Races / creatures and flight

[MarkB]

The revised 4e flight rules on falling work quite nicely for this - a flying creature that falls subtracts a distance equal to its Fly speed from the fall when calculating falling damage. So if it falls from a height no greater than its Fly speed, it manages to glide to the ground and takes no damage.

 

[delericho]

The revised 4e flight rules on falling work quite nicely for this - a flying creature that falls subtracts a distance equal to its Fly speed from the fall when calculating falling damage. So if it falls from a height no greater than its Fly speed, it manages to glide to the ground and takes no damage.

I like it. Simple, yet does exactly what it should.

In the case under discussion, bear in mind that the fly speed would be reduced by carrying a medium load.

 

[Sarros]

Makes sense to me.. so if something can no longer stay aloft and it's reduced speed is 40ft, it can fall 40 feet before it starts taking fall damage, and i'm going to assume this would be for both mount and rider.

Alright, I think that's all the questions he'll likely come up with. Thank you all for the help on this, though i'll keep checking back in case anyone else has good suggestions for 'house rules' or anything similar.

 

[delericho]

Makes sense to me.. so if something can no longer stay aloft and it's reduced speed is 40ft, it can fall 40 feet before it starts taking fall damage, and i'm going to assume this would be for both mount and rider.

Yep, I would say so.

Actually, one other thought: in addition to reducing the effective distance fallen, I think I would be inclined also to reduce the maximum damage from a fall similarly. That is, if our hypothetical Pegasus has a fly speed of 40, it can fall up to 40ft without damage... but even if it does fall the full 240ft (and so 'should' take 20d6 damage), it only actually takes 16d6 damage - because the creature's wings slow its fall, meaning that the terminal velocity it reaches is reduced.

Just a thought.

 

[Sarros]

Actually, one other thought: in addition to reducing the effective distance fallen, I think I would be inclined also to reduce the maximum damage from a fall similarly. That is, if our hypothetical Pegasus has a fly speed of 40, it can fall up to 40ft without damage... but even if it does fall the full 240ft (and so 'should' take 20d6 damage), it only actually takes 16d6 damage - because the creature's wings slow its fall, meaning that the terminal velocity it reaches is reduced.

Makes sense to me, though should only apply for a creature that's been suddenly given a medium load and therefore is only somewhat overburdened and would gradually descend and slowly gather up speed from the drop. Obviously a creature that can only fly with a light load and suddenly finds itself under a heavy load likely wouldn't be able to keep themselves from dropping like a rock no matter how hard they tried, and thusly should only take reduced distance fallen and that's it.