Yes. If an Unarmed Strike is used as an Attack of Opportunity and the Grapple Condition is applied to the creature its Speed is reduced to 0 and cannot increase. So it can stop a creature from running into you casters and wrecking havoc.
Having 0 speed for a split second while you get hit (andGrappled) in no way affects your ability to keep moving after the grapple has ended.
1B) I can't think of a scenario where a brief grapple would matter besides perhaps triggering Reactions.
A flying enemy that can't hover perhaps? Then getting its speed = 0 would mean that they fall out of the sky.
Yeah, but similar to your answer on OA, Wouldn't your ability to keep moving after the grapple has ended prevent hitting the ground?
I'm not sure there is a clear rule on that tbh. If you grapple the creature on its turn then yes, it should be able to continue moving directly. But if you hit it on your turn I'm not so sure. At the least I would expect it to fall some distance due to having no speed even if the grapple ends more or less immediately.
1B) I can't think of a scenario where a brief grapple would matter besides perhaps triggering Reactions.
A flying enemy that can't hover perhaps? Then getting its speed = 0 would mean that they fall out of the sky.
Yeah, but similar to your answer on OA, Wouldn't your ability to keep moving after the grapple has ended prevent hitting the ground?
I'm not sure there is a clear rule on that tbh. If you grapple the creature on its turn then yes, it should be able to continue moving directly. But if you hit it on your turn I'm not so sure. At the least I would expect it to fall some distance due to having no speed even if the grapple ends more or less immediately.
This question is relevant to the grappling rules in general, since if a flying creature falls if you grapple them, they're going to leave anybody's grappling reach.(Unless you're on them while grappling them, but that's outside of the realm of RAW to begin with.)
And the answer is... not well defined. The falling rules are sparse, and even the optional rules in Xanathar's aren't exactly detailed. Falling is assumed to be instantaneous, so by RAW a flyer would seem to fall all the way (or up to 500 feet).
However, since the creature's speed stops being zero once it leaves the grappler's reach, there's also an argument to be made that it stops falling at that point. Mechanically, falling is not atomic -- it can be interrupted by reactions -- so it's not an unreasonable argument that when the creature's state changes, it will interrupt the fall.
In practice, what I'd suggest doing is let the flying creature use its reaction to recover from the fall.
1B) I can't think of a scenario where a brief grapple would matter besides perhaps triggering Reactions.
A flying enemy that can't hover perhaps? Then getting its speed = 0 would mean that they fall out of the sky.
Yeah, but similar to your answer on OA, Wouldn't your ability to keep moving after the grapple has ended prevent hitting the ground?
I'm not sure there is a clear rule on that tbh. If you grapple the creature on its turn then yes, it should be able to continue moving directly. But if you hit it on your turn I'm not so sure. At the least I would expect it to fall some distance due to having no speed even if the grapple ends more or less immediately.
Setting aside the brief grapple scenario, if you grapple a flying creature, wouldn't the carrying rules apply? So does the creature stay in that position (e.g. over your head or something)?
Setting aside the brief grapple scenario, if you grapple a flying creature, wouldn't the carrying rules apply? So does the creature stay in that position (e.g. over your head or something)?
I guess that depends on the method by which they fly. If you manage to grapple a Beholder, you are going to restrict their flying "mechanism", but something with wings is going to fall flat.
1B) I can't think of a scenario where a brief grapple would matter besides perhaps triggering Reactions.
A flying enemy that can't hover perhaps? Then getting its speed = 0 would mean that they fall out of the sky.
Yeah, but similar to your answer on OA, Wouldn't your ability to keep moving after the grapple has ended prevent hitting the ground?
I'm not sure there is a clear rule on that tbh. If you grapple the creature on its turn then yes, it should be able to continue moving directly. But if you hit it on your turn I'm not so sure. At the least I would expect it to fall some distance due to having no speed even if the grapple ends more or less immediately.
Setting aside the brief grapple scenario, if you grapple a flying creature, wouldn't the carrying rules apply? So does the creature stay in that position (e.g. over your head or something)?
Hovering while flying prevents you from falling in certain circumstances.
While you have a Fly Speed, you can stay aloft until you land, fall, or die. So you fall if your Fly Speed is reduced to 0., unless you can Hover.
RAW Falling is not instantaneous, rate of falling is simply unspecified. I would assume briefly loosing Fly Speed and immediately recovering it means you can keep flying before plummeting to the ground.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Having 0 speed for a split second while you get hit (and Grappled) in no way affects your ability to keep moving after the grapple has ended.
Unless...
A flying enemy that can't hover perhaps? Then getting its speed = 0 would mean that they fall out of the sky.
Yeah, but similar to your answer on OA, Wouldn't your ability to keep moving after the grapple has ended prevent hitting the ground?
I'm not sure there is a clear rule on that tbh. If you grapple the creature on its turn then yes, it should be able to continue moving directly. But if you hit it on your turn I'm not so sure. At the least I would expect it to fall some distance due to having no speed even if the grapple ends more or less immediately.
This question is relevant to the grappling rules in general, since if a flying creature falls if you grapple them, they're going to leave anybody's grappling reach.(Unless you're on them while grappling them, but that's outside of the realm of RAW to begin with.)
And the answer is... not well defined. The falling rules are sparse, and even the optional rules in Xanathar's aren't exactly detailed. Falling is assumed to be instantaneous, so by RAW a flyer would seem to fall all the way (or up to 500 feet).
However, since the creature's speed stops being zero once it leaves the grappler's reach, there's also an argument to be made that it stops falling at that point. Mechanically, falling is not atomic -- it can be interrupted by reactions -- so it's not an unreasonable argument that when the creature's state changes, it will interrupt the fall.
In practice, what I'd suggest doing is let the flying creature use its reaction to recover from the fall.
Setting aside the brief grapple scenario, if you grapple a flying creature, wouldn't the carrying rules apply? So does the creature stay in that position (e.g. over your head or something)?
I guess that depends on the method by which they fly. If you manage to grapple a Beholder, you are going to restrict their flying "mechanism", but something with wings is going to fall flat.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Hovering while flying prevents you from falling in certain circumstances.
While you have a Fly Speed, you can stay aloft until you land, fall, or die. So you fall if your Fly Speed is reduced to 0., unless you can Hover.
RAW Falling is not instantaneous, rate of falling is simply unspecified. I would assume briefly loosing Fly Speed and immediately recovering it means you can keep flying before plummeting to the ground.