Falling
The original rulebook stated the following: "Objects fall at the rate of 100 inches on the first turn, 200 inches on the second, 300 inches on the third, etc. up to a maximum rate of fall of 1000 inches per turn. Falling and the results thereof are always calculated between-turns." Unfortunately, this falls far short of reality. With a little research, I've discovered that terminal velocity is around 110-150mph (which translates to 440-600"/t., not 1000), and it takes 12 seconds to reach it. By the old rules, it would take 10 turns (2-1/2 minutes!). Even being kind and capping it at, say, 500"/t., it takes 1 minute, 15 seconds--many, many times slower than reality. Also, resolving all falling effects between-turns is unsatisfying. How does that work? Someone goes "thud" after a 60-foot drop, says "I think I'm okay!" then keels over when the artificial "turn" ends? Or do they float around until the end of the turn, when everything dropped that turn hits the ground simultaneously?
The rulebook goes on: "Normal damage taken by a falling object equals the number of inches it fell this turn times the square root of the object's Basic Hits (one per fifty pounds or part thereof). After the first turn of fall velocity on impact is automatically 200 inches on the second turn, 300 inches on the third, etc. up to a maximum velocity of 1000 inches per turn." The formula here is not too bad, considering that the Kinetic Energy of the impact would be ½mv² (he just took the square root of the equation). I, however, have three beefs with this original Falling Damage formula. First off, it uses distance fallen, not true velocity. While one is a rough measure of the other, the curves are not the same. Secondly, my research indicates that a fall's severity depends heavily on the landing surface, not just the height of the fall, so Structural Rating should come into play. Finally, there are records of people falling from great heights who survive, and others who fall short distances and die. Of course, landing surface, body part fallen on, general health, etc. all play a role in real life, but in game terms these random factors can be easily simulated by some kind of die roll. Besides, throwing in a random factor has appeal to the GM, since there won't be any characters deciding to dive off a 5-story roof because they "know they can take it."
In place of the V&V falling rules, I therefore propose the following formula:
New Falling Table Phase Distance MPH V-Factor Damage
(d3 = 1)Damage
(d3 = 2)Damage
(d3 = 3)Old Fall 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 1 2 10 0.444 2 3 3 4 2 6 21 1.960 11 12 13 12 3 11 31 4.271 23 26 28 22 4 17 42 7.840 42 47 52 34 5 24 50 11.111 60 67 73 48 6 33 59 15.471 84 93 102 66 7 43 66 19.360 105 116 128 86 8 54 73 23.684 128 142 156 108 9 66 78.5 27.388 148 164 181 132 10 78 84 31.360 169 188 207 156 11 91 88 34.418 186 207 227 182 12 104 92 37.618 203 226 248 208 13 118 95 40.111 217 241 265 236 14 132 98 42.684 230 256 282 264 15 147 100 44.444 240 267 293 294 16 162 102 46.240 250 277 305 324 17 177 103.5 47.610 257 286 314 354 18 192 105 49.000 265 294 323 384 19 208 106 49.938 270 300 330 416 20 224 107 50.884 275 305 336 448 21 240 108 51.840 280 311 342 480 22 256 109 52.804 285 317 349 512 23 272 109.5 53.290 288 320 352 544 24 288 110 53.778 290 323 355 576
Here's what it all means. The "Phase" column is the number of phases since the start of the fall. "Distance (in.)" shows the total distance fallen since the start of the fall, in game inches. "MPH" is the velocity achieved at that point in the fall (just FYI). "V-Factor" is the special value you use in the formula when calculating damage. The last four columns are simply examples of the damage that would be sustained by a character with 4 Basic Hits landing on the ground (SR 4). The "Damage" columns are the damage calculated the new way; "Old Fall" would be the damage the character would have sustained under the old system.
The number of phases until impact is handy to know for determining who can rescue a falling character or object. Go down the Distance column until you find a number that's equal to or higher than the height of the fall. If the number of falling phases goes beyond the end of the turn, simply count phases into the next turn, starting with the highest Initiative roll.
Let's say that on Phase 3, Clumsy Gal (BH = 3) trips and falls off a 12-story building (20") to the bricks below (SR = 5). From the table, we find that unless something is done, she'll hit the bricks some 5 phases later at 50mph. Nobody acts again this turn, so after she falls for two phases, we roll Initiative for next turn. Evil-Dude's first on Phase 24, but the fiend decides to let Clumsy Gal fall. She hits on Phase 22. We see that the V-Factor is 11.111. Plugging the values into the formula we get: (3 + 5/2) * 11.111, or, rounding off, 61 points of damage. Ouch.
