D&D 5E Can you use misty step to arrest a fall?

[Lyxen]

EVERYTHING that is not magical or described by the lore as different should be assumed to work like the real world.

I disagree, taking on a fantasy world perspective can certainly lead to at least, if not more interesting gaming, and it does not have to lead to bizarro world.

Why? Because the players don't live in the D&D world. They haven't grown up in it and learned all its quirks.

So what ? It's not the players who are living there, it's their characters.

If nothing can be assumed to work the way it does in the real world, the players can become lost in a morass of uncertainty. Does wood float? Do pigs lay eggs? Are metal tipped arrows better than rubber ones? Do more coins weight more than less coins? Is ale toxic? Does the sun or the moon shed heat? Do people need food? Is time 2 dimensional? (yes, btw)

etc etc etc etc etc.

There are so many things that the players have to keep track of already (longswords do more damage than short swords. Fireball has a 20 foot radius. Acid and fire work well vs trolls. Dwarven exiles are not to be trusted. Hundreds of other things). We need a stable footing from which we can explore the wonders of the imaginary world, and to help us understand it.

The problem is that for example something like gravity does not work like in our real world, as it includes spelljammer gravity which is notably different (and in 5e, thanks to Dungeon of he Mad Mage).

Furthermore, there are good reasons to doubt fundamental physics. There is an elemental plane of air which provides the air on the worlds. It is an elemental plane of (O2 21% / N2 70% / Ar 0.9% / etc.) ? No, it's a plane full of the stuff of air, and therefore the air that adventurers breathe is the air element, which is elemental. Same when you produce a fireball, it cannot be a physical combustion, it requires no comburant and does not suck out the air to produce CO2 (as an example). It's just stuff from the elemental plane of fire personified.

I really suggest reading Brandon Sanderson's "The Stormlight Archives", you will see a fantasy world with its own physics and metaphysics, very logical, but which functions on different principles, and it's as good a basis for a fantasy world as our own.

For the sake of simplicity, you are welcome to make the hypothesis above, but please realise that it's not that simple, and that it cannot be forced upon others since there is clear evidence to the contrary.

Also, most of the questions that you are asking probably have the same answer as the real world, but they are completely trivial and unlikely to lead to interesting gaming. However, considering a completely different perspective, in particular about elements, and plane, and metaphysics can make your game more magical and interesting.

 

[Lyxen]

View attachment 145527

You know what, I was looking at booking screens for a conference, and the lady just wanted to book me 2 32" screens when I am used to 65" screens on stands for my stands and conferences. I had to think for a while before being sure enough to write to her that her 32"screens were a quarter the size of the 65" in terms of surface... Too much D&D...

 

[Maxperson]

Where in the RAW does it say this ? I say that choosing a target and actually targeting him, and pointing your weapons at hum and pulling bacl for the blow is certainly perceivable, and I've been in enough fights of all kind support this claim.

Pulling back for a blow is the beginning of resolving the attack, and you don't generally point a weapon at someone before they swing. By the time that happens, you've already been chosen as the target, bonuses have been added and the attack is happening. That finishes with the attack roll.

Now, I am very surprised that you take the opposite position, since you have already argued in other threads that people know exactly what is happening all over any battlefield, including a wizard casting a spell 100 feet away while you have multiple opponents in your face fighting you.

Never argued that.

But once more, the RAW totally supports my position.

Nope. Once more, you just wish it did and are acting like your wants and desires translate into RAW.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There are 3 ways to play this, the spell compensates for momentum, angular velocity/Coriolis effects and you arrive where you intend to, so pretty much D&D as normal bar the odd misty step/dimension door/gate off a cliff as a readied action. The path of least hassle.

The physics geek version where you need to know (before teleporting) your exact latitude and longitude and height above sea level (including destination) and relevant orbital and stellar motion data and do the math for the time of transfer to occur. Definitely a ritual with sever consequences of an error.

Or only allow teleport to a destination that is a permanent circle where all the physics is handled by compensator in the transport buffers.

Your choice.

My thought is that, momentum cannot be conserved, teleportation must match your velocity to the target location. Consider teleporting to the other side of a (spherical) world. If momentum where conserved you would now be moving relative to the ground at double the rotational velocity of the planet! Clearly, this does not happen, ergo the spell must match your velocity to that of the target location.

Which means that if you teleport onto the ground part of the magic of the spell sets your velocity of zero relative to that ground. i.e. no falling damage.

 

[Maxperson]

My thought is that, momentum cannot be conserved, teleportation must match your velocity to the target location. Consider teleporting to the other side of a (spherical) world. If momentum where conserved you would now be moving relative to the ground at double the rotational velocity of the planet! Clearly, this does not happen, ergo the spell must match your velocity to that of the target location.

If you teleport to the other side of the world, it maintains you current velocity and direction, so nothing happens as that part of the world is moving in the same direction at the same speed. If you are falling you have a new velocity direction and new speed in addition to the standard rotational speed and direction. The spell maintains both, leaving you with the falling speed and resultant damage.

 

[Horwath]

My thought is that, momentum cannot be conserved, teleportation must match your velocity to the target location. Consider teleporting to the other side of a (spherical) world. If momentum where conserved you would now be moving relative to the ground at double the rotational velocity of the planet! Clearly, this does not happen, ergo the spell must match your velocity to that of the target location.

Which means that if you teleport onto the ground part of the magic of the spell sets your velocity of zero relative to that ground. i.e. no falling damage.

or the same longitude but you change latitude, on Earth you could be at equator rotating at 1600 KPH, then teleport north or south few thousands km, and going few hundred KPH relative to the ground.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you teleport to the other side of the world, it maintains you current velocity and direction, so nothing happens as that part of the world is moving in the same direction at the same speed.

No it's not, it's moving in the opposite direction.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

or the same longitude but you change latitude, on Earth you could be at equator rotating at 1600 KPH, then teleport north or south few thousands km, and going few hundred KPH relative to the ground.

Also true.

 

[Maxperson]

or the same longitude but you change latitude, on Earth you could be at equator rotating at 1600 KPH, then teleport north or south few thousands km, and going few hundred KPH relative to the ground.

Maybe the spell adjusts for rotation and can't handle the rest. Or maybe fantasy worlds work differently.

 

[Horwath]

If you teleport to the other side of the world, it maintains you current velocity and direction, so nothing happens as that part of the world is moving in the same direction at the same speed. If you are falling you have a new velocity direction and new speed in addition to the standard rotational speed and direction. The spell maintains both, leaving you with the falling speed and resultant damage.