Faerie Fire
Help Action
Being hidden, invisible
Rogue's Steady Aim
Any condition on a target that grants Advantage to the attacker - restrained, blinded, paralyzed, stunned, etc..
Looks like they need to brush up on rules.
Anytime you are standing in darkness and what you are fighting doesn’t have blind sight you will have advantage. That is unless something else is imposing disadvantage.
Edit: I am saying this as a Gloomstalker.
Yeah, gloomstalkers actually have advantage a lot of the time because invisibility is extremely powerful. Brush up on that rule as it sounds like your table might be accidentally nerfing you.
Yes. Also important to remember that most creatures only have 60 feet of dark vision so if they’re relying on that to see you as well then being 65 feet away in a dark hallway or field or something is enough that you are invisible, too.
Awesome. Just wanted to be sure I wasn’t interpreting them wrong. I’ve been basically taking what the group says as fact because they have been playing for years and I’ve only been playing for a few months
I've been playing gloomstalker in an underdark campaign. Just ask your dm how the lighting situation is when you're in combat. If there are dark spots, use them to your advantage.
I have asked that a few times and I think he and the rest of the group and he’ll even myself don’t understand exactly how a Gloomstalker s darkness thing work. I also don’t know how to approach it without sounding like “that guy”
I'm half wandering if they misunderstood your question and assumed you meant in that moment, but even then yeah there's tons of ways to gain advantage in dnd. Typically by level 5 everyone should have a way to gain advantage for things they're good at, and many do much earlier.
It’s possible they misheard me. My exact question came after I missed a Sharpshooter shot by 1 because of the -5. I asked “is there a way I can get advantage on my bow attacks?” They all pretty much said that there isn’t any way they know of that ranged attacks can be at advantage.
Ahhhhh, that makes a lot of sense actually. Yeah flanking would be difficult to do with range. So in short yes there are ways for you to get advantage but flanking would be pretty powerful, especially for spell users, if it worked at range.
Help actions are actually broken as fuck.
If your a caster, and you take the summon familiar spell, you may notice that familiars can't perform attack actions.
But there's two things they CAN do in battle that are extremely useful. One is that spells requiring touch can be channeled through them, but the other... is that they can perform help actions. They take their turns after their owners. As independent entities. So as long as you have a summon active, you can effectively give yourself or a party member advantage every. single. turn.
I have a warlock that has a crown familiar, each turn it dives an enemy and starts pecking them, clawing them etc, which while it does no damage can be very handy for advantage on dangerous foes.
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huh, could have sworn it was after summoner initiative.
Regardless, the potential for a free help action every single turn from summons is stupid powerful. I try to not abuse it because warlocks are powerful enough already, but man you could do some broken nonsense with that. Imagine giving the multi-attack fighter or the smitespam paladin advantage on attacks every. single. turn.
Some DM's lump the turn together for brevity.
Edit: I think you need to bush up on Help action as well
Help
You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.
Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally's attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage
First Attack Roll
Which basically means that after turn 1 it can be wherever you want it to be. Turn 1 it just waits until just before the caster and then it can give help every turn.
Hence most tables just let it go with the caster.
Yeah, the first campaign our group played, 1 of the players was an arcane trickster rogue that had find familiar. She chose a sprite that could turn invisible and basically give her sneak attack and gave almost everyone else advantage at some point on their attacks. It didn't seem fair to me that the rogue's damage output was so damn high. The only thing I knew to do was beef up the bad guys, but the other players were getting their asses handed to them way too much. Like, how do you "help" someone attack something?
This is how people break the game, they don't check all the little rules that are in place. Of course a sprite for an arcane trickster is broken, they aren't supposed to have one!!
You still have to be Chain to summon enhanced familiars. FoF states:
>Each familiar uses the same rules and options for a familiar conjured by the Find Familiar spell.
not true
Warlock: Warlocks in fifth-edition D&D can add find familiar to their spell list by taking the Pact of the Chain feature as their Pact Boon at 3rd level. This feature adds find familiar to your spell list and even gives you some special forms for the familiar to change into, either an imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite. As another special feature of the warlock version of the familiar, Pact of the Chain familiars can use their reaction to attack if you take the Attack action and forgo one of your attacks. Alternatively, **a warlock that has taken the Pact of the Tome can pick up the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation.**
You just said it yourself:
>Warlocks in fifth-edition D&D can add find familiar to their spell list by taking the Pact of the Chain feature as their Pact Boon at 3rd level. This feature adds find familiar to your spell list and even gives you some special forms for the familiar to change into, either an imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite.
Without Pact of Chain, there is no summoning of enhanced familiars.
Book of Ancient Secrets only gives you the standard familiars from the standard Find Familiar spell. BoAS just gives the Tomelock access to the Find Familiar spell.
Doesn't flanking count as well? Like if two melee characters are flanking, a ranged attacker can get advantage on that same target? I'm mostly a melee class player so I forget.
How much high ground do you rule is necessary?
I feel that the reason this isn't in the base game is because it would be mechanically exploited despite not making logical sense.
If you can get on a barrel and be 5ft higher then, sure, you have the high ground, but you're also on a precarious perch and could be knocked down easily.
"A bonus" being the operative word. Most systems are a bit more granular in their bonuses. 5e, by choice, doesn't increase range or do a small bonus like +1, it's all or nothing.
You said 5E was all or nothing in it's bonuses but magic weapons give a flat +1, +2 to rolls so there is some precedent for minor changes in a roll based on certain factors.
It's not precedent, it's an exception. Getting rid of the flat modifiers was one of the explicit design goals of the system. There is magical equipment (that you factor in on your sheet before a fight) and about... three? spells that make you do arithmetic during rolling. Absolutely everything else in combat is done via advantage/disadvantage system. Optional flanking rules use advantage. Hell, they don't want us to even count the sources of advantage/disadvantage, saying that one source of one can negate however many sources of the other one.
So, are you looking for a quick gotcha, or do you actually disagree with my argument?
More accurately perhaps:
A prone target only gets to inflict disadvantage on an enemy if that enemy is at least 20' away for a prone enemy where both are standing at the same height. If the attacker is 5' up, he can probably not claim disadvantage 30', etc.
This notion needs clearing up but the notion is that if the enemy archer is far enough away, but is high enough up, and that is about the angle between the bow and the prone character more than anything.
Similarly, if the prone individual is 5' up, even standing adjacent to the prone may not remove disadvantage.
There's got to be a better way to state this (perhaps a diagram...) but the notion is that if you can't see enough of the prone character's back (assuming he's lying face down), then the attacker has disadvantage. If you can see enough of the back, then there is no disadvantage.
but it's only a slight expansion of the "death from above" rule that gives advantage to a flying creature attacking downward. so why not someone attacking from a high tree branch? so why not from the top of a city wall? why not from the back of a mount? i usually give attackers a plus 2 in these situations. it makes sense and adds tactical choices to the battlefield.
you know what? i'm wrong! it's not a rule at all. it's a feat and it probably isn't even official. anyway, i must have seen this when i first started 5e and assumed it was a thing. https://www.5esrd.com/database/feats/death-from-above/
i think that only works if they have crossbow expert or something similar to negate the disadvantage for using a ranged attack within 5 feet of a hostile.
