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Hideous Laughter
School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level bard 1, sorcerer/wizard 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (tiny fruit tarts and a feather)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature; see text
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yesThis spell afflicts the subject with uncontrollable laughter. It collapses into gales of manic laughter, falling prone. The subject can take no actions while laughing, but is not considered helpless. After the spell ends, it can act normally. On the creature's next turn, it may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If this save is successful, the effect ends. If not, the creature continues laughing for the entire duration.
A creature with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower is not affected. A creature whose type is different from the caster's receives a +4 bonus on its saving throw, because humor doesn't “translate” well.
So what happens to a creature that's flying when they're targeted by this and miss their save? Do they fall out of the sky? If yes, do they land relatively gently, or does it hurt? If not, do they just float there in the sky, laughing?
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They would use the Fly skill to attempt to land safely. If they failed the check, they would take damage as appropriate for the distance fallen. Either way, the spell says they fall prone, so they will be coming out of the sky.
They would use the Fly skill to attempt to land safely. If they failed the check, they would take damage as appropriate for the distance fallen. Either way, the spell says they fall prone, so they will be coming out of the sky.
How many rounds does it take them to fall prone if they're several thousand feet in the air?
How fast do they descend if they make the fly check to land safely?If it takes multiple rounds to fall prone, are they considered prone while they're still falling?
What if the spell duration expires before they land?
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The victim can't take actions, so it can't make fly checks - it does, in fact, free-fall.
Per "Environmental Rules" in the CRB, you fall 500 feet per round (which is why falls of less than 500 feet require casting of feather fall to mitigate, as you can't cast fly quickly enough). Of course, the maximum falling damage is 20d6, so anything higher than 210 feet doesn't matter, really.
It - along with the various hold spells - is an excellent counter to fliers, though the spell's short range poses a problem.
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The Fly skill says "Avoid Falling Damage: If you are falling and have the ability to fly, you can make a DC 10 Fly check to negate the damage. You cannot make this check if you are falling due to a failed Fly check or a collision."
It doesn't say you need to spend any action to do this. It's a reactive use of the skill, much like making an Acrobatics check to negate fall damage as it states "Action: None. A Fly check doesn't require an action; it is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation". Since Hideous Laughter says you are not helpless, you should be able to make the Fly check to negate damage.
Hold spells, however, are a great counter against winged flyers.
Well, does the victim "have the ability to fly"? Granted, the victim isn't considered helpless (doubtless for balance considerations, such as not allowing the spell to set up a coup de grace), but it can take no actions - while "avoiding falling damage" might itself be a non-action, flying is an action (a move action).
Just as a grounded being can't walk or run while hideously laughing, neither can an aerial being fly: ergo, it cannot fly, and cannot avoid falling damage per fly.
That said, it's a short-range spell - so it must be employed by another flier and/or used as a readied action against flyby attacks, etc - so it's not commonly going to result in a long fall; moreover, most fliers are going to be a different type from the caster (who is likely humanoid), and so will save at +4... so, can a 2nd level spell drop a flier? I'd say yes.
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Well, does the victim "have the ability to fly"? Granted, the victim isn't considered helpless (doubtless for balance considerations, such as not allowing the spell to set up a coup de grace), but it can take no actions - while "avoiding falling damage" might itself be a non-action, flying is an action (a move action).
Just as a grounded being can't walk or run while hideously laughing, neither can an aerial being fly: ergo, it cannot fly, and cannot avoid falling damage per fly.
That said, it's a short-range spell - so it must be employed by another flier and/or used as a readied action against flyby attacks, etc - so it's not commonly going to result in a long fall; moreover, most fliers are going to be a different type from the caster (who is likely humanoid), and so will save at +4... so, can a 2nd level spell drop a flier? I'd say yes.
Flying doesn't actually take an action. As I noted from the Fly skill earlier it actually says "Action: None. A Fly check doesn't require an action; it is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation". If the spell didn't have the "fall prone" line in it, they could even make the DC 10 check to stay airborne while moving less than half speed.
A person under the effects of Hideous Laughter is still able to react to danger, they're just prone and laughing hysterically. A winged character is basically just making the check to guide his descent, the same way a prone character under the effect of the spell would still be able to roll one way or another to avoid an attack (i.e. DEX to AC, which you retain).
Right, the fly check doesn't take an action, but flying does - that's why the skill says the fly check is made as part of another action: flying, which is itself a move action.
The victim can't take move actions, so he can't fly, so he can't make fly checks, and so he can't make a check to avoid falling damage. Splat.
If the downed flier survives, and someone comes along to attack him, he is not considered helpless... he still can't move, though. He can't stand from prone, he can't walk or run, and he cannot resume flight, so long as the hideous laughter persists. He can do exactly one thing: take a full-round action to make a save.
It's a 2nd level spell which is an encounter ender.
(I think the confusion here arises from the wording that "without a check... the flying creature remains flying until the end of its turn, etc, etc": that's still movement, and so involves a move action. It's not "free action coasting" or somesuch.)