Damage to falling objects

[Edge Dragoncaller]

Here is a bit of an odd question. My Corpse looting happy players found the body of one of the fallen comrades. Literally fallen...he fell about 300 feet down into the bottom of a ravine after a dragon bull rushed him over the side.

What are the odds his ITEMS survived the fall. Would you use Sundering rules? to determine if the objects survived the fall? Allow the items a save for 1/2 sunder damage?

I'm already ruling that anything non-magical made of glass or wood is destroyed except what is in his Handy Haversack. To me, the haversack should have just as much of a chance of surving as his sword because it is pliable, but the sword is rigid.

[Jaxom5]

I believe that you could rule that the body itself would cushion the blow to many objects. Effectively the only ones destroyed would be the ones between his body and the ground, for instance.

I have a slightly different question to ask though, and since it falls under the same title as this post I didn't want to create a new thread.

How much damage does an object take when it falls? (When it is NOT in the possession of a creature)

I assumed it was the same as for a character, ie 1d6/10 ft. This would mean that a one-handed bladed weapon (Hardness 10, HP 10) would be destroyed, on average, by a fall of 60 ft (average damage 21) on to stone.

I don't like the last sentence of the falling object rules that states

Paizo wrote:

Note that a falling object takes the same amount of damage as it deals.

because that covers an object hitting a (squishy) creature. I'm interested in if it misses.

This is also silly for a creature that misses his target when falling. Example: A medium creature leaps off of an 80 ft high ledge to fall onto an opponent. RAW says that if he hits, he deals 3d6 damage and takes 3d6 damage. If he misses, he hits the (unforgiving) ground and takes 7d6 damage + 1d6 nonlethal.

[Claxon]

Don't treat creatures as objects or objects as creatures.

Also, note that falling object rules are for hard objects. Humans aren't "hard", and soft objects do as little as half damage by the rules. Turning your 7d6 into 3d6.

Quote:

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.