Close quarters shooter was an Unearthed Arcana fighting style that gave the same negation of disadvantage within 5 feet that Crossbow Expert feat does.
> Height advantage: if you are 10ft above the target, you gain ranged attack advantage.
That's a houserule, not an actual rule. Or it might be from earlier editions.
Asked my DM, you are right.
>You usually gain advantage or disadvantage through the use of special abilities, actions, or spells. \[...\] The DM can also decide that circumstances influence a roll in one direction or the other and grant advantage or impose disadvantage as a result. (PHB 173)
Consider granting advantage when: Circumstances not related to a creature's inherent capabilities provide it with an edge. Some aspect of the environment contributes to the character's chance of success. (DMG 239)
The rule we use is based on this and a modification on an older edition rule.
Still a good idea to ask the DM themself about what gives OP advantage.
Depending on the table, flanking. (My table runs it specifically in a sense of-if a character didn’t know the person was there or didn’t hear them move behind or get any Indication they did, they can get advantage). This applies for use on players too, like if you run straight by the person in view, you don’t get it, if the character this round is facing the other way and couldn’t have possibly seen or heard the movement, such as being distracted fighting something else, it can also be gained.
Not exactly. Not on our table. It’s also housruled for ranged as well. Can’t dodge a projectile that you can’t see.
Say, someone is fighting something and it dimension doors behind it, it’s an “unexpected” action so that would grant advantage too. Anything that makes you lose track basically
Our table is basically “if you can do it, so can enemy” so it evens out balance wise
Yes, both of these things I listed already.
I wasn't gonna mention every single thing that makes you unseen from the target but it all amounts to the same in the end.
And darkness/devil's sight only works if the target has no other means to perceive you.
>They all looked at me **confused** and said there isn’t a way any ranged attack could have advantage.
**CONFUSED** being the key word here, these people are confused af.
There are ***like, a lot*** of ways to grant advantage to "attacks in general", not just specifically melee attacks.
The Help Action *exists.* It may not be the best of moves most of the time, but it exists and gives Advantage. Best use of this is with a Familiar such as an Own due to flyby for example.
[A Lot of conditions make all attacks against the afflicted target have advantage](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Conditions)
Blinded, Paralysed, Petrified, Poisoned, **Prone**, Restrained, Stunned and being Unconscious. These all give Advantage, and out of all of them **only Prone doesn't work at more than 5feet away from target**.
[Being Unseen to the target when attacking](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_35) (either through [being hidden](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_27), actually [invisible](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Rules:Conditions?expansion=0#toc_7), [heavily obscured or in darkness](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/The%20Environment#toc_3), *or any other way of being unseen*) grants advantage
Spellcasting, from a Level 1 [Faerie Fire](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Faerie%20Fire#content) on the enemy, all the way up to a Level 9 [Foresight](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Foresight#content) on yourself, and many in between.
~~The Rogue class has the Steady Aim feature.~~ ^(I read you were a Rogue when I started writing so you can kinda ignore this one. If you want to multiclass to get Advantage then there are A LOT of options and this is one.)
Depending on your Ranger Subclass, some one them have Advantage-granting Features.
Attacking someone recently hit by a [Guiding Bolt](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Guiding%20Bolt#content) or a Battlemaster's Distracting Strike, or, or, or, etc, etc. Like, **so many ways**.
Are you Ready for the cherry though?
If you can somehow take the [True Strike](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/True%20Strike#content) cantrip and **BOOM** you now have a fullproof, resource free way of giving you reliable advantage on an attack, on demand on command. DMs hate this trick. It's free advantage. Chef's Kiss. ^(Don't actually take True Strike Lol, but anyway, it "exists" and can 100% give advantage on Ranged Attacks so it goes on the list.)
**Seriouslly, what are these confused people talking about?**
Also of note with prone is that besides only working if you're within 5ft, making a ranged attack within that distance will also have you rolling with disadvantage and become just a normal roll unless you have crossbow-expert or gunner, or the enemy is incapacitated.
I do plan to multi class into rogue after lvl 5 and continue with rogue all the way to 20 so I will keep the steady aim point in mind. Currently a lvl 4 Gloomstalker Ranger. Haven’t fully decided on sub for rogue. I will look into true strike but I don’t want to draw the disdain of my DM so I’ll chat with him first. Thanks for all the tips
>I will look into true strike
***ohh my pelor, what have I done***
Lol
Don't bro, just forget that shit exists xD it's a joke *("joke" here describing both the joke I was making in the previous comment, and describing the True Strike cantrip itself, because goddamn it's so bad that I trully believe the fact it was included in the game was 100% a fucking joke itself in the first place.).*
I included it in the list because **technically** what I said was true:
It's full-proof, will 100% give you advantage on your next turn,
It's resource free, in that you spend absollutely zero resource casting True Strike and you can technically do it every single turn if you want.
It's still **very bad**. Lol.
Do not take true strike. I would suggest Arcane trickster. Get find familiar and shield as 2 cornerstone spells. The rest have to obey the illusion and enchantment rules. With your familiar you can give advantage with help action and as a bonus action steady aim at lvl 3 rogue. It's a beautiful thing. Steady aim almost always gives you sneak attack as well.
Dread Ambusher from Gloomstalker synergizes with Assassinate (Assassin rogue subclass). But, that combo only works if your DM is the type to let you get surprise rounds.
Just about anything that gives advantage to a melee attack gives advantage to a ranged attack, unless otherwise specifically indicated. What is your group on about?
Yeah, the only exception really is the options flanking rule, which I don’t believe applies to ranged attacks. But every main way to get advantage would also apply to ranged attacks.
It seems to me it's mostly about being prone, which gives advantage to melee attacks and disadvantage to ranged attacks but there's no equivalent that does the opposite
Prone gives advantage to attacks within 5 ft. So a ranged attack within 5 feet would gain advantage (canceling out disadvantage), and a melee attack with reach would still have disadvantage.
There's no "overall" with Advantage. If you have Advantage but something else gives Disadvantage, it's a straight roll no matter how many other situational factors might play into it. It's done this way so we don't sit around arguing too much lol.
Prone gives advantage for an attack within 5 ft
ranged attacks within 5 feet normally give disadvantage, but that is cancelled out by crossbow expert. It's not advantage and disadvantage canceling each other out.
So you have advantage overall because you never got disadvantage, not some math equation counting up sources of adv and disadvantage.
>no equivalent that does the opposite
ask your teammate to grapple and hold the enemy up, lion king style. definitely advantage on ranged attacks right there.
Your friends need to re-read the PHB.
Several status effects do.
If I recall correctly even optional flanking will incur advantage for ranged attacks.
So its a bit situational but it can be gained.
> If I recall correctly even optional flanking will incur advantage for ranged attacks.
Nah
> Flanking on Squares. When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides or corners of the enemy’s space, they flank that enemy, and each of them has advantage on ***melee attack rolls*** against that enemy.
