Levitation on Others: I keep flip-flopping [2003 Thread]

[el-remmen]

So, the party's wizard keeps using levitation to get other party members up to high places as having those with a high spot skill to get a good vantage point for any approaching or coming dangers.

However, the spell does not say what ultimate range for using it on others is and I have ruled one way and then another on different occasions. While it is clear that the caster controls the ascent and descent - what is the range he can send the person up?

Is it the range of the spell? It is line of sight? What if the person the spell is cast on is climbing out of view of the caster and falls? Will he actually plummet, or simply just float there until he can either pull himself back onto the ledge or wall, or until the caster shows up and lowers/raises him?


I ruled that using levitation on someone else was limited to the range of the spell for how far up/down you can send them after having originally ruled that it was as long as you can see them.

Also, I ruled that if you fall you just hang there (feeling generous) - does anyone have opinions or can cite official rulings?

Thanks in advance.

 

[AGGEMAM]

The levitating subject must be within range and you must have line of effect. Line of sight is not needed.

 

[el-remmen]

The levitating subject must be within range and you must have line of effect. Line of sight is not needed.

so, what you are saying is that you can raise and lower them even if you can't seem them (as long as if you have line of effect) - and that they are limited to how high they can go based on the spell's range.

 

[AGGEMAM]

so, what you are saying is that you can raise and lower them even if you can't seem them (as long as if you have line of effect) - and that they are limited to how high they can go based on the spell's range.

Yes, exactly. The subject could be invisble ( which seems the most obvious use for it anyway) or in some spot you can't see from your position, but you could still lower/raise per thier guidance.

 

[el-remmen]

Any opinion on the falling/floating thing?

 

[Magic Slim]

Any opinion on the falling/floating thing?

I would if you could please give me an example of what you mean exaclty.

Slim

 

[el-remmen]

I would if you could please give me an example of what you mean exaclty.

Slim

Well, actaully thinking it over I think AGGEMAM's reply leads me to my own conclusion because of his comments on line of effect.

Basically, the target of the levitation spell was invisible and we were using my line of sight / range ruling - so the aster could not manipulate the height - however, the target was climbing a steep and slippery wall and wanted to know if he slipped and fell (i.e. failed his check by 5 or more) if he would fall or if he would simply just float there allowing him to reach out and grab the wall again and continue to climb.

I ruled with the latter - but now that I think about it - levitation does not make you weightless it only allows the caster to raise you up - so I think the target would fall since he hadn't actually been levitated at all - and unless the caster had a readied action to raise the target more if he fell I would rule he would not be able to stop the fall unless it was a really long fall (i.e. took longer than 6 seconds - unlikely).

So that begs the question. . . if the target is levitated let's say 40 feet and then climbs another 40 feet (80 feet total)and falls - would he stop falling at the 40 foot mark, or go all the way down?

 

[el-remmen]

Hmm, I found this thread today and my last question unanswered all these later - and I still don't know the answer.

What do you think?

If the target is levitated let's say 40 feet and then climbs another 40 feet (80 feet total)and falls - would he stop falling at the 40 foot mark, or go all the way down?

 

[werk]

When you lose line of effect or get out of range the spell effect ends, it's not put on pause.

 

[Hypersmurf]

When you lose line of effect or get out of range the spell effect ends, it's not put on pause.

I don't know that I agree.

Fly, for example, has a range of touch. If I cast Fly on you, and you move beyond a ragne of touch, the spell doesn't end. Nor does it end if you step around a corner and break line of effect.

I can cast Feather Fall on you if you step off a cliff. In the first round of falling - 60 feet - you'll probably move beyond the range from me. But the spell is already on you - you were in range when it was cast. You should continue to fall slowly for the duration of the spell, even if I walk away from the cliff and break line of effect.

(Geas would be a fairly useless spell, if all you needed to do to break it was get a hundred feet or so from the caster!)

Nor do I think the caster must continually concentrate on keeping a levitating subject aloft. It seems to me that while being levitated, a creature doesn't fall - in essence, they're temporarily not subject to gravity. After all, you fall some hundreds of feet each round, but the caster is limited to moving you only 20... if you were still able to fall, those 20 feet each round wouldn't help much, since you fall many times further than that!

I'm inclined to think that whether the caster is anywhere near you or not, you won't fall for the duration of the spell - so if he levitated you 40 feet, then you climbed another 40 and slipped, you'd hang at the 80 foot mark.

I do agree that without line of effect or range, the caster can't exercise control over the levitation... so if you pushed away from the wall at 80 feet, you'd be in trouble, since you'd be hanging there, and he couldn't move you up or down since you're out of range... at least until the spell duration expires. Then you'll be back in range real fast.

-Hyp.