Falling Damage, Some Questions

[Lihmal]

Hi,

For calculating the falling damage, the rule book says on p. 82 "4D6 points of damage to four random locations" for 16 to 20 m, and "+1D6 damage" for each 5 m beyond.
My questions are:

1) "4D6 points of damage to four random locations" means i) 4D6 damage for EACH random location, e. g. 4D6 on breast, 4D6 on left arm, ...? Or ii) 1D6 for each location, makes 4D6 altogether? If i) would be the case, doubling the falling distance (= doubling the potential energy of the body) from 10 to 20 m would quadruple the total damage (higher damage per hit location and more hit locations) which is physically absurd. So ii) should be correct? This leads to my second question ...

2) Each 5 m beyond 20 m height is "+1D6 damage", but independent from the height, still only to four random locations? I would assume, that if a character falls approx. 200 m, it's rather unlikely that accidentally only both arms and legs are shattered, while the head, breast and abdomen are still unhurt. On the other hand, "+1D6 damage" and "+ 1 random location" for each 5 m beyond 20 m would very probably shatter the entire body, but also mean that doubling the distance again quadruples the damage. Thus it would be more reasonable if only the number of random hit locations increases with falling distance, but each time a hit location is rolled, only 1D6 is applied. For example, a falling distance of 50 m means each 1D6 applied to 10 random hit location, e. g. 2D6 on head, 1D6 on left arm, 2D6 on right arm, 3D6 on breast, 2D6 on left leg. This would coincide with 1) ii) and result in comparable realistic damage.

3) Why do armour points not reduce falling damage? The reason why I wear a bicycle helmet is that I hope that it reduces the damage in case of an accident ... of course, plate will be much more effective than chainmail against falling damage, but this also holds for combat.

4) By the way: The speed of an object falling does not increase to infinity but saturates when the force of atmospheric friction compensates the gravitational force. A standard human falling "saturates" at approx. 200 km/h after 6 - 7 seconds, corresponding to 200 m fallen distance, a higher falling distance will neither increase speed nor damage. Thus it's not more dangerous to fall 2 miles or 200 m, it just gives you more time thinking about near future ...

Thank you for any comments!

 

[soltakss]

1. The 4D6 is from the fall, the 4 hit locations determine what parts are hurt by the fall
2. Falling 50m does 2D6 to the head etc? That's way too low. Don't forget that Legend has no concept of General Hit Points, so you can take lots of damage to all locations and survive. I read it as +1D6 damage to each of the locations, rolled for every location, so one might take 4 and another might take 24.
3. To a certain extent, armour might protect, but falling bashes the armour against the location anyway. A bicycle helmet is designed to absorb impact, because of the foam interior. If you had a full helm on then things might be different as it would transmit the damage to your head. Also, armour spells such as Protection largely negate falling damage, making it possible to leap off a 50m wall and walk away almost unharmed.
4. Yes, there should be a limit of ((200 - 20) /5 + 4) D6, giving a maximum of 40D6, average 140 damage. Anything more than that isn't worth calculating. Having said that, if you can survive taking 140 damage to 4 locations then you don;t need to worry about extra damage from falling further.

 

[Lihmal]

Hi,

thank you for your fast reply! However, I have to admit that I'm still not sure how to calculate the falling damage:

* Falling 12 m means each 1D6 damage to 3 random locations (which could result in e. g. 1D6 on head, 1D6 on left leg, and 1D6 on right arm - or even 3D6 on head if 3 x head is rolled as location), or each 3D6 damage to 3 random locations (which could result in e. g. 3D6 on head, 3D6 on left leg, and 3D6 on right arm - or even 9D6 on head if 3 x head is rolled as location)?

and for falling distances exceeding 20 m ...

* Falling 50 m means each 1D6 damage to 10 random locations, or each 10D6 damage to 10 (or 4?) random locations? Does "+1D6 for each 5 m" mean that for any distance fallen only 4 locations are rolled, but the damage per location increases by 1D6 for each 5 m? Or does the number of random locations increase by one per 5 m, and for erach rolled location 1D6 damage is applied?

Let's make an example for 50 m falling distance (= "10D6" from the table), which option would you use:

A) 10D6 for each of 4 random locations: 10D6 on head, 10D6 on breast, 10D6 on left arm, 10D10 in right arm

B) 1D6 for each of 10 random locations, e. g.: 3D6 on head, 1D6 on breast, 2D6 on left leg, 1D6 on right leg, 2D6 on right arm, 1D6 on left arm

I'm afraid I don't catch that ... Thank you!

 

[soltakss]

I have just rechecked the Legend rules.

Falling 12m should do 3D6 damage to 3 random locations, so that means you roll 3D6 against 3 locations. Whether you roll each roll separately or roll once and apply to all locations is up to you.

So, Soltak Stormspear falls 12m and takes 3D6 to his right arm, abdomen and right leg, clearly he landed on his side. The GM rolls 10, 12 and 5, so he takes the damage to those locations.

Every +5m adds 1D6 damage, so falling 15m means 4D6 to 3 random locations.

Falling 50m means 10D6 damage to 3 random locations.

That's how I normally play the Falling Rules.

I also let an Acrobatics roll halve the effective distance fallen and a Critical roll means the Adventurer chooses the random locations. I let an Athletics roll choose one location and a Critical choose two locations.