D&D 5E Is Grapple forced movement supposed to care about carrying capacity?

[Hriston]

The rule says, “you can drag or carry the grappled creature with you,” and I choose to interpret the words drag and carry as the same words in the rules for lifting and carrying.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Or that could just be 'natural language' muddying the waters again.

As pointed out, the rule implies you can do this to horse-sized creatures.

 

[Stormonu]

Dragging someone who is conscious around in a headlock or something similar I can see.

Dragging an unconscious being or picking up someone up off the ground, I'd check carrying capacity - my players use Beyond, so those values are already calculated and easily checked. Anything I can do to make Strength matter instead of being the 5E dump stat, the better.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Anything I can do to make Strength matter instead of being the 5E dump stat, the better.

Isn't that INT?

Or simply Not CHA or DEX?

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Anything I can do to make Strength matter instead of being the 5E dump stat, the better.

I don't think this tests Str too much, but rather whether there's Powerful Build/Enlarge. When you're carrying 100 pounds of equipment yourself, and the other body is carrying 100 pounds of their own stuff... there's not much room for the body itself.

 

[aco175]

I'm fine with this being more specific vs general and not to worry about capacity. You do use your attack action to initiate opposed checks which would seem to take half the Pcs out of every using it, and the other half will likely just attack most of the time leaving this more a circumstantial use at best. I think I only seen it twice in the last 10 years.

 

[Mannahnin]

It's very simple to figure out the intent of the rule, I think. The target of a grapple can be no more than one size category above you.

A 20 Strength Human Fighter can carry 300 pounds.

A Large-sized creature is at minimum 10' tall. Extrapolating from human average height/weight and the square cube law, that's going to be 896 pounds.

No medium-sized character could carry that weight, thus if that were a requirement, no such character* could move a large-sized creature.

*Possibly with Powerful Build, but no race had this trait when the PHB grapple rules were written.

If the intent was for players to not be able to move large-sized creatures in the grapple, the grapple rules would say so, not force you to go to another part of the PHB to determine an unstated restriction.

This exactly.

Anyone with any experience in grappling will tell you, it's not about how much you can lift, but how you can manipulate the opponent's body to make them go where you want them to.

Also this.

 

[Oofta]

I would require the ability to drag, since you are literally dragging your opponent. Pushing is different, even against opponents you couldn't normally drag you can knock them off-balance or it's a specific supernatural ability.

 

[ad_hoc]

I make rulings on it if the creature is out of the norm in some way.

An Iron Golem for example will be immoveable to most.

Same goes for an animated object that already has a speed of 0 for another example. An animated tree that is still rooted in the ground isn't going to be moved by the grapple rules.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I mean, I've grabbed and shoved around a smallish cow before. I wouldn't have been able to lift it, nor drag it if it were lying down. Now, you could argue that that was more Animal Handling, and I'd concede your point, but it was pretty seriously not cooperating!