D&D 5E Fear with no Options

[beaumontsebos]

Thanks for the input.

 

[Reynard]

See, this is one of those situations where I'd have a creature follow a logical course of action rather than use the rules. The PCs are obviously trying to exploit the rules to subdue the creature. Instead, the creature gains a huge amount of strength born of fear, using its action to escape and gaining advantage on the roll. Then it uses dash to run, possibly triggering AoO.

Why punish them for their intent? i mean, they could have just killed the thing and moved on instead, and every time you punish PCs for doing anything besides that you push them closer to murderhobohood.

 

[FrogReaver]

Problem was that the creature did have somewhere to move. But he didn't have the speed to get there. That was the issue to me. I'm happy with the solution.

If the creature had somewhere to move then the spell would have forced it to move there. Given your interpretation, the creature will not be able to fulfill the requirements of the spell to actually move away from the caster of the fear spell. "While frightened by this spell, a creature must take the Dash action AND move away from you". Thus at best, using your interpretation gives the DM total discretion on how to handle the spell when both requirements cannot be fulfilled.

However, the absurdity of your interpretation is that there are various movement types in D&D. Some creatures fly, some burrow, some pass through walls. Sometimes they can even pass through squares occupied by enemies. I think it's safe to say the rules weren't intending to claim that all these different modes of movement must be blocked in order for you not to be forced to use the dash action. Instead, its OBVIOUS (and this time it really is) that the spells intention is that "unless there is nowhere to move" qualifier is not universal but instead specific to the creature afflicted by the fear spell. As such a creature with 0 movement would qualify as having nowhere to move just as a surrounded creature without flight would have nowhere to move even if spaces above it were open.