Freedom of Movement vs Grabbed.

[NinjaPirateBob]

Something came up at our table. Freedom of Movement says “The target ignores effects that would give them a circumstance penalty to Speed.” The grabbed condition says that it gives you the immobilized condition. Would that be considered a penalty to speed? Freedom of Movement use to be a little more explicit in its wording but now we don’t know if it’s a useful spell vs creatures with grappling abilities. I know if we’re grabbed we can succeed using an escape action without rolling but it seems like a huge downgrade in utility from what it used to be for a 4th level spell. I hope I can get a dev to clarify the exact interaction with the grabbed condition.

[Mellored]

Nope.
You cannot use an move action if immobilized. So you can't even attempt to move.

[K1]

Guess the downgrade was intentional.
Note also that pells like

- death ward
- mind Blank

Now simply give status bonuses.

It could seem a downgrade, but it could be meant to fit this new system.

[Matthew Downie]

NinjaPirateBob wrote:

Freedom of Movement use to be a little more explicit in its wording

It wasn't clearly worded in the first place.

[ofMars]

I mean, auto-success is still good, is the power level complaint saying it still takes an action? I guess freedom of movement effectively changes the "grabbed" condition into "slowed 1"

[Xenocrat]

ofMars wrote:

I mean, auto-success is still good, is the power level complaint saying it still takes an action? I guess freedom of movement effectively changes the "grabbed" condition into "slowed 1"

The other nerf is that you're now vulnerable to effects that trigger on being grabbed, like swallow whole, if the monster has the actions to pull them all off before your turn.