The witch's flight hex: Feather fall is still an immediate action, right?

[Castarr4]

To keep things simple, I would like to limit initial discussion to the use of the flight hex at level 1 (at will feather fall).

First, the relevant rules::

Witch: Hex wrote:

Unless otherwise noted, using a hex is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Flight Hex wrote:

Effect: At 1st level, the witch can use feather fall at will and gains a +4 racial bonus on Swim checks. At 3rd level, she can cast levitate once per day. At 5th level, she can fly, as per the spell, for a number of minutes per day equal to her level. These minutes do not need to be consecutive, but they must be spent in 1-minute increments. This hex only affects the witch.

Feather Fall wrote:

Casting Time 1 immediate action

Targets one Medium or smaller free-falling object or creature/level, no two of which may be more than 20 ft. apart
Duration until landing or 1 round/level

Environmental Rules: Falling wrote:

A character cannot cast a spell while falling, unless the fall is greater than 500 feet or the spell is an immediate action, such as feather fall. Casting a spell while falling requires a concentration check with a DC equal to 20 + the spell's level. Casting teleport or a similar spell while falling does not end your momentum, it just changes your location, meaning that you still take falling damage, even if you arrive atop a solid surface.

Basically, the disagreement I'm trying to resolve is this: I think that using the Flight hex to use Feather Fall is an immediate action. Another person thinks it's a standard action. Also, I think it doesn't provoke because it's (Su).

My reasoning:

Hexes are standard unless otherwise noted. Feather Fall has a noted casting time of Immediate. I view this as a case of the general hex casting time rule being trumped by the specific feather fall casting time.

Feather Fall as a standard action is literally unusable except when falling more than 500 feet

His reasoning:

The "general rule" of Feather Fall's casting time is trumped by the specific Hex standard action rule.

Just don't take it until level 3

Thoughts?

[Rynjin]

Looks to me like it is "otherwise noted". It says you can use Feather Fall. Feather Fall is an Immediate action.

If it had said "You can slow yourself as if using Feather Fall" there would be more of an ambiguity, but you're actually casting the spell.

[Castarr4]

Rynjin wrote:

Looks to me like it is "otherwise noted". It says you can use Feather Fall. Feather Fall is an Immediate action.

If it had said "You can slow yourself as if using Feather Fall" there would be more of an ambiguity, but you're actually casting the spell.

So would you say it provokes? The Flight hex is noted as (Su).

[Matthew Downie]

Feather fall is virtually useless if it isn't an Immediate action.

Supernatural abilities don't normally provoke. Neither do Swift / Immediate actions.

[Castarr4]

Matthew Downie wrote:

Feather fall is virtually useless if it isn't an Immediate action.

Supernatural abilities don't normally provoke. Neither do Swift / Immediate actions.

Ah, right. Ignore the provoke question, then. I'll save that for when we hit 3 and the hex lets the witch use levitate.

[seebs]

I would say it doesn't provoke, and neither does the levitate, because nothing in the spell description specifically says it provokes. The provoke comes from the general spellcasting rules.

Mostly the argument for action type is this: If it's not an immediate action, it's totally useless. Therefore it's an immediate action.

[BobtheSamurai]

I've always looked at the feather fall portion of the flight hex to be 'always on', thus the bonus to swim checks, even though it says 'at will' rather than 'always under the effect of'.

[Avatar-1]

Your friend has it the wrong way around.

The hex's standard action is the "general rule", the flight hex using the feather fall spell is the "specific rule". So immediate action applies.

[The Morphling]

Supernatural abilities don't provoke, so neither levitation, nor feather falling, nor the flight provokes when done through the hex.

[Dalebert]

You could certainly make the case, strictly per RAW, that the feather fall requires a standard action as a hex since it doesn't specify otherwise but I would hope DMs would rule otherwise because it seems ridiculous. I also would hope Paizo would release an update to specify otherwise.

[thejeff]

BobtheSamurai wrote:

I've always looked at the feather fall portion of the flight hex to be 'always on', thus the bonus to swim checks, even though it says 'at will' rather than 'always under the effect of'.

Or at least always on be default, but you can stop and restart it at will.

Sometimes you might not want to always drift slowly downwards. :)