[RPG] the point of the “Grasping Undergrowth” effect of the spell Druid Grove

dnd-5espells

The 6th level spell Druid Grove (XGE p.154) lets the caster pick various effects for the targeted area. One of the possible effects is

Grasping Undergrowth: You can fill any number of 5-foot squares on the ground that aren't filled with fog with grasping weeds and vines, as if they were affected by an entangle spell.

And the Entangle spell works the following way:

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

Since Druid Grove has a casting time of 10 minutes, it seems unlikely that you could successfully cast it during a combat encounter to activate the restraining effect from the Entangle spell (which has a casting time of only one action) and instead only get the difficult terrain. But difficult terrain is also overshadowed by another feature of the Druid Grove, "Solid Fog" that among other effects also causes "every foot of movement through the fog costs 2 extra feet", which overshadows the 1 extra foot caused by regular difficult terrain.

So, why would one choose to use the Grasping Undergrowth effect at all? (apart from the role-playing aspect of being able to use it as seats or a bed)

Best Answer

Some additional spell effects are incompatible with fog

The final section of the Druid Grove spell description describes how you could have gust of wind or wind wall in a couple locations. Both those spells disperse fog.

Placing Grasping Undergrowth in the location of where those wind effects are placed allows maximizing the effectiveness of the grove.

Fog is implied to be a gas by these two spells

Wind wall explicitly says

A wall of strong wind rises from the ground at a point you choose...

and

The strong wind keeps fog, smoke, and other gases at bay.

This means that wind wall explicitly works against the Solid Fog of the Druid Grove spell, as there is nothing in either description giving an exception to it.

In addition, the use of the phrase "and other gases" instead of just "gases" implies that fog and smoke are considered gases, even though both consist of objects suspended in the air (water droplets and soot particles, respectively.) Therefore, if fog is a gas, then gust of wind is effective against the fog as it

disperses gas or vapor.

A DM is of course free to rule how they like, but rules just do what they say they do, and without additional arguments from the rules, these effects affect the solid fog of Druid Grove, and so make it meaningful to use the "Grasping Undergrowth" in area affected by the wind spells.

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