D&D 5E Fear with no Options

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I'd have ruled the same, because I believe the spirit of the "unless there is nowhere to move" bit of the fear spell is for the affected target to be able to do whatever it can to survive and find a way to get away (i.e. escape the grapple and then flee, or if backed into a corner fight past you and flee in a different direction).

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Good ruling, I'd have ruled the same way. This is exactly the kind of edge case that isn't explicitly covered by the rules and needs the DM to make a reasonable call.

 

[Satyrn]

Aye, good ruling.


It would also have been a fine ruling to have the frightened foe whimper and cry and beg for mercy instead of trying to escape. Or anything else you decided on that fit the spirit of being frightened and pinned.

 

[Eltab]

+1 to 'good call'

As I understand the situation, the target would have to break the grapple anyways and then stand up* before it could Dash away.
When you are Frightened you can still do what it takes to make an opening to run away from whatever Frightened you.

Looking at it from the target's view, the result might just be (auto-fails a morale roll) "Please don't kill me! I surrender!" and dissolves into an utterly defeated puddle on the floor.

* Doesn't this provoke Attacks of Opportunity?

 

[Blue]

Agree with all the good calls - with a choice of following the letter or the spirit of the rules when they conflicted, you went for the spirit. That makes a strong game.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

* Doesn't this provoke Attacks of Opportunity?

No opportunity attack from standing up, just from leaving someone's reach. (and a few special abilities)

 

[Bacon Bits]

Fear says the only action they can take is Dash as long as there is a space you can move into. A creature with speed 0 has no space that it can move into. Therefore, the action restriction doesn't meet it's conditional requirement.

I would probably rule that the only action a grappled creature could take would be to attempt to break the grapple and then flee.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

As folks have said, good call.

Though personally, I'd have them also voiding their bowels, vigorously, as a Reaction.



I know I would..

 

[beaumontsebos]

Thanks for the responses. I think if I could do it again, I would have warned the Bard before he cast the spell that I would allow the creature an escape action in case it would have made him change his mind on casting. In the heat of the moment, I didn't realize it would cause a problem until after the spell was cast. So, if it happens again in the future, I'll add that little adjustment.

 

[Hriston]

I don't see what the problem is. The rules are quite clear that the creature is only limited to taking the Dash action if it has somewhere to move. This creature had nowhere to move due to being grappled, so its other actions were available. Was the problem that the bard player had different expectations about how the spell was supposed to work?