D&D 5E Help me escape from a grapple!

[camilaacolide]

Otyughs can be really dangerous:

• If it hits you with a tentacle attack, you're automatically grappled.
• If you're unable to escape in your next turn (DC 13), the Otyugh will slam you against a wall in its turn.
• The slam makes you save STR DC 14 or take damage and be stunned until the end of the Otyugh's next turn.
• Since while stunned you auto-fail STR saves and can't take actions, you literally take auto-damage and renewed-stun every round until you're dead, and you can do NOTHING about it.

Unless someone else in the party frees you from the grapple.
But I couldn't find rules in the PHB about helping a grappled friend.

How would you adjudicate this?
Would you let the helping adventurer roll his own STR/DEX DC 13 instead?
Is the interpretation of the Otyugh attack correct?

Thanks!

 

[neobolts]

Otyughs can be really dangerous:
How would you adjudicate this?

I would not have future STR saves against Tentacle Slam automatically fail. STR saves outside of this ability would auto-fail, but I'm guessing RAI was for the STR check to occur every turn.

Would you let the helping adventurer roll his own STR/DEX DC 13 instead?

I would let the helping adventurer make an attack against the tentacle. (See the Giant Spider ability Web for an example)

Is the interpretation of the Otyugh attack correct?

I don't see anything incorrect with your interpretation, but I also don't think they intended it to work the way it does as written.

 

[Wik]

Hunh. Never noticed that. Better hope you make a save versus Stun and escape before you're killed! If you can shake the stun - and maybe you have an ally that has an ability that'll let you do that - you can try to escape the grapple on your turn. If an ally spends his or her action to help you, you'll get advantage on the check, which will definitely help.

The rule there is the Help action, on page 192 of the PHB. It's a good one for your party to use, and we use it a lot to help the important attacks hit. That's the best way to help the character escape a grapple.

Otherwise, it's a case of using GM rulings to see if characters can help free someone from a grapple. If you were stunned and your friend were to use his action to free you, I'd let him make the normal check, but at disadvantage.

 

[camilaacolide]

@neobolts: I completely agree with you on RAI, although it would be a beautiful thing to see the grappled creature being slammed left and right until death, hehehehe! Anyway, there was a single other case in my group where one person was grappled and another wanted to free him from the grapple. Back then I just let the helping adventurer make the STR/DEX roll instead, but I really wanted to check if there was an official resolution.

@Wik: I like the idea of applying disadvantage to an external force breaking the grapple. Maybe I'll use this!

 

[Jester David]

Yup. Never solo an otyugh if you're low strength. Thankfully, it'a a team game, so the party can twack it.

 

[Wik]

Yup. Never solo an otyugh if you're low strength. Thankfully, it'a a team game, so the party can twack it.

Yeah, fully agreed.

Am I the only person that's reading this thread and thinking about throwing two or three of these guys against my party now? It'd be good fun to bonk their heads together a few times. The fact that the bonking is being done by an angry poop-eater is just icing on the (urinal) cake.

 

[Jester David]

Hunh. Never noticed that. Better hope you make a save versus Stun and escape before you're killed! If you can shake the stun - and maybe you have an ally that has an ability that'll let you do that - you can try to escape the grapple on your turn. If an ally spends his or her action to help you, you'll get advantage on the check, which will definitely help.

The rule there is the Help action, on page 192 of the PHB. It's a good one for your party to use, and we use it a lot to help the important attacks hit. That's the best way to help the character escape a grapple.

Otherwise, it's a case of using GM rulings to see if characters can help free someone from a grapple. If you were stunned and your friend were to use his action to free you, I'd let him make the normal check, but at disadvantage.

Agree. Working with an ally is the Help action. If the grappled party member is unconscious, well, maybe another character can make a check to pull them away, but doing do without hurting them is tricky. Higher DC or disadvantage, as you don't want to dislocate something.

 

[Wik]

Oo. Make a check with disadvantage at the DC and if you fail, no problem. Or make a normal check, but if you fail, you deal damage. I like.

 

[CapnZapp]

If you fail lots of DC 13 checks, you have no business playing with the big boys.

Translation: it's fine. Any competent party should slaughter the Otyugh before anyone notices your failed save.

 

[camilaacolide]

Yup. Never solo an otyugh if you're low strength. Thankfully, it'a a team game, so the party can twack it.

RAW, I'd say never solo an Otyugh ever!
It's CR 5, but just a few consecutive bad rolls with your 20th lvl Barbarian, 999 HP and STR 20, and you're poop!