Does anyone else find falling damage somewhat excessive?
During our last session the Psyker rolled "Falling upwards" and sent the entire party 10m upwards which is 1d10 + 7 damage that ignores armour. Should falling 10m really be worse than a boltgun shot or plasma blast?
In the end I simply halved the damage (for the players), the alternative was a probable TPK, while the fall splatted two of the Orks they were in combat with.
no fall damage is not excessive. falls account for a significant number of workplace accidents. a fall from a height of 6 feet can kill an adult...same as a bolter shell. a fall of 10m equals just over 30 feet, close to 33 feet.
After careful consideration along with looking at a few buildings and stairwells I came to the conclusion that the falling damage table is about right so long as you use the distance fallen as a lower bound.
The falling upward power is **** dangerous though, I usually make it D5 metres in my games.
Well if they land on their feet, they migh break a leg; if they land on their head, roll a new character. But simulating that in game would be tricky.
not really. it can be a judgement by the GM or a simple die roll...use the location hit table in the DHRC...have the Acolyte roll on that..if he/she rolls any of the leg locations assume he landed on his feet, and suffered leg damage , limiting the ability to run , jump, leap etc....any other location..i add STUN...1 round for every 2 meters fallen...harsh yes... i've taken quite a tumble off a rock face years back..and i can tell u...I WAS STUNNED....for much longer than 1 round per meter
Edith The Hutt said:
This was our first exposure to the falling rules in DH and from a minor psyker 'oops' it did seem overly harsh to wipe out the entire party. On the other hand if the ceiling had been a bit lower the damage wouldn't have been as bad.
Given this taster of falling it would be fun to see if any of the party attempt to push an Ork down a mine shaft.
10m is 30 feet.
You're lucky if you fall 15 feet and don't break anything.
DarkPrimus said:
10m is 30 feet.
You're lucky if you fall 15 feet and don't break anything.
It always disturbs me how bad my sense of scale seems to be. A 30ft is indeed not something to be dismissed as trivial.
If the distance had been reduced to something like 3-4m (9-12ft), probably more akin to what I had envisioned in my head (large machine-bored mine shafts), would the players have had to take damage from hitting the ceiling? From the description, the ascent seems somewhat more gentle than the inevitable fall that results, so I would have thought not.
Maybe make Catfall a basic skill to allow everyone at least some chance of mitigation for everyone?
on the other extreme, the sound con buffed gaurdsman with a lucky roll on the divination table in my party has 21 wounds with 50 toughness. Which means that technically, since the damage table caps at 1d10+20 for falling(i'm assuming the writers figured that's how much maximum fall speed will do) said guardsman can:
a.) fall from orbit(disregarding atmospheric friction burn) land on his head with maximum fall damage and get back up a round later after the stun wears off
b.) take the minimum damage from that same fall, still be at 5 wounds, and go smack someone nearby with his sword right after.
course the DM stopped our plan to the guardsman onto enemy tanks for realism's sake, but just an interesting side note XD. Though at the other end of the table, falling damage does rack up fairly fast at distances many ordinary people can easily fall without getting hurt.
Khouri said:
Does anyone else find falling damage somewhat excessive?
During our last session the Psyker rolled "Falling upwards" and sent the entire party 10m upwards which is 1d10 + 7 damage that ignores armour. Should falling 10m really be worse than a boltgun shot or plasma blast?
Well, due to the complexity of comparing the physics between a 10 metre fall and a boltgun shot im not even going to try. But as for the "ignores armour" part of falling damage I'd say that it's accurate. If you fall from a great height then armour will probably just make the falling worse if it isn't specifically cushioned to absorb that kind of damage.
While armour might be cushioned in such a way as not to be too uncomfortable to wear, im not sure the cushioning is so extensive as to provide proper absorption of a 10 metre fall. Hence, the extra weight will probably just work against the wearer instead of protecting him/her.