Grease. It feels a bit modern for a sorcerous spell. Perhaps a spell like this is better suited for the sort of wizard that’s airbrushed onto the side of an Econoline van, rather than a wizard that embarks upon dangerous dungeon delves. Or a bard that sings like John Travolta. Nevertheless, grease is a spell that I’ve seen get precious little use in fifth edition D&D, whereas it was a staple spell for wizards and sorcerers alike in D&D games I played in earlier editions. What was grease like back then? What changed? And how can you use grease to its fullest potential in your fifth edition D&D games?
Improvising with Grease
Grease is the kind of spell that thrives when a Dungeon Master allows their players to use their knowledge of real-world physics to their advantage. This may seem distasteful if you advocate for strict adherence to the rules, since requires going beyond the strict “rules as written” of D&D, but I assure you that your games will be more memorable if you supplement the rules with your own interpretations. For example, one of my all-time favorite gaming moments was when I created an encounter with a hydra in third edition D&D. The hydra loomed atop a steep stone wall that the characters would have to climb in order to continue through the dungeon, all while contending with the hydra’s snapping jaws and its serpentine necks twisting down around them.
My players managed to circumvent this encounter in a way that I’ll never forget; the wizard cast dimension door to whisk the party to the top of the cliff—behind the hydra—and initiative was rolled. The hydra advanced on the party and got a few quick hits in, but the sorcerer quickly retaliated with a grease spell, cast right underneath the hydra. As the beast struggled to find its footing, the fighter and ranger bull rushed the monster, tackling it like a pair of linebackers, and sliding the staggering hydra across the greased cave floor like a hockey puck. The warriors skidded to a halt and the edge of the cliff, and the mighty hydra careened off the cliff, roaring and snapping, and tumbled to the ground below. The beast lived, but it couldn’t scale the cliff, and the party exchanged congratulations and continued through the dungeon content in a job well done.
Third Edition (v3.5)
The thing is, the current iteration of grease is pretty limited compared to versions of old. I first saw grease used in third edition D&D; let’s compare the two iterations of the spells side to side. The full spell text of the 3.5 version of grease can be found in the v3.5 SRD. Let’s break them both down.
Spell Details
This covers the technical details of the spell, like range, who can cast it, what level the spell is, and so forth. We’ll summarize these, rather than spelling them all out. They’re essentially the same, except that the spell is exclusive to wizards in fifth edition, and it’s available to bards, sorcerers, and wizards in third edition. I have no idea what prompted this change; it seems better suited to bards than wizards, in my opinion. Notably, the target of the spell can also be an object in third edition, whereas it can only target a 10-foot squre in fifth edition. More on this later.
Main Effects
In both third and fifth edition, the main function of grease is to cause a 10-foot by 10-foot patch of ground to become incredibly slippery, and any creature that enters the patch of ground must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (or, in third edition, a Reflex save) or fall prone, and the ground becomes hard to walk through. In fifth edition, any creature that enters the area or ends its turn there must make the saving throw; likewise, in third edition, a creature in the grease makes this save on the caster’s turn.
The above distinction seems minute, but the way fifth edition handles creatures entering the grease is actually a clever condensation of an additional effect included in third edition. There, in order to walk through the spell’s space at all (even at half speed), a creature must make a DC 10 Balance check—essentially, a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure, the creature can’t move, and if the check fails by 5 or more, it falls prone again.
I was initially confused by the change, but I actually think fifth edition’s version is simpler, more elegant, and more powerful. Third edition potentially allows you to completely lock a creature in place with this feature, but in order to do so, it has to fail a pitifully easy DC 10 ability check. Fifth edition’s version of this effect forces another saving throw, which is almost guaranteed to have a higher DC. Even though it doesn’t completely immobilize the creature, slipping and falling again forces the creature to spend half its movement to stand again, which is nearly as powerful.
Secondary Effect
Grease has a secondary effect in third edition that isn’t replicated at all in fifth edition: the ability to grease an object, rather than an area, making the object slippery and hard to handle. An unattended object is always successfully greased, but you can also target an object held by a creature, granting the creature the chance to make a successful Reflex save to avoid the effect. On a failure, though, the creature fumbles the item and drops it at its feet. Likewise, a creature that tries to pick the greased item back up has to succeed on this save to pick it up again, and must continue attempting the save any time it tries to use the item. Likewise, a creature wearing greased armor has a +10 bonus to escape grapples and resist being grappled. Incredible!
I love this effect, and I’m at a loss as to why it wasn’t replicated in fifth edition. Perhaps the logistics of the spell were deemed a bit too complicated to include in a 1st-level spell?
