossRunningWater: 5th Edition vampires are similar to 1st and 2nd Edition vampires: they can cross running water but take a flat 20 hit points of acid damage if they end their turn in it.
* {{Cap}}: In 5th Edition, every stat has a "soft cap" of 20. This soft cap means you can't increase it without using rare magic items or exceptional circumstances (such as the Barbarian's level 20 feature). Each stat also has a "hard cap" of 30; under the rules, a stat cannot go beyond 30, no matter what.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Having 20 in a stat is implicitly superhuman. You can easily train two stats to 20 through [=ASI=]s (especially if you min-max).
* ColdFlames: The ''Continual Flame'' spell creates a permanent fire that doesn't burn or use oxygen and is used to make ''Everlasting Torches''.
* CompellingVoice: The spell ''Suggestion'' enables the caster to influence the mind of their target towards a given action. It has to be a reasonable action, thus a "suggestion".
* {{Counterspell}}:
** While technically not a spell, bards in 5th Edition have the ''countercharm'' ability that grants the bard and any allies within a 30 foot radius advantage on saving throws against becoming charmed or frightened.
** And in 5e there's the literal spell Counterspell, which requires a check based on the level of the spell being countered. Noteworthy is that you ''can'' use Counterspell on another caster's Counterspell, saving the original spell from being countered. Dispel Magic is similar, but only for continuous magical effects and can't be used as a reaction.
** 5e also has the spell Antimagic Field, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Spells can't be cast in the field, all magic stops working in the field, any magic that tries to enter it instantly vanishes, teleportation to and from the field is impossible, and magic-summoned creatures briefly wink out of existence while they're within the field. Of course, this also prevents the caster from using anything else, since the field is focused on them. And since it can only be cast by a Wizard or a Cleric, this means depriving yourself of black magic and white magic until the field goes away. But if you're up against an enemy who's throwing out magic left and right, it's startlingly effective.
* CriticalHit: Rolling a nat 20 on a [=d20=] dice is considered a critical hit, causing the attack to have twice as many attack rolls. For instance, if a sword dealt [=1d8=] damage a normal attack, a critical hit would change that to [=2d8=] damage. Also, a nat 20 on an attack roll always hits, regardless of the target's armor class. This was a popular house rule for a while before Fifth Edition made it into an actual mechanic. (This only applies to physical strikes, though; spells can't get critical hits.)
* CriticalHitClass: In D&D 5th Edition, the Champion subclass for the Fighter is twice as likely as everyone else to deal a critical hit with an attack, and thrice as likely at later levels. The Rogue's Assassin subclass deals a critical hit every time they hit an enemy that is surprised, and (combined with Sneak Attack dice) as such have some of the most extreme burst damage in the game.
* DamageOverTime: The "Heat Metal" spell, which is damage every turn that a creature is in contact with whatever's been super-heated by magic.
* DangerousPhlebotinumInteraction: 5th Edition includes a variant rule based on the 1st Edition Potion Miscibility Table. Worst case scenarios being the previously mentioned explosion and various poisonings, with the "best" case scenario being either one of the potions having their effect and duration doubled or one of the potions becoming a permanent effect. Although said permanent effect can be removed at the DM's discretion.
* DeathOfPersonality: Several artifacts can have this effect, most infamously the hand and eye of Vecna. The Sword of Zariel from the 5th Edition adventure ''Descent into Avernus'' is notable for being absolutely bonkers powerful, but also changing your personality permanently to one fitting a Celestial without a save. At the very least, you do have to choose to attune to it.
* DeadlyForceField: A Scroll of Protection against creatures plays with this. It acts as a force field, preventing certain types of creatures from entering the protected area. If the user of the Scroll tries to use it to push the creature(s) around or trap them, the protection immediately fails (precisely to prevent players from invoking this trope with those spells).
* DiscOneNuke: The common saying goes in regards to the Sleep spell that when it puts 28HP's worth of monster to sleep, that 28HP can mean five kobolds or zero trolls. Sleep is incredibly useful in the very early game, but its usefulness drops off quickly.
* DifficultButAwesome: Non-damaging Cantrips, such as Minor Illusion, Thaumaturgy, Mold Earth, and so on, seem to be pathetically weak in order to justify being able to cast them for free. If you're creative, however, they can be insanely powerful for such minor effects (such as using Mold Earth to trap someone in dirt from the neck up, or combining Light with a coin in someone's face for a makeshift flash bang). This is especially so with more lenient [=DM=]s who, even if a Cantrip shouldn't technically be usable in that context, will usually reward your creativity by going with it anyways.
