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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CanadienneBacon" data-source="post: 6859723" data-attributes="member: 11146"><a href="http://ephe.github.io/grimoire/spells/maximilians-earthen-grasp" target="_blank">Maximillian's earthen grasp</a> provides that "[a]s an action, you can cause the hand to reach for a different creature or to move to a different unoccupied space within range."  Emphasis mine.If a spellcaster casts the spell and directs it to attack a creature within the specified 30' range, then in a subsequent round moves out of range of the hand, what happens to the hand?  Does it vanish (wasting a 2nd level spell!)?  Does the hand move automatically until it is once again within range of its caster (like a puppy trailing after its master)?  Does the hand let go of a creature it had been grappling?  Does the hand continue grappling a creature it previously squeezed?  What if the player used his Bonus Action to cast a quickened spell, and his Action to disengage (and move out of range of the hand), but failed to say anything about how to treat the earthen hand he'd previously cast?  The spell description provides that moving the hand and/or directing the hand to switch targets to squeeze requires an Action, but is a little vague about how to treat range when the caster's moved away.My take is that the caster has to be within 30' of the hand to be able to direct or move the hand.  I think the spell description is reasonably clear on that.  My main question, however, is what happens to the hand when the caster moves out of range?  At a minimum, I think it ought to let go of any creature it might have been squeezing.  I'm unclear, however, whether the spell should end, or if the hand sticks around, where should it go and what should it be doing?  Letting the hand move feels a little bit like giving the player a free Action that he wouldn't otherwise be entitled to since he used his Action to disengage.  But, then again, I'm not entirely comfortable ruling that a 2nd level spell ends automatically once the spellcaster moves out of range.  This is for a party of fourth level characters, mind you, so a 2nd level spell is a huge resource.  I should additionally clarify that it's for a PbP game, so efficiency is paramount, particularly when we're in the middle of combat rounds...no time for the kind of back-and-forth you'd normally expect during a tabletop game.  I'd very much appreciate answers that take the PbP environment into consideration (at a table, obviously I'd simply prompt the player with something like, "Hey, dude, what about your character's earthen hand, you moving that or disengaging?").  I s'pose, even if this were a tabletop game, the meta-question of what happens to the hand remains.I'll take another look at PHB 202-203 and the spell description in the morning with fresh eyes, but in the interim I'd love to hear from the field.</blockquote>

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