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The water walk spell states that it "grants the ability to move across any liquid surface [...] as if it were harmless solid ground".

If you fall off a cliff with water walk active on you and the water below you is treated as solid ground, will you take normal fall damage? Or can you suspend the spell, causing the water to soften the fall as usual?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ @MarkTO Remember also that comments aren’t for debate. To resolve that, either just leave it be, or promote it to a full question. Either course of action keeps debate out of the comments. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 16:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DaleM No answering in comments. At worst, it starts arguments that require moderator intervention. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 16:15

1 Answer 1

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The accepted answer of this question from last year covers your question I feel.

The quick of it is that the spell gives you the ability to move over water as if it was solid ground, but it’s not forced on you. You can choose not to use the ability and treat it as normal water for the purposes of crossing over it.

The bouyance part of that spell does say:

If you target a creature submerged in a liquid, the spell carries the target to the surface of the liquid at a rate of 60 feet per round.

Emphasis mine.

So this presents two scenarios:

  • Water Walk cast on you outside of water, you do not get the buoyancy benefit/detriment for the duration of the spell.
  • Water Walk cast on you while submerged, you do get the buoyancy benefit/detriment for the duration of the spell.
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    \$\begingroup\$ It may also be worth addressing whether "falling into water" fits the definition of "moving across any liquid surface". I would say that it probably doesn't. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 3:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ According to a comment from that thread, one's buoyancy might not be affected at all unless the spell was cast on them while they were already submerged: "This applies only when you target a creature submerged in a liquid, i.e. at the time of casting. The creature cannot 'opt out' of it, though. The spell explicitly forces it up at the stated rate." \$\endgroup\$
    – Meldorn
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 11:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ This is interesting because deep enough underwater, or in the Plane of Water, it turns Water Walk into the old 3.5 Epic spell 'Nail to the Sky' \$\endgroup\$
    – user47897
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 15:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ I made some edits. Note that we aren’t a discussion forum and our pages aren’t “threads”; we use formatting rather than SHOUTING for emphasis; we have a help guide on how formatting works for complex items like lists (formatting guide); edit notes and marks shouldn’t be noted in the post since we have a robust edit history feature (FAQ). \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 16:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ The question asks about whether you take fall damage when falling onto liquid/water under the effect of water walk spell. Can you include an explicit line to answer this question? Yes, it does prevent/No, it does not prevent \$\endgroup\$
    – Vylix
    Commented Jan 11, 2019 at 2:05

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