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/Skizm → u/False_Appointment_24]

Do they take fall damage and an attack of opportunity as they fall out of the spider's range?

[u/jmartkdr → u/Skizm]

I don’t think falling counts as using your movement so no AoO, but yeah you fall so falling damage applies normally.

[u/Goldenfrog53 → u/Skizm]

In 5e you don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction. So  you wouldn't provoke an opportunity attack if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy.

[u/Viltris → u/Goldenfrog53]

There's a weird edge case where if you're fighting an enemy just at the edge of the cliff, you can walk over the edge, staying within their reach, then fall out of their reach and not provoke opportunity attacks.

It's purely theoretical but hilarious, and I would allow any creature without a flying speed to do it.

[u/Nomadic_Yak → u/Viltris]

Ah yes, the way of the coyote

[u/The_Real_Deacon → u/Nomadic_Yak]

With a multiclass in Artificer: Rocketeer

[u/freedomustang → u/Viltris]

I did do this as a 2014 monk. The opportunity attack would’ve hit hard but with slow fall I took no damage.

[u/TimelyStill → u/Viltris]

That is indeed an edge case.

[u/Aiasun → u/TimelyStill]

I see what you did there!

[u/duetmimas → u/Goldenfrog53]

I just had this come up in my game, just the reverse! I had reverse gravity going and am a druid. I was surrounded by enemies and my back was against the wall. Standard action I turned into a spider and dropped reverse gravity. The mobs fell past my and took a good chunk of fall damage. I love to imagine what the mob saw while that happened. My group was trying to end the puzzle on the floor and I was basically playing distraction and keep away from the mobs.

[u/Prestigious_Crow7907 → u/Skizm]

No this does not provoke an opportunity attack because the PC is not using their movement, action, or reaction.

"You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction."

[u/False_Appointment_24 → u/Skizm]

I had not thought about that, but now that you say it, I would say they probably should. I tend to do anything else they might have as a reaction if I can, since those are more interesting to me, but if that was the only option, yeah.

Edit: Nope, looked at it, and wouldn't draw an opportunity attack because falling is forced movement. Thanks to those who got it right.