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List of bugged passives

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This list aims to catalogue passives which do not function as would be expected based on their tooltips, or which have other problems - or missing information - in their description, function, or location. This list is unlikely to be comprehensive as it is likely there are many issues with passives of which we are unaware.

As this list deals with problems that have a high likelihood of being changed in patches and hotfixes, it is likely that entries will be incorrect following an update.

All entries are currently correct as of Hotfix 33.

Passives[edit | edit source]

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Name Bugs
Ablaze Ablaze

  • This ability always uses the caster's Wisdom to determine the spellcasting DC, regardless of the summoner's actual spellcasting ability.
Absolute's Bane Absolute's Bane

  • The Bane effect does not activate when the wearer is disguised disguised, even if it is noted in the passive effect UI.
  • The Bane effect's saving throw does not appear in the combat log, nor do reactions like Portent Portent Dice trigger, even though the passive effect UI indicates there is a saving throw, and the effect sometimes does not trigger (presumably because the enemy succeeded at their saving throw).
Actor Actor

  • The ability score increase can increase Charisma beyond the stated maximum of 20.
Adrenaline Rush Adrenaline Rush

  • The in-game tooltip stating that Adrenaline Rush grants 2 turns of Wrath is incorrect, it actually grants 3 turns of the condition.
  • The in-game tooltip states that Adrenaline Rush is once per turn. It is not.
Arcane Battery Arcane Battery

  • The "Long Rest" cooldown restriction is per character, rather than per item. As such, this passive can be used repeatedly by passing the weapon possessing this feature to different characters, activating it once on each.
  • The effect of this passive is consumed if active when the character casts a cantrip, despite the cantrip not being highlighted in the character's cast bar.
Arcane Echomalefaction Arcane Echomalefaction

  • Due to a hidden condition which gets applied when a ranged weapon attack misses, this passive effect applies even though it appears it should not.
Arcane Ward Arcane Ward

  • Despite being an Abjuration spell and consuming a spell slot, Shield Shield does not grant Arcane Ward charges.
  • Counterspell Counterspell will always restore 3 charges, even if upcasted.
  • Using Metamagic: Extended Spell Metamagic: Extended Spell to cast any Abjuration spell with a limited duration might lead to Arcane Wards be overstacked up to 4x Abjuration Wizard level; this happens as the Arcane Ward duration is doubled by Extended Spell after the 2x Wizard level capping.
    • That means extend spells like Sanctuary Sanctuary, Arcane Lock Arcane Lock and Banishment Banishment can be explored for off or mid-combat situations. Ex. a Sorcerer 2 / Abjuration Wizard 5 with 7 charges of Arcane Ward casting Extended Banishment will end up (capped) with 20 charges. A Sorcerer 2 / Abjuration Wizard 6 in the same situation would end up with 22 charges.
    • When overstacking Arcane Wards, casting any Abjuration spell (except Shield Shield) will enforce the Arcane Wards to be capped again at 2x Abjuration Wizard level.
    • Glyph of Warding: Sleep Glyph of Warding: Sleep 2-turn effect duration does not count as a spell with limited duration as the warding trap has no duration limit, despite the tooltip describing it as a 4-turn duration.
  • When an Abjuration School Wizard has zero Arcane Ward charges, many actions/abilities will restore as many charges as character's Wizard level as seen on this Reddit post. Some examples:
  • If an attack roll of the Abjuration Wizard is blocked by a target casting the Wizard version of Shield Shield, the Abjuration Wizard attacker will lose all their Arcane Ward charges.
Arming Enhancement Arming Enhancement

  • The +2 bonus to attack rolls also affects spell attacks, unarmed attacks, and throw attacks; however, except for throw attacks involving weapons with the Thrown property, those attacks do not receive the +2 damage.
Artificial Sight Artificial Sight

  • The Artificial Sight effect does not provide the cone of light that you'd otherwise get by obtaining the Darkvision effect from a different source, such as from a spell or from having the passive innately through race. It also allows the wearer to see through magical darkness, despite not stating such in the description.
Aspect of the Beast: Stallion Aspect of the Beast: Stallion

  • If you have any remaining temporary hit points from a previous activation of this feature, Dashing will not replenish them back to twice your Barbarian level. You can only gain the temporary hit points again once you've lost all of them.
Blessed Healer Blessed Healer

