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Some creatures have a fly speed. Some creatures with a fly speed also have the ability to hover specified.

The PHB, in Chapter 9: Combat, Movement and Position, Flying Movement says:

Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.

The conditions in this paragraph that would result in the creature falling have to do with having movement involuntarily removed or restricted. That might suggest that if you don't have "hover" in your flying speed, you can't hover.

But there is a difference between being knocked unconscious, or frozen, or webbed, or otherwise rendered unable to move, and choosing to stay in one place while airborne, by flapping your wings, or standing on your jets, or whatever.

So, can flying creatures choose to stay in one place while airborne, even if they don't have hover in their flying speed?

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    \$\begingroup\$ There's even an old song about it: "Birds do it, bees do it, why can't we just not fall, and hove?" Or something like that. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jack
    May 20, 2019 at 20:41
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  • \$\begingroup\$ Where in "If a flying creature has its speed reduced to 0, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover" does it say that the speed reduction has to be involuntary? In my eyes this is literally written: zero speed + no hover ability = fall. I'll have to read the answers a couple times to understand why it ain't so. \$\endgroup\$
    – walen
    May 21, 2019 at 7:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ Since hover is a keyword which means a specific thing for monsters in D&D, maybe the question should be rephrased to "Do I need to spend movement in order to stay aloft (not fall)" \$\endgroup\$ May 21, 2019 at 15:49
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    \$\begingroup\$ @walen You may be confused about the difference between movement and speed here - speed is a statistic on your character sheet, while movement is a distance you traverse during your turn. "Speed reduced to zero" specifically refers to when your speed statistic on your character sheet is reduced to zero. \$\endgroup\$
    – Speedkat
    May 21, 2019 at 15:55

5 Answers 5

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Flying creatures can remain aloft unless their rules says otherwise

The 2019 Sage Advice Compendium contains the following paragraph which directly addresses this situation:

Can a flying creature without the hover trait stay in one place while airborne, or does it need to move each round? A flyer that lacks the hover trait can stay aloft without moving each round.

From the Flying Movement section under Movement and Position (PHB, p. 191) we have (emphasis mine):

Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.

Possessing the 'hover' ability prevents a creature from falling when knocked prone or deprived of movement, but otherwise has no effect on where the creature may end its turn. By default creatures that possess a fly speed may end their turn in the air. However, doing so without the 'hover' ability exposes them to falling damage should an enemy somehow deprive them of movement.

Some creatures or abilities may limit your flying ability and require you to land at the end of your turn. See Do I have to land at the end of my turn? for evidence that this is not the general case. One example of a feature with this restriction is the level 14 Path of the Totem Warrior (Eagle) feature which says (emphasis mine):

While raging, you have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. This benefit works only in short bursts; you fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.

If the feature allowing you to fly does not possess text to a similar effect, you can end your turn in the air or remain stationary while aloft. Having the 'hover' ability merely negates the risk of falling.

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A creature with a Flying Speed is not required to use their movement to stay aloft unless a feature specifically says so

It might be best to demonstrate this by showing an obvious counter-example.

Consider, for example, the Totem Warrior subclass of the Barbarian Class, who at level 14, is given the option of gaining a flight speed while raging:

Eagle. While raging, you have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. This benefit works only in short bursts; you fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.

Path of the Totem Warrior, Player's Handbook, pg. 50

So for this specific situation, the Barbarian would gain a flying speed—but also gain the stipulation that this speed cannot keep them aloft at the end of their turn.

Conversely, most creatures that have Flying speeds have no such restriction or stipulation: they simply specify a Flying speed of X', without this kind of text. That means that they would not fall if they stop moving, or if they cease to move during their turn, unless they were subjected to one of the conditions specified in your original post and lacked the Hover feature.

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You say in your question:

The conditions in this paragraph that would result in the creature falling have to do with having movement involuntarily removed or restricted. That might suggest that if you don't have "hover" in your flying speed, you can't hover.

This suggests that if you don't have "hover" in your flying speed, you will fall when your movement is involuntarily removed or restricted. It makes no suggestions on what will happen if you voluntarily don't move.

