Feeling Funny about Feather Fall

[bodhi]

There's really no math necessary.

Objects that have Feather Fall cast on them fall at a rate of 60 feet per round.

Objects that do not have Feather Fall cast on them, even if they are on top of an object with Feather Fall cast on it, fall at the normal speed.

I'm having trouble reconciling your last sentence with anything that makes any kind of sense at all.

I believe what he's saying is that, for example:
Wally the Wizard falls off a cliff, casts feather fall, and starts to fall at 60fpr. Next round, Fred the Fighter falls off the same cliff. Now, if Fred misses Wally, it's easy. Fred takes 1d6 damage per 10', Wally takes no damage (unless it's a really long fall). If Fred lands on Wally, then they both fall at Fred's falling speed, and both take 1d6/10' damage.

Fred does not have feather fall cast on him, so even though he is on top of Wally (who does), he falls at the normal rate. Wally's "fall rate" is only 60' per round, but he's being pushed downwards by Fred.

 

[bodhi]

Though if the sheet of cardboard were large enough, it could act as a parachute or wing...

-Stuart

They tried that on Mythbusters. Doesn't work.

 

[airwalkrr]

I wouldn't allow objects to carry things. It seems besides the intent of the spell. Plus, as a mindless object, it has a Str score of "-" so it has no carrying capacity. In this event, the spell simply fails.

 

[Slaved]

They tried that on Mythbusters. Doesn't work.

They did not try all sizes/configurations possible.

 

[Kisanji Arael]

Yes, this is why Tenser made floating disks.

But it's hard to reconcile the concept that additional mass may be added onto a character who is using Tenser's floating disk. And Airwalkrr, if that is your interpretation, does a character's Feather Fall fail if they're hit by... say, a drop of rain?

This would be my house rule, if I played a physics heavy game: I would say that, at least trying to be realistic, one should average the weight of the item affected and the people unaffected. then use this concept: 500 pound rock is feather falling. 200 pound elf is on rock. Feather fall expects to account for 500 of 700 pounds, due to initial calculation. The rock falls 60*7/5 ft/round, as does the person.

In all truth, though, I'd probably just eye-ball it.

 

[Phlebas]

I just have this image from the old 'road runner' cartoons of Will E Coyote jumping on top of a falling rock (so he doesn't fall), only for the rock to slowly spin over leaving a coyote in free fall about to hit the ground followed by a rock landing on his head.

nothing in feather fall says any object will be stable while falling......

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I just have this image from the old 'road runner' cartoons of Will E Coyote jumping on top of a falling rock (so he doesn't fall), only for the rock to slowly spin over leaving a coyote in free fall about to hit the ground followed by a rock landing on his head.

nothing in feather fall says any object will be stable while falling......

Nothing says it's not either. Deciding that objects under the effects of feather fall attempt to crush anyone coming into contact with them seems oddly adversarial.

Really, I don't like this game DMs play: "You came up with a clever idea? Oh yeah? You'll pay for that, even if I have to have the entire universe get in on punishing you!"

I, myself, might call for a balance check if the object isn't reasonably large and flat, but I don't think I'd carefully determine a way that I could ensure that, no matter what, the character trying to ride the thing down gets smashed to bits. It's just not worth the trouble and feelings of being persecuted by the DM for straying slightly from the established protocols.

 

[KingOfChaos]

You're giving too much credit to a low level spells, in my opinion. What you're describing would be more like a 4th or 5th level spell.

 

[phindar]

That's my (wild) assumption as well. If FF is cast on a thing, that thing falls at the rate of a feather. If another thing ("Thing 2") latches on to it, then together they fall at the rate that Thing 2 would fall if he was latched to a feather. That is to say, the spell isn't doing much as long as they remain attached (and it would make an interesting moment in a game, akin to two character's fighting over a parachute).

Its not so much about punishing characters for clever ideas, as it is spells can only do so much. The hasty elevator is Levitate, and it has a weight limit so you know how much it can do according to caster level. FF's limitation is the number of people are objects it can affect, you shouldn't be able to double that up for free by having people give floaty piggy-back rides.

 

[Harm]

One of the first things I asked myself was "how can magic help?"

I read that and couldn't help thinking "What would Elminster do?"