So currently I’m running a campaign with a bunch of murder hobos. Currently the players are seeking passage on an airship. They need to cross a magical river that is much to treacherous for any normal boat. So they went to the docks and consulted with the crew. While I was role playing the captain one of the players turned to the rest of party and said, “alright here’s the plan. We let them sail us over the river. Then we kill the crew and take over the airship. Then we can fly straight to (My villains) lair.” Keep in mind that they are level 4 and my villian is a CR17 Death Knight.
So I consulted the internet (the most logical thing to do) and people said that they need to be punished for their actions. So basically the entire crew is made up of veteran soldiers (using the veteran stat block) with 10 of them they should be able to easily overpower the party. The players have already planned their attack... lock almost all the soldiers below decks while taking on the few above decks. Eventually the ones below will break free and when they do it will be ugly. A few of them will try to grapple one of the players and tie to them up. If they retaliate they get thrown off the ship. This brings us to the mechanic that we’re here for in the first place: falling.
reading through the PHB it’s important to realize that falling damage maxes out at 20d6 damage, or 200 feet. A normal blimp cruises at about 1500 feet. This is a safe estimation to about where an airship would fly. So if falling damage wouldn't cap then you would be taking 150d6 damage from that fall. But honestly if I tell my players you instantly die no roll required (because you just swan dived from a frickin blimp) they’re going to argue that technically they only take 20d6 damage and that I could technically roll 20 1s so Technically they could survive with 1 hp.
I know I’m the DM and I can tell them to die and they will, but anyone else think it’s odd that a player can only take 20d6 damage from ANY fall in the world. Imagine having fire immunity then jumping naked from space to earth and only taking 20d6 damage. If you are a higher level martial class (say barbarian) you can easily soak up a max of 120 hp. And since you have fire immunity you can’t be harmed from burning up in the atmosphere.
Anyways should I just say screw it and tell a player they instantly become “one with the ground” or should I stick to the rules?
The reason it's capped is because no one likes insta-kill effects. Getting rid of most of them was one of the big changes in 4e and 5e. Also, while unlikely, people have survived long falls without parachutes in real life. I would use the normal damage. If they are level 4 they are unlikely to survive 20d6, but what's the worst that happens if they do? They are on the ground severely wounded with an airship leaving them behind. You could finish them off with a creature on the ground (you land in the middle of a pack of lions) but that feels cruel and will piss them off.
The point us to teach them a lesson, not necessarily kill them. If they survive, then they hopefully learned something. If they didn't, kill them the next time they do something stupid. Or let them go get killed by the Death Knight. You can also just try talking to them. If you are not having fun with a group of murder hobos, tell them that and see if they are interested in more roleplaying. If not it might be time to find a different group.
Also, probably best to plan for the captain and crew to have some escape plan which includes destroying the airship. They pull a lever and some section of the ship breaks free and parachutes/glides to safety, while simultaneously igniting the gunpowder stores on board: it's for use in emergency crash or storm situations, but also in case of deadly sky pirate attacks, and it seems these murder-hobos have just turned sky pirate.
Additionally, clearly no one will ever agree to take them in a passenger vessel of any sort once word of this treachery gets out.
Nice. Like a giant GTFO button for the crew. I like that. Then my players would have to learn to fly an airship while crashing an airship at the same time. I don’t think I’ll kill them personally. Making one giant self destruct button to TPK the party seems like a jerk move as a DM. I’ll let them Crash the ship, potentially killing theselves at the same time. If they do make, they will be in hostile territory, lost and confused. (Especially since there is no ranger)
I’m trying to indirectly tell them to never be murder hobos again. Hopefully reminding them that their actions can have severe consequences will do it.
I'd roll 20d6 and plan on them all surviving the fall. Of course they won't have a lot of their equipment and supplies because their plan was to take over, not jump, and they'll be in wilderness where they're going to face a wilderness adventure with all sorts of opportunities to starve, not heal, go without sleep, and use up all of their resources. If you're feeling particularly evil you can have them land on an island in the middle of the river that can't be crossed by boat.
The reason it's capped is because no one likes insta-kill effects.
Well that and there is such a thing as terminal velocity.
Also keep in mind the DMG has optional rules for massive damage and lingering injuries that you can use to add consequences beyond "you take X damage" to extreme situations like these.
