D&D 5E Can you use misty step to arrest a fall?

[Ancalagon]

That is certainly an option. Probably the best one, to be fair.

"don't misty step off the cliff! It will anger the Gods and they will spend weeks arguing about it while you float in limbo!!!"

 

[Mannahnin]

RAW allows him to make the ruling, but the ruling is not RAW, it's homebrew. If you go by strict RAW only, then since it isn't written that the falling does not happen, it does.

No one plays that form of RAW. D&D is not a boardgame. Certain inferences and rulings are required to simply play the game. If your definition of RAW is so strict as to render the way every single one of us runs the game "homebrew", it's a useless definition.

RAW = 20 foot of falling damage.

The rules for Misty Step don't say that explicitly. Therefore this is not RAW as you have defined it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

“If it isn’t written that it doesn’t happen, it does”…oof. That’s it, the Internet was officially a mistake, folks.

 

[Lyxen]

I think you need to re-read my intro more carefully. I said "not in the lore".

I noticed that, I just wanted to point out that the lore is actually far more subtle than some people recognise, as well as the fact that while basic world behaviour reasonably models our own, digging even sligthly into physics is doomed to fail extremely rapidly, magic makes even the basic scientific theories of the real world fairly impossible to use in the fantasy world.

I invite the readers to ponder the saga of "how far can a torch be seen".

There is no saga here, the answer in 5e is simpler than in most other editions "just as far as the DM decides it can according to the circumstances". "Rulings over Rules" absolutely rules !

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Shield, a first level spell, is travelling back in time? Simply ridiculous.

I think that's a bit strong. I can see how someone could interpret it that way, although they would be wrong to claim it was RAW.

I think it's more accurate to say that the game mechanics are not chronological, and are separate to the fictional narrative.

As for the "teleport dodge", The rules are non-specific about what can and cannot be a trigger for a readied action, and therefore there is no "RAW" answer, it's always DM's call. However, I would rule that "swinging a sword at me" is not actually the attack - the character could be feinting for example. Ergo, the character could teleport when the sword swings, but the attacker has not used up their attack, and could attack someone else, even moving first if they have any movement remaining.

 

[Lyxen]

I think that's a bit strong. I can see how someone could interpret it that way, although they would be wrong to claim it was RAW.

I think it's more accurate to say that the game mechanics are not chronological, and are separate to the fictional narrative.

As for the "teleport dodge", The rules are non-specific about what can and cannot be a trigger for a readied action, and therefore there is no "RAW" answer, it's always DM's call.

Actually, the rules are fairly specific, and much better than in previous circumstances: "First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction." So it cannot be technical, it's something that can be perceived by the character.

Where I'm with you (and where @Maxperson has trouble with in both counterspell and this example) is that by the very definition of the game, what a character perceives is just limited to what the DM tells him he perceives, there are no rules about this, just limitations (of lighting, for example) but for the simplest case, we can assume that they don't apply in the general case.

However, I would rule that "swinging a sword at me" is not actually the attack - the character could be feinting for example. Ergo, the character could teleport when the sword swings, but the attacker has not used up their attack, and could attack someone else, even moving first if they have any movement remaining.

See above, it's absolutely fine to either tell a character that he does not perceive the intent of attack or even the attack itself depending on the circumstances, and for example, even though in the general case I would allow a character to perceive that an attack is being launched, I would not allow him to do so in darkness for example.

After that, the advantage of this is that it allows a large flexibility from the DM's perspective, although I would not allow people to feint other people without some sort of skill use and possibly contested check and/or use of a (bonus ?) action mechanic. They might be competent, but their adversaries might be even more competent.

But in any case, it was not my point here, because I don't even need it for my purpose in this thread which is to show that a readied action can interrupt and negate another technical process. It drifted off to the attack process because I thought it might be easier, but actually the other one has been solved before. But in any case, as demonstrated by Deflect Missile (it's even better than shield because it's not magical), it shows that it is possible to interrupt the attack process and actually to change its outcome through a reaction, negating the attack.

It's the negation that is important here, not the specific because, as I think we agree, these depend on what the DM allows the character to perceive, my only concern is that it should be fairly consistent.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But in any case, as demonstrated by Deflect Missile (it's even better than shield because it's not magical), it shows that it is possible to interrupt the attack process and actually to change its outcome through a reaction, negating the attack.

Deflect Missile is not Ready an Action. Deflect Missile is a specific ability that can negate an attack roll. It tells us nothing about how a completely different ability works. Ready an Action does not have the ability to negate an attack. It might negate the ability to attack, by creating a situation where there is no valid target within reach, but the attack itself is not negated. Even if there is no valid target, the attacker could use their action to do something else, such as take a dodge action, since they have not used their action to attack.

 

[Norton]

"don't misty step off the cliff! It will anger the Gods and they will spend weeks arguing about it while you float in limbo!!!"

What a novel way to put a PC on ice when the player piloting them has to take a hiatus.

 

[Maxperson]

No, resolving the attack is a purely technical process that is NOT perceivable. Unless of course your PCs see giant dices roll in the sky, which would not surprise me in your campaign considering your views...

However, thanks for confirming that the problem is that you have such a technical vision of the game that someone swinging a sword at you is only an attack sequence (which can still be interrupted, as demonstrated time and time again). And you have again failed to prove that I can't use even the start of a swing to trigger an interrupt, so once more, RAW : "First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction." Is swinging a sword a perceivable circumstance, yes or no ? Should be a very simple answer...



And here you go, just shows ou have not even read the attack sequence in the PH. Is the hit the end of the attack sequence ? Please think carefully about your answer...

But at least, you have dropped the silly line of "deflect arrow winding back time", so again, why can't a misty step reaction do exactly what a simple deflect missile does and prevent a hit ?



This does not even make the smallest bit of sense, why don't you try posting bits of the RAW that support your claim (although I know why you don't) ?

You make it really hard not to laugh at your posts. At this point I'm backing out of the conversation.

 

[Horwath]

If it wasn't the character's turn when they fell they are going to have fallen around 500 ft. before they can get the spell off, so the top would be out of range of the spell.

As I mentioned, if we dissect a turn by duration of Action, Move, Bonus action, and we say that bonus action is 1,3 second or less, you could cast Misty Step on your turn before you fall more than 30ft.

Might require a DC10 Con save for concentration or something