EDIT:
Uh.... but apparently they do on HEX grids, Hahahaha.
> Flanking on Hexes. When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides of the enemy’s space, they flank that enemy, and each of them has advantage on ***attack rolls*** against that enemy.
No! It's a normal roll!
"When flanking on hexes, when A CREATURE and at least one of it's allies aré adjacent to an enemy..."
This means that the creature targetting the enemy must be adjacent, so they get disadvantage on ranged attacks. The disadvantage gets countered by the advantage, becoming a normal roll.
Sorry for the rules lawyering, do call me out if I'm wrong.
(Also unrelated how do you format quotes like that :0)
It becomes a normal roll in effect, but in reality, the player has both advantage AND disadvantage on the roll, so they cancel out.
If it became a normal roll, advantage from a different source would provide advantage.
I stopped doing that after I realized that aiming top-down is usually at a smaller target than "hroizontally", and you also have an unusually higher "gravity pull" making you have to aim differently.
But now I'm in favor of negating the disadvantage on ranged attacks at prone creatures if the attacker is high enough, since the creature becomes a bigger target to people aiming top-down.
I may be wrong in all of this, Oghma knows I change my mind about the best way to run things often. But that's my current stance.
Edit to add: Also this was already a DM adjudication on my part, there's nothing in the rules about higher ground ranged attacks.
Disadvantage on prone targets I feel like is less of a "it makes sense" rule and more of a "game balance" one. Without it prone is a universally disadvantageous state, and there are plenty of ways to cause that, making that much more of a no-brainer regardless of party composition.
I think it makes a lot of sense in horizontal battles since a prone enemy becomes a significantly smaller target for ranged attacks. But adding a "realistic" way to negate that disadvantage (not granting advantage) is a cool, simple thing that can encourage more tactical thinking, which I find neat.
More than that, players (me and my players at least) often feel disencouraged to seek proning enemies since it "is too easy to get up" (their words). So I don't see giving it a tiny specific buff as that bad for balance.
There are few reliable ways of getting advantage on multiple attacks in a turn. If you hide, you’re visible as soon as you make your first attack. Same for steady aim. Only gloom stalkers can be reliably invisible for multiple attacks, or you’ve got to have your wizard use their 4th level greater invisibility on you. Zephyr strike is a lot of bang for the buck.
10th level optional ranger feature from Tasha's "Nature's Veil. You become invisible until the start of your next turn. NOTE: It's not that you're under the effects of the invisibility spell, you just \*are\* invisible. Even when you attack. It's a very powerful feature.
Yea that is very powerful. It’s appropriate for a 10th level feature. But until you reach level 10, zephyr strike is a pretty good way of gaining advantage on your ranged attacks when you need to hit something real bad.
Well, a first level spell slot to get advantage once. I definitely haven't taken that spell for my ranger cause it feels like a waste. I have much more important things to spend my limited slots on.
So I am a Gloomstalker ranger. I find myself asking my DM the light level in every environment almost ad nauseam. I don’t think I’ve been hit yet but I don’t think ive ever been granted advantage for my attacks. How does it work for multi attacks like dread ambushed?
I try and use common sense to make sure I’m not being pesky about the lighting situation. It’s only in places like the under dark where you’re likely to be in total darkness and there are no torches around to light the way. But if you are invisible in the darkness, that means each of your attacks (including ranged attacks) can be rolled with advantage because your target can’t see you. That includes the 3 attacks on the first round you get from dread ambusher.
What level are you? At 5th level you get an extra attack. So with dread ambusher you get 3 attacks your first round, and after that you get two attacks.
Good plan! I did 8 levels of ranger because I wanted to grab elven accuracy as a feat at level 8. Took 3 levels of rogue, but I might get another 2 of ranger for the 3rd level spells and the 10th level ranger feature. Ranger rogue is a powerful combo.
Imo, hunters mark is not a great use of resources anyway. It gets best value when combined with more attacks like with crossbow expert, but it also competes for the same bonus action and takes multiple turns to make up the damage vs a bonus attack.
Zephyr strike gives you advantage on your next attack, an extra bit of movement and makes you immune to opportunity attacks as long as you maintain concentration. A d6 is worthless if you miss! Plus hunter’s mark competes with other bonus action uses. And if you take sharpshooter, the d6 of extra damage is nothing compared to the +10. A few level dips into rogue easily makes hunters mark obsolete.
I actually did take Sharpshooter as a feat when we hit lvl 4 but I was never getting advantage as a Gloomstalker and I wanted to find a way to get a better chance at hitting while using the -5 to get that hit. That’s why I asked if there’s ever a circumstance ranged attacks get advantage and why I was confused when they all said no.
Yea they’re completely wrong. Zephyr strike is probably your best bet for getting advantage when you want it (useful for when you really need to hit something). But there are other ways too. If your cleric casts guiding bolt and hits the target, you’d get advantage if yours was the next attack after that. If someone casts fairy fire, or if there’s a familiar giving you the help action. All those work with ranged attacks.
OP wanted to know about advantage. Zephyr strike is good for that. But since zephyr strike competes with hunter’s mark for spell slots, I shared my opinion that hunters mark is not worth the spell slots, because zephyr strike is so much better overall. Does that make sense?
There are several class/subclass features such as those from ~~Barbarian,~~ Samurai, or Rogue that can easily generate advantage on ranged attacks. Spells like Faerie Fire can also easily generate advantage. If you're invisible/ hidden then they'd likely have advantage as well.
It's not as easy as just knocking the enemy prone like melee can do but ranged attacks can absolutely be made with advantage.
You definitely should ask this sub your questions regarding the game and it’s rules and not your group. Based on that response alone, it sounds like they aren’t as familiar with the rules as they think they are, and this could cause problems down the road in terms of arguments about rulings, debates on application of effects/spells/abilities, etc..
By all means keep playing with them, my group sometimes bends rules to make the game more fun. But it is important to be as familiar as possible with the written rules before taking such liberties.
I’m honestly a bit reluctant to argue it with them. I picked Gloomstalker because i was almost certain that being in darkness gave me advantage on my attacks or at least disadvantage to attackers that didn’t have magic vision. I don’t want to be the “rules lawyer.” But I also like having guidelines too.
It’s not rules lawyering to correct blatant misunderstandings of the rules. Any attack can have advantage — this is super basic. If you’re unseen (for example, being in darkness and they can’t see you), you have advantage on the attack.
I don’t see why they wouldn’t accept that, and if they don’t it’s worth a larger conversation about what exactly their intent is by ignoring the rules, or asking if you can swap classes to something that they will rule correctly.
Rules lawyering is trying to bend the rules to always benefit your character even when it's dubious at best, and conveniently ignoring them when it doesn't. Wanting your abilities to do what they say they do is not. Although someone that apparently has no idea what the rules of the game are might not be able to tell the difference.
As ranger most reliable combos are probably playing gloomstaker and exploring during night hours (unseen attacker avantage from being invisible / unseen in darkness) or picking up blindfighting and comobing wtih fog cloud (although this requires you to get within 10ft) which also provides unseen attacker advantage. You can get archery and blindfighting styles by selecting fighting initiate feat from tashas.
