D&D 5E Levitate is a save-or-die spell

[Guest 6801328]

Oooh, I like that. It has very sinister implications if the game world is a planet whose rotation is necessary for it to remain habitable....

Fortunately, internet outrage gets converted into momentum.

So it's vitally important that we all keep posting.

 

[Eis]

I think that I would rule that you're able to throw using the force holding you up for leverage, if it ever came up in my campaign, the force is gripping you and holding you in the air and you can kind of brace your body against that when you want to throw something

 

[Mistwell]

The issue is conservation of momentum. The momentum the moving air loses when it collides with a person standing on the ground can be transferred to the ground, leaving the person stationary. The momentum the moving air loses when it collides with a person floating in mid-air is necessarily transferred to the person. That momentum will give them a non-zero speed relative to the ground, even if it is a very small one.

Of course, momentum may not be conserved in your game world, in which case the above would not apply.

The laws of the universe are overridden by the text of a magic spell. Specific beats general, including general relativity. You can move by pushing against stuff. Otherwise, if it doesn't move you with your feet on the ground it doesn't move you with your feet magically levitated. The effect is not like floating in zero gravity - if it were you could spin upside down and twist and the slightest touch against something could move you much faster than normal, none of which is part of this spell (and in fact, I believe there is a higher-level spell which does do that). The levitation spell itself, presumably, is taking care of the transference of momentum from the wind blowing to the air below you, magically, if you need an explanation.

 

[Iry]

I imagine a levitated a creature still has weight, especially since climbing would still cost double movement. Similarly if the creature can exceed 500 lbs during the spell they would float down. At least, that is how I would rule it.

 

[Xetheral]

The laws of the universe are overridden by the text of a magic spell. Specific beats general, including general relativity. You can move by pushing against stuff. Otherwise, if it doesn't move you with your feet on the ground it doesn't move you with your feet magically levitated. The effect is not like floating in zero gravity - if it were you could spin upside down and twist and the slightest touch against something could move you much faster than normal, none of which is part of this spell (and in fact, I believe there is a higher-level spell which does do that). The levitation spell itself, presumably, is taking care of the transference of momentum from the wind blowing to the air below you, magically, if you need an explanation.

Interestingly, I've always interpreted the spell such that the target can twist upside down. I read the term "suspended" in the spell description as applying to the entire target. And a logical consequence of suspending the entire target is that they can rotate.

Sure, you could read the spell as only suspending part of the target, or as suspending the entire target but also preventing rotation, but either option would seem to be reading more effects into the spell than the description includes.

It seems like we're taking different approaches to the idea that spells do what they say, and nothing more. If I understand your position correctly, you're saying that since the spell is silent about allowing the target to rotate, the target is unable to rotate any more (or less) than someone standing on the ground. From my standpoint, the target is unable to rotate any more (or less) than someone entirely suspended in mid-air by some means other than the Levitate spell. We're just picking different baselines.

By way of analogy, the Banishment spell doesn't say anything about permitting the target to rotate. But if the target is Banished to Limbo, they certainly can rotate while the spell is in effect. I would argue that the appropriate baseline for whether the target can rotate is "someone else in Limbo" rather than "someone on the Prime Material who wasn't Banished to Limbo". In other words, the target's new ability to rotate freely is a consequence of being on Limbo, rather than a spell effect. Similarly, I view the ability of the target of Levitate to rotate freely as a consequence of being entirely suspended in mid-air, rather than a spell effect.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Interestingly, I've always interpreted the spell such that the target can twist upside down. I read the term "suspended" in the spell description as applying to the entire target. And a logical consequence of suspending the entire target is that they can rotate.

Sure, you could read the spell as only suspending part of the target, or as suspending the entire target but also preventing rotation, but either option would seem to be reading more effects into the spell than the description includes.

It seems like we're taking different approaches to the idea that spells do what they say, and nothing more. If I understand your position correctly, you're saying that since the spell is silent about allowing the target to rotate, the target is unable to rotate any more (or less) than someone standing on the ground. From my standpoint, the target is unable to rotate any more (or less) than someone entirely suspended in mid-air by some means other than the Levitate spell. We're just picking different baselines.

By way of analogy, the Banishment spell doesn't say anything about permitting the target to rotate. But if the target is Banished to Limbo, they certainly can rotate while the spell is in effect. I would argue that the appropriate baseline for whether the target can rotate is "someone else in Limbo" rather than "someone on the Prime Material who wasn't Banished to Limbo". In other words, the target's new ability to rotate freely is a consequence of being on Limbo, rather than a spell effect. Similarly, I view the ability of the target of Levitate to rotate freely as a consequence of being entirely suspended in mid-air, rather than a spell effect.

I think some people interpret it as being identical to floating in zero-gravity. I guess that's a possible interpretation, but not the only one.

 

[Oofta]

By way of analogy, the Banishment spell doesn't say anything about permitting the target to rotate. But if the target is Banished to Limbo, they certainly can rotate while the spell is in effect. I would argue that the appropriate baseline for whether the target can rotate is "someone else in Limbo" rather than "someone on the Prime Material who wasn't Banished to Limbo". In other words, the target's new ability to rotate freely is a consequence of being on Limbo, rather than a spell effect. Similarly, I view the ability of the target of Levitate to rotate freely as a consequence of being entirely suspended in mid-air, rather than a spell effect.

You can't rotate while banished because you're incapacitated. Well, that and if there is no "up" so I think rotating becomes kind of irrelevant.

In any case, I'd rule that you can indeed rotate while levitated, just like you could stand on your head on the ground. I don't know why you'd bother, but again I don't equate levitated with weightless. There's nothing to indicate you aren't still under the effect of gravity.

Feel free to run it differently at your table of course.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I might require an acrobatics check to do any stunts up there. Unless the target is an experienced levitator, for some reason.

 

[Maxperson]

In any case, I'd rule that you can indeed rotate while levitated, just like you could stand on your head on the ground. I don't know why you'd bother, but again I don't equate levitated with weightless. There's nothing to indicate you aren't still under the effect of gravity.

Other than defying gravity by floating there suspended anyway. That suspension doesn't have to mean that you aren't under the effect of gravity, but it is an indicator that you might not be.

 

[Xetheral]

You can't rotate while banished because you're incapacitated. Well, that and if there is no "up" so I think rotating becomes kind of irrelevant.

In any case, I'd rule that you can indeed rotate while levitated, just like you could stand on your head on the ground. I don't know why you'd bother, but again I don't equate levitated with weightless. There's nothing to indicate you aren't still under the effect of gravity.

Feel free to run it differently at your table of course.

You can move while incapacitated. You just can't take actions or reactions.

If the entire target is suspended, then the spell would have to have an additional effect for the target to still feel g-forces (which I assume is what you mean by "under the effect of gravity"). If you rule that only part of the target is suspended then the target will definitely feel g-forces, but I'm hard-pressed to see anything in the description that suggests it's only a partial suspension.