D&D 5E What rule(s) is 5e missing?

[Oofta]

The lack of accounting for mass in falling damage rules continues to irk me. It’s not missing from the rules just wrong.

Instead of the d6 it should be based on the size of the object/creature:

Tiny: no falling damage, they always effectively featherfall.
Small: d4
Medium: d6
Large: d8
Huge: d12
Gargantuan: d20

Yes and no. You'd have to figure out terminal velocity as affected by air resistance. I'm not convince falling a short distance should make a difference given how much fantasy ignores the effects of size.

Does a halfling really have so much less air resistance versus a human that it's going to matter over relatively short distances? This is basic Newtonian physics here, the only reason cats can fall large distances is because they are so light they can act as their own parachute. After a certain size, the air resistance might even decrease the damage taken. Of course large animals in the real world would take more damage from a relatively short fall because of how they are built, but most larger creatures in D&D aren't real world animals.

If you were really going to do something realistic, you would have the same number of dice for say the first 100 feet, then lower dice for every 100 feet after that (because your velocity increases less) until you hit terminal velocity at 1,500 feet.

 

[James Gasik]

A Halfling? Probably not, but hey, I don't mind throwing a bone to the small folk.

 

[Laurefindel]

Yes and no. You'd have to figure out terminal velocity as affected by air resistance. I'm not convince falling a short distance should make a difference given how much fantasy ignores the effects of size.

Does a halfling really have so much less air resistance versus a human that it's going to matter over relatively short distances? This is basic Newtonian physics here, the only reason cats can fall large distances is because they are so light they can act as their own parachute. After a certain size, the air resistance might even decrease the damage taken. Of course large animals in the real world would take more damage from a relatively short fall because of how they are built, but most larger creatures in D&D aren't real world animals.

If you were really going to do something realistic, you would have the same number of dice for say the first 100 feet, then lower dice for every 100 feet after that (because your velocity increases less) until you hit terminal velocity at 1,500 feet.

Force is proportional to mass so technically, the bigger the size of a creature (assuming bigger size implies higher overall mass), the bigger the impact. @robus proposition basically follows the adage that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

 

[robus]

Force is proportional to mass so technically, the bigger the size of a creature (assuming bigger size implies higher overall mass), the bigger the impact. @robus proposition basically follows the adage that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Yep I’m not looking for reality, simply proportion.

 

[glass]

Force is proportional to mass so technically, the bigger the size of a creature (assuming bigger size implies higher overall mass), the bigger the impact.

Big things are more at risk from falls, but that is not the reason.

Force due to gravity is directly proportional to mass, but acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, so it cancels out. Bigger things fall faster in practive, but that is because the effect of air resistance is proportionately less, not because of the mass directly. In vacuo, everything falls at the same rate regardless of mass.

_
glass.

 

[Garthanos]

Big things are more at risk from falls, but that is not the reason.

Force due to gravity is directly proportional to mass, but acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, so it cancels out.

acceleration due to gravity is constant (near earth anyway and the constant is called g and is 32fps squared or 9.8 meters per second squared)

 

[Lanefan]

acceleration due to gravity is constant (near earth anyway and the constant is called g and is 32fps squared or 9.8 meters per second squared)

Until you reach terminal velocity, which is different for everything depending how much air resistance that item generates vs its mass, meaning there's still going to be different amounts of damage done by each thing when it lands on someone. That's where the questions arise, I think.

 

[glass]

acceleration due to gravity is constant (near earth anyway and the constant is called g and is 32fps squared or 9.8 meters per second squared)

Yes it is. For the reasons I stated in the post you quoted.

 

[Garthanos]

Yes it is. For the reasons I stated in the post you quote

Yes it is. For the reasons I stated in the post you quoted.

"but acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, so it cancels out "

The alteration due to air resistance does not simply "cancel out" unless and until you hit terminal velocity, (and the deceleration at the bottom is derived from your velocity) ie if you want to bring air resistance in you have much more complexity and they are not the same (including details of shape) even with a cube area (basic resistance) increases s squared distance across and mass increases as cubed. Squared cube law strikes again.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Tiny: no falling damage, they always effectively featherfall.
Small: d4
Medium: d6
Large: d8
Huge: d12
Gargantuan: d20

We just use the HD size for falling, so

Tiny: d4
Small: d6
Medium: d8
Large: d10
Huge: d12
Gargantuan: d20

Though if you don't mind, I am curious what your house rules for shields are.

Sure.

• Buckler: +1 AC, 3 lb., d4 damage + DEX or STR, Finesse/Light properties so can be used in TWF easily
• Round/ Kite:+2 AC, 6 lb., d4 damage + STR, TWF attacks made with disadvantage unless you have Dual Wielder
• Tower: +4 AC, 15 lb. IIRC, sort of like 3/4 cover...but it doesn't count as that!, d6 damage, Heavy property, cannot TWF, but may be use for Bull Rush as an Action for d6 + STR mod and knock targets prone vs STR save DC = 8 + proficiency + STR mod. Creatures larger than you have advantage on the save.

Block: You can use your reaction to block critical damage with your shield so you take normal damage instead, but this sunders your shield. This can be done versus spell damage, falling damage, and other sources of critical damage.

Spoiler: What is Critical Damage?

Instead of critical hits on a 20, we do critical damage on damage rolls. If any dice rolled are the maximum, the die explodes and the damage is critical.

Parry: With a Buckler or Round/Kite shields you can also use your reaction to parry an attack, adding your proficiency bonus to your AC potentially causing the attack to miss. If you do this, however, you lose any bonus to your AC due to your shield until the start of your next turn.

Shield master:

• Allows bonus action shove even if you don't take the attack action.
• If you Bull Rush with a Tower Shield, the target has disadvantage on the save, and you can do it as a bonus action instead of an action.

I think that is everything...