Falling Damage
Being high above the ground isn't bad for your health on its own, but falling over the ledge sure as hell is. If you drop from a great height, death may greet you at the bottom.
To calculate the damage sustained by a fall, take the distance your character falls in feet. You may make a Gymnastics check to soften your landing. The entire result of your Gymnastics check can be subtracted from the distance fallen. Next, you can make a Guard check (excluding any bonus from worn armor) to turn some of that distance into stages down the Knockout Track. For each 5 points of your Guard check (to a maximum of 25 points), you can subtract 10 feet from the distance fallen and move one stage down the Knockout Track. Anything left over comes right out of your HP. See the Guard and Gymnastics skills in Chapter 6 for more details.
Drinnin and Skorna are knocked from a cliff ledge 90 feet above a rocky beach.
Shrieking and flailing, Drinnin rolls 16 for Gymnastics. He's left with 74. He crits for a whopping 35 on his Guard Roll. Since he made over 25, this converts 50 feet into 5 steps down the Knockout Track. 24 remains, which he takes as damage. Drinnin smacks into the rocks below, knocked out cold, but clinging onto life with 6 HP. Skorna, on the other hand, rolls 20 for Gymnastics. She's left with 70. She makes 19 on her Guard Roll. This converts 30 feet into 3 steps down the Knockout Track. 40 remains. Sadly, Skorna only has 30 HP, so she hits the rocks like a trashbag full of ham. |