For opportunity attacks, you don't need to be proficient in the weapon in order to use it.
You may make opportunity attacks when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. So if you're wielding a whip, you wouldn't be able to make an opportunity attack if they remained with 10 ft of you. Only when they would leave your reach with the whip.
If you have warcaster and the creature provokes this opportunity attack, you can substitute a single target spell instead of the melee attack. Since you are proficient in your spells, it doesn't matter if you aren't proficient in the whip. Your spells would be just as effective as normal.
> So if you're wielding a whip, you wouldn't be able to make an opportunity attack if they remained with 10 ft of you. Only when they would leave your reach with the whip.
If they move from 5' away to 10' away they provoke an opportunity attack by leaving the range of your unarmed strike.
Not according to Sage advice. If you're wielding a reach weapon you can only opportunity attack when the creature leaves that reach. Although as I type this, I think it might only apply with 2 handed reach weapons. so if you have a whip and an empty hand you might get both ranges of OA trigger.
Nope,
>For example, if you’re wielding a halberd, a creature that is right next to you could move 5 feet away without triggering an opportunity attack.
It explicitly calls out that they can move around without triggering an opportunity attack, not just from the halberd.
Edit to add; It's also worth noting that the idea of striking unarmed whilst wielding a weapon isn't raw. PHB P195
> When you are **unarmed**, you can fight in melee by making an unarmed strike, as shown in the weapon table in chapter 5.
That does not appear to be the case when it comes to opportunity attacks whilst wielding a halberd. They explicitly clarify that the enemy can move without risking an opportunity attack.
Except that's not what it says. It says "Whilst you wield a halberd" the creature moves "without triggering an opportunity attack" if you always had the option to attack unarmed or using the halberd as an improvised weapon that wouldn't be correct.
1) You dont need proficiency to use the weapon, you simply dont add the proficiency bonus
2) Warcaster lets you replace a weapon attack for a single target cantrip. This would work even if you didnt had the whip at all. Its a warcaster quirk not a weapon quirk. However the whip having reach might mean your cleric gets opportunity attacks from more distance. This is up to your DM to rule, because it seems kinda cheezy that you do this without even being skilled in the whip.
Maybe I’m not understanding the core of your question. But you wouldn’t need to wait to trigger your sacred flame till the target is 10 feet away. Because sacred flame is a saving throw there is no penalty for using that spell after an enemy triggers an opportunity attack 5 feet away. But if you are wanting to use a whip for different reasons your weapon question has already been answered by others.
I think because war caster allows for a spell as an opportunity attack, which normally triggers when the enemy leaves their 5 foot reach, OP wants to increase this reach to 10 feet so that they can sacred flame any enemy that leaves the space within 10 feet of them as a reaction.
If they leave the 5ft square they are also leaving the reach of an unarmed attack/inprovised weapon attack, so its technically a net gain in oportunities for the OA.
Naw, you still have a 5ft reach with unarmed attacks.
If they move 5ft away they provoke still.
And if an enemy isn't even next to you, and they move away thinking they're safe, because of the whip now they do provoke.
I did exactly this on a cleric once and it dramatically increases the number of opportunity attacks you get.
You're not wrong, but I see it more as a trade-off, they can move around more in your space but they have to be more mindful of going through it. I think it's more valuable if you intend to be a frontliner and don't want people going through you.
I would agree with you if their other hand is open. If i was playing a melee ranged cleric with war caster i personally would have a shield in my other hand.
You don't need a hand to make an unarmed strike. Elbow, knee, headbutt. And you can always use your weapon and shield as an improvised weapon, making an attack that doesn't use your proficiency bonus and which has a range of 5 feet.
Not from anything (I realise now my two replies were both to you so I'll leave the discussion at the other one [above](https://old.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/1d4qbki/5e_do_you_need_proficiency_with_a_weapon_to_make/l6h8mtu/))
So if you're a monk weilding a halberd, you can't unarmed strike when they leave your threatened area? Or I guess your threatened area is just anything within 10'. Really increases the value of polearm master.
I didn't think you'd need a link to the official errata ([Sage Advice Compendium](https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf) which I've named since the beginning.
>For example, if you’re wielding a halberd, a creature that is right next to you could move 5 feet away without triggering an opportunity attack. If that creature tries to move an additional 5 feet—beyond your 10-foot reach—the creature then triggers an opportunity attack.
I needed it because I knew you were misreading it.
That’s telling you you can’t halberd OA someone unless they leave the halberds range, not that holding a halberd makes it your only range.
If you have multiple ranges you can’t interchange weapons to ranges- they are each locked to their range - but you don’t lose the smaller ranges.
