Hello,
how do the following feats function in the case of a falling ?
Equipement trick (combat) [cloak]
Parachute Cloak (Acrobatics 5 ranks) While wearing a cloak, you can adjust your grip so that it catches the air as you fall. If you use both of your hands to hold on to your cloak as you fall, you can attempt a DC 20 Acrobatics check to ignore the first 20 feet fallen (as opposed to the usual DC 15 check to ignore only the first 10 feet), and you avoid falling prone at the end of your jump even if you take damage.
Cushioning shield (combat)
Prerequisite(s): Shield Focus, base attack bonus +6 or fighter level 4th.
Benefit(s): When you fall 10 or more feet, you can direct half of the falling damage you would take to your shield.
This damage ignores the shield’s hardness.
Cushioning armor (combat) : same effect with an armor.
- ignore the first 20 feet fallen
- then half damage from the shield
- then half damage from the armor or half damage from half damage ?
Thanks for your future answer.
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So, here's what I see, First in Parachute Cloak "If you use both of your hands to hold on to your cloak as you fall, you can attempt a DC 20 Acrobatics check to ignore the first 20 feet fallen (as opposed to the usual DC 15 check to ignore only the first 10 feet), and you avoid falling prone at the end of your jump even if you take damage."
I know that says "IF" as though there was an option NOT to use 2 hands, but there is nothing that offers any benefit at all when only 1 hand is used. So Right there, I have to say Parachute Cloak + Cushioning Shield are out, because you're shield arm is not free to attempt the action.
Cushioning Armor should still be a valid option, but just don't forget it requires medium or heavy armor proficiency, so while it is not specifically called out that you must be in one of those armors, I would say it does require that you are wearing either medium or heavy armor. And since medium mithral armor counts as light for everything except the proficiency I would say medium Mithral would not be a valid armor option either.
As a result, I would say:
20+ Acrobatics check and Parachute cloak works, followed by cushioning armor reducing damage by half and damage bypasses Hardness. So end result is Fall distance - 20' Roll damage half goes to player, half goes to armor, player ends on his feet.
15-19 Acrobatics Check, Parachute Cloak Fails, Cusioning armor reduces damage by half and armor takes half dmg bypassing hardness. End Result Fall Distance - 10' roll damage half goes to player half goes to armor player ends prone.
>=14 Acrobatics Check, Parachute Cloak Fails, Cusioning armor reduces damage by half and armor takes half dmg bypassing hardness. End Result Fall Distance is unchanged, roll damage half goes to player half goes to armor player ends prone.
And with any of these scenario's you'd have the option (if you have the Cushioned Armor Combat Trick as well you could spend 5 stamina points to apply the armor's hardness to the damage it takes.
Finally, Personally I do not feel as though you could forgo parachute cloak and opt to use both cushioning shield and armor. The descriptions of each seem to call out that you are taking actions so that at the very instant you land you are doing so in a way that the damage is directed to one item or another. Since I can't see an image that both directs the damage onto the shield and directs the damage onto the armor in the same instant that you impact the ground, I can't say that it makes sense to have both apply for the same fall. You could (if you had to make several falls) impact one on the shield, and another on the armor so that you do not (hopefully) destroy one item.
Finally, Personally I do not feel as though you could forgo parachute cloak and opt to use both cushioning shield and armor. The descriptions of each seem to call out that you are taking actions so that at the very instant you land you are doing so in a way that the damage is directed to one item or another. Since I can't see an image that both directs the damage onto the shield and directs the damage onto the armor in the same instant that you impact the ground, I can't say that it makes sense to have both apply for the same fall. You could (if you had to make several falls) impact one on the shield, and another on the armor so that you do not (hopefully) destroy one item.
For example, I see the action as this :
The character put front of him/her his shield to reduce the impact, then the armor reduces the impact when he/she touch the ground.|
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The only problem is you are falling, these are instantaneous acts. your shield being about 1' away from your body is not going to give you even a tenth of a second to transition from the kind of body positioning you would need to do to go from damaging your shield to damaging your armor all while taking less damage yourself.
But ultimately unless you get a specific Dev response, this sort of thing would be up to your GM, so check with them. If you're doing PFS and you never know what your GM will rule, I'd say at least check with the GM's you encounter most often, but expect it to be done differently by others.
You could possibly even find GM's that may say nothing specifically prohibits combining all three by RAW saying you can slow your fall with both hands on the cloak and then at the last instant transition to the shield/armor falling position. If they did that I would expect the sequence should be -20' to fall, 1/2 dmg to shield (it hits first in any viable scenario that this works) 1/4 dmg to Armor, 1/4 dmg to character.
Parachute Cloak + Cushioning Shield are out, because you're shield arm is not free to attempt the action.
Except in the case of a Heavy Shield, a shield leaves one hand free for most actions.
Though in realism terms, Cushioning Shield implies putting your shield below your body, which would be hard to do while also holding your cloak above you.
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Parachute Cloak + Cushioning Shield are out, because you're shield arm is not free to attempt the action.Except in the case of a Heavy Shield, a shield leaves one hand free for most actions.
Though in realism terms, Cushioning Shield implies putting your shield below your body, which would be hard to do while also holding your cloak above you.
My point is not that the shield hand isn't free to grab the cloak, it's that the shield arm which you are using to reach up and grab the cloak is not free to be underneath you to absorb the damage from impacting the ground.