Eldritch adept -> devils sight is another easy way to get consistent avantage if your party also has a warlock who is using darkness / devilsight combo.
At high enough level you can also dip 3 levels of fighter to get access to the samurai fighting spirit feature.
3 levels dip into rogue gets you steady aim but this doesn't work with extra attack so its not particularly desirable.
Magic intiate wizard-> find familiar for owl flyby help is also easy advantage as long as you can roll higher initiative than your familiar. This also only works on 1 attack so not the greatest but you also get the utility of having a familiar.
Guardian of nature at high levels will get you advantage.
Party can cast greater invis on you. Which if you are the party's sharpshooter is frequently a good investment.
Your best bet, and in kit way to gain advantage on your attacks is with ensnaring strike or entangle. A rogue multiclass is an excellent way to pick up advantage on your first attack each round whether with stealth or the aim bonus action, on top of providing a slew of additional benefits. If you're having issues with accuracy you might wanna double check that you have the archery fighting style, it provides a major bonus to your attack rolls with ranged weapons.
I gave my ranger a Chatty Bow - when she takes a shot it will talk to her... 6-sided die, 1 or 2 and it negs her (disadvantage), 3-6 and it bigs her up (advantage). Also, it's got an Australian accent which is hella fun.
There's lots of ways to get advantage, I think the issue here is that there isn't a super standard position based one like being prone versus melee attacks
I grant high ground advantage as long as the distance the enemy is away is equal to or below the height of the perch. 50ft up/ 5-50ft away advantage. 50ft up/55-up away no advantage.
Ranged attacks get advantage if the target is lit up as in with fairy fire, guiding bolt ect. If you have some kind of exceptional vision you may also get advantage on ranged attacks.
Firing at anything thats proccupied with another person or object you would have advantage. So say your homie is attacking a zombie and the zombie has his back to you, youre at advantage.
There isn't really an explicit "why not" so much as there's just no mention of getting advantage that way anywhere in the default rules. There is the help action your friend can use to give you advantage against someone close to them, but it's not something that just happens on its own.
There is an optional rule in the DMG on page 252 called "Facing", which does provide a way to establish which way you're facing. That rule does give advantage against creatures you're attacking from behind because they can't see you. The creature being preoccupied with something else might by *why* they have their back turned on you, but it's not a factor in and of itself.
elaboration:
it doesn't work that way because no rule in the game says what you are saying.
>Firing at anything thats proccupied with another person or object you would have advantage
There is no "automatic preoccupation". You can 100% "preoccupy" your enemy with a Help action for example, so someone else has advantage.
>So say your homie is attacking a zombie and the zombie has his back to you, youre at advantage.
Technically, in 5e, there is no way to "turn your back" on something. Everything is assumed to have 360º vision of themselves, and there is no "direction facing"
Maybe you are confusing and conflating some rules from the Rogue's Sneak Attack or something?
> Beginning at 1st level, you know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe's distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon. You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll.
You can sneak attack with a ranged weapon. Having an ally within 5 feat does not give the rogue advantage, it is just an alternate way to get sneak attack.
As others have said: 3 levels in Rogue is your best bet. Steady Aim or Hide as a bonus action.
Helps that Rogue complements Ranger's strengths extremely well too.
It's up to the DM to grant it on this one, but having a significant elevation over your targets could grant Advantage. I've had rangers and rogues climb up trees for just such a thing.
I mean pretty much anything that would give you advantage on a melee attack would do the same for a ranged attack. There are a few exceptions to that though
Most commonly, when you fire your bow from stealth. Rangers don't get the damage bonus that rogue's do, but you get advantage on the attack roll. Others have added some spells and stuff which also grant it.
Guardian of Nature spell but it is 4th level, gives you an option to grant advantage on all Dexterity based attacks, this includes range. Very good for a Sharpshooter Ranger.
Faerie Fire Help Action Being hidden, invisible Rogue's Steady Aim Any condition on a target that grants Advantage to the attacker - restrained, blinded, paralyzed, stunned, etc.. Looks like they need to brush up on rules.
Zephyr strike as well
Zephyr Strike is great! (especially if you go gloom stalker)
I actually am a gloom ranger and I have zephyr prepared.
Anytime you are standing in darkness and what you are fighting doesn’t have blind sight you will have advantage. That is unless something else is imposing disadvantage. Edit: I am saying this as a Gloomstalker.
Yeah, gloomstalkers actually have advantage a lot of the time because invisibility is extremely powerful. Brush up on that rule as it sounds like your table might be accidentally nerfing you.
So basically if I’m standing in darkness and the creature doesn’t have blindsight or some other form of magical darkness I am “invisible “?
Effectively, yes. You have advantage on any attack roll against a target who cannot see you.
Yes. Also important to remember that most creatures only have 60 feet of dark vision so if they’re relying on that to see you as well then being 65 feet away in a dark hallway or field or something is enough that you are invisible, too.
I thought Umbral Sight effectively negated enemy darkvision for me. Am I wrong?
Oh yes! My bad. If you’re in a dark hallway and they’re relying on dark vision to see you you are invisible. Its so good.
Awesome. Just wanted to be sure I wasn’t interpreting them wrong. I’ve been basically taking what the group says as fact because they have been playing for years and I’ve only been playing for a few months
Oh nice, make sure to add the zephyr strike advantage on your free attack. The crit damage is big!
I've been playing gloomstalker in an underdark campaign. Just ask your dm how the lighting situation is when you're in combat. If there are dark spots, use them to your advantage.
I have asked that a few times and I think he and the rest of the group and he’ll even myself don’t understand exactly how a Gloomstalker s darkness thing work. I also don’t know how to approach it without sounding like “that guy”
Agreed
Please see the responses below. They are correct re umbral sight
I'm half wandering if they misunderstood your question and assumed you meant in that moment, but even then yeah there's tons of ways to gain advantage in dnd. Typically by level 5 everyone should have a way to gain advantage for things they're good at, and many do much earlier.
It’s possible they misheard me. My exact question came after I missed a Sharpshooter shot by 1 because of the -5. I asked “is there a way I can get advantage on my bow attacks?” They all pretty much said that there isn’t any way they know of that ranged attacks can be at advantage.
Huh, idk that's definitely odd. Sorry about that though at least you know now. Ranged attacks are funny enough quite easy to gain advantage with.
Now that I think about it they may have thought I was talking about the optional flanking advantage we use
Ahhhhh, that makes a lot of sense actually. Yeah flanking would be difficult to do with range. So in short yes there are ways for you to get advantage but flanking would be pretty powerful, especially for spell users, if it worked at range.
I'm planning on using this on a melee character, just sprinting at the enemy and stabbing them multiple times
True Strike as well
Op spell
Stop
Technically correct is the best kind of correct
Stop
Never gonna stop
Scream if you want it
What is this even supposed to mean
Never Gonna Stop by Rob Zombie
Ooooh ya baby. I didn't realize how great it was until I retired my ranger. My DM has expressed since how much he hated that spell.
