Gravity

[szilard]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but...

Getting stabbed with a short sword 10 times does 10d6 damage? Really? That's an average of about 35 damage. The fighter in my party could get stabbed 30 times and still be ok. That makes NO SENSE.

Fix this, 4e!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm guessin' you don't use the massive damage rules.

Uh, forgive me if I misremember, but don't you need to take at least 50 damage to even have to ROLL against that? The AVERAGE damage of 10d6 is 35, as any fule kno, which means on average, Fighter Bob pretty much laughs it off without even having to make a massive damage save.

Further, as others have pointed out, a Fighter is extremely likely to survive that check, even in the statistically unlikely even that he would have to make it (sadly I'm not up to calculating what the odds of 10d6 all rolling 5 or over are at this time of night).

I also much disliked the whole 20ft fall = death at level 1-2, joke at level 10, something you do on purpose at level 15 etc. deal - Hopefully they'll just change the falling mechanic entirely, into some kind of check.

I'd like people to have a chance of surviving a fall from literally any height, but for the results to be unpleasant enough that they won't make a habit of it, or laugh it off without a very lucky roll.

Sometimes it happens.

Sometimes would be fine. The problem is here that it's entirely level-related, and a case of "nearly always", not "sometimes". I mean, if you don't have a problem with PCs regularly dying to the various HP-dodging "instant death" attacks and spells, why do you think it's not okay for players to die instantly from something that, with even the faintest hint of realism, would kill all but the luckiest?

It's bizarre. If any other abilities "dodge HP", so should falling damage.

 

[Fobok]

Personally, I hope high-level characters still can do those things. Level 20+ is supposed to be world/planar level threats. Which, I hope, means fighting demons and demigods and such. Those characters should be the Hercules and Xenas, the Beowulfs and the Achilles. Seeing a character capable of fighting demigods being taken down by a 30' fall would be highly disappointing. (300' should, on the other hand, be highly dangerous. Not someone someone would willingly jump into. But, for a great fall, I think of Gandalf's fall fighting the Balrog. Admittedly, Gandalf was a near-immortal being, but still. The possibility of such moments should remain in D&D.)

I'd like people to have a chance of surviving a fall from literally any height, but for the results to be unpleasant enough that they won't make a habit of it, or laugh it off without a very lucky roll.

I agree here.

 

[HeinorNY]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but...

Getting stabbed with a short sword 10 times does 10d6 damage? Really? That's an average of about 35 damage. The fighter in my party could get stabbed 30 times and still be ok. That makes NO SENSE.

Fix this, 4e!

6 points of damage from a shortsword to a 1st level charcter with 6 HP IS a stabbed.
6 points of damage from a shortsword to a 10th level charcter with 60 HP is just a scratch.

So 10 hits from a shortsword that dealt 35 points of damage to a 10th level character with 60 hp weren't 10 stabbs, but 10 scratchs and some deep cuts that wore him down.

Cheers.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think the simplest solution is just to make it like an old instant-death ability, if they still have those. If you fail your reflex save (or reflex defense check or whatever it's called in 4E), you die, if you succeed, you take 1d6 damage/10ft fallen (perhaps up to 20d6 instead of 10d6)? The difficulty of the reflex check could be based on the height fallen. Hell, I may just make that a house rule...

Sound reasonable?

 

[jasin]

I'm guessin' you don't use the massive damage rules.

I'm guessing the fighter rolled more than 1 on his save.

 

[Rechan]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but...

Getting stabbed with a short sword 10 times does 10d6 damage? Really? That's an average of about 35 damage. The fighter in my party could get stabbed 30 times and still be ok. That makes NO SENSE.

Fix this, 4e!

But Hitpoints are abstract. So the fighter isn't stabbed.

 

[Rechan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovic

A flight attendant can fall 33,316 ft. and survive, yet your heroic fantasy fighter shouldn't be able to survive a 300 ft. fall?

The issue for me isn't that he can survive it, but that he can just stand up and go on swinging his sword like he was at max HP.

A fighter can say "What, it's an uncrossable canyon? I'll just jump down! It won't hurt too bad!"

 

[jasin]

Honestly, you should just rule that falls of a certain height are fatal.

Or you should figure out some formula that includes the mass of the falling character. Mice can fall a lot farther than horses, and not just proportionally.

Yay, GURPS Gulliver!

 

[The Little Raven]

The issue for me isn't that he can survive it, but that he can just stand up and go on swinging his sword like he was at max HP.

A fighter can say "What, it's an uncrossable canyon? I'll just jump down! It won't hurt too bad!"

Hence the part of my post you seem to have ignored, which talked about conditions based on hit point loss.