How far do you fall in a round?

[juliaromero]

How far does a character fall in a round according to the rules? I just approximated it to 500 ft. the first round and then 1000 ft. per round after that, using roughly real numers (very rough, just wanted something simple and quick). I tried to find an official ruling on this, but couldn't. Is there one? I know there's a max falling damage, but what about distance?

 

[shilsen]

The only place in the core rules that I can think of on the subject is under Tactical Aerial Movement in the DMG (pg.20), where it says that a flying creature which stalls falls 150 ft in the first rd and 300 ft after that. Since that is for a creature which can fly and perhaps slow its fall, I'd say for other creatures 500 ft the first rd and 1000 per rd after that works fine.

 

[Rystil Arden]

From rest, assuming no air resistance and terminal velocity is not reached, a body will move a total of 176.4 metres (about 529.2 feet) in the first round and 1249.5 feet in the second round. If you assume that terminal velocity is reached before the end of the second round (which makes sense since damage caps out at 20d6 well before this), then 500 and 1000 is a close approximation indeed.

 

[dcollins]

I also use 500 feet and 1000 feet, which is almost identical to values found in a book called Skydiving.

The official 3rd Edition adventure "The Storm Lord's Keep" in Dungeon #93 specified values of 670 feet and 1150 feet (page 79).

 

[Ambrus]

From Skip Williams' "Rules of the Game" article concerning movement, part 5 from the wizards.com site:

A nonflyer (or flyer falling through the air) freefalls rather than stalls. A creature in freefall drops 500 feet the first round and 1,000 feet each round thereafter. While in freefall, a creature can attempt a single action each round. It must make a Dexterity or Strength check (creature's choice, DC 15) to avoid dropping any item it tries to use. Spellcasting is possible, but doing so requires a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level) and if the spell has a material component, the creature must first check to see if it drops the component.

and

A stalling [winged] creature falls, but it wings provide considerable drag and tend to slow the creature's fall. As noted earlier, a creature falls 150 feet during the first round spent stalling, and it falls 300 feet each round thereafter. Wingless flyers that stall still have some residual lift and fall more slowly than non-flyers.

 

[juliaromero]

Thanks all, looks like my off the cuff guess was pretty good then.

 

[Jdvn1]

This was covered in the FAQ, actually. (the coolest FAQ entry ever!) IIRC, it's 250 ft the first round, 500ft each subsequent round.

 

[tomBitonti]

Other cases

The 500'/1000' feet answer sounds OK if one spends an entire round falling. But,
one usually doesn't start falling at the exact beginning of a round.

For example, if one was walking along a mountain ledge, and it gave out at a point
halfway through a double move, then 500' of falling seems too much. Using the basic
accelleration formula, the distance would be more like 125'. I'd say the 500' of initial
distance only applies if one's first action is a 5' step off of the ledge.

Also, what if one is pushed off the ledge during an opponent's action.
An example came up in my recent play, where an earth elemental bull rushed
my character off of a very high ledge. May character started to fall, but how far
should he fall before his next action? Does even fall at all until his next action? Could
a nearby spell caster cast levitation, or any of a number of other spells, to save
him from falling, if they go before my character's next action?

 

[dvvega]

At one time I sat down and calculated how fast someone would reach terminal velocity based on a standing start.

This was done for a feather fall spell before "immediate" actions were available. The concept was to feather fall someone else falling.

Anyways, it worked out that terminal velocity was hit at the start of round 2 given enough falling distance (noting rounds are 6 seconds long).

Although terminal velocity varies between 53 m/s to 76 m/s ... 76 m/s is what most physics books quote (it does depend on object mass but let's ignore it for now). This assumes you don't want to be falling and so you've spread yourself out as best as you can.

Standard gravity is 9.8 m/s, so to achieve 76 m/s I would need to be travelling for approximately 7 seconds which is just over a round.

Using displacement s = ut + 0.5*a*t^2

I start at velocity 0 so we are only interested in s = 0.5*a*t^2 and we have a = 9.8 and t keeps growing but in our case 6 seconds is one round and we don't hit terminal until 7 seconds time.

So distance in the first round from a standing start = 0.5 * 9.8 * 6^2 = 176.4 meters which converts to 578.74 feet.

Second round is a different story after the first 1.7 seconds ... after terminal velocity is reached. So distance fallen until terminal velocity is (continuing from above) 953.15 feet. From that point onwards they constantly fall 76 metres per second or 249 feet. Thus, even if we rounded the extra 1.7 seconds to 2 seconds, they would fall a further 960 feet or almost double what they had fallen already.

So end of round 2 sees them at 1910 feet from the starting point.

From then on they will indeed fall about 960 per round, however the 500/1000 is a little under quoted. It would be more like 500/1500/1000.

Did I just actually write that twaddle!!

D

 

[ARandomGod]

Did I just actually write that twaddle!!

D

Yes you did. And may I be so bold as to say it pleased me immensely. I was JUST having this discussion via email with my own gaming group! Very nice to have actual numbers.

Now, that being said... one wonders WHY people want to know this.

I myself wondered it in combination with the Horizon Walker.

If a level 20 character with HW dimension doored straight up... (1200 feet), what would be the result? Could he get out of it before splatting?
Apparent answer: 25% chance. ^_^

Of course, the answer would be different with a ring of feather falling. Or with a glider. I which I'm gonna try to get. A very effecient and fun way to travel, IMO.

And there are even more questions. I'm asking this in Eberron... so I wonder.
1) Is Eberron flat or round? (Is there a real answer to that question)
2) Does Eberron have a moon?
3) Is there a max distance someone could go UP before running short on atmosphere and or gravity? (Of course, this answer is moot once you get an amulet of adaptation. And I don't recommend experimentation without one.)

All interesting additional questions, IMO.

Still, one wonders what elaborate scenario other people have had for wanting to know.