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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6504352" data-attributes="member: 4937">I'll see what I can do.&nbsp; The 'Celebrim' DMG isn't in nearly as polished a state as the 'Celebrim' PH.&nbsp; To start with, since it was just mentioned, I'll note that massive damage works a bit differently under my rules and is meant to interface with the falling rules.&nbsp; Instead of save or die, it's save or suffer some traumatic injury of some sort many of which may lead to death but not necessarily so.&nbsp; Note that in the worst case, you can hit 50+ damage after just a 30' fall.&nbsp;&nbsp; It won't happen often, but it can happen.&nbsp; Generally speaking, rolling a 1 on the divisor dice is pretty lethal, so falling off of a high place is something like playing Russian Roullette for a character.&nbsp; That changes the metagame and keeps falling from heights lethal, without the DM worrying about pit traps leading to TPKS or conversely feeling the need to sprinkle the dungeon with 100' pit traps just to make them reasonably threatening.&nbsp;&nbsp; While we are on the subject: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?311219-Honoring-Pit-Traps/page3&amp;p=5682526&amp;viewfull=1#post5682526" target="_blank">A short guide to pit traps</a>.Traumatic DamageIf you ever sustain a single attack that deals damage equal to your Traumatic damage threshold or more and it doesn’t kill you outright, you must make a DC 20 Fortitude save.&nbsp; If this saving throw fails, you take additional penalties as described by the following table.Roll&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Effect&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Description1&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Decapitated/Skull Crushed&nbsp; &nbsp; Character is instantly dead and only the most powerful magic can restore life.&nbsp; 2-3&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Head Trauma&nbsp; &nbsp; The character’s current hit points are positive, they are reduced to zero and the character takes an additional 1d10 damage.&nbsp; If this reduces the character below minimum hit points, the character is dead.&nbsp; Additionally, for each eye there is a 20% chance that it has been blinded.&nbsp; A character with a missing eye has the ‘one eye’ disadvantage until sight is restored.&nbsp; A character with no functioning eyes has the ‘blind’ disadvantage until sight is restored.Additionally, there in an 80% chance the character will sustain a concussion causing 1d6 points of Intelligence damage.&nbsp; There is a 20% chance that this damage is permanent.4&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Spine Trauma&nbsp; &nbsp; If the character’s current hit points are positive, they are reduced to zero.&nbsp; The characters spine or central nervous system has been damaged, resulting in paralysis.&nbsp; 75% of the time, this is a loss of function to the lower limbs only (paraplegia), with the result that the character takes 2d6 permanent strength damage and gains the ‘Cripple’ disadvantage.&nbsp; 25% of the time, this is a loss of function to all parts of the body below the neck (quadriplegia), resulting in character’s strength and dexterity being reduced to 0.&nbsp; Spinal injuries are beyond the ability of ordinary medical aid, and ability damage gained in this fashion can only be healed by a regeneration spell or the like is applied.5-10&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Vitals Damaged&nbsp; &nbsp; The character’s current hit points are positive, they are reduced to zero and the character then takes an additional 1d4 damage.&nbsp; If this reduces the character below minimum hit points, the character is dead.&nbsp; If the character is not dead, the character is bleeding profusely, and the chance of stabilizing is only half normal.&nbsp; Additionally, cure minor wounds or cure light wounds do not heal or stabilize the character unless the character is first brought above 0 hit points by other means.The character sustains 1d6 points of strength damage and 1d6 points of dexterity damage due to broken bones in his torso and other damage to his core.11-14&nbsp; &nbsp; Arm Crippled&nbsp; &nbsp; The character’s arm has been smashed or amputated (in the case of slashing damage).&nbsp; The character gains the ‘one arm’ disadvantage until the limb is restored, and the character takes 1d6 permanent strength damage.&nbsp; If the limb is amputated, this strength damage cannot be restored without the application of a regeneration spell.&nbsp; If there is a question as to which arm has been crippled, 60% of the time it is the character’s primary arm.The character takes no additional damage, but is bleeding until stabilized.14-18&nbsp; &nbsp; Leg Crippled&nbsp; &nbsp; The character’s leg has been smashed or amputated (in the case of slashing damage).&nbsp; The character gains the ‘one leg’ disadvantage until the limb is restored, and the character takes 1d6 permanent strength damage.