D&D 5E Can you grapple your own ally?

jaelis said:

I would apply the speed being halved only in the case of an unwilling target. Point is, I wouldn't use the grappling rules at all for a willing target.

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Here is how I look at it in combat you would most likely be suprised and put up a fight at first because you may not realize who it is just my take from real life experience. Now if they are taslking smack and their friend dragging them away usally it is a haphazard fake attempt no movement penalty.

Just the way I view the siutations

Hriston said:

No. It's an improvised action.

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Agreed.

As the DM, I've simply called for a Strength check to accomplish the task of dragging an ally out of melee, and I set the DC with morale and size categories in mind (e.g. it wouldn't be hard for a human to drag a smaller embattled ally out of the fray, but it would be very hard to drag a determined same-size or larger ally out of the same situation).

I would discourage a gamist approach where players contrive opportunities to improvise such an action in the interest of turning imaginative melee into a top-down chess match, but the narrative does at times involve halfling allies who get in over their head and dwarven allies who need to be yoked before they kill a would be prisoner.

hejtmane said:

Here is how I look at it in combat you would most likely be suprised and put up a fight at first because you may not realize who it is just my take from real life experience. Now if they are taslking smack and their friend dragging them away usally it is a haphazard fake attempt no movement penalty.

Just the way I view the siutations

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Talking is a free action... you can always yell "Bob, imma pull you outta there!" to let them know what is going on

mrpopstar said:

Agreed.

As the DM, I've simply called for a Strength check to accomplish the task of dragging an ally out of melee, and I set the DC with morale and size categories in mind (e.g. it wouldn't be hard for a human to drag a smaller embattled ally out of the fray, but it would be very hard to drag a determined same-size or larger ally out of the same situation).

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I was imagining a situation in which your ally does not oppose your attempt to drag him or her to a different location. For this sort of attempt, I wouldn't call for an ability check, but would consult your STR score to see if your ally's weight exceeds your carrying capacity, in which case your speed would drop to 5 feet. It would take your action on your turn to do this, as an improvised action.

As far as I'm concerned, if you were to actually grapple your ally by using the Attack action, they wouldn't be your ally any more because the action is clearly hostile.