Levitate, Flying, and Fall Damage

[Vynomer]

An evil monster pushes a bunch of living people through a portal which comes out 1,000 feet in the air above ground. The people fall, and a wizard happens to be on the ground beneath that portal. The wizard readies an action to cast levitate on the first creature to fall within range of the spell, with the intent to save that creature. What happens to the creature, when the wizard levitate upon him? Assume the creature weighs less than 500 lbs.

A flying creature, thousands of feet up in the air, manages to become prone, falling. On its next turn, it recovers midfall, and wants to fly away. It fell more than 200 feet during the time it was prone. Once the creature tries to fly again, what happens to it?

[Zanthy1]

An evil monster pushes a bunch of living people through a portal which comes out 1,000 feet in the air above ground. The people fall, and a wizard happens to be on the ground beneath that portal. The wizard readies an action to cast levitate on the first creature to fall within range of the spell, with the intent to save that creature. What happens to the creature, when the wizard levitate upon him? Assume the creature weighs less than 500 lbs.

A flying creature, thousands of feet up in the air, manages to become prone, falling. On its next turn, it recovers midfall, and wants to fly away. It fell more than 200 feet during the time it was prone. Once the creature tries to fly again, what happens to it?

The first creature levitates, the second creature resumes flying

[Vynomer]

That's what I would assume. Unfortunately, something a bit tricky comes into play. When a character ends its fall, it takes 1d6 per 10 feet, up to 20d6 at 200 feet. So, does each of those scenarios cause fall damage? What does 'end a fall' even mean? The literal sense means that the fall is no longer happening, for whatever reason. Feather fall spell specifically states the target takes no fall damage; although, technically this spell does not actually end a fall in the first place. Physics would demand the sudden change in momentum would be like stopping the fall, but... magic. Levitate has no such line. Flying, as far as I know, also has nothing related to preventing fall damage. The part that makes it so tricky revolves around the fact falling is 'instantaneous', normally. But, most people find instantaneous falls of thousands of feet will hurt their ability to suspend disbelief. So, assuming we have some homebrew way to resolve falling far distances without teleporting to the ground, immediately taking the fall damage... what happens to something which arrests its fall before hitting the ground?

[Biggstick]

what happens to something which arrests its fall before hitting the ground?

Nothing. Ending a fall in game sense usually means hitting the ground. If you end your fall before hitting the ground, you don't take any damage.

[Unoriginal]

That's what I would assume. Unfortunately, something a bit tricky comes into play. When a character ends its fall, it takes 1d6 per 10 feet, up to 20d6 at 200 feet. So, does each of those scenarios cause fall damage? What does 'end a fall' even mean? The literal sense means that the fall is no longer happening, for whatever reason. Feather fall spell specifically states the target takes no fall damage; although, technically this spell does not actually end a fall in the first place. Physics would demand the sudden change in momentum would be like stopping the fall, but... magic. Levitate has no such line. Flying, as far as I know, also has nothing related to preventing fall damage. The part that makes it so tricky revolves around the fact falling is 'instantaneous', normally. But, most people find instantaneous falls of thousands of feet will hurt their ability to suspend disbelief. So, assuming we have some homebrew way to resolve falling far distances without teleporting to the ground, immediately taking the fall damage... what happens to something which arrests its fall before hitting the ground?

It's not the fall that hurts, it's the impact with the ground.

Flying and levitating don't involve impacting anything. At best you could ask for a roll from the creature to see if they manage to resume flying. The Levitate spell allows one to control a creature's vertical movement, so it can effectively break a fall.

[Vynomer]

Ending a fall in game sense usually means hitting the ground.

It's not the fall that hurts, it's the impact with the ground.

That word, usually, is a bit of a problem. The book doesn't specify what ending a fall means, but it does state it's the end of the fall that hurts. It does not mention anything about hitting the ground, or any other surface. Generally, when something is started, after that thing is no longer going, it is said to have ended. So, I start my fall. My fall is interrupted before I hit the ground. It's standard to believe that the point the fall was interrupted, it has ended. There's nothing I can find, RAW, that circumvents this rule. It's very possible I missed something, but rather than beating my head on a table for hours, I wanted to see what others had to say on the subject.