* ElixirOfLife: Drinking a Potion of Longevity reduces the drinker's age by seven to twelve years. However, each time one is drunk there's a 10% cumulative chance that the effect will be reversed, causing the drinker to age seven to twelve years.
* ExploitedImmunity:
** Intelligent, spell-using [[TheUndead undead]] (such as [[OurLichesAreDifferent liches]]) can use spells that produce persistent effects over a large area (such as Cloudkill, Sleep, Stinking Cloud, etc) without worrying about being caught in the area of effect, as undead are immune to these effects.
** Elven forces with mages can use Sleep spells with impunity, as they are mostly immune to them.
** Dragons who use the spellcasting variant in the ''Monster Manual'' can freely cast spells that inflict damage the same type as their breath weapon over large areas, as they are immune to it, such as a Red Dragon casting a point-blank fireball centered on itself to roast the pesky adventurers swarming it.
* ExtradimensionalEmergencyExit:
** The Gate spell opens a magical portal to another plane of existence where a powerful entity waits. A person who acts quickly can pass through the Gate to the other plane. Problem: when you get to the other plane you're in the presence of the powerful entity, who may not be pleased by your arrival.
** The spell Plane Shift allows the caster or a targeted creature to journey to another plane of existence.
** The spell Rope Trick allows anyone to climb a rope and enter into an extradimensional space, where they can hide in safety.
* ExtraDimensionalShortcut: The "Dimension Door" spell is a teleportation spell whose name suggests that it works this way. And one version of the fluff text for teleportation in general states that all such spells work by jumping in and out of the Astral Plane.
* FlamingMeteor: Played with by the Meteor Swarm spell, which conjures small "meteors" that deal bludgeoning damage on impact and ''then'' explode for fire damage.
* ForceFieldDoor: The Prismatic Wall spell creates one of these. While it's technically possible to pass through the wall, it's ill-advised; the wall causes all kinds of damage while attempting to pass through it, and it could potentially kill a hostile entity who tries by turning them to stone. It's also immune to the effects of anti-magic.
* {{Geas}}: The ''Geas'' spell forces the target to fulfill a certain condition or take 5d10 psychic damage. There's also a divine equivalent named 'quest', which pretty much functions the same way.
* GenericistGovernment: Complex political intrigue is seldom a priority in this game, although 5th Edition does include an entry for political intrigue campaigns with the Ravnica setting book.
* GoldSilverCopperStandard: D&D is one of the early trope codifiers. Prices are usually listed in g.p., unless they're small prices, in which case they're listed in s.p. or c.p.. The exchange rates are as follows:
** 10 c.p. = 1 s.p.
** 5 s.p. = 1 e.p.
** 2 e.p. = 1 g.p.
** 10 g.p. = 1 p.p.
* GrapplingWithGrapplingRules: 5e settles into a middle ground between previous editions — grappling becomes a simple opposed check, and there are a few maneuvers that can be done on a success.
* HealingPotion:
** A Potion of Healing is the most basic kind, refilling your hit points by a variable amount -- the rarer the potion, the more it heals.
** A Potion of Heroism gives you ten temporary hit points and makes you more resistant to damage for a set time.
** A Potion of Vitality cures physical exhaustion, disease and poison, and maxes out your hit points as well.
* HighlySpecificCounterplay: In the 5th edition, Shield is a spell that greatly increases defense/evasion for a single turn. It also specifically blocks Magic Missile (which is otherwise an AlwaysAccurateAttack).
* HijackingCthulhu:
** A character may attempt to control a [[SphereOfDestruction Sphere of Annihilation]] with her will (Willpower check). Doing so successfully results in her temporarily controlling a tear in the reality that is capable of destroying pretty much anything in the universe on contact, NoSavingThrow allowed.
** The spell Dominate Monster. Provided you succeed, you now have complete control over whatever's in front of you, which can be anything from a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent true dragon]] to a [[OurGiantsAreBigger Hekatonkheires.]]
** There is also the [[BodySurf Magic Jar]] spell, which can be used to takeover the body of a mighty beast, while its soul is sealed in a jar.
* HypnosisProofDogs: ''Charm'' or ''Hold'' spells that only work on humanoids are lower level than those which affect other creature-types.
* ImmuneToMindControl:
** Plants, slimes, insects, {{Golem}}s and TheUndead are immune to hypnosis and all other mind-effecting magic for various reasons.