Using Grease as a Player
For reasons I can’t quite place, grease hasn’t found a place in the spellbooks of most fifth edition wizards. Perhaps being able to grease the hilt of a hobgoblin’s sword or an archmage’s arcane focus was such an important element of the spell that, without it, grease is consigned to languish in obscurity. If you want to add grease to your spellbook, you should know the strengths and weaknesses of this simple-but-effective battlefield control spell.
The Limitations of Grease
While grease has immense power when wielded correctly, it also has some serious limitations that can make it difficult to use it to its full potential. Here are some drawbacks to be aware of when considering learning or preparing grease, all of which are situational disadvantages that mean you have to do some research and reconnaissance before preparing grease on any given adventuring day.
- Wide-open Areas. Without advantageous terrain, it can be difficult to use grease effectively, since enemy combatants can simply walk around the greased area.
- Land Only. Similarly, this spell has no real use when you aren’t on the ground, such as when you’re swimming or flying. This isn’t usually an issue, but with Ghosts of Saltmarsh ushering in a host of new aquatic campaigns, it’s worth considering how much use you’ll actually get out of a spell that only works on land.
- Enemy Movement. Grease has no effect on creatures that can fly over it, burrow under it, or climb around it, and it likewise has no effect on incorporeal creatures.
- No Upcasting. Unfortunately, grease’s power doesn’t increase when cast with a spell slot of higher than 1st level. Though its effect is still useful, it would be nice if the spell’s area of effect were increased when cast at a higher level.
The Strengths of Grease
With all that in mind, what are the strengths of grease? Obviously, the spell’s straightforward effects are useful; causing an enemy to fall prone and making a specific area difficult to move through has immense benefits in both fight-to-the-death melees, and in scenarios where you are pursued, such as in thrilling escape sequences or fights where you have to play keep-away with a MacGuffin. But what goes on beyond that?
- Any Movement Activates. Some effects in D&D only activate when a creature moves into a space of its own volition, such as opportunity attacks. Grease, however, makes no such distinction. If an ally takes the Shove action or pushes an enemy into your grease patch with thunderwave or the Repelling Blast warlock invocation, your foe still needs to make a saving throw.
- Mighty in Restrictive Space. As a counterpoint to an earlier weakness, grease excels when used in restrictive environments—and conveniently, most dungeon corridors are exactly 10 feet wide, just wide enough to be completely coated in grease. This makes grease a prime spell for proactively setting an ambush, or for reactively fleeing from an overpowered foe.
- No Concentration Required. A staggering number of spells with ongoing effects require concentration, meaning that lots of spells are vying for that precious concentration slot. Fortunately, grease isn’t one of them. You can cast it, and then keep using other spells like cause fear or Tasha’s hideous laughter to harry your foes, or even use fog cloud in conjunction with grease to make a hard-to-see trap.
- No Size Restriction. Part of what makes grease so enduring and powerful, even for a 1st-level spell, is that even the largest and most powerful creatures in the Multiverse are affected by it—so long as they walk on the ground. Imagine slipping the mighty tarrasque with a well-placed patch of grease, like slipping King Kong with a banana peel.
Adjudicating Grease as a DM
Let’s return to fifth edition. If you’re DMing a game of fifth edition D&D and one of your players casts grease, what can you do? Like other movement-restricting spells like entangle or web, to goal of grease is to make it difficult for the adventurers’ enemies to navigate the battlefield. Fortunately, the effects of this spell are fairly straightforward and easy to understand with a cursory read of the spell text. Just be sure you notice that the spell has three points at which it can force a creature to make a saving throw:
- If the creature is in the spell’s area at the moment of its casting
- If the creature enters the spell’s area at any time (even on another creature’s turn)
- If the creature ends its own turn in the grease (but not at the end of other creature’s turns)
Also, if you have an evil spellcaster using grease against the heroic adventurers, all of the advice in the player section above applies to you, as well. You even have something of an advantage in this scenario, since you can set up all the terrain to give a benefit to your grease-wielding magical maniac, give the evil wizard allies with attacks that push or take advantage of prone targets (like Sneak Attacking spies or assassins, or burrowing bulettes ready to burst from the earth and snap up a prone character.
If you’re using grease a lot in your D&D game, also consider adding the final clause of the third edition version of grease to the spell (modified to fit fifth edition rules), to give it a bit more utility:
The spell can also be used to create a greasy coating on an item. Instead of affecting an area, you can target an object you can see within range. If a creature is holding the object, it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or drop it. On a successful save, the object is unaffected by the spell. An unattended object is automatically affected. A creature that attempts to pick up or use a greased item must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or drop it. Finally, a creature wearing greased clothing or armor has advantage on ability checks made to escape from a grapple.
Have you used grease in your games? What fun stories do you have about this spell? Let us know in the comments!
