Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Shake isn't an action. If multiple creatures were affected by this spell, how many could be awakened in a single action and how close must the creature who is doing the shaking be?
It would be nice if the language was clearer and said something like, "someone else uses an action to shake a single creature out of its stupor".
Why is this important? My DM interpreted the ambiguity to say another creature could reach out and shake multiple creatures within a single action. If I had 2 free hands and 2 creatures were within my reach, I could see that as possible, but what if my hands weren't free? It's a rabbit hole of debate in the middle of battle, bringing the battle to a halt while we debate the RAW. The DM wanting to wake multiple and the player wanting to limit to 1.
My reading is that it is one Action for one creature. If you want to do multiple creatures in a turn you need something like Haste or Action Surge. Part of the reason I would say you can't do two at once is because you seem to need to be somewhat focused on the creature you are waking up since it is not a Bonus Action.
That is just my interpretation, however.
It says "The spell ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor" That is singular. Explicitly one action to shake one creature. This seems cut-and-dried to me.
If the DM wants to wake multiple creatures, assuming the waker has multiattack, he should use the attack action and deal damage to them =)
Shake is defined as an action in the spell. Usually the fastest way to break a bunch of people out of hypnotic pattern is dispel or low levels of damage (for example, cast magic missile, one missile per target you want to wake up).
There are similar mechanics for other spells:
- Control Water (Whirlpool): [...] A creature can swim away from the whirlpool only if it first takes an action to pull away and succeeds on a Strength (Athletics) check against your spell save DC. [...]
- Earthquake: [...] a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check as an action to escape. [...]
- Eyebite (Asleep): [...] It wakes up if it takes any damage or if another creature takes an action to shake it awake. [...]
- Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere: [...] A trapped creature can take an action to make a Strength (Athletics) check against your spell save DC to break free. [...]
- Otto’s Irresistible Dance: [...] the target can take an action to collect itself and repeat the save, ending the spell on itself on a success. [...]
- Sleep: [...] The spell ends on a target if it takes damage or someone within 5 feet of it takes an action to shake it out of the spell’s effect. [...]
- Symbol (Sleep): [...] A creature awakens if it takes damage or if someone takes an action to shake it awake. [...]
While Shake isn't an action, the Actions table lists the game’s main actions only but player characters and monsters can also do things not covered by these actions. Many class features and other abilities provide additional action, such as the case of Hypnotic Pattern.
To me it's an action to shake out of its stupor each affected creature.
I'm aligned with everything everyone is saying. In my mind, the intent is one action to wake one creature.
I'm not sure that we've addressed the DM's perspective. He has creature A run up to 2 affected creatures B & C, B & C are in arm's length of A, and A shakes both B & C with its action turn. A has 2 arms. From the perspective of B, the shake action woke it from its stupor. From the perspective of C, the shake action woke it from its stupor.
The boundaries of shake aren't defined.
They are, as described above.
However, DMs can override the rules if they want. It wouldn't be unreasonable to raise the question with them, but if they say it's legit, it's legit at their table. (And you should remember it for when they use the spell on the party.)
And, honestly, it's not a ludicrous interpretation by any means.
Keep in mind that from the "realism" angle, each space is a 5'x5' square. Relatively few Medium creatures come to mind that would have arms long enough to reach across a 5ft span and effectively shake two other creatures. You can make this break down with larger and/or varied sizes, but the basic mechanics of 5e are based on the Medium creature scale. RAW and RAI are pretty clear here.