A group of combat experts from the D&D team “Min-Maxed” aims to find the truly best method of redirecting an arrow through their own expertise. They present the result in a video that proves that the rules of the TTRPG are not chosen arbitrarily.
How does the group plan to test the rule? Some members of the D&D group “Min-Maxed” want to find out which class of the role-playing game would really be capable of redirecting an arrow to avoid damage. For this, archer Blumineck, the two weapon experts from Sellsword Arts, martial artist Instructor Bensei, and D&D content creator Tater the Bard put their own skills to the test.
According to the rules from 2024, the ability “redirect attacks” is a pure class feature of the monk, which he receives at level 3. Whether this should solely be possible for monks is what the motivated group tests in a practical trial.
They attempt to stop an arrow fired at the martial artists with short and long swords, a rope dart (also known as Shéng Biāo), another bow, or with bare hands. Blumineck emphasizes that these are safe arrows shot with a light bow so that no one gets hurt… or at least not more than necessary.
Stopping a fired arrow is hard – but not impossible
What was the result of their test? The test turned out to be more about constantly taking hits than a professional defense. Neither the short sword nor the long sword, the rope dart, nor the bow could effectively fend off an arrow. Although points were given for quick dodging, the experts did not want to count that as a defense.
No matter how professionally the content creators handled their weapons, no one could stop the projectile, let alone redirect it… except for one.
Ironically, the dungeon master of the group, Tater the Bard, who has no weapon expertise to show for, managed to catch an arrow with his hand. Although it is questionable whether he would have survived this in a fight, he only managed to catch the arrow on his third attempt and rather awkwardly: “I’m dead, but I’m holding an arrow!”
Blumineck was also able to fend off an arrow with his bow, but that was more due to the fact that it wouldn’t have hit its target anyway.
Here you can see the video evidence of the group on TikTok:
So, is the rulebook correct? The test impressively shows that it is not so easy to fend off an arrow in real life. The creators probably thought that only monks should be able to redirect such an attack as described by the class feature.
With a reaction, they can not only redirect arrows but also other attacks that would deal slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning damage, thus reducing the damage.
However, the community of Dungeons & Dragons has a much simpler method to provide this advantage to other classes as well:
“One should create a large, round or square piece of wood or iron to hold in front of oneself to create a kind of wall,” explains henryted98 in the comments of the video on Instagram, and also dtsavage101 writes, but with slightly less sarcasm: “The correct answer is, and always has been, the good old shield.”
As preparation for their campaign, in which the members of Mix-Max want to play themselves regarding their expertise, the individual players tested further questions that remain open. The two sword fighting experts from Sellsword Arts first wanted to know if they would even be good enough in real life to pass as a level 1 fighter: Sword fighting experts on YouTube test if they could reach level 1 of a fighter in D&D
