|
We recently had a character who had an active fly spell on him grabbed while standing and then dropped by a Roc from near his nest a couple of thousand feet up. He kept failing his fly rolls to pull out of the fall.
Fly speed of 60ft suggests 120ft a round, however unable to fly suggests falling at speed of gravity = 600ft in round one and 1200ft in each subsequent round? (at terminal velocity)
So how fast does he fall?
Theres no fly check to start flying after being droped. You just start flying.
If you decide there should be one, then you certainly shouldn't be falling faster then you would if the spell ended (which is 60ft per round).
He doesn't fall at all. The check to pull out of a fall is only if you're flying using wings. Flying by use of the spell requires no check. You just start flying.
Gravity (our gravity atleast) pulls us down at a rate of 32 ft/s^2. That translates to a distance of 1152 ft in the first 6 second round.
But a roc dropping someone with a fly speed to me sounds like there shouldn't be a fly check at all. To me it sounds like the roc drops by letting go and letting gravity do the work. But a fly speed basically negates that. Now if the roc threw the person at the ground, that would be different.
But to answer your question, I'd say 1200ft in the first round would be the realistic answer. But I'm not a fan of realism being the judge. I'd go with the GM making a judgement call and moving on.
Gravity (our gravity atleast) pulls us down at a rate of 32 ft/s^2. That translates to a distance of 1152 ft in the first 6 second round.
It's actually about half of that: While you're travelling 193.2 ft/sec after six seconds, you started at zero, so the average speed of the fall is 96.6 ft/sec, resulting in travelling 579.6 feet in six seconds.
It's actually about half of that
Oh yea, I forgot to divide by 2. My bad. What Ross said.
A favorite tactic of mine in a game I played in was to dimension door straight up into the sky as far as possible, putting me out of range of most attacks, and cast fly the next round, as it'd take more than a full round to hit the ground. In retrospect, this would be better with use of feather fall.
It's actually about half of thatOh yea, I forgot to divide by 2. My bad. What Ross said.
What if it fell past an african swallow? Could a druid make a rushed animal empathy check to convince it to grip it by the stands of creeper holding it's armor together?
What if it fell past an african swallow?
It would depend on if it was carrying a coconut.
A favorite tactic of mine in a game I played in was to dimension door straight up into the sky as far as possible, putting me out of range of most attacks, and cast fly the next round, as it'd take more than a full round to hit the ground. In retrospect, this would be better with use of feather fall.
Ooph... I don't know if I'd try that sort of tactic without checking with the GM first. I think it'd be pretty reasonable to require a successful concentration check (perhaps with hefty penalties) to cast a spell while falling at terminal velocity. I certainly wouldn't bet my life on my ability to fish a material component out of a pouch and correctly intone an incantation in six seconds while caught in hurricane force winds (which is what a terminal velocity of 100+ mph feels like). And this tactic is supposed to get you out of danger? I think I'll take my chances on the ground. Thanks. =P
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
Reminds me of a fight that happened on a bridge 2000 ft. in the air.
I followed 600 1st round, 1200 the next. Luckily, the only PC to fall off was saved by the God of Griffions, who they had met earlier. Don't tell them, but I had rolled 1 on a D100 to see if something would save them. They had a very low chance.
It's actually about half of thatOh yea, I forgot to divide by 2. My bad. What Ross said.
But there is a little more to it. Air resistance slows things down a fair amount after the first couple seconds.
Before you hit the 193.2 ft/sec (~130mph) you hit Terminal Velocity which is about 120 mph for humans. Then you stop accelerating. Wouldn't make much difference in a 1 round fall, but could help in those mile long drops.
http://morefaq.com/science/35562.html
With air resistance, I think you drop about 1000ft. in a 6 second round.
So I would rule you fall 500ft. in the first round, then 1000ft. each additional round, unless you have better air resistance somehow.
EDIT: Actually, I can be a bit of a softy GM, and might rule that the air in the campaign world is 2X think, and this fall speeds are half...
As to the original case, I think you only drop like that (and have other risks) if you are using wings to fly.
Like others above me have stated, he wouldn't fall at all while the spell was active. He would just, fly. When the spell ended however is a different matter. According to the spell desciption on pg. 284 of the corebook, it states:
"Should the spell duration expire while the subject is still aloft, the magic fails slowly. The subject floats downward 60 feet per round for 1d6 rounds."
|
|
Why does it matter? (Are you asking how long it would take for him to hit or are you asking how much damage he should take or what do you want?)
Because if he fell at falling speed he has 2 or 3 rounds to make the fly roll before taking max damage. If he falls at flying speed he has 16 rounds to make the fly roll before taking _only_ 12d6 damage. He had a very low fly skill.
Where does it say that when under a fly spell you don't have to make a recovery roll or auto fly? We treated it as if it was a flying creature falling. Or should flying creatures fall slowly too (no obvious rules for this)?
As we couldn't find any reference it was ruled he fell at falling/gravity speed and he never made his fly roll. The "spell duration ends" is a specific event that doesn't occur.
Why does it matter? (Are you asking how long it would take for him to hit or are you asking how much damage he should take or what do you want?)Because if he fell at falling speed he has 2 or 3 rounds to make the fly roll before taking max damage. If he falls at flying speed he has 16 rounds to make the fly roll before taking _only_ 12d6 damage. He had a very low fly skill.
Where does it say that when under a fly spell you don't have to make a recovery roll or auto fly? We treated it as if it was a flying creature falling. Or should flying creatures fall slowly too (no obvious rules for this)?
As we couldn't find any reference it was ruled he fell at falling/gravity speed and he never made his fly roll. The "spell duration ends" is a specific event that doesn't occur.
The falling rule is to reduce falling damage, that means the character has already hit the ground because he fell for some other reason (failed fly rule). If he is just dropped, he just starts flying, there is no fly check required.