&nbsp; If the limb is amputated, this strength damage cannot be restored without the application of a regeneration spell.&nbsp; The character takes no additional damage, but is bleeding until stabilized.&nbsp; 19-20&nbsp; &nbsp; Roll Again Twice&nbsp; &nbsp; Roll again twice and apply both effects.If you take damage over several rounds or from multiple attacks or sources within a single round, no one of which dealt more points of damage than your Traumatic damage threshold, the traumatic damage rule does not apply. Some creatures, typically those without internal organs and some forms of the undead, are immune to traumatic damage.Traumatic Damage and Critical Hits: A critical hit which drops a character to zero hit points or less also triggers a traumatic damage save regardless of the amount of damage inflicted.Traumatic Damage and Falling: A fall which drops a character to zero hit points or less also triggers a traumatic damage save regardless of the amount of damage inflicted.Traumatic Damage and Called Shots: In some circumstances it will be clear that damage to the defender is confined to a particular portion of the body.&nbsp; In the case of a coup de grace attack, the attacker may choose where to direct the attack.&nbsp; If a character suffers traumatic damage as result of a scything blade attack after reaching his arm into an opening, only the arm can bear the attack.&nbsp; If a medium sized character standing on a flat surface inflicts traumatic damage to a tall gargantuan creature, in most cases only the leg can bear the attack.&nbsp; In such cases, the DM may rule that the roll on the traumatic damage table may be forgone, and select the entry most appropriate to the circumstance.Looking over that now, I realize it references a bunch of rules you won't have, like for example disadvantages.Anyway, so first, your size class modifies the damage that you take and the maximum number of dice of damage you can take.&nbsp; The modification is based on the standard 3.Xe scaling table, and is applied to the divisor dice with a minimum of 'divided by 1' (no division by zero, please).&nbsp; And if I didn't mention, round fractions down when dividing.&nbsp; So:Size&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Modifier&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Maximum Dice of DamageFine:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; +8&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 1Diminutive:&nbsp; +4&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 3Tiny:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; +2&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 7Small:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; +1&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 15Medium:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; -&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 20Large:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; -1&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 25 Huge:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; -2&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 30Gargantuan:&nbsp; -4&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 35Colossal:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; -8&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 40Bigger they are, the harder they fall.&nbsp;&nbsp; For example, a horse falling 40' takes 4d20/1d6-1.&nbsp; A Halfling falling the same distance takes only 4d20/1d6+1, where as a shrew takes just 1d20/1d6+8. It's worth noting at this point that if you are playing with the stock 3.X rules, 'small' and 'tiny' are already sufficiently advantageous that in of themselves they almost ought to add to your LA, because of the raft of important bonuses that they give compared to relatively few drawbacks (mostly grappling, which eventually becomes irrelevant anyway against really large foes where you need an absolute 'get out of jail' power anyway, namely freedom of movement).&nbsp; This is yet one more advantage, so be careful as reduced falling damage for halflings and gnomes is going to make them more attractive.&nbsp; I can't promise you that if you use all the details of my method it's going to be balanced outside of my rules.Second, as mentioned, you usually suffer at least one attack when you strike the surface with the amount of damage depending on the surface.&nbsp; The ground has a BAB of +3 and attacks your flat-footed AC if you are blind, unconscious or otherwise unaware you are about to hit something.&nbsp; For each 10' you fall, it has +1 to hit and damage.&nbsp;&nbsp; The sort of attack you suffer depends on the sort of ground you hit.Falling Attacks depending on SurfaceFluid (Deep water, deep snow, etc.) - No attack, and add +2 to the divisor dice.&nbsp; The first 3 dice do non-lethal damage.Yielding (Shallow water, shallow snow, mud, etc.) - No attack, and add +1 to the divisor dice.