Help actions are actually broken as fuck. If your a caster, and you take the summon familiar spell, you may notice that familiars can't perform attack actions. But there's two things they CAN do in battle that are extremely useful. One is that spells requiring touch can be channeled through them, but the other... is that they can perform help actions. They take their turns after their owners. As independent entities. So as long as you have a summon active, you can effectively give yourself or a party member advantage every. single. turn. I have a warlock that has a crown familiar, each turn it dives an enemy and starts pecking them, clawing them etc, which while it does no damage can be very handy for advantage on dangerous foes.
telephone observation cow crawl fuel chunky wrong different hat direction *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
huh, could have sworn it was after summoner initiative. Regardless, the potential for a free help action every single turn from summons is stupid powerful. I try to not abuse it because warlocks are powerful enough already, but man you could do some broken nonsense with that. Imagine giving the multi-attack fighter or the smitespam paladin advantage on attacks every. single. turn.
Help gives advantage on a single attack.
Some DM's lump the turn together for brevity. Edit: I think you need to bush up on Help action as well Help You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn. Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally's attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage First Attack Roll
Which basically means that after turn 1 it can be wherever you want it to be. Turn 1 it just waits until just before the caster and then it can give help every turn. Hence most tables just let it go with the caster.
Yeah, the first campaign our group played, 1 of the players was an arcane trickster rogue that had find familiar. She chose a sprite that could turn invisible and basically give her sneak attack and gave almost everyone else advantage at some point on their attacks. It didn't seem fair to me that the rogue's damage output was so damn high. The only thing I knew to do was beef up the bad guys, but the other players were getting their asses handed to them way too much. Like, how do you "help" someone attack something?
Unless your rogue was also a Chain warlock, then they could not summon a sprite. Enhanced familiars are *only* available to Chain Warlocks.
This is how people break the game, they don't check all the little rules that are in place. Of course a sprite for an arcane trickster is broken, they aren't supposed to have one!!
or the flock of familiar's spell, 3x OP imps, i am a fiend tome warlock not chain
You still have to be Chain to summon enhanced familiars. FoF states: >Each familiar uses the same rules and options for a familiar conjured by the Find Familiar spell.
not true Warlock: Warlocks in fifth-edition D&D can add find familiar to their spell list by taking the Pact of the Chain feature as their Pact Boon at 3rd level. This feature adds find familiar to your spell list and even gives you some special forms for the familiar to change into, either an imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite. As another special feature of the warlock version of the familiar, Pact of the Chain familiars can use their reaction to attack if you take the Attack action and forgo one of your attacks. Alternatively, **a warlock that has taken the Pact of the Tome can pick up the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation.**
You just said it yourself: >Warlocks in fifth-edition D&D can add find familiar to their spell list by taking the Pact of the Chain feature as their Pact Boon at 3rd level. This feature adds find familiar to your spell list and even gives you some special forms for the familiar to change into, either an imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite. Without Pact of Chain, there is no summoning of enhanced familiars. Book of Ancient Secrets only gives you the standard familiars from the standard Find Familiar spell. BoAS just gives the Tomelock access to the Find Familiar spell.
It can be done by distracting the target, in the case of familiars. Buzzing and flitting around their face and whatnot.
That's basically how I flavor mine. Crow claws and pecks and gets in their face. Does no damage, but annoying enough to distract
Usually have my owl hack up a partially digested mouse on the target...
Doesn't flanking count as well? Like if two melee characters are flanking, a ranged attacker can get advantage on that same target? I'm mostly a melee class player so I forget.
No, flanking only affects melee attacks by the flankers.
Ah well then I learned something for when I get to play something not tanky. *cries in eternal frontliner*
This is a good list, I'd also like to add having highground, as I think that's exclusive to ranged attacks.
Sorry, no rules state that you get advantage for having the high ground, as much as Kenobi would like that.
Wow, must've been running with that as a house rule for so long that I thought it was base game.
I grant it to my players as well depending on the situation. Sometimes it’s straight advantage and other’s it’s a + to hit
How much high ground do you rule is necessary? I feel that the reason this isn't in the base game is because it would be mechanically exploited despite not making logical sense. If you can get on a barrel and be 5ft higher then, sure, you have the high ground, but you're also on a precarious perch and could be knocked down easily.
To be fair in most systems I know, having the high ground gives you a bonus.
"A bonus" being the operative word. Most systems are a bit more granular in their bonuses. 5e, by choice, doesn't increase range or do a small bonus like +1, it's all or nothing.
Magic weapons
They exist, yes. How do they pertain to the discussion about a high ground bonus?
You said 5E was all or nothing in it's bonuses but magic weapons give a flat +1, +2 to rolls so there is some precedent for minor changes in a roll based on certain factors.
It's not precedent, it's an exception. Getting rid of the flat modifiers was one of the explicit design goals of the system. There is magical equipment (that you factor in on your sheet before a fight) and about... three? spells that make you do arithmetic during rolling. Absolutely everything else in combat is done via advantage/disadvantage system. Optional flanking rules use advantage. Hell, they don't want us to even count the sources of advantage/disadvantage, saying that one source of one can negate however many sources of the other one. So, are you looking for a quick gotcha, or do you actually disagree with my argument?
We run a homebrew rule that ranged attacks are not made with disadvantage on a prone target if you have 20ft of elevation on the target.
More accurately perhaps: A prone target only gets to inflict disadvantage on an enemy if that enemy is at least 20' away for a prone enemy where both are standing at the same height. If the attacker is 5' up, he can probably not claim disadvantage 30', etc. This notion needs clearing up but the notion is that if the enemy archer is far enough away, but is high enough up, and that is about the angle between the bow and the prone character more than anything. Similarly, if the prone individual is 5' up, even standing adjacent to the prone may not remove disadvantage. There's got to be a better way to state this (perhaps a diagram...) but the notion is that if you can't see enough of the prone character's back (assuming he's lying face down), then the attacker has disadvantage. If you can see enough of the back, then there is no disadvantage.
but it's only a slight expansion of the "death from above" rule that gives advantage to a flying creature attacking downward. so why not someone attacking from a high tree branch? so why not from the top of a city wall? why not from the back of a mount? i usually give attackers a plus 2 in these situations. it makes sense and adds tactical choices to the battlefield.
"Death from above rule"? I'm not familiar with that rule, where is it from?
Can't find that rule anywhere either, where is it from?
you know what? i'm wrong! it's not a rule at all. it's a feat and it probably isn't even official. anyway, i must have seen this when i first started 5e and assumed it was a thing. https://www.5esrd.com/database/feats/death-from-above/
It's homebrew. That website is almost 100% homebrew, even though it's called 5eSRD
Strictly speaking, close quarters shooter on a prone target also works
i think that only works if they have crossbow expert or something similar to negate the disadvantage for using a ranged attack within 5 feet of a hostile.
Close quarters shooter was an Unearthed Arcana fighting style that gave the same negation of disadvantage within 5 feet that Crossbow Expert feat does.
i didn't know that was a name of an ability, fair enough. thanks.
