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General Tabletop Discussion
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How to make an encounter with falling great distances interesting and dangerous, but not deadly?
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7535045" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>Absolutely! You're welcome. Glad to hear it was helpful for you.</p><p></p><p>It was personally helpful for me to write down my retrospective, as I'm likely going to be using this prop and Kir Sabal again in a few sessions under more challenging circumstances during a gargoyle attack and/or heavy rain. That gives me the opportunity to tighten up the design and tweak what didn't work... for example, this just occurred to me – I might delay exhaustion setting in until <em>after</em> they reach the top! That way it doesn't penalize the climb itself, but how they handle what's at the top. I also <em>might</em> give each player an index card of possible "fall reactions" jotted down.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yeah, I definitely agree with you that D&D could use a "book of challenges" or something similar. Running this showed me that, yes, while I was on to something, I still have a ways to go to tighten it up.</p><p></p><p>At the table, I interpreted the map we were using as being relatively accurate – so that ~450' of the climb was easily accomplished on a stone ramp while the challenging deteriorated walkways / windy / etc. section spanned just 100'. Because that's what the text kinda says and the map kinda shows. In retrospect, I think that 100' wasn't quite enough distance because twice I had players say something like "Oh, it's just a 25' fall or so at this point, yeah? *shrug*"</p><p></p><p>Yeah, I did notice my players avoided opting into exhaustion. What I've noticed is that first level of exhaustion (disadvantage to checks) is so punitive that players avoid it as much as possible. Clearly the other "fall reactions" I presented weren't scary enough to warrant players considering exhaustion as an alternative!</p><p></p><p>I have done lingering injuries attached to certain traps/hazards, such as a Sprained Ankle attached to a pit trap. Generally, I've attached a number to these injures, such that if the PC receives X amount of magical healing (or X / 5 long rests) their injury is healed; so a Sprained Ankle (5) would require either 5 hp magical healing (usually a <em>healing potion</em> or <em>cure wounds</em> at 1st-level) or a long rest.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Absolutely. When I framed the scenario, in addition to the narrative description, I gave the players an aside: "Usually, falling from over 200' would inflict a lot of damage*. In this ascent, there are lots of options you can take as a reaction when you fall – grab a vine, twist to fall onto a lower walkway, crash into a ruined cliff dwelling, or anything you can imagine. These reactions may require rolls to see what happens. Also, for physics purposes, you fall a maximum of 500 feet per round; so if you do manage to fall all the way down, once you're above this point, you and your companions will have an action to try and save you before you hit the bottom."</p><p></p><p>It worked well, and my rogue player really ran with it, using his <em>cape of the mountebank</em> as a reaction.</p><p></p><p>*One interesting thing was that at 6th-level all the PCs had maximum hit points under the average of a maximum hit point fall, i.e. 70 (20d6). But around 7th to 9th-level that changes, so there are characters who can endure that much damage (and earlier for monks), get up, brush themselves off and walk away. In this scenario, that maximum damage cap on falling at 20d6 does diminish the threat slightly. I get why the designer did this – for example, in SAGA Star Wars the low damage from falling was specifically to model the heroic seen in the cinema – but with rules as written, I think this sort of scenario would lose its teeth if the PCs were just a bit higher level.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7535045, member: 20323"] Absolutely! You're welcome. Glad to hear it was helpful for you. It was personally helpful for me to write down my retrospective, as I'm likely going to be using this prop and Kir Sabal again in a few sessions under more challenging circumstances during a gargoyle attack and/or heavy rain. That gives me the opportunity to tighten up the design and tweak what didn't work... for example, this just occurred to me – I might delay exhaustion setting in until [I]after[/I] they reach the top! That way it doesn't penalize the climb itself, but how they handle what's at the top. I also [I]might[/I] give each player an index card of possible "fall reactions" jotted down. Yeah, I definitely agree with you that D&D could use a "book of challenges" or something similar. Running this showed me that, yes, while I was on to something, I still have a ways to go to tighten it up. At the table, I interpreted the map we were using as being relatively accurate – so that ~450' of the climb was easily accomplished on a stone ramp while the challenging deteriorated walkways / windy / etc. section spanned just 100'. Because that's what the text kinda says and the map kinda shows. In retrospect, I think that 100' wasn't quite enough distance because twice I had players say something like "Oh, it's just a 25' fall or so at this point, yeah? *shrug*" Yeah, I did notice my players avoided opting into exhaustion. What I've noticed is that first level of exhaustion (disadvantage to checks) is so punitive that players avoid it as much as possible. Clearly the other "fall reactions" I presented weren't scary enough to warrant players considering exhaustion as an alternative! I have done lingering injuries attached to certain traps/hazards, such as a Sprained Ankle attached to a pit trap. Generally, I've attached a number to these injures, such that if the PC receives X amount of magical healing (or X / 5 long rests) their injury is healed; so a Sprained Ankle (5) would require either 5 hp magical healing (usually a [I]healing potion[/I] or [I]cure wounds[/I] at 1st-level) or a long rest. Absolutely. When I framed the scenario, in addition to the narrative description, I gave the players an aside: "Usually, falling from over 200' would inflict a lot of damage*. In this ascent, there are lots of options you can take as a reaction when you fall – grab a vine, twist to fall onto a lower walkway, crash into a ruined cliff dwelling, or anything you can imagine. These reactions may require rolls to see what happens. Also, for physics purposes, you fall a maximum of 500 feet per round; so if you do manage to fall all the way down, once you're above this point, you and your companions will have an action to try and save you before you hit the bottom." It worked well, and my rogue player really ran with it, using his [I]cape of the mountebank[/I] as a reaction. *One interesting thing was that at 6th-level all the PCs had maximum hit points under the average of a maximum hit point fall, i.e. 70 (20d6). But around 7th to 9th-level that changes, so there are characters who can endure that much damage (and earlier for monks), get up, brush themselves off and walk away. In this scenario, that maximum damage cap on falling at 20d6 does diminish the threat slightly. I get why the designer did this – for example, in SAGA Star Wars the low damage from falling was specifically to model the heroic seen in the cinema – but with rules as written, I think this sort of scenario would lose its teeth if the PCs were just a bit higher level. [/QUOTE]
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