Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the thirty second episode of our first level spell series. Do you have wild dreams of nature taking back what is rightfully hers? are you an overly zealous druid? if you are and if this sounds like something your character might be interested in then let me tell you entangle dnd spell is the spell for you.
It is usable by the druid class exclusively and it is found in the players handbook. With that hyped-up introduction out of the way let’s take a look at the mechanics we can understand how this kind of works. Before we start our article let me ask you is entangle a wizard spell? then the answer is NO it’s purely a druid spell.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 1st
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: 90 ft (20 ft)
- Components: V, S
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- School: Conjuration
- Attack/Save: STR Save
- Damage/Effect: Restrained
Your cast time is one action which is quite standard, the range is above standard 90 feet and there’s a 20 feet cube involved in there as well. The duration is one minute and it is concentration based spell meaning it should you take damage while you were concentrating for that minute duration. You have to make a saving throw on a failed save the spell dissipates.
As well you can’t concentrate on more than one spell at once. So bear that in mind as well. The effect at a glance is as followed: Vines shoot up from the ground in a 20 ft square, from a point within range. That area is considered difficult terrain. Creatures within the area must make a strength save upon casting vs spell save. Should they fail they will be restrained. Also check out this 5e spell scroll cost.
Really cool stuff! The components are verbal and somatic meaning you have to gesture with one hand and speak forth an incantation and the school unsurprisingly is a conjuration in this case. Alright and with that brief explanation out of the way let’s take a look at the full description so we can really get the wording behind this spell as well as the thematic elements and plumb to it. So what is the entangled spell in 5e?
Description
Grasping weeds and vines sprout from the ground in a 20-foot square starting from a point within range. For the duration, these plants turn the ground in the area into difficult terrain.
A creature in the area when you cast the spell must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be restrained by the entangling plants until the spell ends.
A creature restrained by the plants can use its action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC. On a success, it frees itself. When the spell ends, the conjured plants wilt away.
Very cool stuff! Before i actually break down the wording of kind of how to use this to its maximum effect i’d like to quickly just write up the restrained condition for those who’re not aware.
restrained 5e: A restrained creature’s speed becomes 0, And it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s attack rolls have disadvantage. The creature has disadvantage on dexterity saving throws.
So needless to say how potentially useful this could be. In terms of great ways to use this…i use it on targets that have a very poor dex but are a huge risk. Things like gish, mages so close quarters combat mages as well as robes this would be incredibly effective against either of those as well as dex based fighters and monks for that matter too.
It might also be worth noting that unlike ensnaring strike which we cover in the last article, this one cannot be undone by a third party interacting. The only way creature gets freeze if it frees itself or if the spell ends. So i think that’s a very cool and definitely worth taking note of.
Not to mention that when the spell ends the conjure plants wilt away is interesting because it does not imply that they disappear outright, they just kind of wilpon and kind of disappeared from there so there’s still evidence behind them they were there which is really cool!
Suppose if you’re kind of like a botanist right, Since it doesn’t quite specify what kind of plant i would make the argument that you could attempt to use the spell on plants that were there pre-existing. Just for a break you can also read this 5e when can i use a bonus action.
There should belong on the alternative use section which is like kind of stuttered there but it doesn’t really make a huge difference either way, it’s just something i’m noticing what i’m reflecting on the exact wording here. That being said, let’s take a look at the alternative use section and i’ll kind of flesh out some more concrete ideas.
Alternative Uses
First and foremost stopping people from running away! this is a great way to do that. Not only do they have to make a strength check but it’s also difficult terrain so it’ll eat up a decent amount of their movement if you or one of your other party members has another ability they can weaken movement something like eldritch blast cantrip with eldritch grasp that’d be an interesting way of doing that.
There’s a couple cold spells as well that really dropped movement speed. That being said, that’s one use alternatively you can use this to deal with a huge swath of enemies. Imagine that you’re in a town for example and there are riders that are out to get you and your party because you rightfully or wrongfully been accused of some fairly heinous acts.
This would be a great way to buy yourself some time. A lot of mob type enemies have very poor strength stats. That being said, you can very easily take advantage of that by just in snaring all of them, then walking away your own leisure or rushing away using the time you bought your most advantage. You can also check out this dnd 5e entangle vs web.
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any alternative uses, any crazy ideas, any interesting combos for entangle please feel free to drop them down in the comments below as well if you have any cool stories, i really like reading them, i know everyone else checking this article would as well.
We have a great community guys and let’s keep growing it, let’s keep getting strong in life and most importantly let’s keep having fun. So as always happy spell-casting everyone and have a great day. faerie fire 5e | thorn whip 5e | cure wounds 5e | spike growth 5e | sleep spell 5e explained | is bane a good spell 5e