I'm playing a druid atm before lvl 8 and was wondering about shapeshifting into an animal that can survive landing when at their terminal velocity. Squirrels or spiders or maybe an ant if the DM allows. They can splay their bodies while falling to reduce terminal velocity and have the leg strength to absorb the landing. It isn't RAW but I think follows real world physics. So fall off a cliff, shapechange into a spider and land like nothing much just happened?
Obviously up to your DM as you say, although I think people worry too much about trying to bring "real-world physics" into a game about dragons.
That said, you fall 500 feet in a round. If you fall off a cliff and it isn't your turn, you will hit the bottom before you get your Action (or Bonus Action, for Moon Druid) so this is all probably moot. This is why Feather Fall is a Reaction. On top of that, an animal needs time to ready for a landing - which is why cats that fall out of eighth-floor apartments are more likely to be injured than cats that fall out of ninth-floor apartments.
So many people ignoring the sage advice from the 3rd post on this topic.
One thing no-one's mentioned (that I've seen), is that a lot of the time, it's going to be a fall from a natural cliff - which is highly unlikely to be pure vertical. Which likely means multiple contacts between the falling body and the cliff - overcoming that 20d6 maximum of damage over the entire fall. You can take your long jump off the top (equal to your strength score), which might get you half way down your 500 foot fall, so 20d6 at first impact (though I'd homebrew it as a glancing blow, so probably more like 20d2); but no way you're getting another 20 foot forwards movement before you're hitting that rock again for another however many d6 damage - probably a good chance you're hitting that thing again every 20-30 feet on the way down.
Parachute failing to open, and walking away is one thing, falling off a cliff and getting rag-dolled repeatedly on the way down is another thing entirely.
A] This being heroic fantasy, though, each impact would arguably be a chance to stop one's fall, to simply.. hold on. Or the fact that each fall in game would be counted separately, since momentum is one of the areas game world physics works very different to our own. Hitting every 20 to 30 feet on the way down would be counted as multiple 2 to 3 d6 falls, rather than the number of dice increasing each impact.
B] But actually, cliffs are usually nearly vertical, compared to, say, steep mountain slopes, which have more angle to them. If you fall while trying to climb down the cliff, then yes, you are likely to bounce off it a few times on the way down, but if you stumble off an actual cliff, or deliberately jump, it likely is just going to be the one impact.
A] Absolutely - sounds like an acrobatics check with a high DC to me; and also absolutely, it would be several 2-4d6 rolls (or 2-4d2 as glancing blows); which of course adds up over the duration of the fall (and may well end up causing damage to an unconscious body, counting as failed death saves).
B] Depends which cliffs you're thinking of, I guess; I tend to think of the White Cliffs of Dover (because I'm British) or the various cliffs along the Jurassic Coast (because I lived along there for a bit) - vertical bits, but far from all. According to wiki, some definitions of "cliff" go as shallow as a 60* angle! Even then, nearly vertical isn't the same as vertical. It really doesn't need to be far off vertical for a 20 foot long jump to hit the cliff face if the height is enough to worry the 20d6 cap). Of course, this being heroic fantasy, we're not too often going to be too concerned about weedy cliffs of a mere 350 feet (WCofD). Even Kayleth took a swan-dive off 1,000 feet (and needed a gust of wind to avoid hitting the cliff face - and I'm fully with Matt on ignoring the 20 dice cap, but that's me)
I'm playing a druid atm before lvl 8 and was wondering about shapeshifting into an animal that can survive landing when at their terminal velocity. Squirrels or spiders or maybe an ant if the DM allows. They can splay their bodies while falling to reduce terminal velocity and have the leg strength to absorb the landing. It isn't RAW but I think follows real world physics. So fall off a cliff, shapechange into a spider and land like nothing much just happened?
Obviously up to your DM as you say, although I think people worry too much about trying to bring "real-world physics" into a game about dragons.
That said, you fall 500 feet in a round. If you fall off a cliff and it isn't your turn, you will hit the bottom before you get your Action (or Bonus Action, for Moon Druid) so this is all probably moot. This is why Feather Fall is a Reaction. On top of that, an animal needs time to ready for a landing - which is why cats that fall out of eighth-floor apartments are more likely to be injured than cats that fall out of ninth-floor apartments.
As far as I can tell you still fall instantly to the ground. 500ft per round is an optional rule.
A] This being heroic fantasy, though, each impact would arguably be a chance to stop one's fall, to simply.. hold on. Or the fact that each fall in game would be counted separately, since momentum is one of the areas game world physics works very different to our own. Hitting every 20 to 30 feet on the way down would be counted as multiple 2 to 3 d6 falls, rather than the number of dice increasing each impact.
