Most creatures fall out of the sky if they don't spend an action flying. What about ghosts? I have this vague memory of it coming up before but nothing concrete enough to search.
If a ghost falls, does it just pass through the ground 500 feet a round? (Or more likely, the range of their Site Bound.) This could be very useful to a ghost that wants to retreat, and it would qualify as forced movement and thus not provoke.
I'm reasonably sure this is unintended, but I'm curious if ghosts get a pass on free action hovering or if they need to spend an action to stay aloft.
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With no real rules to back it up, I am differential to the idea that since incorporeal have not physical/material form it would make sense to assume that they are unaffected by Gravity since there is nothing for the Stellar Object to pull on in terms of mass.
It's just a call from my gut but it feels about right. As for, do they get a free action to hover or not, I'd handwave it away since there is absolutely no point in the creature even attempting to fight gravity since it would be unaffected by it and it may fly wherever it pleases with it's normal actions.
Most creatures fall out of the sky if they don't spend an action flying. What about ghosts? I have this vague memory of it coming up before but nothing concrete enough to search.
If a ghost falls, does it just pass through the ground 500 feet a round? (Or more likely, the range of their Site Bound.) This could be very useful to a ghost that wants to retreat, and it would qualify as forced movement and thus not provoke.
I'm reasonably sure this is unintended, but I'm curious if ghosts get a pass on free action hovering or if they need to spend an action to stay aloft.
Incorporeal
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Incorporeal creatures usually have immunity to effects or conditions that require a physical body, like disease, poison, and precision damage
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I think it would be reasonable to say that gravity is an effect that requires a body, so the ghost is immune to it and wouldn't fall.
Yes, I know gravity affects intangible things, like space and time, but I think quantum mechanics are a bit beyond the scope of the question.
Yeah, but ghosts also aren't immune to punching-- they get double damage resistance against non-magical damage, but not immunity. Being punched requires a body, or least operating with physics to some degree.
Edit: There are a lot of nasty ways a ghost could fill that action, including making an attack after casting a spell.
I tend to agree with Themetricsystem. While ghosts can be effected by a punch or some other physical attack, I tend to chalk that up to the thing attacking the ghosts intent to harm the ghost. No rules to back that up mind, just my head canon reasoning.
There are other questions this brings up. Physical traps and snares. Can they effect a ghost?
The rules don't say they dont, but from a thematic point of view I'd let a ghost be immune to non-magical traps, simply because they move through them. Again, no rules justification there.
Most creatures fall out of the sky if they don't spend an action flying. What about ghosts? I have this vague memory of it coming up before but nothing concrete enough to search.
If a ghost falls, does it just pass through the ground 500 feet a round? (Or more likely, the range of their Site Bound.) This could be very useful to a ghost that wants to retreat, and it would qualify as forced movement and thus not provoke.
I'm reasonably sure this is unintended, but I'm curious if ghosts get a pass on free action hovering or if they need to spend an action to stay aloft.
I mean, RAW, ghosts would have to waste an action if they fly. But then what are they going to do if they're dormant until a hapless group of adventurers come up? Do they fall endlessly at a rate of 500 feet every 6 seconds until someone's there, having to waste an exorbitant amount of time reflying back to their original outpost? By then it's too late as the adventurers went through, stole all the goods, and ran off. It also creates this silliness that if a ghost has to fly 24/7, a Fighter with Felling Strike can literally throw ghosts 120 feet underground, making them waste their whole entire turn just to get thwacked again.
And people wonder why the spirits of the dead go insane and want to kill everyone...