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As title, was looking at the falling damage rules. Says it caps at 20d6. Was thinking to self, "I can survive 20d6 damage." Last session we were on a 400ft tower. As I read it, I could just opt to jump down those 400ft and take only 20d6 damage. My target, would be anything on the ground below me. As I read it, he'd take 3d6x2 damage if my medium character collided. I'd also take the 3d6x2 from the impact with the creature.
Highly amusing way to kill something...
That said, any rules on how to aim this sort of thing? Ranged touch attack, perhaps? Acrobatics? Straight d20 roll?
Actually the way i understand it, the targets on ground would also take 20d6 damage. Awesome if you shapeshift to a whale. Multiple targets.
I would use range touch to target a square. DC 5 range increment 20ft. For a DC25.
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Some quotes from the Falling Rules…
If a character deliberately jumps instead of merely slipping or falling, the damage is the same but the first 1d6 is nonlethal damage. A DC 15 Acrobatics check allows the character to avoid any damage from the first 10 feet fallen and converts any damage from the second 10 feet to nonlethal damage. Thus, a character who slips from a ledge 30 feet up takes 3d6 damage. If the same character deliberately jumps, he takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 2d6 points of lethal damage. And if the character leaps down with a successful Acrobatics check, he takes only 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and 1d6 points of lethal damage from the plunge.
Falls onto yielding surfaces (soft ground, mud) also convert the first 1d6 of damage to nonlethal damage. This reduction is cumulative with reduced damage due to deliberate jumps and the Acrobatics skill.
Dropping an object on a creature requires a ranged touch attack. Such attacks generally have a range increment of 20 feet.
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.
So here's how I'd rule this playing out:
1.) Roll ranged touch attack with range increment of 20ft. Normally, there's a maximum number of range increments, but gravity's on your side here, so you have infinite range increments. Your accuracy will still suffer the -2 per increment, as per the Ranged attack rules. You're 19 increments past the first one, so you're at -38 to your attack. You basically need a nat 20 to hit them.
2.) Because you're jumping intentionally, you get to ignore the first 10ft and reduce the second 10ft in severity if you make a DC 15 Acrobatics check. Unfortunately, because you're jumping 400ft, neither of those matter, so you get the full 20d6.
3.) If your opponent counts as a soft surface (depends on the opponent), the damage is reduced by 1d6 (this counts while the acrobatics check doesn't because this reduction isn't based on your distance fallen, just the damage taken).
4.) Your number of 3d6x2 is accurate if you're considered to be a dense, heavy object like a Dwarf or if you are wearing heavy armor or carrying dense objects. If you're a lighter creature, such as a Halfling, Elf, Sylph, etc. and only carrying light equipment, then you may deal much less damage.
For some distances and against some enemies, this is a perfectly acceptable tactic, despite (or because of…) the amusing imagery. =]
EDIT: Oh and just to be clear, one reason why this is not necessarily as ridiculous as it sounds (a huge rock really only dealing 6d6 damage? Survivable for a 3rd level char?) is that hitpoints are an abstraction. You can easily imagine losing them as 'your luck running out'. That rock didn't actually hit you for 6d6 damage; it barely missed because the gods favored you, but you may not be so lucky next time. Also, magic physics. ;P
The way i've always done it is an acrobatics check to see if you can hit the square and an attack roll to see if you hit the enemy.
Reflex for half damage. DC 10+1/2 range increment dropped + size modifier.
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EDIT: Oh and just to be clear, one reason why this is not necessarily as ridiculous as it sounds (a huge rock really only dealing 6d6 damage? Survivable for a 3rd level char?) is that hitpoints are an abstraction. You can easily imagine losing them as 'your luck running out'. That rock didn't actually hit you for 6d6 damage; it barely missed because the gods favored you, but you may not be so lucky next time. Also, magic physics. ;P
Yeah, not considering a third level character. My 12th level sorcerer, on the other hand, has 146hp...
Reflex for half damage. DC 10+1/2 range increment dropped + size modifier.
Normally, that doesn't apply to a thrown object, making it a house rule, but I assume it would only be if they were aware of it (Perception check?), as per the dropped object reflex save?
