D&D is a game of rules. If the idea is that something should just out right kill someone without using the mechanics, than why limit it to falls (there are specific rules for falling and you don't like them seems to be my understanding). Why roll damage when a BBEG stabs a sword into a PC, sword wounds are deadly!
No there is no point when a PC should just die from a fall. Only time is if the damage taken drops them to 0 hp and the remain damage is over their hit point maximum.
Where in RAW does it state you only fall 150ft? Or did i Misread that since I was under the impression you fall 550ft per round. With dice damage maxing out at 20d6. HOWEVER you can break the fall of 550ft up in smaller segments. Depending on rocks and other obstacles that PC's can crash in, slow them down and resume falling further. Meaning you can do the 20d6 multiple times during one fall if you truly want to make sure the PC's go down to 0hp. As for instantly killing them... Not sure that is doable when the PC's are lvl 4-5 or higher. Since the 20d6 on average doesn't exceed their max HP into the negative unless you as DM happen to roll really well.
She had broken bones and was in a coma, but she lived. Everyone else on the plane died, but this 23 year old woman survived.
And that would be without magic, levels, etc.
Part of the issue is that once you fall 1,880 feet, you no longer speed up because of air resistance. That would be about 125 mph if you are falling flat, or about 185 mph if you keep your self 'vertical'
Do you have a height from which under normal circumstances is instantly fatal?
Sure. The distance at which the expected damage is twice their hit points. If I don't want PCs doing superhuman things, I just don't let them be high level.
But realistically falling even 100 feet is fricken FAR. You're not walking away from that.
There's actually been instances in real world of people falling that far and literally walking away with little more than a little bruising.
There's also been instances of people falling 20 ft and dying instantly.
Falling in the world has many variables affecting survivability. There's no hard rule at all. A few feet can be fatal if you fall in the wrong way or hit your head wrong.
At some point it may be better to accept D&D is a game designed around player fun and streamlining play rather than about realism. The fall damage and max rate of 20d6 seems fine for me. Making changes just doesn't seem to be worth it. If you want instant death falls make a hazard at the bottom like spikes or lava, use in-game mechanics already present to make the encounters more dangerous if that's what you want.
If my character fell from, say, an air ship. I'd rather the DM roll and have a chance they roll low enough for my character to survive than for a DM to just say "he fell over, he's dead, roll new character" just like that. The former, the RAW, gives me a chance (probably slim) to keep my character, but the latter, a homebrew, instead guarantees I lose the character I spent a lot of time investing in. This is why there's a damage cap.
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But realistically falling even 100 feet is fricken FAR. You're not walking away from that.
If my character fell from, say, an air ship. I'd rather the DM roll and have a chance they roll low enough for my character to survive than for a DM to just say "he fell over, he's dead, roll new character" just like that.
If before a fight occurred, the GM said, "a fall from the airship would probably be fatal." Wouldn't that change your gameplay? Would it make you more cautious about staying away from windows or causing damage to the airship? Would it make you think of ways to get the enemy to take a flying leap? Avoid combat altogether?
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
But realistically falling even 100 feet is fricken FAR. You're not walking away from that.
If my character fell from, say, an air ship. I'd rather the DM roll and have a chance they roll low enough for my character to survive than for a DM to just say "he fell over, he's dead, roll new character" just like that.
If before a fight occurred, the GM said, "a fall from the airship would probably be fatal." Wouldn't that change your gameplay? Would it make you more cautious about staying away from windows or causing damage to the airship? Would it make you think of ways to get the enemy to take a flying leap? Avoid combat altogether?
Not any more than the 20d6 damage does. I'll already be doing all I can to avoid that - I play casters, dey squishies. Sometimes, though, things can happen - enemies with movement control, your fighting them the only way to stop the entire airship crashing, etc. Sometimes shit happens and for whatever brainfarting reason, didn't have feather fall prepped.
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
It would depend on the area where the aerial combat would take place. If there are moving parts of the airship. Things that could give the PC's a chance to hang onto something instead of plummeting down. Like Luke Skywalker falling down after his hand was caught. Grabbing onto that antenna thing allowing the Falcon to swoop in to pick him up. if it would be insta-death... most players would just make sure to be stocked up on feather fall or make-shift parachutes. Basically as DM you'd get away with pulling a stunt like that once.
I mean. I had a player jump into a "well" before checking it out. Fell to his death. Stopped playing immediately. Most of the insta-kill mechanics have been removed for a reason... they're bullshit. They're not adding to the difficulty of the content. They only add to the tedium of needing the time to prepare dumb shit. Slowing the game to a grind because you need to check everything and make sure its safe. No thanks.
If it were up to me i'd alter it so there is a fire on the ship that is spreading around. There are explosive barrels or something in the cargo hold. You got x rounds to deal with the enemies AND save the ship. In that scenario when the ship gets destroyed and they die... at least it is more palatable.
