2. Does not work if you ask creature to do something harmful. Man overboard in the middle of the sea can be deadly. Particularly if the crew is too busy to fish someone out.
My first question is: how badly did the target fail?
"Jump overboard" when obviously you'd going to die if you do so should be run the same as if the player had just commanded the target to "kill yourself". It isn't "stay right here" while the caster ties the person to the mast, or "you drink first" when the player suspects of bring given a poisoned drink.
Generally speaking, it's not impossible to Command a person to kill themselves, such commands are just easier to fight since they are so against what you want to do.
So I'll go back to my original question: How badly did the target fail? By a couple of points? I would have made him move towards the edge of the boat, perhaps close enough to be pushed in with his guard down, but it would have been an agonizing step every inch closer. Did the target roll a natural 1? Then I wouldn't fret about the outcome since the possibility of an adjusted DC allowing him to win would be out of the question.
Sailors tend to be stupid about everything except the ocean. So the person issuing the Command is basically issuing their order against the NPCs best skill (Sailing) in which the NPC is proficient. I would give such a target a higher bonus to succeed due to their knowledge and experience on the seas.
My first question is: how badly did the target fail?
"Jump overboard" when obviously you'd going to die if you do so should be run the same as if the player had just commanded the target to "kill yourself". It isn't "stay right here" while the caster ties the person to the mast, or "you drink first" when the player suspects of bring given a poisoned drink.
Generally speaking, it's not impossible to Command a person to kill themselves, such commands are just easier to fight since they are so against what you want to do.
So I'll go back to my original question: How badly did the target fail? By a couple of points? I would have made him move towards the edge of the boat, perhaps close enough to be pushed in with his guard down, but it would have been an agonizing step every inch closer. Did the target roll a natural 1? Then I wouldn't fret about the outcome since the possibility of an adjusted DC allowing him to win would be out of the question.
Can you provide a rule for that assertion?What does it matter? In 5E, a failure is a failure on a save. Why throw in "how much someone missed the save by" house rules?
That way leads to madness for a lot of other spells.
Can you provide a rule for that assertion?
3. Compare the total to a target number. If the total equals or exceeds the target number, the ability check, attack roll, or saving throw is a success. Otherwise, it’s a failure.
There is nothing in the rules that dictates that every failure is just like every other failure, nor every success just like every other success.
In fact, there are examples where rolling particularly high or low *does* have different effects. There are more examples in the WotC adventures where they do this.
The result of a successful or failed saving throw is also detailed in the effect that allows the save.