D&D General Martial/Caster balance and the Grease spell

[Dessert Nomad]

Also, if you want an example of a martial character messing with the movement of enemies through tight corridors, a fighter-type with Polearm Mastery and Sentinel can shut down enemies much more effectively - an op attack as they enter his reach will drop the first giant to zero movement, and leave him blocking the others. The giant can't just dash to get out of the way of his fellows, as sentinel drops his move to zero for the rest of the turn. And the other giants can't use 'move through an ally's space, because they only have at best 10' of movement left when they get to the sentinel-stuck giant while they'll need at least 20' of movement to move through two friendly spaces. That does put a melee combatant into melee with one enemy, which is kind of his thing, but doesn't actually use up any resources, and only requires the melee character's reaction, not his main action or a counterspell.

10'x10' enemies with 30' move rates in tight (for them) corridors are just going to have a bad time in general.

 

[NotAYakk]

Also, if you want an example of a martial character messing with the movement of enemies through tight corridors, a fighter-type with Polearm Mastery and Sentinel can shut down enemies much more effectively - an op attack as they enter his reach will drop the first giant to zero movement, and leave him blocking the others. The giant can't just dash to get out of the way of his fellows, as sentinel drops his move to zero for the rest of the turn. And the other giants can't use 'move through an ally's space, because they only have at best 10' of movement left when they get to the sentinel-stuck giant while they'll need at least 20' of movement to move through two friendly spaces. That does put a melee combatant into melee with one enemy, which is kind of his thing, but doesn't actually use up any resources, and only requires the melee character's reaction, not his main action or a counterspell.

A giant grabs the first giant, pulls them out of the way, and the rest charge through.

It is effective, just not a complete shutdown.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'm just imagining how lame this example looks in the fiction.

The hero looks back at the plodding giants and gets an idea! They cast grease--that will slow the blighters down!

giants all ballerina leap over the grease, one even lifting another over them like a doubles iceskating team

The hero wonders why the gods hate him so much

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I'm just imagining how lame this example looks in the fiction.

The hero looks back at the plodding giants and gets an idea! They cast grease--that will slow the blighters down!

giants all ballerina leap over the grease, one even lifting another over them like a doubles iceskating team

The hero wonders why the gods hate him so much

I think it would make prefect sense as dramatic 'oh crap' moment had they successfully used the similar trick against lesser foes previously. Also to me it seems perfectly sensible that giants, who have really long stride, could relatively easily jump over a small grease puddle. Granted, depending on the conditions they might not necessarily notice it until at least one of them walks into it.

 

[Asisreo]

I'm just imagining how lame this example looks in the fiction.

The hero looks back at the plodding giants and gets an idea! They cast grease--that will slow the blighters down!

giants all ballerina leap over the grease, one even lifting another over them like a doubles iceskating team

The hero wonders why the gods hate him so much

I don't know...an earth-trembling leap from giants to bypass a very low level spell sounds rather reasonable. And them doing it ballerina style just makes them more intimidating.

"Oh no! They're strong...OH NO! THEY'RE GRACEFUL!"

 

[Dessert Nomad]

A giant grabs the first giant, pulls them out of the way, and the rest charge through.

It is effective, just not a complete shutdown.

Doesn't work. Giant 2 comes adjacent to Giant1, uses his action to grapple Giant1 (who chooses not to resist), then uses his remaining movement to drag Giant1 somewhere at half rate, which uses up Giant2's action and remaining movement, but the 10' of dragging doesn't actually get Giant1 or Giant2 completely clear of the 10' wide corridor Giant1 is blocking. Remember, this scenario involves a lot of blocking terrain and 10' wide openings (which the giants fill).

(If you're thinking Giant2 can grapple and then flip Giant1 to his other side and because it's still touching him so is technically a zero move, that A. likely doesn't solve the problem since the open areas are so restricted and B. is not an interpretation of the grappling rules that I would use in general, and certainly not an accepted enough one to use in a rules discussion).

 

[Dessert Nomad]

I'm just imagining how lame this example looks in the fiction.

The hero looks back at the plodding giants and gets an idea! They cast grease--that will slow the blighters down!

giants all ballerina leap over the grease, one even lifting another over them like a doubles iceskating team

The hero wonders why the gods hate him so much

A giant casually striding over what was supposed to be an obstacle, an imperial walker jumping over the dangerous area, or a hero making a mighty jump without breaking a sweat all look fine to me. Deciding that they must do something you think is silly looking is your decision, it's certainly not the most reasonable description of the action.

 

[Vaalingrade]

A giant casually striding over what was supposed to be an obstacle, an imperial walker jumping over the dangerous area, or a hero making a mighty jump without breaking a sweat all look fine to me. Deciding that they must do something you think is silly looking is your decision, it's certainly not the most reasonable description of the action.

1) giants jumping is never not silly.
2) It's the one that picks the other guy up that sells it as ballet.

All to discredit a low level spell on the internet in defense of the Gods* of the game.

*I'm sorry to offend our wizard overlords by naming them after lesser beings.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

1) giants jumping is never not silly.
2) It's the one that picks the other guy up that sells it as ballet.

All to discredit a low level spell on the internet in defense of the Gods* of the game.

*I'm sorry to offend our wizard overlords by naming them after lesser beings.

Get a grip. It's your own fault if you forget that things can jump. And this vendetta is getting frankly bizarre.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Oh, and to put things to perspective visually in the fiction, fire giants are roughly 18 feet tall. A ten foot grease patch for them is like a metre wide puddle for a human. They can literally just step over it, no actual jumping needed.