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I've heard a lot about how a Rogue's specialty is disarming traps, even going as far as online DMs suggesting Rogues always use the Investigation action to watch for those traps. And while I do not disagree that their expertise in Thieves' Tools would make them the most effective measure against them, I am wondering if a Barbarian's Danger Sense would not also be useful in this endeavour.

The Barbarian's Danger Sense feature description states, in part:

At 2nd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger.

The way I understand this sentence is something like a short-distance passive Investigation or Insight check, where "Something just doesn't feel right" and should prompt the Barbarian to naturally stop and do an Investigation check to find the abnormality... It might be something like subconsciously noticing the series of holes lining the doorway, or obscurely feeling the eyes of the assailants in the trees ready to pounce. Even without amplifying this with the Dungeon Delver feat's advantage to checks, it seems quite a complimentary feature to combine with the rogue's skills.

For example:

The party walks down the empty hallway, devoid of the few guards they came to expect. Brutus the Barbarian acts as vanguard while they press forward, stopping abruptly as they reach an open doorway on the other side. "Something's wrong," he says, prompting the rogue to investigate, discovering that neither shadow nor light enters the room. Though the floor near the statue on the right shows signs of being moved rather recently.

Am I correct in my interpretation?

V2Blast
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Victor B
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1 Answers1

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Danger Sense just grants advantage on Dex saves

You're missing the second half of the description of the Danger Sense feature:

At 2nd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger.

You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Walking down a corridor is not dodging away from danger. It's just walking.

That line you quoted is just the build-up to the mechanical explanation of the feature.

V2Blast
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MivaScott
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  • I was thinking more like he was about to step into an illusionary doorway, then realized something was off about his next step. – Victor B Oct 26 '22 at 23:35
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    @VictorB, if there is a Dexterity saving throw involved with walking through the door, then he would get advantage. Anything beyond that is up to the DM. Like stopping the next person from walking through the door. – MivaScott Oct 27 '22 at 01:20
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    Ah, so less like a primal sense of awareness, and more like quick reflexes when you actually spring the trap. So my example's trap of hiding a pitfall with an illusionary corridor (yes, it was a doorway opening to a cliff) would not actually trigger the Danger Sense until he passed through it? – Victor B Oct 27 '22 at 04:35
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    @VictorB Not until he gets to the point of actually 'triggering' the trap (and making the dex save), yes. I think of it as basically just a very fast reaction time to threats - the Barbarian has a knack for picking up on the threat and acting immediately to save himself, unlike say a puny Wizard who might freeze up for a moment. It's not a supernatural sense of possible danger around you that hasn't occurred yet - you don't detect that a trap exists necessarily, but if it drops the floor out from under you you're quicker than most to catch yourself on the ledge. – Kayndarr Oct 27 '22 at 06:45
  • Keep in mind that, as-is, Danger Sense is almost useless against traps - it requires you to be able to see the effect that is going to hurt you, so by RAW things that come from nowhere (like a floor suddenly opening beneath you or a hidden poison dart trap in the wall) aren't affected by Danger Sense. This obviously don't feel right, however, so it is usual for DM's to allow unseen traps to be affected by Danger Sense. – T. Sar Oct 27 '22 at 11:20
  • @T.Sar Or you use traps that explicitly involve dex saving throws. Like some of the sample traps. – Philipp Oct 27 '22 at 13:23
  • @T.Sar, most of the tables I play at allow the Barbarian to gain advantage on traps if (a) it is a Dex saving throw, and (b) they can see the trap as it is sprung. So spikes shooting out of the wall would gain advantage as they would see the spikes a split second before the impact. Walking across a pit covered by an illusion would not as they cannot see the trap until they are already falling. There is leeway and debates around these things but it generally works well. – MivaScott Oct 27 '22 at 15:00
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    @T.Sar Um, the floor opening up under you is something you can see. Unless it is in magical darkness. And darts are something you can see, again, unless magical darkness. "Can see" means it is possible to see it, not "is seen". – Yakk Oct 27 '22 at 15:55
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    @Yakk, The origin of this feature is likely grounded in the Conan the Barbarian short stories, where Conan had this abiltiy to be instinctively aware of danger, and which were one of the major literary sources for D&D. Funnily enough, the story where this is most evident is one where he is in pitch darkness in a dungeon under a wizard's tower, and feels something is off, avoiding a pit -- which would not work with the way the feature is written now. – Nobody the Hobgoblin Oct 27 '22 at 16:41
  • @Yakk Can you see something that is behind your head? If a rogue jumping out of the shadows to stab the barbarian doesn't count as being something "you can see", then neither should the pit or the darts - thus my complaint of Danger Sense being poorly written. And don't get me started on how being deafened shouldn't influence in any way your ability of perceiving immobile holes in the ground. – T. Sar Oct 27 '22 at 17:00
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    @T.Sar, a Rogue jumping out of the shadows is not a Dexterity saving throw, it would be an attack roll so Danger Sense wouldn't come into play. The Barbarian is listening for the trap mechanism to grind, the arrows whistling through the air, smelling the decay from the last adventuring party that didn't see the spike pit. Admittedly, this is all just story telling, but that is the theory on how the feature works. But the feature is, if there is a Dexterity saving throw, and the Barbarian can see the cause of the threat, they get advantage on the saving throw. No more, no less. – MivaScott Oct 27 '22 at 18:11
  • @MivaScott I would have agreed with you if this was D&D 3.X, Pathfinder or D&D 4e. But this is 5e - there isn't such a thing as "fluff" and "crunch" anymore, making "you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger." an effect just as the rest of the feature, and thus should have narrative weight to it. In any case, I stand by my point - this feature is terribly written. – T. Sar Oct 27 '22 at 20:01
  • SevenSidedDie's anwer to this question condenses most of my views about rule text in 5e, albeit touching a somewhat different territory: – T. Sar Oct 27 '22 at 20:05
  • @T.Sar, If you break down the description, "...giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger." translates directly to Advantage on Dexterity saving throws. Leaving "...you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be..." for interpretation. As you point out, this is 5e. 5e has no hidden rules and there is no RULE in this opening. It's not "fluff", it's giving context to the rule about to be explained. Relentless Rage has a similar opening. – MivaScott Oct 27 '22 at 21:59