What action is it to fall?
(Asked the angel)
Both in terms of the drop, but also in terms of 'You're flying by some means, but particularly if magical, and you choose to let yourself drop - with the plan to stop at the last moment'. Particularly in the context of a surprise round, where you'd want to drop down from above, and it'd be nice to then be able to do something after dropping.
Ways you might be doing this:
- Magical flight (e.g. Fly)and just 'I let myself drop, then stop at the last moment'
- Having magical flight active, and stepping off a convenient platform (with a 5 foot step, a free action) to drop.
- Dismounting another flying creature (which is its own thing to do as a free action)
- The action 'drop to the ground' (free action).
Fly skill explictly states that fly checks don't require an action, they're reactive, so the 'negate falling damage' doesn't take an action.
What's less clear is the 'drop' - does either the act of 'dropping', or the time taken to drop cost you an action? (And if it's the former, does standing on a platform/cliff/whatever and stepping off as a 5 foot step allow you to, well, sidestep that issue?)
Falling just happens, it is not an action. The rules only go as far to say that you cannot cast a spell if the fall is less than 500ft, so a little more than half the round (3 to 4 second) you fall that much. If you want to NOT hurt yourself (such as hitting the ground hard uncontrolled or by cutting your fall speed off) that is going to require some amount of effort, typically a move equivalent action. If you've got a fly speed, then you use the rules flying has on that.
I would rule that if you have flight you're going to spend a move action to avoid the falling damage or stopping yourself short of hitting the ground.
Somewhere I thought the rules stated that you ascend at half your fly speed and can descend at twice your fly speed but I can't (quickly) find anything to back that up.
However, you're basically asking "what if I choose to stop flying and let myself fall but try to pull out at the last second". Well normally you have to make a fly check to avoid the damage. And you end up on the ground anyways.
But as a GM, I'm not going to let you do this for no action even though falling is generally not an action. You're already moving farther (probably) then you otherwise could, so you're at least spending a move action to do it.
Expect a lot of variation on this because the rules didn't really account for someone deliberately falling and how it works within the action economy of the game.
In the end, I'm of the opinion that letting players do this without expending at least a move action is too good.
So, this was actually me as the GM, doing it to my players. Which, yes, means I can do whatever I want, but what I want is to be fair.
Originally, I went for this rather than a more normal approach due to expecting the players to be exiting a city at breakneck speed on a Phantom Chariot, having just acquired one - and needing a way to have an ambush go off despite that. In that instance I'm slightly more willing to allow a baddie a one-off bending of the rules so that the encounter can happen - it turned out that wasn't needed, but as that was what I was prepared for, I didn't work out another plan in time and ran with it anyway, and it was a rather hair-raising encounter for my players.
One where they felt I was being unfair with what was possible for their enemies to do. And I'm wanting to get a sense of both what is in the rules and what people consider reasonable (and I'm aware those two things might be quite separate.)
In terms of pure rules and the action to stop yourself, the key things appear to be:
"Negate 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. See Falling Damage if you fail this check."
and
"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."
Which suggest no cost as the Negate Falling Damage is in reaction to falling.
Probably because it's more designed to account for "You're able to fly but find yourself unexpectedly falling" - essentially Feather Fall - than for a superhero landing as a prelude to combat.
So the questions becomes more 'What's the action to drop?' (and does 'stepping off a platform'/dismounting another flying creature/similar change that?), and is it a sufficiently powerful ability that it requires a GM nerf?
(I'm vaguely thinking the answer on the last might be "If overused" - for fairness' sake, my players can use it against me at least once, but they can't become the HALO Drop ambush party.)
But also still interested to get others perspectives, both on the RAW rules, and the general reasonableness.
So in order to get your "ambush" I would have had your NPCs ready an action (which is a standard action) to fall and land in front of the fleeing PCs. I'm imagining them standing on top of a gate on the city wall.
I agree technically falling and negating damage require no action, but I believe those rules were written from the perspective of reacting to something causing you to fall. Not you choosing to fall.
So, to start your ambush the readied action is the route I would use.
If you had someone who was invisible and waited until after combat had started, then I would rule it to be a move action on there part to fall and negate the fall damage.
Also remember that prior to combat being tracked, we don't track action and don't care about what kind of action economy is actually used. Initiative and actions types really only apply during combat.
Personally, I would start combat tracking with the readied action on the NPCs.
