Thank you, @RedQueen and @Blackheifer.
I am now trying to wrap my mind about those rules - Thorn Whip is a Melee Attack? - 5ed is hard!
It's... it's really not. It's by far the simplest and most straight forward d&D system we've had, and it's far simpler than the mechanics of most video games.
- Everyone has a proficiency bonus, and this is fixed, unmodifiable, and is based on your character level: it starts at +2, and maxes out at +6. It's the exact same for
everybody, universally.
- When you use something on an enemy, the spell or class feature will tell you whether you are making an attack roll, or the enemy makes a saving throw. Every feature, every spell, every *thing* tells you this.
- If you are making an attack roll, it uses your class ability (stat): wizards use intelligence, Sorcerers use charisma, etc.; each class tells you what its core ability is. The attack roll is: d20,
plus your class ability modifier, plus your proficiency bonus.- If the enemy is making a saving throw, it rolls against your Save DC, using the ability that your spell or feature tells them to use to resist it (trip attack tell the enemy to make a Strength Saving Throw, for example). Your DC is: 8,
plus your class ability modifier, plus your proficiency bonus.That's really all there is to it... it's actually very simple.
Thorn Whip has you make a Melee Spell Attack;
if you have a hostile creature within 5 feet of you, you will have disadvantage, as with any melee attack. The actual reach of the spell or feature is irrelevant, as is its target. ((Niara had a brain silly moment)) this means that if you attack a
Prone target with it from its maximum range, you won't (or shouldn't) get the disadvantage normally associated with making ranged attacks against prone targets - but you also will not get the advantage that you normally get from attacking prone creatures in melee, because that benefit only applies when you are right next to the target; the type of attack isn't actually relevant for that.
Larian's tooltips *still* leave a lot to be desired, even at this stage of development, and it's appalling considering all the information they needed to provide for them was already pre-made, pre-written and pre-formatted for them in advance by the ruleset itself... All they had to do was use the spell cards as they exist already in 5e, already there and made for them, specifically for the purpose... but they've decided not to, and made their own, and failed to communicate the necessary information properly.