James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, the DM of Worlds Apart, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and Kobold Press. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his partner Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.
Where it makes sense that the Orcs would attack a helpless enemy, it was bad of the DM to make them do that.
One, maybe two, depending on your health, okay,.that's be fine. But killing you like that was just a dick DM move.
Deal with it sucka! Surrounded by 4 orcs and there is a guy just laying there helpless after he trys to to kill the orcs you're dang right they were gunna kill him.
Orcs want BLOOD!
Edit: To clarify I am the DM who did it
I totally agree. Monsters should not behave irrationally or in a way that makes no sense just because it befits the PCs
I don't know how your games are run, and if you don't play like this that's cool! That said, if you're trying to kill a bunch of dudes and you make a tactical blunder, they absolutely should be expected to take advantage of it. Otherwise it's just... not immersive anymore. Alas, it is unfortunate that the cleric died, but I do respect the DM for keeping play integrity. If that had been one of my Heavy Backstory PCs I would have been raging, but more at the character who cast Grease on my Cleric, a class not known for its agility*. Not really the DM's fault in my eyes, but it's totally chill if you prefer a less stakes-y game with tactically disadvantaged foes. Just don't expect everyone to play that way.
*Albeit that the one Cleric I've ever actually played was a 3.5 Cloistered Cleric/Rogue with a rapier and mad skill bonuses who would have laughed at Grease. Also, the only party member who could cast Grease was a frail wizard girl with a heart condition, whom I had given a (quickly healed) heart attack with my high Intimidate rolls, so I sorta would have deserved it. Sorry Mabel. :/
Seems like Grease could be handy to deal with enemies that have climb speeds or slippers of spider climb as well. Grease the walls/ceiling/branches/whatever and then not only does the enemy fall prone but they potentially take fall damage too depending on how high up they were perched and now they can't do a Xenomorph swarm through the tunnels from all the walls/ceiling and have to approach on the ground
If it could be used on water, it could be effectively used as greek fire.
I like that idea a lot. it would be very useful in any underwater battle.
Of course it's up to each group, but there's no "given" reason why the grease would be flammable. It's not "Greek fire" or combustible in it's own right. Butter (the material component) is not flammable. Grease itself in real world uses is designed to reduce friction (heat damage). It's always great to try unique applications of effects and abilities, but even using "real world logic" doesn't always help.
The material component for casting Grease is either butter or pork rind, both of which are flammable.
I've never had a chance to use it but every time a run for Wizard I make sure they find it in a scroll or spell book cause I'd love to see it put to use.
Did you really just try to argue about the flammability of butter with a video whose first line is "..most people wouldn't think of butter as flammable, because IT'S NOT really.."? Butter melts, but doesn't catch on fire. You can use it to fuel a candle like that because the wick is on fire, not the butter. The butter is just a fuel. The toilet paper is flammable. Getting fat to catch on fire requires sustained heat and usually high temperatures. This is why I said it's not a great idea to suggest "Grease" should help light someone on fire. It would be consumed too quickly without a slow, sustained burn.
In addition to everything you have said above, I would also like to point out that the material components needed for casting a spell, do not become the spell itself, rather they are used up in its casting.
By which I mean, even though butter is a material component required to cast this spell, that does not mean that the grease produced by the spell is made out of butter.
So even if butter was flammable, the grease produced by the spell, still would not be.
The grease that Grease produces, is a neutral, none flammable, none active substance. It's just magically produced grease. At least it has always been so in my understanding of the spell.
"...but it can be."
Maybe it's not actual grease. Maybe it's just a fluid that creates a frictionless surface. The D&D Wizards just don't know what to call it so they call it "grease".
So, Wizards in d&d can make super conductors. That's kind of awesome.
Grim story. my chaotic good caster was in a city during a march by a a paladin order he mildly despised, so used grease to sow a little chaos. he cast it into part of the march. 16 rows of marching knights fell
You forgot it causes fire damage if set aflame! Always one of my 1st choices of first level spells. Can mess a High level mage with spell resistance up because spell resistance doesn't apply.
Actually this is just your dm, I personally have a system to award spells by experimenting with magic. Lighting grease on fire gives you the cantrip Create Bonfire.
As DM, I ruled that it could be ignited only by magical fire for 2d4 flash fire damage creating very little pressure, with a save for 1/2 damage (minimum 1hp) and ending the spell effect immediately. This forced PC's to consume a secondary magical fire effect (upping the overall total cost for the maneuver; keeping damage low in line with other level 1 spells). The reason I chose magical fire, was to prohibit the use of grease from accidentally starting a fire on people who are already were holding torches, candles, or open flame in the environment as an instant mass damage spell (such as in an inn or tavern).
What happened, CharlesThePlant?