D&D 5E Monk's Slow Fall and getting knocked into a wall...

[Hawk Diesel]

I was just driving in my car today and found my mind wandering onto this idea. If a monk with the slow fall ability was knocked into a wall (lets say via repelling blast or some such ability), could he use this ability as a reaction to reduce the damage? Or would you rule that this only applies to falls?

 

[KahlessNestor]

I would probably rule it only applies to falls. The damage he is taking comes from being hit by the magic, not the wall. Though if you're using some homebrew rule where any distance not able to be forced results in more damage, maybe you could rule that damage isn't taken.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

The damage he is taking comes from being hit by the magic, not the wall.

Perhaps starting with the repelling blast was not the best choice as an example, but it was the only ability I could think of off the top of my head. But if something could knock the monk back and force them into a wall (maybe thunderwave or gust of wind, for example), would the monk's slow fall ability be able to kick in?

If I'm correct, the rules state that if something forces the monk back 10ft (such as gust of wind) and a wall stops that movement short before the full movement, then the monk would take 1d6 bludgeoning damage for each 10ft they did not move. This is similar to falling damage, which is 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10ft to a max of 20d6.

So would this be affected by a monk's slow fall ability?

I realize I may not be presenting this in the clearest manner.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Thunderwave still does the damage magically. I was unaware the forced movement damage was actually in the rules, however. Have to look that up for my tempest cleric! Ultimately it's up to you, but as far as I've seen the ability work in novels, I can't see how it would work for just slamming into a wall.

 

[dmnqwk]

The Monk's slow fall relies on the ability to mitigate the speed of the impact by using the surface to slow you down.

Even if you decided that slamming into the wall causes additional damage, I would deny the Monk any mitigation effect based on this unless she was capable of moving Parallel and within touching distance for at least 50% of the "fall".

 

[seebs]

Hmm. I suppose I might let you argue that being moved over the floor and into a wall is equivalent to being moved past a wall and into a floor. You wouldn't be using the wall you're hitting to slow down, but rather, the floor you're passing over. And... maybe?

 

[Hawk Diesel]

The Monk's slow fall relies on the ability to mitigate the speed of the impact by using the surface to slow you down.

Even if you decided that slamming into the wall causes additional damage, I would deny the Monk any mitigation effect based on this unless she was capable of moving Parallel and within touching distance for at least 50% of the "fall".

Actually, by RAW in the 5e PHB, the monk does not have to be within reach of a wall or anything in order to reduce the damage from a fall. The ability specifically states:

Slow Fall
Beginning at 4th level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your monk level.

I know in 3/3.5e the monk's ability required them to be within reach of a surface to slow their fall. Using that ability, the fall was reduced in terms of height. A 50ft fall could be treated as a 30ft. But in this version, it's just a flat damage reduction, regardless of the height of the fall.

 

[dmnqwk]

.

Well in that case, hooray for magical monk parachute pants!

But apart from it being incredibly bizarre, Falling Damage is listed on Page 183, and is a specific type of bludgeoning damage. Personally, RAW becomes stupid with this because a Barbarian could rage 5 seconds before she hits the ground, and reduce the damage by half. RAW is definitely not something to be trotted out too much in 5th edition! (though your example of RAW could've just been "no it says this" and I would've gone "okay, cool".

And if you decided the wall dealt extra damage, I would let the monk reduce it because it makes sense the Monk could use her reaction to take the blast, tumble a bit with magical parachute pants, then hit the wall with her feet and spring off to the ground.

 

[werecorpse]

Where does it say that you take damage from forced movement into a wall?

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Am I mixing up editions? I thought I saw this is a thing in 5e.