D&D 5E Dragging a fallen comrade to 'safety' isn't safe

[seebs]

That doesn't make logical sense to me. Just because the one being dragged is unconscious, that doesn't make him/her impossible to attack. I would rule that the dragger and the drag-ee become a single unit for OA purposes, and the attacker may make an Opportunity Attack against either of them, but not both. And if the dragger has some kind of parry ability, he/she could use it to defend the unconscious drag-ee.

It's not as though "being dragged" is any more provoking than "just lying there unconscious".

Voluntary movement provokes. Involuntary movement doesn't.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I have an image in my head of the Rogue desperately dragging the Fighter out of melee, and the Goblins simply running after and happily chopping at the Fighter regardless. Like football, only with more gore.

 

[pdzoch]

I would think that dragging someone out of combat would be done from a position beyond an opponents reach. So, in such cases this would not be a concern (nor would the extracted player provoke attack of opportunity from the enemy as he is no longer an active opponent).

As for moving a fallen comrade out of combat along with yourself, I would rule that the player consumes an action to grab, interact with, or pick up with the fallen comrade and provokes attack of opportunity to do so. Moving out of reach also provokes OA. I think this is a consistent and reasonable ruling.

Comrade extraction should not be done in the heat of battle. Only those free from direct combat are safe enough perform such actions. (I've had a few players who want to conduct healing and stabilization right next to an enemy without repercussions, which is unreasonably unrealistic)

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

In general, fleeing from combat in 5e is really tough. The only people that can do it with any grace are Monks, Rogues, and spellcasters with access to Misty Step, Teleport, Expeditious Retreat or Word of Recall. Everyone else will have to either take more damage on the way out, or not be able to get far enough away to not just be caught next turn anyway.

Only way around it would be, I think, to add a 'fleeing' action to the game, which combined Dash and Disengage, but forbade you from attacking the turn afterwards.

Add Fighters to that list because Action Surge.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

It's not as though "being dragged" is any more provoking than "just lying there unconscious".

Voluntary movement provokes. Involuntary movement doesn't.

Or in other words, "5E's rules for opportunity attacks already don't make any sense. (Retreating while fencing is SAFER than advancing, not more dangerous.) Don't sweat it unless you're willing to rewrite them from scratch."

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I have an image in my head of the Rogue desperately dragging the Fighter out of melee, and the Goblins simply running after and happily chopping at the Fighter regardless. Like football, only with more gore.

If the Rogue drags the Fighter out of melee, he can drop caltrops at the same time at around the 20' mark. Goblin has to either slow to half speed (so no melee attack this round) or risk getting hobbled (DC 15 Dex save to avoid).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

If a combat encounter is going badly enough that one PC is going to sacrifice their turn to try to save another, as a DM I’m probably not going to compound it by kicking them more than needed. If the rescuer is in pretty good shape, maybe I’ll throw a single OA at them if they don’t take the disengage action.

 

[Uller]

If a combat encounter is going badly enough that one PC is going to sacrifice their turn to try to save another, as a DM I’m probably not going to compound it by kicking them more than needed. If the rescuer is in pretty good shape, maybe I’ll throw a single OA at them if they don’t take the disengage action.

I probably wouldn't either but I also tend to not target downed characters either with out RP reason. Reasons might include:

-Enemies are natural predators and just want to drag away a kill to eat...not really interested in causing a TPK.

-Enemies have AoEs.

-Some environmental hazard.

I try to explain to my players that are not tactically minded that provoking an OA is not always a terrible thing. Rogue is down to 0hp and lying on burning coals...fighter has 50hp. If the fighter would provoke and OA from the fire elemental (2d6+3 fire damage) to move the rogue away so he doesn't get 2 failed death saves might be worth it.

 

[Dausuul]

Trying to drag your buddy away from an enemy who can just chase and kill you is doomed to failure, in both real life and D&D.

In my experience, D&D characters try to drag each other around when:

• The dragger has special movement capability (a fast mount, dimension door, a fly speed) which the pursuing enemy lacks.
• The danger comes from a stationary threat, such as a terrain hazard or immobile enemy.
• There is a safe area nearby which the pursuing enemy cannot or will not enter, such as a ray of sunlight when fighting specters.

 

[UselessTriviaMan]

I think it's kind of a given that - if you're trying to drag your ally away from the bad guy so you can heal him - someone else in the party has already stepped up to engage said bad guy in melee combat and keep 'em from just walking alongside you while you drag their dinner away.

That's the assumption I made, anyway.