  • (As of Hotfix #11, possible Bug) Blessed Healer seems to activate on much more sources of Healing than the tooltip indicates:
    • Healing Spells of Level 1 and higher that target only the user will trigger both Disciple of Life Disciple of Life and Blessed Healer (for a total of 4 + 2 * Spell Level).
    • Healing magic that does not have a level (such as the Channel Divinity Preserve Life Preserve Life, the cantrip Selûne's Dream Selûne's Dream and the Paladin class action Lay on Hands Lay on Hands) is treated as level 0, and the caster restores 2 HP to themselves.
    • Healing potions (of all strengths) are treated as level 1 (whether consumed or thrown), and the caster restores an additional 3 HP to themselves.
Blind Immunity Blind Immunity

  • Despite not stating such in the description, Blind Immunity also allows the wearer to see through magical darkness.
Blood-Curdling Emission Blood-Curdling Emission

  • The combat log erroneously states the spell save DC of the wielder; it still uses the fixed DC of 12.
Bolstering Smite Bolstering Smite

  • The temporary hit points only have a StackPriority of 1, and as such are overridden by any other source of temporary hit points that have a StackPriority of 1 or higher, even if the new source is of a lesser value.
Breezeswift Speed Breezeswift Speed

  • Breezeswift Speed is only removed when making a weapon attack, as opposed to the next attack roll.
Callous Glow Callous Glow

  • The ingame tooltip does not specify the damage type, but it is RadiantRadiant.
Caustic Strikes Caustic Strikes

  • This feature triggers even on a miss, dealing damage and potentially Paralysing Paralysing the target.
Chilling Counter Chilling Counter

  • The in-game description says there is a DC 13 saving throw, but in fact there is no saving throw to avoid the effect. Chilled will be applied on every single missed attack.
Coldbrim Chill Coldbrim Chill

  • Due to a hidden condition that gets applied when a ranged weapon attack misses, this passive effect applies even though it appears it should not.
Companion's Bond Companion's Bond

  • The in-game description says that the bonus scales with "your" (i.e. the Beast Master's) proficiency bonus, but in fact it uses the companion's proficiency bonus. This means the bonus will not increase to +4 until the final level 11 upgrade to your animal companion rather than at character level 9.
  • Prior to the level 5 upgrade, animal companions will incorrectly have a proficiency bonus of 0 instead of +2. After the level 5 upgrade, the proficiency bonus will correctly increase to +3. Effectively, this means that at level 5, your animal companions will also receive an increase to their attack rolls equal to their proficiency bonus, but this is not actually part of this feature, merely a consequence of bugged proficiency bonus progression.
Consumed Shadow Weave Consumed Shadow Weave

Damp Aegis Damp Aegis

  • The description on Water Layer Protection incorrectly uses the same description as Wet Wet, despite the two conditions having different effects.
Dark One's Blessing Dark One's Blessing

  • The temporary hit points lack a StackPriority and as such are overridden by any other source of temporary hit points, even if the new source is of a lesser value such as from Well-Liked and Well-Fortified.
Dolor Amarus Dolor Amarus

  • Despite the description, the passive Dolor Amarus does not deal an additional 7 damage on unarmed attack critical hits (includes Throw attacks).
Dread Ambusher Dread Ambusher

  • The increased movement distance is tied to the extra weapon attack. Once the extra attack has been made, any unused bonus movement is immediately lost.
Dreadful Hewer Dreadful Hewer

Duergar Resilience Duergar Resilience

Effective Transmitter Effective Transmitter

Eight Legged Waltz Eight Legged Waltz

  • This passive has no effect at all.
Eldritch Strike Eldritch Strike

  • Despite the description stating it affects the "next spell", this condition affects all saving throws caused by the Eldritch Knight until it expires. This applies also to non-spell sources such as weapon actions, weapon passives like Blood-Curdling Emission, illithid powers, etc.
Ever Vigilant Ever Vigilant

  • Unlike other temporary hit points, the temporary HP granted by Ever Vigilant disappears at the end of combat. This functionality is not stated in the description.
Executioner Executioner

  • Despite the tooltip suggesting otherwise, Executioner only applies to the next weapon attack roll made.
Expert Divination Expert Divination

Fancy Footwork Fancy Footwork

  • Enemies with the War Caster War Caster or Polearm Master Polearm Master feats still take Opportunity Attacks when otherwise affected by this feature.
Favourable Beginnings Favourable Beginnings

  • Contrary to the description, only Deception and Persuasion receive ability check bonuses.
Fiendish Fire Fiendish Fire

  • The Fiendish Fire saving throw appears every time the wielder causes a damaging effect including spells and melee attacks, but the effect itself is not actually applied, even if the target fails the saving throw, unless the damage is dealt by this weapon.
Fiery Return Fiery Return

