I've been looking through the new 2024 Player's Handbook for an answer but I cannot seem to find one. Can you use magical items to meet the pre-requisites to take a Feat? For example, could a character don a Belt of Giant Strength to meet the 13 str requirement for Great Weapon Master? If the answer to that is yes, then what about drinking a Potion of Giant strength?
Conversely, what about some temporary magical effect that temporarily reduces an ability stat? For example, imagine that I have already taken Great Weapon Master and my character has 13 strength. Now imagine that some magical effect lowers my strength. Does this turn Great Weapon Master off OR do the pre-reqs only matter for when you actually take the feat?
This will probably largely come down to how your DM will rule (unless I missed some rule in the new book), but I figured I'd ask.
As a DM, I would say feats check your base character stats, before items and magic. As if they were different "layers" of stats. For something as temporary as a Potion it would be hard to time it with the level up without metagaming, and turning off feats with curses and such would be convoluted and a huge feel bad.
Multiclassing also requires certain stats, you can't have someone lose all levels in wizard because something dropped their INT below 13.
While items and magic would check current stats, including stats influenced by items and magic. Like the strength requirement of armor.
I'm unsure if theirs a written rule about it, but It would be game breaking otherwise
I've been looking through the new 2024 Player's Handbook for an answer but I cannot seem to find one. Can you use magical items to meet the pre-requisites to take a Feat? For example, could a character don a Belt of Giant Strength to meet the 13 str requirement for Great Weapon Master? If the answer to that is yes, then what about drinking a Potion of Giant strength?
Conversely, what about some temporary magical effect that temporarily reduces an ability stat? For example, imagine that I have already taken Great Weapon Master and my character has 13 strength. Now imagine that some magical effect lowers my strength. Does this turn Great Weapon Master off OR do the pre-reqs only matter for when you actually take the feat?
This will probably largely come down to how your DM will rule (unless I missed some rule in the new book), but I figured I'd ask.
I"m going to say no, because if a player for whatever reason lost the belt of Giant Strength, you would no longer be eligible for the feat that you took. Which then requires what to do about the feat, and what to do if/when the belt is recovered. And a lot of other things. So I would say, your base stat is what needs to reach the prerequisite.
I"m going to say no, because if a player for whatever reason lost the belt of Giant Strength, you would no longer be eligible for the feat that you took. Which then requires what to do about the feat, and what to do if/when the belt is recovered. And a lot of other things. So I would say, your base stat is what needs to reach the prerequisite.
tarodnet already got to the Sage Advice answer, but I wanted to point out that the 2014 Player's Handbook does account for this.
You must meet any prerequisite specified in a feat to take that feat. If you ever lose a feat’s prerequisite, you can’t use that feat until you regain the prerequisite. For example, the Grappler feat requires you to have a Strength of 13 or higher. If your Strength is reduced below 13 somehow — perhaps by a withering curse — you can’t benefit from the Grappler feat until your Strength is restored.
The 2024 PHB doesn't have this text, but it may have simply been moved around to the 2024 DMG.
The answer to the original post will depend on the wording of the particular magic item.
In the case of the Belt of Giant Strength, unless the description changes in 2024, this would work as you are suggesting. This magic item does not cause any sort of temporary stat change which has a specified duration, or which will be wiped out after finishing a Long Rest or anything like that. It also isn't adding some sort of bonus or modifier to your base stat. It actually changes your stat:
While wearing this belt, your Strength score changes to a score granted by the belt.
Wording like this is very intentional and has specific mechanical consequences.
In addition, the prerequisite is only for acquiring the Feat, at which point you have that Feat permanently:
Prerequisite.To take a feat, you must meet any prerequisite in its description unless a feature allows you to take the feat without the prerequisite. If a prerequisite includes a class, you must have at least 1 level in that class to take the feat.
So, being victimized by a temporary stat debuff (which are now generally cured after completing a Long Rest) will not cause you to lose or to be unable to use your Feat that has already been acquired. The prerequisite is not for using the Feat, it's for taking the Feat.
Now, in the case of something like the Potion of Giant Strength . . . despite what Sage Advice might have to say about "base scores" and "temporary scores" for stats, once again this magic item would work as you are suggesting because of the wording of the item's description:
When you drink this potion, your Strength score changes for 1 hour.
Despite having a defined duration, this item actually changes the stat for the duration.
Keep in mind that there is a decent chance that certain Magic Item descriptions will be updated in the 2024 DMG and such concepts as "base stats" and "temporary stats" might be more carefully followed in the new books. But for now, this is enough to meet any sort of Strength score prerequisite.
