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How Do You Handle Falling Damage?
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<blockquote data-quote="ezo" data-source="post: 9364054" data-attributes="member: 7037866"><p>Reference some online research I did a while back, survival rates IRL average about 50% for a fall of four stories (48 feet) and only about 10% for seven stories (84 feet).</p><p></p><p>In 5E, for commoners with only 4 hp, if you want to reflect that it depends on if you want to calculate in the odds for making death saves (59.5125%) or not. Regardless, <em>instant death</em> would occur on any damage roll of 8 or higher.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ignoring Death Saves</strong></p><p>If you ignore death saves, 1d6 per 50 feet works well for those two statistics above. At 48 feet, you'd roll 4 or higher 50%, and with 2d6 for a 84-foot fall, you'll roll 4 or higher 91.167% (a bit over the 90% fatality rate, but close considering it would be for falls up to 100 feet.</p><p></p><p>Given terminal velocity is around 1600 feet IIRC, at 1d6 per 50 feet, that would give you a possible cap of 32d6, or an average of 112 damage.</p><p></p><p><strong>Including Death Saves</strong></p><p>Since death saves are a flat DC 10 roll with survival odds around 60%, any damage reducing a commoner to 0, but not dealing 8 damage or more, we can get similar results by increasing the d6 to d10 or d12 per 50 feet. Using a d10 over the d12 gives a bit better odds towards survival at four stories (53.8% vs. 44.8%) and seven stories (12.1% vs. 8.4%), but both are close enough to 50% and 10%, respectively, that it works well enough IMO.</p><p></p><p>Again looking at terminal velocity, possible caps at 32d10 or 32d12, would yield average damage of 176 and 208, respectively.</p><p></p><p>Regardless, I would include [USER=29398]@Lanefan[/USER]'s idea:</p><p></p><p>Which would handle those bizzarre outlier cases, too.</p><p></p><p>Finally, the statistics in the first sentence average into the account landing surfaces, wind drag, and all other possible variables; in other words, they are all irrelevant--only mortality is ultimately considered. So, including checks or saving throws, advantage or disadvantage, etc. for landing surfaces and other conditions, which could half damage or whatever, would certainly be possible additions to the above if desired.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ezo, post: 9364054, member: 7037866"] Reference some online research I did a while back, survival rates IRL average about 50% for a fall of four stories (48 feet) and only about 10% for seven stories (84 feet). In 5E, for commoners with only 4 hp, if you want to reflect that it depends on if you want to calculate in the odds for making death saves (59.5125%) or not. Regardless, [I]instant death[/I] would occur on any damage roll of 8 or higher. [B]Ignoring Death Saves[/B] If you ignore death saves, 1d6 per 50 feet works well for those two statistics above. At 48 feet, you'd roll 4 or higher 50%, and with 2d6 for a 84-foot fall, you'll roll 4 or higher 91.167% (a bit over the 90% fatality rate, but close considering it would be for falls up to 100 feet. Given terminal velocity is around 1600 feet IIRC, at 1d6 per 50 feet, that would give you a possible cap of 32d6, or an average of 112 damage. [B]Including Death Saves[/B] Since death saves are a flat DC 10 roll with survival odds around 60%, any damage reducing a commoner to 0, but not dealing 8 damage or more, we can get similar results by increasing the d6 to d10 or d12 per 50 feet. Using a d10 over the d12 gives a bit better odds towards survival at four stories (53.8% vs. 44.8%) and seven stories (12.1% vs. 8.4%), but both are close enough to 50% and 10%, respectively, that it works well enough IMO. Again looking at terminal velocity, possible caps at 32d10 or 32d12, would yield average damage of 176 and 208, respectively. Regardless, I would include [USER=29398]@Lanefan[/USER]'s idea: Which would handle those bizzarre outlier cases, too. Finally, the statistics in the first sentence average into the account landing surfaces, wind drag, and all other possible variables; in other words, they are all irrelevant--only mortality is ultimately considered. So, including checks or saving throws, advantage or disadvantage, etc. for landing surfaces and other conditions, which could half damage or whatever, would certainly be possible additions to the above if desired. [/QUOTE]
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