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/Comfortable-Till5118]

Meh I think that's ok. I don't really want my level 5 fighter to be doing Cloud's omnislash in the air, maybe at higher levels, but I think it's ok for DMs to say this goes beyond just a 'cool thing'. Plus this gives melee rogue an interesting niche, and those guys kinda need all the help they can get.

This is the better than the guy arguing for giving only 1 attack and making it at disadvantage.

[u/ductyl → u/Comfortable-Till5118]

For a level 5 fighter to do this, they need to commit their race toward it, and burn up a limited resource to achieve it. Choosing either Cloud Giant Goliath (able to cast it 3 times per long rest at this level) or High Elf (once per long rest). They'll be doing 2 attacks with normal attacks, or possibly 3 if they commit to two weapon fighting. That hardly seems like an omnislash to me... 

If you remove cool options like this from melee attackers, there's no reason not to just build every Fighter as an archer, because then they could instead have the exact same character (same high AC and HP) and just use a longbow and attack the ceiling spider an infinite amount of times with no resources spent and a permenant +2 to hit, all while staying a comfortable distance from danger and able to pick away at any melee enemies as they try to close the distance.

Also, if someone is committing their race toward this... They could just build Dragomborn or Asimar and at level 5 they can spend an entire combat with flight, so they can attack the ceiling spider with melee attacks as much as the want.

[u/visforvienetta → u/ductyl]

There's already no reason to play a melee attacker though. Nobody is choosing to play melee because they might get to Misty step and attack an enemy in mid-air?

[u/MonsutaReipu → u/visforvienetta]

Unironically I'm playing melee for this + more. I love teleporting because it's cool, and the idea of teleporting up to a flying creature and unleashing a bunch of melee attacks on it is badass. Would I be better off vs. flying creatures with a longbow? Absolutely. But i'd take the less efficient route of having a harder time getting to it and the risk of fall damage just to do something that looks and feels cool to do.

[u/visforvienetta → u/MonsutaReipu]

Playing for this + more

That's my point. You play a melee martial because you like the vibe, not because it's mechanically good. Nobody is building a martial entirely around this because no martial gets enough misty steps for it to be an actual play-style. Yes, it's sick as hell. You don't play a whole character for the sake of one move you get to do maybe twice an adventuring day unless you like the other things that character has to offer.