If before a fight occurred, the GM said, "a fall from the airship would probably be fatal." Wouldn't that change your gameplay? Would it make you more cautious about staying away from windows or causing damage to the airship? Would it make you think of ways to get the enemy to take a flying leap? Avoid combat altogether?
Sure. Now, are those behavior changes actually good for the game?
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Do you have a height from which under normal circumstances is instantly fatal?
For instance, RAW falling 150 feet is 15d6 but any 10th lvl Fighter worth his salt could survive easily.
But realistically falling even 100 feet is fricken FAR. You're not walking away from that.
So do you have a point in your game where you just tell the players "a fall that far will just kill you"?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
D&D is a game of rules. If the idea is that something should just out right kill someone without using the mechanics, than why limit it to falls (there are specific rules for falling and you don't like them seems to be my understanding). Why roll damage when a BBEG stabs a sword into a PC, sword wounds are deadly!
No there is no point when a PC should just die from a fall. Only time is if the damage taken drops them to 0 hp and the remain damage is over their hit point maximum.
Where in RAW does it state you only fall 150ft? Or did i Misread that since I was under the impression you fall 550ft per round. With dice damage maxing out at 20d6. HOWEVER you can break the fall of 550ft up in smaller segments. Depending on rocks and other obstacles that PC's can crash in, slow them down and resume falling further. Meaning you can do the 20d6 multiple times during one fall if you truly want to make sure the PC's go down to 0hp. As for instantly killing them... Not sure that is doable when the PC's are lvl 4-5 or higher. Since the 20d6 on average doesn't exceed their max HP into the negative unless you as DM happen to roll really well.
Yeah, this is wrong. Falling does not always kill you.
The Guiness Record for falling and living is.... 10,160 meters, or over 30,000 feet.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-fall-survived-without-parachute
She had broken bones and was in a coma, but she lived. Everyone else on the plane died, but this 23 year old woman survived.
And that would be without magic, levels, etc.
Part of the issue is that once you fall 1,880 feet, you no longer speed up because of air resistance. That would be about 125 mph if you are falling flat, or about 185 mph if you keep your self 'vertical'
Sure. The distance at which the expected damage is twice their hit points. If I don't want PCs doing superhuman things, I just don't let them be high level.
There's actually been instances in real world of people falling that far and literally walking away with little more than a little bruising.
There's also been instances of people falling 20 ft and dying instantly.
Falling in the world has many variables affecting survivability. There's no hard rule at all. A few feet can be fatal if you fall in the wrong way or hit your head wrong.
At some point it may be better to accept D&D is a game designed around player fun and streamlining play rather than about realism. The fall damage and max rate of 20d6 seems fine for me. Making changes just doesn't seem to be worth it. If you want instant death falls make a hazard at the bottom like spikes or lava, use in-game mechanics already present to make the encounters more dangerous if that's what you want.
If my character fell from, say, an air ship. I'd rather the DM roll and have a chance they roll low enough for my character to survive than for a DM to just say "he fell over, he's dead, roll new character" just like that. The former, the RAW, gives me a chance (probably slim) to keep my character, but the latter, a homebrew, instead guarantees I lose the character I spent a lot of time investing in. This is why there's a damage cap.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
If before a fight occurred, the GM said, "a fall from the airship would probably be fatal." Wouldn't that change your gameplay? Would it make you more cautious about staying away from windows or causing damage to the airship? Would it make you think of ways to get the enemy to take a flying leap? Avoid combat altogether?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Not any more than the 20d6 damage does. I'll already be doing all I can to avoid that - I play casters, dey squishies. Sometimes, though, things can happen - enemies with movement control, your fighting them the only way to stop the entire airship crashing, etc. Sometimes shit happens and for whatever brainfarting reason, didn't have feather fall prepped.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
So that's like a 0.33% chance of survival?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
It would depend on the area where the aerial combat would take place. If there are moving parts of the airship. Things that could give the PC's a chance to hang onto something instead of plummeting down. Like Luke Skywalker falling down after his hand was caught. Grabbing onto that antenna thing allowing the Falcon to swoop in to pick him up. if it would be insta-death... most players would just make sure to be stocked up on feather fall or make-shift parachutes. Basically as DM you'd get away with pulling a stunt like that once.
I mean. I had a player jump into a "well" before checking it out. Fell to his death. Stopped playing immediately. Most of the insta-kill mechanics have been removed for a reason... they're bullshit. They're not adding to the difficulty of the content. They only add to the tedium of needing the time to prepare dumb shit. Slowing the game to a grind because you need to check everything and make sure its safe. No thanks.
If it were up to me i'd alter it so there is a fire on the ship that is spreading around. There are explosive barrels or something in the cargo hold. You got x rounds to deal with the enemies AND save the ship. In that scenario when the ship gets destroyed and they die... at least it is more palatable.
Sure. Now, are those behavior changes actually good for the game?