If the grounds suddenly gives way, technically you shouldn't be allowed to cast feather fall since you haven't 'acted'. So you'd just fall and take a s*$* load of damage. About the only way you could ever cast feather fall while falling, is after you've fallen the... what is it, 200 ft for the round you are surprised?
In combat, if you have acted, and then you suddenly fall, you could cast it. But outside of combat you are kind of just screwed.
In combat, if you have acted, and then you suddenly fall, you could cast it. But outside of combat you are kind of just screwed.
Just because you're outside combat doesn't mean you are flat-footed the whole time. You can cast feather fall if you're not in combat and happen to start falling.
I suppose, though, during the 1st round of combat, if you haven't acted yet and find yourself suddenly falling, you wouldn't be able to cast feather fall.
This is why I think feather fall should have a 24 hour duration and it auto triggers if you fall at any time during the duration. It would be a sort of "baby contingency" spell and therefore require no special awareness or action on the casters part.
See also Emergency Force Sphere - immediate action, with text noting "Normally this spell is used to buy time for dealing with avalanches, floods, and rock-slides, though it is also handy in dealing with ambushes."
This seems to indicate specifically that you can use it flat footed. While immediate actions as a whole are not available when flat footed, there are a number of immediate action spells that seem designed specifically FOR use when flat footed.
The problem is that those spells need to explicitly say they can be cast while flat-footed otherwise they can't, even if the casting time is 1 immediate action.
In combat, if you have acted, and then you suddenly fall, you could cast it. But outside of combat you are kind of just screwed.
Just because you're outside combat doesn't mean you are flat-footed the whole time. You can cast feather fall if you're not in combat and happen to start falling.
I suppose, though, during the 1st round of combat, if you haven't acted yet and find yourself suddenly falling, you wouldn't be able to cast feather fall.
But the thing is even outside of combat if something happens that surprises you, fore example you fail your perception roll to notice the crack in the bridge, then you are screwed.
As father dagon mentioned, emergency force sphere and feather fall seem to be designed to use when flat footed but you can't.
Flat-Footed:A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity.
The upshot of this (and it's not obvious at first), is that combat must have started (meaning 'initiative must have been rolled') in order to be flat-footed!
If it's outside combat then you are not flat-footed! Read it again;-
'A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed.'
This means that you can take immediate actions at any time outside combat; the only time you can be flat-footed, RAW, is after initiative is counting down but before your first turn!
Veldebrand
