Falling from Great Heights

[Minigiant]

Did they leap into a chasm? If they have no parachutes or gliders or rings of feather fall, they should die.
Reward preparation, not levels.

What if the level they took was in Cool?
That was the preparation.

 

[El Mahdi]

Technically, the 4e rules would kill anyone at a 1000 feet without changing them. We are talking 550 pts of damage. I see no reason why 1d10 per 10 feet has to change. It falls back to the rule , if they are stupid they die.

Because it's the difference between merely dead...and FUBAR!

Me, I like FUBAR...

 

[GX.Sigma]

Hit points represent the ability to do a shoulder roll when you hit the ground.

 

[Minigiant]

True.

But when a D&D player looking at the rules decides for their character that: "...yeah, no problem. I've got enough hit points to survive a jump off of this 200' cliff...". That doesn't make sense when thought about in a real world context (as many like to do).

Things that don't make sense, rarely feel awesome...instead they just seem confusing or counterintuitive.

There are people that want players to make decisions based on common sense and the reality of the situation, rather than based on an artificial construct of un-realistic rules.

Hit point loss can be anything.

When my halfling paladin fell and took falling damage, I stated that he channeled his divine powers into an emergency plea for help and an angel CAME OUTTA NOWHERE and caught him.... slowed his descent.

HPs are abstract, man.

 

[El Mahdi]

Hit point loss can be anything.

When my halfling paladin fell and took falling damage, I stated that he channeled his divine powers into an emergency plea for help and an angel CAME OUTTA NOWHERE and caught him.... slowed his descent.

HPs are abstract, man.

Abstract...Yes. Player Fiat...No.

In my games, the only person that can say an angel come outta nowhere and caught him...is ME.

Which is why I make sure the mechanics of falling are houseruled in my games to be realistic. So a player doesn't get the suicidal idea they can jump off a 200' cliff and survive.

But I'd prefer to not have to houserule them in D&D Next, so that they make sense for once.

 

[El Mahdi]

Hit points represent the ability to do a shoulder roll when you hit the ground.

Shoulder roll at the end of a 200' fall, and all that happens is your shoulder liquifies first.

 

[Szatany]

What if the level they took was in Cool?
That was the preparation.

I'm sorry I don't understand. English isn't my first language.

 

[Minigiant]

Abstract...Yes. Player Fiat...No.

In my games, the only person that can say an angel come outta nowhere and caught him...is ME.

Which is why I make sure the mechanics of falling are houseruled in my games to be realistic. So a player doesn't get the suicidal idea they can jump off a 200' cliff and survive.

But I'd prefer to not have to houserule them in D&D Next, so that they make sense for once.

Angels are too farfetched, huh?

What about evading the ground? Or helicopter swords?

I'm sorry I don't understand. English isn't my first language.

The heroes prepared by knowing they are too cool to die via falling damage.

 

[trancejeremy]

That reminds me - do we want believable falling damage in 5E?

If people have fewer HP, that'll help, but even in 1E characters jumped from terminal velocity heights all the time.

Is this a bug or a feature?

All the time? Really?

In all the time I played 1e (which is longer than 3e or 4e existed, or at least were supported), I never deliberately jumped from a great height and on more than one occasion, I fell to my death.

But again, D&D is not meant to be a realistic simulator of anything, much less one of damage caused by falling. Movies and books are filled with heroes that jump ludicrously far distances and survive.


Die Hard being the great example of hit points, he jumps off the roof of the skyscraper falls about 10 floors, but is stopped by the fire hose he tied around himself. In real life, that would have caused a severe amount of damage.

 

[pemerton]

Real-life survivals of such falls are extremely rare (like 1 in 1 million rare).

But aren't single-handed slayings of dragons and demigods also 1 in a million?

So, the problem isn't that the demi-god slaying paladin can survive the impact, it's that the demi-god slaying paladin can almost always survive the impact.

But the same PC can almsot always survive being hit by the club of a 12' tall giant, or being fried by the breath of a gargantuan red dragon.

Surviving what would be certain death for anyone else is part of the schtick of a demi-god slaying paladin!