What I'm thinking is this:
- Falling characters take 1d6 damage per 10' per 10' fallen — i.e. 1d6 for the first 10', plus 2d6 for the second 10', plus 3d6 for the third, and so on — up to a maximum of 20d6 (terminal velocity).
- Falling (or fallen) characters are concussed for one Turn per point of damage over their level. They will be seeing double, will probably puke if they attempt any vigorous activity (or even no activity), and all their die rolls will be at minus 1 per Turn of concussion remaining. For example, a level 5 character who takes 10 points of falling damage will be concussed for 5 Turns, and will be at -5 to everything the first Turn, at -4 the second, -3 the next, and so on.
- A character who takes more falling damage than their level plus CON score is knocked out; the duration of unconsciousness is up to the DM, but when they wake up they will be concussed (as above) for at least a day.
Hopefully this will make falling dangerous enough to make players wary of suffering it, but not so dangerous the campaign will be littered with more broken and splattered corpses than is fun.
I'm tempted to allow a saving throw to halve falling damage, just because I think almost anything should allow some chance at mitigation. If so, I'd probably make the save at -1 per die of damage taken after the first, or something like that. Or maybe you get to knock off one die of damage for every point you make the save by... that might be better than a flat halving.
*His name was Smirnoff. He was one of my very first D&D characters, and had practically no skills except taking damage and dishing it out in vast amounts.
I like it, Peter!
ReplyDeleteAllan.
I've played with a save after a fall; laying at the bottom of a 60' drop for a few rounds while the monsters you were fleeing pepper you with missiles isn't an attractive escape. So it works in making drops and high places risky.
ReplyDeleteYes, this could work, way better than the rules do now. I will definitely use this from now on, or at least something similar.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
I rather like the followup for being knocked out and concussed. I know the last time our group dealt with an incredible fall was when our party was trapped at the bottom of a 300 ft hollow. The fighter gave up on looking for an alternate escape and began climbing up with about two different times that he fell down, but a 16th level fighter in 3.5 is pretty damn sturdy. He got out eventually, and later died in the next monster encounter from a lack of hit points.
ReplyDeleteMight have still been alive if we could have kept the battered man bed-ridden for at least a day. Haha!