So with Levitate does it remove the friction required to push a heavy object, less than 500 lbs, horizontally once it is airborne?

Quote from U_Nadeem >>

The levitate spell is concentration. The unconscious condition included the incapacitated condition, and you automatically lose concentration if you are incapacitated. So the levitate spell would end if the conjurer became unconscious, and the spell would end. When the spell ends, they slowly hover down.

 Here’s the thing. In some D&D stories(such as Exile by R. A. Salvatore), drow cast levitate and then die, and they stay in the air for a long time. 

Yeah but that is in story and sometimes special abilities act differently than the spell

Lets say the target is a 200lb table and currently levitating , was to take on more weight (pcs jump on table) and exceed 500lb. Would that cause the spell to break and cause the table to gently fall, or would it plummet as spell is still going but weight limit exceeded ?

Would this work?  Grapple an enemy and cast levitate on yourself.  Float up as high as you can (up to 200' where the fall damage stops increasing), before they break the grapple and they drop or you drop them.  Thats a way to use for damage?

Quote from Deoplo >>

Quote from Brassboy212 >>

If you are the target, you can move up or down as part of your move.

 

If that's the case, does that mean you can cast the spell on yourself and not have it count as an action since it's regarded as movement? Or do you have to use an action first before you can use it as part of your move? 

Also, if you do use it as movement, is it still up to 20ft or can you base it off your movement speed?

 

 The way I read this it seems like you can use your movement to move up or down, up to your movement speed in feet. This is assuming you don't use any movement to go sideways.

 I read it as this:

The object can only move 20 ft. of their own volition up or down per turn. If the caster used it on their self, then they can just take it out of their normal movement and still be able to cast/attack/etc. (personally might rule the Dash action allowing 20 more ft. but would have to see how it could be abused first), but it's still limited to 20 ft. If it's on anything else, you have to use your action to move it.

Also keep in mind you CAN'T MOVE SIDEWAYS unless you're up against another surface. Essentially, you're floating in space, you've become weightless (without the negative effect of just floating off into space), and unlike being in water, the air isn't enough to be able to move you when you flail around.

This does remind me though: The Gust cantrip. The creature effect part of Gust is meant for things that are actually being affected by gravity, so being effectively weightless kind of pushes you into the 2nd effect for objects that weigh less than 5 pounds. Meaning a druid/sorc/wizard could, essentially, push you around 10 ft. every one of their turns, without using up a spell slot. This also means they could choose to do stronger wind type spells to do similar, and also means that if you're in very stormy weather that it's probably a bad idea to levitate yourself.

Quote from Kazamaraz >>

Quote from Deoplo >>

Quote from Brassboy212 >>

If you are the target, you can move up or down as part of your move.

 

If that's the case, does that mean you can cast the spell on yourself and not have it count as an action since it's regarded as movement? Or do you have to use an action first before you can use it as part of your move? 

Also, if you do use it as movement, is it still up to 20ft or can you base it off your movement speed?

 

 The way I read this it seems like you can use your movement to move up or down, up to your movement speed in feet. This is assuming you don't use any movement to go sideways.

 I read it as this:

The object can only move 20 ft. of their own volition up or down per turn. If the caster used it on their self, then they can just take it out of their normal movement and still be able to cast/attack/etc. (personally might rule the Dash action allowing 20 more ft. but would have to see how it could be abused first), but it's still limited to 20 ft. If it's on anything else, you have to use your action to move it.

Also keep in mind you CAN'T MOVE SIDEWAYS unless you're up against another surface. Essentially, you're floating in space, you've become weightless (without the negative effect of just floating off into space), and unlike being in water, the air isn't enough to be able to move you when you flail around.

This does remind me though: The Gust cantrip. The creature effect part of Gust is meant for things that are actually being affected by gravity, so being effectively weightless kind of pushes you into the 2nd effect for objects that weigh less than 5 pounds. Meaning a druid/sorc/wizard could, essentially, push you around 10 ft. every one of their turns, without using up a spell slot. This also means they could choose to do stronger wind type spells to do similar, and also means that if you're in very stormy weather that it's probably a bad idea to levitate yourself.

