Enlarge/Reduce, what is it good for?

[VividMatter]

I've been looking at Enlarge/Reduce to use on my Wizard, and wanted to know what some fun applications of it are that some of you have done.

Tell me your best stories about the spell, or some fun applications of it. I've thought of a few things that might be fun, but I'm not sure if it'd be worth it in the long run.

Would my 2nd level slots be better used elsewhere, or is there some backing to this spell?

Uses I've thought of/seen:
Making a boulder a cannonball
Making the Barbarian an even bigger monster
Turning a gnome into basically a toy
Sneaking a weapon into an area you shouldn't have one
Steal a chest full of gold
Make a locked door too small to hang on it's hinges
Make your rope twice as long and twice as sturdy

[Man_Over_Game]

I've been looking at Enlarge/Reduce to use on my Wizard, and wanted to know what some fun applications of it are that some of you have done.

Tell me your best stories about the spell, or some fun applications of it. I've thought of a few things that might be fun, but I'm not sure if it'd be worth it in the long run.

Would my 2nd level slots be better used elsewhere, or is there some backing to this spell?

Uses I've thought of/seen:
Making a boulder a cannonball
Making the Barbarian an even bigger monster
Turning a gnome into basically a toy
Sneaking a weapon into an area you shouldn't have one
Steal a chest full of gold
Make a locked door too small to hang on it's hinges
Make your rope twice as long and twice as sturdy

Shrink a Black Pudding, shovel it off of the cliff. Somebody else's problem now.

Shrink something, Catapult it, release Concentration on Enlarge/Reduce. What happens? Dunno, but it'd be a lot of fun!

[Torpin]

used enlarge on an enemy who was in a passage way and got stuck

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

Airship crash escape. No one had featherfall. Cast enlarge on the Druid's giant eagle form, everyone hopped on, then coasted to safety.

Also the classic casting Enlarge on the party Barbarian so he could suplex a giant.

[Atalas]

playing a Battle Master fighter with a focus on grappling in one campaign right now. Trying to convince the party wizard to take the spell so he has much fewer things he cannot grab. so far, at just medium size, the things he has done include: grabbing a deinonychus by the tail and swinging it around to hit another dino, grab an enemy wizard and throwing it against the forcefield he was using to hold a t-rex he was gonna transfer his consciousness into, which led to a feeding for the t-rex, grabbing a shark on the current underwater adventure and using it to beat another shark to death while it was beaten to death simultaneously, then using its shattered jawbone to smash another shark. more fun to be had with just whats available.

[Anderlith]

... Absolutely nothing
Reduce! Enlarge,! yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all


Sorry for contributing absolutely nothing to the thread but I feel like I’ve done good work

[Skylivedk]

I twinned it on an Aarakockra Sorcerer and the Giant Basilisk enemy (grappling isn't RAW force to be disadvantaged while blind and since judo or jiu-jitsu has had an a blind man winning the regular world cup, go go from DM) to make him a big bird and it a small snake. Dragged it through spiked growth while it was dangling and cheese grated it to death.

[VividMatter]

... Absolutely nothing
Reduce! Enlarge,! yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all


Sorry for contributing absolutely nothing to the thread but I feel like I’ve done good work

Don't worry, you're doing God's work, son. I expected nothing less.

[stoutstien]

It's extremely effective where sorcerer who can twin and larger grappler and reduce the other Target.

Outside of that
knock substitute?
Stealing heavy or bulky objects
But mosly grappling

[KOLE]

I was grappled/restrained by a T-rex. DM ruled T-rex could auto-hit me with its bite when in this state. Rest of the party tried to cut it down while I failed to escape the grapple two rounds in a row. Cleric burnt slots just to keep me conscious as the T-Rex was not going to stop biting after he knocked me out. Wizard cast Enlarge; next turn had advantage on Athletics to escape the T-rex and a nice damage boost when I proceeded to stab the heck out of him afterwards.

[KorvinStarmast]

... Absolutely nothing
Reduce! Enlarge,! yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all

Sorry for contributing absolutely nothing to the thread but I feel like I’ve done good work You contributed a great deal to this thread.
Good gods, y'all. :smallcool:

Peace, love and understanding
Tell me, is there no place for them today

Wait, did Elvis Costello totally copy them?
Yes.

[FabulousFizban]

heh, i like the idea of twin-spelling a catapult and its ammunition. enlarge the catapult, reduce the ammo, let go of concentration - the rock i just threw at you is the size of your tower bad guy!

[ImproperJustice]

Enlarged a Paladin while we fought a spider type enemy in a room full of these playforms of varying elevation.
The Paladin was able to more easily navigate the environment as the eleveations became small steps or hurdles.

Converted the 12’ Rowboat from a robe of useful items into a 24’ boat.
Likewise with the ladder.

We have enlarged foes to block them via small passages as someone already suggested.

Lowering weight while crossing a rickety bridge.
Concealing certain objects or just making things easier to move.

[Citan]

It's extremely effective where sorcerer who can twin and larger grappler and reduce the other Target.

Outside of that
knock substitute?
Stealing heavy or bulky objects
But mosly grappling
Hmm... I'm pretty sure choosing a different effect on Twin is not RAI, although it can certainly be argued RAW.
(I would allow itanyways myself, just wanted to stress this could be a houserule).

