Levitate + Tiny Hut = airborne long rest?

Question

Griza the sorceress was bored of all those swamp bullywugs bashing away at her tiny hut. The thumping was unheard (force effects don't reverberate sound) but all that grunting was cutting on her beauty sleep.

The next night she decided to first levitate (using a wondrous item, not the spell - so no concentration required to levitate), then get to a stationary position, and then cast the tiny hut.

I know that to cast a spell with a longer casting time requires concentration and levitate is concentration-based. That is why she has a wondrous item that allows levitation without concentration. I don't care if it is not in the books. She does. Move on.

Now she can sleep just fine at 50 feet above the ground. No more croaky croakers trying to croak her while croaking all the time.

But just like those one-nighters with priests of Loviatar, she might come to regret it in the morning...

The big question is does it work?

Doesn't she fall from the hut during her sleep?
Can LTH be cast up in the air?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. — mxyzplk, Sep 27 '17 at 21:41
@enkryptor it is a "boots of levitation" that allows levitation without concentration. Or "wings of levitation" or just a "floating potion" that grants the effects of levitate spell for 1 hour without concentration. Anyway, it is a mcGuffin that does what the label says. There is no need to dwell in there, that is why the "move on" part is there. — Mindwin Remember Monica, Mar 16 '18 at 13:59
There is. It lasts only 1 hour, so you can't sleep the whole night. — enkryptor, Mar 16 '18 at 18:13
You have to levitate all the time. All creatures and objects are barred from passing through walls except for these who were inside, including the caster. Apparently, the caster will fall off the hut, ending the spell. See https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/55599/ — enkryptor, Mar 16 '18 at 20:32
It seems the result depends on the "the hut is a hemisphere" statement interpretation https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/107465/ — enkryptor, Mar 16 '18 at 20:35
@enkryptor there is word of god that it has a floor, so this point is moot. I actually only posted this question after Mr. Crawford's tweet about having a floor. — Mindwin Remember Monica, Mar 19 '18 at 12:27

score 14 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 15 '18 at 17:20

14

Nothing in the description of Leomund's Tiny Hut prevents it from being cast while in the air. I don't know if she falls from the hut during sleep because I don't know how your "wondrous item" works. If it lasts for longer than 8 hours and doesn't require you to be conscious, then no. If not, then yes.

At first glance, it might appear there is a larger problem:

Range: Self (10-foot-radius hemisphere) A 10-foot-radius immobile dome of force springs into existence around and above you for the duration. -PHB, p.255, emphasis mine

Note that this does not say that the dome springs into existence below you. So although the atmosphere inside the hut likely becomes cool and comfortable, you might be concerned (according to the text of the spell), that the spears of the Bullywugs (which will have a maximum thrown range of 60 feet) will likely be quite uncomfortable.

However, apparently the most recent Sage Advice on this suggests that the hut has a floor. That disagrees with my understanding (as a person with a Master's Degree in mathematics) of a hemispherical shell. But apparently you will remain safe from the spears as well - at least until Crawford changes his mind again.

edited Mar 15 '18 at 17:20

Praxiteles

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answered Sep 27 '17 at 03:14

