Grab / Freedom of Movement


Rules Discussion


Two questions:

Can a creature that has something grabbed (per the creature ability) release that grab? The bestiary doesn't cover it specifically. Would the answer change at all if it was an ability such as the Balor's whip attack, which has Improved Grab?

The Bestiary Ability Glossary wrote:


Grab [one-action] Requirements The monster’s last action was a success with a Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or it has a creature grabbed using this action. Effect The monster automatically Grabs the target until the end of the monster’s next turn. The creature is grabbed by whichever body part the monster attacked with, and that body part can’t be used to Strike creatures until the grab is ended.

Using Grab extends the duration of the monster’s Grab until the end of its next turn for all creatures grabbed by it. A grabbed creature can use the Escape action to get out of the grab, and the Grab ends for a grabbed creatures if the monster moves away from it.

Release action wrote:

RELEASE [free-action]
MANIPULATE
You release something you’re holding in your hand or hands. This might mean dropping an item, removing one hand from your weapon while continuing to hold it in another hand, releasing a rope suspending a chandelier, or performing a similar action. Unlike most manipulate actions, Release does not trigger reactions that can be triggered by actions with the manipulate trait (such as Attack of Opportunity).
If you want to prepare to Release something outside of your turn, use the Ready activity.

Tangential question, regarding the spell Freedom of Movement.

Freedom of Movement wrote:


You repel effects that would hinder a creature or slow its movement. While under this spell’s effect, the target ignores effects that would give them a circumstance penalty to Speed. When they attempt to Escape an effect that has them immobilized, grabbed, or restrained, they automatically succeed unless the effect is magical and of a higher level than the freedom of movement spell.

Would a target grabbed by a magical whip attack (again, from a Balor for example) count as a 'magical effect' for purposes of Freedom of Movement?


Any grab type will end automatically at the end of the grabbing creature's next turn if they don't maintain the grab.

I don't see any reason to not allow them to deliberately release their grabbed target with the Release action if they decide to.

Spell effects that cause the grabbed or immobilized condition will have their own rules specified in their spell description, so they may have a longer duration or not be able to dismiss the effect. But a magical whip would work just like a normal grab action. Activated abilities of a magic item may work like a spell and have its own specified rules. Or it may just cause a normal grabbed effect.

As for Freedom of Movement, I wouldn't think that a whip grapple would be considered a magical effect even if the whip itself has a +2 potency rune on it. The grabbed effect is still not magical in nature. If it is an activated ability of a magic item, then it would be more questionable and require a case-by-case adjudication from the GM.


breithauptclan wrote:


As for Freedom of Movement, I wouldn't think that a whip grapple would be considered a magical effect even if the whip itself has a +2 potency rune on it. The grabbed effect is still not magical in nature. If it is an activated ability of a magic item, then it would be more questionable and require a case-by-case adjudication from the GM.

In this case, I am the GM, and am just planning ahead for an upcoming session. It felt kinda of weird to allow a whip that has the magical trait to circumvent all but the highest level of a casting of Freedom of Movement but wanted to get some input from others.

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