Thread by @BrandesStoddard

#dnd5e Hot Tip

Hey, did you know that in addition to your movement (not an action), your action (an action) and your bonus action (if any), you also have another kind of action on your turn, every single turn?

You get one Object Interaction per turn for free (not an action).

This is cleverly concealed in a Player's Handbook sidebar with the header "Interacting with Objects Around You."

Most, though certainly not all, of the items on this list require a free hand (implicitly, if not explicitly), so shieldbearers and TWF types are hard-pressed here.

There's a lot of potential environment interaction here (activating levers or switches), as well as a place for a lot of physical comedy (draining a flagon, stuffing food in your mouth) and your standard array of hockey-themed interactions (donning a mask).

Recovering a weapon that has been disarmed from someone falls under this 1/turn not-an-action.

That should highlight for you why disarming tactics are kiiiinda overpowered in 5e - unless a disarmed weapon goes 5+ ft away, disarming a weapon means you can instantly pick it up.

And if you DON'T instantly pick it up, the disarmed target can do so on their turn without losing any of their attacks.

Anyway.

I would love to see more scene design lean into rewarding players for using object interaction to engage with the environment. 4e's terrain powers are the gold standard here, though damage scaling makes them complicated to bring into 5e. (Let's try 1d4 per PB, maybe?)

The standard: consuming a potion takes an action.

There's a common house rule that brings this down to a bonus action.

Kinda surprised it's not an object interaction, though, since fishing it out of your pack *is.*

So that's how I'd design a potion belt or autoinjector.

Players, look for creative ways to engage with your environment every turn. Did you leap up on a dining table? Maybe you can kick the countess's priceless china right into her vampiric face. Little or no damage, but good for a distraction?

If guards chase you up a flight of stairs, you owe it to the exalted cinematic legacy of Robin Hood, Zorro, and Donkey Kong to roll some barrels back down the stairs at them.

That might go beyond what this not-an-action can achieve, in fairness, but you should do it anyway.

DMs, as much as possible, try to build in some VERY destructible terrain that allows players to alter the environment with an object interaction.

One lit candelabra + a tablecloth can suffice.

More examples:

* Upending a table for +2 cover (Medium creatures) or +5 cover (Small).
* Cutting the supports on a bridge, hanging platform, or balcony, assuming you can reach them, to destabilize enemies.
* Dropping a portcullis like it's hot.

* Taking a handful of holy water from the font.
* Maybe there's an explosive counting down (a thrown bomb, a cannon, whatever) that you can kick to redirect...?
* DMs, feel free to have NPCs eat *special* food that PCs get bonuses for stuffing in their mouths.
** The BEST tacos.

That's about it for this gaming thread.

In conclusion:

GET VACCINATED IF YOU CAN.
MASKS ON, SOCIAL DISTANCING ENGAGED, EVEN FOR VACCINATED FOLKS.
END ALL CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN THIS COUNTRY. FOREVER.

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