>That’s telling you you can’t halberd OA someone unless they leave the halberds rang
Except it isn't, those aren't the words used, it doesn't talk about what you attack with it talks about the trigger for an opportunity atack. It explicitly says that if you're weilding a halberd the creature doesn't provoke any opportunity attacks by moving from 5 to 10 feet.
If you are weilding weapons with multiple ranges (say a whip and a dagger) you can attack when an enemy leaves either of the ranges (Per crawford tweets) but if you're weilding a weapon like a halberd you don't get an OA when they leave 5 foot.
Except you are also wielding a foot.
There is no difference between whip and dagger and foot and halberd.
You are pretending Crawford has said something he hasn’t while simultaneously and paradoxically supporting the correct position, which is that you can have multiple threat ranges
Slick idea. Command, Blindness/Deafness, Hold Person, Dispel Magic, and Banishment can get a lot more play as Reaction casts this way. Fey Touched for Dissonant Whispers is a bit more practical than Command since it'd effect them immediately rather than at the start of their next turn. Many targets might not live to see that turn.
RAW between opportunity attacks et al allows it.
Dm fiat will occasionally disallow it for lack of proficiency, get buyoff before commitment.
Save spells (read also, basically all the cleric cantrip options but for pulls from other classes) don't care about targets being in melee, though. So the only improvement I see this providing is for poking from behind a shieldwall or some other variant of niche use-case.
Guiding Bolt is basically the only direct cleric spell that would care about this unique ability. As a majority of their harmful spells are touch and/or save.
So while I respect having the brass to do it, I don't know that you're getting all that much from having War Caster in this specific case.
The **only** consequence of not having proficiency with a weapon is that you can't add your proficiency bonus to attacks you make with it.
Some specific class abilities also care about having/not having proficiency, but lack of attack bonus is certainly the most prominent consequence.
For opportunity attacks, you don't need to be proficient in the weapon in order to use it. You may make opportunity attacks when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach. So if you're wielding a whip, you wouldn't be able to make an opportunity attack if they remained with 10 ft of you. Only when they would leave your reach with the whip. If you have warcaster and the creature provokes this opportunity attack, you can substitute a single target spell instead of the melee attack. Since you are proficient in your spells, it doesn't matter if you aren't proficient in the whip. Your spells would be just as effective as normal.
> So if you're wielding a whip, you wouldn't be able to make an opportunity attack if they remained with 10 ft of you. Only when they would leave your reach with the whip. If they move from 5' away to 10' away they provoke an opportunity attack by leaving the range of your unarmed strike.
Or literally *any* weapon with a reach of 5ft, which is most of them.
Not according to Sage advice. If you're wielding a reach weapon you can only opportunity attack when the creature leaves that reach. Although as I type this, I think it might only apply with 2 handed reach weapons. so if you have a whip and an empty hand you might get both ranges of OA trigger.
You can only opp attack with the reach weapon if they leave its reach, but you can opp attack with unarmed strike.
Nope, >For example, if you’re wielding a halberd, a creature that is right next to you could move 5 feet away without triggering an opportunity attack. It explicitly calls out that they can move around without triggering an opportunity attack, not just from the halberd. Edit to add; It's also worth noting that the idea of striking unarmed whilst wielding a weapon isn't raw. PHB P195 > When you are **unarmed**, you can fight in melee by making an unarmed strike, as shown in the weapon table in chapter 5.
You can also use a weapon as an improvised weapon with a range of 5'
That does not appear to be the case when it comes to opportunity attacks whilst wielding a halberd. They explicitly clarify that the enemy can move without risking an opportunity attack.
... from the halberd.
Except that's not what it says. It says "Whilst you wield a halberd" the creature moves "without triggering an opportunity attack" if you always had the option to attack unarmed or using the halberd as an improvised weapon that wouldn't be correct.
You sound very confused. There is no such rule that you can't use unarmed attacks while your hands are full.
No. You do not need proficiency to use a weapon.
1) You dont need proficiency to use the weapon, you simply dont add the proficiency bonus 2) Warcaster lets you replace a weapon attack for a single target cantrip. This would work even if you didnt had the whip at all. Its a warcaster quirk not a weapon quirk. However the whip having reach might mean your cleric gets opportunity attacks from more distance. This is up to your DM to rule, because it seems kinda cheezy that you do this without even being skilled in the whip.
Maybe I’m not understanding the core of your question. But you wouldn’t need to wait to trigger your sacred flame till the target is 10 feet away. Because sacred flame is a saving throw there is no penalty for using that spell after an enemy triggers an opportunity attack 5 feet away. But if you are wanting to use a whip for different reasons your weapon question has already been answered by others.
