"Ive fallen and i went splat"..

[garhkal]

Over on one of my adnd sites we are having 2 separate threads discussing falling from great highs and damage related to it.
In both 2e main and 2e revised, falling damage caps out at 9d of damage for 51 or more meters..

Who has ever HAD anyone even fall that far? Did the pc survive??
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Pel]

Not to get into any sort of physics here, but this is survivable:

A well-armored Wookiee, Barabel, or other resilient species could survive with one or two wounds (9D falling vs. 7D (Str+2D) resistance). More squishy beings could pop a Force Point to achieve about the same result. Jedi could hurl TK at the ground to soften the impact, or steer themselves into something less solid (well-watered Askajian, passing Hutt, etc.).

I find it interesting that falling 51+ meters is worse than heavy repeater damage, but still less lethal than a thermal detonator to the face.
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Aha!

[garhkal]

[Naaman]

I dont know much about 2e DnD, but 9d6 damage translates a lot differently than "9D" damage doea in D6 Star Wars. Is this apples to oranges here?

On the other hand, dor distances that are supposed to be lethal, I wouldnt even give the player a roll i they failed to avoif the impact somehow. Spend your FPs and CPs trying not to land on the ground (grab a branch, use the Force, etc).

[Pel]

This is pure SWRPG. Falling damage is on p. 112 of R&E.

The 1E GM screen lists falling damage as follows:

3-6m: 3D
7-12m: 4D
13-18m: 5D
19-30m: 6D
31-50m: 8D
51+m: 10D

So somewhere between the original & 2nd Ed. WEG decided the upper end of falling damage was too lethal? Maybe their playtesting involved base jumping and mishap rolls.
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Aha!

[garhkal]

[Naaman]

A couple of possible soluutions:

Armor doesnt protect against falls....

Terminal Velocity requores no damage roll (character dies on impact, no roll)...

Falls of x distance or greater roll damage, but are treated like a "critical hit" (for example rolling damage as if a head shot, or rolling damage using th RoE rules and àssuming that the "to hit" roll of the fall is x over the "dodge"roll for every y meters fallen, thereby increasing damage).

Falling damage is equal to the character's Str (i.e. his "mass") pluse velocity (distance). "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." So you'd add the character's str to the fall damage or nerf the fall damage by 3D and then add in the character's strength, so a wookiee falling 51m would take 11D damage and a human (2Dstr) would take 8D damage.

[garhkal]

I like that 'armor does not protect' angle.. And the suggestion the USERS str also has an impact.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Pel]

I think it's a lot easier to just say 'and you plummet to your death, creating a surprisingly unimpressive crater upon impact'. No rolls, no hand-wringing, just a straight common sense approach.

Keep the falling rules (honestly, how often are characters going to fall more than 50 meters and expect to have any shot at surviving?) and see what shakes out. If your players work with you, then reciprocate. If they see a gap in the rules and exploit it ad nauseum, tighten up the rule or impose die caps after 20 meters or so (scaling up to speeder and then walker scale damage).

Maybe (and this may be the whiskey talking) the designers figured anything beyond 51 meters and the GM would just call it autodeath. Or maybe they just missed that one. Even money.
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Aha!

[Naaman]

We do see some pretty epic falls in SW, to be honest, though.

But I agree: fall x distance= dead.

Although I do like to allow a roll to prevent the fall or at least reduce the danger.

[garhkal]