I'm sure this has been discussed but why is it that apprently the falling damage rules are so retarded? My Space Marine is supposed to survive a droppod where other, lesser beings will be minced yet I get a boo-boo from falling a single metre? Seriously?

The good thing is at least a marine has unnatural toughness (and I'm fairly certain you still use TB in reducing fall damage).

Its bad enough in Dark Heresy. I house ruled in my DH game that you just remove the D10 component from it. Sure that removes some of the random nature of the damage, but it prevents death from a minor fall (sure they could fall and break their neck, but thats not very heroic). If this is applied to DW, a marine can fall like at least 8m before taking a single wound, which is reasonably far.

That is reasonably far but again, you're supposed to be able to take the shock and inertia of a droppod hurtling into the planet, then act like it was a shuttle coming to a slow halt.

The4th1 said:

The4th1 said:

Keep in mind a few things. You'll only take any damage at all from a one meter fall if you're very unlucky, inexperienced, and/or just have a bad Toughness. The members of my party almost all had a TB of 10 by Rank 2. With that, it takes a perfect roll of 10 to do a single point of damage - it basically represents the small chance you have of falling awkwardly. And it's only for falling, since players can jump down that distance safely. A normal person falling one or two meters will usually at least get a bruise or scrape out of it, and they can even break something if they land wrong. A Space Marine will almost always be unscathed and in the worst case will still barely be injured.

With the drop pod scenario, aren't SMs usually strapped in to avoid being slammed to the ground by the pod slowing down (and thus taking damage)? I know that's what I've seen in the books I've read where it's mentioned, and even the Extraction scenario mentioned the group using crash harnesses when they exit the drop pod.

Even so, the forces present would still be enough to mince anyone not superhuman genetically enhanced in super-duper awesome special armour.

Anyway this is deviating from the point, I still find the ruling ridiculous. Wounds are supposed to be representative of damage significant enough to harm the character. I really don't understand how a metre of falling can affect a Space Marine, of all things.

The4th1 said:

Climb up one meter and go limp. Probably at least 9 out of 10 times, you'll come out of the fall with some noticeable injury. It might be a bruise, it might be a concussion, but you'll feel it. Your basic, new-to-the-Deathwatch Space Marine can do that same thing and walk away unscratched more than half of the time. The other times? Maybe he struck his head when he hit. Maybe his ankle landed awkwardly and twisted. Yet, even in those situations he'll hardly feel it whereas you could wind up in the hospital or even dead, in the worst case. And, after some XP-spending, he'll reach a point where even a few meters can't hurt him unless he's falling on spikes or something.

I can understand your viewpoint, but I guess I'm just really not bothered by it having seen how rough DH was on characters falling. One of the first modules my group ran featured my Assassin jumping over a hole in a cave and the rest of the group plunging to their near-deaths in the same hole that was only a few meters deep. There was a little GM-fudging or two of the characters would have actually died when people kept falling on each other trying to jump/climb out of the hole.

The4th1 said:

Again, we're talking about a totally uncontrolled fall. IRL, you can break a bone this way, or even die if you're extremely unlucky. Now consider this:

An average human in 40k has TB 3 and ~10 Wounds. A fall from 1m deals d10+1 damage. This gives us the following results:

On a roll of 1-2, nothing at all happens.

On a roll of 3-8, he's lightly wounded and will recover completely in a few days, much quicker with even basic medical attention.

On a roll of 9-10, he's heavily wounded, but still pretty far from going into critical damage.

And that's it. No chance of broken bones, no chance of concussion, heck, no chance of sprained ankle. It's pretty mild compared to reality.

An uncontrolled fall from 1 metre isn't going to anything, though unless you're an old coot then what the hell are you doing in the galaxy of 40k where even a metre fall can kill you?

The4th1 said:

Actually, wounds are more like "Hero points" losing them doesn't do anything to you, other than reduce the buffer you have until Critical Damage, and then those ARE significant wounds.

Oh right well in that case you kind of look like a dumbass if you're a space marine and you TRIP. So I guess in that sense it makes sense

You're a space marine, why would a metre fall affect you when you can shrug off the effects of speeding-towards-the-surface-in-an-accelerating-then-rapidly deaccelerate-crashing pod?

G-Forces are not the same as whacking your head on a sidewalk.

No, g-forces will leave your insides crushed. Banging your head on the sidewalk is just that.

One uses crash nets and inertial dampeners - the other uses your skull.

You do know that people over 7 feet tall, in real life, can die from tripping and hitting their head, right? It's due to their height meaning they gain enough speed to severely hurt themselves - that Space Marines just get a bruise shows they're hardarses.

Of course, you can keep whining, but we've told you why it's like it is - like it or lump it

Also remember that you should only use falling damage when it would be appropriate. People can hurt themselves surprisingly seriously from small falls (and a fall of 1m means your feet were 1m above ground. Your skull, the most likely source of serious injury, is between 1 and 2 metres higher than that again), but you don't roll damage every time they descend 1 metre without stairs.

It would only be worthwhile if they fall 1 metre in an uncontrolled fashion, ie, tripping big time (but when is that going to happen in a purely accidental fashion? "Please make you walking roll" "Bugger, Critical Fail!"), falling unconscious in a precarious position (for god knows what reason) and being dropped by someone (and who is going to try to drop you to your death at 1m?). Dropping down normally 1 metre isn't worth rolling for in any circumstance.

borithan said:

An example of this would be falling off of a subway platform onto the rails.

As has been said, a 1 meter fall does not represent tripping.

And for falling one meter, if you turn over during the fall, your head is basically moving 3 meters due to height!

The first thing to remember is the the fact that those rules are for accidental fall only like a floor collapsing under foot, booby trap unseen, or a run on a cable at a good height that turns wrong for the 100 roll on Ag test... the point is that your marine are so rarely being in this case that the rule could be even harsher who cares.

When a KT is in mission and ask for perception test for danger or even if the GM is calling the roll player will avoid such traps and see the bad shape of the floor. Maybe even a tactical roll by the KT for judging a battlefield will permit them to use those rules against the NPC with traps and luring them in the place they want., and for the running a miss step and roll acrobatics for grappling anything before or in fall, lower damage.

borithan said:

"Alright, the Chaos Marine is going to use his Pile-Driver Talent."

1. The Errata clarified that falling damage is 1d10 for the first meter and +1 for each additional meter. I know this has been said, but there is enough confusion it bears repeating.

2. I prefer a larger than life epic and cinematic approach to Deathwatch, as do my power-ga... er, players. So I have made falling damage primitive and effected by armor. This means that pit traps are no longer a save or die effect, it also means that I have my Space Marines doing flying leaps more often, and smashing into the ground from a low flying Thunderhawk for insertion. After all, they can drop 20-30 meters with little to no chance of injury using this mechanic. That is a couple of stories. This lends a more Matrix Agent-style land and smash the stone pavement beneath your feet and keep on trucking visual that I much prefer.