** In 5th Edition, certain classes have features that enable them to block charm, fear, mind reading, etc. The Barbarian's Rage ability may also prevent them from being charmed or frightened, since they're too angry for such mind alteration to work.
* InstantDeathRadius: 5e altered the rules of attacks of opportunity, and they now only trigger on ''leaving'' an enemy's threatened space, and the Disengage action allows you to leave their area without triggering an opportunity attack, but at the cost of taking an action (although rogues can use their cunning action ability to do so as a bonus action instead). However, the "Sentinel" feat allows you to make opportunity attacks even if the target uses Disengage to get away from you.
* InvisibilityWithDrawbacks: Most forms of invisibility available to [=PC=]s have some drawbacks to prevent abuse. The basic ''invisibility'' spell ends right after you make an attack or target someone with a spell, and items you pick up remain visible unless you can fit them in a pocket or bag.
* LaughingMad: The ''Tasha's Hideous Laughter'' spell inflicts a temporary form of this, as it prevents the target from doing anything but laughing. It ends if they succeed on a saving throw, which triggers when the creature is either attacked or reaches the end of its turn.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfRules: 5th Edition subverts this. It also has the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. There's two expansions called Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, which provide updates and new options for monsters and player characters without really changing the rules of the game.
* LuckManipulationMechanic: In 5th edition, halflings can reroll any 1 on a d20 roll, wild magic sorcerers have a Bend Luck ability to add or subtract to others' rolls, while fighters and paladins have access to a weapon ability that lets them reroll any 1 or 2 when calculating damage. There's also the "Lucky" feat, which lets you reroll a d20 three times a day.
* MagicStaff: Staffs allow their wielders to cast a selection of spells without drawing from their personal magic reserves -- although each staff only has a set a set number of uses and will need time to recharge when these are used up -- and typically require attunement by a magic-user such as a wizard, sorcerer or warlock before being usable.
** A Staff of Charming is good at {{Mind Control}}ing opponents and helping you resist MindControl.
** The Staff of Power and Staff of the Magi allow you to cast a very broad variety of spells, and the Staff of the Magi can absorb enemy spells to recharge its own powers on the fly. They also share the Retributive Strike power: when deliberately broken, the staff explodes like a bomb, almost certainly killing all nearby opponents. The wielder has a 50% chance of traveling to another plane and a 50% chance of being annihilated.
** A Staff of the Python/Adder turns into a snake to attack your enemies. It comes in python (constriction) and adder (poisonous bite) versions.
** A Staff of Swarming Insects can summon swarms of flying insects or individual giant ones.
** A Staff of Thunder and Lightning can be used to throw lightning bolts or create peals of thunder.
** A Staff of Withering can cause the victim to age ten years and suffer a withered arm or leg.
** A Staff of the Woodlands can cast a number of plant- and anima-related spells, and can be planted into the ground to turn into a tree that can be turned back into the staff on command.
** A Voyager Staff can cast a number of teleportation and travel-related spells.
* MakeSomeNoise: The BoringButPractical "Silence" spell suppresses all sound in an area. It serves as the poor man's AntiMagic, since it makes {{Magical Incantation}}s impossible. In Fifth Edition, it has the extra benefit of making the area immune to thunder damage, since [[LogicalWeakness thunder damage is based on sound, which naturally wouldn't work in an area that's been made to be magically silent]].
* MaximumHPReduction:
** Some attacks deal "ability damage" that reduces the target's stats but heals when the character rests and "ability drain" which can only be healed magically. Constitution drain is essentially this trope, because a character's maximum hitpoints are calculated from it. A dead first level character who's resurrected (most resurrections cost the resurrected character at least one CharacterLevel to avert DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist) also permanently loses a point of constitution.
** The Vargouille monster can do this. If the victim of its attack fails a saving throw vs. poison, the {{Hit Point}}s of damage inflicted are lost permanently and can only be recovered by using a Wish spell. No form of healing magic will bring them back.
* [[invoked]] SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: In 5th Edition, there's a mechanic called "inspiration", which is intended as something the DM can give a PC who does something particularly awesome. The player can then use this inspiration token to give themselves advantage on something one time.