First Blood First Blood

  • Does not work on Honour mode
Freecast Freecast

  • When fast traveling between areas that require a loading screen (such as between Act 1 and Act 2, or between the Lower City and Rivington), Freecast and many other abilities have their cooldowns reset.
    • This allows for multiple Freecast uses in a day, which can be quite useful for buffs or summons requiring high level spell slots such as Heroes' Feast Heroes' Feast, Planar Ally Planar Ally, and more.
  • Freecast can be easily reset by having another character apply a condition (such as Guidance Guidance or Aura of Protection Aura of Protection) on the character seeking to (re)use Freecast.
Fury In The Marrow Fury In The Marrow

  • Hostile creatures making a successful Wisdom saving throw receive no damage instead of half damage.
Godswill Godswill

  • Contrary to the description, the extra Channel Divinity charge actually comes back after a short rest.
Grievous Retribution Grievous Retribution

  • The in-game tooltip stating that the effect grants 1 turn of Wrath is incorrect, it actually grants 2 turns of the condition.
Heart of the Storm Heart of the Storm

  • Despite its tooltip stating otherwise, Heart of the Storm also activates on cantrips.
Illithid Persuasion Illithid Persuasion

  • A bug may occur where one may receive the "True Soul" tag early - on the 4th use.
Immutable Form Immutable Form

Infernal Acuity Infernal Acuity

  • The Infernal Acuity passive grants the wearer +1 all attack rolls.
Infernal Sight Infernal Sight

  • Infernal Sight does not see through magical darkness; it only grants immunity to Blinded Blinded and does not provide the cone of light that you would otherwise get by obtaining the Darkvision effect from a different source, such as from a spell or from having the passive innately through race.
Infernal Weapon Infernal Weapon

  • The roll for the Poisoned Poisoned saving throw is not shown in the combat log for either a successful or failed save. Because it has a low DC 12  Constitution saving throw, this can give the impression that the poison effect does not work at all.
Infested Infested

  • Due to a coding error, Infested displays a saving throw made by the ettercap in the combat log when attacked.
Ironvine Ironvine

  • Ironvine activates on any attack, not just melee attacks.
Legendary Action: Beguiling Rebuke Legendary Action: Beguiling Rebuke

Legendary Action: Ocular Nightmare Legendary Action: Ocular Nightmare

  • Paranoid Dream increases if the Spectator Spectator is targeted with Mage Armour Mage Armour cast by one of the formerly petrified Drow.
Lesser Infernal Retribution Lesser Infernal Retribution

  • The required saving throw for Lesser Infernal Retribution is attributed in the combat log to the wearer of the armour, rather than the attacker, but is correctly rolled by the attacker.
Life Essence Harvest Life Essence Harvest

  • The effect of this passive is consumed if active when the character casts a cantrip from the Necromancy school, despite the cantrip not being highlighted in the character's cast bar.
Life Stealing Critical Life Stealing Critical

  • The temporary hit points only have a StackPriority of 1, and as such are overridden by any other source of temporary hit points that have a StackPriority of 1 or higher, even if the new source is of a lesser value.
Luck of the Far Realms Luck of the Far Realms

Lucky Lucky

  • Lucky grants a toggleable passive by the same name which, when toggled on, provides Advantage on the character's next Ability Check. Due to the way this passive is granted, it defaults to "off" and cannot be toggled "on" the very first time it is acquired until after the character has first made an ability check, has used a reaction, has used a short rest, or has used a long rest.
Magic Initiate: Cleric Magic Initiate: Cleric

Magic Initiate: Sorcerer Magic Initiate: Sorcerer

  • When provided by this feat, Shield Shield uses spell slots like an ordinary spell without a once-per-long-rest restriction. However this also means that it cannot be used at all by a character with no spell slots.
Magic Initiate: Wizard Magic Initiate: Wizard

  • When provided by this feat, Shield Shield uses spell slots like an ordinary spell without a once-per-long-rest restriction. However this also means that it cannot be used at all by a character with no spell slots.
Metamagic: Twinned Spell Metamagic: Twinned Spell

  • Due to the lack of a TargetRadius check for projectile spells, Twinned Spell is compatible with the ranged version of certain spells while also being incompatible with the melee version. An example of this is Ensnaring Strike Ensnaring Strike.
Monsterslayer Monsterslayer

  • The Monsterslayer passive effect granted by this item adds 1d4 to attack rolls in addition to the damage rolls listed.
    • This passive also applies to ranged attacks while this weapon is equipped, adding 1d4 to attack and damage for them.
    • Spells cast while this weapon is equipped will gain 1d4 to their attack roll but their damage is not increased.
Mystra's Blessing Mystra's Blessing