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So currently I’m running a campaign with a bunch of murder hobos. Currently the players are seeking passage on an airship. They need to cross a magical river that is much to treacherous for any normal boat. So they went to the docks and consulted with the crew. While I was role playing the captain one of the players turned to the rest of party and said, “alright here’s the plan. We let them sail us over the river. Then we kill the crew and take over the airship. Then we can fly straight to (My villains) lair.” Keep in mind that they are level 4 and my villian is a CR17 Death Knight.
So I consulted the internet (the most logical thing to do) and people said that they need to be punished for their actions. So basically the entire crew is made up of veteran soldiers (using the veteran stat block) with 10 of them they should be able to easily overpower the party. The players have already planned their attack... lock almost all the soldiers below decks while taking on the few above decks. Eventually the ones below will break free and when they do it will be ugly. A few of them will try to grapple one of the players and tie to them up. If they retaliate they get thrown off the ship. This brings us to the mechanic that we’re here for in the first place: falling.
reading through the PHB it’s important to realize that falling damage maxes out at 20d6 damage, or 200 feet. A normal blimp cruises at about 1500 feet. This is a safe estimation to about where an airship would fly. So if falling damage wouldn't cap then you would be taking 150d6 damage from that fall. But honestly if I tell my players you instantly die no roll required (because you just swan dived from a frickin blimp) they’re going to argue that technically they only take 20d6 damage and that I could technically roll 20 1s so Technically they could survive with 1 hp.
I know I’m the DM and I can tell them to die and they will, but anyone else think it’s odd that a player can only take 20d6 damage from ANY fall in the world. Imagine having fire immunity then jumping naked from space to earth and only taking 20d6 damage. If you are a higher level martial class (say barbarian) you can easily soak up a max of 120 hp. And since you have fire immunity you can’t be harmed from burning up in the atmosphere.
Anyways should I just say screw it and tell a player they instantly become “one with the ground” or should I stick to the rules?
The reason it's capped is because no one likes insta-kill effects. Getting rid of most of them was one of the big changes in 4e and 5e. Also, while unlikely, people have survived long falls without parachutes in real life. I would use the normal damage. If they are level 4 they are unlikely to survive 20d6, but what's the worst that happens if they do? They are on the ground severely wounded with an airship leaving them behind. You could finish them off with a creature on the ground (you land in the middle of a pack of lions) but that feels cruel and will piss them off.
The point us to teach them a lesson, not necessarily kill them. If they survive, then they hopefully learned something. If they didn't, kill them the next time they do something stupid. Or let them go get killed by the Death Knight. You can also just try talking to them. If you are not having fun with a group of murder hobos, tell them that and see if they are interested in more roleplaying. If not it might be time to find a different group.
Also, probably best to plan for the captain and crew to have some escape plan which includes destroying the airship. They pull a lever and some section of the ship breaks free and parachutes/glides to safety, while simultaneously igniting the gunpowder stores on board: it's for use in emergency crash or storm situations, but also in case of deadly sky pirate attacks, and it seems these murder-hobos have just turned sky pirate.
Additionally, clearly no one will ever agree to take them in a passenger vessel of any sort once word of this treachery gets out.
Nice. Like a giant GTFO button for the crew. I like that. Then my players would have to learn to fly an airship while crashing an airship at the same time. I don’t think I’ll kill them personally. Making one giant self destruct button to TPK the party seems like a jerk move as a DM. I’ll let them Crash the ship, potentially killing theselves at the same time. If they do make, they will be in hostile territory, lost and confused. (Especially since there is no ranger)
I’m trying to indirectly tell them to never be murder hobos again. Hopefully reminding them that their actions can have severe consequences will do it.
I'd roll 20d6 and plan on them all surviving the fall. Of course they won't have a lot of their equipment and supplies because their plan was to take over, not jump, and they'll be in wilderness where they're going to face a wilderness adventure with all sorts of opportunities to starve, not heal, go without sleep, and use up all of their resources. If you're feeling particularly evil you can have them land on an island in the middle of the river that can't be crossed by boat.
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Well that and there is such a thing as terminal velocity.
Also keep in mind the DMG has optional rules for massive damage and lingering injuries that you can use to add consequences beyond "you take X damage" to extreme situations like these.
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