119
votes
Accepted
Can a snake be prone?
Yes, Snakes can be prone
Conditions
Prone is a condition (PHB, 290). And the only way to avoid that condition is to have some form of immunity or something else mechanically that prevents a creature ...
- 122k
58
votes
Accepted
What happens when a swimming creature falls prone?
There are no specific rules for what happens if knocked prone while swimming, therefore, from a purely mechanical standpoint, we must assume that the general rule applies.
From PHB 292...
A ...
- 60.5k
51
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to gain the benefits of lying prone without incurring disadvantage on attacks? If so, is this broken?
You are describing a sound tactic
(in the game and in the real world)
It has been said that the goal of military action is to take a fair fight, and make it unfair. Most of martial history, from drone ...
- 36.8k
47
votes
Is it possible to gain the benefits of lying prone without incurring disadvantage on attacks? If so, is this broken?
This is possible and not broken
No part of the rules prevents the scenario you've described so it does work. Now let's address why it isn't as strong as you think:
This requires a very specific kind ...
- 71.6k
44
votes
If you succeed on all of your death saving throws, what happens?
If you succeed on a Death Saving Throws 3 times, you don't recover any hitpoints. Instead, you become stable:
A stable creature doesn’t make death saving throws, even though it has 0 hit points, ...
- 77.7k
42
votes
Accepted
Is the "half your speed" used in standing from prone your normal speed, or current speed?
Your intuition is correct. The Dash action simply increases your movement, but doesn't actually increase your Speed.
If your speed were 30 ft. and you decided to Dash, you'd still only spend 15 ft. (...
- 8,113
38
votes
Accepted
Can you take the Dodge action while prone?
A Prone Creature can Dodge
Nothing in the rules specifies that a creature cannot take the Dodge action while under the effects of the Prone condition.
The Prone condition (PHB, p. 292) states:
A ...
- 76.9k
37
votes
Accepted
Is there advantage on a non-adjacent attack against an unconscious creature?
The rules that you've quoted are pretty clear. You gain advantage when attacking unconscious creatures, and you gain disadvantage when attacking prone creatures from further than 5 feet away. If you ...
- 46.9k
34
votes
Can you help a prone character to stand up?
Yes you can
PHB Chapter 9: Combat, page 193, emphasis mine:
Your character can do things not covered by the actions in
this chapter, such as breaking down doors, intimidating
enemies, sensing ...
- 61.4k
34
votes
Accepted
Can you stand up from being prone using Skirmisher outside of your turn?
Arguably, the rogue may stand up
The character is not literally "granted a resource" that is called movement but that is in fact the way the rules of movement talk about how it is used:
...
- 27.7k
33
votes
Accepted
Is knocking someone prone worth it?
Prone isn't as strong as it was in 4e, but it can still be a solid tactical choice. You just have to weigh if it's something your party can take advantage of.
The biggest and best advantages of ...
- 102k
33
votes
Accepted
How Do Grapplers Stand If Prone?
There are two different things happening here: your movement speed being halved, and spending half your movement speed. These work differently, and the order matters. The end result is that the ...
- 239k
33
votes
When a monk mitigates all the damage due to the Slow Fall feature, does he/she still fall prone?
No
You do not land prone when you reduce the damage to zero. You've basically answered your own question with this PHB quote (page 183, "Falling"):
The creature lands prone, unless it avoids ...
- 61.4k
32
votes
Accepted
Can a creature with a natural walking speed of 0 ft. get up from being prone?
A creature with a speed of zero cannot stand up.
The rules for being prone say:
You can't stand up if you don't have enough movement left or if your speed is 0.
To move while prone, you must crawl or ...
- 107k
31
votes
Is the additional movement granted by the Mobile feat also halved when a character stands from prone?
Yes, it's halved
Mobile: [...] Your speed increases by 10 feet.
And
Prone: [..] Standing up [from prone] takes more effort; doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For ...
- 2,956
31
votes
Accepted
Can a surprised creature fall prone voluntarily on their turn?
No, a surprised character can't drop prone
As you posted, Surprise says:
If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action...
This "can't move" terminology is actually used a lot in the rules....
- 8,221
30
votes
What happens when a swimming creature falls prone?
The same thing as any other prone creature
Official ruling
Jeremy Crawford has confirmed the answer that follows as a correct interpretation:
If you're knocked prone underwater, you're subjected to ...
- 90.1k
28
votes
Can a snake be prone?
As mentioned in other answers, the Monster Manual generally states when a creature is immune to a certain condition, such as prone.
Therefore, since this is not the case for the snake, it isn't ...
- 24.7k
27
votes
Accepted
Can you Dash while prone?
Crawling Prone
Yes, you can absolutely Dash while prone. If you don't want to spend half your speed to stand up, you can still crawl (from PHB, 191)
To move while prone, you must crawl or use magic ...
- 122k
25
votes
Accepted
What happens when a flying creature is knocked prone?
From the Player's Basic Rules (v0.2), page 71:
If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has ...
- 141k
25
votes
Accepted
Can you attack while prone?
Yes, you can attack while prone. As it describes in the PHB's definition of the prone condition on page 292:
The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls.
So you may attack while prone, but ...
- 239k
24
votes
Accepted
Does standing up from prone trigger the secondary damage from the Booming Blade cantrip?
No, standing from prone doesn't trigger booming blade's damage.
I don't see any specific rules definitions for "movement." Based on definitions in other editions, my opinion is that a ...
- 13.9k
24
votes
Accepted
If a flying creature with no swim speed ends up in water, can it fly out?
RAW: The flier can escape the surface.
Depending on our flier's normal and flying speeds and the condition of the water (normal or difficult terrain), she'll be able to escape just fine, it's only a ...
- 9,181
23
votes
Does standing up from prone trigger the secondary damage from the Booming Blade cantrip?
No
According to the implications of the Jeremy Crawford ruling below, standing up from prone does not trigger booming blade. This is because the trigger requires the target creature to move, but even ...
- 29.4k
23
votes
Accepted
How do I make sense of levitating while prone?
If I were to cast levitate on a prone orc and float him 20 feet into the air - would he still be prone? - Yes
Jeremy Crawford has clarified:
You can almost always be knocked prone. About the only ...
- 90.1k
23
votes
Accepted
How much movement does it take to stand up from prone when my speed is modified?
Speed is a game noun
The basic rules define speed as:
Every character and monster has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or monster can walk in 1 round.
On your character ...
- 20.3k
22
votes
Accepted
Can a creature affected by Tasha's Hideous Laughter take an Opportunity Attack?
Incapacitated will prevent opportunity attacks
Your player is correct. The opportunity attack requires a Reaction. And Tasha's Hideous Laughter's description states (PHB, p. 280, bold added):
The ...
- 36.8k
22
votes
Accepted
What are the mechanics for tackling / charging attacks without using the Charger feat?
Charge as a regular action
You found what there is to find: "Charge" is not a regular action you can take.
The common conception seems to be that a player character is not big enough to ...
- 35.7k
22
votes
Accepted
Can a character shove an enemy who is already prone?
Neither the description of shoving enemies nor of the prone condition have any mention that a prone enemy can't be shoved. So going by the letter of the rules, it is indeed possible to shove a prone ...
- 3,880
22
votes
Accepted
Can you stand up from prone while stunned?
It's up to the DM.
Both booming blade and this issue are going to come down to a DM call as it is not made explicit or clear in the rules.
To me, "a stunned creature ... can't move" seems ...
- 107k
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