See, there's another possibility with the levitate. The fall ends, the character takes fall damage, and suddenly, you're levitating a corpse. In the case of flying, the creature tries to fly, takes fall damage, and then, well, assuming it died, goes back to falling. The unfortunate nature of falling in 5E makes this a very difficult situation to judge. There's the argument that levitate is magic, and so it just works as the spell states it to work. Unfortunately, there is the precedent of feather fall expressly preventing fall damage. Levitate does not do this.

[Unoriginal]

That word, usually, is a bit of a problem. The book doesn't specify what ending a fall means, but it does state it's the end of the fall that hurts. It does not mention anything about hitting the ground, or any other surface. Generally, when something is started, after that thing is no longer going, it is said to have ended. So, I start my fall. My fall is interrupted before I hit the ground. It's standard to believe that the point the fall was interrupted, it has ended. There's nothing I can find, RAW, that circumvents this rule. It's very possible I missed something, but rather than beating my head on a table for hours, I wanted to see what others had to say on the subject.

You missed that 5e uses common sense and plain English, and doesn't require a semantic argument about what "ending a fall" truly means. Not everything is covered by RAW.

But if you absolutely want a RAW justification:


The creature lands prone

The falling rules precise that the damages happen when the creature *lands* on something, aka hit something. But the whole principle of Levitate is to stop the effect gravity has on you/falling from where you are suspended, so the spell should cushion any momentum you have at any moment.



In the case of flying, the creature tries to fly, takes fall damage, and then, well, assuming it died, goes back to falling

No it doesn't. Plenty of birds free fall all the time, and they're generally able to resume flying mid-air. Flying does not cause you to take fall damages.



See, there's another possibility with the levitate. The fall ends, the character takes fall damage, and suddenly, you're levitating a corpse.[...]
The unfortunate nature of falling in 5E makes this a very difficult situation to judge. There's the argument that levitate is magic, and so it just works as the spell states it to work. Unfortunately, there is the precedent of feather fall expressly preventing fall damage. Levitate does not do this.

Levitate doesn't do that because it doesn't prevent fall damages, it prevents the fall itself. A creature who has Levitate cast on them is not falling.

Feather fall is not a precedent for what most spells do when interacting with falling creatures, it's a specialized spell specifically to avoid fall damages.

Sure, you can rule out that stopping a fall with Levitate means the creature take damages, if you want to. But the whole principle of Levitate is to stop the effects gravity has on you/prevent you from falling from where you are suspended, so the spell should cushion any momentum you have.

[Vynomer]

You missed that 5e uses common sense and plain English

If only that were true. If we use common sense, what happens when something falling at terminal velocity comes to an instantaneous stop? It squishes pretty graphically. While I agree that this is a magical spell, and so physics could be thrown out the window, the common sense argument has to contend with the fact there is an explicit point in which the damage is given: the end of the fall.


Levitate doesn't do that because it doesn't prevent fall damages, it prevents the fall itself.

This is a supposition that you choose to make. Now, I don't mean to say that you're wrong, or that this is an incorrect ruling. What I mean is, there isn't something in the rules to support this outlook. What do you base the ruling on? What if I created a tenser's floating disc under the person, to catch them? It stops the fall, and probably kills them. Why is levitate different? I realize that it causes vertical movement to the target, but it does not state this sudden change to momentum overrides the original. There's some good arguments to be made that a falling creature at terminal velocity weighs more than 500lbs, because of physics. There's another argument that could be made where levitate would simply slow the descent at a rate, until the target is no longer moving, rather than instantly stop movement. Both of these things are, in my opinion, examples of a common sense argument for transitioning from falling to not falling in this case.

I think the crux of the issue revolves around falling as an instantaneous event, rather than a happening over time. Adding in the time is what makes catching a falling person with levitate possible. Because the rules don't account for falling over time, they don't seem to have any method of gracefully interrupting a fall. Given that, as I said before, this means any falling over time is homebrew, we're mildly applying some idea of physics to figure out how fast a creature could or should fall per round. But, once again, if we stop the fall before it hits the ground, it still ends. The fall ending doesn't necessarily mean they've landed; although, the rules do spell out if you land, survive, and have no special rules to prevent it, you are prone.

[JNAProductions]

If the creature chooses to stop all momentum instantly with Levitate, I'd have them take fall damage. If they aren't that foolish, though, and gradually (well, rapidly, but not instantly) slow their fall... They'd be fine.

