Elocater and Pitfall traps

[lytokk]

So, elocaters have the ability called Scorn Earth, which allows them to float about a foot off the ground, as well as levitate if needed. What happens to an Elocater if they were standing above the area of a pit trap? do they fall? Concentration check to keep floating? Part of me thinks that the pitfall trap would cause them to fall 60 ft (which I think is the rate of falling for the first round of falling) at which point they get to use an action to re-orient themelves. Sort of how you don't get dex to AC during a surprise round, you just can't react fast enough. Is there any ruling to back this thought up?

I'm coming up with future encounters for my group and the Elocater is giving me a monkey wrench. Granted the ghost in the group won't fall either, but one problem at a time.

[Baroknik]

It seems to me the elocator would not fall, but instead only have his or her speed reduced to 10 while hovering over the hole. Note also that Scorn Earth allows vertical travel along walls and horizontal travel along ceilings, the only requirement for moving is to remain within 1ft of a flat solid or liquid surface.

The speed drop is for being more than 1ft "above" said surface which is where orientation comes into play, but the elocator still floats.

Edit: correcting autocorrect

[Troacctid]

Unless the Elocater specifically said they wanted to stand with their feet on the ground instead of floating above it, I would rule that they continue floating.

[KillianHawkeye]

Unless it was a very large pit trap and the character is staying quite close to their companions, I don't think they would even trigger the trap in the first place.

[Karl Aegis]

You want the pit trap on the ceiling and a reverse gravity trap below it.

[Jack_Simth]

So, elocaters have the ability called Scorn Earth, which allows them to float about a foot off the ground, as well as levitate if needed. What happens to an Elocater if they were standing above the area of a pit trap? do they fall? Concentration check to keep floating? Part of me thinks that the pitfall trap would cause them to fall 60 ft (which I think is the rate of falling for the first round of falling) at which point they get to use an action to re-orient themelves. Sort of how you don't get dex to AC during a surprise round, you just can't react fast enough. Is there any ruling to back this thought up?

I'm coming up with future encounters for my group and the Elocater is giving me a monkey wrench. Granted the ghost in the group won't fall either, but one problem at a time.

First off, the ability in question (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/elocater.htm#scornEarth):

At 1st level, an elocater’s feet lift from the ground. From now on, she can float a foot above the ground. Instead of walking she glides along, unconcerned with the hard earth or difficult terrain. While she remains within 1 foot of a flat surface of any solid or liquid, she can take normal actions and make normal attacks, and can move at her normal speed (she can even “run” at four times her normal speed). However, at distances higher than 1 foot above any surface, her speed diminishes to 10 feet per round.

While she remains within 1 foot of a surface, she can make melee and ranged attacks normally, but if she moves any higher, she incurs the penalties on melee and ranged attack rolls as if she were the subject of the psionic levitate power.
Two things:
1) The elocater is flying by default. If the floor drops out from under an elocater while flying... nothing much happens, beyond the penalty to attack rolls and the speed reduction. No action is required, because the ability is already active. If there's something else at play (an antimagic field suppressing the Supernatural ability, wanting to leave footprints for someone else to follow, pretending to be a mundane, whatever), then this doesn't apply.
2) The elocater doesn't trigger a weight-based trap, as the Elocater is not applying force to the ground. AKA, the trap door doesn't fall (note that this aspect is irrelevant in the case of an illusory floor, if a companion triggers the trap door accidentally, if an observing enemy triggers the trap door intentionally, if the ground underneath the Elocater is disintegrated for some non-weight reason, et cetera).

[lytokk]

It wasn't necessarily going to be a pitfall trap, but it was the easiest way I could think of to explain it. The theory in crafting the whole thing was a few umber hulks (or some other burrowing monster) dig a 30ft deep hole for the PCs to fall into, starting the encounter underground.