We have made a detailed guide where we explain How To Calculate Fall Damage in Dungeons & Dragons.
Where some would say the Dungeon Master is the greatest danger in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons, it's quite fair to say the player can be equally-often more-so-dangerous. Many campaigns have ended with great ideas faltering, bad ideas flourishing, and then of course there are those ideas that were just disasters.
As a player character gains strength and obtains more and more powerful equipment and abilities, they become a volatile vessel of potential explosion. The players often give themselves critical injuries with falls, but when it comes to dealing with fall damage, there are several things to think about, first.
Understanding Fall Damage
Contrary to most video games, Dungeons & Dragons players value realism, to a certain degree, even with the inclusion of the fantastic creatures that typify the game. There are numerous species, all with various strengths and vulnerabilities, but it certainly is a fact that most will incur severe injury from a high fall to the ground.
Player Characters and NPCs take fall damage if they fall more than ten feet. Remember equipment, racial bonuses, class bonuses, passive skills and active magic when calculating the amount of damage dice beforehand.
How To Calculate Fall Damage in Dungeons & Dragons?
In the new version of Dungeons & Dragons, a character will take fall damage in ten foot increments. Of course, falling the first ten feet puts a character at risk of taking 1d6 of fall damage. For each additional ten feet of fall, you add another d6 to a maximum of 20d6.
This weapon can potentially deal 120 hit points of damage, enough to kill most player characters.
Based on the shape of the landscape - whether rocky, spiky, grassy or what have you - you are free to apply the following changes at will and taste. If below the 20d6 limit, there are no added damage dice at all. Quite amusingly, that does mean that a hardy character could very well plunge down the thousands of feet without more than above a mere +100 damage.
When it comes to flying creatures, the calculations take on a unique approach. If anything happens to the flyer to cause it to stop flying - being knocked prone, stunned by an attack, etc. - it starts falling from the distance it was when it was stopped.
However, to keep things realistic, most flyers will have the instinctive reaction of slowing down their fall by flapping their wings. To find this, subtract the flyer's speed from the fall height for the proper number of d6s.
In terms of combat, the question of falling invites an examination of what remedies work best. As a rule of thumb, imagine falling as happening in an instant. Scenario: Two players are having the fight of their lives against an orc archer, who is positioned advantageously atop a watch tower. A player casts a spell on the orc such that he falls, his balance lost.
It's a watchtower that rises to 30 feet, so on impact, the orc would take 3d6 fall damage. There's a really great opportunity here for the orc to strike the ground immediately, or the players can come up with a scenario where player two tries to try and stop him somehow from falling.
Falls from extreme heights cannot be considered instantaneous. If a creature falls from a height greater than 590 feet—the distance it would fall in six seconds, which is the length of a single combat round—you must determine the time it takes to reach the ground. This becomes truly relevant only when falling from a flying dragon or a hot air balloon, or something similar.
Minimizing Fall Damage
When the action is fast and furious, it can be hard to stop and calculate fall damage. If you want a quick way to calculate fall damage, the 2024 DM's Guide has some great advice on how to create damage numbers in a flash.
It's here that two things have to be considered: the depth of the character and the level of effect you want to achieve for your players. Refer to the chart below for your reference.
Character Level Nuisance Deadly
- 1-4 / 5 (1d10) / 11 (2d10)
- 5-10 / 11 (2d10) / 22 (4d10)
- 11-16/ 22 (4d10) / 55 (10d10)
- 17-20 / 55 (10d10) / 99 (18d10
Factors Influencing the Calculation of Fall Damage
A variety of spells, items, and abilities can influence fall damage. In essence, any ability that allows for flight will negate fall damage, as long as the creature remains airborne. Additionally, any form of resistance or immunity to bludgeoning will also eliminate fall damage. Below are several of these sources.
Class Abilities
- Monk: Slow Fall: Reduces injury from falls by five times your monk level.
- Barbarian: Rage: Provides resistance to bludgeoning damage, which reduces injury from falls by half.
Spells
Feather Fall
- Level: 1st
- Effect: Slows a falling creature's descent to 60 feet per round, preventing fall damage upon landing.
Levitate
- Level: 2nd
- Effect: Lifts the target 20 feet into the air and gently lowers them to the ground when the spell ends.
Fly
- Level: 3rd
- Effect: Grants a flying speed of up to 60 feet for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the creature will fall if it is not on the ground.
Items
These magic items allow the wearer to fly.
- Winged Boots (Uncommon): These boots allow you to fly at your walking speed.
- Wingwear (Uncommon): These wings allow you to fly at a speed of 30 feet.
- Ring of Feather Falling (Uncommon): This ring protects you from falling damage.
- Broom of Flying (Uncommon): This broom allows you to fly at a speed of up to 50 feet.
Species Abilities
- Aarakocra: Aarakocra are bird-like humanoids with wings. They can fly at the same speed as they can walk.
- Aasimar: Aasimar are humanoids with celestial blood. They have the ability to heal themselves and others. They can also fly at the same speed as they can walk.
- Air Genasi: Air genasi are humanoids with elemental blood. They can control the air around them. They can also cast the spells "Feather Fall" and "Levitate" once per long rest.
- Fairy: Fairies are tiny humanoids with wings. They can fly at the same speed as they can walk.
- Owlin: Owlin are humanoids with owl-like features. They can fly at the same speed as they can walk.
Now that you know How To Calculate Fall Damage in Dungeons & Dragons, follow this step-by-step guide and you're good to go.
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows PC, PlayStation 4 PS4, PlayStation 5 PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Genre(s): Action role-playing
Developer(s): Tuque Games
Publisher(s):Wizards of the Coast
Release date: June 22, 2021
Mode: Single-player, multiplayer
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