To "rescue" a fallen ally, do you have to enter their 5' square?

Question

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but I did spend a couple of hours researching this online and didn't find anything definitive.

I DM a campaign in which a party member has fallen unconscious and is about to start making death saving throws on the following turn. A character (with flying in this particular example) wants to drag the ally out of the fray and then up to the roof for safety (they are fighting in a small open courtyard).

I have seen a lot of opinion on the use of grappling for ally extraction as well as the action and movement economies to answer those related questions. However, right now I need to determine whether the rescuer will provoke an attack of opportunity when they extract the ally. Really, to me, it has come down to whether you are dragging an ally from your own square (and not within 5 feet of an enemy) or whether you have to enter their square in order to drag them.

Does carry vs drag change your answer? Does the ability to fly change your answer?

This really seems like an XY problem. If the problem you're trying to solve is whether dragging an ally provokes an opportunity attack then you would probably be better served by asking that question instead of this one. I'd be pretty sure we already have questions and answers on both of those questions though, if anyone cares to hunt for them. — Purple Monkey, Jul 27 '20 at 00:35
Also various related Qs: How do I grapple/drag an unconscious ally? Does he make a contested check against mine?, Does carrying/dragging a willing/unconscious creature cause half movement as per the grapple rules?, What are the rules around picking up and carrying bodies?, Where is a grappled and carried creature placed when the grappler stops moving?, and there's plenty more. — Purple Monkey, Jul 27 '20 at 00:53
Yeah, Im not asking any of those questions, so providing links to articles Ive already read that dont answer my specific question is not much assistance - thanks anyway! — Mike Murphy, Jul 27 '20 at 02:22
Hence “related” and not ”you are asking all of these questions” or ”all of these links answer your question”. They are there to provide extra information about the related topic that some people might find useful. If you believe your question is significantly different from the one I’ve marked as a duplicate then you need to state why it doesn’t provide an answer and provide more details about how it’s different. — Purple Monkey, Jul 27 '20 at 05:56
The critical distinction here is between grappling an enemy (whose square you are not supposed to be able to occupy) and rescuing an ally (whose square you can). The "This question already has an answer here" does not answer that and maybe that is because my question did not hone in on this difference. If you suggest I just start with a new question framed this way and you think it will be answered instead of "see also this", then by all means I would be more than happy to do that :) I can also avoid falling into "XY" territory. — Mike Murphy, Jul 27 '20 at 15:53

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 27 '20 at 18:57

3

No, you do not

If you are using the grappling rules, you do not need to enter the square. Grappling a creature is done via adjacent squares so the conscious ally wouldn't ever be entering the square of their unconscious friend.

If you're not using grappling rules, then it may depend on what your houserule is. If you are houseruling something, I can't really tell you how it's going to work - that's going to be up to you as DM.

But, as long as the conscious ally remains outside the reach (or inside the reach) of an enemy from start to finish, then there is no opportunity for an opportunity attack.

answered Jul 27 '20 at 18:57

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A relevant angle to this might be, could you pick up a medium creature sized object (like a corpse) from adjacent square. And then considering if a corpse is somehow different from a not-yet-corpse for this purpose. (I don't know, so not writing an answer) – WakiNadiVellir Jul 27 '20 at 19:20
Thank you for this. I would indeed use the uncontested grappling rules as Jeremy Crawford has weighed in that corpses are objects and unconscious creatures are creatures. Appreciate it! – Mike Murphy Jul 27 '20 at 20:15

To "rescue" a fallen ally, do you have to enter their 5' square?

1 Answers1

No, you do not