Gandalfmeansme

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This is a game, so I think the bad definition of "hemisphere" is the smaller problem. The bigger one is that you can only find it in two contradicting tweets, instead of a clear errata. – András Sep 27 '17 at 07:05
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Sorry for being blunt, but you are not taking into consideration the postulates of the knowledge domain in which the 5e D&D is built on. Areas of effect are defined in the book, and they only resemble the actual mathematical geometric shapes. Therefore, it is defined two semi-spherical shapes: the dome and the hemisphere. Both are composed of a semi-sphere, but the dome is an "open" shape, while the hemisphere is closed by a circular secant plane that goes through the center of the semi-sphere. – Mindwin Remember Monica Sep 27 '17 at 13:26
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If you can 'fall through' the bottom of the Hut, then how would it protect you against ground-based phenomena? Just standing on the hut would be enough to 'fall through' and create a problem. Seems like the Intent is that the Hut is like a tent you CAN pass through, but don't have to. – NotArch Sep 27 '17 at 13:31
I "can" move through the air. There is air underneath my feet, assuming they are not perfectly flat. However, when I am on the ground, the fact that I "can" move through air does not cause me to sink further into the ground, since it is solid. Likewise, you "can" move through the hut. When you are on the ground, this does not cause gravity to push you out because the ground will stop you. When you are not, I'd say you move through it, just like you "can" move through the air if elevated (ie: straight down). – Gandalfmeansme Sep 27 '17 at 14:08
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@Gandalfmeansme THe ground will stop you, but you have now passed through the 'floor' of the hut and onto the ground - and getting any damage from anything that may be on that ground. That was my main point. If there's a floor, it's there to protect you and therefore should be usable as a floor. – NotArch Sep 27 '17 at 14:18
@Mindwin , interesting. Could you cite your source for the definition of a hemipshere? The only examples I've been able to find are entirely solid (half spheres). Are you considering the space to be solid all the way down, or a shell around a hemispherical space? Also, note that the word "dome" is used four times in describing the spell, and that the word "hemisphere" appears only in the description of the spell's range. And the range of a spell may imperfectly define its area of effect (ex: fireball effects a 20ft radius sphere: not a 150 foot radius anything). – Gandalfmeansme Sep 27 '17 at 14:20
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The tweet from crawford linked above. "Its a Hemisphere, not a dome, so it has a floor". The spell description block prevails over the fluff text. – Mindwin Remember Monica Sep 27 '17 at 14:21
@NautArch , consider the hut to be like a swimming pool: open at one end, but bounded solidly on all other ends. If you are in a pool with your head above water, you have not "left" the area of the pool. If you somehow were elevated above the water completely, you have left the pool's area. If you place a hand outside the pool onto the cement around it, you have left. Similarly, you would have to descend your entire body below the dome's area, or touch the shell surrounding the dome, to have "left" it. Having part of your body on or below the lower limits does not count as "leaving" it. – Gandalfmeansme Sep 27 '17 at 14:25
@NautArch, running with the pool metaphor: you can move through water. You cannot decide that you want to not move through water, and thus walk on top of it. However, if you are in a pool, and cannot swim, and sink to the bottom, the fact that you "can" move through water does not cause you to "leave" the water, because there is cement below the water. Similarly, you can move through the hut. If there is ground below the hut, this will not cause you to "leave" the hut. But without ground, you'd fall out, as surely as you'd fall out of water suspended in air. – Gandalfmeansme Sep 27 '17 at 14:33
@NautArch: rereading your point, I see what you're saying. That burrowing creatures could scratch at your underside. This is indeed a danger. Could an enemy burrow into the hut or attack from below? No. There's a floor, which is indestructible from the outside. Could they burrow under the hut and cause you to fall out of it? I'd say "yes". They'd have to remove enough of the ground beneath the floor to leave you nowhere to stand. But that is possible. As such, make sure you plant your hut on rock, or something else solid. They may not be able to get in, but they can cause you to fall out. – Gandalfmeansme Sep 27 '17 at 16:29
Sorry about the previous answers: I had originally thought your objection was that the caster would always automatically "leave" the hut if it was as I described. But I see now what you were saying. I'm leaving the previous answers in place, since they address another possible objection. – Gandalfmeansme Sep 27 '17 at 16:37
@Gandalfmeansme No, it still reaises the issue that you present in which the floor is purely a one-way valve. Anything on the inside, really is on the outside. If it doesn't exist for those on it, then they aren't protected by it as they're feet are actually outside the hut (so cold, heat, creatures, etc.) all have a direct attack that isn't blocked by it. If it does block, then there is a floor. I don't see how it works both ways. – NotArch Sep 27 '17 at 16:50

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 27 '17 at 03:45

The Hut has a floor.

(This answer is largely a rehash of a recent answer)

First, nothing in the text prevents you from casting the spell in the air, assuming you have some method of staying up there during the casting time. The target is "self," after all.

Second, regardless of the math terms, Word of God from Jeremy Crawford says that Leomund's Tiny Hut has a floor:

Leomund's tiny hut does have a floor, Mr. Crawford (read your own book). The spell's range entry says the effect is hemispherical. #DnD

Furthermore, the text states,

Creatures and objects within the dome when you cast this spell can move through it freely.

Note the "can". This phrasing suggests that creatures can choose whether or not the wall is solid to them. If they couldn't, the wording could simply be,

Creatures and objects within the dome when you cast this spell move through it freely.

This wording would suggest that things would fall through the floor.

Finally, what's the point of a floor when you just fall through it? A Hut on a slanted surface would have portions of its inhabitants' feet (or more) sticking out of it, rendering its protection useless unless they crowded in a corner of it.

If 'can' is intended to mean that passing through is optional, who makes the choice of whether/when objects move through the dome/floor? What happens to an unattended object, and why? — Fie, Jan 15 '22 at 01:44

Levitate + Tiny Hut = airborne long rest?

2 Answers2

The Hut has a floor.