What would casting Grease on a swarm do?


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Grease + crawling swarm, lots of sliding bodies.

Grease + swimming swarm, no effect.

Grease + flying swarm, no effect.
 

Eloi said:
Grease + crawling swarm, lots of sliding bodies.
Can you translate that into RAW, please? :)

Specifically, would one roll a single save for the entire swarm, and if failed, would the entire swarm fall down? That seems...odd.
 

As per the rules for the swarm subtype "A swarm makes saving throws as a single creature.". And the creature entries tend to indicate that swarms use skills as a single creature as well.
 

If the save failed, the swarm would have enough of itself incapacitated that "fall down" is a good way to describe it.

Should buy you enough time to get those flasks of oil out, and douse the swarm, preparatory to lighting it off.

Good luck!
 

No effect.

Grease can't be cast on creatures.

Grease
Conjuration (Creation)
Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target or Area: One object or a 10-ft. square
Duration: 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw: See text
Spell Resistance: No
 

I wouldn't say "no effect", because I would make some presumption that the character knows enough about his own spells to know he can only cast Grease on an area. So I would say a request to "cast Grease on a swarm" means "cast Grease on the area the swarm occupies, so it would be affected by the spell". Sort of like how nobody really casts Fireball on an orc, though that's the way some people say it.

That being said, there's nothing special about swarms that make them immune to Grease spells. In fact, Grease is an area spell, so it specifically DOES work on swarms as much as a Fireball would (though perhaps not so dramatic an effect).
 

A wizard is pointing at you, saying: “I fireball YOU!”

Do you...

a) counterspell.
b) dive for cover.
c) laugh and tell him: “Dude, you cannot cast fireball on me!”

:D

Bye
Thanee
 

You have to understand what a swarm is.

It is a group of tightly packed creatures. So tightly packed that affecting some of them at one edge (in this case bottom) of the group does nothing to the group as a whole.

300 non-flying tiny creatures (cat sized) or 1500 non-flying diminutive creatures (bat sized) or 10000 non-flying fine creatures (insect sized).

1000 flying tiny creatures or 5000 flying diminutive creatures or 10000 flying fine creatures.

Swarms are never staggered. They cannot be tripped, grappled, or bullrushed.

They cannot be knocked prone. Hence, they cannot fall down.


Although a small portion of a non-flying swarm at the bottom will be in the Grease, that is basically irrelevant to the majority of the swarm.

No effect.
 

KarinsDad said:
You have to understand what a swarm is.

It is a group of tightly packed creatures. So tightly packed that affecting some of them at one edge (in this case bottom) of the group does nothing to the group as a whole.

300 non-flying tiny creatures (cat sized) or 1500 non-flying diminutive creatures (bat sized) or 10000 non-flying fine creatures (insect sized).

1000 flying tiny creatures or 5000 flying diminutive creatures or 10000 flying fine creatures.

Swarms are never staggered. They cannot be tripped, grappled, or bullrushed.

They cannot be knocked prone. Hence, they cannot fall down.


Although a small portion of a non-flying swarm at the bottom will be in the Grease, that is basically irrelevant to the majority of the swarm.

No effect.

You are assuming they cannot be knocked prone. The SRD only says they cannot be tripped (unless i'm just missing it, in which case a quote would be nice). can't be tripped != can't be prone. Grease would affect any land-based swarm the same as anything else.
 

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