Casting while Feather Falling

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I always ruled that when under a Feather Fall spell, you fell like a feather, twirling and rocking back and forth, with no real control over where you ended up. A good stiff breeze and you might drift a fair bit. In any event, I'd impose a concentration check, DC depending on the components required for the spell. Purely vocal would be pretty easy, somatic a little less so, and all three very hard.

 

[Gnarlo]

Got no problem with casting while Falling. IMO falling is in one direction (down), takes no concentration to maintain, and has to be less strenuous and jarring than casting while walking or flying.

 

[Gez]

You're just falling. You don't actually do anything, so while you may be distracted by the scrolling landscape, I see no reason for you to stand, arms crossed, being a sitting duck.

Liken it to the situation of someone falling with a parachute. Are they unable to speak and move their arms while falling?

By the way... The speed of the fall with a parachute is about 15 km/h. The speed of the fall with FF is about 11 km/h -- the fall is gentler, slower, than with the parachute.

So, yes, you can definitely cast while feather falling. If the character isn't used to it, I'd ask for a Concentration check, DC 5+spell level. If the character takes some training doing that (like, during down time, for a week or two, jump often from a high tower or a flying carpet with FF, and cast one spell or two during the fall); I would not even ask for the check. (It's not worth a feat.)

 

[Liolel]

I would allow casting while feather falling if the caster succeeds at a concentration check dc: 10 + spell level (so its not trivial, but its not impossible.)

 

[Hypersmurf]

So, um, do you require concentration checks to keep Mage Armor up? Stoneskin? Protection from Elements? Definitely could make for an interesting game.

"I cast Magic Circle Against Evil."
"Okay."
"Now I cast Greater Planar Binding to call a Marilith."
"So you're letting the concentration on your Magic Circle lapse in order to cast the second spell, right?"

"I cast Detect Magic."
"Okay."
"Now I cast Permanency on it!"
"So you're letting the concentration...?"

-Hyp.

 

[BSF]

"I cast Magic Circle Against Evil."
"Okay."
"Now I cast Greater Planar Binding to call a Marilith."
"So you're letting the concentration on your Magic Circle lapse in order to cast the second spell, right?"

"I cast Detect Magic."
"Okay."
"Now I cast Permanency on it!"
"So you're letting the concentration...?"

-Hyp.

Heh - I hadn't even thought of the spell combos like that.

As I said, it could make for an interesting game. Admittedly, I didn't say how it would be interesting. I imagine it would be a game much more along the lines of Player 1 is playing a fighter, Player 2 is playing a rogue, Player3 is playing a barbarian, Player 4 is playing a fighter ....

 

[Darklone]

Does levitate still have the rules about how to cast while floating in mid-air? If yes, I'd use those for falling guys. For anything else, I see no problems with casting while falling... even without featherfall. Provided they have enough time till impact.

SRD:

]A levitating creature that attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has a –1 penalty on attack rolls, the second –2, and so on, to a maximum penalty of –5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at –1.

I apply these penalties to spells with an attack roll as well... in this case fireball too (though hitting a certain immobile point is not that difficult).