For the flying creature, I'd probably call for an Acrobatics check of DC 13 to stabilize and resume flying, with a roll of 9-12 giving advantage on your next check, and no penalties (other than continuing to fall) on a failure. No fall damage, though.

[Biggstick]

If only that were true. If we use common sense, what happens when something falling at terminal velocity comes to an instantaneous stop? It squishes pretty graphically. While I agree that this is a magical spell, and so physics could be thrown out the window, the common sense argument has to contend with the fact there is an explicit point in which the damage is given: the end of the fall.

Can you provide an example of something falling at terminal velocity, and then being prevented from hitting the ground? I honestly can't think of such an event that occurs as described for us to draw conclusions from.

The closest example of such a thing I can come up with is a bird. Birds can dive at terminal velocity, and survive. Now they're not coming to an instantaneous stop, but other then Birds, I can't think of an example to prove your train of thought.

[lebefrei]

I'm going to be blunt here. It sounds like you're a DM that is playing against your characters and you killed one or more of them by arguing that they cannot save themselves from falling to their death with either fly or levitate. Now you're here trying to find justification for a bad decision.

For a flying creature, they fall all the time in the air and then resume flight; it's a normal and natural part of their routine, and they don't "take fall damage," their bodies are designed for it. Assume that even moreso for a magical world where one has less reliance upon scientific truths. As for levitate, I'd say you're arguing as if a magic disc appears below them, squishing them as they slam into it. The spell describes the target as being "suspended" in the air, though, so think of it more like being caught by a parachute, and then hovering. No fall damage.

[Vynomer]

If they aren't that foolish, though, and gradually (well, rapidly, but not instantly) slow their fall...

The main problem with this is the way levitate actually works. When the spell is cast, the target immediately moves 20 feet into the air. On subsequent turns, the caster is able to move them up or down, up to a distance of 20 feet, as an action. If the target used it on himself, he can do this as part of his movement action. There is no ability to move faster than 20 feet per round, which slowing down your momentum essentially would be doing. I agree, though, that sounds like it would be a neat way for the spell to end.


Can you provide an example of something falling at terminal velocity, and then being prevented from hitting the ground?

Imagine beam extended from the edge of a 2,000 foot tower. Hanging from this beam is a metal platform suspended by 1,500 feet of titanium chain links. One end of the chain is fastened to this titanium, fairly indestructible beam, and the other end is fastened to the platform. The end fastened to the platform is held near the beam by a hook, so that most of the chain dangle into the depths, while the platform is still hung up at the top of the tower. Make the platform have some kind of aerodynamic underside, so it basically falls straight down once the chain is pulled from the hook. Finally, imagine a person strapped to the top of the platform, in such a way that they won't float off the platform while it falls. Pull the hook, and the platform falls. After 1500 feet, the platform... well, it stops. Technically, it will probably bounce back up, for at least that split second, it will stop. The person strapped to the top will also stop. Just... not as fast.


It sounds like you're a DM that is playing against your characters and you killed one or more of them by arguing that they cannot save themselves from falling to their death

This isn't exactly correct. Instead, the players keep looking for 'holes' in the rules or spells, trying to justify their actions via pointing out some things in RAW which don't exactly work as expected with falling over time.


For a flying creature, they fall all the time in the air and then resume flight

Are you referring to actual flying creatures, such as birds, or do you mean within the context of D&D? If the latter, which creatures put themselves into the falling state, then resume flying? This would be very handy to know. If you mean real flying creatures, I don't know that this applies in the same context. It can be argued that every point where the bird is not actively contracting the muscles in its wings to generate lift, it is falling. I don't really want to make that argument. I just wanted to point out that real animals don't transition between statuses or movement types in a way that correlates very easily to D&D movement.

[willdaBEAST]

If you mean real flying creatures, I don't know that this applies in the same context. It can be argued that every point where the bird is not actively contracting the muscles in its wings to generate lift, it is falling. I don't really want to make that argument. I just wanted to point out that real animals don't transition between statuses or movement types in a way that correlates very easily to D&D movement.

