| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Question: If you are Feather Falling, get caught midair, but then dropped again, does Feather Fall continue to function?
Situation from Last Game: A dragon dropped the fighter from a great height, but the wizard had protected the fighter with Feather Fall.
For a couple of rounds, the fighter was floating gently to the ground, but then the wizard summoned a bralani azata to tow the fighter to safety. The azata flew up, made a successful CMB check to grapple the fighter, and started towing her to safety. Needless to say, the bad guys Did Not Approve, and one-rounded the azata, so the fighter started plummeting again.
An argument started around, "Does Feather Fall still apply?"
Arguments:
The wording of Feather Fall seems clear:
Duration: until landing or 1 round/level
So, since the fighter never technically "landed" (she never touched the ground, nor was she ever in control of her movement), she was still under the effects of Feather Fall. That was my ruling at the table.
But we tend to play a "Rules as Intended" game, so a couple of other players argued that "until landing" was intended to mean, "until the character stops falling", so being caught by the azata should have ended the Feather Fall effect.
How would others on this forum have ruled it, and why?
oh and btw you do not need to make a CMB check against someone who is willing to be grabbed by someone
I require the CMB check because in the midst of chaos, you CAN mess up. The target isn't defending themselves, so strength and dex go to 0, making it a near-meaningless check, but you can still roll a 1 and somehow miss. (In fact the azata did roll a 1 on its first try, so it had to spend a round reorienting and re-grabbing.)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I would have ruled that a bralani azata needs to be in wind form to fly, and when in wind form couldn't carry a fighter.
In answer to your actual question, I don't think anyone is going to be able to answer your question in a hard and fast manner, what 'landing' is is subject to GM adjudication.
In my thinking about it, I wouldn't want a successful grapple attempt to be able to end the feather fall of an opponent and if it doesn't end the effect when your enemies do it, it doesn't make sense that it does when your allies do it.
I think I'd go with 'landing' being the falling character feels reasonably secure and on the ground. Being carried by someone wouldn't do it in most circumstances, so as long as the spell still had duration it wouldn't end just from that, but that it just what makes sense to me.
I second what Dave says, above.
I feel confident that most of the Paizo staff run games in such a way your fighter wouldn't lose their protection just for being towed.
Point the second in favor of this interpretation is my rusty memory (grains of salt, take with, etc.): if I recall, in 3.5, the Eberron setting, there was a book about Sharn; within, it mentioned that it was generally considered a good-citizen thing to do to have a one-shit token of feather fall to use on someone who was falling, so that a person could help haul them onto a balcony somewhere. That last would be so improbable to be not worth mentioning, if the spell was canceled by being held. PF is a different game, but as it is descended from 3.5, it seems like a similar understanding may carry over.
Oh, and you're tooootally badwrongfun, or whatever!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Third what Dave said FWIW. Being grabbed is not in any way the same as landing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I am pretty sure it is impossible to be sure what "landing" means. You and your players are just going to have to choose what works for your table.
Personally, I feel that it is a live saving spell that should save you from the fall no matter what other people/weather does to screw you up.