Is flying a broom light activity?

Question

My warlock is currently attempting to flee persecution, and I am making the argument to my DM that, as he has Aspect of the Moon and does not require sleep, he should be able to fly his broom in a straight line all eight hours of the night without incurring a exhaustion penalty. Flying a broom in a straight line should be a light activity as there are no hazards. He flies above the tree line and there’s no other flyers about, unlike driving a car.

I am hoping that this should give him the edge in escaping persecution as not only are his pursuers most likely on foot or horseback but do require sleep.

Will this escape plan work?

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There is a question on meta for discussing whether this question should be closed as unclear. Those with an opinion on the matter are invited to discuss it there politely rather in comments here. — Oblivious Sage, May 01 '22 at 15:32
Assuming this is 5e (which Aspect of the Moon strongly suggests), related question: Can a PC activate a broom of flying and remain in flight indefinately? — Kirt, May 01 '22 at 16:03
That said, @devilish, it is best practice to put in a system tag for rules questions, and avoids all this vote-to-close, discuss, vote-to-reopen stuff. So please put a system tag on there when you can. — Novak, May 01 '22 at 21:40
I’ve gone ahead and added the [dnd-5e] tag, after following up on some of your terminology, in this case, Aspect of the Moon, and how it would interact with some of the other more vaguely named mechanics (“rest”, “exhaustion”, etc.), I’m pretty sure this is D&D 5e. Let us know if this is correct or if we’ve missed something. — Thomas Markov, May 02 '22 at 00:01
Hmm.. on second thoughts, no, the question What exactly is considered "light activity" for the purpose of the "Aspect of the Moon" Eldritch Invocation? doesn't (and shouldn't) get deep enough into specifics to cover this. Still related, though — Someone_Evil, May 02 '22 at 11:39

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered May 02 '22 at 13:01

The rules don't say

We have a whole related question about what "light activity" means. There are some examples of each in the rulebook, which I will copy wholesale from the other question because they're very relevant:

A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity: reading, talking, eating, or standing watch for no more than 2 hours.

If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity—at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity—the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

Neither list mentions "flying a broom", so your DM will have to make a ruling about which category this is similar to.

Your DM might argue that flying a broom is strenuous, because there's high wind blowing on you constantly and you have to make sure the broom stays at the right altitude.

Your DM might also agree with you that flying a broom is light, because (when things are going right) you don't actually have to move, you just sit there and watch.

You should be fine regardless

Flying a broom is already faster than anyone pursuing you on horseback, especially if you're flying over difficult terrain. You shouldn't need the extra speed from flying all night.

Even if you did want to fly all night, you could just take a level of exhaustion. One or two won't kill you.

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered May 02 '22 at 02:55

-1

I can understand where you are coming from on this, but Page 181 of the Players hand book says:

Forced March. The Travel Pace table assumes that characters travel for 8 hours in day. They can push on beyond that limit, at the risk of exhaustion.

So RAW even on the broom, you are restricted by how long you are traveling for and by the forced march rules.

As a side note, you should read the DMG pages 242 and 243 under "Special Travel Pace" as it notes that a flying speed of a magic item or a flying mount is different than a walking speed in overland movement.

answered May 02 '22 at 02:55

Will Moff

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I don't think flying a broom and a forced march are close enough to consider then comparable. – AncientSwordRage May 02 '22 at 12:10
1

@AncientSwordRage Your objection can be summarized with The Office quotes. – Thomas Markov May 02 '22 at 13:56
@AncientSwordRage the forced march rules cover over world movement in general, and there doesn't seem to be a specific rule about a flying broom being able to avoid the forced march rule. so RAW if you ride the broom for more than eight hours, it's still forced march – Will Moff May 02 '22 at 19:36

Is flying a broom light activity?

2 Answers2

The rules don't say

You should be fine regardless