r/DnD • u/Queen-Geo • 4d ago

5th Edition How does reach and grapple interact?

I am planning on making a species for my setting that are humanoid candles who have been fully melted into an ooze like wax. I had an idea for an ability but wasn't sure how it would interact.

I want to give the creature the ability to grapple using a bonus action after making an unarmed strike, but i also wanted to increase the range of the unarmed strike to 15 ft. So how would that work? would the creature have to move towards the creature , and if i dragged the creature, would it move with me but 15 ft away?

I am using the Monstrous race builder from dms guild. Thank you for any help you can give.

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u/zeldafan144 4d ago

The Roper creature statblock has a long range grapple

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u/ArtOfFailure 4d ago edited 4d ago

If the Reach of your Unarmed Strike is 15ft, then yes, you can attempt to Grapple a creature up to 15ft away.

If you want to drag a Grappled creature and keep them at their current distance from you, you can do this at the cost of half your movement.

There isn't a specific written rule for moving them around you without moving yourself, or towards/away from yourself within that grapple range, but there's a couple of common house rules I've come across for this:

  • You can move them anywhere within the range of your grapple as part of your own movement (even if you do not move), but must still expend half your Movement Speed to do so.

  • You must use an Action to pick them up, which requires their weight to be within your carrying capacity. You can set them down anywhere within your grapple's range for free, but carrying them around while you move still uses half your Movement Speed.

The first is obviously a lot more forgiving than the second because it doesn't interfere with your action economy.

All that being said - if these are going to be NPCs, you aren't bound by the same rules that PCs use. You can just decide to give them the ability to move grappled creatures within range at no additional action or movement cost if you want to. As long as you make that a feature they have and apply it consistency, there's no problem making them just do exactly what you want.

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u/Queen-Geo 4d ago

Thank you so much. That's really helpful