Falling Dire Bear

[Henry]

A ladybird (whose wing cases are jammed shut) and an elephant both face the same acceleration due to gravity, but the ladybird will have a lesser terminal velocity. That is why it would survive a 15ft fall without noticing it, while the elephant would almost certainly die.

Where gravity and free fall is concerned, weight matters more than distance on damage suffered. I rather enjoyed a recent TV show which debunked the myth that a penny falling off of the Empire statebuilding would kill a person. Discounting updrafts and building architecture, it would still only be going something like 43 feet per second - enough to sting you like a BB pellet, but not enough to drill you like a bullet.

Drop an elephant off the Empire state, and there's going to be carnage. The fact that King Kong arrived in one piece at the bottom after his fall tells me someone wasn't doing their physics and anatomy homework.

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

I don't believe that.

A ladybird (whose wing cases are jammed shut) and an elephant both face the same acceleration due to gravity, but the ladybird will have a lesser terminal velocity. That is why it would survive a 15ft fall without noticing it, while the elephant would almost certainly die.

Could you direct me towards evidence that the marble and the bowling ball would have the same terminal velocity?

The best source I've found so far is at NASA

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/termv.html (my emphasis in quoted text)

Actually - you should believe it. The terminal velocity of a marble (.5" diameter) and a bowling ball (8" diameter?) is practically the same.

It varies by only a minute amount. The bowling ball will, mathematically precisely speaking, hit the ground first by anywhere from a minute amount of time to a substantial difference, the variation occurs due to the minute difference of air resistance, and the horizontal forces exerted by wind, and the height at which they were dropped.

But to all intents and purposes, the marble and the bowling ball reach terminal velocity and impact the ground at practically the same time.


As for DND - the rules presented are simplistic, and don't cause much 'pausing for concern' amongst high level characters.

Now, 1d6 Con per 10' temporary ability damage... Whoa!

 

[KarinsDad]

But if it bothers anyone, do what I do: make it 1d6 CON damage per 10 feet fallen. Tends to change perspective.

I do something similar.

1D6 CON + 1D6 DEX damage per 15 feet fallen, with a Reflex save for half damage. Course, the reflex save is based on how much damage is taken from the fall and in my game, that is doubled (i.e. 1D6 per 5 feet fallen with the same save for half damage). Beyond 20 feet or so, it is rare that someone makes the save.

Falling is lethal in real life and in my game.

 

[hong]

I don't believe that.

A ladybird (whose wing cases are jammed shut) and an elephant both face the same acceleration due to gravity, but the ladybird will have a lesser terminal velocity. That is why it would survive a 15ft fall without noticing it, while the elephant would almost certainly die.

This has nothing to do with terminal velocity, and everything to do with scaling laws. Mass varies as the cube of length, but structural strength typically varies as the square. So a big creature will go splat much easier than a small creature, all other things being equal.

 

[Tellerve]

I don't know how much real-world physics you want to inject, but switching from bat to bear would take a few seconds, no?

I dunno, I can't remember the real-world physics definition of animal expansion. Hmm, let me check my physics book, that constant is surely in there. I'm sorry, that was just too laugh out loud funny. Put real world physics into changing from a bat to a bear, LOL, still cracks me up. Really people.

Tellerve

 

[silentspace]

Tellerve, thank you for pointing out what is only apparent to those with limited reading comprehension abilities. By showing us how to take partial quotations out of context, you’ve opened up a whole new world of fun!

 

[Plane Sailing]

Actually - you should believe it. The terminal velocity of a marble (.5" diameter) and a bowling ball (8" diameter?) is practically the same.

So you didn't bother to read the stuff from the NASA site then?

 

[BryonD]

Falling is lethal in real life and in my game.

As opposed to receiving a critical hit from a big axe?

 

[KarinsDad]

As opposed to receiving a critical hit from a big axe?

The difference with falling is that the entire body is in motion and then stops suddenly.

It is not just one part of the body that gets seriously injured, it is the entire body (concussion, sprained limbs, broken limbs, etc.).

My brother-in-law fell off a ladder at 15 feet, landed on his feet on concrete, and broke his one leg bone in half (literally, it was sticking out of his leg). It took over 6 months to heal up properly. In the game, average damage from a 15 foot fall often heals overnight (depending on character level).

Most people who fall 30 feet or more in real life die (in fact, many who fall 20 feet or down a flight of stairs die). However, many people who get shot or stabbed in real life survive.

So, I wanted to emulate a few things. The likelihood of death from falling. The likelihood of being injured to the point that it takes at least weeks to fully recover (without magic). The likelihood of getting multiple sprained or broken limbs.

I did this with the CON and DEX temporary damage. I did not think that hit point damage reflected the concept of the entire body getting damaged and the lack of ability to be strenously active when seriously damaged from a fall.

 

[LazarusLong42]

Actually - you should believe it. The terminal velocity of a marble (.5" diameter) and a bowling ball (8" diameter?) is practically the same.

Assuming two spheres made of the same material (let's assume glass), the terminal velocity will be proportional to sqrt(V/A), where V is the volume of the sphere = (4/3)*pi*r^3 (and, because the substance is the same, is proportional to the mass), and A is the cross-sectional area of the sphere = pi*r^2.

Thus, the terminal velocity of the spheres will be proportional to sqrt(r). (THe constants drop out of proportionalities.

A glass sphere 8" in diameter will thus have a terminal velocity four times that of a glass sphere 0.5" in diameter.

If we assume the glass bowling ball has a terminal velocity of 400 ft/s, then the marble has a terminal velocity of 100 ft/s. But the marble won't reach that terminal velocity until it has fallen over 100 feet. So if you drop them less than 100 feet, yes, they'll hit the ground at almost exactly the same time.

If you drop them from an airplane at 10,000 ft, however, the marble will hit about a minute later than the bowling ball.