Talk:Falling Damage

New Adjustment

I'm thinking right now, intoxicated, watching Labyrinth… and there should be a rewrite of these rules so that soft landing surfaces (e.g. snow, soft earth) or impediments to your fall (e.g. trees, awnings, glass, thatched roofs) is what offers you the knockout penalties. And only up to a certain height.

Lots of people die after a fall of 16 feet.

NASA says 40 feet is about the beginning of the "assured death" zone.

LD50 states that 50% of fall victims die from a height of 48 ft. A fall of 50 to 60 feet will kill almost anyone.

Really, anything over 100 feet is too much for mortals to survive. But this game doesn't have just mortals, does it?

Other ideas

• A Guard Roll against a DL for the landing surface. Success means half damage.
  • This doesn't really sit right. I don't thing there's anything else in the system that halves damage. Okay, after just looking it up, there's two elemental offense spells that offer half damage in case the target is immune to the attacking element, so there seems to be precedent.
• For every 10 feet, you take 1d10 + your Size in damage. When you have more mass, you hit harder. Let's say 5 + your Size without the GM rolling a shitload of d10s.
• Double damage for hard surfaces, half damage for soft surfaces

What about Knockout Track penalties?

Completed

• For every 5 points of the Gymnastics check, subtract 5 feet from the distance fallen (e.g. if you fell 70 feet, you could subtract 20 feet with a Gymnastics check of 22).
• For every 5 points of the Guard check, subtract up to 10 feet from the remaining distance in exchange for one stage on the Knockout Track. You cannot subtract more than half of the remaining distance (e.g. if you fell 50 feet, you could subtract 25 feet in exchange for 3 stages down the Knockout Track with a Guard check of 15 or higher).
• Use the remaining distance to calculate the damage you take.
• For every 5 feet, you take 5 points of damage.
• For every 10 feet, you also take damage equal to your Size.
• If you land on a soft surface, you take half damage.

Step	Example
For every 5 points of the Gymnastics check, subtract 5 feet from the distance fallen	You fall 70 feet. You make a Gymnastics check of 22. You can subtract 20 feet.
For every 5 points of the Guard check, subtract up to 10 feet from the remaining distance in exchange for one stage on the Knockout Track. You cannot subtract more than half of the remaining distance. Once you reach stage 5 on the Knockout Track, you cannot deduct additional distance, no matter the total of the Guard check.	50 feet remain. You make a Guard check of 17. You can subtract 25 feet in exchange for 3 stages down the Knockout Track.
Use the remaining distance to calculate the damage you take.	25 feet remain.
For every 5 feet, you take 5 points of damage.	You take 25 damage.
For every 10 feet, you also take damage equal to your Size.	A human would take a total of 25 damage. A kulgeri would take a total of 27. A firna would take a total of 23.
If you land on a soft surface, you take half damage.	Falling onto a snowdrift, a human would take 13.