The conditions given (speed 0, prone, deprived of movement) are given without ambiguity, so can be considered a complete list of what would make a flying creature fall. As such, every creature with a fly speed can choose not to move on their turn and stay aloft (because doing so is not on the list of conditions that would cause a fall).

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    \$\begingroup\$ Can you support your para beginning with "Every creature with a fly speed"? \$\endgroup\$
    – Jack
    May 20, 2019 at 23:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ Even though your quote is from OP, it may be good to include that so folks aren't trying to find a quote in a book (which I just did.) YOu may want to add the caveat that if you are flying via some sort of magic (like fly.) \$\endgroup\$
    – NotArch
    May 21, 2019 at 14:02
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Yes. All it requires to stay in the air without falling is to have a nonzero flying speed.

If you choose not to move, you still have a nonzero movement speed. Flying speed is a character attribute that says how fast you can fly, not a measure of how fast the character currently is flying.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is confusing. The question asks if a flying creature can elect to fly at speed 0. You answer yes, then state that flying at speed 0 equals plummeting to the ground. Please clarify. \$\endgroup\$
    – Davo
    May 20, 2019 at 21:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ If you choose not to move, you still have a nonzero movement speed. \$\endgroup\$ May 21, 2019 at 15:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ Flying speed is a character attribute that says how fast you can fly, not a measure of how fast the character currently is flying. \$\endgroup\$ May 21, 2019 at 15:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ Both your comments are improvements to your answer. You should edit them into the post itself. \$\endgroup\$
    – linksassin
    May 22, 2019 at 0:56
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As explained in the description of flying speeds in the introduction of the Monster Manual (and the corresponding part of the basic rules):

A monster that has a flying speed can use all or part of its movement to fly. Some monsters have the ability to hover, which makes them hard to knock out of the air (as explained in the rules on flying in the Player’s Handbook). Such a monster stops hovering when it dies.

(The emphasis here is on can.)

The one thing that is so great about the newest 5th edition of D&D is that it is very clear about if and when [x] happens. The standard being that something just works unless the source of the feature/ability specifically says otherwise. Like standing upright or staying aloft. This is why the system gives us additional rules for when things change. Like the one on "Flying Creatures and Falling" (XGtE, p. 77), which states that:

A flying creature in flight falls if it is knocked prone, if its speed is reduced to 0 feet, or if it otherwise loses the ability to move, unless it can hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as the fly spell.

A creature that has access to the flying movement mode "can use all or part of its movement to fly." Nowhere does it ever state that a creature has to take at least part of its movement to stay in the movement mode it currently is using. It's like a landborne creature doesn't have to take at least part of its movement to stay upright and not fall prone all of a sudden. Well... I guess you could argue that: "but if you fall to zero speed you still not necessarily fall prone." True that, but there is a rule for when a creature falls prone. It's conveniently named after the condition.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Note that the part of XGtE you quote isn't an optional rule – it's restating the core rules on flying movement from the PHB/basic rules: "Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell." The optional rules are in the next 2 paragraphs. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Apr 20, 2022 at 14:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ When have I ever stated that it's an optional rule? Aside from that your comment is completely beside the point of this thread. \$\endgroup\$
    – Coffee
    May 24, 2022 at 14:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ You say, "This is why the system gives us additional rules for when things change." You then cite XGtE. I'm just pointing out that in this case, XGtE is just restating something that's already stated in the basic rules. (Some people think that everything in XGtE is optional rules, which is not the case; I just wanted to be clear.) \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    May 24, 2022 at 15:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, I wasn't aware that people think this. The way I see it there are many occasions in many books that restate content of the core books in one way or another. I knew that this is a basic rule but I went for the XGtE version as I simply think it's the more concise and shorter version of the rule. By additional I by no means meant optional. To my knowledge the two terms are not interchangeable. Maybe I should've phrased it like "That's why the rule system elaborates and gives us special rules when the global rules don't cover the case." and cited the PHB version instead. My mistake. \$\endgroup\$
    – Coffee
    May 27, 2022 at 6:02

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