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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cheiromancer" data-source="post: 2399581" data-attributes="member: 141">I think the changes you propose make the spell more complex than is necessary.  You allude to this briefly when you say that "Use of this spell requires that the terrain layout is done properly in advance for encounters."  That's easier said than done.  Actually doing all this could be quite burdensome for a DM; it is much easier to generalize about the environment than to place every tree and sapling.And is it even necessary to treat trees differently than bushes or tall grass?  Logically it seems that heavy trees should hamper the targets of the spell more than tall grass could; you accordingly make the DC a whopping 25 for the former and an easy 10 for the latter.  But it is just as logical to assume that a spell could not animate massive quantities of wood as effectively as a bit of grass; the heavy branches don't squeeze the victim quite as firmly, and so they are as easy to break free from as the light underbrush even though they are much stronger.  In other words, it makes just as much sense to maintain a flat DC as a variable one.  (Provided there is a certain minimal amount of vegetation.  The spell needs something to work with, after all).This would make it unnecessary to have a precise map of the local vegetation.As for some of the other changes- well, the size modifier sounds good at first.  Large creatures are stronger and more massive, and so should be able to break free more easily.  But since they are larger, they are next to more plants that could entangle them, so any bonus from their size would be more or less cancelled by a size-based penalty.  And a creature's size automatically gives them greater strength; they don't need an additional modifier based on size to reflect how well they can break free.  So the size modifier, while it sounds nice, is arguably unnecessary.I don't want to be entirely negative; I do like the notion that a slashing weapon would help get out of entanglement.  An adventurer with a machete should escape more easily than one without.  But rather than calculate hit points, maybe just a bonus to the strength/escape artist check?  A flat +2 or even a +4 bonus should be enough.It seems to me that the main problem with entangle is the excessively (IMHO) high DC to break free.  And of course you have to remember that creatures get to move the round they break free, possibly escaping the area.  But the simplest solution seems to be to lower the DC.  Make it a DC 15 strength or escape artist check instead of DC 20.  Add a few circumstantial modifiers as necessary (e.g. for having appropriate slashing weapons) and you are done.Just my two c.p.</blockquote>

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