Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Are there any established rules about flying creatures without hover mechanics when it comes to falling?
Example, a pitfall trap opens under an Owlin.
Do they subtract their flight speed from the distance they fall before damage is calculated? If they used any movement on their previous "turn" does that impact calculation?
No, none of that is in the rules.
Being able to fly without the ability to hover doesn't have any impact on falling.
pronouns: he/she/they
Actually that is an optional rule from Xanathar’s, “If you’d like a flying creature to have a better chance of surviving a fall than a non-flying creature does, use this rule: subtract the creature’s current flying speed from the distance it fell before calculating falling damage.”
Yes, Xanathar's has the section that MoribundEidolon mentioned, it's in the Falling section of the book.
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
To exhaustively answer MobiTraveler’s third question: If you’re using the Falling rules from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything in your game, movement on your turn does not change your Flying Speed. So you’d still reduce the distance you fell by your full Flying Speed even if you’d already used some or all of your movement for the turn. A typical Owlin would take 3d6 less damage from the pit trap in the example and if they didn’t take any damage from the fall they would also avoid gaining the Prone condition.
However, if their Flying Speed was reduced when they fell, by the Grappled condition or the Slow weapon property for example, they would use the reduced speed for the calculation. In contrast, doing something to increase the distance they could move in a turn without changing the underlying speed, such as using the Dash action, would have had no effect on the amount of damage taken.