In DnD 5e, if I flavor my Artificer's steel defender as a metallic snake robot, would't it give my attackers disadvantage ALL THE TIME? Think about it. My character walks around with a huge robotic snake wrapped around me like a sash. So, it's always within 5'. So it uses "deflect attack" all the time it's on me. right?
By RAW, two creatures can’t occupy the same space like that (with a couple exceptions that don’t apply here.) So you couldn’t wear it like a sash. If I were DMing, I might let you wear it around out of combat as a flavor thing. But with the understanding that once a fight started, or if you had to climb a ladder or a rope or something, it would kind of instantly slither into an adjacent space.
Deflect Attack is a Reaction, so your defender can only use it once per round.
Deflect Attack. The defender imposes disadvantage on the attack roll of one creature it can see that is within 5 feet of it, provided the attack roll is against a creature other than the defender.
Your Defender has just as much movement as you, so I for example would rule that you can give it the instruction to just stay within 5 feet of you at all times in an adjacent square without further commands - that's a very natural thing for it to do. (Then you'd use your Bonus Action to command it to do something different.)
The *attacking* creature must be within 5 feet. It doesn't actually specify the target, so the attack could be a ranged attack, or a melee attack on you or another ally.
As its reaction (not yours), the Defender can Deflect Attack when the creature attacks, causing disadvantage. Once that reaction is used, that's it for the round.
So, for example if the enemy creature has Extra Attack, only its first attack would be at disadvantage. The second would be a straight roll. Of course any other enemies attacking you would not be impacted.
FWIW this is surprisingly powerful and effective, and you can get a ton of mileage out of a defender by just letting it dodge while flanking an enemy and using deflect attack, none of which consumes your Artificer's bonus action.
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Hello,
I never use this site, so, here it goes:
In DnD 5e, if I flavor my Artificer's steel defender as a metallic snake robot, would't it give my attackers disadvantage ALL THE TIME? Think about it. My character walks around with a huge robotic snake wrapped around me like a sash. So, it's always within 5'. So it uses "deflect attack" all the time it's on me. right?
If you have to say "Think about it", this is a question for your DM.
The flavor of your steel defender does not confer any specific additional mechanical advantages... unless your DM approves it.
By RAW, two creatures can’t occupy the same space like that (with a couple exceptions that don’t apply here.) So you couldn’t wear it like a sash.
If I were DMing, I might let you wear it around out of combat as a flavor thing. But with the understanding that once a fight started, or if you had to climb a ladder or a rope or something, it would kind of instantly slither into an adjacent space.
Deflect Attack is a Reaction, so your defender can only use it once per round.
Your Defender has just as much movement as you, so I for example would rule that you can give it the instruction to just stay within 5 feet of you at all times in an adjacent square without further commands - that's a very natural thing for it to do. (Then you'd use your Bonus Action to command it to do something different.)
The *attacking* creature must be within 5 feet. It doesn't actually specify the target, so the attack could be a ranged attack, or a melee attack on you or another ally.
As its reaction (not yours), the Defender can Deflect Attack when the creature attacks, causing disadvantage. Once that reaction is used, that's it for the round.
So, for example if the enemy creature has Extra Attack, only its first attack would be at disadvantage. The second would be a straight roll. Of course any other enemies attacking you would not be impacted.
FWIW this is surprisingly powerful and effective, and you can get a ton of mileage out of a defender by just letting it dodge while flanking an enemy and using deflect attack, none of which consumes your Artificer's bonus action.