Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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A question.
At level 5 i get to substitute one of my attacks for the steel defender attack.
Would that not reduce my number of attacks per round from 3 to 2? That is: If the steel defender uses its attack action to attack during my attack, then it has used up its actions for the round.
I can partially see the utility in that i would free up my bonus action for spells or multiclass stuff and maybe i need the steel defender to attack from its position for tactical reasons...
But i would like to understand if i am reading this correctly. For all i know the attack the steel defender makes is supposed to be a freebie and i can order it to attack again as my bonus action.
Also: if i take 1 level in fighter to get so.e masteries but do not take the two weapon fighting... can i tell my steel defender to attack instead of a nick attack from a scimiter or a dagger or a light hammer or whatever?
It seems like i cannot because it says i can subsistute one of the 2 main actions attack, but again maybe i am reading this incorrectly.
Side question: if i had instead of a fighter level a pugilist or monk level, the way i read it is that there is no way to do the unarmed strike as an intelligence attack, even if i was to be using the wraps of unarmed power, correct?
It's a freebie. The defender gets its normal action, as commanded with your bonus action, and it also gets to make an attack if you forego one of your personal attacks.
That one is... a matter of interpretation. There's no official ruling, and there are reasonable arguments on both sides. (And no precedents elsewhere to work from; it's a particularly esoteric bit of the rules.)
You have to ask your DM on that one.
Just to expand on what jl8e said, "actions for the round" isn't really a thing. A creature can can take one action on its turn. Anything that gives it the ability to do things on other people's turns does not affect or interact with that at all.
That's correct, according to the rules as written. The Battle Smith's ability to use Intelligence for weapon attacks only applies to magic weapons, which unarmed strikes are not. Wraps of Unarmed Power are magic, but they are not a weapon.
pronouns: he/she/they
thanks!
To answer the second part first: since movement isn't an action unless dashing the Steel Defender can move prior to or following it's own action.
You're using your bonus action to determine what it does on its turn, not on your turn. Your turn has already finished prior to the Defender acting.
If it helps to think of it as a readied action that's okay, but mechanically it's not.
For the record, this is only true of the 5e version. The current (5.5e) version acts during your turn.
pronouns: he/she/they
Wait, so in the 2024 rules if i make the steel defender attack with my extra attack, what else can it do on my turn?
The rules say i make it take the action it uses to attack, so during my turn the steel defender has already used its action when i attack.
It still gets its normal action, which can be attacking if you use your bonus action to tell it to.
Yes, it's not as clear as it might be, but If you were trading one of your attacks for an attack it would get to make anyway, it really wouldn't be much of an improvement.
Yes, which is what confuses me about the wording. It does not say that "the pet gets an extra action which it must execute to execute this specific action". it does not say "the pet executes the effect of this specific action". It says the pet "takes this specific action". The pet therefore has used its action for the round. I do not have to command it anymore, unless i want it to move, i have a free bonus action.
That is... the only use i see.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/2656866-artificer#BattleSmith
I wish to be wrong. 📖✍️🤔
It sounds like another case like the Kalamer Landwalker last line, where i can only presume nobody understood what they had written, but it is still there. Uncorrected.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/exeb/chapter-6-character-options#KalamerLandwalkerMerfolk
You're wrong.
It's templated exactly like the Beast Master Ranger's ability, which, AFAIK, is generally read to allow the double attack.
In terms of mechanics, it's a matter of "things do what they say". If you first command it to take an action on your turn, and then forego an attack to tell it to attack, it gets to attack, because the ability says it does. Therefore, that attack cannot be using its own action. It's being paid for in the action economy by your action. The thing is a weird hybrid, neither fully independent, nor entirely powered by your actions.
thanks