[RPG] Does casting Slow make a creature with Multiattack get only one attack

dnd-5emultiattackspells

Can someone use the slow spell on an entity that has multiattack so they only have one attack? For example, would a slowed hydra only get 1 attack?

This came up in an argument with friends after listening to a D&D podcast where this was done.

Best Answer

A creature affected by slow makes only 1 attack during its turn even if they have multiattack

The slow spell description states that:

Regardless of the creature's abilities or magic items, it can't make more than one melee or ranged attack during its turn.

There is not much room for interpretation, it is clearly spelled out. The creature gets one ranged or melee attack no matter what. In the case of a hydra this makes it do only a single attack per turn.

Do note that this does not stop the creature from doing more attacks during a round as long as they are done outside its own turn since slow only limits the number during the slowed creature's own turn.

This means that a creature using legendary actions (at the end of other creature's turns) is able to do the normal number of attacks granted by those legendary actions regardless of slow.