Peregrine falcons accelerate into a free fall by maximizing aerodynamics in a stoop in order to hit their prey mid air at around 200 mph (320 km/h). That breaks a falcon's flight into at least 3 states: actively flapping wings to fly (moving) , staying aloft on thermals (hovering) and diving in a free fall (falling).

I have no wish to get into a semantics argument and will not respond to one.

I think it's an assumption that once levitate is cast it immediately sends the target 20 ft into the air. That could be the case, but the spell description seems to be clearly intended for a target that is on the ground. My personal ruling is that levitate would gradually reduce the downward momentum, eventually reversing it. In other words, if you cast it when the target is within X ft above the ground, it'll soften the blow, but not by that much, otherwise it works as intended. You can rule however you want at your table, but full fall damage seems overly combative. The whiplash from levitate stopping your momentum and the ground stopping your momentum should not be identical. I would get around that as a player by saying I cast levitate and immediately stop the spell as soon as it takes effect, "when the spell ends, the target floats gently to the ground".

[Vynomer]

I think it's an assumption that once levitate is cast it immediately sends the target 20 ft into the air. That could be the case, but the spell description seems to be clearly intended for a target that is on the ground.

Well, I believe the spell effect literally states the target rises 20 feet into the air. It may be that it says it moves up to 20 feet into the air, I don't recall off the top of my head. That being said, I feel it is definitely an assumption that levitate is intended to be used on the ground. It would make perfect sense to use it on a target which is already floating, or another target which is already flying. That does make me wonder what would happen if you levitated a flying creature, or if you cast levitate on a target that is already levitating. Do you play levitate tug of war, at that point? There are still some serious questions about what happens if a person who has finished levitating, and is still floating to the ground, catches something heavy.




would get around that as a player by saying I cast levitate and immediately stop the spell as soon as it takes effect, "when the spell ends, the target floats gently to the ground".

This specific exploiting of the rules, where the main spell effect would allow fall damage, but canceling it for an ancillary effect could be construed as power-gaming, and to be honest, if I was going to allow the follow on effect to prevent the fall damage, I'd probably rule in favor of levitate preventing fall damage. I know a guy who absolutely hates this style of rules manipulation to try and get around RAW limitations.

[Strangways]

Here’s the description of “Feather Fall”:

“Choose up to five falling creatures within range. A falling creature's rate of descent slows to 60 feet per round until the spell ends. If the creature lands before the spell ends, it takes no falling damage and can land on its feet, and the spell ends for that creature.”

There is nothing in the spell description that says, or implies, that if you’re falling really fast, such that slowing to 60 feet per round is so abrupt as to injure you from G-force, then you take damage anyway, despite the spell stating that if you land before the spell ends, you take no damage.

[Unoriginal]

Vynomer, I have two questions for you, because I think the answer will shed light on your issue.


1) Creature A is in a room with a ceiling 19 feet above the ground. A Wizard casts Levitate on Creature A so that they can examine something on the ceiling more closely. However, there is an invisible obstacle in the way at 15ft above the ground, right in the tragectory of Creature A.

Does Creature A receive damages as if they had a 15ft fall?


2) Creature B is on a horse without saddle, moving at maximum speed. A Wizard casts Levitate on Creature B, who fails their save, and so stop moving horizontally while being suspended in the air.

Does Creature B receive damages equivalent to the ones someone who was moving at the speed of the horse and who suddenly hit a solid wall?

[imanidiot]

This is a ridiculous semantic argument for no other purpose than to have a ridiculous semantic argument.

Whatever is appropriate to the specific campaign in which these events occur is what happens. There is clearly no rule explicit, intended, or implied, that addresses any of these situations. The DM decides what happens.

[Vynomer]

There is nothing in the spell description that say, or implies, that if you’re falling really fast, such that slowing to 60 feet per round is so abrupt as to injure you from G-force

I agree with this. I simply wanted to point out that the only thing, rules as written, that would prevent the damage, is the actual line in the spell which states they take no fall damage. Presumably, that is to make it obvious that even though they're still moving pretty fast, they aren't going to hurt themselves at the bottom. It coincidentally, also circumvents the whole inertia dampening conundrum for this spell. The part that is tricky with feather fall is that you have to select targets who are falling. There is no apparent time frame for when a character is actually falling. It seems like falling. So, when could you actually pluck a falling person from the sky?