   I read it a little differently than what your reading,  I noticed the "Otherwise, you can use your action to move the target, which must remain within the spell's range."  The last part makes it seem like the person who cast the spell can move the target any direction, as long as it is in the spell's range.  When it is referring to the movement only as if climbing or pushing against a fixed object/wall, that would be if it was cast on someone else.  If you cast it on yourself, you can include up and down as part of your move, basically is what it means,  can move in any direction.  If it was an inanimate object, lets say a chair,  probably could make the chair go in circles for your action, changing height.  It would be interesting to see what happens if it is cast on someone during a storm though..

Ok... so I know that when the spell ends the target gently floats down. But since I do have some control of their altitude... could I do a Sigma (Overwatch) and smash them to the ground before the spell ends?

That's up to DM discretion I suppose, nothing in the spell says anything about doing damage. I'd rule that you could accelerate them into the ground from 20 feet up, dealing falling damage which would be... 2d6 bludgeoning damage, on top of knocking the target prone. If you want to spend 2 actions and a spell slot on that, be my guest.

Quote from CorgothEaterofWorlds >>

Ok... so I know that when the spell ends the target gently floats down. But since I do have some control of their altitude... could I do a Sigma (Overwatch) and smash them to the ground before the spell ends?

 No, it has a max speed of 20 feet per turn, or six seconds. You could conceivably pin someone under it provided they were unable to get out of the way of the descending object but no damage can be generated by striking people with it. 

Wingardiun Leviosa

I noticed that an unwilling creature only gets one crack at succeeding on the Con save. If you fail you will levitate and can't attempt a save on the next round, you're stuck floating.  Seems like an oversight. 

Storm Giants are stated to live in cloudtop castles so high that even flying dragons are mere specks. They don’t have a flying speed, but they can cast this spell at will. Do they just slowly float thousands and thousands of feet, 20 at a time? At least they also have feather fall, so when they get within 1000 feet they can slow down to 60. But it just seems like sledding. The way back up is awful.

How do you do the spell on yourself? 

How do you do the spell on yourself? 

Casting word is:

Driftus Hoverus

Quote from ZevValentine >>

 

Quote from Kazamaraz >>

Quote from Deoplo >>

Quote from Brassboy212 >>

If you are the target, you can move up or down as part of your move.

 

If that's the case, does that mean you can cast the spell on yourself and not have it count as an action since it's regarded as movement? Or do you have to use an action first before you can use it as part of your move? 

Also, if you do use it as movement, is it still up to 20ft or can you base it off your movement speed?

 

 The way I read this it seems like you can use your movement to move up or down, up to your movement speed in feet. This is assuming you don't use any movement to go sideways.

 I read it as this:

The object can only move 20 ft. of their own volition up or down per turn. If the caster used it on their self, then they can just take it out of their normal movement and still be able to cast/attack/etc. (personally might rule the Dash action allowing 20 more ft. but would have to see how it could be abused first), but it's still limited to 20 ft. If it's on anything else, you have to use your action to move it.

Also keep in mind you CAN'T MOVE SIDEWAYS unless you're up against another surface. Essentially, you're floating in space, you've become weightless (without the negative effect of just floating off into space), and unlike being in water, the air isn't enough to be able to move you when you flail around.

This does remind me though: The Gust cantrip. The creature effect part of Gust is meant for things that are actually being affected by gravity, so being effectively weightless kind of pushes you into the 2nd effect for objects that weigh less than 5 pounds. Meaning a druid/sorc/wizard could, essentially, push you around 10 ft. every one of their turns, without using up a spell slot. This also means they could choose to do stronger wind type spells to do similar, and also means that if you're in very stormy weather that it's probably a bad idea to levitate yourself.

 

   I read it a little differently than what your reading,  I noticed the "Otherwise, you can use your action to move the target, which must remain within the spell's range."  The last part makes it seem like the person who cast the spell can move the target any direction, as long as it is in the spell's range.  When it is referring to the movement only as if climbing or pushing against a fixed object/wall, that would be if it was cast on someone else.  If you cast it on yourself, you can include up and down as part of your move, basically is what it means,  can move in any direction.  If it was an inanimate object, lets say a chair,  probably could make the chair go in circles for your action, changing height.  It would be interesting to see what happens if it is cast on someone during a storm though..

You can change the target's altitude by up to 20 feet. The last part is to make sure that you don't move the target more than 60 feet above/ below you.

The spell says that you target a loose object or creature of your choice within the spell's range. You can simply choose yourself as the target if you want to be levitating.

What if you cast this spell on yourself, and then have your familiar or shape-changed druid tow you around so that you're essentially flying?

slowing descending into a a bottomless pit forever sounds like a great ending for a BBEG