Hi, I saw this happen a while ago at a game session, and I'm wondering about the legality.
We were fighting a summoner in a bar. She summoned a large lion after the Eidelon was finished. The wizard cast create pit, and at one point the lion jumped over it to attack someone else. The wizard case feather fall as it was over the pit, and it stopped midair and floated down into the pit.
I didn't notice anything at the time (but it turned out fun so I liked it), but I'm unsure how it would happen in "reality." It seems like it'd be more complicated to deal with gliding horizontally while falling. What do you think?
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If anything, I'd think feather fall would make it easier to get it over the pit, assuming the lion could jump it in the first place. It would be losing height even slower with feather fall I'd think, making it get farther distance if you want to think about it realistically (though, rule of fun has it's place too).
There's also this tidbit from the spell.
Feather fall works only upon free-falling objects. It does not affect a sword blow or a charging or flying creature.
I'd consider a running jump along the lines of charging/flying.
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The lion might even get a +1 bonus for 'Higher Ground' at the end of the pounce, depending on how high it leaped.
The lion charges the party fighter, leaping over the pit that opened on the ground.
"Don't worry, I've got this!" shouts the wizard. "Feather fall!"
The lion, rather than landing with the expected thud over on the other side of the pit, soars right towards the warrior's head, teeth and claws at perfect height for striking.
The fighter screams, trying to get the big cat off his face. "Agh, why?!"
"Er... sorry!" the wizard yells.
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In a pedantic physics sense, the jumping lion is in freefall while in the air.
Not sure I'd allow feather fall to interact with jumping in any great way - we already have the spell jump for that. I'd probably give someone a +2 circumstance bonus to their horizontal jump to represent the slower falling speed and leave it at that. I certainly wouldn't rob the jumper of their forward momentum, and giving out too many bonuses would make it a go-to tactic to use on friendly jumpers.
I would agree with ryric if it were just a "oh what about this" moment in the middle of combat, as for a planned out reusable option though I would say no
@Darkwolf117: Very funny sir...good laughs :)
Feather Fall doesn't kick in until you have fallen 5 feet, I'm not sure how high the lion would get while jumping, but it would save the lion if it came up short in its leap.
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Feather Fall doesn't kick in until you have fallen 5 feet,
Do you have a source for that?
From a purely physics sense it does seem like it should affect horizontal jumps. You are doing a free-falling jump and falling at one tenth the speed you would fall naturally. Though the first second of fall isn't that different to normal free falling (ten feet with feather fall vs 16ft accelerating due to gravity).
Perhaps as a house rule: increase movement by one square while jumping under feather fall and make a reflex save or fall prone for landing lighter than expected (as the grease spell).
The lion might even get a +1 bonus for 'Higher Ground' at the end of the pounce, depending on how high it leaped.The lion charges the party fighter, leaping over the pit that opened on the ground.
"Don't worry, I've got this!" shouts the wizard. "Feather fall!"
The lion, rather than landing with the expected thud over on the other side of the pit, soars right towards the warrior's head, teeth and claws at perfect height for striking.
The fighter screams, trying to get the big cat off his face. "Agh, why?!"
"Er... sorry!" the wizard yells.
Strangely I thought you were going to have the lion clear the fighter into the wizrobe
The free-falling rule makes sense to me. I should have read the spell description :P
I was pretty much an on-the-spot tactic. I haven't heard of it happening again, not sure if it's even come up. I'll remember if I play with that wizard again.
We had fun with they way it turned out, and that's most important after all!
Feather Fall doesn't kick in until you have fallen 5 feet,Do you have a source for that?
From a purely physics sense it does seem like it should affect horizontal jumps. You are doing a free-falling jump and falling at one tenth the speed you would fall naturally. Though the first second of fall isn't that different to normal free falling (ten feet with feather fall vs 16ft accelerating due to gravity).
Perhaps as a house rule: increase movement by one square while jumping under feather fall and make a reflex save or fall prone for landing lighter than expected (as the grease spell).
Ooops, was thinking of the Ring of Feather Falling.
This part of the Feather Fall spell might be appropriate though.
This spell has no special effect on ranged weapons unless they are falling quite a distance. If the spell is cast on a falling item, the object does half normal damage based on its weight, with no bonus for the height of the drop.
Strangely I thought you were going to have the lion clear the fighter into the wizrobe
Ah, that could have worked too. It was just off the top of my head though, after Kyrt brought up the Higher Ground bonus :P