Web 5e: Restrained Targets, Escape Checks, and Fire

I’ve always liked Web because one well-placed 2nd-level spell can reshape a whole encounter. It is strongest when the battlefield supports the webbing, but its saving-throw timing, escape check, and flammability are all easy to misremember.

Web 5e — Quick Spell Reference

How Web Works in 2014 D&D 5e

You fill a 20-foot cube at a point within 60 feet with thick, sticky webs. The area is difficult terrain and lightly obscured for up to 1 hour while you maintain concentration.

A creature makes a Dexterity saving throw when it starts its turn in the webs or enters them during its turn. On a failure, it is restrained while it remains in the webs or until it breaks free. A successful save prevents restraint from that trigger, but the area is still difficult terrain.

Creatures already inside the cube when it appears do not make an immediate save merely because you cast the spell. Their first normal trigger is starting their turn there, unless they leave and enter the webs during their turn first.

Where Can Web Be Anchored?

For the full duration, the webbing must be anchored between two solid masses, such as opposing walls or trees, or laid across a floor, wall, or ceiling. If it has none of those supports, the web collapses and the spell ends at the start of your next turn.

A web spread across a flat surface is 5 feet deep rather than filling the full 20-foot height. In a chamber where the web can connect opposing surfaces, it can fill the full cube. The spell does not attach itself to moving creatures or make its area travel with them.

Escaping the Restrained Condition

A creature restrained by Web can use its action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC. On a success, it is no longer restrained. This is an ability check, not a Strength saving throw, and the 2014 spell does not add Athletics proficiency to it.

Breaking free ends the restraint but does not remove the creature from the webs. The area remains difficult terrain, and staying inside can trigger a new Dexterity save at the start of the creature’s next turn.

The restrained condition gives the creature’s attack rolls disadvantage, gives attacks against it advantage, imposes disadvantage on its Dexterity saving throws, and reduces its speed to 0. Those consequences make Web useful even though it deals no initial damage.

What Happens When Web Burns?

The conjured webs are flammable. A 5-foot cube exposed to fire burns away in 1 round. A creature takes 2d4 fire damage if it starts its turn in that burning section.

Lighting the webs does not deal damage immediately, and the spell does not say that one flame instantly ignites every connected cube. Resolve which 5-foot sections were exposed, when their 1-round burn completes, and whether a creature actually starts its turn in the fire.

Burning part of the area trades ongoing control for a small amount of damage. It can be useful when the spell is about to end or when an enemy cannot escape, but preserving the restraint and difficult terrain is often more valuable.

Does Web Affect Allies or the Caster?

Yes. Web does not let the caster choose exempt creatures. Any creature that starts its turn in the webs or enters them during its turn uses the same saving throw rule, and everyone treats the area as difficult terrain.

Careful placement can leave a path for allies or put only the edge of the cube across a doorway. Remember that lightly obscured is not the same as heavily obscured: the webbing does not automatically block all vision through the area.

Can Web Be Upcast?

The 2014 spell has no higher-level benefit. A larger slot does not increase the cube, DC, duration, or number of areas. Your spell save DC can still improve as your character’s proficiency bonus or spellcasting ability improves.

Web: 2014 vs. 2024 Rules

The spell’s area, concentration, restraint, difficult terrain, obscurement, anchoring, and fire damage remain essentially the same in 2024. Two wording changes affect resolution:

• A creature now saves the first time it enters the webs on a turn or when it starts its turn there, making the once-per-turn entry timing explicit.
• Escaping now uses a Strength (Athletics) check, allowing Athletics proficiency to apply instead of the 2014 version’s plain Strength check.

The quick-reference table and main explanations above use the 2014 spell.

Web FAQ

Does Web restrain creatures immediately when cast?

Not solely because the webs appear around them. A creature saves when it starts its turn in the area or enters the webs during its turn.

Can a creature use Dexterity to escape Web?

No. The 2014 spell requires a Strength check against the caster’s spell save DC after the creature is restrained.

Does Web block sight?

It lightly obscures its area. It does not create total cover or automatically make creatures unseen.

Does Web require concentration?

Yes. Losing concentration ends the spell and removes its conjured webbing.