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Hi everybody:
So, my party of 5th level PCs was getting beaten up by a gargoyle the other day. The Druid, Ranger, and Wizard were standing on a catwalk 30 ft above a cavern floor. The gargoyle had knocked the Paladin off the edge and the two were engaged on the cavern floor. The Druid then declared that he was going to use Tree Shape to transform into a tree and attempt to fall onto the gargoyle.
I had him make a ranged touch attack (using his normal Dex since he was "aiming" himself before he actually transformed) against the gargoyle, and he hit. I couldn't decide what to do for damage (a tree levering downwards from 30 feet above), so I had him do 8d6, which is the listed damage for a cave-in, IIRC. Then, since the Paladin was adjacent to the gargoyle (and the Druid was a Large tree) I had the Paladin make a Reflex save DC 15, which he failed, so I made him take full damage from the tree as well.
My reading of Tree Shape does not prohibit this use of the spell in any way, and I don't necessarily want to prohibit it myself (although I will if it begins to affect encounter balance). I'm just wondering if there is an easier way to resolve the attack.
Thoughts?
I would use the rules for dealing damage with a falling object
Object Size Damage
Small 2d6
Medium 3d6
Large 4d6
Huge 6d6
Gargantuan 8d6
Colossal 10d6
Just as characters take damage when they fall more than 10 feet, so too do they take damage when they are hit by falling objects.
Objects that fall upon characters deal damage based on their size and the distance they have fallen. Table: Damage from Falling Objects determines the amount of damage dealt by an object based on its size. Note that this assumes that the object is made of dense, heavy material, such as stone. Objects made of lighter materials might deal as little as half the listed damage, subject to GM discretion. For example, a Huge boulder that hits a character deals 6d6 points of damage, whereas a Huge wooden wagon might deal only 3d6 damage. In addition, if an object falls less than 30 feet, it deals half the listed damage. If an object falls more than 150 feet, it deals double the listed damage. Note that a falling object takes the same amount of damage as it deals.
Dropping an object on a creature requires a ranged touch attack. Such attacks generally have a range increment of 20 feet. If an object falls on a creature (instead of being thrown), that creature can make a DC 15 Reflex save to halve the damage if he is aware of the object. Falling objects that are part of a trap use the trap rules instead of these general guidelines.
I would consider the attack to be the same as "dropping an object"(ranged touch attack) for the target, but count it as "object falls on a creature"(DC 15 Reflex save) for people in the "splash" area. Remember to deal damage to the falling character as well.
Thus a huge falling tree would deal 3d6 damage from a height of 30ft.
No problemo. However I notice that tree shape makes you a Large tree, so it would only do 2d6 damage to the target, while taking 3d6 damage itself. I would apply the hardness of Wood (5) to the damage taken.
I suppose you could. I just figure a wooden wagon is a pretty heavy wooden object. Those are usually going to be made of as much wood as a comparative huge tree, except missing the smaller branches and leaves.
Then again an empty wooden wagon is about 2,600 lbs compared to a treant which is 4,500 lbs. That's a giant sentient tree so I'm not sure you can compare it to all huge trees.
So if you turn into a tree made of wood that is large and somehow weighs ~2,600lb.s then I guess you'd deal 4d6.
It's kind of DM desecration. Reality does not always help with D&D, but sometimes it's useful.
[ref.]Weight of a wagon. <-not the most accurate but....you find a weight for a wagon online!
[ref.]Weight of a treant.