
John Warren |

So, the paladin in my campaign cast "Knight's Calling" on a wyvern the other night, and the wyvern failed its save. The spell description says that the "target moves its speed toward you, avoiding any other dangers along its path (including any movement that would provoke attacks of opportunity)."
In this particular situation, it was not possible for the wyvern to move toward the paladin without provoking multiple attacks of opportunity.
I was not sure how to handle this. If the creature is not able to move without provoking attacks of opportunity, does it simply remain where it is? Move as far as it can without provoking the first attack of opportunity?

The Seldon Plan |

I made a call last night that the spell doesn't compel a creature with reach to move farther than its reach needs to make an attack roll, which ruined the intention of the player using it.
We moved on, but I want to get ready to source myself for being wrong and apologize about it (I didn't let the player recall the action because were subtier 10-11 when it didn't work out how they had intended).
"The target moves its speed towards you..." The 'you' was 15' away, so there's no way it can move its speed toward him since the distance was less than a full move. What demands the target moves beyond it's melee range to get close? Especially when it's a creature that does not want to be in melee in the first place? I know it isn't allowed to make an attack, but it moved into melee range. Should it have gone the additional 5 feet to be adjacent to the caster?

Dave Justus |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

I made a call last night that the spell doesn't compel a creature with reach to move farther than its reach needs to make an attack roll, which ruined the intention of the player using it.
We moved on, but I want to get ready to source myself for being wrong and apologize about it (I didn't let the player recall the action because were subtier 10-11 when it didn't work out how they had intended).
"The target moves its speed towards you..." The 'you' was 15' away, so there's no way it can move its speed toward him since the distance was less than a full move. What demands the target moves beyond it's melee range to get close? Especially when it's a creature that does not want to be in melee in the first place? I know it isn't allowed to make an attack, but it moved into melee range. Should it have gone the additional 5 feet to be adjacent to the caster?
You probably should have made a new thread rather than necro'ing an old one about a different aspect of the spell.
The spell doesn't make a any mention about the reach of the creature, it compels a creature to move (up to it's speed and avoiding danger) toward the caster, obviously, once it is adjacent it can no longer move any closer, so the effect is done.
Basically your ruling was unjustified.
I would also suggest unless something seems hugely broken, if you are unsure of how something should work it is better to rule in favor of the players than against them. If it turns out you were wrong, you can always explain how the rule works and that they won't get that benefit in the future, but they are much more unlikely to feel you are being unfair then when you have to let them know that you were wrong and had ruled against them.