kjenks said:
The rules don't impose any damage from running into a wall.
The rules don't allow you to balance an apple on your head either. That doesn't mean you cannot balance an apple on your head. It just means you need to analyze the rules as best you can and come up with a fair way to use the rules to make that kind of check. Which is what we are doing here.
The rules do not, and can not, cover all possible situations in a clear and precise manner, given this is a game limited only by your imagination.
I suggest that you do NOT impose any arbitrary house rules here.
Right. Which is why we are trying to come up with a non-arbitrary house rule. It's not arbitrary if you use the rules by analogy and try and come up with something that works with the spirit of the rules. For example - the analogy of falling damage applying to running full-tilt into an invisible wall. That's not arbitrary. It has a basis in logic.
In real life, people almost never die from running into a wall, but my two-year-old gets an amazing number of miniscule yet colorful bruises from his seemingly unending battle against immovable objects. Yesterday, it was falling off the back of the couch onto a hardwood floor. Guess who got the bruise. And guess who got right back onto the couch to try again.
If your two year old weighed 250 pounds and was running full tilt at 10 feet per second (60 feet per 6 second round = 6.8 miles per hour) into a solid wall, he would take serious damage. It's a matter of how fast and heavy adventurers arel.
An armored person running full-tilt into a wall is not likely to suffer any permanent damage.
I disagree. See above.
If you make up a house rule, do whatever you feel is appropriate; I suggest nonlethal damage, 1d2 per 10 ft. of movement, but no damage for the first 20 ft. of movement.
I think it's fair to at least consider nonlethal damage.
We should look to the falling rules as a guideline. Here they are:
Falling
Falling Damage
The basic rule is simple: 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet fallen, to a maximum of 20d6.
If a character deliberately jumps instead of merely slipping or falling, the damage is the same but the first 1d6 is nonlethal damage. A DC 15 Jump check or DC 15 Tumble check allows the character to avoid any damage from the first 10 feet fallen and converts any damage from the second 10 feet to nonlethal damage. Thus, a character who slips from a ledge 30 feet up takes 3d6 damage. If the same character deliberately jumped, he takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 2d6 points of lethal damage. And if the character leaps down with a successful Jump or Tumble check, he takes only 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 1d6 points of lethal damage from the plunge.
Falls onto yielding surfaces (soft ground, mud) also convert the first 1d6 of damage to nonlethal damage. This reduction is cumulative with reduced damage due to deliberate jumps and the Jump skill.
Falling into Water
Falls into water are handled somewhat differently. If the water is at least 10 feet deep, the first 20 feet of falling do no damage. The next 20 feet do nonlethal damage (1d3 per 10-foot increment). Beyond that, falling damage is lethal damage (1d6 per additional 10-foot increment).
Characters who deliberately dive into water take no damage on a successful DC 15 Swim check or DC 15 Tumble check, so long as the water is at least 10 feet deep for every 30 feet fallen. However, the DC of the check increases by 5 for every 50 feet of the dive.
Falling Objects
Just as characters take damage when they fall more than 10 feet, so too do they take damage when they are hit by falling objects.
Objects that fall upon characters deal damage based on their weight and the distance they have fallen.
For each 200 pounds of an object’s weight, the object deals 1d6 points of damage, provided it falls at least 10 feet. Distance also comes into play, adding an additional 1d6 points of damage for every 10-foot increment it falls beyond the first (to a maximum of 20d6 points of damage).
Objects smaller than 200 pounds also deal damage when dropped, but they must fall farther to deal the same damage. Use Table: Damage from Falling Objects to see how far an object of a given weight must drop to deal 1d6 points of damage.
For each additional increment an object falls, it deals an additional 1d6 points of damage.
Objects weighing less than 1 pound do not deal damage to those they land upon, no matter how far they have fallen.
Table: Damage from Falling Objects
Object Weight / Falling Distance
200-101 lb. / 20 ft.
100-51 lb. / 30 ft.
50-31 lb. / 40 ft.
30-11 lb. / 50 ft.
10-6 lb. / 60 ft.
5-1 lb. / 70 ft.
