Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started

I'm just about to wrap up my Honor Mode run (knock on wood), at which point I'm probably setting aside the game for a bit. Looking back on this and all my prior runs, I'm realizing there are a number of things I which I'd known earlier. Here's mine:

1. Don't sleep on the "Volatile shield" ilithid power. You can apply it out of combat (lasts until a long rest), and when it bursts, it stuns nearby enemies. Stun is a *ridiculously* helpful condition, and this gets you some stuns pretty much for free. And since you can use volatile shield every short rest, you can apply it to a few people even if only one person has the ability.

2. Pets/summons/familiars are underrated. That 1-health, 1-damage crow? He's "threatening" an enemy he's standing next to. And if a big boss spends an attack on said crow, it doesn't matter if the attack does 50 damage - it hit your crow, not you. And if you wrapped that crow in volatile shield, you've got yourself a stun-bomb. Between Us, Shovel, and Fetch, there are 3 pets you can get regardless of your party.

3. Longstrider is a ritual spell, which means it's free out of combat, and it lasts until a long rest. Just apply it whenever you wake up to all your party members to have a free +3m movement speed forever!

4. The main damage range displayed for weapons (eg "11-24") often includes conditional damage. So the weapon that's "1d6 + 10 damage on a full moon" will show as "10-16" damage, while the actually-much-better 2d6 weapon will show as "2-12" and seem worse. Read the details!

5. If you've got an item that sets a stat to a specific number (eg Gloves of Dexterity set your dex to 18), you can respec your character to minimize that stat. For example, Karlach's got the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength (set strength to 23), so I used withers to respecced her so that her strength is 8. This let me put her points into Con and Dex instead.

6. There are some great caster staffs in the mid and late game. The Dual Wielder feat lets your caster hold two at once and get the benefits of both!

7. Don't ignore your unused weapon slots! This is your melee weapon slot for archer builds and your bow slot for casters or melee build. Your cleric might never use her bow, but she can still get the passive benefits of carrying, say, the bow of awareness (+1 initiative). Your rogue/ranger might rely entirely on their bow, but the Knife of the Undermountain king decreases your critical hit number by 1, even for your bow attacks.

What do *you* wish you'd figured out earlier?