Does the Fly spell hold someone aloft if they're unconscious?

[ATHATH]

If you cast the Fly spell on an enemy who is flying via mundane means, then knock them out, will their magical flying speed keep them floating in place, or at least keep them from splatting against the ground?

[Galithar]

No. In order to maintain flight while unconscious they would need a fly (hover) speed.

I went to double check myself before posting and realized I was initially wrong. YES the fly spell would hold someone magically aloft even if they fall unconscious as long as the spell is maintained.

Relevant quote from PHB



Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.


Emphasis mine.

[ATHATH]

Never mind, Fly requires a willing target.

[Galithar]

Never mind, Fly requires a willing target.

Lol I somehow totally skipped the part where you said you were targeting an enemy!

[stoutstien]

You need levitate in this circumstance. Come with a bonus feather fall effect as well.

[rlc]

You can knock the enemy out and argue to the DM that being unconscious is implied consent, then cast fly on them after they’re knocked out so that they take fall damage when you cancel the spell, This is probably more convoluted than just killing them, but it gets creativity points.

[birdboye713]

You can knock the enemy out and argue to the DM that being unconscious is implied consent, then cast fly on them after they’re knocked out so that they take fall damage when you cancel the spell, This is probably more convoluted than just killing them, but it gets creativity points.

I know that you definitely didn't mean it, but saying that unconsciousness is implied consent would sound really bad out of context.

[Lavaeolus]

It'll confuse the enemy, but being a straight buff Fly might be accepted by a conscious enemy. (It also might not, since it reeks of 'trap'. But if you announce why you're doing it and your enemy has reason to believe you, e.g. you're known for leaving enemies alive or have announced your intent to interrogate them, I might be more inclined to lean in your favour. And, of course, there are both enemies who'll prefer to go down fighting and'll reject the gesture on principle, and enemies who'd rather live to fight another day -- even if they're personally confused by what you're doing.)

So in principle I think it works. Being unconscious means you 1) are knocked prone and 2) can't move, but that just means you're going to float there since you're specifically being "[held] aloft by magic". Now, since they're not falling at all, that does mean you should probably lasso them to the ground or something, because that spell's not going to last forever.

Just casting feather fall is probably going to be the more practical solution in most cases, though. It's reaction-based, doesn't need set-up in advance or require any co-operation, and it's a 1st-level spell. But there might be some niche use if an enemy's hovering over dangerous terrain or they're shooting arrows at you from, say, the side of an airship.

In some systems, like Pathfinder, an 'unconscious' target is said to be 'willing', presumably in the sense they can't specifically reject/resist a spell being cast on them. But 5e doesn't have such a rule, so while I could see myself bending this as a DM because it's a creative solution and few creatures want to plummet to their deaths in the moment, my RAW opinion is that it wouldn't work there. This admittedly shouldn't come up too much, since not only would feather fall have to not be the better solution, but fly takes an action and a falling creature simply might go splat before your turn comes up.

[GigaGuess]

I know that you definitely didn't mean it, but saying that unconsciousness is implied consent would sound really bad out of context.

To be fair, this is likely stated as the First Aid concept, though I get what you're saying.

[rlc]

I know that you definitely didn't mean it, but saying that unconsciousness is implied consent would sound really bad out of context.
It was meant as a first aid joke, yeah.
And the term “implied consent” is never used in the *other* context.