D&D 5E Levitation - center of gravity

[Swarmkeeper]

In one of my current campaigns the PCs encountered a medusa in a temple and the warlock failed miserably on his CON save against her gaze - yep, warlock statue. The wizard followed up with a levitation spell on the medusa, who failed her CON save and was subsequently raised up 8 feet off the floor in a chamber with a 60 foot ceiling. With her being stuck, the stealthy assassin crept up behind her and hit with a melee sneak attack - reasonable as he is a 6'2" half-orc and can easily extend his arm and sword to hit something that is dangling down to 8' above the ground. I didn't want to get bogged down in attempted rules-lawyering during the action, so I just let it go that she would have no way to move out of range and, furthermore, it would be easier for the players to avoid looking her in the eyes.

There appears to be no RAW around this so I'm looking for advice on RAI or (especially) RAF to advise on where the "center of gravity" is located on a creature being levitated against their will. Is it at the bottom of the feet, in which case the creature can't "jump" or otherwise get out of the way of something striking their legs from below? Or is it somewhere on its midsection - like its true center of gravity - allowing the creature to bring its legs up potentially out of reach of a melee attacker from below? Of course, in the latter case, the wizard could simply move her lower by a few feet on his turn, but that would cost him an action and bring her eyes into the danger zone...

As a DM, what would be your ruling in this situation?

 

[jaelis]

I would say that if you levitate a creature by 10 ft, then its feet are 10 ft from the ground. Is that basically what you are asking?

In this situation, I would make the half-orc jump to attack, but that wouldn't be a particular problem. I would, not, however, give him any special protection against the medusa's gaze.

 

[Shiroiken]

I feel she would be able to maneuver herself in midair, similar to weightlessness/freefall. Thus, she would be able to defend herself (no bonus to attack) and she could still somewhat utilize her gaze (grant advantage?). The primary benefit would be her lack of melee options unless engaged. Additionally, the party could put something hazardous underneath her (crawling and avoiding her gaze), so she could be dropped into it.

 

[akr71]

My advice would be no not try and mix real world physics with magic. It just gets messt...

However I would rule that a levitated creature can still move their limbs, unless the caster specifically stated that the target of the levitation spell is object/limb that you want to move. So in your example - unless otherwise explicitly stated, it is assumed that the caster targeted the mid-point of the medusa and levitated that into the air. The medusa can attempt to move its legs out of the way of the half-orc - assuming it 'readied an action' to do so or has a reaction at its disposal. Otherwise, it is a sitting duck, hanging in the air waiting for the half-orc to act.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I typically rule that levitation works mostly like fly. It works by lifting your center of mass/gravity directly. To a human, it would feel like you're being held aloft by a point within your abdomen, or as though you were being lifted by a wire harness. The magic is smart enough to compensate for motion. A character would be able to twist and strike downwards at least as easily as a character standing on a ledge.

Bottom line: If two creatures have the same reach and the first is able to attack the second, the second is always able to attack the first. If the first has to jump to reach the second, the second can merely wait for the first to jump before striking. If the first character moves into range, strikes, and then moves out of range, the second character can always ready an action to attack. It's probably outside the intent of the spell for it to allow a character to be held immobile while it is subject to melee attacks which it cannot return because the attackers phrase their movement correctly and the ceiling is high enough. This just abusing the abstract nature of combat. It would mean it would be a duplicate effect of hold person without the repeating saves, or a much lower level and better version of hold monster. Yes, levitate opens you up to ranged attacks, but those are typically less dangerous than melee attacks are.

 

[Dausuul]

So, the question here is:

Say a creature is being levitated and its legs are extended straight down. Then it pulls its legs in, going from a "standing" pose to a "crouching" pose. Does its body stay in the same place while its feet move up, or do its feet stay in the same place while its body moves down, or do they both move?

For simplicity's sake, I would rule that the body stays in the same place, and appendages move freely. So the creature can pull its legs up, or duck its head down, but its body stays at a constant height.

(If I found that I needed a super-precise rule, I'd say the spell alters the effect of gravity on the creature to hold its center of mass at a fixed altitude; if its center of mass moves up, gravity shifts to tug it back down, and vice versa. The body will move a little bit as the CoM shifts around, but for most practical purposes it will stay in the same place. The spell also applies light "nudges" to stabilize the creature's orientation; these nudges can be overcome with a deliberate effort, so the creature can flip upside down if it wants to, but small movements won't send it into a spin.)

 

[Ganymede81]

Just let the PCs maneuver within their five foot square however they wish. No fuss, no muss.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

It's probably outside the intent of the spell for it to allow a character to be held immobile while it is subject to melee attacks which it cannot return because the attackers phrase their movement correctly and the ceiling is high enough. This just abusing the abstract nature of combat. It would mean it would be a duplicate effect of hold person without the repeating saves, or a much lower level and better version of hold monster. Yes, levitate opens you up to ranged attacks, but those are typically less dangerous than melee attacks are.

Agreed. Levitation against a creature's will drops its movement to 0, so it is a bit of a sitting duck. But the levitated creature can ready an action to strike a jumping opponent OR use an opportunity attack to strike an opponent who reaches up to strike and ducks away out of 5' reach. In the case of the Medusa, no way her snake hair is going to reach the jumping attacker (or could it if she flipped upside down?), but she could swing her sword down. In my particular battle, she had her long bow out, so I said she could fire at anyone in the room who wasn't hiding behind a pillar or statue.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

For simplicity, I use 5 foot cubes in combat. Your reach is all the 5 foot cubes around you. If the medusa is levitated 10 feet up then she is out of reach of the rogue on the ground, because the 5 foot cube she controls is not touching that of the rogue.

If the attacker on the ground had a reach weapon then they could attack.

Levitation, unlike telekinesis, does not apply the restrained condition so the medusa is free to act and defend normally except that she can't move.

 

[DEFCON 1]

My general rule of thumb is that if a PC uses an ability to aid someone's else's attack (which usually falls into the "rule of cool" kind of actions) rather than physically attack someone themselves when they could have... then I give that other attack various bonuses of some type. Otherwise, I'm training my players to not be interesting or original with their abilities and instead they should just be straight hit point destroyers.

In this particular case, since the wizard could have just done a straight attack against the medusa but instead chose a "rule of cool" action like levitating it up off the ground to "pin it" in place... then indeed I'd probably give bonuses along the lines of the medusa being unable to target the halfork with its gaze, as well as give the halfork Advantage on his attack against it.