D&D 5e players break down the rules that everyone gets wrong

D&D 5e has plenty of rules that players get wrong, which fans have addressed online, hopefully educating those playing the game incorrectly.

Dungeons & Dragons 5e has lots of online resources that explain the minutia of the rules, but there are still common mistakes that people make, especially when it comes to the combat system, due to mechanics being poorly explained in the core books.

This isn’t helped by many fans never bothering to read the Player’s Handbook. Most people are introduced to the rules by other players, so they’re only given snapshots of the mechanics that are relevant at that moment in time, rather than seeing them in written form.

The lack of a D&D 5e rules education means players and DMs alike can get things wrong. Luckily, plenty of people online are here to inform them of how the game is meant to be played by dispelling the most commonly mistaken rules.

D&D 5e players outline the rules everyone gets wrong

A user on the DnD Reddit created a thread discussing how players should always explain how rules work; all the aspiring DMs they were tutoring thought Reactions cost Actions, even though they’re their own separate mechanics. Other players flocked to the thread to outline the other rules everyone gets wrong.

“You can’t ready an action to attack someone outside of combat,” one player explained, “That’s what the surprise mechanics are for. If you surprise the opponent then everyone who isn’t surprised gets a turn while the surprised creatures are unable to act.”

“Also darkness grants disadvantage on perception checks even if you have darkvision.”

“One of my players thought that using a weapon with which you don’t have proficiency meant you made attack rolls with disadvantage,” one user lamented, “Took me months to realize that’s what she was doing and tell her she could have been landing a whole lot more hits that whole time.”

“Sneak attack triggers off 2 things in 5e,” one user wrote, “Do you have advantage, is there a conscious thinking ally adjacent to your target. Everything else is just an effect that would give you advantage. So attacking from hiding doesn’t trigger Sneak attack, the advantage conferred by hiding does.”

Rogues do have an ability that players commonly miss, however. “Also another thing with sneak attack – it can go off once per turn, not once per round. This means an attack of opportunity on anyone else’s turn can trigger sneak attack a second time in the same combat round.”

Those who learn how to play D&D through things like the Starter sets are given a small sample of the game to learn how things work. If you plan on delving further into the hobby, then it helps to learn about these rules misconceptions, in order to prevent things being too easy or too hard for your group.