D&D 5E Maximillian's earthen grasp and spell range

[Yavathol]

The problem becomes what to do with the hand as a practical matter. Is line of sight required to manipulate the hand if the caster moves out of range?

I'm away from my book now, but from what I remember, you have to have a clear path to the target square when the spell is cast. Neither the section on targeting nor the section on duration say anything about maintaining line of sight to prevent it expiring, only about maintaining concentration, which implies to me that concentration alone is sufficient?

And does anyone have thoughts on the issue of the hand requiring an Action to move and manipulate, specifically what might the hand be doing in the event the caster forgets about the hand and instead uses his Action to do something else for a round?

If the caster was in range of where he was when the spell was cast, and used his Action for something else, the hand would continue to restrain a creature, since the spell doesn't explicitly say the hand lets go if not activated. Ditto if the caster has moved, the range doesn't matter. IMHO

 

[Radaceus]

And does anyone have thoughts on the issue of the hand requiring an Action to move and manipulate, specifically what might the hand be doing in the event the caster forgets about the hand and instead uses his Action to do something else for a round?

If the Hand has a target restrained, the target remains restrained, but since the caster uses their action to do something else, the hand cannot crush, nor can it move as this requires the caster to use their action. Furthering that, the caster could have a target restrained, and cast another non-concentration spell, or attack (use an action).

Furthering that, a Caster with a target grasped and restrained, could direct it to crush the target ( or move to a new target if need be) and make a bonus action attack, or cast a bonus action spell.

 

[Sezarious]

If the Hand has a target restrained, the target remains restrained, but since the caster uses their action to do something else, the hand cannot crush, nor can it move as this requires the caster to use their action. Furthering that, the caster could have a target restrained, and cast another non-concentration spell, or attack (use an action).Furthering that, a Caster with a target grasped and restrained, could direct it to crush the target ( or move to a new target if need be) and make a bonus action attack, or cast a bonus action spell.

Agreed, range aside, in order to do anything decent with the spell, three things have to line up every round:1. Caster must Maintain concentration2. Caster must Use an action to squeeze (good auto damage lvs 3-4)3. The restrained enemy must fail their save every roundLike I said, grappling a scary enemy so you can run away is like using suggestion on them to run in the opposite direction to you or maintaining a web spell or an invisibility spell on a companion who needs to leave your range and line of sight. It's a pretty fair and standard use of the spell.Regarding play-by-post, well, maybe if the party indicate they're going to run away, you should roll three seperate strength saves for your grappled npc. If he fails all three, then unless he can track, it's assumed he struggled for too long to catch them and he loses the party. If he passes one of the saves, maybe he's not far behind them. What's 1 minute restraint to someone with survival training anyway?I would avoid house-ruling a dilution of the fun aspect of a spell, otherwise spells become all the same, just damage rolls in different forms. Better off either sending your players against better equipped enemies next time, maybe some who use hunting dogs or something.

 

[sim-h]

I would rule the following:
When you cast it, it must of course, be within 30' of you. The can cannot move more than 30' away from you. YOU can move more than 30' away from the hand though, and IMO, when you do, the spell ends.

I would have ruled that, but checking the PHB gives : "Once a spell is cast, its effects aren't limited by its range, unless the spell's description says otherwise." (top of p203)

Therefore I think if you move out of range the spell persists and restrains the target until the duration or you stop concentrating, however you cannot move it or control the hand to crush the target unless you get back within the 30ft range.

 

[Sunseeker]

I would have ruled that, but checking the PHB gives : "Once a spell is cast, its effects aren't limited by its range, unless the spell's description says otherwise." (top of p203)

Therefore I think if you move out of range the spell persists and restrains the target until the duration or you stop concentrating, however you cannot move it or control the hand to crush the target unless you get back within the 30ft range.

That works too, the hand just does the last thing it was ordered to do. As long as the 30' range was maintained somehow, I don't think I'd mind which way the ruling went.

 

[Yavathol]

The warlock spell Hex can last up to 24 hours with Concentration, but I don't see any DM ruling that the warlock has to keep line of sight to the target and stay within range the entire time!

In a similar manner, I believe once the Earthen Hand has been placed in a square, it can use an Action to grab an adjacent creature or crush an already grabbed creature but neither line of sight nor range are needed, only concentration. I'm trying to locate other spells which use an action within the spell description..aha! Spiritual Weapon

Spiritual Weapon doesn't require concentration and uses a bonus action but is otherwise similar. When cast, the caster must be within 60 feet of the weapon and have line of sight. The weapon can be moved up to 20 feet, but I can't see any text in the PHB which says the caster has to stay within a certain distance of the weapon, nor that the caster has to maintain line of sight to the weapon?

 

[jaelis]

I think that if you don't have line of sight, you'll have a hard time picking new target since you wouldn't know where the target was.

 

[Gadget]

Spells don't end if you move out of range unless they say they do. But if you pick a new space it has to be within 30 ft of your current location.

This. With the added (if obvious) caveat that if you do pick a new space within 30` of your current location, the old hand crumbles away.

 

[Sezarious]

I think that if you don't have line of sight, you'll have a hard time picking new target since you wouldn't know where the target was.

Exactly. There's no need to gimp the spell, because the difficulties of moving out of range will gimp you naturally in game.

You can do the squeeze attack at a distance, but who knows if your enemy has already escaped the hand and the caster is just wasting their actions instead of using said action to dash in an escape scenario.

 

[Yavathol]

Exactly. There's no need to gimp the spell, because the difficulties of moving out of range will gimp you naturally in game.

You can do the squeeze attack at a distance, but who knows if your enemy has already escaped the hand and the caster is just wasting their actions instead of using said action to dash in an escape scenario.

Agreed, there is all kinds of scope for interesting mistakes essentially, you have word of mouth or message spells. If the caster can see all his allies then he may or may not be correct in assuming that everyone else in the combat zone is an enemy!