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

[Maxperson]

GAH. I just realized I got sucked into one of these surreal debates with Max YET AGAIN.

Don't look at me. All I did was post how I'd rule it for my game. I didn't say how anyone else should rule it or play it. This one wasn't my doing.

 

[Oofta]

Since 5E doesn't impose any disadvantage to the creature levitated nor advantage to attack them while they are levitated I see no reason to add it in. I view it almost as a variation of a floating disc spell - a solid platform someone is standing on.

But this is also why I give most intelligent monsters more gear than what's in the list. Levitate that ogre? Time to break out those rocks he's been carrying around. Levitating an animal though could be quite effective. Just depends on the target and the scenario.

 

[Maxperson]

Neither does it say that the suspended creature has disadvantage on attacks.

No it doesn't.

Spells do what they say, anything either you or I add because of how we picture it is coming from us.

It's a rulings over rules edition by design. The DMG does say this, though. "the D&D help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules are not in charge." The game is telling the DM to change things that don't make sense to him.

 

[Maxperson]

Since 5E doesn't impose any disadvantage to the creature levitated nor advantage to attack them while they are levitated I see no reason to add it in. I view it almost as a variation of a floating disc spell - a solid platform someone is standing on.

If he's standing on a platform, why can't he just jump and move?

 

[Oofta]

If he's standing on a platform, why can't he just jump and move?

Magic!

 

[Xetheral]

I don't think it's necessarily a bad ruling, I just think if the wind wouldn't move you if your feet were on the ground, it wouldn't move you if you were levitating.

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.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Physics + [D&D] = MAd(ness)

I'm pretty sure that's a bonafide Natural Law.

 

[Guest 6801328]

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

Well all that magical energy has to come from somewhere.

 

[Xetheral]

Well all that magical energy has to come from somewhere.

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....

 

[Oofta]

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.

Nah. The energy is just transferred to the spell holding the creature aloft.

How you may ask? Magic!

After all, you still need to drag yourself around if you want to move. If you didn't need to drag yourself you could propel yourself by simply throwing something in the direction opposite of where you want to go. Probably even "swim" through calm air.