B] But actually, cliffs are usually nearly vertical, compared to, say, steep mountain slopes, which have more angle to them. If you fall while trying to climb down the cliff, then yes, you are likely to bounce off it a few times on the way down, but if you stumble off an actual cliff, or deliberately jump, it likely is just going to be the one impact.
A] Absolutely - sounds like an acrobatics check with a high DC to me; and also absolutely, it would be several 2-4d6 rolls (or 2-4d2 as glancing blows); which of course adds up over the duration of the fall (and may well end up causing damage to an unconscious body, counting as failed death saves).
B] Depends which cliffs you're thinking of, I guess; I tend to think of the White Cliffs of Dover (because I'm British) or the various cliffs along the Jurassic Coast (because I lived along there for a bit) - vertical bits, but far from all. According to wiki, some definitions of "cliff" go as shallow as a 60* angle! Even then, nearly vertical isn't the same as vertical. It really doesn't need to be far off vertical for a 20 foot long jump to hit the cliff face if the height is enough to worry the 20d6 cap). Of course, this being heroic fantasy, we're not too often going to be too concerned about weedy cliffs of a mere 350 feet (WCofD). Even Kayleth took a swan-dive off 1,000 feet (and needed a gust of wind to avoid hitting the cliff face - and I'm fully with Matt on ignoring the 20 dice cap, but that's me)
While I'm okay with the dice cap being ignored I think the player should have been aware of that ahead of time. Also there seemed to be some communication issues during that as she believed she was going to land in water the entire time.
And I think technically Matt mentioned he forgot about the cap.
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Obviously up to your DM as you say, although I think people worry too much about trying to bring "real-world physics" into a game about dragons.
That said, you fall 500 feet in a round. If you fall off a cliff and it isn't your turn, you will hit the bottom before you get your Action (or Bonus Action, for Moon Druid) so this is all probably moot. This is why Feather Fall is a Reaction. On top of that, an animal needs time to ready for a landing - which is why cats that fall out of eighth-floor apartments are more likely to be injured than cats that fall out of ninth-floor apartments.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Now just imagine a hill dwarf monk with a 2 level dip into barbarian for rage with tough feet and presumed that you are raged before you fall
There is a meme that pokes fun at this concept
Actually, yes it does. It's specifically Bludgeoning Damage, so a basic Barbarian has resistance to it while ragimg
…?
So many people ignoring the sage advice from the 3rd post on this topic.
One thing no-one's mentioned (that I've seen), is that a lot of the time, it's going to be a fall from a natural cliff - which is highly unlikely to be pure vertical. Which likely means multiple contacts between the falling body and the cliff - overcoming that 20d6 maximum of damage over the entire fall.
You can take your long jump off the top (equal to your strength score), which might get you half way down your 500 foot fall, so 20d6 at first impact (though I'd homebrew it as a glancing blow, so probably more like 20d2); but no way you're getting another 20 foot forwards movement before you're hitting that rock again for another however many d6 damage - probably a good chance you're hitting that thing again every 20-30 feet on the way down.
Parachute failing to open, and walking away is one thing, falling off a cliff and getting rag-dolled repeatedly on the way down is another thing entirely.
A] Absolutely - sounds like an acrobatics check with a high DC to me; and also absolutely, it would be several 2-4d6 rolls (or 2-4d2 as glancing blows); which of course adds up over the duration of the fall (and may well end up causing damage to an unconscious body, counting as failed death saves).
B] Depends which cliffs you're thinking of, I guess; I tend to think of the White Cliffs of Dover (because I'm British) or the various cliffs along the Jurassic Coast (because I lived along there for a bit) - vertical bits, but far from all. According to wiki, some definitions of "cliff" go as shallow as a 60* angle!
Even then, nearly vertical isn't the same as vertical. It really doesn't need to be far off vertical for a 20 foot long jump to hit the cliff face if the height is enough to worry the 20d6 cap).
Of course, this being heroic fantasy, we're not too often going to be too concerned about weedy cliffs of a mere 350 feet (WCofD). Even Kayleth took a swan-dive off 1,000 feet (and needed a gust of wind to avoid hitting the cliff face - and I'm fully with Matt on ignoring the 20 dice cap, but that's me)
They have 24 con at level 1?
As far as I can tell you still fall instantly to the ground. 500ft per round is an optional rule.
While I'm okay with the dice cap being ignored I think the player should have been aware of that ahead of time. Also there seemed to be some communication issues during that as she believed she was going to land in water the entire time.
And I think technically Matt mentioned he forgot about the cap.