[Full - Waiting for complete characters] Loex’edar: The Dragon War

[Wrahn]

As the guy who was linking rules, the only thing I was looking for was a general following of them, not a strict one (meaning, with a poor manueverability you knew you had to move each round and made wide turns). But in fairness there was some confusion of who was where (at least from me) at the beginning of the combat. Vers generally is a tactician, so that is how I was playing him.

I had anticipated most combats taking place on good old terra firma, because most dragons aren't the most manueverable things in the air, and built my character accordingly. I stil hold to that, fighting in a dragons lair may allow for some ariel combat, but they generally aren't large enough for the wide open combat we just experienced. But I am left to the whim of the game master as well, if he want ariel combats, so be it.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

The falling numbers were given by the DM. I was just mapping stuff.

Again, Tailspinner - that wasn't a criticism on your and your gifts for x,y,z mapping.



I would think a DM might have an easier time if the majority of our combats were land-based. It just depends if all the players were to buy into that as a reality. Flitterdust wouldn't have any problem with that - but then again he's not really a combat expert. And - he is the most maneuverable and in truth would actually spend the majority of the time in the air where his speed and maneuverability are so much better.

 

[Jdvn1]

I had anticipated most combats taking place on good old terra firma, because most dragons aren't the most manueverable things in the air, and built my character accordingly. I stil hold to that, fighting in a dragons lair may allow for some ariel combat, but they generally aren't large enough for the wide open combat we just experienced.

I agree. Why do you think I was plummeting to the ground?

 

[Jdvn1]

Edit: Actually, though, there was one thing I did kinda have difficulty with. If grappling meant free-fall ... and gravity is 32 ft per second squared ... then distance equals (1/2)(acceleration)(time squared). That makes the distance fallen (in feet) in one round equal to (1/2)(32)(36). Or, 16 times 36 = 576 feet. That's in one round. Of course, this is assuming a stall at the top and it doesn't take into account terminal velocity according to the friction created by a falling body through the air. Did we follow that progression ... or is gravity lighter in this world!

They cover this in the general FAQ.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

They cover this in the general FAQ.

Yep, they do. That's what got me thinking about it. Although I like my literal equation approach to their "method of averages" approach. Which is legit, but much more complicated to understand! Here's the quote:

Q: How far does a character fall in a single round? If my griffon-riding character falls off his mount 300 feet up, how long do other characters have to catch him?

A:his ends up being both a rules and a physics question. The short answer is, “In a single round, you fall far enough to hit the ground in the vast majority circumstances that come up in the game.” Here’s the long answer: A falling character accelerates at a rate of 32 feet per second per second. What that means is that every second, a character’s “falling speed” increases by 32 feet. The distance he falls in that second is equal to the average of
his falling speeds at the beginning of that second and at the end of that second. Thus, during the first second he falls 16 feet (the average of 0 feet and 32 feet, which are his speeds at the start and end of that second). During the next second he falls 48 feet (the average of 32 feet and 64 feet). He falls 80 feet during the third second, 112 feet the fourth second, 144 feet the fifth second, and 176 feet the sixth second. That’s a grand total of 576 feet fallen in the first round alone, hence the short answer given above—the number of falls occurring in any campaign longer than this is probably pretty small. For ease of play, you could simply use 500 feet as a nice round number—it’s easier to remember.

Of course, the character falls even farther the next round, although acceleration soon ends due to the resistance of air on the falling body (this is what’s called terminal velocity). If the Sage remembers his high-school physics, terminal velocity for a human body is roughly 120 mph (equivalent to a speed of 1,200 feet per round, or 200 feet per second); thus, the character’s falling speed hits its maximum in the first second of the second round. It’s safe to say that after 2 rounds the character will have fallen nearly 2,000 feet, and will fall another 1,200 feet per round thereafter.

I wasn't stating anything different than the FAQ...

 

[Jdvn1]

Yep, they do. That's what got me thinking about it. Although I like my literal equation approach to their "method of averages" approach. Which is legit, but much more complicated to understand! Here's the quote:
...
I wasn't stating anything different than the FAQ...

It's easier for me to look at the FAQ and say, "It says we do this. I'm completely fine with that ruling." I don't mess with the explanations if I don't need to. It's not like it's based on any D&D rules.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

It's easier for me to look at the FAQ and say, "It says we do this. I'm completely fine with that ruling." I don't mess with the explanations if I don't need to. It's not like it's based on any D&D rules.

It's alright, Jdvn1 ... It wasn't your decision to make. Scout made the call of how far you fell each round as DM. I didn't even question it until I read the FAQ and found out it was much more than 100 feet or so! But even then, if that's what the DM calls, then that's what the DM calls. No big deal - I was just saying, that's all.

 

[Wrahn]

The top ten reasons why Scout was right

10) The atmosphere is much thicker here, so air resistance is much stronger.
9) It is a different world, a foot, yard and meter here are much longer than on our world
8) Dragons (and Dragonkin) and magically buoyed (explaining why they can fly in the first place) and thus fall slower
7) Really strong updrafts
6) Gravity, what's gravity? The reason we fall is because the air pushes us down, and the air is fickle so we don't always fall at the same rate
5) Dragons are heavier, so they fall slower...
4) we were falling at 32 feet per second per second, but the ground beneath us was moving aways from us as well, just slower than we were falling.
3) A second in this world is much faster than in our world
2) He's the DM, nanner, nanner
1) It's magic

 

[Shayuri]

Re: 8

Yes! Dragons produce hydrogen gas in their bodies as a byproduct of their digestion, and store it in a series of internal vesicles along the sides of their long, sinuous bodies. Their wings provide propulsion and directional control, but the LIFT is generated by the lighter-than-air gas they store. They can also regurgitate a portion of the hydrogen under high pressure, igniting it by means of a small organ on the inside of the tip of their snouts that generates a small electric charge. This results in a momentary, directed flash of fire. It's all explainable!

SCIENCE!

(With apologies to anyone involved in the writing of Flight of Dragons)

 

[Lord Wyrm]

Now explain Ice breath.