I thought it was 1d6 per 100 feet, but that may actually come from Holmes or elsewhere. Searching through Vol 3, I only found two references to falling damage.
Page 6:
"Falling into the pit would typically cause damage if a 1 or a 2 were rolled. Otherwise, it would only mean about one turn of time to clamber out, providing the character had spikes or associates to pull him out, and providing the pit wasn't one with a snap-shut door and the victim was alone."and Page 7:
"For example, there is no question that a player's character could easily be killed by falling into a pit thirty feet deep or into a shallow pit filled with poisoned spikes, and this is quite undesirable in most instances."There doesn't appear to be any specification of deeper pits doing more damage, so perhaps 1d6 + saving vs. death or injury, as suggested here, is completely appropriate.
Does any know of a passage I missed?
I do not believe that the LBBs provide any formula for the damage caused by falling into a pit, leaving it to the referee to decide. The same is true of Holmes, FWIW.
ReplyDeleteVolume 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, page 27, "Crash":
ReplyDelete"For every 1" of height throw one six-sided die for damage occurring from the fall, i.e. a fall from 12" means twelve dice must be rolled and their total scored as points of damage incurred."
I should've pointed out that the rule is from the aerial combat section, but the equation works equally well for falling in pits.
ReplyDeleteAnd 1" = 10 yards or 30 feet outside, no?
ReplyDeleteSo pits should do 1d6 damage per 30 feet. Which would fit in with rolling for damage (1d6) only one third of the time (1 or 2 on a d6) for a 10 foot deep pit (a standard pit?).
I have always thought that 1d6 per 10 feet is ridiculously high. In the real world, a fall of 10 feet is not fatal 50% of the time!
And 1" = 10 yards or 30 feet outside, no?
ReplyDeleteSo pits should do 1d6 damage per 30 feet.
Well of course the rules say: "In the underworld all distances are in feet, so wherever distances are given in inches convert them to tens of feet." - which means a 1" pit in a dungeon is 10 feet deep, not 30 feet, but you have no argument from me over the real life effects of a 10' fall. I guess once you hit 20'+, it all balances out.
So, the mechanic originated with the aerial combat rules, but became officially linked to falling into a pit with the PHB? Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering why the 2/3 chance to avoid damage was dropped, though.