In D&D, what happens if you cast a feather fall 5e on something that’s already falling at terminal speed?
Feather fall 5e says, “A falling creature’s rate of descent slows to 60 feet per round until the spell ends.” Seems straightforward. Whatever you cast feather fall on will decelerate until it is only falling at 60 feet per round, no matter its actual speed. It will fall at this constant speed until it hits the ground or the spell ends.
It does have an exciting and unintended result. Suppose you cast this spell on an object with a terminal velocity of fewer than 60 feet per round. Feather Fall will cause it to fall faster than it would normally. Then again, D&D doesn’t do an honest job of modeling physics in the first place. There isn’t terminal velocity in D&D. In base 5e, you fall until you hit something, and you get a chance to cast or invoke feather fall first. Xanthar’s Guide to Everything says you descend 500 feet per round, so if you fall off a mountain, you might get a second or third chance to do something.
Feather Fall 5e d&d
Level 1 transmutation
- Casting Time: 1 reaction that you take when you or a creature within 60 feet of you falls
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V M (A tiny feather or piece of down)
- Duration: One minute
- Classes: Sorcerer, Bard, Sorcerer
- Select up to five falling creatures within range. A falling creature’s rate of descent slows to Sixty feet every round until the spell ends. Suppose the beast lands before the spell finishes. It would take no falling damage and may land on its feet, and the spell finishes for that creature.
When the spell fly says, “When the spell ends, the target falls if it is still aloft unless it can stop the fall.” Does it mean that you start falling out of the sky, or do you fall like you cast feather fall in D&D 5E?
The description is clear: when the spell ends, the spell target falls. There is no feather fall effect from that spell unless the spell mentions it.
Suppose, in contrast, the character had a Ring of Feather Fall. They could use their ring, but that would have hardly anything to do with the spell. If they had 5e Feather fall cast as a contingency spell, it would activate as soon as they started to fall, but that has nothing to do with the previous fly spell. Suppose the character was a monk and up against a wall. They could feasibly slow their fall or maybe even run straight up the wall. Again, that has no connection to the spell.
The main point is that if the spell doesn’t include an effect in its description, that effect doesn’t occur. No free feather fall unless it was in the spell description.
Can you use feather fall 5e on yourself?
You can generally take reactions on your turn, including reacting to things you are doing to yourself. However, the specific description of Bonus actions does apply here. Since it is still the player’s turn, you could not cast Feather Fall 5e if you cast Dimension Door as a bonus action.
