[RPG] Can you reckless attack and choose to hit a limb

advantage-and-disadvantagebarbariandnd-5elocational-damage

I'm a DM playing D&D 5e and have a barbarian in my game. He is using the usual advantage on attack with reckless attack. But then he says he chooses to "hit a limb" like a headshot which, he says, gives disadvantage. He says this means that means he rolls normally.

I believe there are contradictory options because when swinging recklessly you can't choose where to hit. Can someone shed some light on this please?

Best Answer

There are two parts to this answer...

Advantage and Disadvantage Always Cancel Out

If you have Advantage on a roll, and do something that would impose Disadvantage on said roll, then the two cancel out and you roll normally. Always. Regardless of the specifics around how you gained those sources of Advantage or Disadvantage.

If circumstances cause a roll to have both advantage and disadvantage, you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20. This is true even if multiple circumstances impose disadvantage and only one grants advantage or vice versa. In such a situation, you have neither advantage nor disadvantage.

PHB171

Thus, regardless of the source, if you have any source of Advantage and any source of Disadvantage on the same roll, you roll normally.

Called Shots Don't Exist in 5E

There are no rules to support them in any of the rulebooks or in Unearthed Arcana. There is no material for 5E that was released by Wizards of the Coast that includes such rules. You cannot target specific body parts in 5E's combat system. If you are playing with called shots ("I aim for the head"), then you are playing with homebrew rules. If you want to impose extra restrictions on these rules as the DM, that is your prerogative.

However, See here for an excellent explanation for why Called Shots can be a problem for use in 5E

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