Gravity

[Fobok]

To begin with, there *isn't* much superheroic fantasy. DnD 10th level characters can literally wade through entire armies. How many fantasy character can do that?

Sword of Truth - Richard Rahl, Nicci, Kahlan, and some others
The Belgariad and Mallorean - Belgarion, Belgarath, Polgara
A Song of Ice and Fire - Gregor Clegane
Lord of the Rings - Gandalf the White
Tales of Alvin Maker - Alvin
Beowulf - Beowulf
Illiad - Achilles (though you already mentioned it)
King Arthur

And, two from TV off just the top of my head:

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules
Xena: Warrior Princess - Xena

And that's not counting the D&D-based fiction.

 

[AffableVagrant]

All or nothing?

I'm hearing a general outrage that I dared to question the lack of lethality of falling 300 feet, but not also take up issue with every other unrealistic aspect. That's a false dichotomy, to say that everything should be realistic or nothing should be. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that falling be more dangerous than it is.

Also, a lot of these house rules ideas have been really good. I'll try a few, for sure. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Alratan]

Powerful channelers in the Wheel of Time.

 

[Patlin]

The Belgariad and Mallorean - Belgarion, Belgarath, Polgara

One of my favorite lines, and on point:

"Does bouncing count?"

 

[WhatGravitas]

3) Gandalf.

And the Balrog. Both survived their fall.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Stone Dog]

And the Balrog. Both survived their fall.

Cheers, LT.

Water broke it. Yeah, thats the ticket. Water is um... soft. Yes. Even at high speeds.

 

[Hodgie]

I find the incremental falling damage (10' = 1d6, 20' = 3d6, etc) to be too severe to low level characters even though it does make it more realistic for higher level characters.

Here is something I toyed with:
(1) Falling damage is 1d6 per 10' fallen.
(2) Make a Reflex or Fortitude save (player's choice) at DC 10 + 10' fallen.
(3) Suffer Constitution and Dexterity damage equal to how much you failed by.

This way the threat of a fall increments with the distance AND the level. At low level a DC 11 or 12 is passable enough that it doesn't discourage players from still trying to jump from building to building, but at high levels the DC 30 keeps even the heartiest of fighters from risking the 200' fall. They can accept the 20d6, but risking 5-10 points of Con/Dex damage is too much. This also increases the effectual damage dealt to high level characters because Con loss is more severe.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

To begin with, there *isn't* much superheroic fantasy. DnD 10th level characters can literally wade through entire armies. How many fantasy character can do that? In anime, many, and those who can, can take 100' falls without pause. Outside of anime, I can think of 2 cases off the top of my head:
1) various heroes from the Iliad. Not much falling involved, so no case studies.
2) Lady Aerin from the Hero and the Crown. And she *does* fall. From a distance where the fall is measured in years rather than feet. She gets up, travels back in time (with help) and goes on to crush an army largely singlehandedly.

I absolutely agree, but I was asking about heroic fantasy, which isn't the same thing as superheroic fantasy, per se (I by definition, it's not!).

I dunno where anyone drops more than a couple of dozen feet in the Illiad, but then maybe I'm misremembering.

Falling through time doesn't count, as magic is clearly involved, and I asked about incidents not involving magic

As for "wade" through armies, uh, 10th-level characters who try to do that will die within about 20 rounds or so, I'd say, which is under 3 minutes. 10th level characters not trying to "wade through" armies, but to fight them gradually will do better, but without healing, sooner or later, the hits are going to add up.

In anime? Yeah, characters who fall in anime though, aren't taking ANY HP damage, not even 35 HP, generally, because they inevitably land on their feet with some kind of dramatic concrete-shattering, they're not a burly guy with a with a beard in full plate who just slipped off a cliff head-first and has precisely zero ranks in acrobatics, which is precisely who survives most easily in D&D.

 

[Kraydak]

I absolutely agree, but I was asking about heroic fantasy, which isn't the same thing as superheroic fantasy, per se (I by definition, it's not!).

The problem is that a DnD character who can afford to take 10d6 damage in all but the most corner of tactical cases is in the realm of superheroic fantasy. They are army breakers. They are dragon slayers. They are 10th+ lvl DnD characters, and that puts them on a par with fantasy literature archmages and demi-gods. Falling... is just falling.

I dunno where anyone drops more than a couple of dozen feet in the Illiad, but then maybe I'm misremembering.

Falling through time doesn't count, as magic is clearly involved, and I asked about incidents not involving magic

As for "wade" through armies, uh, 10th-level characters who try to do that will die within about 20 rounds or so, I'd say, which is under 3 minutes. 10th level characters not trying to "wade through" armies, but to fight them gradually will do better, but without healing, sooner or later, the hits are going to add up.

The Iliad has army breakers (sort of, for most of the heroes it only occurs in instances of divine intervention, which breaks the rules) but no falling that I can remember either. We can't really use it as a case study for fantasy literature for the survivability of falling for army breakers, sadly.
Aerin fell normally, and impacted normally (although in a somewhat altered state of mind). The time travel was just to deal with the duration of the fall, not the impact.
10th lvl DnD characters can wade through armies (some more than others). Just remember, if the DM tries to kill you with massed missile fire (the main threat) despite the absurdity of focusing that many archers on a single man in melee, insist on the actual spot rules being used (-1/10 feet, you can't see me, nananana, one absurdity to cancel another).

The statement about magic is telling though. 9th+ lvl DnD characters, even the "non-magical" fighters and rogues, Are. Not. Mundane. Humans. They stopped being mundane by lvl 6ish. They are capable of things that non-magical people simply aren't. Their hp stat may not be listed as an SU ability, but it sure isn't non-magical. You may ask for examples of non-magical fall survival/death by characters whose translation into DnD would be able to take 10d6 damage without flinching. You may ask for non-magical characters. You can't ask for both at the same time.

In anime? Yeah, characters who fall in anime though, aren't taking ANY HP damage, not even 35 HP, generally, because they inevitably land on their feet with some kind of dramatic concrete-shattering, they're not a burly guy with a with a beard in full plate who just slipped off a cliff head-first and has precisely zero ranks in acrobatics, which is precisely who survives most easily in D&D.

Or they got the worst of a mid-air encounter and were thrown against the ground, landing on their back. They then lay there briefly, stunned for a bit of non-tactically relevant time, before standing back up, a little worse for wear. The anime brute characters (full plate types) can absorb punishment of any form with DnDesque ease.

 

[ruleslawyer]

IIn anime? Yeah, characters who fall in anime though, aren't taking ANY HP damage, not even 35 HP, generally, because they inevitably land on their feet with some kind of dramatic concrete-shattering, they're not a burly guy with a with a beard in full plate who just slipped off a cliff head-first and has precisely zero ranks in acrobatics, which is precisely who survives most easily in D&D.

See, this seems to completely miss the point.

Who on earth says that a 20th-level D&D fighter who falls off a cliff is necessarily going straight down, with no means of slowing his fall, and landing on his head? That seems unlikely. More likely is the fact that he uses the friction of his glaive, his feet, or whatever against the cliff to slow down, grabs some branches along the way, and ends up landing in a compact ball, with his gigantically muscled legs absorbing the worst damage.

I fail to see why falling is somehow not subject to the convention of hp being narrative shorthand for partly evading, partly absorbing physical damage, while other forms of gross physical damage are.