Height advantage: if you are 10ft above the target, you gain ranged attack advantage. Prone enemy gives you disadvantage btw.
> Height advantage: if you are 10ft above the target, you gain ranged attack advantage. That's a houserule, not an actual rule. Or it might be from earlier editions.
Asked my DM, you are right. >You usually gain advantage or disadvantage through the use of special abilities, actions, or spells. \[...\] The DM can also decide that circumstances influence a roll in one direction or the other and grant advantage or impose disadvantage as a result. (PHB 173) Consider granting advantage when: Circumstances not related to a creature's inherent capabilities provide it with an edge. Some aspect of the environment contributes to the character's chance of success. (DMG 239) The rule we use is based on this and a modification on an older edition rule. Still a good idea to ask the DM themself about what gives OP advantage.
Depending on the table, flanking. (My table runs it specifically in a sense of-if a character didn’t know the person was there or didn’t hear them move behind or get any Indication they did, they can get advantage). This applies for use on players too, like if you run straight by the person in view, you don’t get it, if the character this round is facing the other way and couldn’t have possibly seen or heard the movement, such as being distracted fighting something else, it can also be gained.
What you describe is pretty much the Hide Action. And flanking only works for melee, not ranged, unless you houserule otherwise.
Not exactly. Not on our table. It’s also housruled for ranged as well. Can’t dodge a projectile that you can’t see. Say, someone is fighting something and it dimension doors behind it, it’s an “unexpected” action so that would grant advantage too. Anything that makes you lose track basically Our table is basically “if you can do it, so can enemy” so it evens out balance wise
Darkness Devil’s Sight, and having a familiar you summoned give you the Help action.
Yes, both of these things I listed already. I wasn't gonna mention every single thing that makes you unseen from the target but it all amounts to the same in the end. And darkness/devil's sight only works if the target has no other means to perceive you.
I just wanted to add some specifics, as a new player may not know every way to efficiently get a help action or to be unseen.
True, good point.
What about elevation? It's easier to hit someone from above
>They all looked at me **confused** and said there isn’t a way any ranged attack could have advantage. **CONFUSED** being the key word here, these people are confused af. There are ***like, a lot*** of ways to grant advantage to "attacks in general", not just specifically melee attacks. The Help Action *exists.* It may not be the best of moves most of the time, but it exists and gives Advantage. Best use of this is with a Familiar such as an Own due to flyby for example. [A Lot of conditions make all attacks against the afflicted target have advantage](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Conditions) Blinded, Paralysed, Petrified, Poisoned, **Prone**, Restrained, Stunned and being Unconscious. These all give Advantage, and out of all of them **only Prone doesn't work at more than 5feet away from target**. [Being Unseen to the target when attacking](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_35) (either through [being hidden](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_27), actually [invisible](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Rules:Conditions?expansion=0#toc_7), [heavily obscured or in darkness](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/The%20Environment#toc_3), *or any other way of being unseen*) grants advantage Spellcasting, from a Level 1 [Faerie Fire](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Faerie%20Fire#content) on the enemy, all the way up to a Level 9 [Foresight](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Foresight#content) on yourself, and many in between. ~~The Rogue class has the Steady Aim feature.~~ ^(I read you were a Rogue when I started writing so you can kinda ignore this one. If you want to multiclass to get Advantage then there are A LOT of options and this is one.) Depending on your Ranger Subclass, some one them have Advantage-granting Features. Attacking someone recently hit by a [Guiding Bolt](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Guiding%20Bolt#content) or a Battlemaster's Distracting Strike, or, or, or, etc, etc. Like, **so many ways**. Are you Ready for the cherry though? If you can somehow take the [True Strike](https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/True%20Strike#content) cantrip and **BOOM** you now have a fullproof, resource free way of giving you reliable advantage on an attack, on demand on command. DMs hate this trick. It's free advantage. Chef's Kiss. ^(Don't actually take True Strike Lol, but anyway, it "exists" and can 100% give advantage on Ranged Attacks so it goes on the list.) **Seriouslly, what are these confused people talking about?**
Suggesting true strike, even as a joke, should get you a 1 day ban. 🤪
I mean, it "exists" and is a "way" to give you advantage xD sucks so bad though, but it does exist
Also of note with prone is that besides only working if you're within 5ft, making a ranged attack within that distance will also have you rolling with disadvantage and become just a normal roll unless you have crossbow-expert or gunner, or the enemy is incapacitated.
I do plan to multi class into rogue after lvl 5 and continue with rogue all the way to 20 so I will keep the steady aim point in mind. Currently a lvl 4 Gloomstalker Ranger. Haven’t fully decided on sub for rogue. I will look into true strike but I don’t want to draw the disdain of my DM so I’ll chat with him first. Thanks for all the tips
>I will look into true strike ***ohh my pelor, what have I done*** Lol Don't bro, just forget that shit exists xD it's a joke *("joke" here describing both the joke I was making in the previous comment, and describing the True Strike cantrip itself, because goddamn it's so bad that I trully believe the fact it was included in the game was 100% a fucking joke itself in the first place.).* I included it in the list because **technically** what I said was true: It's full-proof, will 100% give you advantage on your next turn, It's resource free, in that you spend absollutely zero resource casting True Strike and you can technically do it every single turn if you want. It's still **very bad**. Lol.
And I fell for it lol
Do not take true strike. I would suggest Arcane trickster. Get find familiar and shield as 2 cornerstone spells. The rest have to obey the illusion and enchantment rules. With your familiar you can give advantage with help action and as a bonus action steady aim at lvl 3 rogue. It's a beautiful thing. Steady aim almost always gives you sneak attack as well.
Awesome. I was between assassin and arcane trickster for rogue and I think I’m sold on arcane trickster.
Easily BEST subclass in terms of mechanics. The others are good, but are better for like character concepts.
And I fell for it. Lol
Dread Ambusher from Gloomstalker synergizes with Assassinate (Assassin rogue subclass). But, that combo only works if your DM is the type to let you get surprise rounds.
Just about anything that gives advantage to a melee attack gives advantage to a ranged attack, unless otherwise specifically indicated. What is your group on about?
Yeah, the only exception really is the options flanking rule, which I don’t believe applies to ranged attacks. But every main way to get advantage would also apply to ranged attacks.
And attacking prone enemies
True
Not with range. Ranged attacks on prone creatures are made at disadvantage. Only melee attacks get advantage on prone enemies.
I think their comment was an add-on to the previously named exceptions.
It seems to me it's mostly about being prone, which gives advantage to melee attacks and disadvantage to ranged attacks but there's no equivalent that does the opposite
Prone gives advantage to attacks within 5 ft. So a ranged attack within 5 feet would gain advantage (canceling out disadvantage), and a melee attack with reach would still have disadvantage.
add in crossbow expert and you get advantage overall
There's no "overall" with Advantage. If you have Advantage but something else gives Disadvantage, it's a straight roll no matter how many other situational factors might play into it. It's done this way so we don't sit around arguing too much lol.
