Would you likewise rule that any other means of separating a net from the creature it has restrained would fail to release the creature? For example, what if a creature restrained by a mundane net teleports away from it?

@RyanThompson yes, exactly - they have not been freed.

I don't know any DM who would rule that a creature remains restrained by a net after being physically separated from it.

@RyanThompson They are badboys, not playing by the rules.

You might want to label this answer clearly as a "strict RAW interpretation" (which it seems to be) to indicate to folks that you are only going by the strict word of the rules despite the result making not a lot of sense. Or am I misreading here?

RAW answers do require, though, justification for any assumptions made. Like an assumption that there are only two ways to be freed from a net (I don't see any language claiming that the listed ways to free oneself are a strict and definitive list), or the assumption that "freed" should not be interpreted as natural language (in which case the net being removed in any way would clearly free a creature from the net)

I think a common refrain on this site is “there are no secret rules”. I haven’t made any assumptions, there are written only two ways to be freed from a net. Your assumption is that “freed” is natural language, i suggest adding the question - “how can a creature restrained by a net be freed?” Or “can one escape a net by misty step?”

-1 : As Speedkat said, nothing in the description of the net states that those are the only possible ways to free someone from it (ie. the Sword of Wounding explicitly state that you can regain HP lost by it only with short or long rest ).

@NahynOklauq +1 if that’s the case then all the rules are in limbo. A net works on a “large or smaller creature” they didn’t say “only”. Then I can assume it works on monstrous or gargantuan sized creatures? Since “freed” from the net is “natural language” I can assume you can be freed from the net by any number of ways - slashing damage - they didn’t say “only” so obv that means also piercing, bludgeoning damage would work too?

@AmethystWizard (I don't understand your "+1". It's your own answer). A gargantuan creature is definitively large but "Large creature", "slashing damage" and "restrained" are defined game-terms therefore "natural language" doesn't apply. "Freed" isn't defined. If those were the only ways to be freed from a net, Freedom of movement's second capacity would be useless.

@nahynoklauq. Sure the meaning of large creature is definitive but Oklauq was arguing the options given are not definitive. Meaning there could be any number of additional options defined or otherwise, so that would mean I could arbitrarily add any number of types of damage or creature sizes.

@NahynOklauq the word “touch” is not defined in the rules, can I take that to mean to touch someone emotionally? From a distance I can cast Heroism by revealing my affection toward the target?

@AmethystWizard The options given are the most common ways to free someone from a net. If those were the only way possible, Freedom of movement's "The target can also spend 5 feet of movement to automatically escape from nonmagical restraints" or Desintegrate's "automatically destroy a Large or smaller nonmagical object" would have no effect (and Freedom of Movement would lose half of its ability).

I get that you say it's this is the RAW answer, but I don't think you've backed that up. Isn't the option that it magically returns as-is(without the restrained creature?) after a successful hit just as RAW? That even seems more RAW because the language doesn't state it would bring anything with you, so we default to just the net.

@NautArch yes, without the restrained creature, it’s hard to convey that - but i agree - that was my interpretation.

And I think you need to be clear that it's your interpretation of RAW and not the clear RAW. Saying it's up to the DM and why (like Kryan did) is still a great answer. Especially when you provide the logical walk-throughs for the various options - and even better if you can discuss how you ruled at a table and how it went.

"There are only two ways to free a creature restrained by a net" -- Um, that seems to imply that when D&D 5e lists something, it always means "and there is no other way to do this"?

"A large or smaller creature hit by a net is restrained until it is freed" because that is rules text. Anything that causes the creature to be "freed" causes the creature to not be restrained. The rules then list 2 ways to free a creature, but the rules do not say that those are the only ways to free a creature.

It is true that all other ways to "free" a creature need to be adjudicated by the DM, but that is what the rules as written of D&D 5e say must happen here. The DM must answer the question "is a creature freed from a non-magical net that isn't touching them and is 30' away". If they say "yes", the creature is not restrained. If they say "no" then the creature is still restrained.

@Yakk Yeah, at the very least, "only two ways to free a creature restrained by a net" is not RAW.