The rules for flying are a bit vague - they state a prone creature will fall, “unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.” Beyond the example of Fly, it does not define “held aloft by magic”. That means there is some room for interpretation by the DM.
To start, Steps of Night is a magical-based ability, so that box is checked. The question is whether it just confers the ability to fly magically, or if you are being “held aloft” by the ability. That is up to the DM to decide.
I think the best reading of this rule is to say something is being “held aloft” if the effect comes from a magical item (and thus is extrinsic to the flying entity) or from a spell that requires concentration (and thus has a component of focusing on an individual to “hold” them aloft). This provides clear, easy-to-follow guidelines, and avoids questions of “well, is this being held aloft” which your players might ask (and which also might come up for some of the magically-empowered flying monsters you toss at players).
That said, I ignore the “held aloft” language completely in my games and follow a universal “if you are knocked prone while flying, you fall.” I find this is more fun to my players, as it both gives them the added element of risk whenever they fly and it gives them a way to deal with flying monsters they might not otherwise be able to get into melee range.
As mentioned before, this is a rather vague area of the rules.
I do my ruling based whether being disrupted would affect your flight. An Aarakocra has to flap their wings to stay aloft, so being hit or Knocked Prone causes them to fall. Someone with Fly is actually being lifted by someone/something else, so it isn't the disrupted (it is a Concentration spell, so if you've cast it on yourself, then you'd likely fall anyway if hit due to a related but separate mechanic).
Step of Night says that you are drawing upon energies to give yourself flight - which suggests to me that being hit would disrupt that. You're proactively maintaining the magic to keep you aloft, so if you're knocked Prone, then you fall.
Of course, this relies on flavour text to rule which is normally a big no-no. However, as we've noted, the rules are too vague to rely on the mechanical description. In an ideal world, the rule would be that you fall if Knocked Prone, unless the spell notes otherwise. Perhaps that might be a change moving forward with 1D&S - although I wouldn't hold my breath.
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Sorry if this has already been discussed ad nauseam, but how does the dim light of a Twilight Sanctuary appear in broad daylight? Is it a slight dimming of light in the sphere? Also, does Twilight Sanctuary count as the dim light needed to start Steps of Night? My opinion is that it is a magical light effect and therefore the area https://19216811.cam/ would seem slightly darker in broad daylight. Thoughts from youse guys, gals and non binary D&D pals?
Sorry if this has already been discussed ad nauseam, but how does the dim light of a Twilight Sanctuary appear in broad daylight? Is it a slight dimming of light in the sphere? Also, does Twilight Sanctuary count as the dim light needed to start Steps of Night? My opinion is that it is a magical light effect and therefore the area would seem slightly darker in broad daylight. Thoughts from youse guys, gals and non binary D&D pals?
Actually, yes.
The dim light description is in the mechanical section, not the flavour part, so it's mechanically meaningful. It says it's filled with dim light (not that it shines a dim light or casts it, which is important), so it is dim light inside the sanctuary, even if it's noon day outside. That allows Step of Night too (I didn't pick up on this when I played my Twilight Cleric, although,. I don't think it went high enough level to get Step of the Night which would explain why.
Now, the DM could easily rule differently and say it actually is casting the light (and therefore it is adding light, not enforcing the condition), and they always get the last day. But RAW, it's an area of dim light and therefore qualifies for Step of the Night.
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I’m been having this conversation with a player that is playing with a Twilight Domain Cleric.
With the Steps of Night he gain flaying speed, but his telling that if he get prone while flying he will not fall to the ground.
By my interpretation he definitely should, but what do you think?
With Steps of Night, you can magically give yourself a flying speed, which i take that as being held aloft by magic and thus wouldn't fall when knocked prone.
As DM you can always rules differently as you wish though.
The rules for flying are a bit vague - they state a prone creature will fall, “unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.” Beyond the example of Fly, it does not define “held aloft by magic”. That means there is some room for interpretation by the DM.
To start, Steps of Night is a magical-based ability, so that box is checked. The question is whether it just confers the ability to fly magically, or if you are being “held aloft” by the ability. That is up to the DM to decide.
