How far can you fall in a round?

[Mordeth]

Thanks alot James and Spoof. I really dont think you can fall from a mountain top to the ground in under 6 seconds.

The spell feather fall states that you fall a "mere 60 feet a round".

Only thing that was throwing me off was I thought I read somewhere that if you jump more than your maximum movement in the round, you finish your move on the next round, in essence, ending your turn in the air.

 

[doktorstick]

Only thing that was throwing me off was I thought I read somewhere that if you jump more than your maximum movement in the round, you finish your move on the next round, in essence, ending your turn in the air.

You did. D&D FAQ pg. 13. This was for running jumps and normal movement since your speed is controlled by you, the character. Falling is different since gravity has an effect (and you could still end your turn in mid-air if you fell far enough).

 

[Xeriar]

Those using 32ft/s/s to determine falling distance should realize that falling in D&D is not a thing that goes by real world physics. If it did, then there would be no way to survive a colossal dragon's crush attack, nor could a character consistently survive 1 mile plummets simply because he has 121 hit points and a fortitude save of +14.

How does this help answer the roriginal question? It doesn't.

People do survive multi-mile plummets though. Terminal velocity is 120 mph (speed 1500) for a horizontally falling human body.

It's not so much how far you fall as what you land on. If you've got some pretty heavy clothing on, a forest is going to lighten any fall considerably.

It could also be possible to survive such a fall into the ocean, but it would be murder on your legs even if you did it properly.

Dirt also has some give, maight not be enough though.

 

[Corwin]

Some people have died falling 5 feet. Some have survived falling 5 miles. It's tough to put a rule in effect that takes every possible variable into account.

I do like the legendary, secret EGG rule (cumulative d6 per 10 feet). It makes falling from height far more dangerous (as it should be).

Feet / Damage
10 = 1d6
20 = 3d6
30 = 6d6
40 = 10d6
50 = 15d6
60 = 21d6
70 = 28d6
80 = 36d6
90 = 45d6
100 = 55d6



But someone recently posted a nice variant (I believe from an old Dragon Mag).

Simply, you take the maximum possible damage that can be done from a particular fall and roll it on the least number of dice possible. This provides a few interesting quirks.

First, it removes the dreaded bell curve associated with rolling lots o' dice. This puts more uncertainty back into it. If your 150 HP fighter is chancing an 80 foot fall, what makes for a more edge-of-your-seat risk, 36d6 or 2d%+2d8? Not to mention it provides for that insance where someone survives a fall from great height because of a lucky roll.

Second, it makes rolling much quicker and easier. Who really wants to roll and add up all those d6s anyway? This isn't Champions, fer cryin' out loud.

So now you get the following (with my slightly rounded off preferences in parenthesis)...

Feet / Damage
10 = 1d6
20 = 1d10+1d8 (2d10)
30 = 3d12
40 = 3d20
50 = 4d20+1d10 (an even d100 )
60 = 1d%+1d20+1d6 (1d%+2d12)
70 = 1d%+3d20+1d8 (1d%+6d12)
80 = 2d%+2d8 (2d%+1d20)
90 = 2d%+3d20+1d10 (2d%+4d20)
100 = 3d%+1d20+1d10 (3d%+2d20)

I kinda prefer to round up more as I get into higher distances for really only one reason... 'cause I like it!