Sleet Storm: do crampons stop you from falling prone?

Question

The 3rd level spell Sleet Storm has the following effect:

The ground in the area is covered with slick ice, making it difficult terrain. When a creature enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it falls prone.

Crampons (price: 2 gp) provide the following benefit:

A crampon is a metal plate with spikes that is strapped to the sole of a boot. A creature wearing crampons can’t fall prone while moving across slippery ice.

Does wearing crampons mean the Sleet Storm spell can't knock you prone?

Answer 1

Strict RAW answer, sorry in advance for being slightly facetious:

The spell description says

The ground in the area is covered with slick ice,

The item description says

A creature wearing crampons can’t fall prone while moving across slippery ice.

"Slippery" and "slick" aren't well defined game terms, and in plain English they are synonyms. Therefore, as long as you are moving, have crampons, and the surface is slick/slippery ice, you are unable to fall prone. Other spell effects don't really matter here.

Just don't stop.

Answer 2

Regular ice can cause you to fall prone when you try to move on it—crampons protect against this.

Sleet storm’s magic ice can cause you to fall prone immediately, before you even try to move—crampons, as written, do not protect against this.

Walking across the ice created by sleet storm can cause you to fall prone the same as moving across any other ice, and crampons do protect against that—it’s only the chance of falling prone when sleet storm is first cast, or when you start your turn within it, that is separate and different and not covered by crampons.

It’s reasonable to houserule crampons to expand them a little bit in this case, to provide protection against all of sleet storm. Sleet storm is, in my estimation, a fantastic spell, and it’s good to allow someone prepared for icy conditions to be able to mitigate it somewhat. But this is not an official rule, nor do I believe it can legitimately be considered an “interpretation” of the official rules. What crampons officially protect against is quite clear, and the risk of falling prone when sleet storm is cast or you start your turn in it isn’t part of that.

Answer 3

Up to DM interpretation.

Taking into account the rest of the spells effects, this could be understood in two ways (I’ve changed how the spell is written to make each way more clear):

The ground in the area is covered with slick ice, making it difficult terrain. When a creature enters the slick ice's area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn on the ice, it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it falls prone.

This would mean that yes, the crampons are enough to counteract the prone effect of the spell. Alternatively:

The ground in the area is covered with slick ice, making it difficult terrain. Due to the various effects of the spell (including the slick ice, battering hail, etc.), when a creature enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it falls prone.

This would mean protection from the slick ice alone would not be enough, and the creature would still have to save to not fall prone.

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Personally, as a DM I would rule that the crampons are not enough. Having a major portion of a level 3 spell thwarted by a 2gp purchase that likely any humanoid can access seems to nullify the use of the spell. The only reason a person would have crampons already strapped to their feet is if they were expecting slippery terrain, and the value of the spell is taken away if all it does is add more slippery terrain.