D&D 5E What can you 'not' take with you when you dim door?

[TaranTheWanderer]

We are trying to catch a villain who keeps dim dooring away.

It says you 'can' take objects with you up to your carrying capacity.

Lets say you are wearing manacles.
- Can you choose to 'not' take them with you so you dim door out of the manacles?
-If not, does it mean you are unable to dim door away if the manacles are attached to something heavier than you can carry (like a wall or heavy ball)?
- If so, are there any limits to what you can dim door out of, or leave behind? All your clothes? Just your shoes? specific items out of your pouch? A cursed item? etc...

Lastly, you can take one willing creature which implies that you cannot take an unwilling creature. I'm assuming you can dim door away from someone grappling you...but...what if they are manacled to you?

 

[Charlaquin]

Assuming you mean Dimension Door, the text of the spell doesn’t specify, so it’s DM discretion. Personally, since it only says what you “can” take, I would assume everything but your own body is optional. So yes, I would rule that you can dimension door out of manacles, out of your clothes, etc. if you so choose. I don’t see any reason you shouldn’t be able to dimension door away from a cursed item either, unless the effects of the curse include not being able to unequip the item.

 

[CleverNickName]

I think you're going to have to fight magic with magic. If you need a foolproof way to foil a dimension door spell, you should have a couple of people in the group who can cast Counterspell using a 4th level spell slot.

"Plot armor" is something you should consider, too. Your DM might be counting on the villain's escape as part of a larger plot arc that will be wrecked if the villain is slain, or there might be a very specific means in which this villain can be stopped and you haven't discovered it yet. If the villain is protected by the plot, the only thing you can do is advance the plot.

 

[Unwise]

What about teleporting away from an arrow stuck in your gut? or an ithillid tadpole in your brain?

For me, I would just make it all based on an arcana role.

 

[Mistwell]

You cannot take your soul, if you are attempting to dimension door out of Hotel California. But you can check out.

 

[Leatherhead]

There is, in fact, a Sage Advice about this:

Misty step doesn’t say the caster can bring worn or carried equipment with them. Are they intended to leave everything, including their clothes, behind?
No, the caster’s worn and carried equipment are intended to go with them.

Some teleportation effects do specify that you teleport with your gear; such specification is an example of a rule being needlessly fastidious, since no teleportation effect in the game assumes that you teleport without your clothes, just as the general movement rules don’t assume that you drop everything when you walk.

Seeing as how you wearing the manacles, they go with you.

 

[LordEntrails]

- Can you choose to 'not' take them with you so you dim door out of the manacles?

Yes. This is why arcanists have made Dimensional Shackles. This is why jails have magical wards or no magic zones in them.

This is a game of magic, hence often times you will need magic to counter magic.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Yes. This is why arcanists have made Dimensional Shackles. This is why jails have magical wards or no magic zones in them.

This is a game of magic, hence often times you will need magic to counter magic.

Well, in 3e, there was a spell called dimensional anchor which prevented such spells. Given they removed that spell from the game, I assumed it was possible to do without needing an actual magic item. Especially given the fact that 5e doesn’t rely on PCs needing magic items at all.

 

[Flamestrike]

We are trying to catch a villain who keeps dim dooring away.

I think your issue might lie with the Plot Armor of this NPC rather than the spell.

That being so, expect the DM to interpret the spell in the NPCs favor.

 

[Cyan Wisp]

I agree with Charlaquin on this one. My reading is that you "teleport yourself". Everything else is optional as it is not "yourself".

Mundane manacles, Evard's tentacles, a gropey bard, maybe even flaming clothing... just leave it all behind.