Can you drop prone if you are restrained

[diplomancer]

Dropping prone takes no movement. If you are restrained, your movement is zero.
If you are restrained and there is no one in melee range, only missile range, might be worth it to drop prone.
Can you do it?

[elyktsorb]

Yeah, but 9 times out of 10 if your restrained I wager someone is in melee distance.

[Keltest]

I suppose that depends on why youre restrained. If youre tied to a tree for example, you probably aren't falling prone. If you were in an Entangle spell though, you might be able to manage it.

Honestly the potential contexts seem so varied, the answer is probably going to be "ask your DM in the moment."

[diplomancer]

Last session my wizard got entangled while goblins were shooting at us from a distance.
Going prone basically made the restrained condition irrelevant, with an 8 str and a 16 DC I wasn't going to waste my action trying to get out, and the DM soon had his Druid trying out another concentration spell.

But I agree, it probably varies from situation to situation.

A good rule of thumb might be that you can do it if you're restrained but not grappled, but can't do it if you are both restrained and grappled.

[Keravath]

Keep in mind that restrained gives attackers advantage and prone gives disadvantage to attackers that aren't within 5'. This means that dropping prone will make ranged attacks a straight roll if you drop prone while restrained which is better than them having advantage but it is still going to hurt.

As the DM, I would probably have still had the goblins plink away at the restrained/prone wizard since they don't have a better chance to hit anyone else and the wizard probably doesn't have a great AC and they are a spell casting threat.

[MaxWilson]

Yes, technically by RAW you can drop prone even when paralyzed. However:


I suppose that depends on why youre restrained. If youre tied to a tree for example, you probably aren't falling prone. If you were in an Entangle spell though, you might be able to manage it.

Honestly the potential contexts seem so varied, the answer is probably going to be "ask your DM in the moment."

This answer is better than the technical RAW answer.

[Keravath]

Yes, technically by RAW you can drop prone even when paralyzed. However:



This answer is better than the technical RAW answer.


I agree. Whether you can actually drop prone depends strongly on why the character is restrained which makes it a DM call.

In addition, does a move speed of zero mean that the character is incapable of moving at all? Can they blink? Can they move their arms?

Paralysis for example says that the creature can't move at all. So, no a paralyzed creature could not drop prone if the DM decides that requires movement (the rules say that dropping prone doesn't require any of your speed, it does not say that dropping prone is not considered moving).

"PARALYZED
• A paralyzed creature is incapacitated (see the condition) and can't move or speak.
• The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
• Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
• Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature."

The same is true for a Stunned creature - it specifically states that it can't move.

"STUNNED
• A stunned creature is incapacitated (see the condition), can't move, and can speak only falteringly.
• The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
• Attack rolls against the creature have advantage."


On the other hand the Restrained condition says:

"RESTRAINED
• 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."

A restrained creature can still move but its speed becomes 0.

Whether any movement is possible depends on the nature of the restraint and is up to the DM.

[MaxWilson]

If Crawford is to be believed about Booming Blade, standing up doesn't count as moving, so presumably neither does falling prone: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/11/09/booming-blade-stand-up/

Crawford: Standing up costs movement but moves you nowhere. To move while prone, you crawl or use magic (PH, 191).

That's a big "if" though. His track record is not excellent, and in this case listening to him leads to absurd results for paralyzed victims: they can still drop prone and even apparently stand up while paralyzed! (Since their speed is not reduced to zero.)