I currently play a 4th Level Cleric and am finding I do not do as much damage as our Ranger, Rogue, and/or Monk. I'm curious to try out actions outside of attacking with my weapons and supporting the PCs who can do more, but I haven't tried it out before... What I'm thinking is casting spells like Bless to help them hit, and conserving others for healing when (not if, lol) they go unconscious.
I know I'd like to try out the Shove action, but I noticed there's a Help Action as well. How does that work in combat? Giving my PCs advantage would be awesome, but I really don't know how since I'm fairly new to D&D... I'm a tank with pretty high AC and HP, so I usually put myself in the thick of combat to try to draw enemies to attack me instead of my Party. If there's a way I can do this by 'Help'-ing someone else hit more powerfully than I could, that would be awesome! Or at the very least I can try it out :)
Do y'all have any tips on how I could do this? I guess I'm not sure how I could engage enemies and distract them without hitting them, but still be a Help to an ally...
Thanks! My question is more of from a Roleplaying perspective - like what do you do in that Help Action that could give someone advantage? I get the idea, but I'm having trouble thinking of examples that could work...
Yes, I've cast all three of those - unfortunately my d20 rolls to attack (spells and weapons) are almost always extremely low and miss all the time. This is why I want to try out something like Shove or Help in my next session to see if that's more helpful. If not, I'll just stick with Bless and weapon attacks...
Thanks! My question is more of from a Roleplaying perspective - like what do you do in that Help Action that could give someone advantage? I get the idea, but I'm having trouble thinking of examples that could work...
You could insult the target, you could throw your hand/your shield/some sand in the general direction of the target's eyes, you could grab the target's shield arm, you could hug the target . . .
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Ooh I love those!! Perfect - thank you so much! I was having such a brain fart on this for some reason... I'll definitely try those out in my next session!
Helping someone in combat usually involves distracting the target, maybe a feint "attack" to get him to switch up his defense more towards you, and less towards your ally, things like that. There's no specific action defined in the rulebooks, feel free to come up with your own description, have fun with it. =)
Bear in mind, though, that depending on the target's AC and other factors, you might be better off just straight up attacking, even if you hit for less damage than your teammates. If you're fighting a low-AC target, the more specialized melee-types are more likely to hit anyway, so giving them Advantage won't help as much as extra couple of hitpoints of damage. There are always damaging cantrips, too, if you're out of spell slots, or trying to conserve: Word of Radiance if you're in the thick of it and can hit multiple targets, Toll the Dead for single targets at range, Sacred Flame for targets with cover.
Thank you! That's true - and our Ranger has Colossus Slayer, so any kind of damage I can do will help on that end as well... I'm not very good at the Roleplaying aspect of the game and am hoping to get myself out of the rut of "I attack with my weapon and do X damage."
You can always roleplay how you use your weapons or spells. Thats what we do if we arent in a hurry. Instead of just saying: "I attack X with my black Glaive", how about "I brandish my black glaive with agile ease, and as I dodge X's warhammer I see a opening in his defense and spin around aiming for his torso".
Or when I use Eldritch Blast: "As I point my black glaive towards XXX (not Vin Diesel this time!!) two blackishly purple beams erupts from its tip. Leading each beam is a faintly recognizable blurry skull that explodes as it hits XXX and does (insert random too high number due to insane cantrip) damage"
I currently play a 4th Level Cleric and am finding I do not do as much damage as our Ranger, Rogue, and/or Monk. I'm curious to try out actions outside of attacking with my weapons and supporting the PCs who can do more, but I haven't tried it out before... What I'm thinking is casting spells like Bless to help them hit, and conserving others for healing when (not if, lol) they go unconscious.
I know I'd like to try out the Shove action, but I noticed there's a Help Action as well. How does that work in combat? Giving my PCs advantage would be awesome, but I really don't know how since I'm fairly new to D&D... I'm a tank with pretty high AC and HP, so I usually put myself in the thick of combat to try to draw enemies to attack me instead of my Party. If there's a way I can do this by 'Help'-ing someone else hit more powerfully than I could, that would be awesome! Or at the very least I can try it out :)
Do y'all have any tips on how I could do this? I guess I'm not sure how I could engage enemies and distract them without hitting them, but still be a Help to an ally...
Help. Basically, you can use your action to give the next attack against a creature within 5 feet of you advantage. Bless is better.
Have you tried spiritual weapon, guiding bolt, or inflict wounds?
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Thanks! My question is more of from a Roleplaying perspective - like what do you do in that Help Action that could give someone advantage? I get the idea, but I'm having trouble thinking of examples that could work...
Yes, I've cast all three of those - unfortunately my d20 rolls to attack (spells and weapons) are almost always extremely low and miss all the time. This is why I want to try out something like Shove or Help in my next session to see if that's more helpful. If not, I'll just stick with Bless and weapon attacks...
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Ooh I love those!! Perfect - thank you so much! I was having such a brain fart on this for some reason... I'll definitely try those out in my next session!
Helping someone in combat usually involves distracting the target, maybe a feint "attack" to get him to switch up his defense more towards you, and less towards your ally, things like that. There's no specific action defined in the rulebooks, feel free to come up with your own description, have fun with it. =)
Bear in mind, though, that depending on the target's AC and other factors, you might be better off just straight up attacking, even if you hit for less damage than your teammates. If you're fighting a low-AC target, the more specialized melee-types are more likely to hit anyway, so giving them Advantage won't help as much as extra couple of hitpoints of damage. There are always damaging cantrips, too, if you're out of spell slots, or trying to conserve: Word of Radiance if you're in the thick of it and can hit multiple targets, Toll the Dead for single targets at range, Sacred Flame for targets with cover.
Thank you! That's true - and our Ranger has Colossus Slayer, so any kind of damage I can do will help on that end as well... I'm not very good at the Roleplaying aspect of the game and am hoping to get myself out of the rut of "I attack with my weapon and do X damage."
You can always roleplay how you use your weapons or spells. Thats what we do if we arent in a hurry. Instead of just saying: "I attack X with my black Glaive", how about "I brandish my black glaive with agile ease, and as I dodge X's warhammer I see a opening in his defense and spin around aiming for his torso".
Or when I use Eldritch Blast: "As I point my black glaive towards XXX (not Vin Diesel this time!!) two blackishly purple beams erupts from its tip. Leading each beam is a faintly recognizable blurry skull that explodes as it hits XXX and does (insert random too high number due to insane cantrip) damage"