&nbsp;&nbsp; Soft (Turf, sand, flesh, etc.) - No attackHard (Flagstone, dungeon floors, cobblestone, hardwood, smooth rock, lava, etc.) - 1d6Hard and Jagged (breakdown, scree, rubble, junk) - 1d8, 19-20/x2Short Spikes (1' long or less) - 1d4 attacks at 1d4, x3Long Spikes (longer than 1', such as upright spear points) - 1d4 attacks at 1d8, x3Anyway, that's far from perfectly realistic, but anything more realistic than that would get too complicated to easily use in play.&nbsp; More importantly from my perspective though, is that these rules produce the sort of game play I desire.&nbsp; A player is not normally going to look at a 40' cliff and go, &quot;Hmmm.. what the heck, I'm just going to jump down.&quot;, even though the average damage from a fall of 40' is going to be very nearly the same as the average damage of 4d6.&nbsp;&nbsp; Heights are still scary while still allowing normally for cinematic treatment.&nbsp;&nbsp; Pits can have a sensible size and still take significant resources from a party.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6504352, member: 4937"] I'll see what I can do. The 'Celebrim' DMG isn't in nearly as polished a state as the 'Celebrim' PH. To start with, since it was just mentioned, I'll note that massive damage works a bit differently under my rules and is meant to interface with the falling rules. Instead of save or die, it's save or suffer some traumatic injury of some sort many of which may lead to death but not necessarily so. Note that in the worst case, you can hit 50+ damage after just a 30' fall. It won't happen often, but it can happen. Generally speaking, rolling a 1 on the divisor dice is pretty lethal, so falling off of a high place is something like playing Russian Roullette for a character. That changes the metagame and keeps falling from heights lethal, without the DM worrying about pit traps leading to TPKS or conversely feeling the need to sprinkle the dungeon with 100' pit traps just to make them reasonably threatening. While we are on the subject: [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?311219-Honoring-Pit-Traps/page3&p=5682526&viewfull=1#post5682526"]A short guide to pit traps[/URL]. [SIZE=4]Traumatic Damage[/SIZE] If you ever sustain a single attack that deals damage equal to your Traumatic damage threshold or more and it doesn’t kill you outright, you must make a DC 20 Fortitude save. If this saving throw fails, you take additional penalties as described by the following table. Roll Effect Description 1 Decapitated/Skull Crushed Character is instantly dead and only the most powerful magic can restore life. 2-3 Head Trauma The character’s current hit points are positive, they are reduced to zero and the character takes an additional 1d10 damage. If this reduces the character below minimum hit points, the character is dead. Additionally, for each eye there is a 20% chance that it has been blinded. A character with a missing eye has the ‘one eye’ disadvantage until sight is restored. A character with no functioning eyes has the ‘blind’ disadvantage until sight is restored. Additionally, there in an 80% chance the character will sustain a concussion causing 1d6 points of Intelligence damage. There is a 20% chance that this damage is permanent. 4 Spine Trauma If the character’s current hit points are positive, they are reduced to zero. The characters spine or central nervous system has been damaged, resulting in paralysis. 75% of the time, this is a loss of function to the lower limbs only (paraplegia), with the result that the character takes 2d6 permanent strength damage and gains the ‘Cripple’ disadvantage. 25% of the time, this is a loss of function to all parts of the body below the neck (quadriplegia), resulting in character’s strength and dexterity being reduced to 0. Spinal injuries are beyond the ability of ordinary medical aid, and ability damage gained in this fashion can only be healed by a regeneration spell or the like is applied. 5-10 Vitals Damaged The character’s current hit points are positive, they are reduced to zero and the character then takes an additional 1d4 damage. If this reduces the character below minimum hit points, the character is dead. If the character is not dead, the character is bleeding profusely, and the chance of stabilizing is only half normal. Additionally, cure minor wounds or cure light wounds do not heal or stabilize the character unless the character is first brought above 0 hit points by other means. The character sustains 1d6 points of strength damage and 1d6 points of dexterity damage due to broken bones in his torso and other damage to his core. 11-14 Arm Crippled The character’s arm has been smashed or amputated (in the case of slashing damage). The character gains the ‘one arm’ disadvantage until the limb is restored, and the character takes 1d6 permanent strength damage. If the limb is amputated, this strength damage cannot be restored without the application of a regeneration spell. If there is a question as to which arm has been crippled, 60% of the time it is the character’s primary arm. The character takes no additional damage, but is bleeding until stabilized. 