* MultiplePersuasionModes: The Diplomacy/Persuasion and Intimidation skills. Although they have to be role-played very differently, they are quite similar mechanically: both skills are Charisma-based and their main difference is that the former can improve the [=NPCs'=] attitude to the speaker on a successful check, while the latter always worsens it. There is also the Deception skill, which lets characters tell convincing lies, but unlike the other two social skills, its checks are always opposed by the target's Insight skill.
* MysticalCityPlanning: Present in the module [=FR6=]: ''Dreams of the Red Wizards''. The city of Eltabbar in Thay is built in the shape of a huge glyph to confine a demon prince called Eltab. Making maps of Eltabbar is forbidden, because if the city is accurately mapped and the map is then destroyed, it reduces the power of the restraining glyph. If this occurs enough times Eltab could be freed, which would be a disaster.
* MythologyGag: The [[https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/talisman-of-the-sphere Talisman of the Sphere]] item found inside the 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide has the titular talisman looking [[https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BBcq976kqmk/WJ4GbJ3PFNI/AAAAAAAAAdE/0kVCLPJE1HgIyCck5FlG4Y2ZYjj8Pr03wCLcB/s1600/Illustration%2B%25236.png almost exactly like the infamous large engraved face and mouth]] containing [[spoiler:a Sphere of Annihilation DeathTrap]] from the {{TabletopGame/Tomb of Horrors}}.
* NoCampaignForTheWicked: Fifth Edition lists the good and neutral deities up front in the character creation section, while setting the evil gods firmly in the 'know your enemy' part of the book. This, of course, has no effect on some players and [=DMs=], who create all-evil campaigns frequently and with panache.
* NoGearLevel: Stripping gear tends to occur if you get captured or contained. In 5th Edition this reduces characters to their most basic, infinitely-usable spells and attacks unless the character has gone out of its way to learn, prepare, or equip abilities that don't require gear, but the game is designed around those basic abilities being reasonably viable in combat and navigation.
* NoiselessWalker: Boots of Elvenkind allow the wearer to walk silently.
* NonCombatEXP: The game has various rules for [=DMs=] to give out EXP for completing tasks outside combat, such as talking one's way out of a fight or for superb roleplaying. Long before there were official rules for it, this was a very popular house rule; come Fifth Edition, various guidebooks started giving suggestions for the amount of non-combat experience that players should get for thinking outside the box. A few adventure modules give suggestions for things like getting a hostile NPC to back off without killing them, saving someone from a grisly fate even at expense to the party, or using stealth to find out important information without being detected.
* PercentBasedValues: In 5[[superscript:th]] Edition, creatures take half the usual {{Hit Point|s}} damage from a damage type they have Resistance against. Previous editions use a fixed amount of DamageReduction instead.
* PhlebotinumHandlingRequirements: Spell scrolls can usually only be activated by characters who can also access the spell through their class spell list (e.g. only a wizard or sorcerer can use a scroll of ''{{magic missile|Storm}}'', only a cleric or druid can use one of ''[[DeathFromAbove flame strike]]'', et cetera). This restriction can be overcome by a high-level Thief with the Use Magic Device ability. Use Magic Device also lets Thieves overcome several other restrictions on magical items, most of which fall under LevelLockedLoot.
* PsychicPowers: 5th edition has a different take on psionics than previous editions. Spellcasting enemies from the 5E Monster Manual labeled as psionic don't require spell components in order to cast spells. While a version of a class centered around psionic powers, the Mystic, was playtested, it was eventually scrapped for being both too powerful and too versatile. Instead, psionics are implemented as subclasses of Rogue (Soulknife), Fighter (Psi Warrior) and Sorcerer (Aberrant Mind) classes, with feats available to all classes that grant limited telepathic and telekinetic powers.
* PurposelyOverpowered: The Sword of Zariel, as mentioned above, is ''bonkers'' powerful, beating out even the Hand and Eye of Vecna in terms of power. The wielder becomes an angel in everything but name, gaining Celestial as a language, a massive boost to charisma, resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, wings, advantage on insight checks and Truesight. The sword itself, among other things, sheds light that weakens fiends around it and grants massive damage boosts, with no mechanical downsides aside from an alignment change and new personality. By the time the players get their hands on it, pretty much only the final boss remain, who's either an archdevil or demon lord. Even with the sword, the battle will be tough.
* QuicksandSucks: It's considered difficult terrain, which slows your movement down. And if you get stuck there too long without help, you start to drown.
* ReducedToDust: This is the result of a [[https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Disintegrate#content Disintegrate spell]] being cast on a creature that is killed by the damage dealt by it.