Personally, if I were to get into that, I'd say the Perception DC would be 10 - size modifier (because it should be harder to see them if they're smaller, not easier) + 1 per 1d6 of damage the person was going to fall (because that's the measure of how fast they're traveling, with 20d6 representing terminal velocity). Whether the damage could be avoided depends on how far they were falling. 500 ft. is the cutoff for casting a regular spell, so we can assume that if you fall less than that, that you reach the bottom by the end of your turn, giving the creature at the bottom no time to fully move out of the way. Therefore, they could only save for half damage. If you fell for more than 500 ft., I'd be inclined to say that you're still in mid-air by the end of your turn, making it the creature at the bottom's turn, and if they made the Perception check they could just move out of the way to avoid all damage without bothering with a reflex save.
Reflex for half damage. DC 10+1/2 range increment dropped + size modifier.Normally, that doesn't apply to a thrown object, making it a house rule, but I assume it would only be if they were aware of it (Perception check?), as per the dropped object reflex save?
Personally, if I were to get into that, I'd say the Perception DC would be 10 - size modifier (because it should be harder to see them if they're smaller, not easier) + 1 per 1d6 of damage the person was going to fall (because that's the measure of how fast they're traveling, with 20d6 representing terminal velocity). Whether the damage could be avoided depends on how far they were falling. 500 ft. is the cutoff for casting a regular spell, so we can assume that if you fall less than that, that you reach the bottom by the end of your turn, giving the creature at the bottom no time to fully move out of the way. Therefore, they could only save for half damage. If you fell for more than 500 ft., I'd be inclined to say that you're still in mid-air by the end of your turn, making it the creature at the bottom's turn, and if they made the Perception check they could just move out of the way to avoid all damage without bothering with a reflex save.
That is about right.
In before: "How cloudy must it be before I can use stealth while dive bombing a target, and do I have a concealment miss chance?"
If your using my example, your targeting a square. So no miss chance and why their is a reflex save. However certainly chance for a stealth bomb.
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In before: "How cloudy must it be before I can use stealth while dive bombing a target, and do I have a concealment miss chance?"
On subject, would sneak attack apply? I mean, doesn't seem too likely that they'd expect you to attempt to kill them by falling 400ft onto your head. You would strike them from within 30ft...
Because there's a high probability of missing, it deals a lot of damage to you AND it's funny, sure, I'd allow it to qualify for sneak attack. It's not really supposed to qualify though, due to being a ranged attack from too far away.
See if you can't knock them prone when you fall on them. (Wear boots of the cat both to reduce your own fall damage, and so that you can land on your feet when you hit.)
Immediately initiate a grapple/pin.
Begin pummeling with sneak-attack until the target stops moving.
After casting enlarge person on yourself (something you should do anyway in this situation) you'll be able to carry a seige bomb with you.
Bomb: A bomb is a metal canister filled with metal balls and black powder that can be used as ammunition in catapults and trebuchets or carried by two Medium creatures or one Large creature to its destination. A bomb either explodes on impact (if fired from a catapult or trebuchet, or within 3 rounds of a fuse being lit if carried). When it explodes, it deals 6d6 points of piercing and bludgeoning damage to all creatures and objects within 30 feet of the target square. On a siege engine mishap, this ammunition explodes before it is launched, dealing its damage to the siege engine and all nearby creatures and wooden objects as if one of the spaces of the siege engine (crew leader's choice) were the target square. It ignores the hardness of wood and stone.
Edit; True strike will lower the penalty to only -18 and lets you aim through clowdy weather.
I don't think catapult ammunition is very well-standardized anyway. As long as you're holding the bomb and are relatively aerodynamic, I think you're alright. Just make sure you have plenty of hitpoints to survive the explosion.
Tcho, are you implying that after enlarging, one should climb into a catapult while carrying a bomb, and have a friend launch you at the enemy? If so, then I approve! (using a fuse is so passe)
Are there rules for improvised ammunition? You're probably a non-standard projectile in this case.
Also, I think there's something about maximum height achieved by projectiles somewhere in the ranged tactics toolbox...
I was implying it can be carried by a large person so I think you could get in in the 400 ft tower mentioned above, then holding it while jumping /being pushed and screaming heroic stuff. The -4 to hit seems like the least of your worries. Of course being fired by a catapult is a far better idea. Just curious: how are you going to get the catapult on a 400ft tower?