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<blockquote data-quote="Shiroiken" data-source="post: 8028134" data-attributes="member: 6775477">According to Gary in an old The Dragon article, originally falling damage was supposed to be cumulative, so a 20 ft fall was 3d6, 30 ft was 6d6, etc. The wording was a bit off from the intent, leaving most to use the linear xd6 damage. IIRC, it was considered for clarification when AD&amp;D (1E) was to come out, but at that point xd6 had become ingrained into the game (just like the million and one uses of the word &quot;level&quot;).I've been dealing with this kind of stuff for almost 30 years. A lot of players always think they can game the system against the DM. This is just part of the DM vs. Player mentality that has permeated gaming for so long.In my very first campaign, I had a player try to intimidate a shopkeeper, which was fine. However, the frightened shopkeeper pulled out a heavy crossbow, to which the player laughed and stuck his throat on the end. Everyone looked at him and I said &quot;what? Are you suicidal?&quot; He responded that it can't kill him, since it only does 2d4 damage, and he had over 20 HP (critical hit didn't exist yet). He proceeded to taunt the shopkeeper, and I uttered the now infamous phrase &quot;are you sure?&quot; Only he was surprised when I told him the shopkeeper fired the crossbow and that his character died by having his throat ripped out. I like the phrase Rule of Uncool for when players try to game the system, but I traditionally fall back to both Rule 0 and Wheaton's Law. Fortunately, I game with a much better quality of players (and DMs) these days, so such isn't really a problem.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Shiroiken, post: 8028134, member: 6775477"] According to Gary in an old The Dragon article, originally falling damage was supposed to be cumulative, so a 20 ft fall was 3d6, 30 ft was 6d6, etc. The wording was a bit off from the intent, leaving most to use the linear xd6 damage. IIRC, it was considered for clarification when AD&D (1E) was to come out, but at that point xd6 had become ingrained into the game (just like the million and one uses of the word "level"). I've been dealing with this kind of stuff for almost 30 years. A lot of players always think they can game the system against the DM. This is just part of the DM vs. Player mentality that has permeated gaming for so long. In my very first campaign, I had a player try to intimidate a shopkeeper, which was fine. However, the frightened shopkeeper pulled out a heavy crossbow, to which the player laughed and stuck his throat on the end. Everyone looked at him and I said "what? Are you suicidal?" He responded that it can't kill him, since it only does 2d4 damage, and he had over 20 HP (critical hit didn't exist yet). He proceeded to taunt the shopkeeper, and I uttered the now infamous phrase "are you sure?" Only he was surprised when I told him the shopkeeper fired the crossbow and that his character died by having his throat ripped out. I like the phrase Rule of Uncool for when players try to game the system, but I traditionally fall back to both Rule 0 and Wheaton's Law. Fortunately, I game with a much better quality of players (and DMs) these days, so such isn't really a problem. [/QUOTE]

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