I think the best reading of this rule is to say something is being “held aloft” if the effect comes from a magical item (and thus is extrinsic to the flying entity) or from a spell that requires concentration (and thus has a component of focusing on an individual to “hold” them aloft). This provides clear, easy-to-follow guidelines, and avoids questions of “well, is this being held aloft” which your players might ask (and which also might come up for some of the magically-empowered flying monsters you toss at players).
That said, I ignore the “held aloft” language completely in my games and follow a universal “if you are knocked prone while flying, you fall.” I find this is more fun to my players, as it both gives them the added element of risk whenever they fly and it gives them a way to deal with flying monsters they might not otherwise be able to get into melee range.
I think I'd rule that, unless you must take some kind of physical action to maintain flight, you don't fall.
But it's really quite badly written. They should just add whether you can hover to all the magical flight sources, like they did for the monsters.
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I’m been having this conversation with a player that is playing with a Twilight Domain Cleric.
With the Steps of Night he gain flaying speed, but his telling that if he get prone while flying he will not fall to the ground.
By my interpretation he definitely should, but what do you think?
Flight doesn't make you immune to being knocked prone.
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"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The rules for flying are a bit vague - they state a prone creature will fall, “unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.” Beyond the example of Fly, it does not define “held aloft by magic”. That means there is some room for interpretation by the DM.
To start, Steps of Night is a magical-based ability, so that box is checked. The question is whether it just confers the ability to fly magically, or if you are being “held aloft” by the ability. That is up to the DM to decide.
I think the best reading of this rule is to say something is being “held aloft” if the effect comes from a magical item (and thus is extrinsic to the flying entity) or from a spell that requires concentration (and thus has a component of focusing on an individual to “hold” them aloft). This provides clear, easy-to-follow guidelines, and avoids questions of “well, is this being held aloft” which your players might ask (and which also might come up for some of the magically-empowered flying monsters you toss at players).
That said, I ignore the “held aloft” language completely in my games and follow a universal “if you are knocked prone while flying, you fall.” I find this is more fun to my players, as it both gives them the added element of risk whenever they fly and it gives them a way to deal with flying monsters they might not otherwise be able to get into melee range.
As mentioned before, this is a rather vague area of the rules.
I do my ruling based whether being disrupted would affect your flight. An Aarakocra has to flap their wings to stay aloft, so being hit or Knocked Prone causes them to fall. Someone with Fly is actually being lifted by someone/something else, so it isn't the disrupted (it is a Concentration spell, so if you've cast it on yourself, then you'd likely fall anyway if hit due to a related but separate mechanic).
Step of Night says that you are drawing upon energies to give yourself flight - which suggests to me that being hit would disrupt that. You're proactively maintaining the magic to keep you aloft, so if you're knocked Prone, then you fall.
Of course, this relies on flavour text to rule which is normally a big no-no. However, as we've noted, the rules are too vague to rely on the mechanical description. In an ideal world, the rule would be that you fall if Knocked Prone, unless the spell notes otherwise. Perhaps that might be a change moving forward with 1D&S - although I wouldn't hold my breath.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Sorry if this has already been discussed ad nauseam, but how does the dim light of a Twilight Sanctuary appear in broad daylight? Is it a slight dimming of light in the sphere? Also, does Twilight Sanctuary count as the dim light needed to start Steps of Night? My opinion is that it is a magical light effect and therefore the area https://19216811.cam/ would seem slightly darker in broad daylight. Thoughts from youse guys, gals and non binary D&D pals?
Actually, yes.
The dim light description is in the mechanical section, not the flavour part, so it's mechanically meaningful. It says it's filled with dim light (not that it shines a dim light or casts it, which is important), so it is dim light inside the sanctuary, even if it's noon day outside. That allows Step of Night too (I didn't pick up on this when I played my Twilight Cleric, although,. I don't think it went high enough level to get Step of the Night which would explain why.
Now, the DM could easily rule differently and say it actually is casting the light (and therefore it is adding light, not enforcing the condition), and they always get the last day. But RAW, it's an area of dim light and therefore qualifies for Step of the Night.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
With Steps of Night, you can magically give yourself a flying speed, which i take that as being held aloft by magic and thus wouldn't fall when knocked prone.
As DM you can always rules differently as you wish though.
I think I'd rule that, unless you must take some kind of physical action to maintain flight, you don't fall.
But it's really quite badly written. They should just add whether you can hover to all the magical flight sources, like they did for the monsters.