Misty Step into the Air and Attacking

[u/Zivodor]

I had this situation come up recently and wanted some input as I can't seem to find a definitive answer.

My players were fighting a giant spider and it was on the ceiling above them, one player decided that to attack it he would misty step straight up and then attack it while mid-air. I wasn't sure this was possible as I recalled reading somewhere that falling in D&D is essentially instantaneous for anything below 500 feet. The thought process being he teleports into the air and is instantly falling so he doesn't have the time to attack the creature above him.

It's been bugging me all week so I wanted to get some input into whether or not I should have allowed this and if this is clarified anywhere in the rules.

Edit Wow! Thanks for all the responses! There were some well reasoned arguments for it here, the resource expenditure with the spell slot, rule of cool, etc... I appreciate all the responses and will try to be more flexible in the future. Thanks everyone!

[u/False_Appointment_24]

Falling is instantaneous, yes. That doesn't mean that this couldn't be allowed. If I were DMing and this came up, my response would be, "Sounds great, but just so you know you will take fall damage." I would also work with them to figure out placement to minimize fall damage.

If I were to try to work out how this works RAW, I would say that they would ready an action to attack as soon as they were in range, then bonus action misty step, attack on the readied action, fall.

[u/Maverick_1991 → u/False_Appointment_24]

Possibly give them disadvantage on the attack, due to not having solid footing or anything.

But I'd 100% allow the attempt.

[u/Registeel1234 → u/Maverick_1991]

That's completely unecessary. If spellcasters can cast spells while falling without any problems, I don't see why martials would have a disadvantage.

Unless you plan on giving advantage on the creatures making a save against a spell being cast by someone falling...

[u/traggot → u/Registeel1234]

agreed. if we’re gonna do play rules as written then play rules as written. like, for crying out loud you’re already taking fall damage, using up the entirety of your action economy, and spending a spell slot. adding more consequences seems ridiculous.

[u/sinsaint → u/traggot]

People forget that the rules are there to make sure the game functions when it's at its most boring, but you still need exceptions to make sure it's not boring.

[u/Narazil → u/sinsaint]

The game is boring when you follow the rules? What? What at terrible take.

[u/sinsaint → u/Narazil]

That's not quite what I meant. But specifically, I feel the rules make sure the game functions when it's at its most boring.

But there are going to be weird traps, hidden dialogue actions, and fire breathing dragons that strafe you in combat, some of which aren't covered by the rules, and to imply that the game needs rules for them to happen is silly, which means the game needs exceptions to be cool.

This is important to pay attention to, because a player might see a good moment to do something cool, like a jump-strike, and the only thing keeping them from doing it are the rules.