1) Creature A is in a room with a ceiling 19 feet above the ground. A Wizard casts Levitate on Creature A so that they can examine something on the ceiling more closely. However, there is an invisible obstacle in the way at 15ft above the ground, right in the tragectory of Creature A.

Does Creature A receive damages as if they had a 15ft fall?


2) Creature B is on a horse without saddle, moving at maximum speed. A Wizard casts Levitate on Creature B, who fails their save, and so stop moving horizontally while being suspended in the air.

Does Creature B receive damages equivalent to the ones someone who was moving at the speed of the horse and who suddenly hit a solid wall?

Alright, these are interesting questions. I would say that I made an assumption that falling had to be down. I don't know that the rules account for anything falling in a direction other than down. At this point, I believe we hit home-brew territory, again. I believe that RAW, falling is a down thing. If this is the case, then there is no RAW way to hurt a person by flinging them straight up to the top of a cave, 40 feet up, other than as a special attack. I'm sure there are special attacks that include throwing a character. Here's a different question: are there rules for riding a horse headlong into a wall? Is it fall damage equivalent?


Whatever is appropriate to the specific campaign in which these events occur is what happens. There is clearly no rule explicit, intended, or implied, that addresses any of these situations. The DM decides what happens.

This, I can agree with. My main thought is, are there any kind of rules precedents? Also, it's very helpful to know if the majority of folks would support levitate as a safety net, or if they would oppose. My goal is to point out, as best as I can, how it seems RAW works with this spell, and how it might interact with a custom rule which makes falling not happen instantaneously. I'm sorry if I offended you with my splitting of hairs.

[Biggstick]

Alright, these are interesting questions. I would say that I made an assumption that falling had to be down. I don't know that the rules account for anything falling in a direction other than down. At this point, I believe we hit home-brew territory, again. I believe that RAW, falling is a down thing. If this is the case, then there is no RAW way to hurt a person by flinging them straight up to the top of a cave, 40 feet up, other than as a special attack. I'm sure there are special attacks that include throwing a character. Here's a different question: are there rules for riding a horse headlong into a wall? Is it fall damage equivalent?

This, I can agree with. My main thought is, are there any kind of rules precedents? Also, it's very helpful to know if the majority of folks would support levitate as a safety net, or if they would oppose. My goal is to point out, as best as I can, how it seems RAW works with this spell, and how it might interact with a custom rule which makes falling not happen instantaneously. I'm sorry if I offended you with my splitting of hairs.

The level 7 spell Reverse Gravity says hello. It specifically talks about falling upward.

As for specifics on Levitate, the wording on the spell reads: "One creature or object of your choice that you can see within range rises vertically, up to 20 feet, and remains suspended there for the duration."

In the first sentence of Levitate, you can see that the spell reads the creatures rises vertically, "up to 20 feet." This means they can rise 1 inch and still be within the RAW for the spell.

I would agree with the poster who mentioned something about casting Levitate, and then immediately cancelling my concentration on the spell (as it's a free action taken at any time you want under concentration rules in the PHB on page 203 as the last sentence on the left column of the page). You might see it as powergaming, I see it as a Player using a level 2 spell to save a single creature from falling damage. It's a resource that the caster is utilizing, in a creative manner. Why punish a Player for giving up a level 2 spell (and thus resources) to save a single creature (probably themselves)?

[SharkForce]

yeah, i would say that levitating a creature at the end of a fall would result in taking fall damage... but i would also rule that they could cast it and end concentration immediately so that the feather fall effect triggers, and since feather fall is specifically designed to cancel falling damage, they would take none. but if they were to just cast levitate and keep concentrating on it, you're taking fall damage.

it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end. whether that sudden stop comes from hitting the ground or from some invisible force is irrelevant; if you have that sudden stop, you take falling damage. but seriously, i'd just let someone not concentrate on the levitate. they're paying a level 2 spell slot for 1/5 of a level 1 spell effect that is already integrated into that spell. sounds fine to me.

[Vynomer]

I want to thank you all for your valuable, insightful comments. There are some things brought up I hadn't considered, and there were a lot of good points for me to ponder. I think this topic is dead enough, for now. Feels like there won't be a solid consensus either way, and to be honest, that is about what I figured. Still, I enjoyed the conversation, now good luck!