This is probably the one you are thinking of. Sounds like she was able to walk away.
Juliane Köpcke survived a long free fall resulting from the December 24, 1971, crash of LANSA Flight 508 (a LANSA Lockheed Electra OB-R-941 commercial airliner) in the Peruvian rainforest. The airplane was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm and exploded in mid air, disintegrating two miles up. Köpcke, who was 17 years old at the time, fell to earth still strapped into her seat. She survived the fall with only a broken collarbone, a gash to her right arm, and her right eye swollen shut.[8]
Yes, one can survive an impact at 180 km/h.
But not reliably and regularly. The 200 hp char survives 100 out of 100 falls from 300 ft if he is unharmed beforehand. Humans in this world will have a survival chance less than 10%, maybe even far less.And the fall distance is irrelevant at some point, because you will reach a maximum speed due to air friction, around 180 km/h.
Beowulf spent hours underwater searching for Grendel's lair without coming up for hour. How utterly unrealistic!
This is probably the one you are thinking of. Sounds like she was able to walk away.
Juliane Köpcke survived a long free fall resulting from the December 24, 1971, crash of LANSA Flight 508 (a LANSA Lockheed Electra OB-R-941 commercial airliner) in the Peruvian rainforest. The airplane was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm and exploded in mid air, disintegrating two miles up. Köpcke, who was 17 years old at the time, fell to earth still strapped into her seat. She survived the fall with only a broken collarbone, a gash to her right arm, and her right eye swollen shut.[8]
Yes, one can survive an impact at 180 km/h.
But not reliably and regularly. The 200 hp char survives 100 out of 100 falls from 300 ft if he is unharmed beforehand. Humans in this world will have a survival chance less than 10%, maybe even far less.And the fall distance is irrelevant at some point, because you will reach a maximum speed due to air friction, around 180 km/h.
You might need to adjust your frame of reality. Einstein was a 5th level expert... And in our reality, the maximum level character is around level 5. A level 5 barbarian with max HP + 18 con has 80 HP. That is the absolute maximum HP you would see in our world. Most of these totally buffed out Professional MMA types would be around 60ish HP. Average damage from a 200 foot fall is 70. When you start talking about character with 200 HP, you are talking about character that is literally superhuman by our standards.
Cool idea or not? Check this out...
So I read most of the posts on this thread and it got me thinking. The text below is a letter I just wrote to two of my friends who are both players in my group. I figured I would share with everyone here and get your opinions.
"As you probably already know...
A 200' fall off a cliff only does 20d6 damage. That's an average of 3.5 x 20 = 70 points of damage. You could make it a 10,000' fall but it doesn't matter because right now Pathfinder says it caps out at 20d6.
Almost any high-level melee-based character will be able to survive that fall and walk away laughing.
Any 10th level fighter with average hit points and a 14 con (5.5 hp/level +2 for con = 75 HPs at level 10) will survive the average damage from a 20d6 fall.
I find this terribly frustrating. I do realize we're playing a "game" set in a "fantasy" world but this falling mechanic really bothers me. I'm the DM, I want things to be dramatic and exciting. There is no fear of falling if you can't die from the damage. The dramatic scene where the PCs right on the swing rope bridge across the chasm, or dance across the tops of the cathedral dueling bad guys would be more exciting if there was actual risk.
So what do you think about this idea.
Fall height:
0-20' (1d6 per 10' fallen, example:20'fall = 7 avg dam, 12 max)
21-40 (1d8 per 10' fallen, example: 40' fall = 18 avg, 32 max)
41-60 (1d10 per 10' fallen, ex: 60' fall = 33 avg, 60 max)
61-100' (2d6 per 10' fallen, ex: 100'= 20d6 = avg. 70 damage)
101'-200' (2d8 per 10' fallen, ex: 200'= 40d8 = 180 avg. )
200'-300' (3d6 per 10', max @ 300' or 90d6 (avg 3.5*90= 315 damage))
FYI: Mathematically you could argue that a human-sized body doesn't actually reach its terminal velocity within 200 feet. Based on some not so simple math, dumbed down for us, humans don't reach terminal velocity until they have fallen 1,500-1,800 feet but I don't want to scale damage for that big of a drop. However, in the first 10 seconds you are falling about 350 meters (about 1,150 feet), scale that to one round of combat (6 seconds) and you are falling 700' feet in one round (unless you have wings or feather fall or something else that works as an immediate action).
Anyway, with the scale above, high-level PCs could/should still have a natural fear of falling because there is actual risk - at least at great heights. However, the risk isn't big enough. Melee PCs could still laugh off a fall from 60' high but in real life that would kill the vast majority of people. Or at least leave them severely injured with broken bones or worse. On the positive side, anyone with a good acrobatics check can still mitigate or lessen any short-distance falls and monks are just that much cooler if they're within arm's length of the wall (like Saturday morning KungFu used to be).