* SacredFlames:
** The Cleric spell ''Flame Strike'' calls down a bolt of fire from the heavens that does half fire damage and half divine damage. The divine half is not subject to damage resistance to fire-based attacks.
** There is also a cantrip for Clerics literally called Sacred Flame, which deals both [[LightEmUp radiant]] and fire damage as part of the [[ReligionIsMagic magic priest's]] arsenal.
* SetBonus: The Hammer of Thunderbolts. This is nominally a +3 weapon. But if the wielder is also wearing Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Girdle of Giant Strength, it becomes +5, automatically kills any giant it hits, and (in early editions) was the only case in which the to-hit and damage bonuses from the Gauntlets and Girdle would stack together.
* ShadowWalker: The "Plane Shift" spell lets you travel to another dimension, where you can't target or be targeted unless you're also on the same plane.
* ShapeDiesShifterSurvives: 5[[superscript:th]] Edition Polymorph spells give the target the HitPoints of their new form; they revert if dropped to zero HP, but any extra damage is transferred to their original form. A few effects that can cause instant death, like the [[ReducedToDust Disintegrate]] spell, still kill a polymorphed target outright.
* ShapeshiftingHealsWounds: In 5th edition, a druid can shapeshift into an animal form with full hit points (some can even heal themselves once per transformation), but any damage that reduces the animal form's HP to below zero reverts the druid and is carried over to the druid's regular form, and while the druid can shapeshift again to a form for more hit points, the damage to the druid's body isn't healed. The strategy is known as "the onion" by some since each form must be defeated individually to beat the druid once and for all. For most of the game, a druid is limited to two transformations a day, but at the highest levels the druid can transform as often as he wants.
* SpellBlade: Many spells exist solely to power up other items.
** The Shillelagh spell causes a club to become (temporarily) magical, allowing the wielder to attack using their Wisdom instead of Strength.
** Flame Arrow, a Ranger-exclusive spell, can set a quiver of arrows on fire.
** Green-Flame Blade wreathes a melee weapon in green fire, dealing additional fire damage if you land a hit with it.
** Booming Blade puts an enchantment on a melee weapon that causes the next thing it hits to be surrounded by a shell of energy that deals Thunder damage if it moves from its spot.
** Magic Weapon slightly increases a weapon's damage and allows non-magical weapons to harm creatures that otherwise are immune to conventional weapons. Elemental Weapon does the same thing, but also causes the weapon to deal a small amount of addition damage of an elemental type.
* SpellLevels: Wizards, sorcerers, clerics, bards, and druids still have ten spell levels (cantrips and 1-9). The eldritch knight and arcane trickster archetypes have cantrips and spell levels 1-4. Paladins and rangers have five spell levels (1-5). Warlocks are the strange one in this edition: while they have access to all 10 spell levels, their 6-9 level "Mystic Arcanum" spells are only limited to one spell for each spell level and can only be cast once per long rest.
* SquareRaceRoundClass: 5th Edition brought back attribute penalties from 3rd Edition, but only for kobolds (-2 strength) and orcs (-2 intelligence) as playable monster races from ''Volo's Guide to Monsters''. However, the outcry from fans for the bizarre use of these penalties that doesn't appear on any other race drove Wizards of the Coast to remove the negative modifiers on the races when they were republished in later books.
* SupernaturalFearInducer:
** Various spells such as Fear and Cause Fear can temporarily frighten an opponent or group of people.
** ''All'' adult dragons have access to an aura of fear that can send characters within 120 feet of them into a panic.
** Demons:
*** The demon princes Demogorgon and Yeenoghu can cast the spell Fear as one of their innate abilities, as can the lesser demons Babau and Bar-Igura.
*** When three or more rutterkin are within 30 of someone, they can induce fear in them that renders them completely unable to move- the more rutterkin there are, the harder it is for the target to resist the effect.
** Many devils have the ability to engender fear in living things. The exact details are different for each devil.
*** Bael can make himself appear terrifying and force everyone within 10 feet of him to become frightened.
*** Titivilus can [[BrownNote speak something so horrible]] that a person within 10 feet of him becomes frightened and has to spend their turns running as far from him as they can.
*** When Hutijin takes damage, he can utter a word of power that can frighten all non-devils within 30 feet of him. *** Moloch uses a BreathWeapon that inflicts psychic damage on everyone it hits and forces them to become frightened, drop whatever they're holding, and run as far from him as they can.