14-18 Leg Crippled The character’s leg has been smashed or amputated (in the case of slashing damage). The character gains the ‘one leg’ disadvantage until the limb is restored, and the character takes 1d6 permanent strength damage. If the limb is amputated, this strength damage cannot be restored without the application of a regeneration spell. The character takes no additional damage, but is bleeding until stabilized. 19-20 Roll Again Twice Roll again twice and apply both effects. If you take damage over several rounds or from multiple attacks or sources within a single round, no one of which dealt more points of damage than your Traumatic damage threshold, the traumatic damage rule does not apply. Some creatures, typically those without internal organs and some forms of the undead, are immune to traumatic damage. [I]Traumatic Damage and Critical Hits:[/I] A critical hit which drops a character to zero hit points or less also triggers a traumatic damage save regardless of the amount of damage inflicted. [I]Traumatic Damage and Falling:[/I] A fall which drops a character to zero hit points or less also triggers a traumatic damage save regardless of the amount of damage inflicted. [I]Traumatic Damage and Called Shots:[/I] In some circumstances it will be clear that damage to the defender is confined to a particular portion of the body. In the case of a coup de grace attack, the attacker may choose where to direct the attack. If a character suffers traumatic damage as result of a scything blade attack after reaching his arm into an opening, only the arm can bear the attack. If a medium sized character standing on a flat surface inflicts traumatic damage to a tall gargantuan creature, in most cases only the leg can bear the attack. In such cases, the DM may rule that the roll on the traumatic damage table may be forgone, and select the entry most appropriate to the circumstance. Looking over that now, I realize it references a bunch of rules you won't have, like for example disadvantages. Anyway, so first, your size class modifies the damage that you take and the maximum number of dice of damage you can take. The modification is based on the standard 3.Xe scaling table, and is applied to the divisor dice with a minimum of 'divided by 1' (no division by zero, please). And if I didn't mention, round fractions down when dividing. So: [B]Size Modifier Maximum Dice of Damage[/B] Fine: +8 1 Diminutive: +4 3 Tiny: +2 7 Small: +1 15 Medium: - 20 Large: -1 25 Huge: -2 30 Gargantuan: -4 35 Colossal: -8 40 Bigger they are, the harder they fall. For example, a horse falling 40' takes 4d20/1d6-1. A Halfling falling the same distance takes only 4d20/1d6+1, where as a shrew takes just 1d20/1d6+8. It's worth noting at this point that if you are playing with the stock 3.X rules, 'small' and 'tiny' are already sufficiently advantageous that in of themselves they almost ought to add to your LA, because of the raft of important bonuses that they give compared to relatively few drawbacks (mostly grappling, which eventually becomes irrelevant anyway against really large foes where you need an absolute 'get out of jail' power anyway, namely freedom of movement). This is yet one more advantage, so be careful as reduced falling damage for halflings and gnomes is going to make them more attractive. I can't promise you that if you use all the details of my method it's going to be balanced outside of my rules. Second, as mentioned, you usually suffer at least one attack when you strike the surface with the amount of damage depending on the surface. The ground has a BAB of +3 and attacks your flat-footed AC if you are blind, unconscious or otherwise unaware you are about to hit something. For each 10' you fall, it has +1 to hit and damage. The sort of attack you suffer depends on the sort of ground you hit. [B]Falling Attacks depending on Surface[/B] [I]Fluid (Deep water, deep snow, etc.)[/I] - No attack, and add +2 to the divisor dice. The first 3 dice do non-lethal damage. [I]Yielding (Shallow water, shallow snow, mud, etc.)[/I] - No attack, and add +1 to the divisor dice. [I]Soft (Turf, sand, flesh, etc.) [/I]- No attack [I]Hard (Flagstone, dungeon floors, cobblestone, hardwood, smooth rock, lava, etc.)[/I] - 1d6 [I]Hard and Jagged (breakdown, scree, rubble, junk)[/I] - 1d8, 19-20/x2 [I]Short Spikes (1' long or less) [/I]- 1d4 attacks at 1d4, x3 [I]Long Spikes (longer than 1', such as upright spear points)[/I] - 1d4 attacks at 1d8, x3 Anyway, that's far from perfectly realistic, but anything more realistic than that would get too complicated to easily use in play. More importantly from my perspective though, is that these rules produce the sort of game play I desire. A player is not normally going to look at a 40' cliff and go, "Hmmm.. what the heck, I'm just going to jump down.", even though the average damage from a fall of 40' is going to be very nearly the same as the average damage of 4d6. Heights are still scary while still allowing normally for cinematic treatment. Pits can have a sensible size and still take significant resources from a party. 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