D&D 5E Fear spell and the Dash action

[dumdragon]

[h=5]Hello all,
I have a question about how far a creature has to move when affected by the Fear spell.
Assume a medium creature with a 30' move and an unobstructed view of the caster that cast the spell.

Does the affected creature have to move 60' (30' for the Dash action and 30' movement)?
Or just 30' (using the 30' extra movement granted by Dash and 0' movement)
Can it move less? Somewhere between 5' and 25' (using just part of the extra movement granted by Dash action and 0' movement)?
Or some other number using part of its extra movement and part of its regular move?




The Fear spell says:
While frightened by this spell, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest available route on each of its turns, unless there is nowhere to move, If the creature ends its turn in a location where it doesn't have line of sight to you, the creature can make a Wisdom saving throw. On a successful save, the spell ends for that creature.

This is from the combat chapter:[/h][h=5]Your Turn
On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed and take one action. You decide whether to move first or take your action first. Your speed—sometimes called your walking speed—is noted on your character sheet. The most common actions you can take are described in the “Actions in Combat” section later in this chapter. Many class features and other abilities provide additional options for your action.The “Movement and Position” section later in this chapter gives the rules for your move. You can forgo moving, taking an action, or doing anything at all on your turn. If you can’t decide what to do on your turn, consider taking the Dodge or Ready action, as described in “Actions in Combat.”

This is from the actions in combat section:
Dash
When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn. The increase equals your speed, after applying any modifiers. With a speed of 30 feet, for example, you can move up to 60 feet on your turn if you dash. Any increase or decrease to your speed changes this additional movement by the same amount. If your speed of 30 feet is reduced to 15 feet, for instance, you can move up to 30 feet this turn if you dash.[/h]

 

[Shendorion]

The creature must take the Dash action, per the spell. The spell doesn't specify that it must move to the extent of its movement allowance on every action it uses to move, but if the "safest available route" allows it to, that's the intent of the spell effect.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

I guess it all boils down to : What do you think makes most sense in your game?

Personally, I see the "intent" of the spell as this: "The target is scared scatless and moves as fast as he can away from the caster". To me, that means running (e.g., Move + Dash in 'game terms'). If you are wondering what 'fastest' is, ask the player to calculate his characters best non-spell movement as if his character was competing in a 100-meter dash for 1,000gp. Whatever that is, that's how fast the PC should be moving away from the caster.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Blue]

While frightened by this spell, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest available route on each of its turns.

The Dash action is NOT a separate amount of movement. It grants "When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn." (PHB, pg 192)

So there is no "just taking the Dash movement" because that doesn't exist. The Dash action just increases your base movement, it's not a move within itself.

That doesn't answer if you need to use your full movement. At my table I'd rule yes, based on the intent of the spell. From reading the Frightened condition where you have disadvantage while the source of fear is within line of sight, I could see an argument that you need to keep moving until the source is out of site though it's not what I would default to.

 

[Noctem]

The spell forces the creature to take the dash action and then move away from you on each turn. That indicates to me that it would use all of its movement to move away from you as much as possible on each turn. Then, if the creature can't see you at the end of its turn it can make a wisdom save. If it fails it must continue to move away from you unless it physically can't.

 

[Kalshane]

The Dash action is NOT a separate amount of movement. It grants "When you take the Dash action, you gain extra movement for the current turn." (PHB, pg 192)

So there is no "just taking the Dash movement" because that doesn't exist. The Dash action just increases your base movement, it's not a move within itself.

That doesn't answer if you need to use your full movement. At my table I'd rule yes, based on the intent of the spell. From reading the Frightened condition where you have disadvantage while the source of fear is within line of sight, I could see an argument that you need to keep moving until the source is out of site though it's not what I would default to.

There's lots of spells and abilities in the game that inflict a condition AND an additional effect or modify the condition's effect.

The Fear spell inflicts the Frightened condition AND forces you to run away as fast as you can until you succeed in your save or the duration ends.

The Charm Person spell inflicts the Charmed condition AND makes the target view the caster as a friendly acquaintance.

Etc.

The conditions are the baseline. The specific spells and abilities sometimes build from there.

I completely agree on your interpretation of what "take the Dash action" means, though.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

As others have said, Dash is on top of movement, not instead of.

Anything else would make the victim not Frightened, but Wary or Slightly Spooked. Makes no sense thematically otherwise. They're terrified, like "get me the hell outta here".

No "get me the hell outta here...ooh, shiny, I'll just loot this body first" or similar.

 

[spectacle]

As others have said, Dash is on top of movement, not instead of.

Anything else would make the victim not Frightened, but Wary or Slightly Spooked. Makes no sense thematically otherwise. They're terrified, like "get me the hell outta here".

No "get me the hell outta here...ooh, shiny, I'll just loot this body first" or similar.

Most of the time being Frightened doesn't make you run away though, the running away as fast as you can is a special effect from the Fear spell, the Frightened condition only prevents you from moving closer to the scary thing.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

But we are talking about this specific spell, no?

Being "Frightened Plus" makes it even less likely to do anything but run away as fast as you can.