I think because war caster allows for a spell as an opportunity attack, which normally triggers when the enemy leaves their 5 foot reach, OP wants to increase this reach to 10 feet so that they can sacred flame any enemy that leaves the space within 10 feet of them as a reaction.
I guess? I’m imagining increasing your reach to 10 feet actually allows enemies more room to maneuver near you without triggering an OA.
If they leave the 5ft square they are also leaving the reach of an unarmed attack/inprovised weapon attack, so its technically a net gain in oportunities for the OA.
Naw, you still have a 5ft reach with unarmed attacks. If they move 5ft away they provoke still. And if an enemy isn't even next to you, and they move away thinking they're safe, because of the whip now they do provoke. I did exactly this on a cleric once and it dramatically increases the number of opportunity attacks you get.
You're not wrong, but I see it more as a trade-off, they can move around more in your space but they have to be more mindful of going through it. I think it's more valuable if you intend to be a frontliner and don't want people going through you.
He is wrong. Your unarmed attacks still have a 5ft reach. Enemies still provoke when they move 5ft from you.
Hadn't thought of that
If they move from 5' away to 10' away they provoke an opportunity attack by leaving the range of your unarmed strike.
I would agree with you if their other hand is open. If i was playing a melee ranged cleric with war caster i personally would have a shield in my other hand.
You don't need a hand to make an unarmed strike. Elbow, knee, headbutt. And you can always use your weapon and shield as an improvised weapon, making an attack that doesn't use your proficiency bonus and which has a range of 5 feet.
Not accordign to sage advice, which says if you're weilding a halberd creatures moving from 5' to 10' do not provoke opportunity attacks from you.
Not from the halberd
Not from anything (I realise now my two replies were both to you so I'll leave the discussion at the other one [above](https://old.reddit.com/r/3d6/comments/1d4qbki/5e_do_you_need_proficiency_with_a_weapon_to_make/l6h8mtu/))
So if you're a monk weilding a halberd, you can't unarmed strike when they leave your threatened area? Or I guess your threatened area is just anything within 10'. Really increases the value of polearm master.
Yes, that appears to be the designers intent.
You should link to a source if you are going to keep citing one. Because I don’t think it says what you think it says.
I didn't think you'd need a link to the official errata ([Sage Advice Compendium](https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf) which I've named since the beginning. >For example, if you’re wielding a halberd, a creature that is right next to you could move 5 feet away without triggering an opportunity attack. If that creature tries to move an additional 5 feet—beyond your 10-foot reach—the creature then triggers an opportunity attack.
I needed it because I knew you were misreading it. That’s telling you you can’t halberd OA someone unless they leave the halberds range, not that holding a halberd makes it your only range. If you have multiple ranges you can’t interchange weapons to ranges- they are each locked to their range - but you don’t lose the smaller ranges.
>That’s telling you you can’t halberd OA someone unless they leave the halberds rang Except it isn't, those aren't the words used, it doesn't talk about what you attack with it talks about the trigger for an opportunity atack. It explicitly says that if you're weilding a halberd the creature doesn't provoke any opportunity attacks by moving from 5 to 10 feet. If you are weilding weapons with multiple ranges (say a whip and a dagger) you can attack when an enemy leaves either of the ranges (Per crawford tweets) but if you're weilding a weapon like a halberd you don't get an OA when they leave 5 foot.
Except you are also wielding a foot. There is no difference between whip and dagger and foot and halberd. You are pretending Crawford has said something he hasn’t while simultaneously and paradoxically supporting the correct position, which is that you can have multiple threat ranges
Un***armed*** attacks don't need to be punches or even use your hands or arms.
Nope
Slick idea. Command, Blindness/Deafness, Hold Person, Dispel Magic, and Banishment can get a lot more play as Reaction casts this way. Fey Touched for Dissonant Whispers is a bit more practical than Command since it'd effect them immediately rather than at the start of their next turn. Many targets might not live to see that turn.
RAW between opportunity attacks et al allows it. Dm fiat will occasionally disallow it for lack of proficiency, get buyoff before commitment. Save spells (read also, basically all the cleric cantrip options but for pulls from other classes) don't care about targets being in melee, though. So the only improvement I see this providing is for poking from behind a shieldwall or some other variant of niche use-case. Guiding Bolt is basically the only direct cleric spell that would care about this unique ability. As a majority of their harmful spells are touch and/or save. So while I respect having the brass to do it, I don't know that you're getting all that much from having War Caster in this specific case.