Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in- Marketplace
Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2618954-reverse-gravity
"All creatures and objects in that area that aren’t anchored to the ground fall upward and reach the top of the Cylinder. A creature can make a Dexterity saving throw to grab a fixed object it can reach, thus avoiding the fall upward."
Cast ReverseGravity on an area. Creature in area succeeds Dex save. It is now grabbing some fixed object to avoid falling upward.
Can the creature move?
Or would moving require letting go of the fixed object and therefore it is no longer anchored to the ground and falls upward?
Would it need to do some kind of skill check to try to move? As if hanging from some precarious position and trying not to fall? What would the skill check dc be?
The more specific scenario is if the creature is a tarrasque. Its saving throws and legendary resistances means it will likely succeed its dex save for reverse gravity. But is it then unable to move while ReverseGravity is active?
A problem witb a tarrasque is it csn move 240 feet per round, making it nearly impossible to keep up with it. 60 feet of movement plus 3 legdnday actions per round that each do another 60 feet of movement.
If a tarrasque is making a beeline to some distant destination, a party cant even keep up. And if a party is doing damage to a tarrasque, its best solution might just be to run really fast and get away.
The rules for reverse gravity only mention a single saving throw.
Concievably, a creature that makes the initial savd could try to move on its turn, but then would have to use ability checks instead of a save. Saving throws are for responding to something imposed on you. Skill checks are for when you want to try to actively deal with something already imposed on you.
And the tarrasque doesnt have legendary skill checks. So there is a bette chance of it fsiling, which mean it falls upward and is immobilized.
So, generally, can a creature who succeded its initial dex save for reverse gravity move? Would an athletics skill check resolve whether it successfully moves? What sort of dc would that be?
The effect only persists on those objects and creatures within the initial area of effect that both a) fail their saving throw, and b) reach the top of the cylinder without striking anything. Creatures and objects that enter the area after the spell is cast are not required to save vs the effect. Nor do creatures that successfully saved vs the effect when the spell is cast. the 'falling upward' only happens once: when the spell is cast.
It's weird, but that is the way the spell is written.
Also note that creatures and objects that strike something before reaching the top of the cylinder (a ceiling, say) possibly taking falling damage (per the spell), and then immediately fall back to earth, since they have not met the spell's condition "reaches the top of the cylinder." (taking damage again, per the normal rules for falling)
Yes. If they saved, they are unaffected by the spell. That description is flavor.
You can tell because there's no provision in the spell to remove the option to save if there's nothing to grab on to. Nor does it specify any restrictions on creatures that saved. Nor does it specify any effect on anything that later enters the area.
As written, it scoops up everything it can at casting and tosses them upward, holding them there for the duration. If you avoid the initial scoop, it does nothing.
Sometimes the wording in the rules is just the worst. This is one of those rules
Ah. I think the term they use nowadays is "emanation" to descibe an ongoing effect in an area.
Reverse gravity is not an emination.
Its a one-time save, and for those who succeed and anyone who walks through the area later, there is absolutely no effect on them.
Yeah that is badly worded
Emanation is an aura extending from a creature. Any area effect can persist over a duration, but the description will specify what happens to a creature that enters the area, and how often they can be affected.
Examples, one an emanation, one not: spirit guardians, magic circle
Reversing time to get messages from the distant past...
4 months later and similar question got completely different interpretations
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/rules-game-mechanics/240865-reverse-gravity-stuck-no-matter-what
There, the answers say its a persistent aoe, if you enter later you have to make a save, and describe effects quite different from this thread
you got answers (and probably votes) for that interpretation from a whole two different people, one of whom changed their mind
that is so much less impactful than the 2 or 3 people here.
Ok Textual Analysis time. The description of the spell provides all the information we need:
This is the contextual explanation of what the spell does. It reverse gravity in an area for the duration of the spell. Gravity remains in the new orientation until the spell ends.
Next we get the mechanistic consequences of this contextual definition:
The mechanistic consequences of gravity being reversed in that area is that all creatures & object in the area fall upwards. However, a provision is included for creatures (i.e. beings able to actively interact with their environment) can attempt to grab a fixed object it can reach. This requires there to be a fixed object within reach for them to grab onto, and they have to choose to attempt to grab it. If either of those requirements are not met, they cannot make the Dexterity saving throw.
If they fail the Dexterity saving throw, or are at any point unable to hold onto the fixed object they fall upwards again.
Note this description does not say it is one-time : e.g. "all creatures and objects in the area when the spell is cast...." it is phrased as a description of the consequences of the reversed gravity thus apply for the duration of the gravity reversal. So any creature that enters the area of reversed gravity at any time falls upwards.
Then we get two possible outcomes of the falling upwards depending on what is above the targets:
This reinforces that this spell reverses the gravity so the upward fall uses the same mechanics as a downward fall it the targets hit something above them, but that the reversed gravity is limited to the area of the spell so creatures stop falling and instead hover in place if they reach the top of the area without striking something.
Lastly we get what happens when the spell effect ends:
Really they should have clarified this point with "When the spell ends, gravity returns to normal and affected objects and creatures fall downwards.".
[Redacted]
I'm not sure that is what it actually says.
You said: "...there's no provision in the spell to remove the option to save if there's nothing to grab on to."
But that's not true. It clearly states: "A creature can make a Dexterity saving throw to grab a fixed object it can reach, thus avoiding the fall upward." If there are no fixed objects, then there are none that it can reach, and therefor they cannot make the saving throw. If they wanted the Saving Throw itself to negate the effect of the spell, they could have simply written "A creature can make a Dexterity Saving Throw to negate the effect of the spell, potentially grabbing a fixed object in the area." This would be flavor. The saving throw does what it says mechanically, and then gives a descriptive flavor for how it happens.
What we have in the spell is a rule for when the Saving Throw can be made: when there is a fixed object within reach. If it were merely flavor, I don't feel like it would have the added "it can reach", as that wouldn't be necessary. It would be assumed they could reach it, as they had succeeded on the Saving Throw (if it were flavor).
I don't really see how any of this is supported by the spell text.
The spell states it reverses gravity in an area (a cylinder, specifically). This lasts for 1 minute. There's nothing to suggest that this is a one-time effect on the creatures in the area at the time.
As for the "creatures and objects that strike something before reaching the top of the cylinder (a ceiling, say) possibly taking falling damage (per the spell), and then immediately fall back to earth, since they have not met the spell's condition "reaches the top of the cylinder." (taking damage again, per the normal rules for falling)", that isn't supported by the spell text either. If they reach the top of the cylinder they hover, because there is nothing else around them, so nothing to move off of. If they are stopped by the "ceiling" (now the floor), they are simply on the new floor (for the duration). They could get up and walk around on the ceiling (now floor) as much as they want. If the spell intended creatures to immediately fall back to the floor (now ceiling) after striking something like the ceiling (now floor), it would say so. It does not. It only says creatures fall back to the original floor after the spell ends. Until then, gravity is consistently reversed in the cylinder for the duration.