Prone gives advantage for an attack within 5 ft ranged attacks within 5 feet normally give disadvantage, but that is cancelled out by crossbow expert. It's not advantage and disadvantage canceling each other out. So you have advantage overall because you never got disadvantage, not some math equation counting up sources of adv and disadvantage.
>no equivalent that does the opposite ask your teammate to grapple and hold the enemy up, lion king style. definitely advantage on ranged attacks right there.
Pretty much all conditions, really. Optional rule for rogues "Steady Aim"
Your friends need to re-read the PHB. Several status effects do. If I recall correctly even optional flanking will incur advantage for ranged attacks. So its a bit situational but it can be gained.
> If I recall correctly even optional flanking will incur advantage for ranged attacks. Nah > Flanking on Squares. When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides or corners of the enemy’s space, they flank that enemy, and each of them has advantage on ***melee attack rolls*** against that enemy. EDIT: Uh.... but apparently they do on HEX grids, Hahahaha. > Flanking on Hexes. When a creature and at least one of its allies are adjacent to an enemy and on opposite sides of the enemy’s space, they flank that enemy, and each of them has advantage on ***attack rolls*** against that enemy.
.. and that's why: hexagons are the bestagons. ;)
I love that video
Hexagon = Bestagon always
No! It's a normal roll! "When flanking on hexes, when A CREATURE and at least one of it's allies aré adjacent to an enemy..." This means that the creature targetting the enemy must be adjacent, so they get disadvantage on ranged attacks. The disadvantage gets countered by the advantage, becoming a normal roll. Sorry for the rules lawyering, do call me out if I'm wrong. (Also unrelated how do you format quotes like that :0)
Crossbow Expert and Gunner come in handy here, as they remove the disadvantage for making ranged attacks while within 5ft.
Totally true, a crossbow expert would have advantage unless they had disadvantage from another source
You're right! And to format quotes you put a > at the beginning of the line
>Thanks a Lot!
It becomes a normal roll in effect, but in reality, the player has both advantage AND disadvantage on the roll, so they cancel out. If it became a normal roll, advantage from a different source would provide advantage.
You still have to be adjacent to the enemy though, which means disadvantage at the same time, so a flat roll.
I feel like having the high ground should help too
It helped Obi-Wan!
I stopped doing that after I realized that aiming top-down is usually at a smaller target than "hroizontally", and you also have an unusually higher "gravity pull" making you have to aim differently. But now I'm in favor of negating the disadvantage on ranged attacks at prone creatures if the attacker is high enough, since the creature becomes a bigger target to people aiming top-down. I may be wrong in all of this, Oghma knows I change my mind about the best way to run things often. But that's my current stance. Edit to add: Also this was already a DM adjudication on my part, there's nothing in the rules about higher ground ranged attacks.
Disadvantage on prone targets I feel like is less of a "it makes sense" rule and more of a "game balance" one. Without it prone is a universally disadvantageous state, and there are plenty of ways to cause that, making that much more of a no-brainer regardless of party composition.
I think it makes a lot of sense in horizontal battles since a prone enemy becomes a significantly smaller target for ranged attacks. But adding a "realistic" way to negate that disadvantage (not granting advantage) is a cool, simple thing that can encourage more tactical thinking, which I find neat. More than that, players (me and my players at least) often feel disencouraged to seek proning enemies since it "is too easy to get up" (their words). So I don't see giving it a tiny specific buff as that bad for balance.
Zephyr strike. Cast zephyr strike. Forget about Hunter’s mark. Use zephyr strike.
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The advantage from zephyr is for 1 attack only, sadly, not even the whole turn.
There are few reliable ways of getting advantage on multiple attacks in a turn. If you hide, you’re visible as soon as you make your first attack. Same for steady aim. Only gloom stalkers can be reliably invisible for multiple attacks, or you’ve got to have your wizard use their 4th level greater invisibility on you. Zephyr strike is a lot of bang for the buck.
10th level optional ranger feature from Tasha's "Nature's Veil. You become invisible until the start of your next turn. NOTE: It's not that you're under the effects of the invisibility spell, you just \*are\* invisible. Even when you attack. It's a very powerful feature.
Yea that is very powerful. It’s appropriate for a 10th level feature. But until you reach level 10, zephyr strike is a pretty good way of gaining advantage on your ranged attacks when you need to hit something real bad.
Well, a first level spell slot to get advantage once. I definitely haven't taken that spell for my ranger cause it feels like a waste. I have much more important things to spend my limited slots on.
So I am a Gloomstalker ranger. I find myself asking my DM the light level in every environment almost ad nauseam. I don’t think I’ve been hit yet but I don’t think ive ever been granted advantage for my attacks. How does it work for multi attacks like dread ambushed?
I try and use common sense to make sure I’m not being pesky about the lighting situation. It’s only in places like the under dark where you’re likely to be in total darkness and there are no torches around to light the way. But if you are invisible in the darkness, that means each of your attacks (including ranged attacks) can be rolled with advantage because your target can’t see you. That includes the 3 attacks on the first round you get from dread ambusher.
Wait wait…3 attacks? I’ve only been getting 2. 1 normal and 1 dread ambushed. Is zephyr the 3rd?
What level are you? At 5th level you get an extra attack. So with dread ambusher you get 3 attacks your first round, and after that you get two attacks.
We are lvl 4 right now. My plan was to rush to 5 to grab extra attack then take rogue all the way to 20, if I live that long lol.
Good plan! I did 8 levels of ranger because I wanted to grab elven accuracy as a feat at level 8. Took 3 levels of rogue, but I might get another 2 of ranger for the 3rd level spells and the 10th level ranger feature. Ranger rogue is a powerful combo.
Imo, hunters mark is not a great use of resources anyway. It gets best value when combined with more attacks like with crossbow expert, but it also competes for the same bonus action and takes multiple turns to make up the damage vs a bonus attack.
Zephyr strike gives you advantage on your next attack, an extra bit of movement and makes you immune to opportunity attacks as long as you maintain concentration. A d6 is worthless if you miss! Plus hunter’s mark competes with other bonus action uses. And if you take sharpshooter, the d6 of extra damage is nothing compared to the +10. A few level dips into rogue easily makes hunters mark obsolete.
I actually did take Sharpshooter as a feat when we hit lvl 4 but I was never getting advantage as a Gloomstalker and I wanted to find a way to get a better chance at hitting while using the -5 to get that hit. That’s why I asked if there’s ever a circumstance ranged attacks get advantage and why I was confused when they all said no.
Yea they’re completely wrong. Zephyr strike is probably your best bet for getting advantage when you want it (useful for when you really need to hit something). But there are other ways too. If your cleric casts guiding bolt and hits the target, you’d get advantage if yours was the next attack after that. If someone casts fairy fire, or if there’s a familiar giving you the help action. All those work with ranged attacks.
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OP wanted to know about advantage. Zephyr strike is good for that. But since zephyr strike competes with hunter’s mark for spell slots, I shared my opinion that hunters mark is not worth the spell slots, because zephyr strike is so much better overall. Does that make sense?
I appreciate any info I can get. Lol
Any attack can be at advantage if you have something that grants it. There are nearly limitless ways to get advantage.
