Memories of Connor's Adventures

Orlando the Adventurer pulled a Scimitar from beneath his Robes and smiled...

Monday 11 September 2017

Dungeon Mastery: You are hit by a falling rock

Tarfin of the Free Company has journied far to explore the lost Treasure Vault of Gyges, and having fought the creatures that call this slave-crafted edifice home, kicked in the door to the treasury itself, his prize in full view, a stone block drops from the ceiling and he is struck. The stone crushes his head in view of his compatriots.

A Falling Block of Stone vs Falling Damage
In D&D, when Tarfin the Warrior falls ten feet, he takes 1d6 damage from the stop at the end. His damage increasing +1d6/10' of extra fall distance. but what about a stone block of varying weight? If Tarfin's weight of 200lbs striking the ground after falling ten feet causes him to take 1d6 damage, then being hit by a block of stone of equal weight dropping ten feet should inflict the same damage. If Tarfin's weight is the determining factor then Nissa the Elf who only weighs a hundred pounds would take double damage from the same falling stone block had she been in his place.

Damage from a falling block
Damage would thus be calculated as:

((Ws x distance of fall)/(Wpc x 10)) x 1d6

This means Tarfin having taken 1d6 from the 200lb block of stone falling from the ceiling survives. Unfortunately it means that out on the surface in the ruins, where Tarfin is examining his share of the loot, a quake hits and a twelve cubic feet stone falls ten feet from a toppled pillar, our generic stone weighing 168lb/cubic foot our block of stone is 2016lb so the difference is 10.08. Tarfin takes 10d6+1 (we can round any discrepency off as a minimal fixed injury) from the stone block falling ten feet crushing him utterly.

Nissa, having outlived another human companion, wipes the bloody spray of Tarfin's demise from her face and goes off to spend her ill gotten gains in a Tavern.

Killed by a Stick of Butter in a Tavern Brawl
Now by these same rules an object thrown over a distance should inflict damage according to similar rules. A thrown object (in this case a cubic foot of butter in a churn skin weighing 57lb/cubic ft) is thrown across the room by someone with enough strength to hurl it twenty feet so it hits for (((57x20)/(10x100))=1.14) or 1d6+1 damage.

Nissa the Elf is killed in a Tavern Brawl by a churn skin of butter. The Curse of Gyges Treasure claiming another victim.

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