The game currently does not have a mechanic for unconsciousness and broken bones. While I don't want to create this concept I propose the following:
-Being knocked unconscious-
The new APG has an advanced rogue talent "knockout" that allows for a rogue to try and knock out a target with a sneak attack. The Fortitude DC to resistance this effect is 10+ 1/2 rogue level + Intelligence bonus. The rogue has to be minimum level ten so the minimum DC would be 15. I mention this just to give you something to reference.
A Fall's Chance to Knock you Unconscious =
Fort DC = 10+ number of Dice rolled for the fall (see scale above).
Failure means the creature is knocked out for number of rounds equal to the number of dice rolled for fall damage.
example: a 20' fall (that you somehow fail your acrobatics check on) would have a Fort DC of 12 or be knocked unconscious for 2 rounds since we rolled 2d6.
These are saving throws so a natural 1 always fails, 20 always succeeds.
A 40' fall (4d8) would have a Fort DC 14 or you're out for 4 rounds.
A 100' fall (20d6) would have a fort DC 30 or you're out for 20 rounds.
200' fall (40d8) = Fort DC 50 or you're unconscious for 40 rounds (4 minutes)
Now maybe there could be some sort of mechanic (saving throw) the fallen creature makes each round to reduce the time spent unconscious. Or maybe this idea works better if the creature is only knocked unconscious for half the number of dice rolled for damage (40' fall is 2 rounds, 100' fall is 10 rounds).
Currently, in our game, we do not play with the "death by massive damage" rule. I think we should bring back the "death by massive damage" mechanic but it only applies for falling damage. Essentially the shock to your system could kill you. Where should the line be drawn? Should we enact a fort save or die if you take more than 50% of your current health (or maximum health) from a fall? Maybe 75% of your health? Or maybe it should be if you take 100 points (or more) of falling damage, which means we would only see "save or die" fort saves on very rare occasions when steep falls are possibilities.
Bull rushing someone off a ledge in high-level play suddenly makes a lot more strategic sense if they might actually die or at least get knocked unconscious.
If we decided on the take 100 points of damage or more before making this kind of save then the absolutely minimum fall, with the new scale, would be a 90' drop if the damage rolled was very high but (since the scale changes at 100+) the average damage for a 120' drop is actually 108.
I'm thinking the Fort DC (or die) equals 15+ half the number of dice rolled for damage. Example: The big barbarian in our game, with a HUGE constitution, falls off a 100' cliff (20d6). The dice gods are angry and the damage is more than 100 points of damage. The fort DC or die is 15+10(half of 20) for a Fort DC 25. The big barbarian would have to roll a natural 1 to fail. On the other hand the average 15th level fighter has a fort save of +9. Add an 18 con (+4), plus a +3 resistance bonus and their saving throw is +16.
This 15th level fighter has a 70% chance of being knocked unconscious and they have a 45% chance of dying from a 100' plummet to the rocky ground. That's a lot more realistic. Again these are saves so a 1 always fails and 20 always succeeds. Thus the randomness of chance could let you live through massive fall.
A high con and +5 resistance bonus would certainly help! Or hanging out near a caster with feather fall.
I was also thinking that creatures that fall also have to make a Fort save or break something (like an arm, or a leg, or even their back). Depending on which bone is broken there would be a penalty (5' movement rate, paralyzed, penalty to attack, etc). This could be healed once half their falling damage has been cured. I'm thinking the DC is the same for getting knocked unconscious.
Example: A 40' fall (4d8) has a Fort DC 14 or break a bone.
A 100' fall (20d6) has a Fort DC 30 or break a bone.
Again, I totally realize we're playing a game, but this seems to add a lot more realism to hazards like fighting on a roofs, cliffs, etc.
What are your thoughts on this house rule idea?"
Discussing this with my brother he suggested you could just take 1 point of damage for ever 1 foot fallen and have some sort of fort save to reduce the damage (assuming you weren't using acrobactics to mitigage a low-level fall).
It's an interesting idea. I feel like Wotc and Pathfinders 1d6 per 10' and 20d6 cap was made for simplicity sake and not realism. The 1 damage per 1 foot is certainly simple but you'd have to play with the fort save DC scale to offer some sort of relief.
Anyway, I've decided to stick with the current game system's 1d6x10' and 20d6 cap for now but might work up a mechanic for possibly getting knocked unconscous from a serious fall.
Ladies and gentlemen, an often cited well thought out essay on DnD and physics.
Thanks, Anburaid. I really enjoyed reading that essay. Actually I think I read it a couple of years ago but it was nice to read it again. (looks like it was written in 2007).
So basically, based on the essay writer's opinion, anyone above 5th level is superhuman and anyone even close to level 15 or higher is close to being a demigod. Interesting. I guess I don't feel so bad about the incredible things my 15th level PCs are doing in my campaign.