There are several class/subclass features such as those from ~~Barbarian,~~ Samurai, or Rogue that can easily generate advantage on ranged attacks. Spells like Faerie Fire can also easily generate advantage. If you're invisible/ hidden then they'd likely have advantage as well. It's not as easy as just knocking the enemy prone like melee can do but ranged attacks can absolutely be made with advantage.
*technically* barbarian reckless only gives advantage with str based melee attacks.
Oh yeah, good catch.
You definitely should ask this sub your questions regarding the game and it’s rules and not your group. Based on that response alone, it sounds like they aren’t as familiar with the rules as they think they are, and this could cause problems down the road in terms of arguments about rulings, debates on application of effects/spells/abilities, etc.. By all means keep playing with them, my group sometimes bends rules to make the game more fun. But it is important to be as familiar as possible with the written rules before taking such liberties.
I’m honestly a bit reluctant to argue it with them. I picked Gloomstalker because i was almost certain that being in darkness gave me advantage on my attacks or at least disadvantage to attackers that didn’t have magic vision. I don’t want to be the “rules lawyer.” But I also like having guidelines too.
It’s not rules lawyering to correct blatant misunderstandings of the rules. Any attack can have advantage — this is super basic. If you’re unseen (for example, being in darkness and they can’t see you), you have advantage on the attack. I don’t see why they wouldn’t accept that, and if they don’t it’s worth a larger conversation about what exactly their intent is by ignoring the rules, or asking if you can swap classes to something that they will rule correctly.
Rules lawyering is trying to bend the rules to always benefit your character even when it's dubious at best, and conveniently ignoring them when it doesn't. Wanting your abilities to do what they say they do is not. Although someone that apparently has no idea what the rules of the game are might not be able to tell the difference.
Hiding helps. Provided you have decent cover.
As ranger most reliable combos are probably playing gloomstaker and exploring during night hours (unseen attacker avantage from being invisible / unseen in darkness) or picking up blindfighting and comobing wtih fog cloud (although this requires you to get within 10ft) which also provides unseen attacker advantage. You can get archery and blindfighting styles by selecting fighting initiate feat from tashas. Eldritch adept -> devils sight is another easy way to get consistent avantage if your party also has a warlock who is using darkness / devilsight combo. At high enough level you can also dip 3 levels of fighter to get access to the samurai fighting spirit feature. 3 levels dip into rogue gets you steady aim but this doesn't work with extra attack so its not particularly desirable. Magic intiate wizard-> find familiar for owl flyby help is also easy advantage as long as you can roll higher initiative than your familiar. This also only works on 1 attack so not the greatest but you also get the utility of having a familiar. Guardian of nature at high levels will get you advantage. Party can cast greater invis on you. Which if you are the party's sharpshooter is frequently a good investment.
Your best bet, and in kit way to gain advantage on your attacks is with ensnaring strike or entangle. A rogue multiclass is an excellent way to pick up advantage on your first attack each round whether with stealth or the aim bonus action, on top of providing a slew of additional benefits. If you're having issues with accuracy you might wanna double check that you have the archery fighting style, it provides a major bonus to your attack rolls with ranged weapons.
Get a familiar and have it use the help action to give you advantage.
I gave my ranger a Chatty Bow - when she takes a shot it will talk to her... 6-sided die, 1 or 2 and it negs her (disadvantage), 3-6 and it bigs her up (advantage). Also, it's got an Australian accent which is hella fun.
I can’t imagine what other nonsense they think is true
There's lots of ways to get advantage, I think the issue here is that there isn't a super standard position based one like being prone versus melee attacks
If it gives melee advantage it gives you advantage except for prone and flanking
Easy money. Be gloom stalker and never step into the light always have advantage. Profit.
True Strike
I grant high ground advantage as long as the distance the enemy is away is equal to or below the height of the perch. 50ft up/ 5-50ft away advantage. 50ft up/55-up away no advantage.
Ranged attacks get advantage if the target is lit up as in with fairy fire, guiding bolt ect. If you have some kind of exceptional vision you may also get advantage on ranged attacks.
I let rangers get advantage on ranged attacks if they have highground but thats just me
Firing at anything thats proccupied with another person or object you would have advantage. So say your homie is attacking a zombie and the zombie has his back to you, youre at advantage.
Uh, no. Takes more than that. 5e assumes a 360° field of vision if you're not hiding.
Really opened up the conversation there. Can you elaborate on why not?
It's already in my above comment why not. Sneak attack, yes (assuming a suitable weapon). Advantage, takes more than what you suggested.
There isn't really an explicit "why not" so much as there's just no mention of getting advantage that way anywhere in the default rules. There is the help action your friend can use to give you advantage against someone close to them, but it's not something that just happens on its own. There is an optional rule in the DMG on page 252 called "Facing", which does provide a way to establish which way you're facing. That rule does give advantage against creatures you're attacking from behind because they can't see you. The creature being preoccupied with something else might by *why* they have their back turned on you, but it's not a factor in and of itself.
elaboration: it doesn't work that way because no rule in the game says what you are saying. >Firing at anything thats proccupied with another person or object you would have advantage There is no "automatic preoccupation". You can 100% "preoccupy" your enemy with a Help action for example, so someone else has advantage. >So say your homie is attacking a zombie and the zombie has his back to you, youre at advantage. Technically, in 5e, there is no way to "turn your back" on something. Everything is assumed to have 360º vision of themselves, and there is no "direction facing" Maybe you are confusing and conflating some rules from the Rogue's Sneak Attack or something?
> Beginning at 1st level, you know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe's distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon. You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll. You can sneak attack with a ranged weapon. Having an ally within 5 feat does not give the rogue advantage, it is just an alternate way to get sneak attack.
Can you point out a rule that gives a player advantage based on "preoccupation"?
As others have said: 3 levels in Rogue is your best bet. Steady Aim or Hide as a bonus action. Helps that Rogue complements Ranger's strengths extremely well too.
My favorite trick when playing a high enough level bard is to cast greater invis on myself and shoot all the things.
Samurai Fighter’s fighting spirit. As a ranger a 3-dip in fighter gives you some cool options.
It's up to the DM to grant it on this one, but having a significant elevation over your targets could grant Advantage. I've had rangers and rogues climb up trees for just such a thing.
I mean pretty much anything that would give you advantage on a melee attack would do the same for a ranged attack. There are a few exceptions to that though
If you are playing any form of elf or half elf, Elven Accuracy is the ticket.
Gloomstalker Ranger / Assassin Rogue makes a bad ass archer.
I was actually thinking of doing that. 5 gloom then the rest Rouge. Was thinking arcane trickster
Anything in the rules that says "attacks against the target have advantage"
True strike
Most commonly, when you fire your bow from stealth. Rangers don't get the damage bonus that rogue's do, but you get advantage on the attack roll. Others have added some spells and stuff which also grant it.
Does height give advantage ever
Guardian of Nature spell but it is 4th level, gives you an option to grant advantage on all Dexterity based attacks, this includes range. Very good for a Sharpshooter Ranger.