Frost Pillar

[Waldham]

Hello, I have a question about Frost Pillar.

Quote:

ce crystallizes around a creature, imprisoning it within an icy pillar. On a successful saving throw, the creature is pushed to an adjacent space of its choice; otherwise, it's frozen inside the pillar and becomes restrained as its body can barely move within the ice. The ice has AC 10, Hardness 10, and 60 Hit Point; it's immune to critical hits, cold damage, and precision damage, and it has weakness 15 to fire. If the ice is destroyed, the creature within is freed and the spell immediately ends.

Can't a creature restrained by the frost pillar Escape ?

The only mean is to reduce the Hit Point from pillar to zero, is it right ?

Thanks for your future answer.

[Squiggit]

Restrained explicitly allows for Escape and Frost Pillar doesn't do anything to change that. It even says 'barely move' to indicate some movement is possible, I think specifically to address this.

[Waldham]

But for other spells, there is a mention with Escape and spell DC for the DC to Escape and here, nothing.

The sustained action is to maintain the ice around the target ?

[NorrKnekten]

Most of the time for effects, like spells are, the mention of escape carries two purposes, The first is to clarify that you can escape from the effect, Either because the DC or ability to do so isn't part of the base rules. Or to clarify that you only escape certain parts. Sometimes it is really just there to clarify general rules however.

Spells that include effects you normally cant escape from does this,like Tether or most things with a penalty to speed really. Entangling Flora for example mentions that you escape both effects removing both the immobilized condition and the speed penalty

There are also some cases where the rules seem to support the notion that when a condition gains a duration measured in time, The the conditional duration it had by default is overridden. But the only explicit example of this is stunned even if writers have been clarifying quite alot of conditions as if sharing this.

However, The clearest instruction we have in regards to spells not mentioning things like escape.

Specific overrides General wrote:

While some special rules may also state the normal rules to provide context, you should always default to the general rules presented in this chapter, even if effects don't specifically say to.

Restrain and Immobilize allows for escape by default, So a spell needs to specifically say that you cannot escape to override the default.

[YuriP]

Waldham wrote:

But for other spells, there is a mention with Escape and spell DC for the DC to Escape and here, nothing.

This already well answered by NorrKnekten but I'm reinforcing it with a link to Restrained and Immobilized conditions and the short answer that the target can use Escape vs caster Spell DC.

Waldham wrote:

The sustained action is to maintain the ice around the target ?

Yes but also I RAI that also is to keep the Frost Pillar occupying the square due the sentence "On a successful saving throw, the creature is pushed to an adjacent space of its choice; otherwise, it's frozen inside the pillar and becomes restrained as its body can barely move within the ice".

[NorrKnekten]

YuriP wrote:

Waldham wrote:

But for other spells, there is a mention with Escape and spell DC for the DC to Escape and here, nothing.

This already well answered by NorrKnekten but I'm reinforcing it with a link to Restrained and Immobilized conditions and the short answer that the target can use Escape vs caster Spell DC.

Yup, Escape explicitly tells you that you escape from Immobilized, Restrained and Grabbed, It also targets the source instead of the Conditions themselves, With the relevant DCs as given in the example within its described effect.

Even within its own described effect the ability to escape from spells imposing these three conditions is explicit.

Escape wrote:

You attempt to escape from being grabbed, immobilized, or restrained. Choose one creature, object, spell effect, hazard, or other impediment imposing any of those conditions on you. Attempt a check using your unarmed attack modifier against the DC of the effect. This is typically the Athletics DC of a creature grabbing you, the Thievery DC of a creature who tied you up, the spell DC for a spell effect, or the listed Escape DC of an object, hazard, or other impediment. You can attempt an Acrobatics or Athletics check instead of using your attack modifier if you choose (but this action still has the attack trait).

I also feel the need to highlight that if Pillar of Frost was meant to fully restrict the creature from doing anything then the spell would've had the Incapacitate Trait. Instead of being the improved version of Containment