But yeah, in general, it's good to...
- Allow Grappling of creatures that couldn't otherwise (by Enlarging ally, Reducing other, or both)
- Allow escaping a grapple for an ally (yeah; not everyone thinks of that XD).
- Enhance/create a mean of travel (enlarging Druid ally's Wild Shape as told above, but also Phantom Steed! or even a familiar)
- Bypass locks or in general obstacles that are actually objects "fitting" in bigger ones or environments.
- Or reversely create blockades in small spaces.
- Give your spy alternative ways to sneak into a building (YMMV here, but if your friend is already a small creature it makes it tiny! Lots of possibilities).
- Facilitate theft by reducing a valuable but heavy/cumbersome loot as you said. Variante: facilitate kidnapping.
- Concealing a weapon in high-security environments (as a Wizard you have better alternatives for that, but hey, you don't necessarily want to learn them).
- Make a bigger meal for your party o/ (DM-dependent on what actually happens to ingested food when concentration ends XD).
- Escrow people by selling them bigger quantities of a precious ware (like an rare ore lingot) than they'll actually get.

[Chronos]

One point to keep in mind is that it only lasts for a minute. So it's not going to be much use for carrying loot, for instance, unless you don't need to carry it very far. That said...

I've also used it to wedge an enemy against a wall, by enlarging the desk he was standing behind.

And it'd be really useful on a halfling or gnome Arcane Trickster. Or any halfling or gnome caster with Mage Hand, but an arcane trickster can control it as a bonus action, and the hand being invisible is good for style points.

[NaughtyTiger]

use it on paladin with is Find Steed. (large mount -> huge mount)

Paladin has mounted combatant, so Advantage on attack against large creatures

I do think the spell should add/subtract HP/con or something.

[JackPhoenix]

- Allow escaping a grapple for an ally (yeah; not everyone thinks of that XD).

Propably because it doesn't work most of the time. Grappled condition doesn't end if the grappler or the target change size. The advantage is nice, but it can be granted without spending 2nd level spell slot.

[Chronos]

It's also of limited effectiveness if your ally is more dextrous than strong. A poor Str check with advantage might or might not be better than a decent Dex check without advantage, and it probably won't be much better.

[Lord Vukodlak]

The party is deep under ground in a Dwarven ruin we find what is essentially a magical stone refrigerator. It weighs half a
ton.
Reducing its weight let us dimension door hop it to the surface where we had a wagon waiting. We brought it back to the town the party was based out of and gave it to the Inn keeper.

[Citan]

Propably because it doesn't work most of the time. Grappled condition doesn't end if the grappler or the target change size. The advantage is nice, but it can be granted without spending 2nd level spell slot.
Well, it must end automatically if the size change makes it so that the difference exceeds the "2 size limit".
Granted it doesn't happen often in that direction. :)

[JackPhoenix]

Well, it must end automatically if the size change makes it so that the difference exceeds the "2 size limit".
Granted it doesn't happen often in that direction. :)

Nope. The size limit only matters for starting a grapple, not for maintaining it.

[Droodicus]

Nope. The size limit only matters for starting a grapple, not for maintaining it.

There's a funny option. Enlarge your barb to grapple something huge. Next turn drop concentration then cast reduce on said barb. A small dude grabbing round a giant.

[stoutstien]

One point to keep in mind is that it only lasts for a minute. So it's not going to be much use for carrying loot, for instance, unless you don't need to carry it very far. That said...

I've also used it to wedge an enemy against a wall, by enlarging the desk he was standing behind.

And it'd be really useful on a halfling or gnome Arcane Trickster. Or any halfling or gnome caster with Mage Hand, but an arcane trickster can control it as a bonus action, and the hand being invisible is good for style points.
Hahaha low lv fly I haven't seen this yet.

[Citan]

Nope. The size limit only matters for starting a grapple, not for maintaining it.
Are you sure it's RAW or at least RAI? Seems very, very strange to me.

[JackPhoenix]

Are you sure it's RAW or at least RAI? Seems very, very strange to me.

It is RAW. Emphasis mine:


When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you’re able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them. The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making a grapple check instead of an attack roll: a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you succeed, you subject the target to the grappled condition (see appendix A). The condition specifies the things that end it, and you can release the target whenever you like (no action required).


The condition ends if the grappler is incapacitated (see the condition).
The condition also ends if an effect removes the grappled creature from the reach of the grappler or grappling effect, such as when a creature is hurled away by the thunderwave spell.

Notably absent: Any mention of the condition ending if the grappler changes size.

You can get a sorcerer to twin Enlarge/Reduce to change medium character to large size (and give him advantage on Str checks), change gargantuan creature to huge (and give it disadvantage on Str checks), have the character grapple it (they are now within one size, so it's valid target for grapple), dismiss the spell, and the now-gargantuan creature is still grappled by now-medium creature.

[redwizard007]

It is RAW. Emphasis mine:





Notably absent: Any mention of the condition ending if the grappler changes size.

You can get a sorcerer to twin Enlarge/Reduce to change medium character to large size (and give him advantage on Str checks), change gargantuan creature to huge (and give it disadvantage on Str checks), have the character grapple it (they are now within one size, so it's valid target for grapple), dismiss the spell, and the now-gargantuan creature is still grappled by now-medium creature.

I can see a strong argument being made, that a character wouldn't be able to effectively reach a creature two sizes larger than himself, thus ending the grapple when they return to normal sizes.

[Torpin]

... Absolutely nothing
Reduce! Enlarge,! yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all




Thank you, i was gonna make this joke now i dont have to