The part you’re missing is that it’s the Feywild, often known for trickery and being literal with language. I.E. The classic “can I have your name?” being a Fey asking to steal your identity.

In the Feywild specifically, the DM’s pun could have literal power in that the characters would take a literal fall, and players in the Feywild should be prepared for such shenanigans.

But… damage is applied at the end of the fall, not the beginning.

But why the focus on the bard?

Because they are the player that can do something about the Fall damage. Could also be a sorcerer or wizard.

You’re not alone, it’s a pretty bad pun.

The bard might also be the one expected to catch puns

The joke being that autumn is called fall and the feywild is a hyper literal world so they were probably going to take fall damage.

It was instantaneous, as it’s Fall damage, not fall damage.

Yeah, I got that.

“You cast feather fall, and now instead of falling leaves, multicolored feathers fall from the trees and litter the ground. You each take 1d8 psychic damage from this unexpected turn of events”

If you don’t want explanations don’t post things that make it sound like you didn’t understand the joke.

And fall damage is instantaneous unless you use that optional rule where falling far enough takes time.

The classic “can I have your name?” being a Fey asking to steal your identity.

Which always annoys me. I’m just giving them my name, not my identity. And definitely not any sort of power over me.

Maybe it would help to know that the Fey are known to delight in wordplay based magical trickery (e.g. the old “Can I have your name?” bit). It’s not just that the pun exists, but that it’s not the DM just making them roll for “fall” damage because he thinks it’s funny, it’s the sort of thing that canonically happens in the Feywild.

I thanks for the explanation. Very good summery of the joke. Didn’t get it until you explained it.

Puns should be graded on a circular scale. The worst puns are the best puns

Once upon a time it was believed that to know a thing’s true name was to have complete power over it.

This isn’t commonly held today )why would it be) but I think that’s where this trope comes from.

Because they just stepped into fall, the party was going to take fall damage. Feather fall prevents fall damage.

Source? I’ve heard people say that, but I don’t know of any stories where that happens. I’ve seen something saying Rumpelstiltskin is an example, but as far as I can find the queen got to keep her baby because Rumpelstiltskin agreed to let her if she guesses his name. It doesn’t look like knowing his name itself had any effect.

Also, if that is true, then this fey taking things literally would have the opposite effect. If you just tell the fey your name, or they find out through any other method, then they’d have power over you. But if they literally take your name, then it’s their name, and now you know their name and you can control them.

No clue where I learned that. So take it with a grain of salt.