  • The in-game description of this passive feature is not entirely correct, and reads as follows:
Bless grants an additional 1d4 to Saving Throws and Weapon Attack Rolls, and an additional 2d4 to Spell Attack Rolls.
  • Specifically, it is possible to lose the regular Bless condition (due to the caster losing concentration) while retaining the Mystra's Blessing condition. In this case, the creature is left with a 1d4 bonus to spell attack rolls, but loses the other 1d4 bonuses, despite the tooltip of the condition claiming otherwise.
Polearm Master: Opportunity Attack Polearm Master: Opportunity Attack

Portent Portent

  • Portent does not trigger in the following situations:
    • An ally's attack misses due to rolling a natural 1 but the (modified) roll meets or exceeds the target's AC
    • An ally's attack misses and the Portent roll, if used, would be under the target's AC yet would critically hit due to an expanded critical threshold (for Portent Dice below 20)
    • An enemy critically hits but the roll is under the target's AC
    • An enemy save succeeds due to Legendary Resistance Legendary Resistance
    • An enemy or ally saves against Staggering Staggering, Thunderous Thunderous or Wrathful Wrathful Smite or Topple the Big Folk Topple the Big Folk
  • Portent sometimes triggers unnecessarily due to misinterpreting critical hits or misses as non-critical, or wrongly assuming Portent Dice of 1 or 20 automatically fail or succeed a saving throw.
Rakish Audacity Rakish Audacity

Raven Sight Raven Sight

  • This effect does not provide immunity to all forms of Blindness, but rather only to Blinded Blinded and Blinded from Darkness Darkness.
Rebuke of the Mighty Rebuke of the Mighty

  • The description of this passive states it requires a Dexterity saving throw. This is incorrect, as it requires a Strength saving throw.
Reliable Talent Reliable Talent

  • For unknown reasons, Reliable Talent is known to fail when rolling a religion check for the Mirror of Loss, failing to function for every other character or so.
Revenant Scourge Revenant Scourge

  • The effects from this passive currently do not function.
Ruintamer Heart Ruintamer Heart

  • Ruintamer Heart has no effect, and does not function in-game.
Rupturing Rupturing

  • The in-game description says the target has a DC 13  Constitution saving throw to avoid the Ruptured effect. However, this is not true and the condition will always be applied.
Scourge of Pests Scourge of Pests

  • The in-game tooltip for this passive says it grants bonus damage against insects, but instead it works against myconids.
Sculpt Spells Sculpt Spells

  • Despite being an AoE Evocation spell, this ability doesn't work with Moonbeam Moonbeam.
Sentinel: Snare Sentinel: Snare

  • Though this applies to druids in Wild Shape and does deal damage, the Damage Roll is empty/bugged as of Hotfix 19.
Shadow Blade Shadow Blade

  • Prior to Patch 8 Hotfix 1, this effect granted advantage to all attack rolls when active. This was changed to require any melee weapon attack.
Shadow-Blinding Shadow-Blinding

Shapeshifter Slayer Shapeshifter Slayer

  • The Shapeshifter Slayer passive effect granted by this item adds 1d4 to attack rolls in addition to the damage rolls listed.
    • This passive also applies to ranged attacks while this weapon is equipped, adding 1d4 to attack and damage for them.
    • Spells cast while this weapon is equipped will gain 1d4 to their attack roll but their damage is not increased.
Shar's Protection Shar's Protection

Shield Bash Shield Bash

  • The description of this passive states it requires a Dexterity saving throw. This is incorrect, as it requires a Strength saving throw.
Shocking Sting Shocking Sting

  • The in-game tooltip for this effect says it has chance to apply Shocked Shocked, but the condition actually applied is the similar but less potent Shocking Grasp Shocking Grasp.
Slabjaw Determination Slabjaw Determination

  • The temporary hit points only have a StackPriority of 1, and as such are overridden by any other source of temporary hit points that have a StackPriority of 1 or higher, even if the new source is of a lesser value.
Slayer's Extra Attack Slayer's Extra Attack

  • The in-game description for this passive is copied from Slayer's Improved Extra Attack Slayer's Improved Extra Attack and states that it grants two additional attacks, but it actually only grants one.
Slow Fall Slow Fall

