A gelatinous Cube and a 10-feet corridor ...

[Nickolaidas]

So, I'm DMing a custom adventure I made and there's this situation in a dungeon ...

a 10-feet wide and say, 50 feet long corridor has a gelatinous cube in the middle. Like this:

XX
XX
XX
XX
GG
GG
XX
XX
XX
XX

X=empty corridor square
G=Gelatinous Cube

The PCs are walking down the corridor and they fail their Perception Checks to notice the Cube. Or - you know what? They spot it. They're aware, and not surprised. A Fighter, a Cleric, a Wizard, and a Rogue. So the 'map' is now like this:

WR
FC
XX
XX
GG
GG
XX
XX
XX

W=Wizard, R=Rogue, F=Fighter, and C=Cleric.

Now, let's assume that for the next couple of rounds, the party peppers the Cube with arrows and do some damage, but the cube walks up to them.

WR
FC
GG
GG
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX

Now, in the next round, the cube walks to the space of the Fighter and the Cleric and automatically uses its Engulf Ability on both of them at the same time (or can it only use on one of them - it's a 10x10ft Cube and by walking 5 ft forward walks inside both characters' area … am I wrong in this?). But the first character - the Fighter - saves successfully. However, the Monster Manual reads (in the Engulf Ability of the Gelatinous Cube):
"On a successful save, the creature can choose to be pushed 5 feet back, or to the side of the cube. A creature that chooses not to be pushed suffers the consequences of a failed saving throw".

However, in the above case, the fighter hasn't got anywhere to go - behind him is the wizard, and if I recall correctly, a creature cannot end its turn on another creature's space. The fighter also cannot go to the side because to the left is a wall, and to the right is the Cleric.

So does that mean that the Fighter automatically fails the save and is pulled inside the Cube? As well as the Cleric?

Or are both the Wizard and the Rogue 'automatically' moved 5 ft backwards (as long as there's room in the corridor) in order for the Figther and the Cleric to go to the 5ft space the Wizard and Rogue were just standing once they succeed in their saves?

Please, enlighten me folks!

 

[practicalm]

I would rule that there is no problem for the wizard and fighter to share the space for the time until one of them has a new turn.
They are sharing a space at the end of someone else's turn which is fine.

 

[Nickolaidas]

Player's Handbook - page 191
"Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can't willingly end your move in its space."

Doesn't the fighter moving 5 ft backwards to escape the cube counts as 'willingly ending one's move in its space'?

 

[Lidgar]

Obviously the fighter pushes the Wizard into the cube, taking his/her space. Isn't that what wizards are for?

PS - And why did someone allow the thief to skulk in the back? The cleric should know better.

 

[ad_hoc]

Give the Wizard the opportunity to use their reaction to step back to allow the Fighter room.

That's what reactions are for.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Player's Handbook - page 191
"Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can't willingly end your move in its space."

Doesn't the fighter moving 5 ft backwards to escape the cube counts as 'willingly ending one's move in its space'?

It's not his turn when the cube tries to engulf him.

On his turn he will have to end it somewhere else.

 

[Quickleaf]

So, I'm DMing a custom adventure I made and there's this situation in a dungeon ...

a 10-feet wide and say, 50 feet long corridor has a gelatinous cube in the middle. Like this:

XX
XX
XX
XX
GG
GG
XX
XX
XX
XX

X=empty corridor square
G=Gelatinous Cube

The PCs are walking down the corridor and they fail their Perception Checks to notice the Cube. Or - you know what? They spot it. They're aware, and not surprised. A Fighter, a Cleric, a Wizard, and a Rogue. So the 'map' is now like this:

WR
FC
XX
XX
GG
GG
XX
XX
XX

W=Wizard, R=Rogue, F=Fighter, and C=Cleric.

Now, let's assume that for the next couple of rounds, the party peppers the Cube with arrows and do some damage, but the cube walks up to them.

WR
FC
GG
GG
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX

Now, in the next round, the cube walks to the space of the Fighter and the Cleric and automatically uses its Engulf Ability on both of them at the same time (or can it only use on one of them - it's a 10x10ft Cube and by walking 5 ft forward walks inside both characters' area … am I wrong in this?). But the first character - the Fighter - saves successfully. However, the Monster Manual reads (in the Engulf Ability of the Gelatinous Cube):
"On a successful save, the creature can choose to be pushed 5 feet back, or to the side of the cube. A creature that chooses not to be pushed suffers the consequences of a failed saving throw".

However, in the above case, the fighter hasn't got anywhere to go - behind him is the wizard, and if I recall correctly, a creature cannot end its turn on another creature's space. The fighter also cannot go to the side because to the left is a wall, and to the right is the Cleric.

So does that mean that the Fighter automatically fails the save and is pulled inside the Cube? As well as the Cleric?

Or are both the Wizard and the Rogue 'automatically' moved 5 ft backwards (as long as there's room in the corridor) in order for the Figther and the Cleric to go to the 5ft space the Wizard and Rogue were just standing once they succeed in their saves?

Please, enlighten me folks!

The map is not the terrain. You might rule:

• The fighter shares the wizard's space – adapting the rules for squeezing.
• This particular dungeon has intermittent alcoves, and the fighter is pushed into one of those as he sees the Gelatinous Cube move just six inches away from his face so that he can smell the acrid scent of its transparent "skin."
• There happens to be a jammed pit trap which the fighter realizes and activates, clinging to the edge with one hand as the Gelatinous Cube passes above.
• The hallways in this dungeon are barrel vaulted, and the mostly square Gelatinous Cube does not occupy that arched few feet above, so the fighter might pull a spy/thief move, arms and legs pressed against the stone watching the cube slither below. Or perhaps there is a shaft in the ceiling for sunlight/airflow the fighter can leap up and grab?

 

[Eltab]

Doesn't the fighter moving 5 ft backwards to escape the cube counts as 'willingly ending one's move in its space'?

It does sound like it when using common sense, but we have rules to adjudicate strange stuff that happens. (Or cause strange stuff to happen, sometimes. )

The Cube is pushing the Fighter, he is not moving under his own power. So the two characters can share a space until one of their turns comes up. At the end of that character's turn, that character has to be somewhere else.

(If the Wizard goes first, this is what Expeditious Retreat is for. If it's the Fighter, Shovel a piece out of the Cube and step back three squares.)

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I'd just house rule on the fly. I'd let him move 5 feet into an occupied square to avoid being engulfed but he'd fall prone.

Although, being automatically engulfed sounds fun. There's a reason the gelatinous likes hunting in this hallway...

 

[aco175]

I would likely rule that the cube cannot move further since it cannot enter the fighter's square because the fighter cannot end in the mages square. I would say that the cleric was engulfed and the cube lurched back.