Objects struck by a falling object will take damage if the Basic Hits (or Hit Points if inanimate) of the object falling exceed the Structural Rating of the object struck. If so, subtract the number of points of damage it takes from the final damage taken by the falling object, up to a maximum of 1/2 of the remaining falling damage at that point. If the object hit is completely broken off or broken through by the damage it absorbed (Note that "broken" here simply means "absorbed maximum damage." The actual object may be okay, such as a foot-thick mattress jumped on from 10 stories. -B.), the falling object continues to fall. If not, the object's fall is broken by the obstacle and it comes to a halt. Falling damage absorbed by the ground forms a crater.
The falling object takes no damage until it hits something which, even if it absorbs falling damage, does not give way. At that point, any falling damage remaining is taken as damage by the falling object.
The rulebook contains the following: "If the obstacle struck was, for example, the ground (Structural Rating for dirt = 4) and the Basic Hits of the falling object exceed four, the ground will, as explained above, absorb 1/2 of the falling damage remaining at that instant." Sorry, I just don't buy the "it's-okay-the-ground-broke-my-fall" argument. Plus, it would tend to favor heavier fallers, which nature doesn't. In my campaigns, both the falling object and, if Basic Hits exceed SR, the final object/ground struck take full remaining falling damage; objects struck along the way absorb parts of the damage as above. Furthermore, if the GM decrees that an impediment or the landing surface is a fluid or is "cushiony," (i.e., possessing shock-absorptive properties above the norm), each foot-thickness of it can negate up to one game inch of fall, up to a maximum of half the fall distance. When an impediment, if there is enough "cushion" thickness to completely negate a fall, treat the surface of the cushion as the landing surface instead.
Let's say that, instead of the bricks, Clumsy Gal hit a 12-ft.-deep swimming pool with a concrete bottom (SR = 6). The water would cause the fall to be treated as 11" instead of 22" (the surface of the pool is 20" away; the bottom is 22"). When she hits bottom, she'll be taking (3 + 6/2) * 4.271, or 26 points--still painful, but much more survivable. If the pool were much deeper, say 25 ft., her 25" fall would be completely negated, so it would be treated instead as a 10" fall on to SR 1 (20" to the pool surface, helped by half), for 15 points. She lightly touches bottom, no doubt stinging all over.
Falling characters may divide the final damage they take by their remaining Invulnerability scores. (Or, under the new rules, divide by their remaining Kinetic protection. Note that since it's already "protected," the protection score does not get subtracted from the final damage. -B.). Characters falling in [old rules] Armor may assume that the Armor protects them to the best of its ability. Any damage avoided through either Armor or Invulnerability automatically becomes damage to the final object struck (which is already the case in my campaigns--see above -B.).
A character falling from a height of up to his Agility score in inches may attempt an Agility save on 1d20 (if conscious) to acrobatically cut the final damage he/she takes. If successful, subtract his/her Agility score from the final damage result. The allowable fallen distance and points saved by Agility should be multiplied by Height Factor for Size Change: Larger characters and divided by Height Factor for Size Change: Smaller ones (Ignore this last sentence--see below. -B.).
With regard to Size Change, the book also states: "Divide the damage taken by Height Factor for Size Change: Larger characters, multiply it for Size Change: Smaller ones." Instead of that, I propose to simply divide/multiply the effective height of the fall, as appropriate. It's more realistic (since damage increases with height at a non-linear rate) and the "Agility save" part takes care of itself as well. Just remember that actual "time to hit bottom" and actual distance aren't affected.
These rules assume the fall is taking place in Earth's atmosphere. If in a vacuum, a linear scale formula is appropriate--use the old rules (square root of Basic Hits times distance fallen) and add 20% (multiply by 1.2) to reflect the lack of atmosphere. In a higher-G or lower-G environment, make sure the calculations are based on the new weight, and simply multiply the final damage result by the G-factor. This will then take into account both the change in weight and the change in gravity's acceleration.
Finally, to add some randomness into the calculations, you may want to roll 1d3. If the result is a "1," subtract 10% (multiply by 0.9) from the final damage; if the result is a "3," add 10% (multiply by 1.1). The table reflects possible outcomes for the test case (BH =4, SR = 4). This reflects those factors which cannot be predicted