  • Slow Fall toggles off upon losing a Reaction for any reason and the toggle button is disabled while a reaction is unavailable.
  • If Slow Fall triggers in real-time mode, it does not consume a reaction and therefore does not toggle off at that moment, but it nonetheless does not trigger again until retoggled.
Slow: Casting Slow: Casting

  • This passive is non-functional and hence the Slowed Slowed condition does not affect spellcasting in the way that is described.
Soul Catching Soul Catching

  • Soul Catching has numerous errors:
    • It states it requires an "unarmed hit" while the Grasp Essence Grasp Essence condition states "hit a creature with an unarmed attack". Functionally, any damaging unarmed attack will trigger the effect, even against world items.
    • It states the wielder regains 10hit pointshit points, but instead it grants an ability that when used provides the healing.
    • It states the wielder may gain Advantage on Attack Rolls and Saving Throws until the end of their next turn, while the Grasp Essence condition states the wielder may gain Advantage on Attack Rolls or Saving Throws before the end of their next turn.
      • Advantage is not actually gained, but rather an Interrupt is granted that provides the wielder with a choice of either adding a +5 bonus to a single attack roll or to a single saving throw, at which time the Grasp Essence condition is removed.
    • Due to a coding error, Grasp Essence will be removed from the wielder if it takes damage and does not have any temporary HP.
Spellmight Spellmight

  • The Spellmight passive will add its damage bonus to any melee weapon attack that counts as a spell (all smite spells except Divine Smite) yet not apply the -5 to hit penalty.
Stirring Execution Stirring Execution

  • The temporary hit points are actually based on the Charisma modifiers of the characters receiving them, not the character delivering the killing blow with this sword. The minimum of 1 still applies.
    • The temporary hit points only have a StackPriority of 1, and as such are overridden by any other source of temporary hit points which have a StackPriority of 1 or higher, even if the new source is of a lesser value.
Swathed in Shadow Swathed in Shadow

  • Swathed in Shadow passively adds its Saving Throw bonus at all times, not just when attacked.
Synergetic Moments Synergetic Moments

  • Due to a hidden condition that gets applied when a ranged weapon attack misses, this passive effect will apply even though it appears it should not.
Tavern Brawler Tavern Brawler

  • Characters with negative strength modifiers (and Wild Shapes Wild Shapes with the same, such as Wild Shape: Cat) have twice reduced attack and damage rolls from this passive.
  • As of Patch 8, bonus damage from this feat bypasses Sturdy Sturdy and similar conditions, but only when thrown.
  • As of Patch 8, this feat applies to the damage of several spells and effects while the caster is Wild Shaped Wild Shaped, including but not necessarily limited to: Moonbeam Moonbeam, Spike Growth Spike Growth, Noxious Fumes, and even the caster of a Warding Bond Warding Bond (with no damage type, so resistances do not apply but items with a subtraction from all damage do). Wild Shapes with low Strength Strength have a penalty applied to the damage roll of these associated spells or effects.
The Pain Maiden's Blessing The Pain Maiden's Blessing

  • The description erroneously claims that the effect lasts until the end of next turn, but instead it is removed at the start of it.
The Scourge Mistress' Bane The Scourge Mistress' Bane

  • While the item description says 'chance,' the chance to inflict Bane Bane on hit is 100%.
Thunderbolt Strike Thunderbolt Strike

  • Creatures pushed off of ledges by this feature do not suffer fall damage unless the triggering action has an innate push effect like Thunderwave Thunderwave.
  • The push from this feature does not combine with any push from the triggering action itself. In fact, Thunderbolt Strike may even reduce the push distance since its push effect takes priority. For example, Thunderwave Thunderwave normally pushes targets 8 m / 27 ft, but this feature reduces this distance to 3 m / 10 ft.
Thunderous Conversion Thunderous Conversion

  • Though stated "upon the target(s)", Thunderous Conversion can only trigger once per attack.
Titan Weapon Titan Weapon

  • Titan Weapon has an extra description that states "The weapon only adds the modifier if it improves your chance to hit." but this has no actual function/relevance.
Uncanny Dodge Uncanny Dodge

  • As of Patch 8, Uncanny Dodge has several bugs related to reaction mechanics.
    • It requires the defender to have reaction (resource) available, but doesn't actually consume it when used.
    • It consumes the attacker's reaction (resource) when triggered.
    • It can trigger multiple times in the same turn if hit by different attackers.
    • It can trigger while under conditions that should prevent reaction, such as Slowed (Condition) Slowed (Condition).
Undead Bane Undead Bane

  • Despite the description, this passive provides Advantage to all attacks rolls made against Undead targets.
Undead Ward Undead Ward

Unwavering Unwavering