*** Pit fiends shed fear in a 20 foot radius to all creatures they're hostile towards.
** Liches can fix their gaze on any creature within 10 feet of it and force them to become frightened.
** Mummys can star at any creature with 60 feet and cause them to become frightened. If the creature fails the saving throw to resist the effect by 5 or more, they're outright paralyzed with terror and can take no actions.
** A satyr can play music with its pipes to inflict fear on any opponent that hears it.
** The first roar of an androsphinx can create fright in any creature within 500 feet.
** The Phantasmal Killer spell forces the target to save, or immediately die of fright.
* TechnicianVsPerformer:
** Wizards (Technician) vs. Sorcerers (Performer). In Fifth Edition, Wizards have more versatility in regards to having many more spells to choose from, but they can only cast them in static and consistent ways. Sorcerers have fewer spells but they also use a separate Metamagic system to alter their spells in various ways, like increasing the range or duration of effect. As Wizards use Intelligence as their spellcasting attribute, they tend to fit the role of TheSmartGuy in the party, having extensive knowledge of multiple fields; Sorcerers use Charisma as their attribute and so are better suited to being TheFace and using illusion magics.
** Fighters (Technician) vs. Barbarians (Performer). Fighters enjoy access to heavy armour, a fighting style, extra feats and ability score increases, an Action Surge that allows them to make an addition action in a turn, and depending on the archetype chosen, an additional fighting style and enhanced crit range (Champion), battle manoeuvres (Battlemaster) or rudimentary spellcasting (Eldritch Knight). Barbarians have more HP (the only class to use d12 as hit die), [[TheBerserker Rage]] and all the benefits with it, Reckless Attack, bonuses to saving throws from enhanced senses, extra movement and the bonuses of their chosen primal path. Barbarians fight harder, but Fighters fight ''smarter''.
* TeleportSpam:
** Every edition has the blink dog, a monster who teleport spams as a free action.
** 5e Conjuration School Wizards live off this and SummonMagic. At 6th level, they get an ability called Benign Transposition, the only economical and easy way to swap places with a party member in the game, that costs an action to use. It can also be used as a straight teleport. Here's the kicker, though; it recharges on a long rest or whenever you cast a conjuration spell of 1st level or higher. This can be combined with the 2nd level spell ''Misty Step'' to teleport all around a given area with near impunity, especially because ''Misty Step'' is a bonus action. This becomes truly spammable once you hit 18th level, if you choose to make ''Misty Step'' one of the spells you've Mastered; since Benign Transposition is one of ''very'' few abilities to recharge on the use of a type of spell but not ''specifically'' when a slot is expended, you can cast ''Misty Step'' an infinite amount of times to recharge Benign Transposition an infinite amount of times.
** The 5e spell ''Far Step'' works on this principle. You teleport once 60 feet as a bonus action, and then for the next minute you can use another bonus action to teleport again.
* TruthSerums: The Zone of Truth spell for the Cleric and the Paladin. Within it, anyone who's talking can only tell the truth when speaking if they fail a charisma saving throw. However, there are ways around it: after all, while everyone might have to tell the truth, there's nothing that compels them to speak.
* UnknownItemIdentification: The game has a number of options depending on the item to be identified:
** ''Detect magic'' is a common, low-level spell that tells you if an item is magic or under the effect of a spell, and if it is under the effect of a spell what school of magic that spell is.
** ''Identify'' is a 1st-level spell usable by wizards, artificers, bards, and some subclasses. It identifies all properties of a single magic item, excluding any curses placed on the item. You can scribe a scroll of the spell with the proper item creation feat. Another option is to use a Knowledge skill check to deduce the item's properties.
** The rulebooks suggest that a character who frequently uses potions can learn to identify them by sampling the contents; just enough to taste but not enough to activate the magic.
** 5th Edition follows from 4th Edition in allowing characters to identify magic items over a short rest. There is also a variant rule to make magic item identification more difficult by forbidding the "short rest examination" and requiring the use of either the ''identify'' spell, experimentation, or both to find out a magic item's properties.
* WeaponOfChoice: In 5th Edition, this comes into play with "fighting styles" for Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, granting bonuses with either ranged weapons, two-handed weapons, one-handed weapons with a free hand, shields or dual-wielding. Paladins, Rangers, and Fighters can only pick one of these styles, though the Fighter's Champion archetype can pick another style to make it two.
* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: 'Vicious Mockery' is a bard-exclusive cantrip that inflicts a small amount of damage and imposes a debuff on the target.