Ultimately I think this boils down to what the DM wants level-ups and feats to represent in-game. Characters don't just wake up one morning with new capabilities, it's all an abstraction for the things they're learning as they go on adventures + training and practice in between adventures.
The difference between the potion and the belt is that the potion is fleeting, but you could make the case that someone that's been wearing the belt full time for a certain amount of time (1 level? 4 levels? a specific amount of weeks?) is able to put in the work to learn the things that taking the Feat represents.
Similar issues arise when you start dealing with short-lived bonuses to ability checks while doing tasks that require a long time. E.g. If a character is researching something in a library and the DM is going to call for an Investigation check at the end of the hour, how much of that time does the character need to be under the influence of Guidance? The whole hour? The last 6 seconds?
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I've been looking through the new 2024 Player's Handbook for an answer but I cannot seem to find one. Can you use magical items to meet the pre-requisites to take a Feat? For example, could a character don a Belt of Giant Strength to meet the 13 str requirement for Great Weapon Master? If the answer to that is yes, then what about drinking a Potion of Giant strength?
Conversely, what about some temporary magical effect that temporarily reduces an ability stat? For example, imagine that I have already taken Great Weapon Master and my character has 13 strength. Now imagine that some magical effect lowers my strength. Does this turn Great Weapon Master off OR do the pre-reqs only matter for when you actually take the feat?
This will probably largely come down to how your DM will rule (unless I missed some rule in the new book), but I figured I'd ask.
As a DM, I would say feats check your base character stats, before items and magic. As if they were different "layers" of stats. For something as temporary as a Potion it would be hard to time it with the level up without metagaming, and turning off feats with curses and such would be convoluted and a huge feel bad.
Multiclassing also requires certain stats, you can't have someone lose all levels in wizard because something dropped their INT below 13.
While items and magic would check current stats, including stats influenced by items and magic. Like the strength requirement of armor.
I'm unsure if theirs a written rule about it, but It would be game breaking otherwise
I"m going to say no, because if a player for whatever reason lost the belt of Giant Strength, you would no longer be eligible for the feat that you took. Which then requires what to do about the feat, and what to do if/when the belt is recovered. And a lot of other things. So I would say, your base stat is what needs to reach the prerequisite.
In my opinion, multiclass and feat requirements should be fulfilled based on your actual ability scores.
We have also this answer in the Sage Advice Compendium:
---
Would a temporary stat bump fulfill a multiclass prerequisite, or does the base score have to meet the requirement?
Your base score, not a temporary score, has to meet a multiclassing prerequisite.
tarodnet already got to the Sage Advice answer, but I wanted to point out that the 2014 Player's Handbook does account for this.
The 2024 PHB doesn't have this text, but it may have simply been moved around to the 2024 DMG.
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The answer to the original post will depend on the wording of the particular magic item.
In the case of the Belt of Giant Strength, unless the description changes in 2024, this would work as you are suggesting. This magic item does not cause any sort of temporary stat change which has a specified duration, or which will be wiped out after finishing a Long Rest or anything like that. It also isn't adding some sort of bonus or modifier to your base stat. It actually changes your stat:
Wording like this is very intentional and has specific mechanical consequences.
In addition, the prerequisite is only for acquiring the Feat, at which point you have that Feat permanently:
So, being victimized by a temporary stat debuff (which are now generally cured after completing a Long Rest) will not cause you to lose or to be unable to use your Feat that has already been acquired. The prerequisite is not for using the Feat, it's for taking the Feat.
Now, in the case of something like the Potion of Giant Strength . . . despite what Sage Advice might have to say about "base scores" and "temporary scores" for stats, once again this magic item would work as you are suggesting because of the wording of the item's description:
Despite having a defined duration, this item actually changes the stat for the duration.
Keep in mind that there is a decent chance that certain Magic Item descriptions will be updated in the 2024 DMG and such concepts as "base stats" and "temporary stats" might be more carefully followed in the new books. But for now, this is enough to meet any sort of Strength score prerequisite.
Ultimately I think this boils down to what the DM wants level-ups and feats to represent in-game. Characters don't just wake up one morning with new capabilities, it's all an abstraction for the things they're learning as they go on adventures + training and practice in between adventures.
The difference between the potion and the belt is that the potion is fleeting, but you could make the case that someone that's been wearing the belt full time for a certain amount of time (1 level? 4 levels? a specific amount of weeks?) is able to put in the work to learn the things that taking the Feat represents.
Similar issues arise when you start dealing with short-lived bonuses to ability checks while doing tasks that require a long time. E.g. If a character is researching something in a library and the DM is going to call for an Investigation check at the end of the hour, how much of that time does the character need to be under the influence of Guidance? The whole hour? The last 6 seconds?
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