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Falling Damage - Anyone else hopes falling hurts just a little bit more?
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<blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 4024376" data-attributes="member: 16760"><p>I've got a degree in physics, and could easily come up with a 'realistic' damage system for falling if I wanted. But I think, "Why bother?"</p><p></p><p>Falling damage is totally under the control of the GM. If I want a particular chasm to be a lethal fall, I don't bother giving it a height. Its height is 'lethal' and that's that. The way to survive is not to fall. An action point to save yourself doesn't so much let you survive the fall as *not fall in the first place*, or not nearly so far.</p><p></p><p>If I want a fall from a cliff to do 6d6 damage (or 8d12 or whatever) on a failed Climb check, I don't try to justify it by making the cliff the "right" height. It's high enough to do the amount of damage I want it to do, and that's that.</p><p></p><p>Now come the issues with PC's or NPC's picking people up and dropping them. But really, doesn't this boil down to, "Don't be a jerk?" The heroic fantasy genre doesn't really include picking people up and dropping them to their doom - *certainly* not as a strategy of the heroes! Nor is it something villains do to heroes, because that is just plain not a heroic way to die. (Scott Evil really *doesn't* get the way these things work. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>If one does insist on a uniform system for falling damage, I think Celebrim was spot on - roll the dice, and if the character doesn't die (or if they spent an action point to minimize damage), find a reason why.</p><p></p><p>This doesn't have to be the Convenient Haystack, which I agree can be much overdone. It can simply be the hero managing to *not fall* - scrabbling at the brink of doom, hanging on through sheer willpower. This can still wear down hit points - because after all, aren't they supposed to partially represent luck and heroic resolve? As someone said upthread, heroes don't tend to plunge over cliffs at all - villains do. (The rare exceptions - Holmes, I'm looking at you - have this tendency to miraculously survive anyway. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Shadow, post: 4024376, member: 16760"] I've got a degree in physics, and could easily come up with a 'realistic' damage system for falling if I wanted. But I think, "Why bother?" Falling damage is totally under the control of the GM. If I want a particular chasm to be a lethal fall, I don't bother giving it a height. Its height is 'lethal' and that's that. The way to survive is not to fall. An action point to save yourself doesn't so much let you survive the fall as *not fall in the first place*, or not nearly so far. If I want a fall from a cliff to do 6d6 damage (or 8d12 or whatever) on a failed Climb check, I don't try to justify it by making the cliff the "right" height. It's high enough to do the amount of damage I want it to do, and that's that. Now come the issues with PC's or NPC's picking people up and dropping them. But really, doesn't this boil down to, "Don't be a jerk?" The heroic fantasy genre doesn't really include picking people up and dropping them to their doom - *certainly* not as a strategy of the heroes! Nor is it something villains do to heroes, because that is just plain not a heroic way to die. (Scott Evil really *doesn't* get the way these things work. :) If one does insist on a uniform system for falling damage, I think Celebrim was spot on - roll the dice, and if the character doesn't die (or if they spent an action point to minimize damage), find a reason why. This doesn't have to be the Convenient Haystack, which I agree can be much overdone. It can simply be the hero managing to *not fall* - scrabbling at the brink of doom, hanging on through sheer willpower. This can still wear down hit points - because after all, aren't they supposed to partially represent luck and heroic resolve? As someone said upthread, heroes don't tend to plunge over cliffs at all - villains do. (The rare exceptions - Holmes, I'm looking at you - have this tendency to miraculously survive anyway. :) [/QUOTE]
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Falling Damage - Anyone else hopes falling hurts just a little bit more?
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