KaeYoss said:
Well, it's really a preference thing: I keep the rules as they are and challenge players with powerful - and smart - enemies. Except for the occasional dumb monster they encounter, the enemies don't behave like dumb monsters. They are usually smart and often experienced, and therefore have good tactics. My players might find damage only annoying, but they tend to find my enemies more annoying.
The advantage of these types of house rules is that you do not always have to challenge players with powerful and smart enemies.
A simple walk in the park challenge can turn deadly real quick with these rules, just like it should.
You throw 30 first level Orcs at a 4 character 6th level party in core rules and they will hardly flinch. With these rules, they will cringe because staggering one Orc doesn't significantly diminish the strength of the Orcs, but staggering one PC does temporarily and significantly diminish the strength of the PCs. Numbers matter with these rules like they should. Serious wounds matter with these rules like they should.
You have one Giant pick up and throw a mid level PC off a 40 foot ravine in core, the PC can fight just as well once he hits bottom as he did before he was thrown. How is that challenging? Darned if I know.
And, it is not that enemies are not often powerful and/or smart in my campaign. It's that the players are forced to be on their toes. There is no free lunch.
Btw, I am glad that I posted my falling rules here because I did want to simplify them and some people did give me some good ideas on how to do that.
KaeYoss said:
Well, this is still more often than it has happened in all our campaigns. I can't remember more than one or two fall situations. (And one was so extreme that we were happy about feather fall)
Well, 2 of the falls were in an extremely decrepit old house. The Rogue heard some creaking sounds from the floor underneath his feet, so he thought it was secret compartment and he jumped up and down on it. No, it was a weak spot on the floor and he happened to be on the second story. He precipitated his own fall. The second time was out in the hallway of the same house on the same second floor. The party found out that a section of the hallway flooring was unsound, so the Dwarf decided to take a running start and jump over it. Unfortunately for him, it extended about 15 feet. Both of these were about 10 foot falls where the PCs own (not so bright) actions caused them to fall. The third fall was in a lair where the owner had purposely installed a pit trap.
So, 2 out of 3 of these falls could have been avoided with even a little bit of thought on the part of the players (you do not jump up and down on the floor when it creaks in an old decrepit house
).
KaeYoss said:
On the other hand, sometimes there's stories of poeple surviving great falls. So even the suspension of disbelief wants all-or-nothing (especially if the the players are like "Hey, I can take a direct hit by a giant who wields a fraggin' tree without the slightest discomfort, but once I fall down a couple of feet I suddenly become frail and clumsy".)
Well, with my other house rules, any direct hit by a giant with a tree is going to put most any character at -3 to all rolls most of the time. That sounds fairly significant to me.
And, it is obvious that you have never fallen any great distance in your life. My brother in law fell 15 feet onto concrete, landed on his feet, and still broke his leg bone in half (with it sticking out of his leg), It took nearly a year to totally recover (even with a titanium rod put in there). A fellow gamer slide down a 20 foot sloped rock face while rock climbing, broke his ankle and had to have steel pins put into his ankle.
Falls above 10 feet are deadly. Sure, an opponent trying to skew you in half with a sword will be deadly too. But, the difference is that you can minimize sword damage by parrying, deflecting it off your armor or shield, dodging, etc. That is the entire concept of increasing hit points in DND. You get better at avoiding the serious damage.
In an unexpected straight 10 foot+ fall (i.e. one without elements to slow down the rate of descent), how does a guy surrounded by 60 points of plate mail and a 40 pound pack on his back minimize the damage? At best, he can land and possible roll a little so that he is merely hospitalized instead of dead, depending on the length of the fall.
Piratecat said:
I think in your game I'd play a wizard with access to reverse gravity. I know one thing: rings of feather-falling get to be a lot more important!
Rings of Feather Falling should always be important.
As for Reverse Gravity, it would take you about a year and a half of gaming to get to this level of power in my game. So, if you can wait that long to take advantage of my house rules, be my guest.
If Reverse Gravity is cast on a small group of opponents who have absolutely no magic or allies in the area with magic, it could do some significant damage, especially indoors. However, outdoors (or indoors with a 30 foot or less ceiling), it will rarely do as much damage as other 7th level spells (using core rules). The types of opponents you are encountering at that level can either shrug off most of it, can fly, can teleport to safety, or whatever. In core rules, Reverse Gravity is a bit of a joke because outdoors, it does 6D6 when a wizard first gets it (indoors, it could do 12D6 with a 60 foot high ceiling, but you have to be in the perfect situation for it to be that useful). Granted, it has no save and no spell resistance, but it is also 13 rounds before that damage occurs (unless you hit a ceiling). That is a lot of rounds to recover with, either directly or with the help of your allies. Indoors, a simple Web spell could prevent any damage whatsoever.
Cone of Cold is often more devastating than Reverse Gravity using core rules. Granted, my house rules make Reverse Gravity a serious contender 7th level spell. But, shouldn't it be?
