Command: Flee

[FrogReaver]

Historically many deaths occurred when the defeated enemy were killed while fleeing. A command of "Withdraw" would result in a Disengage and move. If you give the command "Flee" and the target knows its escape route is egregiously dangerous then modifying the saving throw seems appropriate.

I can see it either way. I think a lot depends on DM interpretation there.

 

[cmad1977]

A character of mine had been hit with that. The DM said the caster used ‘suicide’ as the command word. So my character dropped his shield and weapon and charged across the battlefield to tackle the caster. His words were... ‘well.... your not wrong...’

This wasn’t 5e as I don’t think ‘suicide’ is an option.

Bottom line: yes I’d say the target uses the dash.

 

[Seramus]

Intelligent with combat experience? Disengage.
Intelligent without combat experience? Dash.
Unintelligent? Dash.

Though, I have had creatures use special abilities if that would let them escape better. Like a night hag going Ethereal instead of physically running away.

 

[aco175]

Command is a fantastic spell. Except for one thing. It is language dependent. There's a rather large number of critters in the MM that don't speak common. It has come up so often that my current cleric often burns a spell on Tongues just to be sure to be able to use Command.

One thing I was just thinking is how many commands would a PC know in other languages. Since there is only one common language, would PCs know other language commands, or should they only know what they have listed as languages they are fluent in. I was thinking how many other languages I can say 'hello' or 'good-bye' in thought that if I could cast command that I would as least want to know how to say 'flee' in goblin, orc, and maybe giant.

I guess this would be a DM thing or maybe making a check. Not sure on the check in that if the PC makes one and then fails against the next goblin. You could say that it is a inflection think or not pronouncing right the 2nd time, so I guess it could work.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

One thing I was just thinking is how many commands would a PC know in other languages. Since there is only one common language, would PCs know other language commands, or should they only know what they have listed as languages they are fluent in. I was thinking how many other languages I can say 'hello' or 'good-bye' in thought that if I could cast command that I would as least want to know how to say 'flee' in goblin, orc, and maybe giant.

I guess this would be a DM thing or maybe making a check. Not sure on the check in that if the PC makes one and then fails against the next goblin. You could say that it is a inflection think or not pronouncing right the 2nd time, so I guess it could work.

If the PC invested character resources in knowing more than just the default languages, they most definitely would get to issue valid Commands to creatures who understand languages that they are proficient in.

 

[abirdcall]

If you want a spell that provokes OAs then Dissonant Whispers is the one.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

If the PC invested character resources in knowing more than just the default languages, hey most definitely would get to issue valid Commands to creatures who understand languages that they are proficient in.

Of course. But you don't need to be fully conversational in Goblin to know that "Rarka!" is a command to flee. Memorizing useful commands in common monster languages would be time well spend for a cleric who plans to cast Command a lot.

In fact, the "one word" limit on commands means that the language you're speaking in will affect what commands you can give. In some languages it's possible to express quite complicated orders in a single word, in others it can be very hard to give a meaningful command in less than two words.

 

[Shiroiken]

My favorite Command (as the DM) is Defecate. Nothing horrifies players more

In general, I try to balance out the power of Command to be a one turn loss. With other commands, none of them seem to force an action. In the case of flee, I'd have them move, but not force the dash action.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I can see it either way. I think a lot depends on DM interpretation there.

Yep, I always try and confirm with DMs how they treat the one word commands, because some are prone to wordsmith things like old school DMs trying to screw you over on Wishes.

So for instance, a monster is holding a weapon in their hand... the typical Command would be like Disarm, or Drop... but as that would only put the item at their feet... I would ask what their ruling on something like Throw would be.

Since they only have a single item, the logical belief is they would throw their weapon... but some DMs would not want to go along with something supposedly "better" and then say "Well, the goblin decides to throw what is in his off-hand, which has nothing in it. Command fulfilled."

Obviously DMs like that I find rather annoying, because it's a situation that is going to come up infrequently enough that wordsmithing your way through it is just irritating. And it's more fun for everyone if you just decide to let the goblin lean back and toss their sword across the room.

Of course, I'm also a story-first DM, so that's how I like to rule interesting ways of using Command. The game-first DMs probably see a Command like Throw as an attempt to game the system and thus wouldn't go along with it.

 

[Satyrn]

In fact, the "one word" limit on commands means that the language you're speaking in will affect what commands you can give. In some languages it's possible to express quite complicated orders in a single word, in others it can be very hard to give a meaningful command in less than two words.

You could probably write legislation with one word of German.